172

Tighter
Posted on September 22, 2024 by David M Willis

172 thoughts on “Tighter”

  1. NGPZ

    Enbies, ladies and gentlemen,

    Fasten your seatbelts!

    B)

    1. NGPZ

      *plays “Fasten Your Seatbelt” by Pendulum on hacked muzak*

    2. Clif

      It will be fine.

    3. Poskie

      This is such a small thing, but I loved that enbies came first. I think we’re usually last, if we’re mentioned at all, so it was a very refreshing change of pace 🙂

      1. Dante

        +1, it warmed my heart!

        Plus it does look like we need out seatbelts truly tied, isn’t it? Where are have they teleported to.

        1. Clif

          They traveled back in time before the break in.

      2. NGPZ

        speaking as one who enby myself, this way it should be ^^

      3. Lysbeth

        Can’t rob a bank with all that sudden visibility!

    4. Needfuldoer

      Please let this be a normal field trip…

      1. Ed Rhodes

        With (Dina/Charlie, your choice)? No way!

    5. Decidedly Orthogonal

      Am I the only one who read the alt-text as, “Man of Steel Porno“?

  2. Ana Chronistic

    Hello, Carla. Look at your gal. Now back at me. Now back at your gal. Now back to me.

    Sadly, she isn’t me, but she could blab like she’s me, if she stopped using lizards as her head gear and switched to skullcaps.

    Look down, back up, she’s got a hat. With the hat, your gal could focus.

    What’s in your hands? Back at me.

    I have it. It’s your Charlie with her hand interlinked with my hand right now.

    Look again, your Charlie is now vanished.

    Anything is possible when your gal has no focus and I’m undetected.

    I’m in a vault.

    1. Rose by Any other Name

      Well, now we know where he got the diamonds….

      1. RassilonTDavros

        the diamonds, my god

    2. Kim

      <3 The last line got me good!

    3. anon

      time to take enough to pay off half the school’s tuition 8D; (which carla’s parents could prolly do but idk if they’d do so even if carla asked whether she’d admit to caring to that many ppl to do so in hte first place ll)

      1. Rolf of Many Doors

        Let’s be honest – all the money and valuables in that vault wouldn’t be able to pay off a tenth of the students tuition at any non-community college

        1. Needfuldoer

          Tuition and housing at IU costs about $26,000 per year for in-state students.

          https://admissions.indiana.edu/cost-financial-aid/index.html

        2. Michael Steamweed

          Less than $30K per year. All food, dorm, tuition, and fees included. BUT, if you involve for-profit student-loan servicers at any point, well, then, you’re gonna pass the $50K mark within 5-10 years. Sooner if any defaulting happens.

    4. CianM1301

      whistles Old Spice theme

      1. Kazuma Taichi

        dang, beat me to it

    5. Needfuldoer

      *golf clap*

      Perfection.

    6. Tatterhood

      You win 1 internet

    7. Sere

      +1

  3. Sirksome

    What’s the closest bank to campus?

    1. True Survivor

      I think this has to be the bank vault from Now You See Me. Fantastic film by the way.

      1. NGPZ

        The alt-text specifies that it’s from Man of Steel.

        But I am not sure which promotional image it refers to.

        1. Clif

          I don’t know either, but let me introduce you to a game. Under the comic you will see a Random button. You hit it, go to a random comic and make note of the name of the strip. Then you do it again a second time, and then a third time. You concatenate the three names into a single line and then come back here and report what you got. The rule is that you can only do this once per day.

          Pity Public Homicide.

        2. NGPZ

          Terribly Dinner music Hand-ky panky

        3. Poskie

          Daddy Memorial Stadium Right/Left.

        4. RassilonTDavros

          Manhood Kindergarten Bigger.

          …starting to regret playing this game.

        5. Marsh Maryrose

          Sweet roof bottom-out sign up

          …yeah, it scans as a sentence

        6. Thing2

          Predator disgrace poop
          Ooo

        7. GoodbyBallad

          Twisted news glances

          …feeling that right now

        8. Lokitsu

          Throwdown Sweeping Crotchety

        9. Pergola

          Fraud Purple-striped Two

          Now take three words that -might- be strip names and see if anyone notices.

