799

Hindsight
Posted on December 13, 2014 by David M Willis
All you folks scrambling off to support my Patreon to see tomorrow's strip early have pushed it past $3500, which means you've coerced me into drawing TWO bonus strips per month!  You crafty devils.

799 thoughts on “Hindsight”

  1. Jen Aside

    The Willis giveth, the Willis breaketh apart =(

    …so wait, is Joyce still autobiographical? What poor boy’s heart did you break, Willis =o

    1. Doctor_Who

      Don’t worry, eventually Willis reconsiders, his wife is open minded, and he and Joel Watson live happily ever after.

      1. Adam Black

        Joels got it going on.
        Sweet haircut, sexy baritone. Hes a sexy dude. Willis has chosen well

    2. Jen Aside

      *reloads Patreon*
      *reloads Patreon*
      *reloads Patreon*
      dammit
      *reloads Patreon*
      *reloads Patreon*
      *reloads Patreon*

      1. Jen Aside

        AHHHHH

        1. Camachri

          YOU JINXED IT. EVERYTHING BAD THAT HAPPENS IS NOW YOUR FAULT.

          (Just kidding, it’s still Willis’s fault)

        2. Jen Aside

          PATREON DIDN’T LOAD IS WILLIS’S FAULT

          [that’s what I was talking about, were you?]

        3. Justin

          …..If i burst into a fit of obscene cackles…am i a horrible person? o.o

        4. Felix

          no, you’ll simply be a monster. D:

        5. Felix

          actually, I don’t know.

        6. liahansen

          SHHHHH

        7. Jen Aside

          DHHHH

      2. Mr. Random

        Oh… You actually do have Patreon.

    3. Cephalo the Pod

      I’m pretty sure the autobiographicality is just in relation to her personality/background, given that “Joyce is autobiographical” is (usually?) in response to people saying “no Christian’s like that”.

    4. carolyi

      Joel Watson’s

    5. Guest Person Dude

      Yep, there’s that Bad End.

      1. Guest Person Dude

        Maybe I should elaborate.
        One does not ‘fix’ gender preference. You don’t get the chance or the right to simply switch it to fit what is convenient… Some people are flexible, some are not… Joyce is Super-polar. There was only one possible outcome.

    6. Dave

      His first girlfriend later came out as a lesbian, if that counts? (Unless she’s bi and I’m remembering wrong.)

      1. Khrene

        Thats probably more parallel to Amber and Ethan situation ain’t it?

        I mean Wiliis did dawn a cape and become Amazigirl right? Struggling with the his/her/xyrs dueling identities, one wishing they could be the normal Willis, the other wishing they could have such a sexy hairstyle as the other.

    7. JA

      Dammit Joyce

  2. Camachri

    Well…

    That could have gone better…

    1. David Herbert

      Well at least Joyce didn’t yell something like “Get off me you dyke bongo.” That would have been horrible.

      1. Doctor_Who

        I don’t think she knows 33% of those words.

        1. SUGauthor

          “Get off me you Same Sex Premarital Hanky-Panker!

        2. Boomwolf

          Yeah, that’s more her vernacular.

        3. Barf Ninjason

          “””Get me off! Premarital same-sex hanky-pank me” -Magical Lesbian Joyce who lives only in our hearts

        4. Mitsukara

          I’m not sure whether the broken-sounding english, the clever rearrangement, or your name is more awesome about this comment.

        5. Rideps1

          I think that’s too fantastical even to live in our hearts, sadly. Our hearts know it isn’t to be…. And they send the unicorn death brigades daily to keep the beast from reviving.

        6. Di

          Im pretty sure Joyce wouldnt believe lesbian sex counts as as sex so she hypothetically could partake all she wanted!

        7. Disloyal Subject

          I suspect she does. She’s probably at least heard them.

        8. Jen Aside

          yah one’s a female dog and the other’s something to do with water amirite

        9. Lorcan Nagle

          She knows darn and heck and b-word…

        10. Lieutenant Dan

          And soft-serve.

      2. otusasio451

        Agreed. I’m honestly happy she didn’t shove Becky away in disgust, and angrily cast her out of the room. That’s what I expected to happen. Well, instead of crushing sadness the likes of which the universe has never seen, I only have crushing sadness the likes of which the world will never seen.

        Goddamn it, Willis.

        1. Mr. Morningstar

          i didnnt expect that at all because i know while joyce is a little ignorant shes not intentionally mean, and considering becky is her best friend…
          yeaaaaaaah

      3. Thomas64

        That would have been horrible, but it would also have been out of character. Joyce has already met Billie who triggered a freak-out about homosexuality, and Dorothy who triggered a freak-out about atheism… And here’s the big character arc: Joyce remained friends with the both of them.
        So Joyce’s head exploding in an aaaargh-lesbians!!! kind of reaction, after the unexpected kiss from Becky, would have been a surprise. She has already come to accept that gay people are not evil. Unfortunately for Becky, though, Joyce becoming more open-minded is not the same as Joyce falling in love with Becky.

        1. Yet_One_More_Idiot

          Yes, if Becky had tried to open up to Joyce back at the start of the school year, Joyce likely would’ve just gone “Ewww, that’s gross!” and cast her out and not spoken to her for years/ever.

          The very fact that when this eventually happened, Joyce did not do that, shows that she has grown tremendously thus far. As to whether Joyce is straight, lesbian, or bi…I think maybe bi. She likes boys, but she clearly also has a huuuuge crush (which is really cute) on Dorothy.

          So, maybe this reaction of “sorry Becky, I don’t have those feelings for you” is just an initial “Whoa, how come my best friend never told me this before?”-type shock reaction to the news, but in time she might realise that she actually DOES have those feelings for Becky.

          Move over Joyce/Dorothy (which is cute), I’m now on board for the Joyce/Becky pairing instead. I ship it like ParcelForce! =^_^=

        2. Suzi

          I doubt her being bi. Mostly because I know girls who have had crushes on other girls, but are disgusted by the female body. One girl admitted to crushing on our mutual friend, but also told me she finds boobs “gross and squishy” and vaginas are “yuck”. As a bi person, it boggles my mind when someone finds the same sex “yucky”. I’ve never felt disgust or dislike at anyone due to gender/sex.

        3. Brady Kj

          If she is bi, there’s still no reason to jump to the conclusion that she has romantic feelings for Becky.

      4. Vince

        I don’t think Joyce can use the words “get off” together in a sentence.

    2. CianM1301

      Stop! You’re making it worse!

    3. gwalla

      Wow, somebody likes to twist the knife.

  3. Idon'tcarenomore

    I knew it. but expected Joyce to run.

    1. Just A. Thinker

      Same here

      1. Dreadhawk177

        The whiteboard ding-dong bandit simply cannot engage in these kinds of relationships. It’s just too bad for the image…

    2. otusasio451

      Oh, wait for it. She probably will.

  4. Tunaro

    God. Damn it. Willis.

    1. otusasio451

      Well, I’ve got the pitchforks. Who’s got the torches?

      1. Tunaro

        I’ve got a lighter and alcohol.

        1. Insanenoodlyguy

          I may have drank my alcohol in a deluded celebration that my ship remains technically possible now.

      2. Disloyal Subject

        I had some, but they’re a touch soggy now. I doubt they’ll light.

        1. otusasio451

          Tears?

        2. Disloyal Subject

          Becky’s, specifically.
          Emotion is hard past 9PM.

        3. Kelly

          My torches are soggy from my tears

        4. JWLM

          Becky has evidently been carrying a torch fo…

          Um, what? To predictable? OK, I’ll just show myself out, then…

        5. otusasio451

          I am so sorry, but Doctor Who beat you to it. He is a time traveler, after all.

      3. -Sentinel-

        Wait, if we lynch him, how is he going to fix all this?

        1. Tunaro

          Fanfiction!

        2. otusasio451

          The true answer to all of society’s ills.

        3. Jen Aside

          Can Willis write fanfic for his own comic?? I don’t think it CAN be by definition…? =o

        4. Rabid Rabbit

          Arguably, DoA is Walkyverse fanfiction.

        5. Matthew Davis

          Or vice versa? Sometimes people stumble on the time-displaced fanfiction first, right?

        6. James Rye

          Seriously, where’s the upvote system for comments like this one? XD

        7. Kirby

          We’re going to get these guys and force Willis to write a happy ending. http://www.shortpacked.com/2006/comic/book-2-pulls-the-drama-tag/06-the-drama-tag/whores/

          IF SHORTPACKED! DOES NOT HAVE A HAPPY ENDING WE WILL ALL SOB IN THE CORNER QUIETLY.

      4. Doctor_Who

        Becky’s carrying a torch, but it’s for Joyce.

        1. otusasio451

          …Touche, sir. A heartbreaking touche.

  5. T Campbell

    True Love has no Plan B.

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      Only VD. 😛

    2. T Campbell

      I know this feeling, all right. Constructing the perfect narrative in your head of how it’s all going to go the Day You Tell Them. Believing it’ll work because it has to. They have to feel the same because they have to. All the plans built on observations built on a foundation of hope, it’s all solid as a rock.

      But at least I had a loving family and friends who I knew would accept me for who I was to fall back on when I metaphorically leaned in for the kiss and fell splat on my face. Becky, at this exact moment– inferring from what we know about the college she keeps not talking about and the family who sent her there– may not have anything or anyone in the world.

      1. T Campbell

        “You’re everything to me.”

        It sounds romantic, at first, when you come up with it.

        1. nothri

          Does that first confession ever end well for anyone? Sure as hell didn’t for me.

        2. Sam

          My first confession went better than I thought it would. I was terrified to tell the guy (I am a girl, just for clarification), but when I did, he said he felt the same way and we’ve been together ever since.

          So sometimes first confessions go perfectly.

          Sometimes they don’t.

        3. Kelly

          Mine was at 29, it went pretty well. We dated for some time, despite the long distance and her crazy schedule. Broke my heart when she ended it, but we are still good friends. But yeah the confession went ok.

        4. Sailor_Arashi

          My first confession went pretty much exactly like this one.

          Which is why I’m writing this three months later. I kinda stopped reading regularly at this point for awhile. Twenty years later it still hurts a bit 😛

        5. Brillie Joel

          my first confession was done very softly and frankly, in a facebook message. I told her the reason why I liked her, then said that it was odd, that I had once had a crush on her, and had waited for it to go away, and that it never really has. It was at the end of high school, so I didn’t really see her again after that.

          I don’t know about confession now. It’s easier to be incautious when you don’t care too much about someone.

      2. Aubri

        Why do you have to make it worse whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

        1. alicemacher

          He’s a webcartoonist too. Making things worse is what they do.

          Webcartoonists are eeeeeevil.

          That’s why I love them. <3

        2. Volkai

          Because, for things to Get Better, they must first be worse.

        3. Oddball

          and the wheel must turn and turn again.

      3. MrSpkr

        I’m kinda worried that Becky might hurt herself now. I mean, no friends or family to whom she feels she can turn; the love of her life doesn’t feel the same; and she is now embarrassed, upset, and deeply hurting — all the things that, if combined, could lead her to do something drastic and bad.

    3. Disloyal Subject

      That’s what makes it True. And very, very scary. Pretty dangerous, even.

  6. deathjavu

    Yeah, that was about the only way that could’ve ended.

    Sads though. Many sads.

    1. Tunaro

      Bad feels. Just all bad feels.

  7. spw44

    Damn you Willis!

  8. -Sentinel-

    Hmmm. I expected this, yet I’m still disappointed.

  9. liahansen

    well that’s the worst possible outcome

    1. deathjavu

      whoa whoa whoa whoa

      whoa

      you are just basically asking for something even more terrible

    2. Mr k

      No, that would be Joe entering the room.

    3. foolicus maximus

      let’s whatch as Joyce’s identity falls apart, bit by bit!

      I suppose Willis thinks Amber’s had enough.

      1. TheOthin

        I don’t think Willis is finished torturing Amber.

        1. Tunaro

          I don’t think he’s finished torturing any of us.

    4. Jen Aside

      pretty sure the worst possible involves some kind of violence

      for instance, Joyce and Becky both freeze exactly at this moment while the heat death of the universe goes on around them

      but idk?!?!

      1. liahansen

        Nah man, heat death would mean we wouldn’t have to go through what happens next

        1. Jen Aside

          but THEY would

          FOREVER

    5. Tunaro

      Give it a day. It can get worse.

    6. Bill

      NEVER challenge “worst”.

    7. That Damn Rat

      Actually all things considered this is pretty much the best possible outcome.

      1. Pat

        THIS. Holy crap, I can think of a few dozen worse ways it could have turned out that are just as plausible. Joyce did nothing wrong in this strip. I like Joyce and I’m still shocked she did nothing wrong.

        1. Paul

          Amen. The only way Joyce could have handled this any better is if she had some warning in advance, and even then, I’m not sure it could have helped.

      2. Sam

        Well, the best outcome would have been if Joyce DID feel the same way but that is impossible at this point in time so the best possible one would have been if they could have both dealt with this without fleeing in tears, so I’d say this is the second best one that could have possibly occurred, but tis still a better outcome than it could have been.

        1. That Damn Rat

          Key word, Possible. Joyce returning her feelings was never going to happen. Also Becky having left herself extremely vulnerable and taking a huge risk and Joyce being the naive drama queen she is, rational discussion was off the table.

