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Upset
Posted on May 4, 2016 by David M Willis
2016-04-patreon2previewApril's second Patreon bonus strip is about Puppy Dorothy, because I said not to vote for her and a shitload of people voted for her anyway and upon reflection it was clear that they were all correct and I was wrong.

304 thoughts on “Upset”

  1. Charles Phipps

    Joe, you are the worst wingman ever.

    1. Orion Fury

      Wingmen help get the girl, not keep her. I think.

      1. Inkblot

        A good wingman gets you the girl; a good friend is who helps you keep her. (At least, this is my experience.)

        1. Durandal_1707

          He may be better off not keeping this one, though.

        2. Orion Fury

          Plus, don’t wingmen, or even friends, need to be aware that you have a girlfriend?

        3. nothri

          No one ever accused Joe of being a good friend or a good wingman.

          (I don’t much care for this version of Joe, in case you can’t tell).

        4. Mlle Blackfox

          He’s not a good friend, but he can observe when his friend is upset and asked how his friend was doing and was prepared to help Danny out in the way he knows how. /shrug

          Poor guy gets vilified for being a jock-y person, but nobody ever asks how he’s feeling. Behind that girl-craze is a man that wants to be seen and understood as the person he is, not the person he presents himself to be. <\3

        5. Cerberus

          Both Danny and Joyce have as has Dorothy. He tends to rebuff words of support and mock the person offering them though.

        6. Nyzer

          Not really. Dan here is in a similar place to the initial Walkyverse Dan; he presents a shallow, jock-y persona because he DOESN’T want people to get close, probably as a result of dealing with his parents’ divorce just like in the Walkyverse. This Dan’s a bit more mature than in WV, but he also seems much more comfortable with his persona, whereas the WV version was chafing behind it.

        7. Arian

          *Joe

        8. Deanatay

          He’s AWARE that Danny THINKS he has a superhero girlfriend, I’m just not sure he BELIEVES in her.

        9. Jordan

          Unfortunately true. Until she can get her head on straight, he’s definitely better off not being in a relationship with her.

        10. Palamdrone

          A good wingman gets you the girl. A good friend helps you as best as he can and doesn’t bang your ex.

        11. WolfLann

          Which means he’s neither as he didn’t get him AG and he wanted to put Dotty on the “Do” list the second she dumped him.

        12. Roborat

          A really good friend helps you bury the body.

  2. Some Name

    Danny looks so defeated.

    1. SmilingNid

      He just shot his ol yeller even if it was for the best it still sucks.

      1. Needfuldoer

        His Ol’ Yeller shot him through the heart with his own gun and ran off, now he thinks he’s to blame for that. She was also his rebound from Dorothy, so that wound’s been torn open again.

    2. Cerberus

      Yeah, hell in comic, he’s been dumped twice at the same spot in a little over a month. And this time it was for doing the right thing and Amazi-girl even managed to blame him for it, saying that Amber needed him but he “ruined it all”. Danny’s gonna be a bit fucked up for a bit.

      1. Spencer

        Yeah, that was a combo of overbearing posturing, gaslighting, emotional browbeating, and laser focused attacks on Danny’s insecurities over being a good romantic partner that she’s aware of and just yesterday made a big spiel about how Danny should never be okay with people tearing him down. She couldn’t have been more her dad there if she actually put in effort.

        I’m really hoping her next appearance in about a week dives right into how she feels about how she treated Danny, and hopefully after she’s calmed down a bit she can recognize that she both verbally abused him and did so as Amazi-Girl, her perfect safe alter who never makes mistakes and exists to protect that little shitty coward for whom anger is an unforgivable sin, because goddamn that was really not okay of her and I feel totally alienated from her and her struggles now.

    3. JessWitt

      Just like the Zodiac Killer.

      1. Brute

        nice.

  3. Wheelpath

    I’ve missed Joe
    DAMN IT, don’t worry Danny, you aren’t broken up broken up. I will not accept that!

    1. Inkblot

      Amber seemed to make things pretty clear.

      1. Orion Fury

        Arguably, AmaziGirl did, but that’s probably just splitting hairs.

      2. Cyberfox

        No…Amazi-girl made things pretty clear. Amber can be more inconsistent and maybe flexible than Amazi-girl.

    2. nothri

      Glad somebody’s missed him.

    3. Spencer

      Weeeellll maybe.

      On one hand the use of the same spot Dorothy dumped him in, this being their second break up, and the sheer venom of the verbal abuse Amber heaped on him in her Amai-Girl alter, I think, makes it pretty abundantly clear that this is meant to be at least an extremely significant stopping point for the characters, and it will be a long and laboured process before Amber gets back in his good graces, but it probably won’t be like Marten and Dora’s break up in QC, where they kind of just never really hung out ever again afterwards. Most of the 5+ years of Danny and Amber’s panel time has been spent exploring their relationship with each other, so even if this a permanent break up Danny and Amber are still going to maintain a really important friendship.

      On the other hand, the stringency in which Willis insists that it was never Danny/Amber but Danny/Amazi-Girl, and the fact that the both of them are each others’ most important relationship in the comic, I think, also opens the door that they get back together at some point in the future. It’s not like breakups and romantic false leads haven’t happened before in Willis’ work, like how where two years of comic time were devoted to Robin and Leslie being apart, or how Joyce and Walky were basically the OTP from day one, but still went through other romances before ending up together.

  4. meegan

    it’s feelings time joe.

  5. Demon-Something

    In regards to Patreon: What the hell?

    1. Jay Eff

      I like how he just calls her “Puppy Dorothy.”

      1. JetstreamGW

        Well, I mean… It’s Dorothy. As a puppy. What else are you gonna call her?

        1. Carriethedragon

          I assumed that it was a preference for ‘Puppy Dorothy’ over certain… alternatives that may’ve been what drove his decision to be explicit. But maybe that’s just me being pessimistic about people’s ability to be respectful.

