152

Talk
Posted on November 27, 2018 by David M Willis

152 thoughts on “Talk”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    *Amber uploads an entire Facetime video to Giphy*

    1. Catman

      You know, I never bought the whole “Amber and DOrthy look the same” thing until I read this comment, and realized that isn’t Dorothy he’s messaging.

      1. Meta

        yeah this took me a good minute

        1. Sunny

          Same here. I was thinking it was odd Dorothy would be telling Walky what was up. I had to read it twice and then squint a little before it clicked for me that that’s Amber.

        2. Ana Chronistic

          I was gonna mention Walky’s face looks like one of those =D anime faces but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

        3. Ana Chronistic

          btw y’all: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-8/04-of-mike-and-men/chummy/

      2. Jimi

        OH. Holy shit. I didn’t realize that was Amber at all until you said so. Really my own fault since Walky talks about Dorothy in the 3rd person in the first dang panel.

        1. alice

          i was just confused by that. i assumed he was replying to someone else or something. i’m way thrown off because that avatar clearly has blonde hair???

        2. alice

          like it’s not just that it looks like both dorothy and amber. it’s that it doesn’t look at all like amber imo.

        3. keithcurtis

          It’s because she’s smiling. Don’t see a lot of unforced smiles on Amber.

        4. Sunny

          It doesn’t exactly look unforced to me. It’s more like a cross between frozen Deer-in-headlights panic and frantic I’m-drowning-and-can’t-swim panic, with a large helping of existential dread and knowledge that whatever good things you may think you have are going to get ripped from your hands leaving you with only the memories to haunt you for the rest of your life and remind you how worthless you are that you couldn’t hold on to them.

          So yeah, that kind of smile.

        5. thejeff

          Yeah. To me, that’s a very Amber smile, not a Dorothy smile at all.

        6. BBCC

          The thing that keeps tripping me up is where people are seeing Dorothy. I don’t think it looks anything like Dorothy.

        7. Chris Phoenix

          FWIW I thought it was Dorothy.

        8. Needfuldoer

          Same here. Their faces look similar, but their glasses are different, and Dorothy’s bangs go to her right and Amber’s go left.

        9. Needfuldoer

          Also I’m pretty sure Dorothy’s text message bubbles are a different color, yellow or mint green or something. (Too lazy to go digging through the archives right now.)

        10. BBCC

          Yeah, a lot of people thought it was Dorothy. Apparently they look more alike than I thought.

        11. Airyu

          I think it’s because Walk and Amber both have brown hair, but one Walt’s hair is coloured in in his avatar, so my brain processes Amber’s avatar as having blonde hair.

        12. BBCC

          Makes sense. Amber’s hair is lighter and I can see it reading as blonde in an all blue avatar picture.

        13. Pablo360

          Ah yes, that famous DoA character, Walt.

        14. King Daniel

          And her twin, Walk.

          (and after all, Sal was Sal Walters in the other ‘verse, right?)

      3. LookingIN

        you aren’t alone, the hair is off in the avatar…seriously, look at Amber’s hair vs. Dorothy’s hair and it’s Dorothy’s bangs instead of Amber’s part.

        I spent too much time looking at hair 🙁

        1. thejeff

          Look back at yesterday’s strip, where they are side by side faces. The avatar’s hair clearly parts in the same direction as Amber’s.

        2. Clif

          You have to allow for the fact that Walky’s phone is upside down. 😛

      4. bubba0077

        Same here. I always thought it strange characters in-story thought they looked a lot a like. But that image definitely looked like Dorothy at first glance.

    2. Aeron

      The Epic of Amber (a silent film)

      1. Deanatay

        Nine Princes In Amber?

        Not THAT kind of slashfic.

        Of course, she DOES have DID, so, maybe it works that way…

  2. Darkoneko

    Walky’s world went upside down

    1. King Daniel

      What comes next?

      1. Pterodactyl Ghost

        I’m hoping that it’s not “crippling personal and social issues kills a budding relationship before it really has a chance”.
        That would be a horrible turn of events.
        I know that college is a time for ever-changing social statuses, but, I was actually really rooting for AmberxWalky to be a solid thing.

