219

Back down
Posted on April 5, 2023 by David M Willis

219 thoughts on “Back down”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    “…they smell bad?”

    “What?”

    “The metaphors. Or the fish in the barrel.”

    1. Decidedly Orthogonal

      “Joyce, you’re grounded!” –Dorothy

      “Yes, I just fell on it!” –Joyce

      1. LaGrosseLegume

        I love you guys x)

  2. Mr. Random

    They keep a comin’
    Like…….

    1. Risky

      They keep a comin’
      They are……. (Metaphorically speaking….)
      Pigs in a barrel.

  3. Caro

    usually it’s faces that become discord emotes. but ill make an exception for :doristand:

  4. UrsulaDavina

    So what’s the odds Dotty heard their previous exchange?

    1. Jamie

      I’m going with low.

      1. Alongcameaspider

        I’m gonna guess the other way, she heard it, but will assume it’s just Joe trying to manipulate Joyce

        1. Bryy

          Oh god this is it.

          This is totes it.

    2. Dday

      I bet high!

    3. Just an Armadillo

      I feel like if she had been that close when Joyce fell out of the tree she’d have invited herself into the conversation already.

      1. Zero

        She’d probably have called an ambulance. That was… quite a fall.

    4. Keulen

      I’m gonna guess zero, unfortunately.

    5. Thag Simmons

      We haven’t had a major bit of drama in a while it feels like, so they seem pretty low.

      Expecting a rough comment section tomorrow, whatever happens.

    6. Steelbright

      Personally, I say high, because of framing. Like, how we were zoomed in on the tree this whole time and only zoomed out to see Dorothy now. The framing is designed to not show us she’s there, ergo, she is there? Don’t question my logic, it won’t hold up under scrutiny XD

      1. Dday

        Yeah, I read it that way as well. The way the conversation was framed (Joyce looking screen left, Joe looking up) it could definitely function as a setup for Dotty having been here for a lot of it. Considering the way she is usually written… My guess is we’re about to see her at least soften her stance.

        1. Dday

          *Joyce looking screen right

      2. asmodai

        Chekhov’s framing?

      3. MacareuxMoine

        Dorothy definitely moved closer after Joyce’s fall – panel 3 shows to much empty space left of the tree for her to be already in the same spot.

    7. Freezer

      Odds she heard at least some of it: high.
      Odds she’ll ignore it in favor of her own biases: Higher.

    8. anon

      given the angle/dorothy coming up from behind joyce and not joe i’d think she’d at least know that she’d fallen even if she didn’t hear most of the convo

    9. Decidedly Orthogonal

      I’m taking the median: 50/50

    10. Needfuldoer

      She may have heard it, but she wasn’t listening.

  5. Icalasari

    Joyce’s Stand, [DOROTHY], activated!

    JoeJoyce’s Bizarre Adventures!

    1. Proto

      In this case it’s one of those stands that harms the user because Dotty’s either gonna attack Joe or drag Joyce away. Or both!

  6. DailyBrad

    This kind of makes me wonder what all she heard.

  7. Koms

    Joyce cracked the sidewalk?

    1. UrsulaDavina

      I am pretty sure it’s a branch

      1. Thag Simmons

        given that it clearly extends off the sidewalk it’s gotta be a branch.

        1. Needfuldoer

          No, she must have cracked the ground too.

        2. Thag Simmons

          That entire lawn is actually just painted sidewalk

        3. Taffy

          Also the fact that it fell along with her. That feels relevant.

        4. a/snow/mous/e

          It also looks very similar to the branches shown falling in panel 2.

      2. Taffy

        Branches usually don’t break sidewalks.

        1. Decidedly Orthogonal

          What if it’s a branch of an existing crack?

        2. Taffy

          Branches also don’t usually smoke crack. That’s Dorothy’s job. Mike had photographic proof.

      3. Yotomoe

        shhh don’t ruin my fantasy.

    2. Taellosse

      Extrapolating Dumbing of Age’s dilated relationship to time in our reality, she was probably in 9th grade around 1987, when the fitness craze known as “Buns of Steel” crashed into pop culture (much like Joyce’s butt crashed into the sidewalk).

      Despite her sheltered upbringing, clearly she was somehow exposed to this home-workout juggernaut, and so experienced a profound alchemical transformation of the posterior.