    2. Nicster216

      What happened?

      1. Orion Fury

        Puppy. Dorothy.

        1. Kamino Neko

          Puppymonkeydorothy. >_>

        2. JessWitt

          Purple monkey dishwasher.

        3. Tacos

          Purple People Eater.

        4. Orion Fury

          Last year’s was funny weird. This year? Weird weird.

        5. Jordan

          No. We do NOT bring up that abomination here.

        6. Kamino Neko

          Hey, Puppymonkeybaby kept me sane when I was in hospital with flu back in February.

        7. N0083rP00F

          For specific values of sane I would guess.

    3. Bagge

      Patreon spoiler: Puppy Dorothy is the BEST THING EVER!!!!

      1. JQuire

        I really, really don’t care for Puppy Dorothy. Something about an intelligent, opinionated woman being turned into a cartoon(ier) yapping dog …..

        1. Cerberus

          Oh shit, yeah, I can see that.

        2. StClair

          That was how I felt from the first thought balloon.
          Way to dehumanize and infantilize your girlfriend, Walky. (Especially since she’s asking ’cause she’s concerned about you.)

      2. Bagge

        Yeah, that can be problematic…

        Although, as a reader I don’t feel invited to view Dorothy as a little yapping dog – I feel invited to watch WALKY view her as a little yapping dog, ie, it has more to do with his relationship insecurities than Dorothy herself. Like in the non-patreon-strip where the joke was Walky’s bad way of dealing with his secret problems.

        Or maybe I’m just rationalising the fact that I find her hilarious (among other things BECAUSE the discrepancy between an intelligent, opinionated woman and a yapping dog)

        1. Falling Star

          This is true.
          And also a more hilarious interpretation.

        2. StClair

          It’s definitely all on Walky. Still not funny (to me), though.

        3. JQuire

          Yeah, it’s Walky’s POV….but it’s so jarring and unpleasant to see that even the step removal doesn’t help it for me.

        4. Spencer

          It is absolutely one of the grossest things Walky’s ever expressed in this comic.

          It’s just that it was Dorothy’s head on a tiny puppy so it’s kinda hilarious.

        5. JQuire

          It was hilarious when it was a shrill and unpleasant woman in Mars Attacks….but Dorothy didn’t deserve it. *shrug*

        6. Spencer

          No, yeah, I absolutely understand why you feel uncomfortable about it, and I don’t want to try and take that away from you. I think it’s hilarious, because it’s both a really funny visual and also indicative of how Walky is a bit of a sexist tool.

        7. No I Haven't Had My Coffee Yet

          I don’t see how it’s sexist. If it was a girl deflecting a boyfriend’s questions that way, it would still be funny for the same reason. Sex has nothing to do with it. Of course we all see in art what we want to see.

        8. Spencer

          ikr

          what does gender have to do with sexism when a dude equates his girlfriend’s attempts at reaching out to him as a yappy annoying dog

  6. Kamino Neko

    Joe, Joe…so close to actually being a good friend….

  7. Cheshrin

    It was funny for a second and then it was sad again.

  8. Stephen R. Bierce

    *plays Cameo’s “Back And Forth” on the hacked Muzak*

    1. Stephen R. Bierce

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2eU2CG3WN8 <- Am I talking about Joe or about Danny? You decide.

  9. EvilMidnightLurker

    That’s an interesting shirt.

    1. Thomas

      Can someone please explain Joe’s shirt? I don’t understand what’s on it.

      1. SgtWadeyWilson

        I think it’s just supposed to be a generic men’s shirt tattoo-like design…? If it had a dragon or a tiger I’d be positive it was.

        1. Thomas

          I suspect it’s meant to reference a G.I. Joe character, maybe Serpentor? But I did a search & I came up with nothing. Generic men’s shirt it is, then.

        2. ChrisHerself

          It looks exactly like a top pick bro shirt designed for bros requested by X company for bros so bros will buy the shirts at the store that sells bro shirts.

          Bros.

          (Used to work a t-shirt design company)

        3. StClair

          Bro?

          Bro.

    2. Tan

      First appearance of shirt 5.5 years ago: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2010/comic/book-1/02-uphill-from-here/fun/

      1. ChrisHerself

        Good lord you’re a robot

        1. TrueVCU

          He’s like one of those reddit bots, helpful but also oddly disconcerting

        2. ChrisHerself

          Mostly helpful!

  10. Nicster216

    The only thing leaking right now Joe is Danny’s heart…. should probably wear a gas mask for either scenario tho

    1. Tacos

      Danny should go to the hospital then. A leaking heart is probably bad.

      1. Minotaur

        Not good, but people with leaky hearts can ben helped with medication.

        1. Leorale

          This is better than the prognosis for an achy-breaky heart, which can prove fatal.

        2. Falling Star

          It’s also really painful to watch happen.

  11. Mr. Random

    Yes, but that’s unrelated.
    Related, you should probably evacuate the building.

    1. Mr. Random

      Also, I guess every 1.5 years counts as a season.

    2. Orion Fury

      In a calm and orderly manner. Pay no attention to the barely audible cackling that you hear.

  12. Idontcarenomore

    Joe is trying I guess? Tried?
    Forerunner of new showrunner?

    1. Ahecht

      It’s a reference to the TV show Community, where they brought on a new showrunner, had a not so great season, and then brought back the original showrunner the following year. They retconned away the season with the other show runner by claiming that the characters were suffering from the effects of a gas leak.

      1. zoelogical

        *tilts head*

        huh.

        1. heyman

          That’s worse than Dallas. And that was bad.

        2. tim gueguen

          The proper method is to go the Highlander route, and just pretend it never happened.

        3. chris2315

          Rest assured, in the case of Community, it was very much intentional. The show is a comedy that deals entirely in parody TV and movie tropes and self-aware humor.

        4. Falling Star

          I have no idea what you’re talking about. I guess it’s a good thing I don’t watch TV.