        1. newllend(henryvolt)

          At the very least I was hoping it would last longer. There’s still so much to explore here.

      2. newllend(henryvolt)

        Having Amber throw it right side up? Which for a guy who spends his free time hanging from above an elevator ceiling like Spider-Man must be maddening.

      3. Kern Wallace

        He got sent to Bel Air.

    2. Lingo

      His girlfriend and sis got in one little fight
      And his mom got scared
      and said “You’re moving to a boarding school that’s
      not in Bel-Air”

      1. Walky_Talky

        He whistled for a cab
        and when it came near
        the license plate said “Galasso”
        and it had ninjas in the rear.

        1. JoeCovenant

          If anything I thought the guy was kind of a tool,
          But then he yelled out “FOOOL!”

          … and I don’t remember much after that.

        2. Needfuldoer

          We’re past the first season, so we skip the stanza about the flight.

        3. Lingo

          Because Galasso drugged you?

  3. Doctor_Who

    Amber vs Sal: A GIF reinactment (assuming I can post this many links anyway)

    1

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  4. AnvilPro

    One day Willis will write an entire comic arc with preexisting internet gifs. And it will be glorious

    1. Pablo360

      *insert image of Meulin from Alterniabound 2 except I can’t because <img> and <picture> are not supported HTML tags*

  5. Kris

    Walky’s continuing to set that bar pretty low. Good for him.

    1. Deanatay

      Walky is the sort that you gotta dig a pretty deep hole to get under his bar.

  6. Rei

    Nice try Amber, but I will only take my life changing messages in emoji form!

    1. Doctor_Who

      Walky is actually boycotting emojis until they add a butt taco.

      1. HMH

        As is his constitutional right.

        1. LookingIN

          no taxation without butt exploitation!

    2. Beef

      ?‍♀️??‍♂️
      ?‍♀️??‍♀️
      ?‍♀️???‍♀️

  7. cesium133

    It took me a little while to realize that Walky wasn’t texting with Dorothy…

    1. Kathleen

      yeah that’s what I saw too

    2. Goki

      No worries, I thought it was Dorothy too at first.

    3. Marsh Maryrose

      I honestly don’t get why Amber’s avatar doesn’t have dark hair, like Amber does.

      But apart from color, the piece of hair between the eyes — is there a name for that? — for Amber, that bit curves to her left, and for Dorothy it curves to her right. A totally recognizable piece of character design.

      1. Agemegos

        “Forelock“?

    4. Keulen

      Yeah I initially thought it was Dorothy he was texting with as well.

    5. Jorb

      I didn’t realize until I read this comment.

  8. Lucretiel

    Wait, who is he texting in panel 1? Amber?

    1. brasca1

      He’s talking to Amber although I thought that was Dorothy at first.

      1. Jamie

        Me, ten.

        1. JoeCovenant

          Me, everyone else.

  9. BBCC

    I fully believe Walky would understand that conversation if she did only have it through animated gifs.

    Go on Amber, I believe in you!

  10. newllend(henryvolt)

    So I guess they’re going to cancel that cartoon marathon date where they benge mcfeely’s transformers for a night. Eh maybe another time if they still managed to be a thing after she tells him the truth.

  11. Derek

    why isn’t Sal tagged?

    1. BBCC

      There was an issue on Patreon where an earlier, Sal-less version of this strip was uploaded instead. Maybe the tags are a holdover from that version, before Willis fixed it three months ago or whenever this got uploaded?

    2. King Daniel

      That’s Walky standing there with seaweed on his head. There’s nobody on the seat in the foreground, it’s just a pair of jeans and sneakers he forgot earlier and is now going to retrieve.

    3. Piotr W

      … because she’s not Sal anymore. She’s transitioning. Right now, she’s no-one. In a few strips, she’ll be Sally the Hippie Peacenik 😉

  12. ValdVin

    Sal isn’t tagged?

