171

Ditchin’
Posted on October 16, 2020 by David M Willis

171 thoughts on “Ditchin’”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    So which Walkyverse holdover is Booster’s twin?

    Henry Calculusser?

    …wait, no

    Henrietta Calculusser

    1. Ana Chronistic

      WAIT I KNOW

      She’s Jet

      So Jet Pak

      and

      Booster… Pak

      1. a/snow/mous/e

        wow, nice pun pair. totally changed what kind of “booster” I was thinking about in that last-word twist.

      2. Stephen Bierce

        *plays some Wings*
        Duh dum dah dum! Duh dum dah dum! Daaaaah…

        1. Stephen Bierce

          I Thought the Major Was a Lady!

      3. Reltzik

        Probably Rhoda or something like that.

    2. Durandal_1707

      I can’t remember; was there any other artifact that went along with the Power Booster Rod?

      1. Sombrero

        Not that I remember, but maybe they have a sensitive twin sister.

        1. Daibhid C

          I was going to object that the Sensitive Scanner has already appeared as a fictional character, but then I thought “Yeah, and so’s Ultra Car”, so…

      2. cookie1995

        …
        It has has only just now occurred to me from reading your comment that Booster’s name is a reference to the Power Booster Rod
        I’m kind of an idiot sometimes

        1. Undrave

          I wonder if ‘Rod’ was their name given at birth??

        2. a/snow/mous/e

          i don’t think willis is going to bring up their deadname, let alone make it into a joke

        3. Ana Chronistic

          The best thing to do for a trans character is to not even give them a deadname

          Don’t even create one

          (different story if we saw them with the deadname, but if we’re introduced to them as trans and will not see their backstory, just forget it completely)

    3. C.T Phipps

      I vote for Alex just so we can have more Alex time.

  2. Doctor_Who

    Becky can’t provide college credit, but she can supply you with giant plush velociraptors.

    That’s gotta be worth five credit hours, at least.

    1. showler

      I don’t think “the entire continent glowing” can be a twin.

      1. showler

        Why does the comment threading hate me and my phone?

        1. Opus the Poet

          It’s your fingers and the page layout. You’re hitting “reply” but you’re aiming for the new post box on the bottom of the page which is right below the last post in the queue.

          Which brings me to another rant about people using the internets in general, about words that sound the same and mean completely different things, and words that look like they might be what you’re trying to say but don’t mean anything in English. A line of things or people is a “queue”, the long stick you play pool or snooker with, and the hint that you are supposed to say the next line is a “cue”. They are both pronounced like the name for the letter “Q”.

          The word many people use that doesn’t mean anything in English is “que” which is pronounced like the name of the letter “K” and is “what?” in Spanish. I don’t have much Sapnish vocabulary left after the truck hit me, but I’m stuck with that and a few other words, and seeing it in an English sentence causes my mental gears to grind. Like 2nd to reverse instead of 3rd grind.

        2. Morleuca

          my current category of words are the contranyms

        3. Morleuca

          …favorite! favorite category…ugh

        4. Fiddler115

          My replies aren’t showing up right where I meant for them too either. It makes it hard to follow that way. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, if I actually am doing something wrong.

  3. Chris

    She doesn’t offer course credit, and she doesn’t respect personal space.

  4. abysswatcher1993

    Booster has enough for a thesis now.

    1. AeromechanicalAce

      I’m pretty sure their experience with this group will give them enough material for their doctoral dissertation too.

      1. Doctor_Who

        Or they could skip all that and write a webcomic.

        That’s where the real fame and money are, baby!

  5. kgy121

    Westville’s residential area is, generously, nine streets wide.