    8. nothri

      ……Actually, I thought that was fairly reasonable all things considered.

    9. Aolbain

      What? This is like the the second best possible outcome

    10. Nightsbridge

      Proof against this:

      Blaine. Also Faz.

      1. Mitsukara

        Pretty sure Blaine is worse than Faz. Faz just needs to find Wen in this timeline and then they can set up their own adorable creepiness-loop. With their genitals. Successfully on only the eighth try.

    11. StClair

      Let’s just say I’m glad we’ve been told no one will die in this comic.

      1. slicey

        ……. damnit…. you realize there are things that make death look like a blessing right. Off the top of my head I can think of hit by car->constant vegetative state->parents who won’t pull the plug-> Joyce now living with the knowledge that she can never make it up to Becky; Becky in a straight camp (one of those uber religious that believe in torture) and then there is the complete psychotic break with self abuse possible drugs….. I may be dark and morbid but all are possible

        1. StClair

          yeah, you are. (being dark and morbid. I know, I do it too.)
          but I really don’t expect Willis would dance around the letter of his statement like that, while violating the spirit. And not just because that would result in all the grieving, etc as if someone had outright died.

          subject them to all the sadly common and ordinary traumas of young adult life (including abusive parents and, yes, attempted rape), yes – and us to the feels, by proxy – but not that.

        2. Mitsukara

          Yeah, I agree. I’m pretty sure the tone DoA is going for is “non-lethal/ability-to-live-impairing, but otherwise most forms of drama acceptable”. Probably because the original Walkyverse had plenty of death and he wants free reign to continue writing all of these characters indefinitely (as long as he wants to make the comic) this time.

        3. Mitsukara

          …though I have to admit Shortpacked, the last of the Walkyverse comics, was starting to have a fair number of take-backs on the death stuff (there’s at least two characters I know who do stay dead forever though). On the other hand, half of it was Ronald Reagan and original-Jesus.

  10. Darbinator716

    …I was half hoping it WOULD cut away to avoid this.

  11. otusasio451

    …Well, if you excuse me, I’m gonna join Becky and go sob quietly in the corner.

  12. Mer

    Becky! ;_:

  13. Mr k

    Poor girl. I wasn’t surprised, though.

  14. Emoroffle

    Emergency hugs! Everyone break out the emergency hugs!

    1. otusasio451

      CODE RAINBOW!!! CODE RAINBOW!!! GET THE FLOWERS AND SYMPATHY!!!

      1. Kirby

        THIS IS TOO SAD FOR CODE RAINBOW.

        WE HAVE A CODE CHIYO CHAN EVERYONE. REPEAT, WE HAVE A CODE CHIYO CHAN.

        1. otusasio451

          BELAY THAT ORDER!! CODE CHIYO CHAN IS TOO EXTREME!!! THERE’S NO KNOWING WHAT COULD HAPPEN!!!

        2. Kirby

          CODE CHIYO CHAN IS THE ONLY OPTION LEFT AT THIS POINT. THE SADNESS IS TOO POWERFUL. ALL OTHER CODES HAVE FAILED.

        3. otusasio451

          …DO IT. ON THE HONOR OF THE RUTHS, DO IT.

        4. Kirby

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVxwS3jkNSc

          Release the Penguin!

        5. otusasio451

          Penguin released. And now…we pray.

        6. OsoPescado

          Good lord, that’s a lot of Ruth heads…

        7. otusasio451

          I see you, too, have a Ruth head. JOIN OUR ARMY.

    2. Kelly

      Hugs and kittens

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        “OK, who put the order in for bear hugs and dead kittens?”

        1. otusasio451

          Down the hall. Mike Warner. Look for the undescribable hatred oozing from under the door.

        2. nothri

          Could be worse. Could have been puppies.

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57KDDKbfhmI

        3. otusasio451

          …Thank you. I am so happy to know that this exists.

        4. Soylent Daveage

          Now there’s a song I’ve not heard in many, many years…

          There used to be a breakfast radio show that played it with surprising regularity…

    3. Tunaro

      Baby animal videos. Someone turn on baby animal videos!

      1. Emoroffle

        Someone get this woman some videos of baby otters! And Ice cream!

        1. Tunaro

          Baby otters eating ice cream!

        2. Doctor_Who

          Granted.

          You have two wishes remaining.

        3. Tunaro

          World peace and giant robots.

        4. JWLM

          OK, sure. You can have world peace. And now, here are the robots.

        5. Doctor_Who

          Does it count as world peace if the giant robots enslave humanity? Because that’s how like 99% of giant robot scenarios eventually play out.

        6. John

          The other 1% everyone turns into Tang?

        7. Doom Shepherd

          God dammit, Mystique.

        8. Mitsukara

          Eh, I’m cool with it if they’re benevolent and willing to accommodate us enjoying ourselves. I don’t really care about whether humanity is technically dominated, if we’re still free to live genuinely good lives.

          Of course, that’s a very generous interpretation of “world peace”. There’s also creepier interpretations, like “the peace of death”, etc. Or to quote an Andromeda episode, “Peace to ALL our enemies!! *much fist shaking and mob-violence*”

        9. Deanatay

          “Pax Robotica”

        10. Jen Aside

          appropriately I’ve been eating ice cream all week for similar “coping with horribleness” reasons =p

        11. Emoroffle

          *hugs*

      2. Disloyal Subject

        This series seems appropriate.

    4. Emily

      http://i.imgur.com/UmYo040.png

    5. Deanatay

      To paraphrase The Tick:

      Ran outta Ruth’s, huh?

  15. Raine

    …It really coulda gone both ways. Willis perfectly set it up in that it really could have. Damn you Willis. Dammit.

    1. Yotomoe

      JUST LIKE BECKY, AMIRIGHT.

      1. AgentKeen

        Well, no, cause it seems like she doesn’t like guys.

        1. Barf Ninjason

          So far all we know is that she’s a Joyceosexual.

  16. Yotomoe

    When you assume you make an ass out of you and me, Becky. Sheesh!

    1. Barf Ninjason

      OTOH, hey, she went for it. Takes some serious gonads to go for broke like that.

      “He fears his fate too much, and his reward is small, who will not put it to the touch, to win ot lose it all.” -James Graham

      Poor Becky. Poooor poor brave, gay, funloving fart-enthusiast Becky.

    2. blackhat64

      This is the most evil and heartless comment I’ve ever seen.

      1. Disloyal Subject

        Really? Wow, maybe we should step up our game!

        1. Barf Ninjason

          I can’t hear you I’m too busy shitting on this Da Vincible painting I stole also the shit is from the puppy I ate oh no brb gotta check my email frauds

        2. Khrene

          Oh, if you’re looking for the fraud computer I put it in the orphan torture dungeon.

          Had to play Rebecca Black’s Friday while flogging them.

        3. Mitsukara

          And making them watch The Sound of Music?

        4. Mr. Random

          Well, technically.
          Each five seconds is set to repeat ten thousand times.
          So even though they get something new eventually, the novelty will be ground into dirt and used to create some very tasteful hobbit homes.

        5. Gamaran Sepudomyn

          Da Vincible sounds like a really awesome super hero.

        6. Barf Ninjason

          Auto-correct has its moments of inspiration, that’s for sure

      2. Deanatay

        “MY NAME IS MICHAEL J CABOOSE, AND I HATE BABIES!!”

      3. Amazistool

        For you it was the most evil and heartless comment you’ve ever seen but for me it was just Yotomoe!

  17. Cephalo the Pod

    Heh, yeah, Joyce freaking out is too obvious.
    Sarah said it herself, Joyce is pretty resilient. Becky’s the one who’s head over heels for Joyce.

    1. liahansen

      I don’t think it really matters which one runs out of the room, they’re both pretty freaked

      1. otusasio451

        One lost her greatest love, whilst the other not only lost her best friend, but was confronted with her own sexuality. AND her boyfriend is gay. God, this is gonna end REALLY bad, isn’t it?

        1. Tunaro

          Like a match to an oil drum in a fireworks factory.

        2. Opus the Poet

          Make that a rocket engine factory and you might get close.

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KuGizBjDXo

        3. deathjavu

          I’m guessing Joyce is going to have some kind of breakdown in response to this…she wasn’t doing so well before Becky showed up, she idolized Becky a bit, she wanted Becky to reassure her about her beliefs…and Becky, knowingly or not, dropped a bomb so big it’s probably going to taint how Joyce thinks of their friendship (past and future).

        4. otusasio451

          I just typed a HUGE paragraph about this in a comment below, and I will repeat my last statement from that paragraph.

          Everything’s about to turn to SHIT. 10…9…8…

        5. timemonkey

          She hasn’t really lost her best friend. Becky will calm down eventually, this is a very emotional moment but it won’t last. Provided Joyce doesn’t have a delayed negative reaction Joyce will almost surely offer to continue the friendship.

        6. otusasio451

          I dunno, man. With the crap Joyce has been through? Not seeing this end nearly that well.

        7. Mitsukara

          Well, if Dorothy breaks up with Walky to go to Yale, then Walky and Becky can team up and become Two Wild And Crazy Guys lonely persons and teach Dina the ways of physical contact between homo-sapiens… together!

          …

          Let’s hope Faz left by now, or didn’t bring his camera. So mostly just that he left, then.

        8. Mitsukara

          I fail at html, that was supposed to be ibuyextradomainscuzihavenopenis.com

  18. Triniking1234

    Can’t sleep. Panel 3 will haunt me.

  19. Plasma Mongoose

    Did Joyce really give off such a strong lezzo vibe that it would fool her bestest friend?

    1. Mr k

      Or maybe she’s just projecting.

      1. TheOthin

        Hope can be awfully persuasive.

        1. Kelly

          exactly

        2. TsunamiJane

          This.

      2. Plasma Mongoose

        Yeah, that works.

      3. otusasio451

        Damn subconscious defense mechanisms! DAMN YOU, FREEEEUUUUUUUUUD!!!!!

    2. Zababcd

      The way we act around our friends is often influenced by the way they act around us. Mirroring is part of human social behaviour.

    3. Yotomoe

      Well the way she looks at dorothy…or Billie…

      1. Steven

        or Sal, or the fact that she is “dating” a guy who has zero sexual interest in her.

        1. Beckett

          Well, she has a damned compelling reason for the Ethan thing. It may not be the healthiest thing for her but it’s impossible to criticize her wanting something that seems 100% safe after what happened to her at the party.

    4. nothri

      I’m confused. Do you mean like this lezzo vibe?

      http://www.shortpacked.com/index.php?id=2020

    5. Gigafreak

      In another universe, she accidentally convinced her own mother of the same, so…

    6. Rajni

      Well there was the hinting that she’s suddenly okay with homosexual relationships and Walky’s joke about her wanting to go down on Dorothy, which combined with an (un)healthy dose of confirmation bias could end up with her thinking that.

  20. Yotsuyasan

    Well, that alas went about how I expected…

    Go after her, Joyce!

  21. daburrs

    Becky’s kind of creepy, huh?

    1. Kelly

      not really? just young and in love…

      1. Dorje Sylas

        And raised in an emotionally repressed environment with no other options, besides a case of the hyper crush.

        1. MM

          Yeah, this is pretty much how Joyce thinks an idealized relationship would work. It just features the unfortunate real-world complication of being one-sided.

        2. Deanatay

          Still, one has to wonder how this moment would have gone had Becky been a GUY that Joyce had a long-standing friendship with, that suddenly confessed his love to her.

        3. TsunamiJane

          Joyce probably wasn’t allowed to have guy friends.

        4. caramelundqueer

          She probably would have thought it was romantic. Remember when she said that about the possibility of Billie/Walky?

    2. Wendy

      Yeeeeeah. I kinda expected something like this and was gonna feel sorry for her, but. “You just HAVE to”? Really? :/

      1. dr-calamity

        I don’t think the have to was supposed to be in the sense of obligation, it was more of how when we’re faced with an emotionally scarring moment, our brains throw up a wall of denial to keep it from breaking us.

        1. timemonkey

          Yeah, it’s less obligation and more ‘but I was so sure’.

        2. Nightsbridge

          And ‘but you’re all I have.’

      2. liahansen

        I think she just means that she’d secretly thought this for a long time, maybe since they were kids. Being apart for the first time probably cemented the idea in her head. Also, I’m getting the distinct feeling that Becky’s parents probably know something about this and aren’t too pleased, so Becky may have been looking to Joyce as sort of a final refuge for acceptance. If Joyce rejects her, then she has no one left to turn to. “You just HAVE to, because if you don’t, I’m all alone”. Of course, Joyce not reciprocating her romantic feelings certainly doesn’t mean she’ll just turn her back on her best friend, but it must feel that way to Becky right now.

        1. winter

          I respect what you and dr calamity are saying, but I don’t think it’s the whole picture.

          I totally think that Becky is acting out of emotional pain and denial and fear that she doesn’t deserve to be feeling, and should be sympathized with, and I don’t think she nessesarily intends to ensnare Joyce via pleas of obligation.

          But “You just HAVE to, because if you don’t, I’m all alone,” is basically a step away from emotional blackmail. Joyce does not want Becky to be alone or unhappy, and Becky is unwittingly using that against her to try to get what she wants.

          So, yeah, it’s creepy. And it’s not too worrying atm, but it is a tendency that can get alot creepier if people leave it unchecked.