    3. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      Wouldn’t that mean Carol is now paralysed?

      1. The Oracle

        She’s Carolysed.

        1. Schpoonman

          “Now I’m not paralyzed, but I seem to be struck by you(r tush)…”

        2. Schpoonman

          Fuck, I meant to to write “carolyzed”.

    4. Yotomoe

      Putting the “heavy” in “bottom heavy”.

    5. butting

      You’ve got some cheek, asking that.

  8. Puppeteer Nessus

    Dorothy will now be angry for reasons that are not true, but sound good to her.

    1. anon

      50/50 chance on it working out i suppose

      Tho any further disapproval from dorothy would probably make joyce dig her heels in/double down

      https://youtu.be/6G2pzuPE27Q “i’m going to date her him even harder”

    2. Nicoleandmaggie

      Or Dorothy realizes she’s not needed. That she’s screwed herself over for nothing. Boyfriend’s dating someone else, career aspirations are shot down, turned down Yale, and for nothing.

      If so, hang in there Dorothy— Ruth is right, you’re a good person and you have a lot of life left to live. You will figure out new directions. There’s a lot of policy positions out there that aren’t slimy and need good people.

  9. newlland(Henryvolt)

    Joe botched that “helping a cat out of a tree” moment.

    1. anon

      unless you grow up used to it i don’t think i’ve seen many ppl expertly catching ppl coming down off trees (tho i feel like just seeing them holding hands isn’t as bad as no context him holding joyce ‘bridal style’ lol)

    2. Mark

      So, who had “Joe fails to catch Joyce” in the pool? No one???

  10. UrsulaDavina

    I have been playing the Resident evil 4 remake recently and I tried to catch Ashley a few times but she just pulls a Joyce. I have just stoped now.

    1. Schpoonman

      I did always enjoy in the OG whenever Leon and Ashley were in their bonus outfits Leon drops to one knee catching Ashley and holds his back standing up.

  11. Jamie

    Some.. someone needs to teach Joyce how to fall properly.

    1. Alanari

      She just fell about 2,5m without hurting herself. Apparently, she can fall just fine.

    2. anon

      i’m sure it’s useful in some sports and other cases but other than stunt doubles there aren’t exactly many classes/opportunities that teach you how to ‘fall properly’ versus learning experiences (after all she slipped and intend to fall down that properly as opposed to expecting joe to grab her(?))

      1. Proxiehunter

        Pretty much any martial arts class will teach you. My karate class in sixth grade didn’t even teach throws but they taught us how to take a fall.

        And some tumbling we did for some reason in gym class in middle school kicked in when I slipped on some icy steps resulting in me tucking in my head and rolling on my shoulder ending up with a mildly sore back at the bottom instead of a cracked skull from hitting about ten to fifteen concrete stairs on the way down to the bottom.

        1. ischemgeek

          I did the same. Landed on my feet at the bottom, totally by luck. People thought I was doing a parkour on purpose instead of doing a panicking martial arts klutz by mistake.

          I am still, to this day 10 years later, amazed I didn’t crack my skull off a step and die of a brain hemorrhage. I’ll never do it again (hopefully), but I’m so glad I managed to luck into it when it counted.

      2. Opus the Poet

        Look up “paratrooper fall”. It has saved my bones more times than I can count.

        1. Thag Simmons

          That does seem like a useful technique, but now I’m going to have “Blood on the Risers” stuck in my head all night

    3. Yotomoe

      Yeah you gotta hit the sheild button right as you hit the ground. That allows you to tech the fall and gives you some invincibility frames so you can skip Okizeme and more easily return to neutral.

      1. Needfuldoer

        Or you double-jump right before you land, so you don’t take fall damage.

        1. Schpoonman

          My “favorite” games were the ones that saw that coming and said “Nope, you fall from too high and you lose control of your character, enjoy reloading your save.”

          Looking at you, Toy Story 64.

    4. kraenieldamage

      Joyce didn’t fall, we just saw how she teleports to Dorothy in real time.

  12. EpochFlame

    Can’t wait for the ensuing confrontation.

    1. asmodai

      I have a solution for you: become a Patreon, this way you don’t have to wait… unless there is a timely scene change, that is.
      And I guess this solution only works once: after you have your first early comic, you are still waiting 1 day for the next comic (which comes early, but that changes nothing to the wait time).

