228

Tummy
Posted on November 8, 2012 by David M Willis
Imagine if this were the first Dumbing of Age comic you ever read.

228 thoughts on “Tummy”

  1. hinoteoni

    Oh fudge

    1. cutestupidfox

      why the tummy *rubbs tummy* ohhhh thats why … also ahhhhhh cut face evil rape guy ahhhhh

      1. riteilu

        To be honest, when I saw the first panel my immediate reaction was “oh man, tummy rubs are great!”

      2. Scout

        Is that the BED POST hes rubbin her tummy with?….
        NEED THIS

  2. ilvos01

    You are pretty fucked up, Willis.

    1. David Herbert

      And you’re only realising this now?

      1. cutestupidfox

        i realised all crative people are messed up in some way thats why their so damn creative

        1. some dude

          I should get myself traumatized…

        2. Wixvhen

          … Joyce is going to wake up and have a permanent fear of sex and/or masturbation.

        3. Kaj

          Either that or start a webcomic.

        4. DaJoshMaster

          Joyce is Willis! :O

        5. Björn

          Yes.

        6. Raoullefere

          and possibly either shake weights or pepper grinders.

        7. Arkadi

          Which she didn’t have before, you mean?

        8. dg

          @some dude
          NP, Just Keep Reading

        9. xero

          yea you really shouldn’t

        10. tahrey

          “Happy people have no stories” after all

        11. Jenny Creed

          Or maybe we’re messed up because we’re creative! Wait, I like your thing better.

    2. The Pink Ninja

      I’d blame human biology rather than Willis. Dreams are like this.

  3. Jarin

    Let’s hear it for abstinence-only sex ed…

    1. Kamino Neko

      To be fair, I got good sex ed, and I’ve had sex dreams that were every bit as weird as this was before the OMGRAPEFLASHBACK…

      1. Jim

        >>OMGRAPEFLASHBACK

        I thought that said “OM•Grape Flashback” — but THOSE ARE WORSE!!

        Don’t believe me? Just ask the Grape Lady! http://tinyurl.com/3xhww2

        1. Vonix

          You are right but here lets combine the two! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZoiJM1vlfc

    2. LS

      I’ve had ladyfriends who loved to have their stomachs touched as foreplay. So this seems pretty normal to me, aside from the childish ‘dirty’ talk.

  4. Nearphotison

    There’s that Ryan, ruining everything again.

    1. CWR

      C’mon, they lost – let it go…

      1. Tenn

        I’m not sure if none, one or both of you are joking.

  5. Maro

    This is hilarious, creepy, sad, and just weird all at once.

    Poor Joyce.

  6. Wonder Wig

    No, no bad place. XS

  7. Shin

    UH?

  8. Plasma Mongoose

    What the hell did Joyce eat before going to bed?

    1. Yotomoe

      A Box of Libid-o’s. The Cereal with Marshmallow Spanish Flies.

      1. Aegon01

        I lol’d

    2. Doctor_Who

      Welsh Rarebit, of course.

      I bequeath an internet to anyone who knows why.

      1. Aitherion

        Dream of the Rarebit Fiend?

        1. Doctor_Who

          Well done! Winsor McCay comics from 1904 FTW!

        2. Kryss LaBryn

          That was the prequel to Wallace & Grommit’s “Curse of the Welsh Rarebit,” wasn’t it?

      2. Obligitory Meme Insert

        I used to make those when I was a kid. I don’t know why the mustard males it so much better, but it does.

        1. marr

          Mustard Males? Is that slang for Asian dudes?

        2. Random Guy

          Yes, but only when applied to cocktail wienies.

        3. Narf

          Males = typo’d makes.

          P.S. Your comment was kind of racist.

      3. Mollyscribbles

        Or possibly cheese toast.

  9. David Herbert

    Methinks she didn’t get a proper education in boning matters.

  10. Axel Bordelon

    This is pretty plot intense.

  11. Mkvenner

    PTSD.

    1. CKTofu

      Pretty Thick and Strong Dick?

      1. Broken Products

        WIN!!

      2. Min Rei

        Not funny at all.

        1. Narf

          You’re right.

          You’re not funny at all.

    2. begbert2

      I honestly parsed that as “Post-traumatic Sex Disorder.” Still seems pretty appropriate on review, though.