        2. MM

          I don’t think the “you have to” is an unconscious demand that Joyce do something about it. I don’t even think it’s really directed at Joyce at all. I think it’s more of a “I thought this was going to go a certain way and it isn’t and now I don’t know what to do.”

        3. John

          I think – considering these girls’ backgrounds – that it basically means, “How could God have made me love you but not made you love me? Things can’t work that way!”

        4. airyu

          But they were both taught that love is a choice.http://www.dumbingofage.com/2012/comic/book-2/06-strange-beerfellows/choice-2/

        5. liahansen

          I don’t disagree, but I still don’t think it’s fair to call it creepy. Becky is at her absolute lowest right now (knock on wood), and giving in to her most basic reactionary instincts. I can’t imagine that I would do any differently in her shoes. When our worlds are falling apart at the seams, it’s hard not to unconsciously resort to subtle manipulation. That’s not to say it’s okay, but I don’t know anyone who doesn’t do it at times, Joyce and much of the rest of the cast of DoA included.

        6. winter

          You’re absolutely right. It was overly harsh of me to call it creepy. (I actually hesitated before typing it in my response.) It’s not the right thing to do, but it’s a very normal and human response, and something I’ve done too at times, I’m sure.

      3. Lanval

        I’ve said before I’m not the biggest fan of Becky and this story line is getting a meh from me so far (more interested in what Joyce will get from it) buuuut I’m 98% sure that “But you have to” is more denial.

        “But I was so sure! We were going to run away to Mexico and start a business and adopt 2.5 kids! This makes no sense the thing you are saying”

        Which is sort of pathetic, yeah and maybe a melodramatic from someone who is college age but it doesn’t seem too impossible or make Becky out to be a worse person.

        I’m more bored by the fact that Willis seems to really really want us to like her and she sort of seems to hit all the points of “cool, fun character” in his mental notebook (of what we have seen) which, omniously, was his original goal with Mary.

        Yes, the bitter uptight judgemental possibly-blackmailing-Billie&Ruth Mary.

        So I’m not holding my breath for Becky but maybe Joyce might get something from this.

        1. airyu

          I think all that was a cover though. From Becky, I mean. Their youth group pastor said that Joyce was the best socialized, not Becky. It’s weird to me that Becky hit it off so well with Walky, even if only to make Joyce jealous.

        2. Aevionic

          Because, you know, youth group pastors always have the credentials to judge who the best socialized is. All else aside though how socialized someone is depends on their ability to fit to social norms and interact with people. If someone was raised in an environment which they were unable or unwilling to adapt to of-course they would be judged as not well socialized.

          I had, when I was in college, befriended someone who grew up in the kind of environment that Joyce grew up in and did not conform. As a result she is rather new to close friendship, however she was quite quick to start interacting with the rest of us in a reasonable manner.

        3. Lanval

          Becky is sort of wierd in a way that happens to be compatible with Walky. No one is about to call Walky well socialized.

          Consider the first strip which invovles her mentioning an “Inaugural Poop”.

          That said, I think this is compatible with Wallis having some favouritism considering he seems to have a weakness for this kind of charater (Walky being exhibit A). I dunno; Becky could prove herself, but for now I’m not feeling it.

        4. Nightsbridge

          I dunno about you but I REALLY like Becky.

        5. Hollister Dixon

          Speak for yourself. Becky is in my top-five favorite characters.

      4. gwalla

        I think that “have to” is expressing epistemic necessity (“Based on the evidence, this has to be true”) not deontic obligation (“You have to do this”).

  22. parismio

    Oh this just breaks my heart.

  23. Catullus

    This wasn’t as bad as I feared it might be.

    Still hurts plenty, though.

    1. deathjavu

      There’s time. We haven’t really seen Joyce’s reaction to this yet…probably not going to be good. Her ideal example of faith and best friend just kinda nixed their religious beliefs by saying she was in love with her.

  24. Michael

    Someone get Becky some more lesbians, stat.

    1. Marc in MN

      At least she’s in the Willis-verse. She probably ran by a dozen of them on the way out of the building. 😉

    2. -Sentinel-

      Because when you’re gay, you’re attracted to ALL people of your gender.

      1. timemonkey

        This is fiction, there are no unattractive women!

        Well, except Amber and Ruth but I seem to stand alone there.

        1. barefootbiker

          Nah, I’m with you on Ruth. Guess the freckles just don’t do it for me.

          Amber, though? Really? Seriously troublesome inferiority complex and violent tendencies aside, girl’s got it going on.

        2. Lanval

          It’s abstract Cartoons. On a pure physical scale, there are like maybe two or three characters who don’t seem somewhat attractive (and even then it’s abstract enough that I picture them ‘plain’ more than ugly or anything).

          Really, off the top of my head, I can only think of Amber&Danny’s Computer Science Prof. Maybe Beef because he looks slightly wierd, but I think in universe, he’s supposed to be fairly decent looking bro and the wierdness is a stylistic thing.

        3. Kelly

          yeah, I wonder if any studies have been done on that… there has to be at least an IgNobel prize in that.

          Generally, baring major stylistic disagreements, a cartoon character has to be really hideous to actually register as ugly.

        4. gwalla

          Like this.

        5. Ellen

          *thinks Amber and Ruth are the two most attractive girls in this comic* 😐

        6. Kelly

          I wouldn’t list them as hottest, but they are both very attractive.

        7. airyu

          How can you think Dorothy is attractive but Amber is unattractive? They basically look the same…
          Also please tell me you think Mary isn’t attractive. Because even if her looks were, her personality killed everything.

        8. timemonkey

          Because even if her looks were, her personality killed everything.

          Right there is the big factor. Though there are plenty of differences between Dorothy and Amber these days.

        9. airyu

          Ahh. fair point

      2. Barf Ninjason

        Oh! Wow, I didn’t know that. Interesting!

      3. That Damn Rat

        Not at all but out of a dozen, she might find one she likes…

    3. Yotomoe

      Daisy should wear a Joyce mask.

      1. Barf Ninjason

        Plastic or organic?

      2. MM

        Straighten her hair, and she could probably pass from a distance.

    4. Barf Ninjason

      On it! Her lesbian stats are STR 11 DEX 13 CON 12 INT 14 WIS 9 CHA 17; feats: Improved Initiative, Improved Lesbianism, Run; special: -2 on saves vs. heartbreak.

      1. Barf Ninjason

        Holy shit I accidentally gave her 32 point buy. My nerdosis has finally metastized.

        1. Disloyal Subject

          Bravo!

          That said, I hate 32pt buy. I like the party to be able to survive one of my dungeons.

        2. Barf Ninjason

          Wait, are you saying you favor an even higher point buy than 32, or some generous rolling scheme?

        3. Disloyal Subject

          Rolling, though ‘more than 32’ is also acceptable, and makes for a good fallback when the guy who always plays a Psion rolls almost as poorly as is possible. That, or they can apply a +1 to a stat of their choice at every level, instead of just every 4th.
          I run high-power, high-mortality games. It works better now that I’ve moved on to other systems.

        4. Barf Ninjason

          High-powered high mortality! Yee-haw, that’s the way to go. Rolling can really screw people over too, though. What do you use? My brother does 4d6 best 3, but re-roll all 1’s. That ends up being high-powered, it seems.

          Thar be way better systems than D&D 3.5, that’s for sure. I like Savage Worlds a lot. And I’m reading Legend, which is basically a bunch of the Giant In the Playground Forum guys’ 3.5 fix. Gonna try and convince my group to give it a shot some time.

  25. Kelly

    Argh! Just rip out my heart and stomp on it, why don’t you Willis!

    ;_; All the sadness

    1. zmm

      This picture is accurate.

    2. nothri

      Oh sweet! I’m an avid worshipper of the Aztec Sun God and I’ve been meaning to do that for like FOREVER! Any particular time work for you?

      1. Kelly

        Do it now. I have no use for it now…

        😛

  26. JessWitt

    Joyce, run after Becky so she doesn’t anything rash, please!

    1. JessWitt

      *doesn’t do

      1. Triniking1234

        Like encounter a truck?

        1. liahansen

          how dare u

    2. Yotomoe

      Becky rubs poison ivy and doesn’t moisterize during the winter.

      1. liahansen

        I bet Becky would love nothing more than to rub Poison Ivy, if you catch my drift HEY-O

        1. Disloyal Subject

          Isn’t that usually fatal, or is that just smooching her?

        2. Yotomoe

          From what I’ve heard, Bruce Timm Poison Ivy (Aka the only poison Ivy I care even a little bit about)’s venom doesn’t effect women. Only dudes. Her blood on the other hand is pretty deadly.

        3. Jess

          So no eating out during that time of the month.

        4. Yotomoe

          That sounds more like…something you don’t want to do in general but yeah.

        5. Kintrex

          I remember one Harley saying Ivy gave her an injection so that they could do things together. I don’t remember which universe that was.

        6. David M Willis

          That was Batgirl Adventures #1. DCAU.

  27. Mallow

    …when somebody loved me
    everything was beautiful
    every hour we spent together
    lives within my heart

    (the book titles are always fitting)

    1. Kodra

      was watching the video and noting how much Becky kinda looks like Jessie in that clip and it made me super sad.

      1. timemonkey

        OMG, Joyce is going to drop Becky under the bed and then years will pass in a minute and she’ll get found and left in a box!

    2. StClair

      I’ve been singing that to myself for the last couple of strips. Was going to post the lyrics, maybe, but…

  28. LegalSeagull

    Wow, that got a lot creepier than I was expecting.

    Also, a lot more depressing, which, quite honestly, I didn’t think possible.

    1. Yoohoo

      Wonder if Joyce was Becky’s last hope. She sure is acting like she was.

      Might explain why this confession came out of nowhere (I just reread the chapter and I just don’t see Joyce giving off any obvious signs to make Becky confident enough to come out to her. Imo at least)

      1. timemonkey

        Well, there was Walky’s comment that she follows Dorothy around like she wants to eat her out.

      2. airyu

        They’re like if Billie and Ruth hadn’t worked out

  29. ChocolateRat

    Joyce handled this as well as anyone could. It’s still sad though. I can’t imagine what it must be like to have loved someone so much for so long and get rejected. I’m very interested in seeing what will happen after this for both of them and I hope it’ll end as well as it can.

  30. Snufflesworth

    To quote the diner woman from Rocketeer:

    “Go after her, you big dope!”

    1. JessWitt

      Aw, I love The Rocketeer. Fitting line too.

  31. caramelundqueer

    Oh god, poor kid.

  32. Anywhere

    nuuuuu beckyyyy T_T becky don’t cry we luv u

    1. 0kami

      No, Becky, no cry.
      No, Becky, no cry. Eh, yeah!
      A little redhead’, don’t shed no tears
      No, Becky, no cry. Eh!

      (Bob Marley song, in case it’s lost on some)

  33. TFielding

    I kind of want DoA to have a random character that experiences no drama whatsoever and no exciting life. Like a character out of “I Went to College and it was OK”. So I can have someone to relate too.

    1. Anywhere

      I think that’s Sierra.

      1. Yotomoe

        Which is why I like her. Drama free is the way it should be.

    2. The Candyman

      You mean Mike?

    3. Marc in MN

      That sounds like my college life back in the old days. Nothing overly exciting and the only drama I experienced was of my own creation.

    4. Thomas64

      Well, no offense, but if you find DoA too strange to relate to, maybe you should stop reading it and look for entertainment elsewhere, or open your mind a bit further and try to imagine what it’s like to be these characters and live these experiences.
      Speaking from my own experience, nothing about DoA strikes me as strange (well, except for AmaziGirl). I’ve seen and lived all that and then some. For me, this comic *is* something that I can relate to, much more so than most others.
      (And this Becky arc hits me squarely in the gut. It hurts, but thank you Willis, well done.)

      1. Yotomoe

        “I’d like it if there was a character I could relate to”
        “Why not be open minded and stop finding these characters strange or stop reading”

        Thomas that’s rude. You’re rude. He didn’t even say half of what you’re accusing him of saying. All he said is he’d like a character who’s drama free that he can relate to. Calm your tits Tom

        1. Barf Ninjason

          Gotta love that “no offense, but you’re Mecha Hitler’s lawyer” format, too.

        2. fogel

          Word
          Rule #1: you don’t get to tell other people they can’t/shouldn’t read something

      2. TFielding

        I never said that I find the characters “strange” I know people similar too a lot of these characters. And I do enjoy reading it. And I’m fine with plenty of media that doesn’t have people similar to me if that makes sense to the story. My favorite Novel is “Not So Quiet” by Helen Smith, and, I have almost nothing in common with those characters. But it makes sense that they wouldn’t have someone similar to me. Because, well, it’s set in a VAD base during the war, so unmaimed men rarely come into the picture. But Dumbing of Age on the other hand, is about college. I would expect more people who are not constantly plagued with drama. What I’m saying in this awful roundabout way is that, sometimes I get a bunch of Andre’s when I want a Wally (Which incidentally is why I think that movie is so great, it juxtaposes Andre’s exciting life, with Polish forests and disgusting flags, and Wally’s relatively normal, apartment dwelling lifestyle).