      2. rectilinearpropagation

        Oh thank you, I was about to ask about this.

      3. Willoughby Chase

        It makes sense. For a moment I was concerned about Jews and jokes abt gas leaks.

  13. Mandy

    Danny, hon, where are you going? If there was ever a time to just crawl in the bed and lie there all day, this would be it.

    1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      That or overindulgence in decadent food of choice.

      1. Inkblot

        Hot wings and popcorn. Also pizza.

        1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          But asking for romantic advice at Galasso’s might not be the best idea.

        2. Orion Fury

          That’s also Subs. I think.

        3. Tacos

          What are you talking about? That’s the besterestest idea possible.

        4. Deanatay

          Best for US, Tacos. Not necessarily best for HIM.

        5. Reltzik

          Also beer.

          Beer goes well with hot wings. And with pizza. And with misery. And with life-changing events that make you want to crawl into a bottle.

    2. Cerberus

      I’m gonna guess he’s going to go to Ethan. Both because he’s worried about Amber and needs to spill what’s going on with her and because Ethan has reliably been the best emotional support outside of maybe Dorothy that he’s ever had in his life.

      1. Orion Fury

        Well the whole secret identity respect thing does make it hard for him to talk to Joe about it. Mayhap Ethan has an idea.

        1. Trolldrool

          Not that it’d make him less inappropriate for emotional support, but would anyone be surprised if it turned out Joe already figured out that Amber is Amazi-Girl because they have the same ass and bust-size?

        2. Cerberus

          Considering that he didn’t even know she existed until she was photographed, dismissed Amber as being a random Comp Sci nerd, and has been just clueless in the extreme as Danny has tried to talk about his girlfriend to the point where he may still not even know that was his girlfriend, I’d say the probability is unlikely though amusing.

      2. Bagge

        Yeah, awful as it is getting dumped and getting punched right in the insecurities, I think Danny is mostly worried about Amber right now. There is a VERY short list of people he can talk to about that.

  14. Tacos

    I’m too distracted trying to figure out what the hell is that on Joe’s shirt.

    1. Jay Eff

      Is that a bra?
      I think it’s a bra.

      1. JessWitt

        I can’t unsee it. Someone should make a doodle of that.

        1. Orion Fury

          A drawing of a bra? I can’t wear that.

        2. JustCheetoDust

          Woo!…to you, sir.

        3. Orion Fury

          Oh, hi Dan.

        4. JustCheetoDust

          Just so we’re clear, was that previous comment of yours a “Camp WWE” reference? Because I may have had a lapse in judgement by responding with an obscure comment in that episode.

        5. Orion Fury

          You were correct. Found it funny when JR said about the 1st ep where Ric, and open robe, and a bear in a cave, was Art imitating Life. Good stuff, looking forward to more.

          Had Ric’s Asian FRiend’s name wrong though, sorry for that bit of confusion. So it should read “Oh, hi Bob.”

      2. Falling Star

        So that means Joe spent some time on Plastic Nee-San?

    2. Kamino Neko

      It’s wings. It’s part of the standard douche uniform.

    3. Wack'd

      It’s Willis’ halfhearted attempt at drawing an Ed Hardy shirt.

      1. AgentKeen

        I mean, I wouldn’t want to put full-ass effort into an Ed Hardy shirt.

      2. Kamino Neko

        Ed Hardy, thank you…It was going to bug me that I couldn’t remember the name.

        1. SgtWadeyWilson

          Now it will only bug you that you do remember.

        2. JustCheetoDust

          I don’t know, after finding out that actor Tom Hardy was born Ed Hardy I’m not really bothered by that name anymore.

          It seems that he’s bothered by it though, if he’s choosing to go by his middle name instead.

  15. Tom T.

    Heh-heh. “Gas leak.”

    1. Jay Eff

      It was silent but deadly.

    2. Bagge

      I’m so sad that neither Walky nor Becky is here to make that joke.

      1. Falling Star

        fart

  16. Taigan

    Alt text is confusing me.

    1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      Too lazy to dig it up, but doesn’t the real Willis just play golf while webcomic sweatshop labor does the real work? Maybe the holding company got bought out.

      1. Some1

        Dumbing of age is actually written by a resurrected Jane Austin, and the guy who shows up at cons is just an actor.

        1. Leorale

          Pride, Prejudice, and Poop Jokes.

        2. Leorale

          It’s the book she always wanted to write. “Ohh, Mr Darcy, pppbbfft”

        3. Some1

          *Jane Austen

    2. Ahecht

      It’s a reference to the TV show Community, where they brought on a new showrunner, had a not so great season, and then brought back the original showrunner the following year. They retconned away the season with the other show runner by claiming that the characters were suffering from the effects of a gas leak.

      1. MatthewTheLucky

        Also this.

        1. MatthewTheLucky

          Dangit, now the thread doesn’t make sense. I’m sorry, future reader.

        2. Orion Fury

          What about the present reader?

        3. SgtWadeyWilson

          I’m more worried about the past readers, and the weird time travelers that will have always been forcing them to read the comments for a webcomic.

        4. inqntrol

          It’s much better to read the comments from a webcomic than those from Youtube( forcing them to do that would be horrible).

        5. chris2315

          It’s considered a form of torture under the Geneva Conventions.

        6. chris2315

          What about readers from the Darkest Timeline?

    3. MatthewTheLucky

      It’s a reference to Dexter and Monkey Master, as explained near the end of “I was a Teenage Churchmouse”.

  17. SmilingNid

    People in morning a great way to start your day.

    1. begbert2

      And people in the evening is a great way to end it!

      1. Falling Star

        But only if they’re in an anime.
        Real people in the evening are terrible.

        1. inqntrol

          I thought people are terrible in general(kidding, well some of them are).

  18. brumagem

    When did Joe get those sweet new baby-hands.

    1. JessWitt

      There was a sale at Drumpf’s.