    1. David M Willis

      :O

      1. Marsh Maryrose

        ngl, when I found out how close Westville is to La Porte, I was kinda expecting to find young Booster in the background in the Six Flags flashback strips

        1. Marsh Maryrose

          Also, let’s get ready for another round of explaining that La Porte is the city but all-one-word La Porte is the county

        2. Marsh Maryrose

          La Porte, all-one-word, I swear I got it right the first time

        3. Marsh Maryrose

          That wasn’t my autocorrect, that was the commenting system deciding it knows how to spell the county name better than the county spells it

        4. Marsh Maryrose

          Okay, now I’m really confused. Apparently the state considers the county name to be one-word “La Porte” but the county itself considers its name to be two-words La Porte? Cartography chaos, madness, soggies may rule

        5. Chris Phoenix

          Wait, do you mean that if I type La Porte with no spaces in this comment thread, it will show up with a space between the a and the P? That’s got to be a filter of some kind… if it happens that way for everyone… let’s do the experiment…

        6. Marsh Maryrose

          The state and the county don’t agree on the spelling of the name of the county. This is the American system of government in a nutshell, even the simplest of basic facts isn’t agreed upon.

        7. Chris Phoenix

          OK, what if I type LaPort e? LaPorta? La Porte? “La Porte”? LePorte?

          Also, why in the world would such a filter exist? I can’t think of any offensive term that’s spelled similarly to that.

        8. Chris Phoenix

          In all the above examples, there was no space before the capital P. And the third one was all caps. Like LEPORTE except with the first vowel being A.

        9. Fiddler115

          It comes out as two words because David actually made a filter that automatically separates it when it is typed correctly as a single word. He did this because he is a terrible person who should know better since he grew up here. I have argued with him about this very thing multiple times, and I am now convinced he has the filter to personally spite me.

          As a side note, I don’t know anything about this nonsense of the city and county of LP being spelled differently. They’re both spelled as one single word regardless of what his cute little filter tries to tell you.

        10. Corneel

          The sites of county and city and wiki seem to agree with Marsh Maryrose. With space for the City of La Porte, without space for the County.

        11. Jhon

          Wikipedia has “Westville is a town in New Durham Township, La Porte County, Indiana”, Spaceless. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westville,_Indiana )

        12. Owlmirror

          I wonder if shenanigans will work?
          David Willis is personally offended by the term “LaPorte”.

        13. Owlmirror

          Hee. It worked!

          The city of La Porte is the county seat of LaPorte county.

        14. RedCat

          The hell is this about?

        15. Jhon

          Wait til they get to Westville vs West Ville.

    2. Fiddler115

      It’s funny because it’s true.

    3. Needfuldoer

      Sounds like the fractal of boroughs and villages that is northern Rhode Island.

      “They grew up in Shelbyville, I’m from Slatersburg and we hated those guys!”
      – Two old townies talking about adjacent blocks in the town of Mattapoiset
      (Names have been changed to protect the guilty)

  6. Daniel

    Booster is literally me, right down to having a twin sister.

    1. Proto

      I’m so sorry that you live in a time vortex that causes your semesters in school to last ten years.

  7. rizz

    I like Booster

  8. BBCC

    Then NO THERAPY FOR YOU. 😛

  9. tim gueguen

    I have this weird feeling Booster will somehow be connected to Jocelyne.

    1. butts

      i have a similar suspicion

      …at the very least, i suspect that their sister will be a useful educational experience for Joyce

      1. Doctor_Who

        If this is an opportunity for Jocelyn to re-enter the story, then I’m totally in.

        Joyce has come so far in terms of open-mindedness, I really think she’s at the point where she could deal with the revelation that she has a sister (other than Sarah anyway), but her reaction would still be comedic.

        Also, now that Hank has officially achieved Good Dad Status, it would be nice for him to be able to cope with it too, and Jocelyn can feel accepted by a good percentage of her family.

        1. Demolition Fan

          Is that “a” or “THE” good percentage of her family?

        2. thejeff

          All sorts of revelations wait about what’s happened to Joyce’s family during the timeskip. Are her parents still living together? How did Jocelyne react to this?

        3. Needfuldoer

          Maybe Hank crashed at Jocelyne’s place (to get distance from Carol) and discovered something he shouldn’t have.