  13. Piotr W

    Why do I have the feeling that Amber’s message will be: “Your sister just tried to kill me! She’s a monster! We need to put her down!!!”..?

    1. BBCC

      If this were earlier in the story, I might agree. I don’t think she’s in that place now.

      1. thejeff

        And she probably wouldn’t be dating Walky if she were still in that headspace.

  14. Bagge

    #NotOmniusTextMessagesInAnyWay

    1. Goki

      #canwetalk always ends well…. said no one ever

    2. lilyliv

      Yeah, like honestly I’d be having a panic attack If I’d been the one receiving that bit of ominous vagueness.

      1. Goki

        I know… If I was Walky, I probably would want to talk at that moment and just get it over with… so respect to Walky for being able to wait.

  15. Alanari

    Sooo will sal talk to walky or not? Because things might become ugly if she does.

    1. newllend(henryvolt)

      She probably realizes that, which is probably why I see reluctance in her eyes in last panel.

      1. Gigafreak

        Sal might end up talking to Walky about the very thing Amber was about to reveal to him the next day.

        But she might also just let it go because the day’s been draining enough already.

    2. RicardtheDragoon

      Give her twin’s little romance a good hard shove or omit the truth by not telling him, pretending she didn’t see him, and pretending he’ll never catch on before Amber tells him? Can Ethan, Danny, Dorothy, Ruthless, and any other window-watchers can keep quiet long enough? Tough call. I think she’s still feeling guilty about garbage roof, and so she won’t tell him. On the other hand, I think she should, especially if he notices her.

  16. mschmidt62

    The things you miss while sitting upside down just inside from where the action was.

    1. goggleman64

      Ahahaha that didn’t occur to me; physically he’s been, what, a couple dozen yards away from the action this whole time?

  17. Roger

    oh boy sure bet Dorothy’s gonna give a completely legit, succinct and unbiased impression of those events huh.

    1. King Daniel

      That’s not Dorothy.

      1. Catullus

        …Although there’s still plenty of room to be skeptical about how legit, succinct, and unbiased things are about to be.

    2. Roger

      I stand by every word in that sentence except for that proper noun.

      1. Fart Captor

        Given the preemptive apologies, I’d say she’s definitely going to try. Good chance the bias ends up skewing against herself though now that she’s cooled off

  18. Stephen Bierce

    Something happens and I’m Head Over Heels
    I never find out–till I’m Head Over Heels
    Something happens and I’m Head Over Heels
    Don’t take my heart
    Don’t break my heart
    Don’t–don’t throw it away    …

  19. Goki

    I am going to miss Team Trash… (their words not me )

    1. Deanatay

      Garbage, actually. Their words are ‘Team Garbage’.

      1. Goki

        #teamgarbage

  20. ShinyNeen

    … I can totally believe that Walky has been lying in that exact position ever since Dorothy went by. Even though that could have easily been 30 minutes ago by now, or even longer.

  21. DailyBrad

    I dunno why I’ve never mixed up Dorothy and Amber, to my knowledge, yet the comments section seems to show it’s a problem in-universe and out.

    Sal, meanwhile, isn’t walking up to Walky, she’s fluctuating wildly in size due to a Science Problem.

    1. BBCC

      I’ve never had that problem either. I dunno, Amber and Dorothy don’t really look THAT similar to me? They have different head shapes, glasses shapes, their hair parts differently, Dorothy’s thinner and (when they’re side by side) Dorothy’s taller. They just don’t look much alike to me.

      That said, Amber doesn’t look like Billie much to me either and word of Willis is that he draws Billie and Amber very similarly so what do I know?

    2. Pterodactyl Ghost

      Damned Pym Particles!

    3. LauraS

      I’ve never mixed them up until today, when I had to read the comments to work it out.

  22. carms

    Like the jaws theme, but kinda awks and social anx

  23. TrueVCU

    I am humiliated by how long it took me to figure out he was texting Amber not Dorothy

    1. Goki

      You weren’t the only one. Nothing to feel bad about.

