149

Troubled
Posted on March 20, 2025 by David M Willis

149 thoughts on “Troubled”

  1. Sirksome

    Amber talking to herself kind means something different…or maybe it doesn’t?

    1. Thag Simmons

      She’s not talking to herself in this page at all though. Every line here is addressed to Ruth.

      1. Sirksome

        I realized that after I already typed my comment and to my shame it’s the first one today. ? Feel free to start a different topic here. I flubbed it.

        1. Effie

          Ruth and Amber start the “Orphans With Awful Dad-like Figures Roof” club

          and then they bang (but not necessarily on the roof)

          so then Amber has to move to a different dorm too

          because somehow Ruth is still the RA

        2. Effie

          OH! Oh oh oh!

          “Garbage Ruth on Garbage Roof!”

          (the name of the next plotline)

        3. Disastroid

          It’s the Garbage Truth with Garbage Proof!

        4. Decidedly Orthogonal

          Revealed by the Garbage Sleuth,
          We can’t handle the Garbage Tooth!

        5. Lysbeth

          But he finds the Garbage Sooth:
          Garbage Dogs have Garbage Floof!

        6. Ray Radlein

          so about those macroeconomic indicators

        7. Clif

          How are you enjoying the Trump recession?

        8. Ray Radlein

          NOT GREAT, BOB!

          Wife is getting downsized soon and will be having to negotiate the alleged job market while being simultaneously (a) old and (b) female, so this could be a very… interesting year for us

        9. Li

          Hugs!

    2. Needfuldoer

      This is how she cries for help.

    3. anon

      her text bubble isn’t colored but it would be interesting if she was trying to imitate ruths voice

  2. shadowcell

    but there’s people out there

    1. Steamweed

      Ewww.

  3. Raven

    I am confusion

    1. clif

      At first I thought you were saying you were confused, but then I realized that you were making a bolder claim, that you yourself personified confusion. The same way that someone would announce “I am death.”

      1. Ray Radlein

        now I am become confusion, destroyer of certainty

        1. Yondrose

          You am become Reddit?
          A dating app, perhaps?
          Tabloid news?

      2. Lysbeth

        I am confusion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7X7cEh5au8

        1. Clif

          She makes a good argument though.

  4. Animedingo

    Wait so is walky and dorothy banging in ambers room whole becky and dina are banging next door?

    1. Thag Simmons

      Dorothy and Walky are in Dorothy/Becky’s room, I checked when the page went up. So either Dina and Becky left or they’re in Dina’s room.

      I could certainly imagine Amber only being out in the hall because Dina kicked her out.

      1. Animedingo

        That room must smell awful

      2. GholaHalleck

        I think Becky’s breakdown killed their sexy time, and they went back to Dina’s room for her to change back out of the suit. Or to hide inside the dinosaur like Luke on Hoth.

        1. NGPZ

          “And I thought it smelled like sex on the OUTSIDE”

          XD

    2. Sirksome

      They’re all both banging and not banging until observed.

      1. Rose by Any other Name

        Schrodinger’s Fuck.

        1. Opus the Poet

          +1 The cat is suing for psychological abuse…

        2. Rabid Rabbit

          Pavlov’s dog is just drooling, though.

          (The dog’s name is Joe.)

        3. Jamie

          I both give and do not give this fuck.

        4. Clif

          Amber both is and is not practicing looking troubled.

        5. NGPZ

          Oh yeah!

          Happy Spring Equinox to all who celebrate! ^^

        6. elebenty

          YAY!
          There were signs (we do have crocuses up), but now it’s official.

          I’m in a location that has had snow in June, though. ‘Officially spring’ doesn’t mean I can put the snow shovels and ice scrapers away just yet.

    3. John Campbell

      Walky and Dorothy appear to be in Dorothy’s room. Becky and Dina may have sexiled Amber so they can bang on the sex dinosaur.

    4. HueSatLight

      They’re all in the same room, but they’re all being very quiet so the other couple doesn’t notice.

    5. Taffy

      It’s the polite thing to do.

  5. Rose by Any other Name

    … ben’s funeral?
    Who’s Ben?

    1. NGPZ

      I *think* it’s a SpiderMan reference, but I ain’t quite sure XD

      1. Yeet

        it’s scrubs

        1. clif

          Ben Scrubs. Husband of May Scubs. Uncle of Peter Piper of the Pepper Pipers.

        2. elebenty

          Ah, right next door to the Pumpkin Eaters I believe.

    2. Proxiehunter

      Uncle Ben.

    3. Thag Simmons

      My first assumption would be Ben from Spider-Man but I don’t know why that would be the reference here.

