144

The bus
Posted on April 15, 2022 by David M Willis

144 thoughts on “The bus”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    I guess his strength peaked early, too

    1. Clif

      In the meantime we see Sal’s ability to scale heights.

      1. PirateTawnee

        Of course she can scale heights, she IS Amazi-Girl after all.

  2. The Wellerman

    “Pleeeeaaaase let this be a normal fieldtrip!”

    “With Walky?!?! NO WAY!!!!!”

    ?

    1. Doctor_Who

      Robin would make an…interesting Miss Frizzle.

      1. RassilonTDavros

        …I kinda want that to be an actual thing, now.

      2. The Wellerman

        Oooooo! Now I REALLY want it to happen! Think of the awesome misadventures!!! ?

      3. Icarus

        F’rizzle.

        1. Kyrros

          ^ This is the content I come to the internet for!

    2. Yotomoe

      I knew I should’ve stayed home today.

  3. True Survivor

    Thus Billie Ball was born.

  4. Taffy

    And then he threw her underneath the school bus and Nina’s daughter took the opportunity to take her place. The “Billie/Jennifer” we’ve seen this whole time is actually a different girl altogether. It’s all connected, people.

    1. Jamie

      Nah, Jennifer was thrown under the bus and has only returned to take Billie’s place in the last semester.

  5. Sirksome

    I feel like a school bus should probably have steps accessible to small children. Or is this public transportation?

    1. David M Willis

      i mean, do you want photos of my children crawling up the bus steps like a jungle gym on the first day of kindergarten, or

      1. The Wellerman

        I don’t know about the rest of you here, but I certainty wouldn’t turn them down!

        1. Mr D

          While I concur that it would be adorable, I don’t think that was a serious offer

        2. David M Willis

          FOOLS

          note the steps are taller than their legs are at the knee

        3. Taffy

          That backpack is bigger than mine, holy moly.

        4. Sirksome

          Was gonna say that’s kind of crazy to see. Are they making backpacks bigger these days or are children just small? I mean children are small, so maybe it’s both.

        5. King Daniel

          If you have a big backpack as a kid, then you can grow into it rather than having to set it aside after a year or three *taps forehead*

        6. Switchchris24

          A bigger back pack also allows him to hide in it for a game of Hide and Seek, who would ever think to look in a back pack for a kid?

        7. Regalli

          I know I started getting back pain from having to cart textbooks back and forth (in part because I went to daycare and we couldn’t keep our books there IIRC, also probably in part because of a connective tissue disorder but kids are bendy anyway) sometime around, like, third or fourth grade. Which is still several years away for them, but having a big backpack can be useful in that respect.

        8. Uly

          Kids that age need folders. Folders do not come in kindergarten size. All folders are the same size, and they all need to fit in the backpack.

        9. Romanticide

          Huge heavy backpacks bigger than most kids have been a thing at least since the 90s (can’t speak of before) XD In Mexico somewhere after the 2000s complains where made that what kids where carrying where too much and actually taken seriously.

        10. JBento

          I think the backpack is bigger than the KID. Like, Willis could put one kid in a backpack and have the other kid carry him.

        11. Needfuldoer

          How else is he supposed to smuggle the cat, the dog, or his brother into his class?

        12. anon

          makes sense to grow into it lol, i feel like i got a new backpack every other year or so while doing back to school shopping tho i suppose it’d be more practical for one to just use the same backpack for multiple years til it wears down but given how fickles kids can be i can imagine they’d want a new backpack everytime around their interests (in yotsuba she also went backpack shopping and randoseru are also supposed to last long, tho i assume the black book bags as a high schooler could also last a while too/looks a bit more pro)

          i’m old enough to appreciate a longer lasting bag now but i’d def be tempted to want a new backpack for each grade growing up tho i wasn’t particularly spoiled haha (tho still don’t really understand some women buying multiple over priced bags other than just to have some luxury name brand bag)

        13. The Wellerman

          AWE ???

          Thank you Willis!!! ❤️

        14. The Wellerman

          BTW your kid has great taste in backpacks! ?