  24. abysswatcher1993

    Walky, you missed some good drama and epiphanies. His absent mindness is either a blessing or a curse. Probably more a curse since that damages his ability for empathy here and in the Walkyverse.

  25. Marsh Maryrose

    If I could interface with the world solely through animated gifs, I absolutely would.

    1. Inahc

      🙂

  26. Laladoria

    I thought that was Dorothy texting him for a second and it was very confusing.

    Also Sal is probably gonna tell Walky before Amber can and I have no clue how I expect him to take it when it’s coming from Sal

    1. Doopyboop

      I thought it was Dorothy at first too.

    2. Sol Karas

      I also thought it was Dorothy.

  27. MatsuoTanuki

    Oh Lord… it’s gonna be real ugly no matter who tells him…

  28. Joner

    You forgot to add Sal in the tags! <3

    1. King Daniel

      Appropriate Carla grav is appropriate?

  29. Tacos

    I’m embarrassed to admit that it took me longer than it probably should have to realize that that was Amber texting back Walky and not Dorothy…

    I was like: “Why is Walky talking to Dorothy about Dorothy being gone? Did he accidentally text Dorothy instead of Amber and this is how Dorothy finds out that Walky and Amber are dating?”

    1. Tricia

      Don’t worry, I did the same thing. :3

      1. Victor Riley

        Same.

  30. foducool

    hell, if we want to, we can hold whole conversations with memes nowadays

    1. Diner Kinetic

      Yeah for some people that’d be a worrying way to discuss a traumatic backstory involving a sib stabbin’, but for these guys I think they could give it the gravity it needed

      1. Brotato

        My go to gif to explain a host of trauma-related shit rising to the surface is Leslie Knope saying “everything hurts and I’m dying.”

    2. Needfuldoer

      [outraged_lebron.png]

  31. LazyReader

    “Well….looks like he was gonna take his shoes off……but gave up……..today’s youth”

    1. Needfuldoer

      Walky just doesn’t tie his shoes in the first place. That must be how Sal could tell it was him.

  32. David Doty

    For some reason I paid attention to that image of the DoA book cover, and it got me thinking. Have we seen Joe in any meaningful capacity since the whole “sorry I’m a patriarchal shitbag” thing? It would be a shame if character growth came at the expense of him being an interesting and integral character.

    1. BBCC

      We either saw Joe two days ago (strip time) just after he’d banged Malaya or yesterday (strip time) when Joyce was watching his sex tape with Roz, depending what you’re counting. We’ll likely see more of him next time the kids are in gender studies class. Today’s (again, strip time) not about following those kids though. Today’s about Sal.

      1. Victor Riley

        Wait… when was she watching his sex tape? I don’t remember that storyline.

        1. BBCC

          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-8/04-of-mike-and-men/scrootoob/

          I shall provide.

  33. Delicious Taffy

    Wow, Sal walked through a door? What a fucking scumbag. And she had the gall to do it near her own twin, too. This is just a mess.

    1. Delicious Taffy

      Nice HTML, nerd.

  34. Kazumi

    When you wonder why Dorothy is answering for a few seconds…

  35. BenRG

    At this point, I suspect that Sal is asking herself if she wants to know and, if so, would knowing in any way help.

    1. thejeff

      More like “Oh god, do I tell him?”

  36. Agemegos

    If this were not a comic, and if Amber were not plot-armoured up the wazoo by the word of Willis, would you consider her at risk of a suicide attempt tonight?

    Given that his is a comic, how long until Blaine intervenes?

    1. Drunk Mike

      Even with plot armor she still might attempt.

    2. BenRG

      Not suicide, no. However, I do think that she’s going to be a bit of a ghost – Trying to work out who she is and what she is going forwards.

      FWIW, I’m expecting a really weird conversation between Amazi-Girl and Sal in which Sal finds out that Amazi-Girl is unaware of what happened between her and Amber and is somewhat scornful of Amber on several levels. I would love for that conversation to climax with Sal to politely ask Amazi-Girl to stop using Amber’s body without her permission and to bring her out so that the three of them can discuss this.