        10. Wilde

          Fakey Genius cartoon-drawing person Helmet

          New gear unlocked!

        11. Opus the Poet

          Cold Turkey Coffin Butt Taco. Starts out ominous, then veers surreal.

        12. Tatterhood

          Piano Convention Yeet-Cute

          Wile E. Coyote accidentally causes the Roadrunner to side-step right into the arms of his true love.

        13. Dante

          Risk
          Place Them
          Guilty

          Holy shit sdlkgjs DINA CHARLIE NOOOO X’DDD

        14. Marsh Maryrose

          Henry Cavill as Superman

        15. NGPZ

          I am almost certain that they spent more on advertising than they did on the actual movie LOL

        16. Michael Steamweed

          Hey, now, that script alone was worth at _least_ a thousand dollars.

        17. Daibhid C

          But the sequel is called Now You See Me 2, which is one of the worst decisions ever made by a movie studio that isn’t connected to Man of Steel in some way.

        18. Daibhid C

          (I know, I know, if they’d called it …Now You Don’t, they’d have needed to think of a whole new title for the third one.)

    2. butting

      Depends. What do you mean by “closest” within multi-dimensional geometries that don’t conform to relativistic spaces, let alone Euclidean ones?

      1. Clif

        Not to mention non-Euclidiean spaces that are angular rather than curved.

        1. butting

          no NO NOOOOO NO stop the anGLEs aRE NoT rEAL ZaLGO IS TONY THE PONY HE COMES

      2. yak

        Fuck yeah, we’re Dichronauts now.

    3. anon

      plot twist: they’re not even in indiana anymore, they teleported somehow to a bank in canada

      1. Michael Steamweed

        The movie about their exploits will be orders of magnitude better than the execrable movie Jumper (a bad “adaptation” of the novel).

    4. Deanatay

      You assume they walked there. With a door that large, Dina could easily teleport two people behind it.

    5. zee

      Y’all don’t have banks on campus?

  4. Doctor_Who

    You can tell Dina’s surprised, she used a rare contraction.

  5. Suet

    We shoulda known they’d be the duo with the most hi-jinx potential

    “Pressure does equal comfort” not during hell weeks…

  6. RassilonTDavros

    I love it when, on occasion, the laws of reality just completely break down.

    …scratch that, Dina going wherever the hell she wants is a law of the universe.

    1. Clif

      Always has been.

    2. NGPZ

      To you that’s the laws of reality breaking down.

      In Ohio that’s just a Tuesday.

  7. True Survivor

    I see Mr. Willis has the wherewithal to keep his most valuable assets in a safe.

    1. RassilonTDavros

      There’s actually been a completed build of It’s Walky!: Resurrection in there this whole time, but Willis forgot the lock combination.

  8. DailyBrad

    This is making me smile so much.

  9. Clif

    Always has been.

    1. Clif

      Ignore duplicate comment.

      Nothing to see here. Move along.

  10. Tan

    So step 1 is put the hat back on, THEN go find its replacement

    1. Yumi

      Failed step one, accidentally robbed a bank

  11. Slartibeast Button, BIA

    One of them used a safe word?

    1. Clif

      Damn. I’m running out of Internets to give away.

      1. bubba0077

        I gave my last one away yesterday

  12. Claire

    Top tier punchline.

    1. Claire

      Genuine laugh out loud for me

  13. Switchchris

    I feel like if it was these two that got together and spent A LOT of time together, they might accidentally the apocalypse lol. They just randomly walk into a military base and see the big red button.
    Either that or dina would show Charlie the headgear trick much earlier and they both become the Smartest people in the college, graduating to become scientists that Force the World to recognize what dinos really looked like and also Cure Cancer.

    I do like Dina/Becky more though, totally better for the universe as a hole.