        15. Johan

          I want a shark backpack that can double as my shelter too…

        16. Mr D

          Well, that’s egg on my face.
          Also, Awwwww.

        17. Jflb96

          Your first mistake was assuming that the USA would do something sensible

        18. newlland(Henryvolt)

          Now you see to us we find this hilarious and adorable but in their minds they properly like they just Scaled Mount Everest with a backpack full of rocks.

        19. Sirksome

          Kind of like an episode of Rugrats where an average everyday encounter becomes a grand adventure!

        20. The Wellerman

          So sweet! ?

          Maybe I’ll make a game about it one day! ?

        21. woobie

          >watch your step

        22. Clif

          Good lord, the size of that back pack!

          A clear case of child cruelty.

        23. Clif

          But it IS an impressive feat. And performed with backpack and mask as well. Well done, Willis spawn!

        24. Acher4

          ADORABLE!

          also…

          holy shit, the busses are a hazard zone.

        25. Miri

          Those steps are half as tall as your children!! Sal, Walky and Billie have indeed been drawn approximately the same height as your smoll ones at a comparable age/stage ?

          Is the yellow card so the bus driver knows where to deposit them?

        26. Plain Marie

          I see your kids ride the yellow bus. We’ve also use this color coded cards.

        27. Keulen

          Either I didn’t take the bus to school much when I was that young, or I’ve forgotten how big those steps are for a little kid.

        28. JA

          When your backpack is literally big enough to hide inside of.

    2. Doopyboop

      Honestly, the same bus that has 5 year olds on it also has 10 year olds on it, as someone who rode the bus from kindergarden to senior year of high school, can confirm, the steps are pretty big.

    3. Taffy

      School buses should have a lot of things. School buses continue not to have those things regardless, in bold defiance of the Mothercrystal’s will.

    4. Thag Simmons

      Sort of a side effect of the bus thing, but yeah the step can be rough for younger kids

  6. Mr D

    Oh hey, look, Charles is recording his children instead of Social Climbing, it’s almost like he’s a human being or something!
    /sarcasm

    1. Taffy

      It’s a smokescreen. He’s actually texting Linda a picture of them with the caption “?guess who just befriended the rich family’s daughter ?”

      1. Sirksome

        Linda’s already gotten the Billingsworth’s contact information. A play date will be set before the end of the school day. All according to plan!

    2. Needfuldoer

      Linda isn’t there. With nobody around to passively enable, he defaults to following what all the other parents are doing.

      /s

  7. Stephen Bierce

    –Holding hands meant so much baby–John Cougar Mellenkamp

    1. Geneseepaws

      Thank you for that.

  8. RassilonTDavros

    Oh my god they’re so adorable

    also, just caught the number on that bus.

    1. The Wellerman

      What’s so special about it, other than it being a power of two?

      1. Taffy

        It’s how many years ago Willis started doing comics.

        1. King Daniel

          I didn’t know Willis attended IU in 1894! That’s impressive!

      2. AbacusWizard

        It’s the smallest number that can be expressed as the sum of two cubes in two different—oh wait, wrong vehicle, sorry

        1. Clif

          Close though. It’s the smallest seventh power of a number to be three more than the third power of a number.

      3. Cattleprod

        The main cast of It’s Walky! were members of squad 128.

        1. King Daniel

          Well, most of the main cast. Joe was never part of Squad 128 from memory, except in one of the alternate universes. (Billie was also never part of any of the SEMME squads, as she didn’t have superpowers.)

        2. cbwroses

          Joe was part of Squad 128 then he switched squads.

        3. King Daniel

          Well, point still stands then about Walkyverse!Billie. 😛 Also, Danny.

        4. Nono

          Danny, Billie, Leslie, Amber, Ethan, Sarah, Dorothy, Becky, Dina…

          A lot of the main cast have not been on 128.

        5. King Daniel

          The original comment referred to the main cast of It’s Walky!, though. Ethan and Leslie are Shortpacked!-era characters, Dorothy and Becky are Joyce and Walky!-era characters, and while Sarah—like Billie and Danny—originates in Roomies!, unlike them she was absent for pretty much the entirety of the following plot of It’s Walky, only returning for essentially an extended cameo at the beginning of the finale and one each much shorter cameo in the next two comics.