    2. JustCheetoDust

      Damn, I just dealt with months of hearing sports pundits’ unhealthy fixation on hand size.

      1. Needfuldoer

        It was a topic of heated discussion at a couple presidential debates. Made for some good TV news ratings but worrisome for sanity.

      2. brumagem

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_nvCXsxfeA

  19. Rukduk

    Wait. Did Joe try to initiate a conversation about Danny’s feelings and get shot down? Is he…trying to be compassionate?

    1. dailybrad

      He cares about Danny more than he lets on, but he really, really sucks at dealing with stuff. I get the feeling his dad didn’t exactly teach him much other than be an example of how to put up numbers.

      1. StClair

        Because MEN don’t care about ‘the feels’.

      2. trlkly

        Yeah. Joe is the poster child for toxic masculinity. Walky may have it, but there’s a lot more stuff driving the way he acts.

        1. Cerberus

          Yeah, and it’s sad because he doesn’t realize how much he’s being made a worse person by these toxic attitudes.

  20. Some1

    Lets take a bet folks! How many people will mention that Danny and Ethan should fuck? I’m guessing like a third of the commenters.

    1. zoelogical

      wow that’s a great idea thanks for being the first person to mention it

    2. Orion Fury

      Well, so far for me you’re the first, so it’s 1/23 of commenters, and like 1/30 comments.

    3. SgtWadeyWilson

      Nah, Ethan being his rebound would be another drama powder keg, Danny needs to be relatively stable before that ship could sail. Which is why it’s likely to be exactly what happens next!

      Cue preemptive DYW! posts:

      1. Spencer

        I really can’t see that being the case. There’s a not-insignificant amount of weirdos who just want to see Danny bang a dude as fast as possible, character’s personality be damned, but I imagine most would rather Danny/Ethan be a thing that’s actually explored as a legit relationship and not just a fling.

  21. Sam

    What even is that shirt?

    1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      My brain claims it is a picture of crotcheless panties, but that may say more about me than anything else…

      1. JustCheetoDust

        Would a second person agreeing with you make it any less worse?

        1. Falling Star

          A third just makes it canon. (right here)

      2. Sam

        That’s what I thought but the gap is so big it’s almost like they are fully cut in half and separated.

    2. Shiro

      My brain wants to interpret it as a ribcage, albeit a torn-apart and nonfunctional one

    3. Tacos

      My brains interprets it as a pair of harps…

    4. Orion Fury

      I thought a mechanical design inspired by a Prime chestplate.

    5. Kamino Neko

      It’s wings. I know somebody with that exact damn douche-signal.

      1. Orion Fury

        Damn it all…

      2. Sam

        Douch signal?

    6. Reltzik

      I’m thinking it’s tuxedo lapels?

    7. MichaelLanting

      Looks like a garter belt to me.

    8. FireSTK

      It reminds me of one of those affliction shirts without the branding. About 5 years ago that was standard in douche signalling.

    9. Cerberus

      A douchesignal, shooting doucheflares up into the sky.

      Bob damn Ed Hardy tees.

      1. Sam

        Ok that’s 3 ppl mentioning douche signal. I had never heard that term before. Gonna go google that.

  22. kkiten

    Joe is back, sort of. Never change, terrible wingman.

  23. Kernanator

    Joe, he didn’t talk to you because he already knows what you’ll say.

  24. Cerberus

    Today Joe learned that when you treat your best friend’s emotions as a personal attack against you and regularly belittle him when he is in pain, said best friend stops coming to you altogether when they need emotional support.

    Now we see how Joe handles this. Does he genuinely want Danny to never “bother” him again and accept the lack of this form of intimate social interaction or will he start pining for what he lost because it was always more about performing a type of emotionless masculinity rather than a genuine belief system?

    1. Shiro

      Will Joe stop being a self-centered macho-face and get some actual character development? Stay tuned!

    2. Orion Fury

      Could be a Character Growth Arc for him starting up.

      And I had to go back and edit that line before I posted it.

      1. Cerberus

        You know, I think it might. Joe’s now run into several problems caused by his attempt to avoid all growth and is now seeing how he’s alienating people that were once close to him.

        And that would be good for him, because the narrative may leave him behind otherwise because there’s not much more that can be mined out of his awfulness other than him being a foil for the women characters in the comic.

        1. Orion Fury

          And he seeming does want to be a better person.

          Edited there too.

        2. Bagge

          If he is the one Joyce is texting with he is in the middle of an emotionally supportive conversation right now. Might explain with he is more tuned in to Danny’s FEELS.

        3. anonymsly

          I hope so on both counts: that Joyce is texting with him (I honestly think they would be good for each other at least on the friendship level) and that we’re going to get a Growth Arc for him.

          I don’t know, I’ve always liked Joe It’s my lot to like the characters everyone else wants to have die in a fire. (AKA Jason and Joe both.)

    3. ninja_jesus

      Personally, at this stage, I wouldn’t cry if he was put on a bus.

      1. begbert2

        A whole lot of characters were put on a bus earlier, and it worked out great!

        They went to a beach! There were swimsuits!

        1. Amazi-Stool

          And one came back and brought a rifle with him…
          That did not work out so great!

  25. Yossarianduck

    Tomorrow: Dumbing of Age, now written by Tim Buckley.

    1. Falling Star

      Not Michael Buckley?
      For shame.

      1. Yossarianduck

        Michael Buckley never created Loss.jpg

  26. Orion Fury

    Great, here comes the Feels Train.
    *Feels Train doesn’t stop at Station*
    Hey, maybe I wanted to get on it.

    1. Falling Star

      You have to trick jump, parkour style.

  27. JessWitt

    Joe that’s your excuse for everything.

    1. Orion Fury

      Except gas leaks, oddly enough. That’s just Manliness seeping out of the earth.

      1. inqntrol

        Screw oil and electricity! Let’s power everything using only Manliness!

  28. Mkvenner

    At least he’s concerned about Danny.