      1. Schpoonman

        Take a shot any time someone on Patreon says “Okay, now where’s the $50 ‘Look at comics two days early’ tier?”

        1. C.T. Phipps

          To be fair, 5 bucks also gets you a bunch of bonus comics.

  13. Sirksome

    Trees have layers, snow piles have layers, Joes and Joyces have layers. Dorothy’s also have layers. You know what doesn’t have layers? Anti-people! Very flat folks with no depth beyond being the antithesis of whatever they represent. Ruins all the metaphors.

    1. UrsulaDavina

      Hard shelled tortilla don’t have layers… But can be used to create layers.

    2. Needfuldoer

      Everyone has layers. It’s winter.

      1. NGPZ

        Everyone is like an onion! Tasty tasty onions that go good in Taco Bell food, Rice Omelets, caramelized in burgers and cheeseburger dogs…

    3. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      The lack of layers is why archeologists ignore the role of anti-people in prehistory, because you can’t date them.

      1. Gigafreak

        Speaking of dating and layers, Joe’s problem here is that, for the first time in his life, he maybe wants to date and not just lay ‘er

    4. Masumi

      Does that mean Anti-Mike died, but Mike is still around somewhere?

      1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

        Of course, he’s in bed with your mom.

  14. Matty

    I had to zoom in on that branch. For a moment there I thought Joyce cracked the pavement falling out of that tree.

    1. RassilonTDavros

      You can never be too careful when it comes to tree branches in Willis’ comics.

  15. NGPZ

    A wild Dorothy appears!!! ?

    *a passing car’s mini TV plays “Pokemon Kanto Wild Battle Theme”*

  16. RassilonTDavros

    The question now is not whether Dorothy is going to fuck this up, it’s how specifically she’s going to fuck this up.

    My money’s on “pretend to confess her love to Joyce in a last-ditch effort to do something, anything to keep her from dating Joe.”

    1. Dana

      I’m guessing that Joyce and Dorothy aren’t going to be on speaking terms for a while after this. A while can’t be long in comic time given the day/storyline rhythm. Otherwise I’d say it’d be a week or two.

    2. anon

      well the blurry patreon preview shows it’ll be the next scene as opposed to cutting back to lucy and walky talking but i’d hope that tactic would be seen as obvious considering it’s not true/dorothy doesn’t love joyce in the same way becky does/did

      though it’d be hilarious if there was a non canonical bonus just to see how everyone would react if dorothy ever reacted like, “you know what? fuck each others brains out but i won’t be at your wedding”

    3. DailyBrad

      That feels extremely fucked up even given Dorothy’s mental state as of late.

    4. Proxiehunter

      Yes, pretend. Clearly just pretending.

      “considering it’s not true/dorothy doesn’t love joyce in the same way becky does/did”

      You sure about that? Has Willis said so elsewhere because I don’t recall it being stated in the comic and Dorothy has on occasion been acting a certain way.

      1. anon

        it would be possible but given that dorothy is acting as the ‘mom friend’ i’m not sure if she’d be able to committ to that fully even if she was ok with teaching joyce to masturbate with the laundry machines

        and even so i think dorothy still has feelings for walky

      2. thejeff

        She’s explicitly said that she’s straight and there’s really been nothing since that to contradict it.
        And, as anon says, she’s far more obviously hung up on Walky.

        1. TerribleTransit

          She explicitly said she was straight as fast as she could tell, subject to change. It’s not exactly a ringing endorsement of heterosexuality.

        2. thejeff

          True, but there’s still really been nothing since to suggest she’s reconsidered.

          And honestly, I’d say that kind of response is probably more likely to hold up than a more emphatic one. It suggests she’s considered the idea and isn’t in denial about it.

        3. TerribleTransit

          Granted, the evidence against Dorothy being straight isn’t that strong — it’s pretty much just squinting at her and Joyce and saying “seems kinda gay tho?” — but the evidence for it isn’t particularly compelling either. I’m definitely not going to stand here and claim she’s definitely not straight, but I’m also not gonna feel like it came out of nowhere if she confessed her love for Joyce tomorrow.

    5. Thag Simmons

      That seems callously manipulative on a level that I genuinely don’t think Dorothy is capable of

      1. GholaHalleck

        I dunno, she DID just tell Walky to not not bang Lucy for a purely self-centered reason… New Dotty might be that petty.