          Either:

          A. He thinks his ‘son’ has a girl around on the down-low (in a manner of speaking…)
          Or
          B. He found out the truth, but was accepting (because “fuck it, why not, this is the least of my worries right now.”)

        4. thejeff

          I find it unlikely that’ll happen off screen – though the first might be possible, since it’ll only set up the big revelation.

        5. RedCat

          Plus, Joyce could use some good family connections. And she always wanted a sister too!! Aw, I hope it will be sweet… and not bad and sad 🙁

    2. Rectilinear Propagation

      You think Booster reads Jocelyne‘s blog?

  10. Suet

    Silly Booster, Becky is not even a lecturer! (yet)

    Several degrees free from their parents, but not enough degrees free from Kevin Bacon.

  11. Ivy

    Twin sister is maybe Rachel? The lips match!

    1. missilentmurmur

      Same thoughts here

    2. Rotunda

      They’re just lips. If Booster’s sister lived on the same floor, they would likely have mentioned it while visiting that very same hallway.

      1. Ivy

        Let me have my fun!

      2. Charlie

        Maybe, but also maybe they either a) didn’t get a chance to mention it (since nobody was asking them about themselves) or b) want to be known as their own person first before becoming “Rachel’s sibling.” As someone who went to the same college as my older brother, and had some overlap in friends, I often took a bit to mention it for that reason.

  12. Ghastly

    Don’t worry, Booster, if you’re looking for case studies, you’ve struck a gold vein.

    1. Reltzik

      Starting with Amber’s fanfic portfolio.

  13. butts

    someone could do a study on Clark wing

    1. Doctor_Who

      Just wait until Booster meets those weirdos at Forrest.

      “Well, they’re certainly friendly, but how have I been awarded best resident in the dorm when I don’t live here? Wait, is that a shrine with my picture on it? Why are they prostrating themselves before it?! Is that one carving a statue of me out of cheese?!”

      1. Geneseepaws

        Better than butter sculpture. Cheese lasts longer down south where it’s warm. Cause Indiana, not Wisconsin.

  14. Newllend(henryvolt)

    Boosters going to fit in just fine around here.

  15. BlackScarabFilmZ

    Booster doesn’t mind all the characters talking about themselves, they’re gonna need the exposition to understand the events of the last ten years five months.

    1. Demolition Fan

      Really only two of them. The remaining 3 months are just mopping up. Booster can “skip a bit, Brother” as it were.

    2. Corneel

      Booster is a kind of reverse exposition fairy at the moment. Inviting characters to explain things they otherwise would not have reason to talk about and that way filling in the readers of the comic about what happened in the time skip.
      It’s less contrived than “As you know”. Still somewhat contrived.

      1. Needfuldoer

        Booster’s tour serves double duty, introducing them and the audience to the main characters for the Season 2 premiere.

  16. spookyfox

    god not a psych major

    1. Demolition Fan

      Yes. God is clearly not a psych major.

      1. Ray Radlein

        I dunno, 2020 seems like we’re all trapped in a really unpleasant psych experiment

        1. Miri

          Did you sign a consent form? I know I didn’t. Ethics, people!!

        2. Needfuldoer

          You got that right.

          (Where’s the hidden pineapple?)

        3. Jhon

          The gorilla is holding it.

        4. Roborat

          Inserted firmly up Hilter’s rectum.

          Let’s see if anyone gets that reference.

        5. SadnessWithASmile

          … I don’t get it, but I really want to.

        6. woobie

          Does Hilter have something to do with Hilting?
          (see Oglaf)

  17. Tandel

    Booster, you’re gonna close with “new in town”?

  18. drs

    oh Joyce no

  19. Reltzik

    Some advice, Joyce. Don’t lie to the psych majors.