        6. RassilonTDavros

          Nah, Joe was on 128 from the time he joined SEMME until the organization was disbanded. Mike was the one who switched.

  9. RassilonTDavros

    Oh hey, it’s Good Friday!

    plays “This Jesus Must Die” on the hacked Muzak, because I’m gonna have it stuck in my head all day so I might as well inflict it on y’all

    1. Plain Marie

      Right there with ya.
      JCSuperstar – rock on.

    2. Bicycle Bill

      But it must be from the B’way soundtrack, not that abomination of a film.

  10. Yotomoe

    BEST FRIENDS FOREVER.

    1. Taffy

      *the screen inverts and dramatically zooms in. a guy who got paid $5 says “UNTIL THEY WEREN’T”*

    2. The Wellerman

      *plays “Together Forever” by J. P. Hartmann on Hacked Muzak*

      1. Rayndel

        I am surprised and very pleased that the song that popped into my head at reading your comment was actually the song you linked to.

  11. Mr. Random

    She was a lonely rich kid and Walky didn’t care about her wealth.

    Heck, even their dad was telling them to behave around her.

    1. The Wellerman

      That’s one of the most precious, important things about kids — minds not yet tainted by dogma, by the Grand Illusion that manifests the social classes as we know it. ?

      1. zee

        Eh, go to private school and you’ll quickly find out that’s not true. My friend was getting bullied for being “poor” at like, 6

    2. Bladeglory

      Note that he didn’t tell Sal to behave. I think it was just because he knows what his son is like. 😛

      1. Needfuldoer

        Linda would’ve specifically told Sal to behave.

      2. thejeff

        He didn’t say “behave”, he said “be nice to her”. And he said it to Walky because she was going to be in his class.

        1. Bladeglory

          …maybe I’m weird, but to me, those mean the same thing.

  12. Thag Simmons

    Those “I love you”‘s between Sal and her father are surprisingly painful with the foreknowledge of how badly the relationship ends up deteriorating

    1. Sirksome

      It’s funny how you think he’s saying “I love you too” to Sal when he’s clearly saying it to his phone. You think he’s taking a loving video of his kid’s first bus ride, but he’s actually checking the value of his bitcoin. Yeah that’s right, Charles is a cryptobro! Sliding timescale means cryptocurrency probably existed then right?

      1. Taffy

        If not, just give it a few years and it will already have already existed.

  13. Riley

    Just really clicked for me that when this comic started the characters were old enough to have gotten their first smart phone as a Sweet 16 present and now their parents had them when they were in kindergarten lol

    1. Clay

      Yeah, I did a doubletake.

  14. Francoinblanco

    Schoolbus too big for schoolchildren? “Ils sont fous, ces Américains !”

    1. Thag Simmons

      Yeah they’re built to handle all ages and you tend to design for the largest potential occupants

      1. vlademir1

        To be fair they do have school bus designs that’re intended to specifically accommodate younger kids, but not many districts bother as it’s easier to keep in a tight budget if you can just treat every bus as interchangeable.

      2. eh, whatever

        You’re aware that buses don’t need to have steps at all, aren’t you?

        1. Needfuldoer

          They do when you build them on the same loading dock height ladder chassis as a cargo truck or dump truck!

        2. Agemegos

          Not if you built bus tops with a platform at bus floor height, a ramp at one end and stairs at the other. As they do in some cities in Brazil.

        3. Agemegos

          “bus stops”, that is.

        4. Needfuldoer

          Not practical in parts of the US, where it seems like the school bus stops at every other telephone pole!

        5. thejeff

          Yeah, in rural and suburban areas school buses stop at houses with kids or at gathering points for a bunch of houses with kids, not at specially build bus stops.

        6. khn0

          Still possible to have a wheelchair ramp which smaller kids could use.
          Ofc that would mean a bit more time per busstop.
          The lesson here is that yes you can but no you won’t if you don’t really take it into account.