    1. Clif

      I once accidentally the apocalypse. I hate it when that happens.

    2. Jamie

      Good Omens, but with Dina and Charlie.

    3. Proxiehunter

      A whole apacalypse?

      1. Clif

        It was a small apocalypse.

      2. Effie

        alpaca lips

      3. Slartibeast Button, BIA

        No, more of a llamageddon.

        1. Shadowsnail

          Llamageddon was okay, but Slotherhouse was way better.

    4. Dragonfire

      Perhaps this is why soggies may rule.

      1. MM

        Beat me to it.

    5. Davus

      Honestly, I could see Dina and Charlie becoming good friends. (I also could see a poly thing happening maybe, but that seems to improbable. Becky’d probably to insecure, unless it meant threesomes and she found charlie really hot, and then carla… IDK what her reaction would be. (And would they even want to? IDK))

  14. Sigh

    ngl i was worried she was tryin to talk herself down from bein jealous, i didnt expecr a very real worry

  15. Icalasari

    Man, this feels like an It’s Walky! punchline! Amazing

  16. not someone else

    Can we just have the entire comic from now on be Dina And Charlie’s Fabulous Adventures with like, Letters to the Editor interludes from the rest of the cast about what they’re doing? Maybe like the Christmas Issue could have them all coming together as a special series of cameos, including a three issue per each crossover miniseries with Amazi-Girl and the Derby Girls?

    Alternately I could learn to write fanfiction.

    1. Proxiehunter

      It’s just like writing regular fiction but you use someone else’s characters and/or setting.

      1. Michael Steamweed

        But hopefully with less stressing out and crying about the writing process.

    2. MM

      Willis is going to have to start doing three bonus Patreon strips from now on. One creator’s choice, one fan submissions, and one Carla and Charlie in random places. Maybe they occasionally kick someone in the face.

      1. Clif

        That’s Mike’s job.

  17. Corronchilejano

    It’s been a while since Dina has been taken somewhere she wasn’t going to because of someone else.

    1. Opus the Poet

      I don’t think it’s happened since the beach party.

  18. Dara

    I can’t wait ’til they run into Ryoga on the International Space Station.

    1. Dday

      ????

      1. Opus the Poet

        Ryoga was a character in Ranma 1/2 who was constantly getting lost.

        1. Dday

          Ok, so I don’t normally respond to day old comments but I am a huge-ass Ranma fan and I was just trying to represent Ryoga with a pig emoji followed by question marks to represent confusion from being lost. Honest mistake.

    2. Joe Moose

      Oh god I can imagine that!

  19. Van Jealous

    If a bearded old man pops up out of nowhere inside that vault and asks DIna and Charlie “How Are The Dodgers Doing”…I’ll blow my top!!! 🙂 (…old running Jack Benny joke….sorry youngsters).

    1. Clif

      It’s almost as good as the one where the hold-up man asks him, “Your money or your life” and Jack is still deciding.

      1. Ed Callahan

        “I’m thinking! I’m thinking!”

  20. Jeremy

    HEIST! HEIST! HEIST!

  21. BBCC

    I’ll get the balaclavas!

    1. Effie

      And I’ll get the baklava!

      Mmm, tasty

      1. Clif

        I’ve never understood why there aren’t as many baklava shops as there are doughnut shops.

        1. anonymsly

          I wonder if it’s just that baklava is more complex or takes longer? Like, I feel like I could probably make a doughnut but I think phyllo might make me cry.

  22. PirateTawnee

    They’re holding LEFT hands. Both of them. This is more important to me than how they got into the bank vault.

    1. PirateTawnee

      (in panel 2 at least)

  23. Pocky

    welp; being gay and doing crime is a law. . . better get to crackin that safe.

    1. Opus the Poet

      Safe is already cracked.

  24. CaptainSanchez

    Now this is the kind of wild gag I’ve been missing since Shortpacked ended!