      1. thejeff

        It’s not actually Amber’s body anymore than it is Amazi-Girl’s body.

        1. Needfuldoer

          Amber O’Malley is the one who legally exists.

        2. Clif

          Yes, but Amber and Amazigirl are both legally Amber O’Malley. Don’t be confused by language.

        3. thejeff

          That one of the personas goes by the legal name is confusing, but doesn’t really change anything.

      2. Segnosaur

        I guess the question is whether both Amber and Amazi-girl now have completely separate personalities now.

        Earlier in the comic’s run, both personalities knew of each other’s actions. But now, Amber is unaware of what Amazi-girl is doing at night. Do we know if Amazi-girl has the same ignorance of what Amber does? Or do the personalities communicate in a single direction?

        1. BBCC

          AG doesn’t know Amber threw her mask down the stairwell, hence why she was looking for it. It looks like they’ve gone from semi-integrated to a full split.

  37. Dana

    ::googles “sorry for stabbing your sister funny gif”::

  38. stoodmuffin

    Shit.

  39. Sporky

    I only just noticed Sal in the backhground. Oh crap

  40. kilgaen

    All these awkward conversations surrounding Walky think he’s locked in there with them.

    No, they’re locked in here with him.

  41. Drunk Mike

    Does anyone else think Sal might be annoyed that she got into a huge brawl and Walky is literally the only one who didn’t notice?

    1. Bagge

      Honestly I think she’s mostly thankful for that.

      Marcie on the other hand…

      1. Oruncrest

        I know Sal’s thankful Marcie didn’t see that!

        Marcie (signs as Sal and Amber begin posturing): Good work Sal, you’re de-escalating that like a pro. Now let me move hostage-boy outta the way befoew he becomes collateral damage too.

      2. BBCC

        I mean, Marcie finding out will only take so long. It’s bound to be campus gossip and once Malaya hears about it, it’s only a matter of time.

        Plus, y’know, bruises on her face.

  42. Deanatay

    Dorothy left after pushing him off the back of one of those chairs, upon which he was precariously perched. He landed in his current position, and just pulled out his cell phone.

    EPIC LAZINESS ACHIEVED

  43. Mr. Random

    ….. For some reason it took me a couple re-reads to get that he was talking to Amber and not in a group chat.

  44. FacelessDeviant

    Oh yay. A “We gotta talk”-talk!
    Someone hose the stairs clean, we might have a breakup.

    1. BBCC

      I’ll get the hose.

    2. Segnosaur

      Possibly, but more likely she is finally going to reveal the past history between her and Sal (including the stabbing).

      1. Regalli

        And then WALKY could decide to break up because ‘stabbed the sister I’m sort of trying to repair my relationship with’ could be a dealbreaker for him.

        He MIGHT be okay with things hearing the story. (Particularly depending on the sequence of events he gets.) But he also might not because it is a pretty big deal and this situation is going to naturally limit his relationship with one of them unless they get to a better headspace and try to mend fences. And frankly, they don’t have to. Holding your best friend hostage or stabbing you in the hand are perfectly reasonable things to never forgive or want to spend time with someone for.

  45. AgentKeen

    I was very confused why Walky was letting Dorothy know that Dorothy had been gone for a while.

  46. Oberon

    And Amber and Dorothy look so much alike that I was confused for a bit because the text icon looked like Dorothy to me. I got better.

    1. Oberon

      You know that when you just hit End and type in your first impression that someone has already ninja’d you by 5 and a half hours. Lookin’ at you, AgentKeen.

      1. thejeff

        Try 18 hours and 20 minutes. 🙂
        Some of the earliest comments were about that confusion.

  47. Darkoneko

    One part of my want Sal, who hesitate to come talk to her bro, to go ahead. But on the other hand, it’s the damn Walky we’re talking about.

    1. BBCC

      Walky means well. Unfortunately, this is a learning process and it might take a while. Sal might not be in the mood tonight.

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