168

Meet
Posted on January 19, 2019 by David M Willis

168 thoughts on “Meet”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    Joyce has met the enemy, and she is us

    1. Marsh Maryrose

      Pogo lives!

      (God, do I miss Walt Kelly.)

      1. Clif

        A thousand times.

    2. Deathjavu

      Joyce has met the enemy, and she is basically just a mirror.

    3. BrokenEye, the True False Prophet

      Speak for yourself

  2. ValdVin

    Fasten your seat belts…

    1. Screwball

      Brace for Impact…

      1. Kensou

        It begins…

        1. Clif

          Tomorrow we cut away to another scene.

        2. LookingIn

          well, it’s been a while since we heard from Danny so it’s the perfect time to catch up with him 😀

    2. Felian

      we’ve waited for this for so long!
      also, since when is Joyce so perceptive on how she looks to other people?!

  3. Spriteless Girl

    ^u^

  4. DailyBrad

    Hehe, I guess Lucy, to Joyce, would seem like someone aping her enthusiasm level we’ve come to expect from her.

    1. Deanatay

      Don’t be rediculous!

      Lucy’s smile isn’t anywhere NEAR triangular enough.

      Plus, Joyce doesn’t wear glasses!

      ILLUSION BLOWN

  5. BBCC

    Oooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh

    This is gonna be GOOD.

    1. LeslieBean4Shizzle

      I know, right?
      Look at that expression on Joyce’s face in the last panel. Lucy in trouble!

      1. Doctor_Who

        Identity theft is not a joke!

    2. Keulen

      There’s so many good popcorn eating gifs, I can’t decide which one to use for this.

  6. shadowcell

    [somewhere in another time, another place]

    BATMAN: i’m Batman.

    1. Stephen Bierce

      DAISY: Hi, I’m Daisy

      1. Jamie

        Obligatory: https://www.nuklearpower.com/2001/04/12/episode-015-a-little-intellectual-conversation/

    2. Screwball

      “No, I’m Batman.”
      “No, I’m Batman, and so is my wife…”

      1. Kravis

        THIS IS PATRICK!

    3. Keulen

      Groot: I am Groot.

      1. Clif

        Thou art Groot! We are all Groot.

        1. thejeff

          All that Groots is Groot.

        2. keithcurtis

          I grok Groot.

        3. Michelle J. Caboose

          “I am Groot!”

          “I’m Batman.”

          “I’m Mary Poppins, y’all!”

  7. purblebirb

    hahahahaha holy shit

  8. Roger

    great start

  9. Solenoid

    I just want you to imagine that image of two spidermen pointing fingers at each other. You know the one.

    1. Jamie

      It’s rude to point.

      1. Nikol Geier

        I’m not pointing, you’re pointing!

      2. Marsh Maryrose

        Rose: “It’s manners out of joint / to point”

        (Gilbert & Sullivan, Ruddigore

  10. Kyrik Michalowski

    Joyce has never met anyone in this dorm with as much enthusiasm as her, all the time around these people(and Sarah) is making her cynical. She can’t identify a genuine warm and excited greeting anymore.

    1. Sambo

      Yeah, it makes me sad 🙁

    2. abysswatcher1993

      At her home almost everyone was a right wing fundie, and at her dorm almost everyone is a nihilistic jerk. She has to get out to see the world and see that there are different kinds of people and not just extremes, like the flawed extremes of the Shin Megami Tensei games.

  11. Stephen Bierce

    –Is it me you’re looking for?

  12. C.T Phipps

    I hope Joyce protects Billie, her best friend, from the incredibly uncool Lucy. Lucy just can’t stand to be around someone as awesome as a high school cheerleader.

    1. Fart Captor

      I will fite you and I will poop in your car

      1. C.T Phipps

        *Joyce hurls out Lucy from the Quad like she was hurled out of hers*

        1. King Daniel

          It was Billie who hurled Joyce out, though.

    2. Zee

      Hey op? Where’s your location I wanna talk

  13. Kravis

    Oh, shit.
    Read Hall broke Joyce.

    1. Bagge

      To be fair, she has broken Read Hall well and good as well.

  14. Bagge

    Ha! Not EXACTLY what I predicted, but close enough. I thought they would be put off by each other’s sunniness. Joyce being too used to sarcasm to recognize genuine friendliness is both heartwarming and heartbreaking.

    1. Deathjavu

      In classic fashion, we were given the meetup we wanted but it’s bittersweet.

      1. Emperor Norton II

        Yep, Willis gives people what they want… And like the Fates in the Wish spell, turns the wish around on the wishers at the drop of a hat.