        1. Thag Simmons

          Despite her motives “If you’re not ready, you’re not ready” is not bad advice and it was solicited.

          Not the same thing as pretending to be gay for your best friend so they don’t date somebody else.

        2. Taffy

          This, and also it’s not like she said “Don’t fuck Lucy, fuck me instead”. Waiting until you’re ready is actually the baseline for getting sexy with your partner, I should think. People jump Walky’s ass for supposedly not being into Lucy, but if anything her moving so quickly is a form of pressure she’s unknowingly putting on him, and Dorothy backing him up is a favor. Who knows, maybe after hearing that advice, he’ll go be a man and talk to Lucy openly about their uneven expectations.

        3. GholaHalleck

          While the advice *is* sound, I have a *very* hard time believing that it was given with an altruistic intent considering the current plot-line.

          I’m kind of waiting for her to shoot her shot with Danny after this. the fiasco trilogy would be complete then.

        4. thejeff

          To be honest, it didn’t sound so much self-centered to me as distracted. It’s very generic advice and not really related to what Walky asked her. She definitely went there with questionable intent, but I think by the time he asked, she was so focused on Joe/Joyce she wasn’t thinking about getting back with Walky anymore.

    6. Bryy

      Mine is on Joyce saying Dorothy isn’t her mom, and Dorothy responding with some variation of “yes, because yours tried to have you killed”.

  17. BBCC

    Well you got your figures of speech right, so Dorothy can’t be too mad. 😉

  18. RacingTurtle

    Whatever is going to happen with Dorothy is for later. Today, there are cute, happy smiles, and they are good

  19. Victor Riley

    Dun dun DUNNNN!

  20. not someone else

    Those are some emotively painful speedlines there.

  21. TemporalShrew

    Oh no, not the “character did not hear extremely relevant information exchanged mere moments before and a big stupid misunderstanding ensues” trope. I don’t liiiiike that one.

    1. thejeff

      One of my problems with this whole Dorothy arc is that it’s all built around misunderstandings that could be easily cleared up by these supposed close friends talking to each other.

      1. GholaHalleck

        I think Dotty’s dislike of Joe runs deeper then one heart-to-heart convo can fix.

        I’m legit calling a “People don’t CHANGE!” outburst from Dotty and Joyce will power slap her with a red right hand.

        1. thejeff

          I agree it runs pretty deep and I doubt she’d accept anything Joe had to say for himself at face value, but I do think she could be persuaded if Joyce talked about her interactions with Joe, dating back to their early texting. Showing they’d bonded without Joe hitting on her, for months.

        2. nicoleandmaggie

          It is a little weird that they haven’t talked about it. Has the texting been super secret? Has Dorothy been too busy with everything (classes, getting kidnapped, therapy…) to notice?

        3. thejeff

          I do think it’s a bit weird, but it’s kind of a weirdness with their relationship all along. Remember Joyce getting all upset Dorothy didn’t tell her at once about breaking up with Walky? Has Joyce ever talked to Dorothy about her dates or crushes or anything to do with guys? At least before Dorothy stumbled into finding out about it on her own, like with Jacob.

        4. GholaHalleck

          She’d have to accept Joyce is an adult person who doesn’t need her to micromanage like a lost puppy for that to happen.

  22. Lux

    Darn it Dorothy, not now 🙁

    1. True Survivor

      I can’t tell if she is more angry that Joyce and Joe are together or that Joyce mistook a simile for a metaphor. Either way, Joyce should start running.

      1. Needfuldoer

        At least she caught herself on that one?

  23. shrub

    How does Joyce not have a broken…something, coccyx maybe?

    We’ve seen the lengths Joyce will go to protect someone she cares about, what will she do if Dorothy starts to attack (verbally) Joe, let it slide or go into protective mode?

    1. Dana

      Joe is not the only one with a nice tushie.

    2. anon

      sometimes it’s the power of youth lol xD; while aging isn’t as bad as ppl say, someone can bounce back from a broken ankle at 16 but if you’re 30 and sleep on your arm awkwardly it’s sucky for the rest of the week but dpened on the person XD;

      1. Zero

        A few days ago, I spilled something on my shirt. I had to run home to change as quickly as I could, because I had somewhere I had to be.

        My arm is feeling better today, though.