    4. Yeet

      JD’s mentor’s ex-wife’s brother

      1. Thag Simmons

        Oh, Scrubs! That would make much more sense than Spider-Man.

        I should probably watch that show, the Pitt has gotten me on a bit of a hospital show kick.

        1. Ray Radlein

          they’re very similar

        2. BorkBorkBork

          Nah, I don’t watch no Scrubs. Scrubs is a show that don’t get no love from me.

    5. Gojira007

      It’s a reference to the “Scrubs” episode “My Screw-Up”; Ben is a guest-character on the show played by Brendan Fraser. I won’t go into further details here for spoiler reasons, though.

      1. darkoneko

        My Scrubs-Up

      2. alwayslurking

        I’m not sure “at ben’s funeral” leaves much in the potential spoiler box…

    6. Schpoonman

      Scrubs. “Where do you think we are?”

    7. AbacusWizard

      Scrubs. There’s a very emotional episode in which “Where do you think we are?” is a sudden wham line in which it is suddenly revealed that the characters are at a funeral for a character that the viewers did not yet know was already dead.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Screw_Up

      1. Benjamin Geiger

        They do leave clues though.

        “So, you still doing the whole kooky-guy-who-brings-his-camera-everywhere thing?” “Till the day I die.”

        And once Cox is told that a patient has died, Ben doesn’t have his camera anymore.

        I’d say this is the second hardest hitting episode, right after “My Lunch”.

        1. Furie

          I think I remember seeing the other patient (the one they imply died as a mislead) in the background at one point too. Not sure if that was this episode or even show though.

    8. Jo_cubstar

      Ok good, it’s not just me trying to figure that one out

    9. Tan

      This is actually a Scrubs reference

    10. Taffy

      Based on the six people who couldn’t wait to say it, I think there’s an orphaned Scrub reference.

      1. Thag Simmons

        Honestly a little embarrassed I didn’t catch it. This is like the one Scrubs thing I actually know about

    11. Furie

      Scrubs reference.

      A character is brought in and dies. One of the mains goes into denial, seeing and talking to the dead character (Ben) throughout while arranging their baby’s birthday party. Towards the end they talk about babies covered in cake being a nightmare and another main asks where they think they are. We widen to reveal Ben’s funeral.

  6. jeffepp

    Now I really want to know what went on between her and Dottie. That Dottie felt the need to apologize for to Walkie about.

    1. Thag Simmons

      I think Dorothy was apologizing for sending Joyce a titty pic?

    2. Proxiehunter

      It makes more sense for her to be apologizing about the whole Joyce thing.

    3. Sirksome

      Dorothy felt the need to apologize to Walky for sending Joyce lewds instead of him. She’s over correcting for bisexual guilt.

      1. GholaHalleck

        I’m hoping it’s more of an “apologizing for trying to cheat *on* my BF that I just got back with, not long after hinting that he should cheat *with* me on his then current GF.” thing.

        1. cbwroses

          Considering that she wasn’t acknowledging her feelings, I don’t think the intent at the time would count as cheating.
          But I’m also not sure Dorothy would make that distinction.
          Her freak out with Joe kinda implies she doesn’t make that distinction.

        2. GholaHalleck

          She realized that she was, at least subconsciously, trying to cheat on Walky. Bisexual panic is not an excuse for repeatedly trying to send someone a sexual picture, “joke” or not.

          That and her trying to convince Walky to cheat with her, or to break up with Lucy and re-date her, are poor looks no matter how you swing them. Her advice to him before that was also selfish, but it got glossed over.

        3. cbwroses

          Everything aside from sending the pic to Joyce is irrelevant to whether or not she was trying to cheat and any subsequent apology, regardless of how bad the other stuff looks (pretty sure she already apologized for that stuff as well).

          And I don’t think people should be blamed for subconscious feelings.
          Whether or not Dorothy feels the same way about that is the question.

        4. GholaHalleck

          Of course you should be blamed for acting on things. Actions should have consequences. Just because Walky’s a sponge of uncaring sponginess, so she gets away with it, doesn’t mean it wasn’t a shitty action.

        5. cbwroses

          Do you seriously not understand that she’s not apologizing for sending the picture but for the recontextualizing (sp) of what sending the picture means with the realization of her feelings?
          It wasn’t a ? action because the action in and of itself was not wrong.
          It never crossed her mind that Joyce is trying to cheat on Joe with her or get her to cheat on Walky, and she’s not trying to do the opposite when she sends a pic back.
          But when she realizes her attraction, now Dorothy feels wrong.
          But she still doesn’t think Joyce did anything wrong.
          Why? Because the intent matters, and she knows Joyce didn’t intend to send her pics.
          If only the action mattered, then Joyce would be just as wrong as Dorothy.

