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Arch-nemesis
Posted on May 11, 2022 by David M Willis
The Dumbing of Age Book 11 Kickstarter is live! I Excised All my Anxieties into Cartoon Characters Who Definitely Don't Have Feelings for Each Other will collect "Year Eleven," spanning the five storylines that start on September 10, 2020, and complete on August 26, 2021. This includes new commentary, 24 Patreon bonus strips, behind-the-scenes artwork, and new character designs into an 224-page tome with luxurious glossy paper all bound up into a sturdy presentation.   9 character magnets are unlocked, with more to come!   14 days to go!

115 thoughts on “Arch-nemesis”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    brains, how do they even work

    1. ThunderNight

      We need like a brainologist or something

      1. Ana Chronistic

        forgot the mandatory https://twitter.com/SarahCAndersen/status/1522886482758975488

    2. Reltzik

      There isn’t a clear answer to that. It’s kind of a grey matter.

      1. True Survivor

        Your pun skills are too powerful. I am afraid I’m going to have to AXON you to stop.

        1. Jon S.

          You’ve got some nerve!

        2. Reltzik

          If you think that’s nerve, just watch as my puns and I take this place by brainstorm.

        3. The Wellerman

          ?️? ADHDemon Art: BRAIN STORM!!! ??️

          *plays “Mount Never Rest” by Graeme Revell* on hacked muzak*

        4. King Daniel

          You’ve got some nerve telling Reltzik that.

    3. alongcameaspider

      Purely by spite to inflict consciousness on their body

    4. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      “Brain and brain! What is brain?”

    5. pararell spade

      Brains, they don’t know what they did.

  2. The Wellerman

    Much obliged, Dina!!!

    We neurodivergents shouldn’t have to try our hand at the wildly unbalanced guessing game called “social cues” any more than we have to.

    After all, we’re far too busy doing MUCH better things — making webcomics, learning about dinosaurs, making network television happen, speedrunning Super Mario Bros, hatereading 9CL, writing romance novels, hacking muzaks, making video games, and SO MUCH MORE!!!!

    ? ? ? ?

    1. RassilonTDavros

      Plays “Fist Bump” on the hacked Muzak

      1. The Wellerman

        You’re a neurodivergent too? ?

        1. RassilonTDavros

          Never been diagnosed with anything but increasingly suspecting it’s the case.

          Really, it was mostly just that “we’re far too busy doing MUCH better things” made me think of the whole “together we can show the world what we can do” bit, because I’m in random phrase association mode rn

        2. The Wellerman

          Ah, that might be an ADHDemon type stripe right there!

          Anything else that leads you to suspect yourself as a neurodivergent?

    2. StClair

      and maybe someday we’ll actually finish some of those things… or one of those things…

      1. The Wellerman

        The journey is the destination bruh!!! ???

        *plays “Come Sail Away” by Styx on hacked muzak*

  3. Doctor_Who

    You know what? This is an opportunity for Jason and Carla to interact, and they never have before, so I’m down.

    I mean, there’s two characters with personalities so different that it’s hard to believe they exist on the same plane of existence, let alone currently live down the hall from one another.

    I want their conversation to somehow spiral out of control into a madcap road trip together. And they must befriend a monkey at some point, that’s crucial.

    1. Reltzik

      Well at least they have at least one thing in common: A superiority complex that lets them look down on most everyone else in their general vicinity.

      1. Thag Simmons

        Jason ain’t got the personality to back it up, and is also on much worse terms with his ultra-rich family

        1. Clif

          Jason has a task to perform. We know how good Jason is at this. What could go wrong?

      2. Decidedly Orthogonal

        Is it actually a complex, when Carla is objectively better than the other chatacters she meets?

        1. Mturtle7

          “It’s not narcissism if the world really DOES revolve around you!”
          -Carla, at some point(s) probably

      3. Psychie

        Many people mistakenly believe that the opposite of a superiority complex is an inferiority complex, when in fact the opposite of a superiority complex is somebody else’s superiority complex. I mean think about it, if one considers themself to be the center of the universe, then another person having a complex based on the assumption that they are lesser is fully compatible, meanwhile someone else claiming to be the center would hold a diametrically opposed ideology. The two are mutually exclusive, one is either the center or they are not, there cannot be more than one center, ergo two separate people being the center is inherently contradictory.