        1. Deathjavu

          Damn you literal genie Willis

  15. Bagge

    From opposite ends of the corridor, Sarah and Malaya comes walking. Both give Lucy and Joyce and look, then they turn around and flee screaming in terror.

    1. Needfuldoer

      They just turn around and walk away without changing pace, like that gif of Grandpa Simpson.

  16. Cattleprod

    I’ve never seen any of the movie TimeCop except for the bit where the guy touches another version of himself and explodes or something. I’m concerned that might happen here.

    1. Tom T.

      I was once warned against touching myself for similar reasons.

      1. Michael

        Underrated comment.

      2. ValdVin

        Apt avatar is apt. *WINK!*

      3. Bagge

        Ha!

  17. Lingo

    Awwwwwwwww no! Not like this! They must combine their sunshine powers! Together they’ll burn brighter than THE SUN ITSELF!

  18. ARoseJess

    Now, now, Perfectly symmetrical greetings never solved anything….

  19. Marsh Maryrose

    TRIANGULAR SMILE VERSUS SEMI-CIRCULAR SMILE!!!!! THE ULTIMATE BATTLE OF DENTAL GEOMETRY!

    1. Marsh Maryrose

      Or, with a hat tip to Bagge:

      BATTLE OF THE ALPHA SWEETIES! (Only one can be Alpha!)

      1. Bagge

        May the sweeties sweetie be the AAAAAALPHA!

    2. Felian

      A wonderful way to put it.
      Dental geometry should be a thing.

    3. Bicycle Bill

      The shape of things to come…

  20. Tacos

    Joyce knows. There can only be one.

  21. newllend(henryvolt)

    Yes Joyce this is what it’s like to meet you. The only thing missing are the Soul piercing blue eyes looking dead at you and a much wider smile.

  22. Reltzik

    …. Well I suppose SOMETHING had to happen to prevent the cuteness of these two meeting from hitting critical mass.

  23. JessWitt

    YESSSSS

    https://tenor.com/view/its-about-time-marvel-antman-gif-5954739

  24. tirachokko

    On one hand, it’s sad that Joyce now can’t be enthused about meeting an equally enthused person. On the other hand, signs of character development give me the warm tinglies in my soul.

    1. Emily

      I would consider Joyce having the friendliness beaten out of her to be negative character development.

      1. Azhrei Vep

        I’m with you one hundred percent Emily.

        Isn’t it great? Negative character development is the BEST kind of character development!

  25. Jair

    It’s about time White Lucy met Lucy.

  26. cbwroses

    I’m guessing Walky peaced out when Billie started talking about her feelings.
    He can barely handle his own, let alone someone else’s, especially considering he’s not very enthused about that relationship.

  27. Spack

    Ray of Sunshine Death Battle: FIGHT!

    1. Marsh Maryrose

      What happens when two Care Bears each direct a maximum-force Care Bear Stare against each other?

      1. Khyrin

        I would work under the assumption that, unless they two bears were perfectly opposed, the Stare would, as is the case when Care Bears Unleash their Stare in unison, the beams would collide and continue along their vector average. This would likely result in the Stare going perpendicular to the two bears tummies or Care Bear Cannons, as we in the field call them.

        😛

      2. ValdVin

        Something akin to the low-violence kid’s version of a firefight (either with pistols or phasers) where one person shoots the other’s weapon out of the hand without injury, or (in extreme cases) hits the ammunition out of the air?

      3. StClair

        What TV Tropes calls a Beam-of-War.

      4. Needfuldoer

        It would be bad. Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.

        1. thejeff

          Important safety tip.

        2. Roborat

          Got it, never cross the streams.

  28. Rick Robin Cagnaan

    Okay now wipe that smile off your face, Lucy. Fun time’s over.

  29. stoodmuffin

    WOW. SOMEONE SO BRIGHT IT TURNED JOYCE INTO A bongo. WHAT. IN THE WORLD.

    1. abysswatcher1993

      I blame Sarah, Billie, Joe and Walky.

  30. avistel

    Panels 2 through 5 should just be a wide-angle shot of the state of Indiana being vaporized/irradiated by about (m_joyce+m_lucy)*c^2 joules worth of gamma particles.

    1. Michael Steamweed

      That’s a whole lotta Hulks in the making!

  31. Nomad

    Spidey-senses!

  32. Dawn

    Awww this makes me sad…I wanted them to immediately be friends.

  33. lightsabermario

    Triangle grin, meet semicircle grin.

    1. BenRG

      I’m sort of expecting Sarah to walk out of her room before retreating screaming: “The smiles! I’m blind! I’m blind! I’m blind!!!”