    1. Demolition Fan

      Yes, do not do that, because like lying to everyone else, it’s rude. However, Psych people have no better ability than anyone else to id liars. Also, I don’t think Joyce sees herself as lying to others about it if she’s still struggling with the idea of herself. Clearly this is Willis setting up for her to explore her revelation with us. Unless he just hits us with it in one panel and then drops the mic.

      1. Rabid Rabbit

        All, Joyce hates lying as much as she hates homosexuality. Except she’s got better with the latter, so maybe she doesn’t hate lying anymore?

        (https://www.dumbingofage.com/2012/comic/book-2/06-strange-beerfellows/sin/)

        1. Jay

          Thank you for reminding me that Mike was a great character, now I’m sad again.

      2. HenrEek

        Well, Psychic people might have…

      3. thejeff

        I think that “yep, keeping the god stuff” with that look is definitely a lie.

        Did Joyce spend the break with Becky? Did she go to church every Sunday?

  20. bcb

    Hats off to those who called them being a psycjology major.

  21. shmoo

    I was already reading Booster in a Mulaney-esque voice. Thanks alt-text!

    1. Doctor_Who

      It suits them very well, actually.

    2. Josh Spicer

      Well shit now I am too.

    3. Sambo

      The alt-text made me bust a gut! Well done, Willis.

  22. Sirksome

    Yo! Who said they were majoring in psychology?…I said they were majoring in psychology! Haha!

    1. BBCC

      Yes! Kudos! Booster as a psych major is very fitting.

  23. Bagge

    Is Becky ill? She has hardly mentioned she is a lesbian yet.

    1. Demolition Fan

      Naw, she just continues to grow and evolve as a person.

      1. Bagge

        I mean… yes, that’s fair. But why would that stop Becky of all people from enjoying a good running gag?

        1. drs

          She’s replaced it with a bad running gag, of her hostility to Dorothy, her new roommate who bought her food.

        2. Bagge

          It’s not like she couldn’t keep booth gags running

        3. ValdVin

          Agreed on that front. I never thought she had to choose her running gags.

          Are Becky and Booster getting chummy in the last panel?

    2. leaf

      I guess she just doesn’t see the need to be redundant, with that hairstyle.

      1. Bagge

        Never stopped her before.

    3. Nnnnnnnn

      She DID talk abt how she knew the one ninja turtle because “she was a GIRL”

      1. Bagge

        True… but for Becky that counts a subtle.

  24. Varangian

    Boost, if you bone Dorothy in that same room where Walky once boned Dorothy, you may kill him.

    1. ego

      shit, that might bring Mike back to life

  25. brionl

    Photography? Candid Photos? Eh? Grin, grin, nudge, nudge, wink, wink.
    Say no more!

    1. Opus the Poet

      You’re old, I’m old, and none of these children will understand that reference. And if she weighs the same as a duck, she’s a witch!

      1. Geneseepaws

        Sorry, there is no cheese here, at all, I’ve been deliberately wasting your time.

        1. He Who Abides

          Damn Judean People’s Front.

        2. Varangian

          SPLITTER!!

        3. Edwin I Callahan

          Splitters never expect the Spanish Inquisition!

        4. AbelUndercity

          The Spanish Inquisition would like to return this parrot, wot they bought from this very shop not ‘arf an hour ago.

        5. OBBWG

          Harold, the bright sheep.

        6. Roborat

          Stop that! Stop that! That’s silly, and you are going to confuse the cat.

        7. ValdVin

          In a world of Supermen, only Bicycle Repair Man can be a hero.

      2. Keulen

        I’d like to hope there are people younger than me who understood those references as well, and I’m only 31.

        1. Needfuldoer

          Nah, these damn kids all grew up with cable. They didn’t have to watch reruns on PBS and that snowy UHF channel.

        2. Hof1991

          Snowy UHF channels that you had to adjust the antenna to get at all.

        3. Needfuldoer

          Yup, because you don’t live in the city the transmitter’s primarily focused at, and you’re picking up its reflection off a skyscraper or a mountain or something.