    3. JP8

      ASD, actually, but yup.

  12. IPGComic

    TOO INTENSE.

    1. Bluebird

      How intense?

      ALL OF THEM.

  13. Wack'd

    Wow! Shock of all shocks! It’s almost like Joyce has no idea how sex works!

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      I hope she knows that babies don’t come from cabbage patches at least.

      1. Doctor_Who

        I’m hoping she knows that in real life a guy’s “Thing” isn’t detachable. I mean, she has brothers, right?

        1. Tristan J

          What, yours isn’t?

        2. Doctor_Who

          Not so far, no.

        3. Tristan J

          Oh man.

          You are missing out.

        4. Ben

          I feel like a Detachable Penis song reference is needed. (my name for the video)

        5. Parismio

          God your face screams “Omg do it! Do it!”

        6. Rheios

          “Detachable Penis Reference” sounds like a very awkward indy band.

        7. Kernanator

          As someone mentioned before, it’s definitely detachable. It’s the reattaching that is problematic.

        8. Yotomoe

          Everything has the potential to be detached. We don’t need your LABELS!

        9. DaJoshMaster

          As you tell tell by your gravatar, sometimes reattaching can go completely wrong!

        10. Wixvhen

          That’s actually a second best scenario. Completely wrong has lifelong consequences that can never be undone.

        11. thomas0comer

          Isn’t that Maxim 11?

      2. Yotomoe

        Of course not. It so obviousely comes from a large white bird carrying the baby in a sheet.

    2. Confuzor

      She’s clearly been to the wrong parts of the internets.

      1. CWR

        No, if she’d been to the wrong parts she’d know what’s what.

        1. Kam

          nonononono.. those are the RIGHT parts.
          As we all know. the internet is for porn. (everyones heard it, so I shant link.

        2. Tualha

          But…but…if the internet is for porn, and the internet is made of cats, doesn’t that mean it’s all kitty porn? DO NOT WANT

        3. Heavensrun

          Google “Felicia” and then come say that again.

        4. Tualha

          DO NOT WANT

        5. Ray

          A cat is fine too.

        6. Spazman

          hmm….Felicia Day was the one that popped up for me. I wonder what you’re–

          oh.

          okay, I went to Image mode.

          got it.

        7. Valdrax

          You’ve never actually read fanfiction written by (obviously virgin) teenagers, have you?

          There’s a trope for this: IKEA Erotica.

        8. Kaci

          ba-dum-pish!

        9. StClair

          That’s where a handful of hunky Norsemen show up at your door with wood (oak and pine, mostly) and you make with the screwing, right?

        10. Kamino Neko

          Nah, this isn’t Ikea Erotica.

          Ikea Erotica is like reading an Ikea instruction sheet. Boring, literal ‘slot a into tab b’ stuff, which actually suggests at least a vague understanding of how the act works. (Just not all that much creativity with it…)

          This is more Anatomically Impossible Sex. ‘Cuz unless there’s something Ethan ain’t tellin’ us…his thing is definitely attached to him.

    3. Romanticide

      well it’s dream logic after all…

    4. John C. Kirk

      The first couple of panels remind me of Rachel Bloom’s song “You can touch my boobies”:
      Video
      Sample quote: “I’ll show you my vagina, which is located on my stomach somewhere.” The last couple of panels are quite disturbing, as others have said.

  14. Yotomoe

    This has taken a turn.

    1. Raoullefere

      A turn of the magic peppermill as it flakes nightmare from the corns of trauma.

      1. bigdaddypachyderm

        This came off as very “Chef Brian” when I read it.

      2. Kaci

        your comment and avatar are nearly as horrifying as the comic itself

  15. Rayrayrave

    Fuck, I knew it seemed like Joyce was getting over this whole almost rape thing too quickly.

  16. Beachfox

    I have no idea what emoticon represents the expression I just made.
    \ ~
    0.o
    ()

    Something like that?

  17. Tom Speelman

    HOLY CHEESE NIGHTMARE FUEL OHMYGOSH!

    1. Dragon

      you forgot to say Batman

  18. thelastnerd

    This comic is horrifying enough without me attempting to imagine that it was the first DoA comic I ever read, thank you very much.