        And plus, According to all those scientific articles my mom keeps sending me, I’m also just plain bad at empathizing with people (Yay Aspergers)

        1. Thomas64

          You say I would expect more people who are not constantly plagued with drama, but why would you even ask that? It sounds like asking Madonna to perform more Britney Spears songs during her shows.
          Again: no offense! You’re entitled to your opinion and I’m entitled to mine. Also, and this is directed to Yotomoe and Barf Ninjason as well: when I said “maybe you should look for your entertainment elsewhere”, I meant exactly that; I did NOT mean nor say “GTFO you jerk”. I meant that if this comic isn’t doing it for you, maybe you shouldn’t be reading it, rather than asking for it to be changed.

        2. airyu

          Because DoA focuses on certain characters, it makes it seem like everyone in college is omfg drama hurricane, which obviously isn’t the case irl. I know quite a few people who, if reading a comic where everyone in college goes through life changing drama in the first couple months, would still their eyes like “this is not at all believable” and not be able to get into it as much as if there were drama-free characters.
          The thing is, I think Willis knows that too, hence the addition of Sierra and Mike and Dina, and even more with side characters like Rachel and …other Rachel and the other people on the floor. They’re there to make it seem more like a believable college.

        3. Amazistool

          However Dina is not completely drama-free.

        4. Amazistool


          Even more drama in the comic preceding this          :
          “I feel me being me is the problem.”

        5. fogel

          Yes, yes everyone is “entitled to their opinion”, but why do you feel so compelled to give someone advice to go away and leave you undisturbed with your opinion. If you don’t get why their reading the strip, why don’t you ASK,open-mindedly?

    5. Rabid Rabbit

      There was Totally Harmless Guy in the elevator.

      1. Dorje Sylas

        But the story doesn’t follow him back to the love pentahedron, that revolves around a Möbius strip of intrigue. So how do we know he’s drama free? I figure DoA operates on a “dramafilled until proven banal” principle.

    6. fogel

      Then you need to see the movie Soldier of Orange. Even Willis could not top that for drama falling on a group of college friends except this one guy who just studies his way through WWII and doesn’t even notice that anything was happening.

  34. Linkara

    Called it. =(

  35. Luzahn

    SADNESS

  36. Hoboturtle

    Well, time to write fanfiction for therapy.

  37. Frost Magi

    Becky deserved to have Joyce and Joyce should’ve just said yes. This is exactly how all my plans about love go too…. Becky, I feel ya hun <3

    1. Hoboturtle

      They were supposr to get lesbian pregnant 🙁

    2. caramelundqueer

      No one deserves anyone. No one is entitled to anyone. It sucks that Becky’s heart got broken but Joyce did exactly what she “should” have done which is be honest about her own feelings.

      1. Frost Magi

        To counter that argument, tbh, I myself, DO deserve a guy who IS NOT an asshole… I’m sick of finding the “perfect guy” only to end up finding out that he’s an asshole after all. I deserve better than this.

        On Becky’s side of things (</3) she did deserve to have someone she loved very much. In this case, it just so happened to be Joyce, who declined her offer (like so many guys did with me), and wanted to be with Ethan still, although he's gay.

        In a way, yes, you are correct that Joyce did what she should've done and told the truth. But even if she hadn't, it still would've had a terrible outcome when Joyce finally did confess that she was lying. Then again, that wouldn't happen cause if you remember, Joyce said she HATES lying.

        1. caramelundqueer

          Yeah you can deserve a TYPE of person (not an asshole) but I think when you start speaking about an individual actual human being as someone you DESERVE like they’re a reward or an entitlement that becomes a sort of objectification I can’t get behind.

        2. Lanval

          I’d phrase it different; A person deserves respect (and appreciation in a relationship) and behavior which reflects this respect (and appreciation).

          I’ve got to admit that I’m starting to feel a personal “meh” towards Becky due to Willis being so vocal about how awesome she is.

          Presumably though, if she found someone to be in a relationship, she’d deserve respect and a good bit of appreciation from that person, but not the person themselves or any type of person.

        3. caramelundqueer

          That is a better way of wording what I was trying to say.

    3. Yotomoe

      Joyce deserves a bucket of cold water poured on her head. Not for this strip. Just in general.

  38. IAmDeltaS

    Huh. I expected this to end horribly, obviously, but I didn’t expect this. I thought Joyce would flip the heck out, but she’s taking this…better than I thought?

    But poor Becky. Poor, poor Becky. 🙁

    1. Luzahn

      I was prepared for Sad Joyce. Sad Joyce works, she still needs character development. Sad Becky is tragic.

    2. Beckett

      Do not be fooled, just because Joyce hasn’t visibly exploded on panel doesn’t mean it’s not coming. A slow fuse still reaches the dynamite sooner or later.

  39. Just A. Thinker

    Do you think Joyce really doesn’t feel anything, or if her religion compels her to believe she doesn’t or can’t feel anything?

    1. caramelundqueer

      I think Joyce just doesn’t feel the same way about Becky. She loves her she just doesn’t love her the way Becky wanted.

      1. MM

        The phrase “like a sister” comes to mind.

        1. Dorje Sylas

          “Like a fraternal twin sister,” even.

    2. Hi There

      Right now, she’s probably feeling shocked and confused. Granted, she does love Becky, but as her best friend. She’s probably never even considered anything else. With her religious upbringing, figuring out her sexuality and what she really wants apart from everything she’s been taught will be a long, difficult process.

    3. deathjavu

      I think Joyce hasn’t really processed this…she handled it decently out of pure shock.

    4. timemonkey

      Oh, Joyce is perfectly capable of feeling attraction and lust, she just feels horrible about it.

      1. Nightsbridge

        With boys certainly, and she’s had a few weird moments with wanting to touch Sal’s hair, but it was Ethan’s thingy she dreamed about and part of a male torso we saw in her brief fantasy in the shower. We’ve had no such evidence to support her having any sexual attraction to girls.

        1. gwalla

          And wanting to “curl up and be safe forever” in Billie’s boobs, don’t forget.

  40. Boomwolf

    Yep, saw something along those lines coming…

  41. 0kami

    Can we go back to Yesterday?

    …Please?

    Can’t say it’s unexpected, but it’s no less sad.
    I’ll salvage this wrecked ship and make it into a car if I have to!!!

    1. Boomwolf

      The idea of rebuilding this ship as a car has now spawned the idea that this ship is made of Lego pieces.

      1. MeHael

        Everything is awesome! Except that right now it’s the opposite of that.

    2. nothri

      You mean like this?

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpBADDqMUs0

  42. winter

    I feel so bad for you Becky, but you have to know that, even if Joyce was gay, that’s complete crazy talk in panels 2 and 3. That is way too much emotional pressure to put on another person.

    1. Kelly

      yeah, but I dunno that I would expect an in love 18-year-old raised in a repressive fundamentalist environment to be super aware of that aspect.

      1. winter

        I don’t think she is. (I don’t think most people who say these kind of things are, as a matter of fact.)

        I really just want to hug all these characters and put them in therapy a little. Becky should absolutely not feel like she’s one person’s rejection away from complete meltdown.

        1. John

          Like T reminds us up above, we still don’t know what Becky’s been avoiding talking about with regards to things like why she’s not in classes at Anderson right now, or how many bridges she’s got burning behind her. Joyce may actually be all that Becky has left in the world.

        2. Lyssie

          I feel that only strengthens the case for “hug these characters and put them in therapy a little”.

  43. penguinsinmyhead

    This freakout happened to the opposite party than I thought it was going to. Either way my heart is shattered.

  44. Disloyal Subject

    Ouch… That panel 3..
    One more for the SANITY LOSS image folder.

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      Pulls out a d20, rolls a 1… OH SHIT!

      1. Disloyal Subject

        18. I seem to be sitting pretty, but then apathy is my usual response to stress.
        Then again, I’ve been playing roll-under d100 stuff lately, so –
        …93. Well shit. Tzeentch planned this all along, didn’t he?! ARE YOU SERVING THE DARK POWERS, WILLIS?

  45. Kernanator

    Oh. So that’s what the title means.

    Shit.

  46. Gendopose

    Good Lord that third panel is heartbreaking.

  47. zmm

    Huh.. I did not think that Becky thought she felt the same… I don’t think Joyce has given much of a signal of interested before.. so I wonder what aspect Becky focused on. I wonder how her boy talk seemed so obvious?

    Joyce interestingly took that almost too well.. I wonder if she didn’t wanna freak infrton of her best friend or just didn’t bother her–past the act of having to reject her friend i mean.

    Lastly.
    Becky better not turn out to the the (seemingly required) suicide-dies in some tragic way due to heart break- character. I was really hoping to avoid that level of drama.. Unless someone found the damn drama tag for that dimension

    1. ChocolateRat

      I think the fact that probably everyone around Becky her whole life hates homosexuality would lead to a very understandable complex and so she clung to Joyce as her only hope and that’s why she convinced herself that Joyce liked her back. She’s even at a Christian school now too, so she really has no one else.

    2. alicemacher

      Willis has assured us no one will die in DoA, if only because the pace at which the comic moves means that other characters would be in mourning for years in real-world time.

    3. Kitty

      As a lady-loving-lady, I can assure you it’s very easy to mistake typical female relationship affection with something more. Girls’ relationships tend to be more affectionate than male or platonic lady/dude relationships and a lot of girls jokingly flirt with their friends or do things like cuddle, tell each how pretty they are, etc. It can be very difficult to tell whether another girl is just being friendly or is attracted to you, especially if you really want it to be the latter.

      1. Blue

        I second this!

      2. TsunamiJane

        AGREED

    4. The E-man

      The “boy talk was obvious” line is because when some people realize they’re gay they become very obvious about admiring the hetero option, almost to prove to anyone paying attention that they’re not gay (or to prove it to themselves). Sounds like Becky had herself convinced that Joyce was gay and kept talking about boys to hide it.

      1. IAmDeltaS

        I think Becky also took the fact that Joyce had only been talking about how boys are horrible as a sign that she was starting to realize that she liked Becky too. :/

  48. Sam

    Ouch….ouch ouch ouch…that hurt. But I guess there was no way to avoid it.

    I need some Danny/Ethan or Danny/Amber cuteness in the next strip to get over this.

  49. Aubri

    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BECKY NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

  50. Manmadeking

    WELP.

  51. Kelly

    By the alt-text it looks like Willis got a bad case of feels from his own work at least. See how it feels, sir! ;_;

    1. Steven

      Don’t worry you heard him…he’s gonna make Joyce hay….Yeah, it gonna be alright…N…Nothing bad will ever happen ever.

  52. Bill

    Since the invention of the kiss, there have only been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure.  This one was not one of them.

    1. poofdepoof

      :'(

  53. Tommy Fresh

    Does anyone else feel like Becky’s sadness is the price we’re paying for Ruth and Billie’s relative happiness? The easy expectation was for Ruth and Billie to blow up again and end in tears, but instead they’re fine for the moment, while Willis re-introduces an obscure character, makes us love her, and then crushes her and everybody’s feelings. It’s like Billie and Ruth doing well meant that Damn-You-Willis-ing had to be taken out on some other target and Becky was caught in the crossfire.

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      So its like a Lesbian Zero Sum Game.

      1. Tunaro

        I’m going to call this the Zeroth Law of Willis: The Conservation of Suffering.

        1. fogel

          Would that be: “Suffering can move from character to character, but it’s absolute quantity never diminishes”?

      2. Wack'd

        Ruth is bi, though.

        Redhead Zero Sum Game.

    2. deathjavu

      I mean…in some sense, it’s just basic storytelling. Someone has to be unhappy to keep the drama plotlines moving.

      Becky has kind of gotten the shaft though. In sadness/appearances, I think she might be nearing or passing Amber.

      1. Nightsbridge

        Depends on what Becky has going on at home, I think.

        1. deathjavu

          Well, let’s see. She came from the same type of fundie family as Joyce, so…

          Not good. Her home life is, at best, composed of many lies. At worst, she’s been disowned.

    3. xain

      agreed i’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop for a while now but i was expecting danny to dan things up but his recent strips he has been adorbs

    4. Rutee

      No. Because those two are also going to explode. I don’t know that the next one will end the relationship or that they won’t end up relatively happy together *in the end*, but those two have plenty more drama in the pipes that doesn’t involve Mary.

      1. fogel

        Mary delenda est

        1. Rutee

          Indeed.

  54. BobaFett2

    Welp. That went exactly as expected.

  55. Plasma Mongoose

    The subversion of the Heroines Want Redheads trope.

  56. timemonkey

    Well, that went better than expected. Joyce stayed calm, stuck to the facts, stuck to her own feelings without casting judgement on Becky’s. It’s sad that Becky had convinced herself this could be a thing but all things considered this is one of the better outcomes that could have realistically happened.

    1. Disloyal Subject

      Calm? Try ‘in shock.’ We’ve yet to see how this ends.

  57. Mr.J

    Oh boy we’ve hit scary crazy town fast.

    1. Disloyal Subject

      Sanity is for the weak.

      1. fogel

        Anything for a weird life, eh?

  58. Ridureyu

    Joyce is a horrible person for saying no.

    1. Zababcd

      Trolling? Joking about primacy of own sexual desires in moral judgement of others? Something else? This comment is a mystery to me.

    2. Hi There

      Joyce honestly doesn’t feel the same way for Becky that Becky feels for her. She would be a horrible person if she said yes in those circumstances.

    3. Emperor Kiva

      You’re a moron, Ridureyu

      1. Rutee

        As much as this guy’s trolling, your crush thing is getting weird, assuming it isn’t there already.