    3. True Survivor

      When I was in 5th grade one of my classmates broke his coccyx jumping off the swing in recess (something we had been told repeatedly not to do). He had to sit on one of those inflatable toroids for a few months. I starting jokingly calling him bubble-butt and it sort of caught on.

      Strangely that did not discourage another classmate from later jumping off the swings – this time avoiding hurting his coccyx by virtue of landing on a second(?) grader. Or maybe that happened first? Either way some one didn’t learn from the mistakes of others.

      1. Proxiehunter

        Sounds like the second one learned that the first ones mistake was not landing on a second grader. Got to aim for someone to cushion your fall.

      2. thejeff

        Broke my butt caving a decade or so ago. Really unpleasant. Do not recommend.

        It’s especially frustrating because it’s an injury modern medicine can’t really do much about – painkillers and a special pillow and wait for it to heal. Can’t exactly splint your ass.

        1. thejeff

          Also, in an injury like that she could quite well have broken something and not know it yet. Pain doesn’t really start until the swelling kicks in. Not going to happen for narrative reasons, but you probably shouldn’t really be sure for 15-20 minutes.

    4. Thag Simmons

      She’s young and got lucky.

    5. PirateTawnee

      I fell from a tree roughly the same height (at roughly the same age) as Joyce, and managed not to break anything. Blacked out briefly on landing and was nauseous for a day or two afterwards. Young and lucky is a good call, thanks Thag.

      1. khn0

        you may not have had anything broken, but I wouldn’t bet on not being injured, black out + nausea sounds like a concussion in my book

    6. Needfuldoer

      She probably didn’t fall flat on her butt in a sitting position. Maybe she landed on her feet with her knees bent, but this isn’t an animated series so we only have one frame to illustrate that sequence.

    7. Owlmirror

      In addition to young+lucky — the tree might be angled slightly, so that she slid more than fell, and friction reduced her speed. Also, the ground is probably quite soft because it is saturated by water from the recent snowmelt.

      1. thejeff

        Even just grass and dirt has a lot more give than the sidewalk she almost hit.

  24. Laura

    Speaking of metaphors and similes…
    *plays “Fome is Dape” on the hacked muzak*.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9GopLA75Uo&list=PL1n9aA26SG_1AbwPHFHNHe0_Dl297BeSm&index=2

  25. Francoinblanco

    Joyce remember that day, your orthopedist will ask about it

  26. Warcodered

    I’m sure everything is going to be fine…..really.

    1. HueSatLight

      yes, we all have a complex and have not actually been following the building conflict in the story between what Dorothy wants Joyce and Joe to do and what Joyce and Joe want Joyce and Joe to do.

      1. Needfuldoer

        Dorothy wants Joe to fuck off, so at least they halfway agree?

  27. anon

    hope dorothy’s gonna back down

    though, it would be hilarious if she was suddenly like, ‘you know what? i’ll fuck joyce myself’ just to stop joe from hooking up with her

    1. Carms

      Ok THIS is an angle I’m here for, that IS the next obvious escalation.

      1. anon

        i mean, while there’s a world where it’d be possible for it to be some kinda qpr (queerplatonic relationship), i’m not sure if dorothy or joyce would be canonically sexually attracted to each other to actually do so compared to becky and dina (tho that’d be quite the reaction image/expression if becky did get that news)

  28. HueSatLight

    The tree in the strip is a metaphor for a tree that would actually be easier to climb and safer to fall out of, but wouldn’t fit so nicely in the panels, allowing Joe to look up at Joyce off-panel. Similar to a redbud.

    1. anon

      lol i’m also reminded of sarah saying “walky’s too short, the guy has to be the obstacle course /i’m/ the protagonist” or so lol

  29. Net-Zero Joeyce Shipper (no engine, slowly following the current)

    a wild pillar of salt appears

    1. Opus the Poet

      Talk about a mixed metaphor. Bible story of Lot’s wife, and Pokemon. And stupid spellcheck doesn’t recognize Pokemon, a 30 YO game. Between spellcheck being more than 2 decades behind the times and Otto Korrect changing “indicted” to “indicated”, I give up on technological “assistants”.

  30. Suet

    Wowza, that hurts.

    Not as much as what could happen tomorrow.