        4. brionl

          When I was a teenager, we lived in Tracy, CA and we could get TV from both San Francisco and Sacramento. We must have had 20 channels!

          Had to get an antenna rotator to change the direction it was pointing though.

        5. Jhon

          Through the snow! Both ways!

        6. Needfuldoer

          The trick nowadays is to combine two directional antennas, each pointing toward a cluster of transmitters. All you have to do is hook them up to the outputs of an RF splitter using identical cables, and hook the splitter’s output to the TV. (Basically using the splitter backwards.) You could get really fancy with bandpass filters, but that’s not completely necessary as long as each antenna gives you a strong signal. Two markets close enough together for indoor/attic antennas to work shouldn’t have any overlap in their physical RF frequencies or PSIP numbers.

        7. BBCC

          We have DVDs, Netflix and the internet. We know Monty Python.

        8. ValdVin

          What about the logical next step, Ripping Yarns?

      3. Edwin I Callahan

        And it’s only a flesh wound.

  26. Ohmsford

    One feels like a duck splashing around in all this backstory!

    1. Aro

      And when one feels like a duck, one is happy!

      1. Regina phalange

        Oooooh ducklings!

        1. Chris Phoenix

          Ducks! Sex with ducks! We’ll do it in the rain… (A pro-gay-marriage song, mostly SFW)

        2. Ray Radlein

          I was just revisiting G & O the other day! Had forgotten all about that one, though

        3. Miri

          Apparently drakes are actually super-rapey and will continue gang-raping ducks after they have drowned her. And have corkscrew shaped penises.

          I can’t remember why I know this, but it does make me feel that duck sex is a bad idea. Also cat sexl: they have barbed penises.

          Also the bit with bestiality being non-consent-based and therefore wrong, as well as illegal, and not personally finding ducks or cats to be sexually attractive. But fact-based arguments are good…

    2. Reaver

      …Got any…grapes?

  27. BenRG

    Booster has made two things clear here: Firstly, they aren’t free therapy for the people in the dorm block; secondly, no, they aren’t going to be analysing their dorm-mates on the sly for coursework purposes!

    You know, I like Booster’s smile in panels 3 and 4. I think that they’ve realised tha they quite like Joyce and Becky!

    1. Needfuldoer

      Whenever they’re in the mood for some banter, they know where they’ll find it.

    2. rose capose

      They’re sharing a great look with Becky. I totally friend-ship it.

  28. Chris Phoenix

    Booster looks a bit smug-and-dominant in the last panel. I can’t decide if Carla will hate them on sight, or see them as a potential hijinx partner. And I’m really not sure what Booster will think of Carla. Booster will probably see through her, but I don’t know if Booster will bother to spend much attention on her.

    Booster and Sarah, though, I think could become close friends. Booster is positive-but-wise, Sarah is negative-but-wise; they’re both strong people who know how to give space to others; I think they’ll respect each other and appreciate each other.

    Most other people, I think Booster will be somewhere between friendly and distant, depending on how Booster is treated by them.

    Mary… I’m kinda’ hoping Booster just totally flays her verbally, the way Bubbles does Pintsize. But I don’t know if Booster is cold enough to do that.

    1. SillyGoose

      I’m curious, it sounds like you’re deliberately avoiding using pronouns for Booster?

      1. Schpoonman

        Carla gets pronouns, though. Hmmm, I wonder what could be up with this?

        1. Miri

          Respecting people’s canonically stated preferences perhaps..?

        2. Needfuldoer

          Carla uses she/her. Booster uses they/them.

          One takes more getting-used-to, grammatically, as a singular pronoun.

      2. RedCat

        They did use ‘them’ in there, so they probably just like like the name?

        1. RedCat

          “I can’t decide if Carla will hate them on sight or see them as a potential hijinks partner.”

      3. woobie

        That would be a lot of ‘them’s in one post and might be confusing.