    4. Jo_cubstar

      What do you mean “her and Dottie”? Who’s her in this case? I assumed Dorothy was apologizing for sending nudes to Joyce? Because she feels guilty that she’s falling for someone other than her bf?

      1. Rose by Any other Name

        jefepp is implying that something sexy happened between Dottie and Amber.

        Given Amber’s bored look and lack of “I just got eaten out” hair, I think it’s safe to assume that the answer is that nothing at all happened.

        1. John Campbell

          Nah, Dotty and A-G totally banged. Amazi-Girl just hasn’t told Amber about it yet.

        2. Taffy

          That brings up the question: If Amazi-Girl thoroughly fucks somebody, does Amber feel thoroughly fucked when she fronts later on? As a person without the relevant anatomy, I’m not entirely sure how that pans out.

        3. cbwroses

          I assume all purely physical/chemical sensations that lasted past the actual sex would still be there after they switched drivers, depending on how soon the switch happened.
          Anything more than physical like the satisfaction of making Dorothy’s toes curl or the guilt from sleeping with your friend’s/alter’s ex’s girlfriend (are AG and Walky friends?) would probably not affect Amber.
          But this is just an ignorant assumption on my part.

        4. GholaHalleck

          None of the orgasm, all of the chaffing and calf cramps…

        5. Opus the Poet

          I can relate to that and I’m not even DID. I just refer to Past Me and Future Me.

      2. clif

        My guess, and this is only a guess, is that jeffepp thinks it possible that when Dorothy had her conversation with Joe, finally admitting (including to herself) that she was attracted to Joyce, and then was tossed by Becky into a room with an extremely attractive Amazigirl, something then happened of the stuff of fanfic for which Dorothy felt she needed to apologize to Walky.

        It seems far more likely that, Dorothy being Dorothy, her recognition of her feelings for Joyce recontextialized sending Joyce the pictures as cheating on Walky for which she needed to apologize. With sex. For her own self respect. Not, mind you, with any explanation why to Walky, who in fairness doesn’t care.

        1. morleuca

          She did try to explain, but his pants were already off.

    5. jeffepp

      I think the replies so far have missed the point.

      1. clif

        The point being???

  7. Amós Batista

    A for effort.

  8. HueSatLight

    Both of them checking “have successful conversation” on their TODO lists.

  9. Suet

    Dumbing of Age: Always Troubled

    Mobile phones are just smaller computers. And if they weren’t so bleh, google glass

    1. morleuca

      there was a company making safety glasses with HUD in them that were just awesome. They were for warehouse picking work. They would have your picklist, and would hilight a path to the nearest item on your list. when you got there, they would check the barcodes on the bins, and then tell you how many to pick, and then count with you. they would also alert you if you were in the wrong bin or if you miscounted. as well as being OSHA approved eye protection

      1. HueSatLight

        panopticon

      2. Embe13

        cool!

      3. StClair

        shiny jetpack goggle fewcha

      4. Clif

        If the glasses could do all that, what did they need you for?

  10. Proxiehunter

    That’s my secret Captain, I’m always troubled.

  11. John Campbell

    Come on, Amber, you’ve got to do the <q> </q> tags with your fingers if you’re going to do that in meatspace.

  12. TrueVCU

    She’s not out there by choice she’s SEXILED

    1. Taffy

      Sexiled from her own room, where Dorothy is fucking on her bed? Unless you figure she swapped rooms with Becky and Dina.

      1. HueSatLight

        Becky and Dina are elsewhere. AG’s in Amber’s room having sex.

        1. Taffy

          I see no problem with this statement and believe you directly.

        2. Aquila

          Are you actually B-… Jennifer?

          If so, I gotta say : I love you on DoA

    2. anon

      im sure she heard walky coming (heh) from a mile away so hopefully she’d be ready as opposed to just leave without grabbing a laptop or so

  13. RassilonTDavros

    Underrated dynamic, really.

  14. Deanatay

    Nothing to say here. No comment. Nothing interesting. Just two people acting entirely normal. Why is there a comic here? Willis needed to fill time, didn’t he?

    1. Thag Simmons

      A few reasons why you’d make a page like this.

      * The main plot threads need to jump ahead and you want to smooth that over so it doesn’t feel like a big skip forward. Cutaway is a very good way to bridge those.
      * These characters are uninvolved with the plot this chapter but they’re main characters and you don’t want it to feel like they’re absent, so this gives them enough to do that they still feel present in the story.
      * This is going to be an actual scene and so a page like this becomes effectively an establishing shot with a punchline

      In practice it’s probably all three.