        1. Emperor Kiva

          Read other comments jackass other people feel the same way. That Joyce is not a horrible person for saying no

        2. Rutee

          I’m not talking about other people, and I’m not talking about how Joyce is the most horrible (Though I appreciate you providing more evidence for ‘nope it’s weird already’). I’m talking about how your crush has gotten weird. Tone it back a notch or 2, Romeo.

    4. SonicBlueRanger

      She didn’t though. She was dumbstruck and reacted like anyone would if someone just kissed them out of the blue.

      Joyce clearly is unsure of how to react to this situation. I don’t see how she’s “Awful” for saying the she isn’t Gay.

      Not trying to take away from the Becky thing though it obviously kills her that Joyce doesn’t feel the same.

      Side not I really need to catch up on this strip.

  59. CrazyJ

    I think Becky is going to have to get a prescription pair of glasses for her hindsight now.

  60. Just A. Thinker

    Ok – who thinks Joyce is bi? Comment a response.
    We know she isn’t gay – she likes Ethan – but there is hope for the relationship yet!

    1. winter

      I don’t think she’s a 0 on the Kinsey scale, if that’s what you mean, but in a functional sense I think she’s pretty much straight.

      Just my opinion. There is hope for this relationship yet – that they can remain great friends and find other great people to smooch and laugh about this together someday.

      1. Zababcd

        Ditto. (Normally a pointless comment, but you did ask for multiple responses).

      2. GLaDOS

        Someday we’ll look back on this and laugh. And laugh. And. Laugh.

      3. Yoohoo

        Because it’s this story, she’s probably a little bi-curious, but in general no. She only seems to outwardly be attracted to men (if you count the Ethan fantasies, inwardly too). It only seems like she idolizes Sal like the big older sister she’s never had and I just don’t see anything with Dorothy. Overall Joyce just seems like the super happy, sometimes over enthused sometimes clingy girly girl friend. However based on Becky’s thinking process and the debate here in the comments I suppose that could be misconstrued for something else, but again, just don’t see it.

        I can’t think of another relationship we can compare to in the comic like Joyce and Dorothy, because there aren’t really any other Joyce-like characters (Take out the religion and she’s just the average giggly romantic teenager that likes thinking about boys and marriage and kids – based off my classes alone I can say they still do exist in droves lol). I thought Becky and Joyce would finally be the one to compare, but it seems to be going in another direction.

        I’d be perfectly fine if Joyce was bicurious/bisexual, but she just doesn’t come off that way to me.

    2. Kelly

      I think the hints and suggestions we have gotten of that in the strip so far are not just misdirection/humor. As Winter says, I think she is not 0 on the Kinsey scale.

      I also think that even if it doesn’t/can’t work out for the two of them in a relationship (ow, my heart), they will remain friends, and Joyce will do her best to help Becky heal. I think that is the person she is.

      (also possibly I am a bit influenced by the fact that when my first and only GF broke up with me, we remained good friends and she helped me getting over it more than anyone else… but trying to ignore that as much as possible and going with just the facts, I think my assessment stands.)

    3. Ellen

      I think she is, and doesn’t know it yet. At MINIMUM biromantic if not also bisexual. Becky is definitely capable of developing feelings for girls – evidence, she is SERIOUSLY in denial about what she feels for Dorothy.

      I endorse this possibility from personal experience. I didn’t realize I liked girls (too) until I was well separated from the religious indoctrination of my childhood. Now, looking back, I can see that my first crush on a girl ever predates my first crush on a boy, I just didn’t recognize that they were actually the same thing at the time. Heteronormative worldview is a bongo.

      1. Ellen

        Shoot, *Joyce (not Becky) in the first paragraph.

        (I’m feeling a lot of solidarity with Becky right now)

      2. airyu

        Why does everyone think Joyce like likes Dorothy? If anything she has a serious crush on Sal. I honestly don’t see anything with Dorothy; their relationship is a lot like me and my bestie sometimes.

    4. timemonkey

      While I think Joyce can recognise when other girls are attractive I don’t think she’ll ever be into any of them enough to want to do anything more than admire.

    5. Gangler

      http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/03-answers-in-hennessy/sorted-2/

      I really think that’s been put to rest. She likes girls a lot, but not sexually.

  61. dailybrad

    Poor Becky. That said, I don’t envy Joyce, either. You just know it kills her to have to tell Becky that, but still. I am glad she did as gently as she could in her shock.

    1. Rutee

      I’m actually really impressed at Joyce’s level of composure, all told. I mean, I still feel a bit bad for Becky, but hey.

  62. Saintslayer

    This ship sank right off the pier.

    1. Rutee

      This ain’t the pier. It launched a while ago. I feel relatively confident in saying it exited the harbor. How much further, I couldn’t tell you.

      1. That Damn Rat

        I hope the ship had sufficient lifeboats….

  63. Cholma

    Muahahahahahahahaha! Welcome, commenters, welcome! Welcome to the heady days of 2004, when the forums for It’s Walky! were filled with the sounds of gnashing of teeth and rending of clothes!
    (and also WONDERFUL posts filled with SMUT WITHOUT WARNING)

  64. Adam Black

    “I I don’t, I really Don’t!!”

    Joyce ,
    YOU ARE A WORSE PERSON THAN WALKY!
    After all that nonsense.

    You could have told Becky that you loved her.
    You just could have! You told Sarah. You didnt have to smash her heart into pieces.

    You could have been half as gentle, as other people are to you.

    Lets see if everyone who hated on Walky for his clulessness , are as critical of Joyce for the same situation …

    1. alicemacher

      I…do not see how this is at all Joyce’s fault.

      1. Emperor Kiva

        Me neither

    2. Just Here

      Joyce did the best thing. She was honest and forthright about her feelings. Yes, Becky’s heart was broken. But a lie would have been far, far crueler.

      1. Hi There

        Seriously. I feel for Becky, but I also feel for Joyce. There was no good way out of this situation for her. She did the best she could given that she’s probably in a state of shock.

    3. Hannah

      … You’re kidding right? Wait, you’re not? You ACTUALLY believe that the two situations are similar enough that they can be compared side by side and held to the same standards.

      … Wow

      1. Gangler

        The most wonderful gift of all, the best possible thing anyone could ever be given, and she threw it back in her face.

        Truthfully I think Joyce handled this as well as she could be expected to, but maybe in the future she’ll be less incredulous when somebody’s inadequately thrilled about an “I love you” or responds to one with suboptimal social grace.

        1. ninja_jesus

          Ahahaha, irony.

      2. Adam Black

        I think Beckys feelings of shock, hurt and vulnerability are bigger than Joyce’s and Joyce didnt even try to comfort her.

        Instead, she just withdrew.

        If this situation was reversed, nearly every cast member would have given Joyce a hug.

        No, I do mean it. Compare this to Walkys recent concern for Billie over her Drama-Hurricane . Walky tries. I thought Joyce’s emotional intelligence was higher than this. Her judgment of others for EQ is higher

        The situations are not equal because Becky was more vulnerable and placed more of her feelings on the line ( than Dorothy ) .

        I am saying there is a right way and a wrong way, to break your best friends heart.

        This is the wrong way.

        If there is a God in DOA , Ethan will find Becky and help her.
        Or maybe Walky will.

        1. MM

          Your bizarre expectations of Joyce’s ability to handle this bombshell (and disregard for how well she did considering what could have happened) aside, there is a God of the DOAverse, and his name is Willis. I wouldn’t expect any mercy.

        2. airyu

          I would have slapped Becky, especially after getting kissed without permission, which is sexual harassment honestly, and especially if I was raised in as religious/conservative a household as theirs. Joyce is a saint for keeping get cool like this.

        3. That Damn Rat

          Soory Adam, but you’re way off base, I don’t Joyce could been any gentler without being unclear and leading Becky on, Becky needed to understand this wasn’t going happen and there really isn’t anyway to stop that hurting when she pretty much has everything riding on it to begin with. She’s abandoned EVERYTHING in her life to date to come here and do this, even if she got the outcome she wanted I’m pretty sure a breakdown of some form was coming.

    4. otusasio451

      Well, give Joyce a break. She’s really, REALLY confused right now. She’s a fundamentalist Christian who, in the past few WEEKS: has been drugged by someone she trusted (and thought was a love interest and fellow Christian); gotten a GAY boyfriend (and has been confronted by his extremely angry ex-girlfriend), which goes against her core values and beliefs; and has become friends with an atheist (whom she stood up to her HIGHLY intolerant and fundamentalist parents for) and pretty sexually open roommate. And now, her BEST FRIEND since childhood not only just came out as a lesbian to her (which, again, is something that’s against her core beliefs), but told her that she loves her and ALWAYS HAS loved her. Given ALL OF THE SHIT that Joyce has been through in, again, a few WEEKS…

      She handles WAAAAAAAY better than she’s expected to.

      Yes, she loves Becky, but not that way. And she tells the truth, she really doesn’t feel that way towards Becky. And, unlike Walky, she wasn’t actually a jerk about it. And speaking of Walky, his college experience thusfar has been great. Outside of realizing that his parents may have racist tendencies, he’s gotten a GREAT girlfriend that he probably doesn’t deserve, he’s found a newfound friendsip with his childhood friend Billie, AND he’s made up with his sister after YEARS of being estranged. Joyce, on the other hand? Well, I refer to the above paragraph.

      Sorry for the rambling. It’s actualy more of a reflection of Joyce’s situation right now. And acknowledgement that for Joyce, everything’s about to go to SHIT.

      1. Adam Black

        “Yes, she loves Becky, but not that way. ”

        But that is NOT what she told becky.

        “And she tells the truth, she really doesn’t feel that way towards Becky. ”

        She implied she didnt love Becky at all, when Becky was most vulnerable .

        This was a lot more Hurtful than what Walky said.

        In Joyce;s very own words judgemental words, she just threw the greatest gift a person give another , back in Beckys face.

        I think Becky feels a lot worse than Dorothy did.

        Walky in this case , was more innocent, as he didnt know the right way to respond.

        Joyce knew and recently said so.

        Joyce may be kind-hearted but is also self-absorbed drama queen that places her emotions , opinions, and values above those around her.

        She screwed this up big time.

        1. Gangler

          Contextually it’s pretty clear that Joyce is saying she doesn’t reciprocate Becky’s romantic affection.

          I don’t think Becky doubts that their friendship has been real.

        2. ninja_jesus

          …Noooo, you’re reading the situation wrong. You’re assuming that because Joyce said no, she meant she didn’t love Becky at all. We don’t know how she feels about Becky now.

          Generally, you’re being very biased and jumping to the wrong conclusions because you straight-up don’t like Joyce. And it’s okay if you don’t like Joyce; not a lot of people do. But don’t accuse this situation of being something it isn’t.

        3. Barf Ninjason

          Becky clearly meant eros. It would have been disingenuous and cruel for Joyce to pretend she meant agape. Or lie and feign eros.

          I think if anything this should make her realize she shouldn’t have been so judgemental of Walky, who was just kinda being flippant when put on the spot. Joyce put on the spot in a way worse situation handled it pretty well.

        4. otusasio451

          “But that is NOT shat she told becky.”

          Yeah, ’cause she’s FREAKING OUT and not thinking straight. Plus, I’m not sure Joyce would really KNOW what to say in this situation.

          “She implied she didn’t love Becky at all, when Becky was most vulnerable.”

          Not too sure about that. When Becky confronts her with her feelings, saying that she “has to feel the same way,” Joyce simply replies “I don’t.” That’s not saying I don’t love you at ALL, it just saying I don’t love you in the same way you love me. Different things entirely.

          “This was a lot more hurtful than what Walky said.”

          Firstly, Walky knew EXACTLY how to respond. That’s the whole reason he was a jerk. He said what he was SUPPOSED to say, and said THAT, too. The two situations aren’t realy comparable, for many reasons.

          “I think Becky feels a lot worse than Dorothy did.”

          Ohhhhhh, yeah, youre right about that. But that’s not really because of that Joyce said. It’s because of her own expectations and assmptions being utterly crushed. And in no way is that Joyce’s fault. Without lying, Joyce couldn’t have said anything to avoid this situation. This is on Becky WAY more than it’s on Joyce.

          And was Joyce being a little hypocritical, considering what she said to Walky? Yes and no. What was she SUPPOSED to do? Lie? Walky was a JERK about how he responded. Joyce had no other options. She probably could have handled it a little better, but this whole situation was unavoidable.

          “…self-absorbed drama queen that places her emotions, opinions, and values above those around her. She screwed this up big time.”

          Joyce has shown concern for and generosity towards others many times. And, she’s gone against her own values more than once to pursue that endeavor. And drama queen? Even if I agreed with that, given EVERYTHING she’s been through, I think that’s a little deserved.

          You’re being way too harsh to Joyce, man. I like Becky, too. A lot, even. But she certainly isn’t without fault here. And Joyce doesn’t deserve the fault you’re assigning to her.

        5. Nightsbridge

          I feel like ‘fault’ is the wrong word in this situation. Sometimes people hurt each other and it’s just because there was a misunderstanding and pushing blame on anyone doesn’t help.