  19. otusasio451

    Well…that escalated quickly. Jesus Christ, Willis. Oy.

  20. Wonder Wig

    “Do you want to know how I got these scars?”

    1. JhennaSide

      Awww… we’re not on reddit, I can’t upvote you.

    2. Alex Stritar

      “I know how you got them. I was there.”

  21. Kernanator

    Gooooodnight, everybody!

  22. C.

    Love Walky’s avatar on this.

  23. Tristan J

    I enjoy how rapidly this particular strip went from the funniest thing to have ever happened in DOA to… not the funniest thing to have ever happened in DOA.

    “RUB MY TUMMY WITH IT!”

    1. Yotomoe

      Simulataneousely smile frowns occurred. My body was so confused.

      1. Tristan J

        For me it was more like “HA HA HA HA HA HA HA oh.”

        1. Raoullefere

          Most humor’s like that if you dig deep enough.

        2. Tenn

          Yeah, humor is kind of like fear in reverse. “HA! HA! HA! AH! AH! AH!”

        3. begbert2

          !AH !AH !AH !AH !AH !AH

  24. BranTheQuixotic

    Damn this whole dream sequence has just been really well written. And drawn.

  25. Sensedog

    This would indeed be considered an example of a “bad trip”, though with Joyce it would likely be worse since it relates to a traumatic experience.

    1. Doctor_Who

      Galasso puts LSD in his pizza sauce. It’s the only explanation for how he was able to drive Mama Bear’s out of business.

  26. JebJeb

    My wild stab in the dark actually happened!

    1. Yotomoe

      So did Joyces, a few months ago.

      1. Tom Speelman

        HEY-O!

        1. Kaci

          remember, children, sex kills.

    2. Vabolo

      Hopefully for Joyce, it’ll be the only one!

    3. Parismio

      Stab in the Dark “That actually sounds like a good title for a horror flick”

  27. Aslee

    It was hilarious and then quickly became not hilarious at all. The phrase ‘I don’t know what my emotions are doing’ has never actually been accurate until this moment.

    Also, every time she says ‘thing’ I’m reminded of 50 Shades of Gray and ‘he touched me… there.’

  28. Rosie

    So today’s comic is pretty much EXACTLY this comic for the modern era: http://oglaf.com/sexmanual/1/ (NSFW)

    1. Mr. C. Sprite

      Hey! Stay out of my life unless you’re gonna be like my boss! Can I boss? Can I??

    2. Kryss LaBryn

      LOL I was just gonna say. XD

  29. Jehosaphat

    Called it.

  30. Liam

    Actually Willis, I think you’re ahead of the curve. If this was the first comic I read of DoA, that would be pretty much par for the course compared to most webcomics.

  31. Seawee

    Poor girl, she really may be scared from that. Curious tho, she actually don’t remember about the event because of the drug…

    1. Yotomoe

      Her subconcious knows ALL.

    2. Gordon

      Eh, it’s not really that simple. Joyce was marginally aware of the things going on around her, until she passed out. So she should have some memories of the attack, even if she can’t access them consciously. Whether that is due to the drug or her coping mechanisms is unknown. Mostly likely there is a mishmash of sense memories soaked with all the fear and anger, all being repressed of course. Actively repressed, I would assume, given what we know of Joyce.

      The problem with repressing stuff is it rarely, if ever, stays in the tiny box we try to keep it in.

  32. Clementine

    I love the whiplash I just got from this comic.

    So few panels. So many reactions.

    Not gonna lie… kinda freaked out for reals. Which is part of why I lurv your writing.

  33. Azukar

    Wow, I’ve… I’ve been doing it wrong my whole life :O
    You’re meant to detach it and rub it on her tummy?!

    1. Dr.Z

      Ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff…

    2. Narf

      Yes, absolutely! And don’t worry if yours won’t come off at first. If you haven’t detached it before it’ll probably be a little stuck. Just put on some gardening gloves and give it a good, solid yank. 😉

  34. Rust

    Well crap.

  35. isitsevenyet

    Wow, I actually jumped when I saw that last panel.

    1. Gilly

      Ditto. That’s actually a really frightening scene to have suddenly appear.

  36. John Madden

    Oh hey, date rape guy. Haven’t seen him in a while.