  34. Keulen

    YES! I have been waiting for these two to meet for so long!

  35. Ophidiophile

    You never know how annoying you are to other people until you meet someone else who is just like you. Ignorance really is bliss.

    1. Nono

      But Joyce knows Becky.

      1. DarkoNeko

        Right ?

      2. Jay

        Becky isn’t annoying tho because she’s self aware

      3. timemonkey

        Becky is like Walky, though.

  36. OnyxIdol

    “This is Reed. Only cool, serious people live here.”

    1. BenRG

      “I’ve met Carla. She only manages ‘cool’.”

      “Touché.”

  37. Rabid Rabbit

    …

    I’m leaving now.

  38. GenJen

    Unfortunately for Lucy, she just ran into the Alpha Bongo Padawan. Shit’s about to go down.

  39. Uly

    *glances at pumpkins on door*

    Oh hey. HEY. Joyce didn’t get to celebrate Halloween growing up, did she? She got to hand out tracts to trick-or-treaters or something equally unfun, right?

    1. BBCC

      Probably. And yay, Halloween!

      Now for the next 2-3 years until we get there.

      1. Bagge

        I WANT A COSTUME EPISODE SO BAD!

        1. Bagge

          And we do know Willis has at least considered it…
          https://i1.wp.com/animationanomaly.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/DoA-Joyce-Rapunzel.png?w=600

          (Apologies for not finding the original tumblr post. I assume tumblr thought it was a male presenting nipple or something.)

        2. BBCC

          There sure aren’t any similarities between Carol and Gothel noooooo.

        3. StClair

          Mother knows best.

        4. mrnoidea

          Oh my fucking god that’s the best thing I’ve seen all week.

        5. ValdVin

          I have not seem that movie. Is that a gap in my animation geekness?

        6. Uly

          Tangled? Well, it’s fairly standard Disney, but clearly the writers knew something about controlling, emotionally-abusive parents.

        7. Needfuldoer

          There’s another one from this past October! No idea what they’re supposed to be, though…

        8. Deanatay

          YES I HAVE SAID THIS FOR SO LONG

          CHARACTERS IN COSTUMES NAO PLZ

  40. DarkoNeko

    That’s now how I expected it to go.

    1. mrnoidea

      Joyce is finally looking at herself from the outside.

  41. Jess

    AHA. THIS’LL BE GOOD.

  42. abysswatcher1993

    Joyce isn’t used to sincere niceness. Most of the good people she have met behave like cynic jerks, and some of the evil bastards she has met speak with fake niceness.

    1. BenRG

      Precisely. She’s been unknowingly embittered and made cynical! I really look forward to the strip when she realises this!

  43. BenRG

    It looks like that those readers who thought that Joyce would be weirded out by looking into a bizarro mirror were right! There’s nothing like meeting yourself to realise how unintentionally annoying you can be! XD

    Seriously, though, I hope that this isn’t a single-strip one-off. I really think that Joyce and Lucy can be good friends and can motivate beneficial change in each other.

    1. abysswatcher1993

      This is Willis we are talking about. In a scale between Andrew Hussie and Dan Shive, Willis points more in Hussie’s direction. That is up to interpretation.

      1. Zee

        I never thought I’d see a comparison between hussie and Willis but okay

    2. Emily

      Joyce being super exuberant and friendly is literally the least annoying aspect of her personality.

    3. Kittie

      I know this comment section tends to skew toward introversion but if saying “Hello” and introducing yourself with a smile and a handshake is considered annoying now that makes me sad.

      1. abysswatcher1993

        That’s what we call the apathy that has taken over our lives in recent decades thanks to dismisal of Global Warming, Fascist demagogues gaining power, toxic internet communities, systematic racism and Black Mirror levels of priviliged people not caring about the lives of others. Being cynical and apathetic shouldn’t be the norm.

      2. Charlotte

        Agreed.

  44. brasca1

    Lucy is who Joyce could be. She’s awkward, but likeable and religious without all the shaming and judgement which is why Mary hated her within seconds. She can sense it.

    1. Nobody

      Could’ve been maybe, I think current Joyce has seen too much of the world to be so naive and trusting again

      1. abysswatcher1993

        Becoming cynical shouldn’t be an improvement. Being cautious is a normal part of growing up, but distrusting everyone seems like a sign of a toxic environment affecting people.

        1. Nobody

          I never said being cynical was an improvement and Joyce isn’t cynical, just less trusting than she used to be

    2. newllend(henryvolt)

      Echo Joyce.

      1. ShinyNeen

        If only Smash 5 still let you customize the moves and stats of Miis, then that could be exactly true!