        6. Well_Played

          I also think that the reason Joyce wasn’t really able to snap out of
          her recent shock and comfort Becky is because she is young. Most people her age are at the beginning of finding/exploring themselves. I know at eighteen I probably wouldn’t have responded well in that situation as being tactful comes with age and multiple experiences. I most likely would’ve told the person the truth to avoid any further misunderstandings. I think Joyce’s response would be a common one for people of her age and background.

        7. otusasio451

          Agreed. With this and the “fault” comment.

        8. Paul

          “But that is not what she told Becky”

          Oh, please. Joyce has yet to form a sentence. She’s still stammering and acting like a deer caught in the headlights.

    5. Kelly

      the hell? how would lying make things better? That would be terrible! And I say that as a huge Becky/Joyce shipper!

      1. otusasio451

        I can tell from your highly appropriate Gravatar.

        1. Kelly

          I didn’t even expect all this when I made it – though it seemed like something was imminent. But on this level… ;_;

    6. Kamino Neko

      Er…what?

      What Joyce did here was pretty much what everybody criticizing Walky was saying he should have done – be polite, and honest, not laughing off her feelings.

      Joyce saying she loves Becky here would be rather worse than what Walky did.

    7. shoeboxjeddy

      This is a silly comment. Joyce should lie about her sexual orientation? She should invent feelings that aren’t there to (VERY temporarily) make Becky feel better? It’s not as if Becky is entitled to a romantic relationship with anyone she so chooses.

      And yes, Joyce Loves Becky as a close friend, but that is NOT AT ALL the same thing and Becky would not be satisfied at all with that response.

    8. John

      Joyce telling Becky she loves her – which she does – in a context where Becky’s going to take it as meaning “I want to get ears-deep in you” – which she probably doesn’t – wouldn’t be doing anyone any favors.

    9. Bill

      Oh, what a tangled web we weave,
      When first we practice to deceive…..

      Yes, Adam.  By all means, have Joyce lie to protect someone else’s feelings — knowing that sooner or later the truth will have to come out.  And then what kind of trauma will there be?

    10. Disloyal Subject

      That’s a lot of replies… I can’t believe this point is still being debated. What faith I have left in humanity requires me to believe that this is but a well-executed bit of trolling. In which case, well done sir.

      1. otusasio451

        Yeah, I’m there with you, but just in case it ISN’T a troll, I (and I’m assuming many other people) wanna nip this line of thinking in the bud.

      2. ninja_jesus

        Yeah, this whole thing is nonsense. I remember dealing with Adam Black before. He just hates Joyce a lot.

    11. Trolldrool

      Honestly, lying about something that serious would not only be absolutely atrocious, but incredibly damaging too to their friendship. Short of bigoted outrage, telling Becky she felt the same way just to make her feel better would be one of the worst things Joyce could have possibly done.

    12. Rutee

      Yeah, there were absolutely better ways to say it, but there’s one difference in your comparison to Walky that Joyce is lacking.

      Walky could take that in stride. On some level, he was not dealing with something entirely out of left field*. Joyce seems… well, shocked. Truly shocked. And that’s going to really interfere with her ability to say things without hurting her friend. Walky could think clearly enough to say the right thing, and then explain his logic for doing so. Joyce… can’t.

      *This notwithstanding that my only irritation with Walky is that, well, he’s a kid, and can’t seem to grasp that a relationship can be temporary and still loving – love means it must be forever. And all told, I’m not really that irritated with him. He’s 18. It’s his first relationship, and he grew up in America.

      But hey, clearly the situations are exactly the same and they merit the same response (…I guess that means be annoyed at Joyce for being straight? idk)

    13. newllend

      Heydi Joyce say once that she was regretting not going to an all girls school? Well she STILL think that?

    14. bananadreampie

      You seriously think Joyce should have lied and said she felt the same way? Leading someone on is crueler than being blunt and honest. She was shocked and didn’t know how to find the right words. She could have been more gentle, perhaps, but when you’re raised in an environment that stunts you emotionally and leaves you with no ability to navigate complicated relationships or cope with rejection or one sided affection, this kind of stuff is even harder to handle than it normally is. She let her down as easy as she knew how.
      I don’t know, I’ve known people who were raised in very religious home-schooling communities and they are very poorly adjusted to the real world and grown up relationships. So I have some sympathy for both of them, they literally have no idea what to do here and nobody to help them figure it out.

      1. Rutee

        She does, presumably, love Becky. As a friend. He’s saying she should have said that. Was pretty up front about it too. Which, I mean, she should have, but I understand how she didn’t and I don’t fault her for it. I’m of the school of thought that says “it was probably coming once she finished processing this, but she walked out”.

    15. Marie

      Yeah no. Even ignoring that she was freaking out, she quite gently, and while looking pretty sad herself to be saying it, told the truth to a very unreasonable Becky (even ignoring everything yesterday and the day before about consent issues, there’s everything in panels 2-3 today). But even ignoring that, if she had said “I love you too! But not in that way…” it would give Becky more false hope, it would probably briefly confuse her, and I doubt it would prevent her from having run away crying, even if she paused to bargain first.

      And besides that, Joyce probably would have told her that she loved her very much if Becky was still in the room. It might have been followed by something about God loving her too, or something, but I’m pretty sure that whether it was a friend conversation or a religious conversation, given the time to actually talk, Joyce would have reassured her. Except, Becky’s not there, so she’s not going to, at least for a while.

      That’s not to say it’s Becky’s fault (although I really don’t approve, even unintentionally this is pretty manipulative), she didn’t know what Joyce would say and she has a right to be upset, especially since we are pretty sure she’s fleeing parents/Anderson pre- or-post coming out, but even if for some reason we expect Joyce to magically know all the right words in a situation she hasn’t been in before, these are pretty much as close to the right words that there are. I don’t even like Joyce (didn’t, and then the part with Billy being depressed and her wanting to show her god cemented that), but this is one comic that gave me a sliver of respect for her character.

    16. SonicBlueRanger

      So what she should have lied to her? Pretended that she was in love with her like that and just kept living that lie?

      Cus that’s messed up.

  65. Brasca1

    The outcome was expected, but at least Joyce isn’t reacting angrily. She’s about as shocked as anyone would be if their best friend came out by kissing them.

  66. My1DigitIQ

    She could have loved you 5evar…
    LIKE DIS IF U CRY EVRY TIME T_T

  67. VashM16

    I hate you willis

    1. VashM16

      im cry

      1. otusasio451

        much sadness
        very cry
        wow

        1. Disloyal Subject

          Image editors, get to it.
          I would, but I’m stuck on a phone at the moment…

        2. otusasio451

          You do the work of Egod, sir. You do the work of Egod.

      2. Emperor Kiva

        Hello cry I’m Kiva

  68. Adam Black

    >>>> When Somebody Loved Me <<<<

    1. otusasio451

      Everything was beautiful
      Every hour we spent together
      Lives within my heart

      1. ninja_jesus

        WHEN SHEEE LOOOOVED MEEEE

        SHUT UP I’M NOT CRYING YOU’RE CRYING

        1. otusasio451

          YES. YES, I AM.

        2. StClair

          Yeah, me too.

  69. Firedud

    Well, could have gone differently, but also worse.

    Was surprised to see Joyce being honest, rather than being full of accusation and declaring its a sin or something. So good on her for that part!

    still sad for becky tho

  70. Idon'tcarenomore

    I thought about what Plasma said, ‘did Joyce give off such a vibe as to make her best friend think she’s a lesbian’?. Becky says that Joyce is ‘her everything, and always been in love with her.
    I guess that when you are that much in love you see what you want to see.

    Becky will or should come out of this just fine. She will feel bad for Becky I’m sure, but she will likely keep her distance I think. I just don’t think she will go after her. She may even convince herself that Becky didn’t really mean it.

    As for Becky, seldom do people actually die of a broken heart, they just feel that way. Poor thing, I do feel bad for her. And wonder who she is going to run head long into.

    1. Adam Black

      Yeah she did.
      Think about Walkys words last week.
      All of Joyce’s homo-social inclinations.

      add her recent anti-male comments , and it all fits .

      1. shoeboxjeddy

        “Boys are jerks” doesn’t mean you’re a lesbian at all. In fact, it often means “the boys I am sexually attracted to have been treating me poorly!”

        Becky just fell prey to confirmation bias. She thought it was POSSIBLE Joyce would love her back and then took every aspect of her behavior as ‘proof’ that she did in fact.

      2. otusasio451

        Wait…WHAT homo-social inclinations? The only honosexual Joyce has knowingly encountered (and had any meaningful interactions with) is Ethan. And she’s trying to make him NOT be gay!!!

        Also, are you saying that having gay friends means that you are, in turn, probably gay? Because that’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works.

        Finally, Becky doesn’t even KNOW about Ethan, or any other homosexuals Joyce might have been around. How could she have read into that if she didn’t know they exist? Whatever Becky read into, she SEVERELY misjudged the situation. This is no fault of Joyce’s, even with her anti-man comments.

        1. Disloyal Subject

          I believe he meant the way she fawns over Sal and Dotty.

        2. otusasio451

          …OK, fine. That said, actually, what in the hell is a homo-social inclination? I realize I responded to that comment with the appearance of knowing what that was, but upon further reflection, I just realized that that term makes no sense.

        3. Pebblerocker

          Homosexual means being sexually attracted to people of the same sex. Homosocial means having friends of the same sex.

        4. otusasio451

          Ah, OK. Sorry for my ignorance. That said…

          WHAT?!? THAT MAKES EVEN LESS SENSE! That’s essentially like saying girls with friends who are girls tend to be lesbians. And that would apply to guys too! Not saying that that’s never the case, but I’m pretty sure that homosocial relationships aren’t a definite indicator of homosexuality.

          Also, I looked it up. I quote:
          “Homosociality, by definition, implies neither heterosexuality nor homosexuality.”

          Is that wikipedia? Yes. Does it matter? No.

        5. Marie

          I think it does fit Becky’s (assumed) confirmation bias, even though it’s ridiculous.

  71. myselfami

    So who is she going to run into?

  72. Emperor Kiva

    Something bad’s gonna happen, I just know it.

  73. Dorje Sylas

    And begins the running and the crying… and maybe the running into Daisy…. Although realistically that wouldn’t be a much better solution in the long… run.

    1. poofdepoof

      pun acknowledged

    2. eromer

      I just tried to say the same thing (I didn’t see your comment before ) but I actually want her to run to Daisy…maybe find a love she didn’t know existed yet.

  74. TheLurkerAbove

    Poor Becky. She’s run the scenario she wanted in her head so many times that when reality hit, she’s not taking it so well.

    Joyce is actually taking it better than expected. She seems to care for Becky, though she also knows she’ll have to break her heart.

  75. Jupiterror

    AND THEN, SHE WAKES UP.

  76. Ulzur

    And that’s the risk you run with delusions – they’re so wonderful when you’re living in them, and then you plow your Titanic right into the iceberg of reality.

  77. Darwin

    The floattext… it turns sad into ultra-sad. *prays for hijinks to an indifferent universe, gets aching knees instead*

  78. Mandy

    While I feel bad for Becky, I actually feel worse for Joyce. She’s been going through a lot of shit recently, and I can’t see things getting anything but worse with this thrown onto the pile as well. :/

    1. Barf Ninjason

      Been a rough three weeks or whatever for Joyce, no doubt about it.

      Completely unrelated note: is your gravatar from a webcomic or something? It looks really cool and I’d like to see more of that character if that’s a thing.

      1. dailybrad

        they are a relatively recent character in Questionable Content.

        1. Barf Ninjason

          Oh, okay. I don’t much care for that; I’ve read some here and there and I wasn’t really interested. Nice character designs though, as the nice blue sex robot or whatever there demonstrates.

        2. Mandy

          Honestly, even if you don’t care for QC, I’d highly recommend the strips that this character is in! She’s the best, and I think you’d get a laugh out of her storyline. It goes from strip 2491 to 2515, if you’re interested! (And if you like that, she actually shows up again later.)

        3. Barf Ninjason

          I read it. I dug it. Possibly because it was kinda self-contained, whereas usually I’m like “wait, which angry freaked-out girl is THIS again, now?”

        4. John

          She’s not a sex robot. She’s an ex-con who wants to be a jet fighter when she grows up robot.

        5. bhtooefr

          In fact, the reason she’s an ex-con is because of embezzlement… and she was going to buy a fighter jet with the funds.

    2. Rutee

      I suspect that Becky is going through some shit too, and she didn’t just appear on this campus to confess her love to Joyce. But hey, I’ve been wrong before.

  79. Synnerman

    Joyce handled this very well IMO. She is shocked, but she did not take the first stop at fundie-town. (I want you take me to… Fundietown! *okay got that out of my system).

  80. AtomsOrSystems

    Nooooooooooooo…

    *Spends the next three hours crying*

    That being said, I think Joyce actually handled that as well as anyone could have expected, considering.

  81. Idon'tcarenomore

    I am really totally surprised by those saying Joyce is a horrible person for not telling Becky she loved her too. Or saying she should have been more gentle.

    First why in Hell should she lie, she is not gay and pretending would be worse. What is the matter with you people….that’s all she needs to do to really tie her life up in even more knots. She is already hiding behind a gay guy, real no brainer to lie to her best friend.

    And how could she have been more gentle? She didn’t run, or push her away or call her names or judge. She told her calmly and clearly she did not return the feelings.