        1. Daibhid C

          I mean, I take your point regarding Carla/Jason interactions, but that’s not actually how opposites work. Like, the opposite of “rich” is “poor”, not “someone else being rich”. Opposites are generally more likely to complement than contradict each other.

  4. Sirksome

    This is a pointless endevour for Jason. Carla is too powerful for his bland straightman personality to overcome.

    1. JessWitt

      Pointless yes. But it will also be hilarious.

      1. Clif

        Excuse me, but could you point out Carla to me?

        Why yes, she’s that girl over there with the triangular smile.

  5. Yotomoe

    https://i.imgur.com/ZZ7YsXl.png (NSFW)
    https://i.imgur.com/Pekc5BB.png (NSFW)

    More feelings. Weird to say but this is the part that’s feeling the most fan fictiony. Apologies for the wall of text, but this is actually the super trimmed down version.
    Story so far…
    https://imgur.com/a/9Ob1cy3 (NSFW)

    1. Sirksome

      Maybe Walky does come off a little more emotionally mature than nofmal but I feel like Billie is on the very short list of people that could get him to open up. It’s just that in the real DoA verse they’re kind of seperated more so we havdn’t had that opportunity.

    2. FaerwenOfValenwood

      oh dang, you’re so great at drawing AND writing! “your nipples are poking me” is not only super incredibly in character for Walky, it’s a pretty realistic reactions to naked hugs in general, lol.

    3. Sol

      The last panel of the second strip is pure comedy gold and definitely feels very in character and you could absolutely lead me to believe Willis wrote it.

    4. The Wellerman

      More than just erotica, you incorporated deep character exploration while staying true to the source material, and to top it all off, you flared the humor that the comic is known for!!!

      Truely an OPUS, Yoto!!!

      ???

      You are very much on your way to becoming a true Porn Lord.

      Keep at it, friend. You will go on to make marvelous things. ?

      *plays “Seahorse Dreams” by Kubbi on hacked muzak*

    5. Needfuldoer

      The wide angle shot of the bunk is both effective at conveying Walky’s “I feel an absence looming over me in this big empty room I suddenly get to myself” feelings, and slightly confusing in sketch form. At first glance I thought they were suddenly up on Garbage Roof and she was still nude up there for some reason.

      Don’t worry about your writing, I think you hit the nail on the head for their characterization and the comic’s usual verbosity!

    6. Decidedly Orthogonal

      Dude! Just… wow! I missed the intro so read them all for the first time now. That is crazy good Yoto! Body posture, mechanics, characterization, and most of all the story telling itself. You just took me on a heck of a journey and it was amazing! Thank you.

    7. Bagge

      Hug ?

    8. Spencer

      I get what you mean about ‘fan fiction’ but I think the important thing to consider is that you’re writing them in a scenario that’s never happened and never will. By design, what you’re writing is going to be driven by what you think they’d say in a situation like this.

      And, yeah, they’re open to each other, but you’re writing them in the space where they can be that honest. That’s why it feels true to these characters, at least to me.

      Also more smut w/ feelings pls. You got no idea how hard that is to find.

    9. Roborat

      This keeps getting better and better. I started reading this just expecting some sexy times and possibly silly banter between the two, then you added a plot and character development. This is so well crafted it could easily be added as canon.

  6. alongcameaspider

    Jason is gonna go talk to Carla, who wasn’t actually going to tell Joyce, and Joyce is gonna turn a corner and overhear him telling Carla not to tell her Becky and Dina had sex

    1. True Survivor

      I’d put money on that, but I already spent 20 dollars today replacing my sunglasses. I don’t know what is wrong with me, but I loose, break, or misplace my sunglasses at a truly startling rate.

    2. RassilonTDavros

      Carla was actually gonna do like a seance or something and tell Mike, but im too drunkt o finish this so yeah what you said

    3. JBento

      That, or something so similar that makes no difference, is what narrative causality suggests.

  7. Reltzik

    Dina, Jason is a former math grad student because his intuitive response to a sex-related people-skill-situation was very, very wrong. Perhaps that is not the best advice for him.

    1. The Wellerman

      Why is it that not being able to rely on intuition, as flawed as it is known to be many times, is is somehow a “disorder”?

      I’d say being inclined to think more critically in situations like this is actually an advantage!

      ? ?