  29. Lorien Inksong

    Good good it appears my new ship(s) may be setting sail.
    The good ol’ SS Friendship, with Booster, Joyce, Becky and Dorothy onboard. They seem a good combo!

    (Also now that they’ve been around a little I can say with even more confidence that I really like Booster. I really appreciate the NB rep with this character)

  30. Doc Harleen

    “I know someone who’s new in town!”
    “What are three other things about them?”

    1. a/snow/mous/e

      They have AIDS and they’re homelessexual? Shit, that’s only two things.

      (idk i just felt like making a portmanteau)

  31. BenRG

    I’m wondering if we’ll be meeting Booster’s twin sister any time soon. Maybe she’s the remaining character yet to be seen?

  32. Keulen

    I’m hoping eventually Joyce does feel ready to tell Becky that she’s no longer “keeping the God stuff”.

  33. Jay

    Y’all called it

  34. Anna

    I like Booster. I’m scared for Booster. Ah, the thrills of keeping up with a drama comic.

    1. BenRG

      Waiting for Booster to appear holding a tag marked ‘Drama’ at some point?

      1. a/snow/mous/e

        that tag is clearly already out 😛

  35. DarkoNeko

    Wonder if their twin sister also happens to study here

  36. Arianod

    …this is not the therapist you’re looking for.

  37. RedCat

    Booster may become my new favourite, I really like their humour.

  38. Jett

    Booster really is nega-Mike, huh? Interested in psychology, but in a helpful way. Mike would read you, then push all your buttons to see what would happen. So far, Booster has read people (mainly Walky) and used that to be mindful of possible sore spots. I feel like they might later push a few buttons in a constructive way, but gently.

    1. Reltzik

      Mike was also interested in photography.

    2. a/snow/mous/e

      wait so … Booster really IS Mike’s replacement?? That can’t be right…

  39. Rabisch

    Looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship between Booster and Becky.

  40. Robbie

    As an ex homeschooled fundamentalist queer person, I don’t really understand why Becky wants to keep the god stuff or why she thinks she can expect joyce too. They’ve learned that the cornerstones of what they were taught was scientifically and morally wrong. What does she get out of clinging to fragments of it??

    I mean I know some people do so I’m not criticizing the writing here. But I don’t understand why they do.

    And then they act like it’s the superior stance; I’ve been told that leaving is weaker. As though it’s cowardly to just leave it all and start all over in life.

    1. thejeff

      Because she believes in God? (and God answers lesbian prayers!)

      A lot of this isn’t exactly rational. People don’t usually decide to believe or not believe. For those who leave, it’s often more of a realization they don’t believe than a decision not to. Which fits Joyce as well.

    2. C.T Phipps

      Because she believes in God and God is real to her? Honestly, Becky’s tribulation has probably increased her faith because she’s experienced the lies and hypocrisies that Jesus had faced. For Becky, Jesus is a guard against the lies of society (the fundamentalists who hate her and misuse religion).

      Joyce: But everything they taught us was a lie!

      Becky: Exactly!

      Joyce: What?

      Becky: They suck and their depiction of God is terrible. Therefore God is real and awesome because they betray everything he’s about!

      Joyce: Huh?

    3. C.T Phipps

      Or as my queer ex-Baptist wife put it, “They don’t get to steal God. He is not theirs. They can lie, cheat, murder, and abuse all they want but God belongs to the loving not the hateful.”

      Badass bi woman and a good influence to our nieces.

    4. gingercake

      As an ex homeschooled evangelical queer person, one reason I’ve held to my faith is that taking the hateful and painful things that I was taught, and subverting them into something affirming and loving, has been healing for me.

      I was never the problem. I’m doing Christianity “right” by aggressively and radically loving everyone unconditionally, not despite my queerness, but because of it. Christian transphobes can eat my ass.

      1. C.T Phipps

        *claps*

  41. JessWitt

    Should’ve known they were going for psych given their observation and analysis of everyone in the dorm.

    Hope they don’t get any psychoses from being in that major.

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