    1. petsinwinter

      your gravitar makes it funnier

      1. Andrusi

        “Oh, hi, date rape guy! Haven’t seen you in a while! How’s it going? So how about those election results–crazy, huh?”

  37. Jesse

    I’d bet money this is someone’s first.

    1. Kryss LaBryn

      I am beginning to comprehend how Faz and Wren took eight tries to get it right. Not that I’m convinced they’re there yet… >.>

      1. Narf

        AHH!! AHHHHH!! Shortpacked! spoiler!! *covers eyes*

        (I am still not finished with Shortpacked! :P)

      2. Kernanator

        Wrong first.

  38. Benjammin

    this would freak me out so badly i’d have to archive dive just to see if it was all like this…

  39. Brother Bubblegum

    This dream sequence has gotta be one of my five favorite webcomic moments.

  40. Uniqueantique

    I was pretty sure she was taking that date rape incident way to easy. But damn. Well done Willis. One of your best.

  41. Benjammin

    sidenote: i’ve been reading this for ages and discovered your other stuff over the summer, and i have yet to be disappointed. except maybe a tiny bit that i don’t know what happened during the end phase of the walky+joyce stuff. anywho, you sir, ROCK!

  42. cdotsq

    OH THIS IS JOYCES DREAM
    I thoguht it was Ethans and i said to myself “This makes no sense WTAF”

  43. Raine

    Wait, so that’s -not- how you have sex?

    Huh. Been doing it wrong for all these years.

  44. NinjaNick

    Wake up, Joyce!

  45. Historyman68

    I’ve been looking forward to the next installments of Joyce’s dream sequence each night, and it hasn’t disappointed. Never thought Willis would be this good at surrealist stuff, but it doesn’t surprise me at all. I hope he does a real drug trip in this strip at some point.

  46. ik

    Oh god poor Joyce.

  47. thatgirlwiththeglasses

    AAAAAAAAAAA

  48. Romanticide

    And this is where the dream goes from weird to bad 🙁 poor Joyce 🙁

  49. Giant Speck

    Is it weird that I imagined some weird pyschodelic music in my head for the first part of the comic and then ear-shattering horror movie music for the last panel?

  50. EveytheKittah

    Most comments evah? You should make a poster of this one! ^!^

  51. Greg

    Although this is horrifying, its also a brilliant move story-wise. I am excited to see where Joyce’s subconscious takes her.

  52. m33p

    I can’t be the only one to notice his cut is on the wrong side, right?

    1. Mister Mercy

      I noticed

    2. Hinoron

      I noticed too… however, I wondered if it might have been deliberate.

      I remember mention in that Arnold Schwarzenegger end times movie (forget the title now) that often when we dream, words and numbers are upside down and/or backwards (and therefor the “devil’s number” 666, was actually 999, the last year of the millenium.) I don’t know if there’s any truth to that; I’ve certainly never noticed myself. Then again, I don’t have dreams about the number 666 either.

  53. Phil

    …aaaaand now Joyce wakes up screaming. Super Sarah to the rescue!

    1. Dr.Z

      Yeeeeeeeeess…

      Comfort her, Sarah.

      Lesbianism is not a sin in the Bible. Only butt stuff.

      Comfort her…

  54. Dr.Z

    Tee-hee!

    Silly dildo-‘Your-THING’ joke. 🙂

    Ahhh! Scary! 0o0

  55. Furie

    Why is Ethans detachable? Do they all come off? Should mine?

    1. EspanolBot

      It’s a viberator, possibly due to Joyce only knowing what a penis looks like in the abstract.

      Which then leads to the question as to how she know what a vibe looks like, but I guess it’s not against the rules… *had a mostly nonreligious British education*

      1. Raoullefere

        I think Joyce doesn’t. What Ethan’s holding seems to partake of both knob and stick. Which, if you’ve heard a little of the right slang, is certainly a possible impression for he to get.

        Although one wonders why there isn’t something of the rooster about it.

        1. Jackson

          It looks kinda like a pepper grinder to me. I wonder if Joyce ate out at like Olive Garden or something the night before.

        2. isitsevenyet

          The subconscious does odd things sometimes, too. It could be she knows what the real thing looks like (someone mentioned being a girl born among brothers, and that was true of Joyce in the other universe) but her dream changed it around because dreams are just odd like that.