      1. Sirksome

        It’s specifically Jason that’s the problem his personslity is rather prudish and he has a poor track record when it comes to interpersonal interactions and decision msking especially if a topic is even vaguely sexual. Telling him to use his intuition essentially set him up for failure. If Dina really wanted this to succeed she should’ve advised him to buy a pair of roller skates. At least then he’d be able to keep up with Carla. Seriously though Jason is the worst guy to do this.

        1. Andy

          Even on roller skates he wouldn’t be able to keep up with Carla. Physically he might manage, but verbally she’d skate circles around him.

      2. Thag Simmons

        The specific criticism is that Jason’s intuition and instincts are generally not ideal

      3. Jason

        I think it’s more commonly a problem when someone can’t rely on intuition- but tries anyway! Or when someone knows they can’t but nobody has helped them to learn to navigate better with knowledge and logic.

        I’d guess that Jason is chronically in the former group.

    2. Nono

      Shouldn’t Jason still be a grad student? He’s just stopped the actual TAing part.

      1. Reltzik

        Which likely means he stopped the being-able-to-pay-for-school part.

        1. BBCC

          That’s why he’s bartending.

        2. Agemegos

          Wouldn’t his tuition for the year or at least the semester be paid in advance?

  8. RassilonTDavros

    Who would win: Th e ultra best character in the comic vs one bowtie man

    1. alongcameaspider

      Us, the readers

      1. RassilonTDavros

        alongcameaspider wins, flawless victory

    2. Thag Simmons

      Well it’s not a zero-sum game, but frankly Jason’s already lost because he got bullied into doing this thing

  9. Stephen Bierce

    *plays Tina Turner’s “Typical Male” on the hacked Muzak*

  10. DailyBrad

    I like Dorothy and Becky’s “rivalry” in moments like this, where Dorothy stoops to play along a little like panel 3. I dunno, I feel like Dorothy denies herself too much whimsy sometimes, which is something Walky helped her with, as does Joyce sometimes.

  11. BBCC

    I can see no issue with this plan and I unreservedly endorse it. It’s gonna be hilarious.

  12. Jamie

    Is this the first time Dina has actually confirmed she’s neuroatypical and knows it?

    1. The Wellerman

      Keeping our predictions within epistemology (as is only appropriate for a discussion about a scientist like Dina), as far as we know she at the very least suspects a high likelihood of herself being neurodivergent in some way(s), acknowledging the uncertainty in what she herself likely holds as another interesting scientific conjecture. ???

      I myself very much anticipate what comes of this possible development! If we get see anything come of it at all, that is….

    2. Keulen

      She may not know that she’s probably autistic since Willis has said she’s not diagnosed, but I’m sure she’s realized that her brain doesn’t work in the same way as typical people by now.

      1. Daibhid C

        I was going to say “How could she not?” then I remembered that I spent twenty years being told “Nobody really knows how to adult, we’re all just faking it same as you” before realising that no, actually, other people do know how to adult better than me (in the sense that “adulting” has been defined as the things their brains are better at. By them.)

        1. Keulen

          I didn’t even start to suspect I might be autistic until last year, when I was 32. Finally got diagnosed in February this year, at the age of 33. I went a long time assuming I was just an introverted, quiet, nerdy weirdo and that was why I had trouble reading social cues and stuff. Now I’ve been looking back at so many moments in my life, and I’m amazed I didn’t realize it for that long.

        2. The Wellerman

          I really don’t want to think of neurodivergence in terms of how we’re not able to adult, honestly. ?

          Infantilization of us can be quite insidious like this.

        3. The Wellerman

          Anway, @Daibhid, I STRONGLY concur, shit like this is really why I really despise the concept of mental “disorder”, or at least what’s become of it.

          You can’t have a concept of “incorrect” functioning without inevitably creating a concept of “correct” functioning alongside it.

          Considering the shear diversity of what’s actually required to function for so many different people in so many different situations across the world, it really makes no sense to define this stuff outside the most basic survival needs of humans. Not to mention the fact that in regard to social functioning, ona
          multicultural frontier such as a college, misunderstanding is better off treated as the rule than the exception anyway.

          For the concept of “mental disorder” to have grossly expanded as much as it has, is really nothing more than an exercise in power.

        4. Jason

          Daibhid did end their comment with “in the sense that “adulting” has been defined as the things their brains are better at. By them.” And, I absolutely agree with that, personally! Neurotypical folk set the standards on how to succeed in society, and then deem us failures by THEIR standards. We cannot, by and large, help to be. The key, in my opinion, is finding and establishing our OWN standards- and to find help in those aspects we struggle with but can’t pass over.