  29. m-m

    huh. I just realized that I’ve missed seeing Joe.

  30. Saaaam

    Joe’s gonna fuck Amazi-girl now

    1. Palamdrone

      No, Amazi-girl is going to fuck Joe.

      1. Saaaam

        Even better!

      2. trlkly

        Fuck him up, more like it, I think. He’ll say something shitty and she’ll flip out. Maybe even talk about how hot Sal is or something.

    2. Cerberus

      I seriously wonder if his “success rate” is wildly overblown. I mean, we’ve only seen him actually connecting with two women and one woman in Slipshine admits she gags him so he doesn’t talk his toxic bullshit and that he’s pretty awful of a lover outside his stamina. And the other seemed to have a shut up and fuck me attitude as well.

      And Joe in the other universe was fond of wildly exaggerating his sexual prowess there, so I dunno. It would fit things if he was just kinda a creepazoid who only lucks into casual things with strong personalities who are good at getting him to shut up.

      1. Bagge

        Dunno, I think he got exactly what he wanted from Roz and Penny. That’s less lucking in to things than… succeeding. He advertised that he was available and they took him up on the offer.

        As for his success rate… dunno there as well. It is most likely overblown – that’s part of his entire persona – but even if he “only” have had sex with the ones we actually have seen (and I for one don’t particularly feel the need to spend time on watching Joe’s sex life) that’s still pretty impressive for a few weeks in college.

        What he does is very problematic on many levels -but that doesn’t exclude that he IS good at what he does.

        1. Bagge

          Also, he is not really a creepazoid in his interaction with Roz and Penny (there ARE problems with teacher/student relationships, but that is more on Penny than on him). They get exactly what they want from him as well, and it’s abundantly clear that they have a lot of power in the interaction. Nothing of the “nagging sex” that can be a problem with people like Joe.

          If that is a model for most of Joe’s sexual encounters that’s something to high five rather than belittle.

        2. Cerberus

          For the creepazoid bit I was thinking his “hunting persona” versus his “hey, current fuckbuddy persona” as the former gets hella gross (see his interactions with Joyce and Sarah), so it’s more that he’s lucking out of that initial bad impression into one where he’s less of a skeezeball.

          But fair point on the rest of it.

        3. Bagge

          I absolutely agree on the creepiness of his hunting persona, even if I think that is less of a problem for people who actually want to have sex with him (Roz do a bit of the same thing in her interaction with Jacob).

          Also, the way he can’t shut up about his sex life and hardly talk about anything else makes him rather obnoxious. Lots of problems with his attitude, big and small.

        4. Nono

          I don’t mind Joe talking so much about sex because you could replace ‘sex’ with ‘dinosaurs’ or ‘Transformers’ or ‘God’ and so on and describe half the cast.

        5. Gigafreak

          I dunno, the obsessions with dinosaurs and Transformers don’t often lead to the characters belittling others around them. (The obsessions with God frequently do lead to characters belittling others around them, though…)

        6. Cerberus

          I think the big difference between Roz and Joe’s hunting personas is that Roz is sexually open, provides an invitation, and does not press further, which is respectful of boundaries and allows the other party to be one with full initiative.

          Joe’s hunting persona on the other hand takes a lot from Pickup Artists and tends to linger. He tends to ooze over people, touch them in unwanted ways, and approach in ways designed to make people feel uncomfortable and like they have less of an ability to say no. He argues with people who refuse him as if he can harrangue them into sex, does not listen or respect people’s disgust of him, and is otherwise really bad at boundaries to the point where he’s continually sexually aggressive to people who have already rejected him.

          And it’s a lot of what makes Joe really uncomfortable.

          My point is that Penny and Roz seem to like fucking him despite that creepazoid opening or his “smooth player” persona rather than because of it.

        7. Bagge

          Yeah, that is a good point. I agree with it.

        8. Nono

          I will give one counterpoint and it’s that Joe’s never touched someone who doesn’t want to be touched. He’s never laid a finger on anyone except Penny and Roz, as far as I know.

        9. Bagge

          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2012/comic/book-2/05-saturdays-all-right-for-slighting/no/

      2. BenRG

        FWIW, It’s my view that no-one really wants sex without some kind of connection. Joe is just very bad at finding connections of any kind (as his strike-out with Danny today illustrates). What he needs to get over is the apparent trauma of his parents divorce that led him to connect long-term relationships with inevitable heartbreak.

        1. Bagge

          Dunno about that… some people just likes casual sex (it depends on what you mean with “connection”, but people at least have wildly different requirements for what level of connection they want with their sexual partners).

          I see no reason to think that Joe wants a lot of sex as a replacement for other kinds of relationships. He wants lots of sex AND he is bad at finding connections of the kind Danny wants (he is also especially bad at connecting to Danny because of their shared history).

  31. Palamdrone

    Odd. I thought Joe would react with pride. Isn’t supressing one’s feelings how he expects “real men” to deal with their problems?

    1. Cerberus

      Yeah, but it’s like different when it’s like… y’know, when you push that toxic junk, but then there’s all these consequences where your best friend no longer feels safe talking to you just because you constantly belittle him for having problems and emotions.

      It’s just not fair!

      1. Wack'd

        What are…consequences?

        1. StClair

          Something that happen to other people.

        2. Roborat

          Part of an old tv show.

    2. JQuire

      That isn’t entirely fair, you know. I’m having trouble finding a single place where Joe ever states an opinion of what ‘real men’ do.

      For all his flaws, Joe doesn’t insist on being surface level or hyper-sexual because of his flawed sense of masculinity. It’s usually because he is looking for ‘fun’ and doesn’t want to descend into scary feelings place. Which is makes clear is in part a matter of self-preservation.