        3. Boom

          There is a big difference (no pun intended) between a good look and a half-caught glance. That’s the difference between an alien encounter and Robert the philanderer.

      2. Kaci

        I had no idea it was even that… But then again, I’m a strange girl, who has seen more of the male genitalia (being born a female among brothers) than I have any device intended for sexual gratification.

        Honestly, I thought it was a strange flashlight ^_^;;

  56. EspanolBot

    Called it. Sorta. 🙁

  57. Rufus Saltus

    Amazing how different the tone is from the original Roomies! comics. I wonder how younger Willis would react to seeing this as his work in 15 years.

  58. Steven

    Saw this coming.

  59. Dr.Z

    I didn’t see this coming, and it scares me!

  60. wisdomlockedin

    Whelp that was horrifying.

  61. Silver

    This is my first time here. … this girl seems to be suffering from a post-traumatic nightmare caused by unrelieved sexual tension coupled with a horrible memory of a violent person from her past?

    1. Heavensrun

      More or less, yeah.

      1. Heavensrun

        Although “from her past” in this case translates I think to “a couple weeks ago”.

  62. Raen

    Wow. This honestly made me sick. In a good way.

  63. insatiablebooksluts

    Your avatar + comment = win.

  64. Jimmy

    I literally had a shock on look on my face when seeing that last panel. Yikes O_O

  65. Tualha

    Let us hope she now takes Roz’s advice to get some therapy.

  66. Bill Murphy

    OK. You asked and here I am. I’ve been away for a bit and this is the first strip I’ve seen in about two weeks.

    The hells goin on?

  67. Tenn

    It’s good to see a dream sequence that actually feels like a dream.

    Not so good to see Ryan.

    1. Baroncognito

      Most of the dreams I remember feel just like reality until I wake up.

  68. James Rye

    I hope her roommate notices what´s up with Joyce. Maybe Joyce will even wake up screaming/sobbing (i know i would, i wouldn´t want this dream to continue any longer oO) which makes it easier for her to wake up.
    Maybe it will help if she cuddles with the poor girl in her bed till she fall asleep (that would look soooooo cuuuuuteeee~)?

  69. Joe

    Plot twist: Not a dream sequence.

    1. Andrusi

      Ryan is a shapeshifter!

  70. Volkai

    The song title “Welcome to my nightmare” comes to mind.

    Joyce should not sing it.

  71. Austin

    Holy hell Joyce has some F’ed up dreams

  72. nimoy

    So. Creepy. Poor Joyce. Also, the fact that the last panel puts the reader into Joyce’s POV = extra super creepy.

    1. Maycroft

      I bet Joyce will wake up screaming.

    2. Boom

      I had somehow managed to not notice the POV thing, so I have to thank you for the phantom dong sensations on my tummy.

  73. SonicBlueRanger

    0 Shades of Grey.

  74. Vex Godglove

    Well that escalated quickly

  75. begbert2

    Okay, my arbitrary decision to believe that this isn’t a dream and is actually happening makes this a LOT worse.

  76. kschenke

    Ugh, this is not going to make it any easier for Joyce to accept sex as a positive thing, is it?

  77. kschenke

    Also, I forgot what her attacker looked like so for a second I thought he was supposed to be Tycho from Penny Arcade.

    1. Boom

      Her neck isn’t long enough for Tycho to even look twice at her.

  78. Flux

    Damn, I’m at the point where I hesitate to even look at this strip again. Very intense.

    Bravo Willis, bravo.

    1. Boom

      Whenever somebody double-posts and then does that whole ‘aieee, mea culpa’ thing, I get an almost irresistible urge to reply to their comment with their own comment as a sort’f weird ‘ha ha’. Like a fake double-post.

      1. Flux

        Ahh, I wouldn’t have held it against you, it is kind of a silly thing to get bent out of shape about, haha.

  79. Flux

    Damn, I’m at the point where I hesitate to even look at this strip again. Very intense.

    Bravo Willis, bravo.

    1. Flux

      Grr, I knew this would post twice. Oh well.

  80. SeanNOLA

    Willis knows all about my tummy-rub fetish.