    I do not like Joyce. I have sorry for her. I have even applauded her when she has done something out of her box…like standing up to her parents in defense of Dorothy.
    This is one of those times. I think she handled a very sticky situation pretty well.
    This is all imo.

    1. Adam Black

      Because Joyce has recently said multiple times, that she DID love Becky.

      She could have said she loved her, and qualified it as platonic.

      Joyce was Hypercritical toward walky for a similar situation.
      She must have known that Becky was in a vulnerable position.

      Shocked or not, she didnt even try to let her down easy.

      1. ShadowDJ

        Ethan is lying to Joyce, technically.

      2. timemonkey

        Statement s of platonic love likely were coming, but Becky freaked out and ran away. Joyce isn’t in a calm rational place right now. She just got a huge shock that literally shakes the foundation of how she perceives her life.

        1. winter

          Definitely. And Becky wasn’t in a calm, rational place either.
          I’m not sure if there was a possible response Becky was prepared to hear AT ALL (even one reciprocating, given her background and the fact that she was already tearing up before Joyce said anything), let alone one where Joyce let her down easy.

        2. Kelly

          Yeah. I think the would have tears (of relief, mostly, and no running) even if Joyce had been all about it. She was pretty wound up.

        3. Marie

          What winter and timemonkey said are what I was trying to say.

        4. Gangler

          I really don’t think Joyce had anything planned. She sounds like she’s figuring out this sentence as she goes along. She’s barely even processed what’s been said to her yet.

      3. MM

        Something tells me “I am saying the thing you want me to say, but not the way you want me to say it” would not have made Becky feel better. It might – heck, probably – would have made it worse.

      4. shoeboxjeddy

        Telling someone you value their friendship (love them as a friend) DOES NOT answer a request for romantic love in a satisfying way. Becky would still be upset. She might even be more upset! This is not a good criticism of Joyce’s behavior (which is surprisingly kind despite her upbringing tending towards the opposite).

        1. Marie

          Also yes this

      5. AtomsOrSystems

        First of all, Joyce was probably equal parts shocked and confused. I works challenge you to do better, if your best friend just blindsided you with a kiss. To say nothing of the relative genders and apparent orientations.

        Second, though, Becky said “You have to feel the same way” and Joyce said she didn’t. That’s… Pretty much the only correct response, if it’s the case. We don’t know (yet) what else she would have said or done to comfort Becky, because Becky ran out.

    2. SDGlyph

      Yeah, I’m struggling with the people who seem to think Joyce has had as much time to process this as they have, and should be capable of rationally thinking through all possible responses and consequences without interference from her own emotions.

      IOW, people who demand someone live up to an impossible and arbitrary standard before they’ll respect them. Where have I seen that pattern before?

      1. Hi There

        Seriously. We as readers get to sit back and think about it. Joyce is right there, in the moment, suddenly kissed by her best friend (who she’s always assumed was straight because of her world view and so had never even considered the possibility of this happening) and having to respond right then. As a straight, married woman, if any of my friends were to suddenly kiss me, I may be too stunned to speak at first, and then whatever came out next wouldn’t be ideal, even after reading this comic and being more prepared for the situation than was Joyce. I certainly think Joyce should be cut some slack here.

  82. canadaisaninja

    Um, excuse me. Who said this was okay???? You’re killing me here, Willis.

  83. Ulzur

    Joyce in the situation: “I’m sorry, I’m not like that.”
    Me in the situation: “I can’t believe I’m friends with someone as dense as you are. Do you have rocks in your ancestry? Well, gay rocks, naturally?”
    Becky got off easy, trust me.

    1. Rutee

      Wait, you’d send off all those signals, then be confused someone thought you were gay?

      And you’d have the lack of self awareness to think /they’re/ the stupid one? You’re precious.

      1. bubblegumsenpai

        How did Joyce send off signals? Being nice to someone does not equal I want you in my pants. Joyce was just being Joyce. Super-nice to the people she cares about, with a dash of naivete.

        This is like the old “Friend Zone” argument. It’s bull.

        1. Rutee

          What. What does “She says a lot of shit that is easier to interpret as gay than straight” have to do with friendzoning? I mean, even if it ordinarily would have something to do with it (And it doesn’t), I’m not saying she’s obligated to stay with Becky at all.

          To help you follow along, an internet cool guy talked about how he’d mock Becky as dumb if he were Joyce. I said that if he were surprised by Becky thinking Joyce were gay, after the shit Joyce said? He’s the dumb one, not Becky.

  84. Atropos

    Dumbing of Age: The Saddening

  85. Anderhail

    He is become sadness, destroyer of ships.

    1. fogel

      Anderhail, did you do your post before seeing Atropos’? I much like both, I’m just curious about the meaning of your two posts having the same time stamp.

  86. Sam

    Becky, what did I say? I said this wasn’t going to work out. There was no way this was going to work out. I knew it wasn’t.

    God damn it, why does it hurt?

    1. Sam

      Also, for everyone saying Joyce “could have been nicer” or “should have said yes”, Joyce is perfectly within her right to refuse. I’m not saying that it doesn’t suck for Becky (stay strong girl) or that I don’t feel deep deep empathy for her, but if Joyce isn’t feeling it then by no means should she string Becky along, ESPECIALLY because she’s her best friend. Becky doesn’t deserve to be lied to, even if it would put her heartbreak off for another day.

      1. Just Here

        Being honest with Becky was the best thing Joyce could do here.

        But still, damn you Willis. Damn you.

        1. Al Schroeder

          Absolute agreement. On BOTH, including the Willis comment.

          She didn’t call Becky a sinner, she didn’t say she was headed for Hell, she didn’t say, how could you, she didn’t give her false hope (at this point, ANYTHING that she would have said to Becky that she could have taken as a possible “yes” would have been grabbed as a life perserver and put Becky back on the self-delusion bus) she didn’t lie to her best friend, she told the truth. Sometimes in relationships the truth hurts.

          This could have gone so much worse in so many ways.

          But having typed all that, nobody with any empathy whatsoever can’t help but wanting to hug and comfort Becky, and having their heart broken watching her run out that door. But the worst person to do this right now would be Joyce, because Becky would interpret it the way she would want it to be–not comfort, but the physical and emotional relationship she is so desperately wanting.

          And on some level, Joyce knows/feels this too.

          Well done, Willis.

  87. elinoria

    I think becky needs this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCaHQPIfTmk pronto. Poor beckyD:

  88. Zababcd

    Your ‘complaints’ about excessive Patreon support would be more convincing without the link embedded in those very complaints, Mr Willis.

    1. Beckett

      Those ‘complaints’ are starting to seem suspiciously like a humblebrag!

  89. Blue

    This comic is why I need to confess my crush and will never confess my crush all wrapped up into one.

    1. Ellen

      Just… don’t go into it with your entire life-hopes pinned on it like Becky did. :\

      I did something similar (albeit without the surprise-kiss) expecting exactly this sort of rejection with 99% certainty.

      Turns out reality was the 1%. She was also bi, closeted, AND secretly attracted to me already. You never know until you try.

      1. StClair

        Congratulations on rolling 00. But… yeah. Far better to be pleasantly surprised than crushed.

  90. advancecasette

    this is gonna fuck up my whole weekend

    1. Kelly

      at the start of the week I thought this weekend would be all happy fun times, not listening to sad songs and eating ice cream time…

  91. Archivist

    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

  92. insomniac

    DAMN YOU WILLIS

    (God that takes me back.)

  93. Equuizzicals

    Spoiler alert: the alt text was serious. Willis actually rewrote large portions of the comic to make sure becky would never ever ever ever cry again.

    Oh if only…

    1. Kelly

      we can hope…

  94. Kennerly

    Its not that Joyce isn’t a lesbian, its that her one true love is Dorothy.

    1. otusasio451

      Shyamalan: WHAT A TWIST!

      1. Kelly

        Joyce can’t touch water?

        1. otusasio451

          She also thinks she’s in the 1800s, is a supervillain, is dead, is the Devil, is a plant that creates toxins that make people kill themselves, and is a writer whose works are destined to change the world.

          I think that’s all of ’em. Also, she’s meant to unite the four elements and save the Four Nations from the wrath of the Fire Lord.

        2. CG

          Haha, very funny, that last one never happened.

        3. Yarrr

          Master all four elements thank you.

          Joyce would make a great avatar… eventually… after several series of character development and a pet sidekick.

  95. Brulnog Kazwarthstein

    “Captain”
    “Yes, Lieutenant?”
    “The feels cannon is loaded and ready, Sir.”
    “Very good! Fire when ready!”

    1. otusasio451

      That’s some heavy ammo, right there.

  96. ShadowDJ

    Ouch…friend zoned…

    1. ShadowDJ

      Sarah is gonna have her hands full now…

      1. Anderhail

        I can’t even get up the enthusiasm to make a comment about that being a Slipshine title for the aftermath in a fun manner. 🙁

    2. ninja_jesus

      No she wasn’t. Becky was rejected. The friend zone doesn’t exist.

  97. Enantiomeria

    Oh man, Joyce… I know that feel. Your facial expressions bring it all back.

    I had someone (two someones, actually, one after the other) I was quite close friends with drop a similar feelingsbomb on me.
    When it comes out of the blue like this it is very, very difficult to give an answer that isn’t going to be hard for the other person to hear. I (failed to) solve it by backtracking and going ‘I’m so sorry’ over and over again. The worst part was that it was just way too awkward and uncomfortable to go back to being friends after that.

    That person being your super close friend from childhood/growing up probably = a million times worse.

  98. Anderhail

    On a different note… no, just lots of sadness. Becky was in no position to have the… understanding or experience, I guess, that her choice of reveal was not ideal at all. It is the kind of thing that works in stories and fairy tales, and, truth be told, she was probably more sheltered than Joyce based upon everything. Joyce, on the other hand… considering her situation with Ethan, she is probably at the worst point in her life to react to this in a way that lets Becky down easy.

    On a different note, I am desperately racking my brain for any absolute confirmation, you know, before this, that Joyce has 0 attraction to ladies.

    *MINOR WALKYVERSE SPOILER (POTENTIAL)*
    Like in the other universe, do I have a vague memory of females being attractive coming up through Anti-Joyce? Or did she only stick with males? Did she maybe hint females would be accepted? Or is my mind doing what I think it is doing and mixing it with both ship salvaging hope and memories of Vampire-Willow? I… haven’t read enough comments to have stumbled into Word-of-God on this, and I bet my mind is feverishly deleting the ones I ran into without my knowledge anyway.

  99. cmd1095

    I feel a bit bad for Becky, but also feel like she should’ve known this was coming. I mean this is Joyce, the ridiculously brainwashed poster child of religious indoctrination. This is pretty much one of the central features of who she is. For Becky to expect Joyce to reciprocate her feelings and be a lesbian, something frowned upon by her religion, is blindly optimistic

    On the bright side, we have a few lesbians on campus who could *ahem* “comfort” Becky

    1. Kelly

      yeah, I doubt she cares at all about “comfort”. She has clearly loved Joyce for a very long time and very deeply, though it took time apart and some exposure for her to realize what *type* of love it was.

      I may be demiromatic, but I am pretty sure from my experience with deep heartbreak that sex for comfort would be the last thing on her mind for a very long time.

      1. bubblegumsenpai

        Plus Becky’s upbringing, based on previous comics, was no less strict than Becky’s, so this was quite possibly just as hard for Becky to do – which makes the rejection all the more crushing to Becky. I highly doubt with her upbringing she’d be into the casual sex scene.

        Sure, Becky might act all relaxed all the time as if nothing is a big deal, but I think the reason why she jumped on a bus to visit Joyce on a sudden whim could be because if she didn’t do it right away, she might have lost her nerve.

        1. bubblegumsenpai

          No less strict than Joyce’s upbringing, I meant.

  100. thinkingofthechildren

    Panel 3 Becky looks so much sadder in full resolution. Patreon did not do it justice.

  101. otusasio451

    Thought: with all of the crap that Joyce has been going through, and I realize how much of a long shot this is…what if her personality is about to completely fracture? What if this is the origin of the Dumbiverse’s version…

    …of Anti-Joyce?

    1. Scot

      Doesn’t sound like a stretch to me. I feel like there’s going to be an event (possibly soon?) where Joyce will try to have sex with Ethan and when he doesn’t then that’ll be the straw that breaks the camels back.

  102. Gangler

    I hope they’re able to retain their friendship. Would be such a shame if it ended over this. They’re both so important to eachother.

    Maybe Joyce can even help by providing Becky with a safe space where she can be more open about this side of herself. Introduce her to a secular peer circle that won’t judge Becky for her orientation. Even let her meet some people of similar orientations to talk about it with.

    Sounds like there’s probably a lot of hostility waiting for Becky in her own community so Joyce could be a really crucial support here.

  103. ninja_jesus

    Honestly, Becky knew what she was getting into, but at least she tried. It was needed for her to move on. You’re a trooper, Becks.

    Joyce didn’t do anything wrong. It wasn’t her fault that Becky fell in love with her. It’s just a shame that she didn’t feel the same way. Them’s the brakes.

  104. acher4

    Damn you Willis, stop making Becky cry. 🙁

  105. LeslieBean4Shizzle

    **slowclaps**

    I just wanted to say thanks Willis. I have lived that – pretty much exactly that – with me as Becky. You pretty much nailed it. I was hoping you weren’t going there, but at least you went there with both style and amazing accuracy.