  25. EtchJetty

    REVERSE BANK HEIST……. this is the next arc. this must be why amazi-girl is present in the storyline

  26. NGPZ

    Happy Autumn Equinox to all who celebrate! ^^

    1. Dante

      Happy Equinox!!

      1. NGPZ

        BTW sorry if not place to mention but,

        have we met before? your energy seems really familiar….

        there was someone who talked a lot like you, under the name of Wandering Lynx who commented here

        either that or i am rather tipsy rn haha

    2. Opus the Poet

      Happy Mabon.

  27. Mollyscribbles

    Quick, fill your pockets with circulated bills and you’ll have money for as many hat options as you want!

  28. anon

    lol, love how she’s more concerned about their combined ‘effects’ as opposed to being jealous

    1. Dante

      I feel like she is at least a bit jealous. She knows how powerful Dina is.

      ……….. But also, knowing Charlie means the possibility of them getting lost as hell is way more concerning sdlkgjss

      1. anon

        Well , i don’t think carla and dina are really close (tho i don’t know if dina has friends outside sarah, and dating becky) but i imagine carla wouldn’t think she’d be ‘stolen away’/dina’s not that type of person, tho i suppose jealousy/emotions aren’t logical

  29. Zamperla

    I appreciate that this is a concern about their relative meta-abilities. Not that she doesn’t have her own insecurities, but Carla is both the best and selected the best girlfriend, so its not her immediate concern.

  30. Emperor Norton II

    While we already knew how Dina can share her siperpowers through touching, so too will she gain the powers and/or weaknesses of the ones she are touching.

    Interesting…

  31. MordWa

    This may be the most “Shortpacked” strip in DOA thus far.

    The only way it would be better if they ended up in the Amazon jungle…

    1. Mark

      Dina and Charlie exit the bank and discover that it is in the middle of the Amazon jungle.

  32. C.T. Phipps

    How many dead bodies are in the next room?

    🙂

  33. KM

    So we accept suspension of disbelief on this but not the Speedrun? Lol

    /Jk

    1. Taffy

      Video games are Serious Business™, to be taken seriously and only portrayed 1:1 with reality. Bank vaults are fake news and can do as they please.

      1. Da Boy

        Let’s be fair, since they dropped Gold Standard, money is completely made up XD

    2. TerribleTransit

      If this ends up being a major plot point instead of a one-off gag I’m sure people will start complaining about it.

  34. Radiance

    Okay, they can fix this. They just have to come up with a misconception about Christianity, and Joyce will be reflexively summoned to them. Then Joyce can just teleport them all to wherever Dorothy is.

    As a last resort, we can prep a bowl of cadbury eggs for Robin. It won’t fix anything, but it will cause so many problems that “stuck in a bank vault” will be comparatively fine.

    1. Reltzik

      …. so what do we do once you’ve accidentally got EVERYONE in the vault?

      1. Taffy

        You take the fox across the river.

      2. Pharmadan

        Orgy?

    2. thejeff

      Or Carla could just state some misinformation about dinosaurs to bring them back.

  35. Alan in DC

    I get why with Sal, but is it explained anywhere why Carla is wearing gloves all the time?

    1. Taffy

      She skates, and a fall on concrete can fuck your hands up.

    2. Da Boy

      They are cool! Also maybe they make it easier when she tinkers with her inventions? Like no sweaty palms while her fingers are exposed?

  36. Ray Radlein

    I knew they should have taken that left turn at Albuquerque

  37. Da Boy

    Yeah this is kind of what I imagined a team-up between Zoro and Ryoga would look like. Carla is lucky they are still in the same dimension as her.

  38. Acher4

    I absolutely adore this strip! 10000% Love this!

  39. IntangibleMatter

    CRIME ARC

    CRIME ARC

  40. Arianod

    Carla *really* should appreciate and be thankful of the fact that Dina doesn’t want to steal her girl.

  41. Taigan

    Is the last panel real or just Carla’s imagination?