  81. Jake

    It is the first one I’ve read, why is Tycho from Penny Arcade here? (4th panel)

  82. Henry

    I’m sensing somebody is in imminent need of The Talk…

  83. Resulli

    All of my wat. Is Joyce on something!? lmao

  84. cmglothlin

    I love that Joyce is having a sex dream without knowing what sex is. That last panel was heart-wrenching.

  85. Potatamoto

    I’m starting to think this might be a dream.

  86. Boom

    Willis, you go right on trolling the internet.

  87. NativeForceOfHobbit

    Native force of habit is leading me to go to questionable content and click on “Dave Willis is A Jerkface” over and over again while I’m trying to think of something else (it’s become basically a nervous tick to go to QC and click on the links to comics I frequent) and every time today I’m all “oh fuck oh fuck I need to stop doing that goddammit me.”

    In summary, Dave Willis is a jerkface and Jeph’s hand is adorable and deserves to get better.

    1. Marie

      Oh man, these were the same day? 🙁

  88. emmyelf3

    I felt everyone’s reaction to the attempted rape was dumb and childish. She needed help, and everyone decided against giving it to her. I was pretty sure something like this was going to happen. Poor sweet Joyce. Pushing things down doesn’t help!

  89. penguintruth

    It’s funny that she thinks the penis goes in the belly button.

  90. Nechrom

    Uhm… so I just wanted to check out this webcomic… I think I’ll be leaving now *slowly starts walking backwards*

    1. Mrelegos

      Noooo, don’t go! It makes sense in contex…well, not really. But I promise you this is abnormal for the comic. Check out the start, I promise you won’t regret it.

    2. Benjammin

      please stay, this is not all DoA is… if you had checked in last week you would’ve had an amusingly awkward pairing (that i want to happen) as your first strip…. we’re really nice here i swear.

    3. Narf

      Read from #1, genius, context is very important.

  91. WikiDreamer

    This is really unsettling, cute and just downright disturbing. As one who’s overcoming her own PTSD, this a is a really accurate take on the subject from Joyce’s position. Poor thing. This is gonna get good plot wise tho.

  92. Bionic

    Wow, did Joyce ever fail sex ed!

    Oh yah, home-schooled by… yeah.

  93. bentup

    So, uh. I just started reading this. In fact, this was the first dumbing of age comic I’ve ever read. Awkward.

  94. Rachel

    Probably gonna be pretty horrified when she finds out how real sex works.

    1. Henry

      I recall a strip in It’s Walky! where she was horrified to discover that babies come out of vaginas.

      1. David

        To be fair, she’d been mindwiped.

  95. voodoo_curse

    I’ve always had a soft spot for Joyce, but this is one of the few times I’ve really felt bad for her. Maybe the mindwipe was a good thing…poor girl.

  96. BWolf

    While this is a very intense strip and I applaud Willis for a very good dream sequence, I just find it funny that despite the dream, Ethan looks like he’s somewhat confused about what’s going on, which I find pretty funny. Then Ryan ruins my fun.

  97. TheSilentG

    “Imagine if this were the first Dumbing of Age comic you ever read”

    It was.

  98. Daniel McKechnie

    Lo, for this is the first Dumbing of Age comic I ever read.

    And now I’ve read all of them.

  99. iggzy

    So I take it from these last two pages, that as Joyce’s vision of Ethan’s “thing” is a….”back” massager, that she has/had one of her own that she was quite fond of? Good Christian girls always find a way I guess.

    1. Narf

      HAH!! I never thought of that, but oh man. I think you may be on to something there. 😛

  100. SHAZAM

    The most surreal my dreams ever get is that I’m in a relationship in them.

    1. Narf

      Do you hear that?

      …It’s the world’s smallest violin playing “cry me a river,” just for you. 😛

  101. Avris

    Curiously, this is the first DoA comic I’ve ever read.

    Imagining it is still hard.

  102. KingOfGreyfell

    Give my tummy all of your thing.

  103. Inkblot

    I love how utterly manic this strip gets. It’s that kind of feverish nonsense that you experience in real life when you’re having a nightmare, or when it’s while you’re trying to fall asleep but you’re caught in some kind of a mental loop. The comic actually manages to conjure up the feelings that we get in real life, and that’s what makes this strip undoubtedly one of my favorite strips in the entire archive to date.

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