    2. Sirksome

      You say that now but down the line we will look back at this moment and realize how much we were being told in this interaction and how truly pivotal it was. It all started here. “Leave your computer sometime.” will be the new “Act with integrity.”

      1. Ray Radlein

        so you’re saying she will crash her computer

      2. Peep

        Leave your computer sometime! Experience more regrets!

    3. Shakes

      The only answer is Willis forgot to upload the final panel which is Ruth saying “Leave your computer sometime” more forcefully while looking straight at the audience.

      1. clif

        I thought the final panel was Walky saying don’t care.

  15. Pocky

    that’s an interesting take on “touch grass”

    1. Taffy

      If somebody is about to get beat up, the beater-upper might say “your ass is grass”, so really if Amber goes and find someone who just got beat up and offers them comfort in the form of touching their butt, she could be fulfilling that imperative.

      1. clif

        I was about to ask, “what?” so thank you for your explanation which raises many new questions.

      2. Jamie

        Is this a prophecy about how Jennifer and Ruth start fucking again.

      3. HueSatLight

        She could skip a step, and just beat someone’s ass.

  16. Charles Phipps

    Ethan can be JD.

    1. Taffy

      The couch-fucker?

      1. astrotigs

        Nope, that’s a Scrubs reference lol

        1. Taffy

          Not everything in life is a Scrubs reference. Y’all are like obsessed with that show.

        2. Charles Phipps

          https://www.shortpacked.com/comic/scrubs

          An incredibly old reference to this script.

        3. astrotigs

          Hey don’t shoot the messenger, I haven’t thought of that show in a decade, I just recognise the reference.

        4. Charles Phipps

          No congrats for recognizing it!

        5. astrotigs

          oh wait i was responding on my phone, was meant to click on Taffy’s reply lol!

        6. Taffy

          You did, though. It’s a little ambiguous because my current Gravatar is centered and throws off the lines, but you definitely chained off of my comment.

          Probably be even clearer if I didn’t often go out of my way to cram thinner icons to the right as a subtle misdirect.

        7. Clif

          Well done.

      2. clif

        Your thinking of Uncle Ben who died on Scubs after Peter failed to save him.

  17. IntangibleMatter

    Amber Nadir from the hit tv show Community

    1. clif

      Surely one Amber is all we need.

  18. Opus the Poet

    As my t-shirt says, “My brain is trash and I live on the internet.”

  19. Reltzik

    … is Amber talking to herself, to Ruth, or to Mike?

    1. cbwroses

      Yes

  20. BBCC

    Yeah, Amber is indeed away from her computer right now, gotta give that point to her.

  21. Cloud

    This is one step removed from saying “upvote” outloud

    1. Clif

      What wrong with that?

  22. Thomas

    Amber’s not very good at expressions. She looks bored instead of troubled. I wish she just told Ruth what’s bothering her.

  23. Da Boy

    [Somewhere in his mind the “Ambiguously Gay Duo” starts to play quietly]

    1. StClair

      “What’s everyone looking at?”
      “NOTHING!”

  24. Charles Phipps

    I assume this comic means Amber expected Ruth to start a dialogue but it completely did not happen.

    Because Ruth doesn’t care about whether Amber lives or dies.

    1. morleuca

      or Ruth didn’t have a chance to talk.

      1. Charles Phipps

        I’d like to see Amazi-Girl and Ruth have a fight.

        It’d be interesting.

  25. thumb

    C’mon Amber, you can totally give “quoting inflection”.
    You know what, it’s probably because you’re troubled today. I get it.

  26. BlackScarabFilmZ

    You son of a bongo, why did you make me remember that?

    (“That” being My Screw Up)

    1. StClair

      Treatment is simple. Go to Panucci’s Pizza, get slice, pet dog.

  27. Kyulen

    At first I thought Amber was making a Spiderman reference, but now I’m not so sure. And I can’t blame people for not getting a reference, since not everyone watches or reads the same fiction.

  28. HueSatLight

    Alt-text is clearly a reference to the The Office episode The Dinner Party, in which Jan yells at Michael, “Where do you think I am?”

  29. Joy

    Amber’s shirt doesn’t really go with her jacket. I’m not sure she would care, though.

    1. Joy

      …it’s honestly not a great jacket for her hair/skin tone.

      1. Taffy

        That never matters.

  30. AnonGrouch

    Big tall vs shawty energy going on here

  31. Yakumo

    Between social awkwardness caused by the misunderstanding and Amber’s real meaning being right, that’s a full on crit hit. Well handled both though.

  32. clif

    Last.

  33. ian livs

    Technically, she’s in OUR computers right now

  34. Chronos

    Two beat panels. Yes, this scene calls for this absolutely (not sarcasm).

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