        7. Needfuldoer

          There’s no room for a ramp on a school bus. Look at the side of an American school bus, and you’ll see three strips that run the whole length, front to back. The bottom strip is the height of the floor, and the middle one is the height of the seats. There’s literally no room to make them accessible by a ramp; the stairs are that steep so you get up to the floor height before you hit the frame rail.

          School buses here have to be specially equipped with hydraulic wheelchair lifts and tie-downs in order to accommodate wheelchair users, and the driver or an aide has to be trained on how to safely operate and secure them.

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xX6vnB_OGY

          School buses are built like box trucks, not low-floor passenger buses. The floor is over a meter off the ground.

        8. khn0

          That’s precisely the type of equipment I meant, I apologize for using the wrong terms (ramp seems to have been inadequate).
          .

  15. DailyBrad

    I’m beginning to see how Walky and Billie hit it off in their own little way.

    Also funny is that this is probably years before the acting sting, but I am thinking of Joyce’s crush on the mouse in Hymnal that turned out to be Walky, how Walky’s been a presence in the romantic development of a surprisingly large portion of the cast.

  16. BBCC

    Okay, that first panel with Charles and Sal is VERY cute. I love it <3

    1. Needfuldoer

      It’s also kinda heartbreaking because we know what their future holds.

      Kind of makes you wonder what he’s actually like when he’s left to his own devices, rather than passively enabling Linda while she strong-arms the narrative. We’ve seen subtle hints that internally he’s at least more sympathetic to Sal than she is (not that it makes up for his actions, not by a long shot).

      1. Sirksome

        I think we just saw it. This is what Charles is like when Linda’s not around. Just a guy. Not really good or bad, but since he’s married to and associated with Linda and her actions it kind of makes everything he does a little less tolerable because you know he enables someone with undesirable motivations.

  17. Cass

    Man, Walky and Sal being young enough that leaving for their first day of school was filmed on a phone is the first thing that really made the sliding timeline hit weird for me (in a “Oh god, how am I this much older than them now?” type of way)

  18. Bagge

    Those little moments when Walky manages to Walky just right

    1. Clif

      Which is always, because there is never a time when Walky doesn’t Walky.

  19. Jamie

    Man, he got a smartphone before I did.

    1. Lexi

      I was just admiring his smartphone, circa 2004? Even accounting for the “Always Now” timeline, 18 years ago is still well before the advent of the iPhone

      1. Thag Simmons

        I think we call that future proofing

      2. King Daniel

        They’re kindergarten-age here per word of Willis, and 18 in the “present”; hence this is (currently) set in circa 2009. The original iPhone was released in 2007, two years before.

      3. Keulen

        Most kids start going to kindergarten in the US at around age 5 or 6, so that’s more like 12 or 13 years ago. So this would be 2009 or 2010 phones I guess.

      4. khn0

        There were phones taking pictures before the Iphone. I don’t remember one with this design, but I think this has more to do with this phone being generic so anyone can understand it’s a phone, rather than a specific design a of then existing phone. Note than on many sign now, the old phone symbole (the one with a thing to talk, and one other to speak) has been replace with a generic smartphone-like phone, so younger people are able to understand what it is (not saying they wouldn’t get it, I’m not the one replacing symbols because I’d think people aren’t able to bind a concept and a symbolic image – an ideogramm)

        1. zee

          True. When i was little my mom had this phone that looked like an actual camera from the back, with like a rounded keyboard thing at the front. She gave it to me when I was 8 or something and it’s still the coolest phone I’ve ever owned and I’m still trying to track it down

  20. Regalli

    Sal looks so happy here. She’s being sincere with that ‘love you’ bit.

    =(

    1. The Wellerman

      Yeah. Eventually though, “all that is solid melts into air…”

    2. Clif

      My reply ended up at the bottom and not here.

      (The tragic thing is not that Sal means it, but that Charles does too.)

    3. DailyBrad

      Yeah, it stings, thinking about it all.