      1. Cerberus

        Equating emotions, especially negative emotions with not being a man or not being manly:
        http://www.dumbingofage.com/2010/comic/book-1/03-men-are-from-beck-women-are-from-clark/comfortable/

        Joking that Danny’s upset voice is indistinguishable from a woman’s:
        http://www.dumbingofage.com/2010/comic/book-1/01-move-in-day/together/

        1. JQuire

          I have trouble reading “face the world like a man’ as equating emotion or negative emotion as being un-masculine and tend to view it as a statement that pressing on in spite of them is a masculine quality.

          Second strip – That can’t really be attributed to Joe though, as Joe is not the one making a joke, Willis is. And it’s a joke being made at Joe and Danny’s expense. Joe totally thinks a woman is calling his name and is drawn like a fly to honey – only to be disappointed that it’s Danny (break in expression after Joe’s realization is denoted by change in font). So lol, Joe is such a sex fiend is the joke – but at the same time conveying information about sound important to Danny’s characterization and the plot in a way that might otherwise be difficult in a text format.

      2. Gigafreak

        Real men aren’t hung up on being the exact opposite of women on all matters, such as number of shoes owned.
        This is the opposite of a toxic masculine belief, really.

        Joe is into the sleazy pickup artist methodology, which has roots in toxic masculinity, but he does not seem to fully invest in the toxic masculinity ideals himself. He just wants to get laid with minimal strings attached, the pickup artistry garbage is how he gets laid with minimal strings attached, and he is happy with this. His relationship with toxicity may not go much further than that.

        1. JQuire

          Yeah. I think it’s hard to escape toxic masculinity completely, because it’s part of what everyone is exposed to. I don’t know that I’d say Joe even buys in that much into pickup artist methodology (at least from the little I understand of it) because he’s not hiding that he’s about sex and he’s not doing shitty things like negging. His thing with Joyce was gross (‘fixing her with my penis!”) but that was more about his attitude than him actually lying or being manipulative iirc.

        2. Emily

          Yeah, Joe isn’t how he is because he thinks it’s how MEN are he’s like that because he’s extremely averse to engaging on an emotional level with other people likely as a result of his parents’ divorce.

  32. Prinnyramza

    Joe has a phone in his hand. Him texting Joyce confirmed!

    Wait a minute…. Dina had a phone earlier. Dina texting Joyce confirmed! Wonder if Joe knows about it.

    1. Orion Fury

      Joyce is cheating on Joe with Dina?

      [Insert Crass Joke Here]

    2. Random832

      Dina texting Joyce was confirmed. For real. Dina texted Joyce dinosaur links to forward to Becky, and Joyce replied with poop emoji.

      1. Bagge

        Yup. We know for sure that Dina and Dorothy has texted Joyce and we know that Joyce answered Dina. We can strongly suspect that Sarah and Joe have also texted Joyce.

        We don’t know to which of them (if any) Joyce wrote those heartfelt messages.

        To me it starts to look like a finely constructed twist, with Joe as the most likely candidate. Forshadowed exactly once when they texted at gender studies.

        1. brumagem

          Maybe they’re all in the same chat talking about transformers.

        2. Cerberus

          It was Galasso. It was Galasso the whole time!

        3. Bagge

          “I’ll talk to you after we’re done, okay? I’m 20% certain John won’t try to eat me”

          “THE MIGHTY GALASSO WILL SERVE ANYONE’S SIBLING!!!”

        4. Falling Star

          But remember, he doesn’t serve gay pizza.

        5. Falling Star

          Dammit, that sounded assholish.
          Lemme try that again.

    3. Needfuldoer

      Dina texting Joe?

      1. Bagge

        She wants to learn sexting so she asked an expert.

        “How do I discuss feather pigmentation in an arousing manner?”

  33. Palamdrone

    Puppy Dorothy and Walky beastiality porn?

    1. Orion Fury

      Maybe if it was on Slipshine. And not morally and legally reprehensible.

      1. Disloyal Subject

        You’d be surprised how many states it’s legal in.

    2. trlkly

      I think Willis would be nicer to us than that–he’d turn Walky into a dog, too. Then it would just be animal/furry porn. No bestiality at all!

      1. Some1

        I really hope that Willis’s kids don’t ever read these comments

        1. StClair

          Hello, 2034!

        2. SgtWadeyWilson

          Goodbye, checks for therapy!

  34. DarkoNeko

    No, he just ate too much beans.

    1. Some1

      farts o sadness…

      1. Orion Fury

        Did you hear that sigh? It wasn’t a sigh.

  35. Bagge

    “Sorry, Joe, I won’t talk about feels with you. I’ll go away so you don’t have to deal with my stuff.”

  36. Synnerman

    Save him Ethan. Hopefully with heated embraces in the rain.

    1. Jason

      #2!

  37. Some1

    Bet I can get half of the commenters to cry in a single sentence…

    Does Puppy Dorothy remind anyone else of Nina?

    1. inqntrol

      Who’s Nina?( I’m one of those commenters that doesn’t know who you are talking about)

      1. Tacos

        The kid from Fullmetal Alchemist who got turned into a chimera by her dad just so he could keep his State Alchemist license. Nina later got mercy killed.

    2. JQuire

      Nina? Definitely not. The chihuahua from Mars Attacks? YES.

    3. Disloyal Subject

      This isn’t 4chan; you can’t yank heartstringsas easily as namedropping tragic characters like Nina and Casca.

      1. Clif

        This isn’t 4chan? You mean all this time I’ve been on the wrong web page?

  38. ninja_jesus

    Is Joe hurt? Good. He can fuck off.

    1. Jupiterror

      That sure as hell was uncalled for

      1. ninja_jesus

        So was Joe’s constant belittling of Danny’s feelings, and look where that got him.

        I have a well-documented history of hating Joe, fellow commenter, with paragraphs upon paragraphs listing reasons why.

        1. Flax

          That’s a lot of investment in a fictional character. Hell, I disliked Becky starting out because she was basically a female Walky & we already had that base covered. I also have a serious problem with the antagonist of SAO’s second season where they’re all freaking fairies, because he was written as some one-dimensional, obviously detestable individual, & I know they’re capable of better writing.