  31. Carms

    Oh gawd I do not like the EXTENSIVE METAPHOR discussion immediately after and around Joe reaching to help Joyce and LETTING HER FALL.
    That is NOT the JoJo Foreshadowing I want to see! CATCH HER JOE.

    or idk I guess helping her up when she falls is ok and more emblematic of the DoA themes and like. metanarrative. But I’m UNEASY ABOUT THIS. I WOULD LIKE TO REGISTER A CONCERN.

    1. Steelbright

      Hah, I never would have thought of that, oh no! Them missing all the metaphors all around them while making up metaphors that tell them what they want to hear would be..painful.

      But I agree with your second read, given that all of them are talking about people making mistakes and getting better, maybe him catching her when she was falling out of the tree is a kind of romanticized perfect relationship, but him helping her up after she falls out of a tree is more of a realistic relationship with some mistakes??

    2. Belegcam

      Eh, Joyce seems pretty happy and not horribly betrayed. Sometimes slapstick is just slapstick.

    3. Cabbage

      It really is a metaphor for how the three of them view their situation!

      Joyce: “You make me want to climb out of a tree ❤️ And I messed that up, but I’m fine!”
      Joe: “I’m bad at this but you make me want to be better ❤️”
      Dorothy: “OMG you chased her up a tree and then let her fall on the ground, you monster”

      1. Taffy

        Is Dorothy secretly the comments section talking about Dorothy?

      2. JBento

        For the record, that last one is bascally a giant panda “courtship”, which is only part of the reason why they’re incredibly bad at survival.

    4. Pergola

      Joe failed to catch Joyce because he was distracted by Dorothy’s sudden appearance.

  32. True Survivor

    Joyce has put on a lot of weight since that start of freshmen year (and this comic), which makes sense as:
    1) Due to being the youngest in a large family of mostly boys she may not have gotten her fair share of the food at home and been far below where her bodies more natural weight would be.

    2) In my experience the only truly good college food is deserts and in the buffe style cafeterias access to truly sinful qualities of them is near endless.

    3) She has, to be frank, gone through some really tough times – I’d be stress eating like a starved elephant in watermelon warehouse. Besides if you just survived being kidnapped by a childhood family friend and then watching him get beaten to death with a hammer, you’ve earned as much cake as you want in my opinion (though given Joyce’s diet I suspect most of her sugars come from soft-drinks).

    1. anon

      i mean, even on a dentist’s salary five kids seems like a lot for a modern family, i’d think most ppl’s limits would be 3-4 even if some are a few years apart, unless you get extra tax benefits after your 3rd kid more so that ppl can afford the bills if they weren’t already upper class rich before like jen. (or if joyce’s childhood neighborhood/church community was like a proper community and they had like group feasts/neighborhood bbqs or so, though i imagine she and becky would’ve had her fair share of sleepovers [though she was picky eating growing up so even if she had things she liked i don’t think she’d still eat in huge portions])

      i wouldn’t consider joyce chubby or anything, not that that’d be a bad thing, but i’d think jen’s weight gain was a bit more noticeable? but she was already ‘curvy’ to begin with. https://www.dumbingofage.com/2023/comic/book-13/02-turning-saints-into-the-sea/hmm/ her next to dorothy in this isn’t much of a size diff other than her chest and butt but that might be because of the angle and becky did call dorothy a ‘bony poindexter’ once. ppl do call it the freshman 15 (one of the burger places i’ve seen even has it as a menu item) and i think sal noticed walky gaining a bit of weight lol

      1. miz

        there are only 4 kids in joyce’s family, if that makes a difference. she has 3 older siblings.

  33. ADLegend21

    Joyce got that wagon apparently lol

    1. Yotomoe

      She’s got a wagon full of cake.

    2. GLaDOS

      Look at her. Plummeting through the air. Like a meteorite riding a space hopper.

  34. insertname

    Awwww yessss the time has finally come. Grab your fave kind of popcorn, im getting caramel

  35. Steelbright

    I am disappointed that Joe didn’t catch her as she jumped out of the tree, but this is probably a better story, hah.

    Also, I’m choosing to believe that given that Joyce’s hand could almost reach Joe’s hand in the first panel, she must have been lower to the ground than the last time we saw her by the time she fell, therefore somewhat-more-reasonably avoiding breaking her butt.