          (My best friend is an example of this. They’ve kind of been joining me and my spouse on the “oh shit that’s autism?” journey, but they have their own house and income. Society considers them a failure and they STILL get crap from people they work with, because they aren’t traditionally employed, have a small social circle, etc. Overall happy- aside from the results of an abusive relationship- and functioning in the life they’ve built- but a failure by the standards set FOR them by, well, a society built for neurotypical folk.)

          Sorry if that was rambly.

        5. The Wellerman

          Totally alright bruh! This is a place where we can all freely express our unique combinations of neurodivergent stripes, and I’m so glad to be part of it, finding people who share my stripes I can relate to after all these years. ?

          But yeah, totally with you on all this. There’s an extra layer of pure oofd-ium because sweeping labels like “autism” by their very nature were never meant to help others understand us or for us to better understand ourselves as much as they were meant to marginalize us. The word “autism” is actually Latin for “morbid self-absorbtion”, and that alone says a lot about the AWFUL place these labels came from without going into the gruesome details.

          The standards neurotypicals set to deem us “failures” are just like any other inplement the bourgeois loosen and tighten at their whim to maintain division between classes and maintain ownership of their means of production. As usual and expected, they distort social customs, blasted “traditions”, religion, etc. around their goals to make their selfishness seem like altruism, to make their bloated power, the status quo, seem like an oh no natural and universal order. But this is ALWAYS an illusion.

          “All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is deconsecrated, and the human at last is compelled to face the reality of their condition, of their relationships with other living beings, under sober circumstances.”

        6. The Wellerman

          *oh SO natural and universal order.

          Fucking typos.

      2. Opus the Poet

        When I was killed in 2001 they were surprised that I didn’t get PTSD from it, then like 15 years later it was decided I didn’t get PTSD from getting killed because I already had PTSD from getting moved every couple of years as a kid and 4 times when I was in 8th grade. And was borderline ADD to boot. DOD has much to atone for with me.

  13. drs

    Jason, my advice is to turn around and go back inside. This task is stupid and it’s not your task anyway.

    1. Nova

      Also like – Man who was fired for inappropriate relations with a female student, who is now living with another female student, going to talk to a THIRD female student about sex between TWO OTHER female students…

      …I just worry what that looks like from the outside if a faculty member hears about it.

      1. BBCC

        He’s not a TA anymore so no real authority over any of them, so the faculty can’t really do much.

        1. Daibhid C

          I feel like they could probably make him leave the premises and never come back, but ICBW.

        2. King Daniel

          Jason is also still a student at IU, so banning him from the premises would probably necessitate his expulsion. Which would definitely send him home to Knightsbridge, especially since he’s probably already in violation of the terms of his visa.

        3. Nova

          They can remove him from a women’s dorm, for one thing.

      2. Blue

        It promises to be amusing in any case.

  14. Bicycle Bill

    Apropos of nothing in particular, I have an arch-nemesis – Bristaleen Saa, Assassin from Mars, courtesy of Phil and Kaja Foglio (creators of Girl Genius).

    You want an arch-nemesis too?  Support their current Kickstarter for a bound version of volume 20 of the GG saga as well as Willis’s, and you will also receive a randomly-chosen card depicted your very own arch-nemesis as one of the (already achieved) stretch goals.

    required disclaimer: I have nothing whatsoever to do with the Foglio’s Kickstarter and receive no compensation; I merely pass the information along just in case there was someone in the Willis fandom who was blissfully unaware of Girl Genius.

    1. Owlmirror

      I pity anyone who missed Trelawney Thorpe’s archnemesis!

    2. Roborat

      I was afraid to get an arch-nemesis from them, Girl Genius villains tend to be very good at their craft and I didn’t want to expire in a ridiculously silly and painful way, so I opted for the soft cover option.

  15. Lan

    Only good things can happen from here

  16. Kravis

    *”That Thing You Do” starts playing on the hacked Muzak*

  17. Darkoneko

    “nope, no idea” — Jason

  18. anonymsly

    Dina. Jason doesn’t have intuitive things. He’ll just ask someone who Carla is, then go to Carla and ask her nicely not to tell Joyce about the hanky-panky. Also, he’ll helpfully point Joyce out so she knows who not to tell. JOB DONE?