          You say you’ve got a large posting history on hating the guy? What has he done here specifically to merit hatred? Also, if he’s previously grilled Danny over problems before, can it not be said that he wanted to see the guy grow a backbone, & that humour is an effective way to deal with sadness? Its Danny we’re talking about here, & he’s man enough to give of himself to some rather insular person in the hopes that they step outside of themselves, but as many people before him, he doesn’t have the knowledge of what to do when that love is rejected.

          And this is a stretch here, but of all the people of this comic, Joe’s the most likely person to have that same experience.

        2. Cerberus

          It’s more just something that’s come up in discussions on the man. He’s got a lot of reasons that people might be sour on him:
          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/03-the-butterflies-fly-away/sharp/#comment-714773

          Which is not to say he’s iredeemable, just that his current incarnation has a lot to loathe related to the harm he’s caused.

          At the very least for Danny here, he has repeatedly echoed Danny’s parents in treating Danny’s emotional pain as an imposition and as an act of harm against Joe personally as well as being something that makes Danny unmanly. So, Joe not being able to emotionally bond with Danny when Joe wants to is kinda a byproduct of how hard he’s been pushing away so far.

        3. Akiosama

          Not to get too off point, but SAO has had some issues ever since the Aincrad arc ended. The second arc (AElfheim) was actually worse, in my opinion than the GunGale Online arc, mostly for what they did to Asuna’s character, and partially because if they’re going to get as good of a VA as Koyasu Takehito to play the badguy, at least make him a decent badguy. Didn’t like Sugou/Oberon at all as a badguy.

          As for this comic, all I can say is at least Joe didn’t F this up with/for Danny… yet.

        4. StClair

          SAO has always been awful. Watch Log Horizon instead.

          </opinions on anime>

        5. ninja_jesus

          Never liked SAO past the first game.

        6. Flax

          Also, I looked it up, & that outlook isn’t very ninja-like.

        7. ninja_jesus

          I learned from the school of Ninja Brian.

        8. trlkly

          The only way Joe would be actually hurt is if he’s actually a good person who cares.

          And, anyways, while he’s a womanizer and reeks of privilege and toxic masculinity, I can’t recall him ever wanting to hurt anyone. In his own way, he’s even tried to help Danny.

          Wanting him to hurt because he’s hurt others, so he’ll learn is one thing. But just enjoying seeing someone you hate in pain–especially when he can only feel pain if he’s becoming a better person?

          Let’s just say I’m totally not feeling that.

        9. ninja_jesus

          I’ll cut him slack when he gives me reason to. So far, he hasn’t.

  39. Krista

    I’m guessing the new showrunner will be back next season though lets be honest

  40. BenRG

    A smart choice on Danny’s part. When it comes to seeking emotional support and relationship advice, I’d list Joe below everyone except Cardinal Tomas de Torquemada. I mean, even with the Maquis de Sade you could at least share a drink whilst he showed off his whip collection!

    1. Minotaur

      I think Joe ought to come above the Marquis de Sade when it comes to relationship advice. At least Joe believes in consent. That is not a very big thing in D.A.F.’s writings.

      1. Cerberus

        He believes in consent when and only when it involves respecting yeses. His instinct is to always want to argue and debate nos and boundaries and has been shown in-comic to actively work to navigate around stated boundaries by a potential romantic/sexual partner.

        Additionally, he has absolutely no respect for body language and is hella coercive. He pretty much makes it so a woman has to scream no in his face and threaten him with bodily harm to get him to back off and at that point, he mocks his target for being so angry and irrational and goes back to trying to argue and debate the no on the basis of her having been “rude”.

        He exploits a lot of social niceties and has been shown to override social boundaries consistently, so despite his statements to the contrary, I do not believe he believes in consent nearly as much as he thinks he does.

        At best he’s a no means no… kinda, coercion and alcohol don’t count sort of man. Which is sadly better than most of his peer group, but not nearly the standard of someone who actually truly values consent in all his sexual and romantic encounters and makes it a best practice.

      2. Leorale

        Torquemada: do not ask him for mercy.
        Torquemada: don’t employ him for compassion.
        Let’s face it, you can’t talk ‘im outta anything.

  41. Teddae

    there’s been a leak, joe…it came from his eyes…from all the crying

  42. Scar Man!!!

    SAD. DANNY. IS. NO
    *HULKS OUT and starts wrecking Willis’s house*

    1. SgtWadeyWilson

      Dude, chill, the RP may be slow right now, but let’s not wreck the jukebox in another comment section.

  43. CJ

    Making fun of someone’s feels feels much better than seeing a friend in pain an being shut out.

    The news just said that Trump is the only republican candidate left. And that “white men love him”. So would Joe vote for him? They seem to share a concept of masculinity.
    (I fear that Trump will be eleceted. The last time we European thought a republican candidate was so obviously irrational that he wouldn’t be elected, we got Reagan. And in comparison, that one looks like a pillar of rationality right now.)

    1. Chrissy

      Mosy Americans don’t like trump. In fact, according to a recent poll, 58% of men don’t like him, and 70% of women don’t like him. But most Americans don’t vote, so.

      1. CJ

        I don’t get it. if they hate him, why wouldn’t they go to vote to make sure he’s not elected?

        1. trlkly

          Voter turnout will probably be better against Trump, although it will be lower for Clinton. Hopefully more of the latter than the former.

          But the Electoral college and how it makes individual votes seem meaningless doesn’t help. With the national popular vote, things are usually close to 50/50, so all votes would matter. But states are different. Most states pretty reliably lean one way or the other.

          I’m nearly certain my vote for Clinton (sorry Sanders, but you’ve lost) will probably not matter much. My state has gone Red for as long as the Republicans have been Red. And Trump won my primary.

          I actually think my prayers have more of a chance of affecting the election.