  36. BOOSTER SHOT

    POPCORN

  37. miz

    ✔ joyce has to jump out of the tree
    ✔ they each say something poetic and metaphorical about trees
    ✖ he catches her safely
    ✔ they stare into each other’s eyes
    ✖ they lean in to kiss
    ✔ dorothy catches up

    4/6 on my predictions yesterday…i’ll take it

    1. Jess

      pretty good!

  38. Rabid Rabbit

    “Anyhow, I know I was talking about how I want to murder your tush, but I kind of just murdered mine. Would it ruin things if you first time you got to see my tush is when I ask you to help me spread some cold cream on it?”

    “That’s fine.”

    “The warm cream can come later.”

    (I apologize so, so much for that last line.)

  39. AbacusWizard

    Dumbing of Age Book 13: It’s Possible The Tree Is A Metaphor For A Bunch Of Things

  40. Bobbi

    Unrelated: I left a response to a comment yesterday and now the whole thread has disappeared. I suspect there was a good reason, but I missed all the responses and drama apparently, and now I’m curious ?

    1. shrub

      Was it to do with Father Ted?

      1. Bobbi

        Yeah that was the one!

    2. David M Willis

      I don’t recall deleting anything yesterday! I dunno what happened to where you’re looking for.

      1. Bobbi

        People were talking about Father Ted and I made a slight lament about not being able to enjoy it anymore because the guy who wrote it is really transphobic. No fuss if it did get deleted, or just spontaneously removed itself, was just a little amused that I apparently missed it

        1. NGPZ

          Interesting. Probably got flagged into limbo, who knows?

        2. shrub

          Graham Linehan somehow made not one, not two but three of the funniest sitcoms ever, how does that even happen?

        3. Bobbi

          And now I can’t watch either of them, because they’re so inextricably linked with him wanting people like me to suffer ?

  41. Slartibeast Button, BIA

    No jokes about him making her want to climb *his* tree?

  42. Nenja

    Well, looking at that last panel, I’m excited to see what will happen tomorrow.

  43. Yotomoe

    Ah, so Joyce has enough padding to provide her substantial resistance to high impact physical damage. I will make a note of that for later.

    1. Needfuldoer

      It’s the plot armor, or maybe just cartoon physics.

      1. Yotomoe

        Her plot has armor alright!

        1. JBento

          It’s padded armour.

  44. Yotomoe

    I feel like it’s really obvious when I find something in the comic hot cuz I comment on it like 10 times, sorry.

    1. Schpoonman

      Where’s butts (the commenter) when you need them?

  45. AGV

    Dorothy watching and realizing that her concerns aren’t really warranted like: ?

    1. Bryy

      That’s cute, acting like Dorothy won’t somehow spin this.

    2. Needfuldoer

      More like Principal Skinner.

      “Am I so out of touch? No. It is Joe and Joyce who are wrong.”

    3. DailyBrad

      That would certainly be interesting, especially since the visit with Ruth at least had her vocalizing a lot of shit she’s been bottling up.

    4. thejeff

      Depends on exactly what she heard. There’s not really anything today that would shake my opinion of Joe, if I shared hers.
      Just saying “you make me want to be a better person” could easily just be a line.

      1. Drain

        Seconded

    5. Warcodered

      Feels like awfully hopeful thinking with Dorothy really seeming to be starting to crack up.

  46. DashWallkick

    Man, there’s two ways this could go — Dorothy tries to insist that Joe is bad for Joyce but it’s not actually true and she KNOWS it isn’t true but she needs that control over her life again, or she’s just put into an even more depressive spiral as she loses more of the things she establishes herself with.

    Like think about it, maybe she won’t actually try to force Joyce to “See” Joe in a different light. Maybe she’ll just slink off to her room with a dead-eyed “I’m happy for you” and sleep for 48 hours.

    1. Taffy

      She could probably use a thorough 48-hour nap. It might help her unwind.

  47. shoopdawhoop

    Looks like Joe watched As Good As It Gets, or at least saw the trailer.

  48. Schpoonman

    In an alternate universe Dorothy is an xkcd fan and instead of whatever’s about to happen she rushed over to split more hairs over terminology.

    Danny made more sandwiches.

  49. Rabisch

    Beautiful scene between Joe and Joyce. The last panel could be a scene from a western movie. All that is missing is the wind, the hats, Dorothy dressed completely in black, Joe covered in an old, green poncho and the classic
    tumbleweed rolling. But the tension is the same.