    1. NGPZ

      Probably ain’t her imagination, on account of Carla can’t even be bothered to remember what people other than her look like XD

  42. darkoneko

    Well, at this rate Becky will soon be heartbroken

    1. Felian

      YOU WENT SNEAKING INTO A BANK VAULT WITHOUT ME

      1. Michael Steamweed

        HOW CAN I BE GAY AND DO CRIMES IF YOU DO THE CRIMES WITHOUT ME?!

        1. NGPZ

          to be fair Becky seemed not to react when Dina stole a mega bottle of booze without her

  43. Mark

    Put the hat back on, Charlie!

  44. Felian

    I also appreciate that Dina helps out Charlie with her neurodivergent needs right away, because unlike Joyce, she doesn’t assume that this help will be given.

  45. Rabisch

    I love to see Dina and Charlie become friends so naturally. But I also hope Carla will ne the one designing and building the perfect headpiece for her.

  46. DJTsurugi

    this power could be harnessed. ~<3

  47. Michael Steamweed

    If there are any DoA characters capable of crossing over into other webcomics, it might be these two when they’re superpositioning themselves throughout the wave function.

    1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      Dina has shown up in both “Questionable Content” and “Girl Genius.”

      1. Opus the Poet

        Next up is Something*Positive which has had a cameo from Ultra Car after Carla changed to the gynoid chassis.

        1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          I think there was a strongly hinted memorial service for Mike in SP also.

      2. Joe Moose

        Wait. Where in Girl Genius?

        1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          Wednesday, October 31, 2018
          Volume 19, under heading “Gil and Trelawney Have a Quiet Breakfast.”

  48. Amós Batista

    Tighter? Wow, the hat looked tight yesterday.
    (I can’t blame her, btw)

  49. Pergola

    … Man of Steel porno image. What?

    1. Taffy

      P r o m o. Like promotional.

  50. stePH

    Whyinhell is Carla just standing there instead of going with them? This was quite preventable.

    1. Taffy

      Carla’s been stunned by Dina’s charisma. She wasn’t prepared.

    2. HueSatLight

      Take Carla to a vault and she’ll end up swimming around in the gold like Scrooge McDuck.

  51. Pharmadan

    Spinoff time!

    At least they don’t appear to left their dimension or time…

    ” It’s not unlike them to get lost, but…oh God, not this kind of lost …”

  52. Solaire

    They took “be gay, do crimes” to another level

  53. J

    What.

  54. Deanatay

    Dina: How did we end up here?

    Charlie: *mulitple choice*
    We’re inside the lip of an active volcano in Hawaii?
    We’re anywhere in Gaza?
    We’re on the Moon?
    We’re in an experimental breeding reactor in North Korea?
    We’re in a clothing store?

    Dina: Aha! *let’s go of Charlie’s hand*. Now, let’s find you a tighter hat…

  55. C.T. Phipps

    Dina: You seem better than Joyce.

  56. Mturtle7

    Well, at least they’re not break a long-established Mario Bros. 64 speed run record together. That would be UNREALISTIC!

  57. Lilith Rose

    Student Loans: Paid off!

  58. WillowD

    Oh my Goddess this is awesome.

  59. Deathstalker

    Dina in a locked secure room again?!

    There’s some flashbacks. DYW! IYKYK

  60. Taellosse

    By their powers combined, they are…the PERFECT CRIMINALS!

  61. Owlmirror

    Imo commit fanfic…

    Dina: Wait. This is a vault, but is it a bank vault? We should examine more carefully.

    *examination ensues*

    Dina: This vault appears to contain artifacts and fossils. I do not think it is storage for a museum. This appears to be the private collection of a paleontological and archeological hoarder! Let us document this with our phone cameras.

    *photography ensues*

    Charlie: These fossil eggs say “Oviraptor. Gobi Desert, Mongolia”

    Dina: *looks extremely covetous*
    Dina: . . . and we will take one as a physical example of the evidence.

    *puts egg in pocket*

    Dina: *looks at phone* Hm. No signal. I hope that Becky is not worried about me. Let us try to find our way back to campus. Charlie, give me your hand again. . .

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