          I’ll vote, but I just don’t think it will do much good. I’m only still in it lest I be surprised in a good way, finally. Way too much of the opposite this political season.

        2. Cerberus

          The only bright side for me is that it does not appear Cruz’s strategy of all trans bathroom obsession all the time was enough to make him start winning again, which means it’s now 20% less likely to become a central part of Trump’s campaign in the general election.

          Hey, I’ll take small mercies where I can get ’em.

        3. Random832

          Er, if you haven’t been paying attention, Trump has in fact said some surprisingly reasonable things about the trans bathroom “issue”. (The reason Cruz was hammering it so much was as an attack on Trump) For all that he comes across as a symbol of all that’s wrong with the Republican party, when you put him next to Cruz it’s clear who’s the more extreme one.

        4. Cerberus

          Yeah, but he flip-flopped back to being anti-trans in bathrooms as soon as he started getting flak for it, because Trump is a weathervane in a hurricane for how fast his statements on an issue change. I have no doubt that if it started costing Trump primaries, he’d suddenly find it very convenient to have hated trans folk all his life.

        5. Leorale

          Nate Silver’s site says that it’ll be Hillary vs Trump, and that Hillary will win. I hold onto this whenever others in the race say something super awful.

        6. Leorale

          I vote for demographic purposes. Voting says that politicians must pay attention to people like you / in your area. (That’s why they constantly talk about baby boomer issues, for example — the boomers are known to vote in droves. We should be like that.)

          If LGBTQ+ folks only voted as infrequently as everyone else, we’re a tiny subset of the population, everyone would ignore us. But by proportion, we vote more (plus our families/allies help boost our numbers), so they call it the gay vote and they have to address our issues!

          This goes double if you live in an area with often-disenfranchised people, as you’re helping to give voice to their issues, too.

          I know that my vote won’t immediately change who gets elected (it’s New York, we’re gonna go Democrat), but I still want to force you’re politicians to pay attention to my demographic (women, millennials, Jewish, lgbtq+, poor) in my neighborhood (impoverished people of colour in Brooklyn). You know?

        7. Leorale

          Corrections:
          3rd paragraph: “this goes double if you are, or live in an area with, often-disenfranchised people…”
          Last paragraph: “but I still want to force politicians to pay attention..”

        8. ailorn

          Shout out to another Jewish woman 🙂

        9. Leorale

          Chai-five 🙂

    2. trlkly

      The thing that made me think of this comic is that the reason Cruz dropped out is that he lost in Indiana. And I can’t help but think it’s because of people like Mary, Carol, or John.

      Yeah, Evangelicals in general don’t favor Trump. But these are a particularly vindictive subset, with one acting like Trump, and the other two defending someone who acted like Trump.

      1. CJ

        Sorry, I had forgotten about “winner takes all” rules in US presidential elections.

    3. Vree

      What kind of logic is that? “White masculine men like Trump.” Ehh.

      1. ailorn

        Joe is also Jewish, so he might have voted for Bernie…

  44. Spongegirl Circleskirt

    Gas leak joke coming from a Jew? Har.

  45. Trolldrool

    Today we learnt that Joe can be observant of what goes on around him.

  46. davidbreslin101

    Yeessss, Danny, you are learning to be a real man! Bottle up those feelings! Tell no-one! And in thirty years time, kidnap your daughter at gunpoint!

  47. Pod

    This strip perfectly encapsulates the feeling you get after a dumping – people try to interact with you but you’re still trying to process what happened and you’re just going through the motions.

    I was trying to think of what could cause any potential positive interaction between himself and Amazi-girl in the future and immediately realized it would be kind of a mess. Suddenly I’m addicted to this strip.

    1. Spencer

      Pretty much the only positive direction Danny and Amber can go is when Amber stops being Amazi-Girl, and that’s not going to happen at least until her fiery climactic battle to the death with Sal.

      1. a4lbi

        At any rate, looks like they’re gonna have a bad time.

        …sorry for the Undertale reference; I held out as long as I could. Unless I’ve made one already, which is entirely possible.

  48. TheEighthShade

    Whenever I reset my history, it resets my login, annoying.

  49. Deanatay

    Wait, a change in the showrunner? Does than mean Willis is out?? Who could possibly take his place???

    Wait, it’s Joel, isn’t it? We’re going to start seeing a whole lot more butt jokes here…

  50. Emma

    Well there MUST be a gas leak if Joe was about to ask if Danny was okay daaang.

    1. Falling Star

      That sounds about right.

  51. Falling Star

    1. Damn right you were wrong about Puppy Dorothy.
    2. Probably not a good idea for Joe to give Danny a hug, now that I think about it.

  52. Sir Robin

    When will Puppy Dorothy be getting her own spin-off strip?

  53. Sir Robin

    What book can we have the option to have Puppy Dorothy doodled in?

  54. Michonne

    Why is Joe the worst friend?

  55. Luchucholo

    People, cut him some slack. He´s a jock, a jock with conflicting emotions inside. You know the stereotype.

    1. ninja_jesus

      He isn’t a jock though, because he doesn’t display any of the normal jock stereotypes. He’s a manwhore who learned to eschew emotional bonds after his parents divorced. His main focus for being in college is having as much sex as possible, and seeing his friend go through relationship troubles might remind him of his parents so he belittles Danny’s problems and distances himself from the drama. And here, he’s paying the price for being a terrible friend, regardless of his motives behind pushing Danny away.

      As far as cutting him slack, he’s maybe gone through subtle character development, like the reveal of his parents and how he feels about them, how he feels about sex and relationships in general, etc. But nothing so far has changed his mind or made him decide to care again, until possibly now.

  56. chris73

    Reading some of the comments on here about Joe make me hope those same people are never on jury deciding my fate.

  57. Clif

    Wait! Where did Carla’s revenge plot go?

  58. a4lbi

    wow, is Joe actually worried?

  59. Liz

    Are Joe, Dorothy, and Dina ALL texting Joyce?

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