      I do think Sal definitely loves her parents, on account of it’d be so much easier for her sometimes if she didn’t, but it’s rough.

  21. newlland(Henryvolt)

    Simpler times.

  22. LiterallyJustSomeGuy

    These kids are too cute!

  23. Clif

    The tragic thing is not that Sal means it, but that Charles does too.

  24. Throwatron

    Scholarly-inclined readers will note that this time, Walky extended his right hand, while the booger was reportedly on the left. Turns out he was doing a bit the whole time!

  25. Marvelman

    Have we ever actually met Billy’s parents?

    1. Needfuldoer

      We saw her mom.

      … Once.

      … In the old Walkyverse continuity.

      … In silhouette.

      … In a flashback.

      … Boinking Ruth’s father.

      https://www.itswalky.com/comic/one-day-part-2-page-9/

      And we saw her father walk her down the aisle. His head is out of frame, though. (Later crowd shots have both of them obscured by other people in the foreground.)

      https://www.itswalky.com/comic/so-smug/

      1. King Daniel

        Willis remarked there that they might eventually appear in the Dumbiverse (which they still haven’t, to date), but that it eventually became something of a running gag to never get a clear view of her parents in the Walkyverse.

        Which works out just as well, I suppose, since Willis has also stated that while Dumbiverse-Jennifer is mixed-race (her mother’s stated in-comic to be Chinese), Walkyverse-Billie was not (but her being often mistaken for such by the readership is what inspired Dumbiverse-Jennifer to be so, if I recall).

        1. DailyBrad

          Huh, did not know that. Billie being biracial is one of those things that works so well for her in DoA that it’s hard to picture a situation where it wouldn’t be the case, though obviously, Walkyverse Billie isn’t quite the same character to begin with, naturally.

        2. thejeff

          It works since they’re mostly defined in Jennifer’s life by their absence. Maybe we’ll get to meet Nina.

        3. King Daniel

          Pretty sure Nina’s a family servant, not Mrs. Billingsworth. Remember this strip? https://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/04-it-all-returns/nina/

        4. thejeff

          That’s what I meant.

          We’re more likely to meet Nina, since she’s been more of a presence in Jennifer’s life.

  26. ADLegend21

    Protect this boy.

  27. Acher4

    that “I love you daddy” is a true tragic irony.

  28. Opus the Poet

    We from the future are sad at this comic.

  29. Darkoneko

    is the booger still in his other hand ?

    1. Arianod

      C’mon, do you even need to ask?

  30. Rabisch

    I love how Sal just go up while Walky think about it. Their differences wires already here.

    1. thejeff

      Though Walky’s also slowed to look after Jennifer.

  31. Reaver

    Aw okay, I’ll admit it.. that was cute.

  32. hof1991

    DYW started drawing using his classmates as models. Now he is using his children. Muzak plays Older by TMBG.

    1. hof1991

      https://youtu.be/TdIRrmNN_CQ Headed out the door but had time to find it. BTW, my photos would be of grandchildren

  33. thejeff

    I’ve got to say, I really like Walky in these flashback strips. You can see his entire character in miniature.
    The little boy grossness that he’s retained of course, but also turning back to help Jennifer when she’s hesitating.

    1. Blue

      That was so cute! He’s a good egg.

  34. Someone

    And it was then everyone had a moment. A moment where they wondered, “Do I want a ‘Walky Babies’ thing? It’s Muppet Babies but with the kidDoA! versions of the characters?”

    Thankfully, it was only a moment, and everyone recovered.

    1. Geneseepaws

      Thank goodness, everyone is safe. You scared me with the “Walkybabies” thing. I panicked. And after more coffee everything is fine.

  35. JBento

    Oooof, that second panel Billie going “the hell is this thing, a parent saying ‘I love you’ to their kids?”

    1. King Daniel

      “Where’s the $20 bill?”

  36. Steelbright

    You know what is honestly making me sad about this flashback isn’t anything to do with Jennifer (Billie, in flashback land) and Walky, but how sweet & caring little Sal is…. le sigh.

  37. All-Purpose Guru

    Little Sal is so adorable…

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