  50. Carla's #2 Fan

    I’ve got a big butt, it is not padding! That fall would hurt so much!

    1. Holly

      Same and I’ve slipped on ice and annihilated my tail bone before now, much smaller distance and impact!

      1. Adept

        Indeed. It’s intended as comedy, but that fall would have shattered things and put her in hospital.

  51. saltchocolate

    I love the sweetness between Joyce & Joe! They will be just fine, Dorothy; please don’t make a scene.

    I’ll say this: the one prediction no one has made is that, upon seeing that Joyce is safely happy with Joe, Dottie breaks into tears and has the meltdown that’s been threatening to happen for days. Joyce & Joe end up comforting her. It’s still an undesired interruption of this romantic story arc, but not in the way we’ve been anticipating.

  52. RedComet

    I really like that first panel.

    Also, what was it Ruth or Jennifer said? ‘Pratfall into her first orgasm’ and (to paraphrase a bit) embark on a wild sexual journey?

  53. Keith

    Oh, sweetie. You found the rare “yes, it is both” well done.

    1. pyrock_mania

      Technically it’s an Idiom

  54. Adept

    No matter how padded it is, Joyce would have broken her tailbone here.

  55. DarkoNeko

    …as someone who once broke his coxxyx I am very glad the result here isn’t any close to reality

    1. Amós Batista

      Yeah, right? Damn it was a huge height.
      Hope you get recovered, it sounds painful.

  56. thumb

    Dorothy walks up, sees that she was wrong, and walks away seething, not knowing what to do with all of her anger and frustration. She can’t make herself be as bad as she wants to be. She ends up having to do something worse.

    Second best case scenario, I think.
    Best case scenario is she explodes in a self-righteous but cathartic rant right here and now.

  57. sdrainbow

    I was about to say “I’m going to be mildly optimistic and say that Dorothy will attempt to intervene but Joyce will stand up to her”

    but I got six words in and realized

  58. vulcanodon

    Wonder how much of that conversation Dorothy heard

  59. Amós Batista

    I should stop to talk about Joyce’s curves, but the own creator can’t help me, in alt text today.

  60. Pergola

    Q: How do you get down from a tree?

    A: You don’t. You get down from a duck.

    1. Blue

      I have no idea what this means.

      1. Taffy

        Ducking involves lowering your body, or “getting down”.

      2. TerribleTransit

        Down feathers.

        1. Taffy

          No, a Phoenix Down helps you get UP.

    2. Mark

      Why a duck?

      1. Yumi

        Doesn’t have to be a duck. Could be a goose.

  61. jpnr

    dorothy, you chose not to recover your boyfriend not let your best friend get her own boyfriend

    what’s your deal

    1. GholaHalleck

      She won’t stop until she breaks up at least one happy couple today.

  62. Wendy

    DOROTHY NO

  63. poyo

    DOROTHY BE COOL

  64. Taffy

    Everyone talkin’ about “Dorothy, don’t try to fuck Wally, he has a girlfriend”, “Dorothy, don’t cock block Joyce”, “Dorothy, don’t go off on Joe based on your outdated information that yadda yadda yadda”.

    And I’m like, Twelve forbid women Dorothy do anything.

    1. Yumi

      Yeah, Dorothy should fuck Walky while cockblocking Joyce and going off on Joe!

    2. Just an Armadillo

      I feel like this comment is ridiculous enough that it’s probably a joke… but on the off chance it’s not I will point out that minding her own business and not interfering in people’s relationships/lives is a very good option that Dorothy should probably be considering right now.

      1. Taffy

        On the off chance I’m batshit bonkers and have fucked-up morals, yeah.

        1. Just an Armadillo

          It’s the internet. Sometimes people are just crazy, you never can tell, lol.

    3. David

      Dorothy, don´t self sabotage and call it fairness

  65. Julia

    It’s good that they left for class an hour early, or I would be concerned about all these conversations making them late

  66. James Starkey

    Let Joyce make her own decisions. She won’t learn or grow unless she is allowed to act or think for herself. Dorothy has already made her case that pursuing a romantic relationship with Joe could end in tears or worse, but that’s for Joe and Joyce to decide, not Dorothy.

  67. chuckroast

    Joyce got that dumptruck confirmed?

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