    1. khn0

      seems pretty intuitive to me

  19. Nono

    I don’t know why, but it’s just hit me that Jason and Joe have never interacted in this universe and it feels a little weird.

  20. Needfuldoer

    I find this last panel to be the most relatable Dina moment to date.

    Don’t worry, kid. One you’ve had another decade or two of observations, you get a pretty good idea of what people typically expect.

  21. foducool

    that way of saying “use common sense” is not wasted on me, I’ll definitely reuse it

    1. The Wellerman

      The only thing that should be “common sense” on a multicultural frontier in the 21st century is that the very concept of “common sense” has just about gone out the window.

  22. AGV

    One day I’ll get to tell that to someone

  23. Rabisch

    Nice to see Becky be almost friend with Dorothy. It help distract us to the fact that Jason will do some disaster following Dina’s really generic advice. But who knows, maybe that would be the beginning of a beautiful, friendship between Jason and Carla?

  24. JBento

    You’re ony doing it if you want to, Jason. This is not your responsibility and you have no authority in any case.

    1. Blue

      Well he is dating Ruth so I’ll leave it to you to determine how submissive he is.

      1. JBento

        …
        Fair point.

  25. Sombrero

    Time to revise if there was any Jason – UC interaction in the Walkyverse.

  26. James the Bruce

    Dorothy rockin’ the Jay Leno chin.

  27. Spencer

    “For instance, if you wish to have a difficult conversation I have since learned it does not go constructively should you sit atop her chest and refuse to remove yourself when asked.”

  28. Spriteless Auntie

    Jason! You’ve been schooled so well that you pass as typical, even while in a foreign country. But typical people can roll with everything and are never flustered, as you’ve been taught. How long will you keep up this stiff upper lip style charade?

  29. Anon A Mouse

    I may be off base but that last line from Dina seems a little off? It seems too “on the nose” for the way Dina usually talks. I’d expect “do the intuitive thing” but adding the “typical brain” part feels like a bit of snark that Dina wouldn’t normally have, and especially about what kind of brain someone has.

    1. Blue

      Neurodivergence and lack of sensitivity to it is one of the only things that can get snark from Dina.

      1. Anon A Mouse

        I don’t see anyone being insensitive about it, except Joyce earlier, and Jason’s question was a decent question as he has no experience in this sort of thing, not that Dina would either but might as well ask the person who gave him the task.

    2. The Wellerman

      Some people may read it as “on the nose”, yes, and some may not.

      She might not have intended for it to be “on the nose” herself, for the same reason I didn’t really pick up on that either.

      ’cause both of us are neurodivergents who suck at the guessing game called “social cues” and really don’t need to put that much brain energy into a brief conversation that doesn’t really need it to begin with.

  30. Spencer

    I know Dorothy really likes and appreciates Becky on top of understanding that Becky’s antagonism was another facet of all the nightmarish upbringing that got even worse, like I think Dorothy is trying really hard to assuage Becky that she genuinely likes her and wants to be her friend (and conversely, I think Becky is trying to be a cool funny goofball that Dorothy will totally be taken with), but the more she just verbally states out loud that she and Becky are friends instead of, like, any kind of banter or interplay the more it feels like Dorothy’s convinced that if she stops, then Becky will send her to the cornfield.

    1. JBento

      “It verbalises the friendship or it gets the hose again.”

    2. Blue

      If she stops what? It seems like Dorothy has never really done anything in response to Becky’s frenemies routine.

      1. JBento

        I read it as “stops constantly restating that she’s Becky’s friend”.

  31. Bagge

    Wacky sitcom buddies/enemies go!

  32. Devin

    …is that what an arch-nemesis would say though?

  33. Amós Batista

    …almost sure Jason is using his outifit for strip-tease.
    Now I’ve put this image in your mind in the rest of the day.

  34. Opus the Poet

    “You know, do that thing people with normal brains do with each other.”

  35. Christina

    Anyone else wondering if the Joyce/Dina friction we all spent a lot of time arguing about is going to be revisited shortly?

  36. Florence

    I like Dina’s ending line

  37. Rainhat

    I’m assuming the reason Jason doesn’t just say he doesn’t want to do it is ego, right? It’s that he said he could do something, and he can’t take it back, I mean- he isn’t obligated to keep going (ie not his actual job) and he has no attachment to Becky or Dina where he “must”. Is that about it?

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