    3. Jimmy

      Is Lucy religious? I haven’t seen her reference religion, but I could have easily missed something.

      1. Deanatay

        I don’t think she is, I cannot recall her mentioning God once.

        She is a SECULAR Black Joyce.

      2. BBCC

        She goes to church on Sundays. It’s why she wasn’t there to meet Billie when Billie moved into her dorm.

        1. ValdVin

          But how religious? Religious and social, like many people? (Even Danny was telling his mom he was going to go to church.)

          We need a DofA scale where Joyce is on one end (can only listen to some pop songs because she imagines the two people in the lyric are married) and maybe Dorothy is on the other.

        2. BBCC

          Religious enough to go to church every Sunday, even when she’s really excited about something else, not religious enough that everyone remembers it about her in the comments. So, moreso than Billie or Danny, far less so than Becky or Joyce.

        3. Ferdinand Rosenthal

          Don’t forget…what’s her name…Mary.

          Mary then Joyce then a sliding scale up through…Sal?

        4. ValdVin

          Something makes me forget Mary!

          We need more than one axis. Mary and Joyce are both observant but so different with what they do with it–Mary still condemning people to hell, Joyce shipping at least two lesbian love affairs.

        5. BBCC

          A religiousness index crossed with an assholeishness index?

        6. ValdVin

          Ooh, I like it.

  45. JediMB

    Fated meeting. But how will it go from here?

  46. NinjaNick

    Just shake the hand. Do nothing else.

    1. Bicycle Bill

      “Wonder Twin powers, ACTIVATE!”

    2. Roborat

      NO! Don’t let them physically touch, it will trigger an uncontrollable cascade of niceness, resulting in total annihilation of the universe.

  47. Samantha

    Lucy I love you so much. You’re so pure so sweet and just a really positive person. I really really hope you and Joyce become friends and you help each other. I want Lucy to learn to be a tiny bit less awkward and I want Joyce to learn that she can maintain herself and be a sweet little sunshine still

    1. ShinyNeen

      There it is, there’s the incredible positivity that was missing from Lucy and Joyce meeting. Thank goodness you found it!

    2. Zee

      Yes, more people seeing The Truth. Thank you

  48. Eldritch Gentleman

    Well this is not how I imagined their meeting. Feeling weird when your own level of friendliness is aimed back at you, Joyce?

  49. Antonio Tyler

    2010 vs 20190

    1. Antonio Tyler

      Yay for typos that you can’t fix ?

      1. Clif

        Still works though. Just slightly premature.

        1. Emperor Norton II

          Or just make up a whole new calendar.

  50. FrothierLemming

    Their ship name is Jucy (Juicy? Are you allowed to change spelling when you mash?)

  51. Andy

    And then they fell in love and Willis had to draw a rather unexpected slipshine

  52. ShinyNeen

    Lucy isn’t going to get a single normal danged hello in this hall, is she?

    1. abysswatcher1993

      Is it even that normal to have a hall full of bratty self centered jerks that don’t want to give simple gestures like “hi”?

    2. David Doty

      She got one here. Joyce replied “Hi!” It was just the subsequent conversation that went a bit off the rails.

  53. Zee

    Lucy is the best character in this comic and I would literally die for her. A Lucy/Joyce friendship would be amazing because Lucy is all the best parts of Joyce without the religious shame and everything. I want this to happen, blease Willis

  54. Kater

    “Hi, I’m you with less trauma!”

    1. StClair

      Not for long!

  55. DallyDaydream

    THEY MEET

    I’m so excited

  56. Softsful

    This is… kind of sad in a way…

  57. DarkoNeko

    Poor Lucy, she can’t catch a break

  58. Whaatt

    Why is Joyce Even upset? She never met Lucy, so how can Lucy be making fun of her?
    PLEASE DAVID. LET THE BECOME THE SOULMATES THEY WERE MEANT TO BE

    1. Charlotte

      Soulmates, yes! Exactly that!

  59. Charlotte

    Joyce has become a lot more jaded, hasn’t she?

    I hope so so so much that the enounter goes upwards from here and the two become friends. They fit so well together and would be such a force to reckon with!

  60. Mkvenner

    Joyce is has been corrupted.

  61. Cmd1095

    Used to be Joyce would’ve been just as enthusiastic and friendly, she may have changed for the better by casting aside some of her indoctrination and naivete but it is sobering to see her be more jaded and cynical like this

  62. PB

    This is not how I expected this to happen AT ALL, and yet I am not surprised.

  63. Steve

    hello, triangle smile, I am semicircle smile

  64. Guest42

    I’d like to see Walky and amber sufficiently resolved before he considers Lucy. But sadly life does not work that way.

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