    1. MM

      That may well be the best username ever.

      1. LeslieBean4Shizzle

        ^^ Thanks!

    2. otusasio451

      So…does this end well?

      *Note: this comment is in no way meant to be taken seriously. Please do not answer this if you find it too personal. This is not meant to offend, and I am VERY sorry for anything you may have gone through in relation to this situation.*

      1. LeslieBean4Shizzle

        That depends on your definition of well. Did the friendship eventually recover? Yes. Did my straight friend ever change orientation to accommodate me? Certainly not. Misreading signals and thinking your straight friend is actually lesbian or bi pretty much only ends in frustrated tears because, at the end of the day, she can’t change her orientation anymore than you can.

        1. otusasio451

          Honestly, I’m just happy (for you and Joyce) that the friendship recovered.

    3. caesaria82

      I’ve lived something very similar as well, except in my case there was no kissing. But there was a confession of love bundled up with the unrealistic expectations of a teenage heart, followed by rejection and lots and lots of tears. I also applaud this storyline for hitting the nail right on the very painful head. Genius work, Willis.

  106. nothri

    Oh dry your tears ya bunch of pansies! I shipped Billie and Ruth back in the day. BILLIE AND RUTH! If you’ve lost hope in this thing at the first sign of trouble your better off finding another comic to ship in. The ships of the Willis line are beautiful and worth the investment, but they are not for those who cannot handle rough seas!

    1. Disloyal Subject

      Amen.
      Though there is something to be said for letting it all out before soldiering on.
      …and now my insomnia-addled brain is contemplating some kind of weaponized fire hose attached to the tear ducts. Eww. Good night, internet.

    2. Kelly

      I did too, to some extent. Not like BeckyxJoyce though. But I was right there all through Robin/Leslie in SP! Broke my heart. And then mended it, finally.

    3. otusasio451

      Same. But this one…this one might not end as well. Nevertheless, I’m on board, Cap’n! Commands?

    4. Rutee

      XO, I just want to let you know I’ve been proud to have you on my ship. It’s been an honor serving with you.

      The Billie/Ruth, that is. As regards to joyce, I’m on the Jotty, but I respect your decision to be here on the Jecky.

  107. Hannah

    I knew it was going to happen, bit damn it still hurts to read. I hope things get better.

  108. Kernanator

    It’s kind of funny that, if her comments in this strip are any indication, Becky is making the same mistake that Joyce made (and, to a certain extent, is still making): She’s built up a fantasy in her mind of how things would turn out in her love life, and in the process, believed the fantasy to be reality.

    And by funny, I mean less “ha ha” funny, and more “ow ow” funny.

  109. Kyran

    You’re a monster!

    1. Leonou

      … Well at least his own cruelty backfired and made even him sad, according to the alt-text …. but yeah, that still doesn’t make it easier to swallow…

  110. Kelly

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJe1iUuAW4M sadness

    1. Kelly

      huh, did I get automatic url posting privileges or ? Well, I won’t abuse them, promise!

      1. Jen Aside

        PROTIP: You can use one link per post w/o requiring moderation (even multiple links to the same site will trigger moderating)

        1. Kelly

          Oh really? Thanks… I swear I have had single links hold for moderation, but I don’t have a great memory for that kind of thing, so

  111. Bagge

    Oh God no. Please Becky, I’ll sign up for the Patreon if Willies makes Joyce gay. Please don’t cry.

  112. FuryOfFirestorm

    So…uh…anyone want to go out for tacos?

    1. Kirby

      Becky. But she just got denied.

  113. advancecasette

    *downs bottle of antidepression meds*

    *looks at label*

    …

    LAXATIVE!??

    1. Emperor Kiva

      Well you’re going to have a shitty evening

    2. OnyxIdol

      That was funny.

  114. caramelundqueer

    I think once this blows over a little and Joyce has time to think this could be the beginning of the end for her and Ethan’s relationship. I think she just learned a very harsh lesson about what could happen if she pins all her hopes on someone who just isn’t wired to reciprocate.

  115. bubblegumsenpai

    And Damn You Willis. Not only have I now signed up for a gravatar and posted my first comment, I also became a Patreon. You know how to get us hooked.

    1. deathjavu

      The first taste is free. ~David Willis, Pornlord & Comic Pusher

      1. bubblegumsenpai

        Been reading this comic for six months now (since reading every single strip in the series in a single night when I started). Still trying to catch up on the multiverses though.

        1. Kelly

          Welcome, gravatar friend

        2. bubblegumsenpai

          Thank you.

  116. caesaria82

    Goddammit, this hurts :((

  117. kishimobot

    No! No, Becky, no, no, no! No! No! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

  118. WingedBeast

    I feel sorry for both of them. Becky, friend, we’ll find someone for you.

    Joyce… it hurts, but you did the right thing and… you didn’t retreat into all of the “it’s a sin” or “you’re a sinner” or “we can change you” nonsense. You might, but you haven’t yet. In that much, I’m proud. Now, go find your friend and talk her down.

    1. Arianod

      This.

  119. Kirby

    As I posted on twitter, I’ll recomment here;

    A few pages back when people were asking the annoying, “Is there anyone actually straight in this comic?” questions, was anyone sobbing as they answered, “Joyce.”

  120. NinjaNick

    I’m bummed now. Thanks for nothing, Willis.

  121. Orangey

    BECKYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY :'( :'( oh my god you poor baby cries

  122. TeamRumbler

    Alright, let’s see if we can fire this dictation thing up….

    Yeah, seems to be working…

    No, wait, is it? You’d think Cybertronian tech would come together better than this. Alright, seems to be working…

    Well, we’ve been trying to learn about you Humans for a while, these webcomic things help a bit. Been watching this 1 for a while, first attempt at commenting. Kinda feel for the Becky, you build up hope that there’s a way out of you’re situation, you find a beacon of hope in the darkness, all the signs seem to point in your favor, only to get blasted at & hit in the back as you try to take cover & explain. Then you just gotta get out of there, minimize the damage & hope you don’t make i worse…

    Alright, so it’s not AS bad for her, she may feel the pain in her proccessors, but at least she doesn’t have a crater in her back & not enough supplies left to make Cybermatter to repair it…

  123. Ali

    You know it’s bad when the pupil and sclera trade colors.

    1. Kelly

      DOA – Popularizing the word sclera like nothing else.

    2. John

      Now I’m seeing Becky as ordinarily having black sclera and white pupils, which is kind of freaky.

      1. Ali

        That’s all I see every time I see eyes done in that style.

  124. XMinusOne

    Predictable, but painful none the less.

    “For all sad words of tongue or pen,
    The saddest are these ‘It might have been’.”

    John Greenleaf Whittier.

  125. caesaria82

    I can’t get over how real this feels. How relatable. I’ve SO been there. I’m guessing so many people have SO been there. When you’re young and in love for the first time and you’re realizing something about yourself, how you’re different, you want the whole world to feel it with you. And then the world… doesn’t.
    Then you start to feel like you’re the only one, that something’s wrong with you, etc etc. The pain of this is being uniquely captured by this storyline. Just. So brilliant.

    And, like, I know this may sound cheesy, but this storyline is SO gonna help a young girl or guy or non-binary person who’s going through this RIGHT THIS MOMENT and who’s gonna see this comic and feel less alone and see themselves and their stories represented. That is so so SO important and as someone who’s been that girl, thank you so much, David Willis. This is really, really special to me. So. Yeah. /sob story

    1. Mr. Morningstar

      Yeah same here, i told the guy i was into i liked him and he said he was straight.

      Naturally I was crushed.
      The worst part was he slowly stopped talking to me. And when I saw him just yesterday he was clearly uncomfortable around me and seemed kinda passive aggresive too.

      damn sexuality making life hard.

      1. fogel

        For the past 100,000 years…

  126. Shadowtechie

    If Joyce is honest with herself, and she actually is straight, I don’t think there’s a way this could have gone better. Straight-up saying that is wasn’t okay is the quickest way to make things better between the two of them. Still is going to be painful as **** for Becky.

  127. Jacob Newburn

    It’s OK Becky… It’s OK… Just… I’m not gonna cry… I’MNOTGONNACRY!!!! GODDAMNITWILLISYOUHADONEFUCKINGJOBANDYOURUINEDITWHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYHYHYHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!?!?!?!!?!??!?!?!?!??!?!

  128. Chengrel

    Damn you Willis.

    1. Chengrel

      I feel like a masochist for reading DoA for so long.

      1. Deathstalker

        Try reading him for a decade.

  129. Neonix

    The red head has lost so many points that I can’t even bother to remember her name now.

  130. Hoodiecrow

    I was just getting up to feed the cat. I know, I said to myself, I’ll start up the computer and check out DoA before I go back to sleep for another hour.

    And now I’m not sure I’m ever going to be able to sleep again.

    Becky, Joyce: if you’d like to have some avuncular hugs from someone who once lost one of the best friendships he ever had by falling in love with the girl in question, they’re yours.

    I have such a terribly bad feeling about that last panel.

  131. etybolik

    Bummer.

  132. AHR

    …this might actually be important. Because Becky isn’t going to change her orientation any time soon, and Joyce is gonna think it can change cause of Ethan….

    1. bubblegumsenpai

      Or this might make Joyce realize that orientation can’t truly be changed, since if she were to change her own orientation for anyone, it would be Becky.

  133. Vilja

    This really, really looks to me like Becky’s on the lam from Anderson and maybe her parents. She shows up without even a backbag? It’s like she expected to just stay and ignore whatever mess she left behind. I hope she finds a place to stay. I’m writing a fic in my head right now where she and Jocelyne run away together and get a tiny studio where Josie can write and Becky can work on her dream of becoming an insect-themed superhero.

  134. Farmer_10

    This brings me no joy to say: Called it.

  135. erisleaf

    Okay, but at this point, I relate way too much with Becky. Gay girl who grew up in a highly conservative, Christian environment, fell in love with her best friend, who then rejected her. Of course, I wasn’t brave enough to tell her. She just decided she didn’t want to be my friend anymore. So, yeah, dammit Willis! This is the first comic you’ve done that made me cry! And yes, I’m including the ones where characters died.

  136. Chris

    despite the fact that I saw it coming my heart just broke

  137. Rhy

    I bet she runs by Ruth’s room and hears the girl on girl love humping going on there.

  138. Opus the Poet

    Almost 500 comments in a little over 4 hours…

  139. Cale Baird

    I bet you in 2023, Willis is going to do an alternate universe where the events in this here comic strip are different. Plus, he-he-he, I said ‘strip’. 😛

  140. Seneth Somed

    This Slipshine comic was very unsatisfying.

  141. Sushi

    Omg Willis… *voice cracks* …right in the feels… >.<

    I had flashbacks of almost every moment I've bared my soul like that to someone as I read todays comic… *deeply sighs*
    I feel for Becky. I really do.

  142. Cain

    That’s rough, a hug might not have been out of place to salve that.

  143. KevinGriffin3CD

    So, in the mere couple of weeks that these kids have been in school so far:

    – Dorothy has broken up with her old boyfriend and gotten herself a new one.
    – Billie and Ruth have become girlfriends.
    – Amber has gotten a public boyfriend for her secret identity, and a secret boyfriend for her public identity.
    – Joyce has gotten a boyfriend and become a heartbreaker.

    At this point, there’ll have been more relationships in this dorm before Thanksgiving break than all other schools have for their entire year.

    1. StClair

      I suspect it’s pretty typical, actually. We just don’t normally get to observe.

      1. Myergh...

        I just sat in my room until I failed all my classes… I have /no/ idea what was going on around me >.>

    2. PlainMarie

      I used to want to write a book about all the drama happening in my dorm. It would make a wild but not implausible story. Willis has done that with his web comic. I say: well done, sir!

    3. Rebecca

      Idk, that about sums up my first few weeks of college. If not for the fact that this comic thrives on drama I’d say it’s about to calm down a bit. But we all know that won’t happen.

    4. Chupicron

      Man, in my 16-21 days it was like social circles had revolving doors of relationships or regularly traded “long term” partners. And now as a 27 year old going back to finish up college, by god the local dorks of that age range seem to be doing the same thing now. But with noticeably more PDA…

  144. Scott

    I feel like the bad guy for saying this, but I don’t really have any sympathy for Becky on this one. Not because Joyce is clearly and obviously not the kind of person who would explore lesbian tendencies even if she had them (Although that is completely true) but because she basically just backhandedly told Joyce that the entirety of their friendship was an excuse to be closer to her in a pseudo-romantic fashion. It invalidates the entirety of their friendship.

    She just pulled the stereotypical ‘nice guy’ routine but in a way that’s almost even more insulting. Becky just straight-up Sophie’s Choice’d Joyce there. Shocked the ability to process rational thought out of her and then put her on the spot and asked her to make a decision that would, regardless of the choice, throw their entire friendship into a completely new and unexplored context. That’s super not cool.

    So yeah, tears on everyone’s faces, but no sympathy from me.

    1. Shrugs

      I don’t think this is very fair, given that Becky said that she hadn’t realized she had those feelings herself until she went to college and separated from Joyce for a bit. I certainly don’t think their friendship was merely an excuse to try to romance Joyce given that.

    2. Chupicron

      You can have romantic interest in someone AND legitimate interest in their friendship independently from it. Those are two types of love that are not mutually exclusive, and it’s far from uncommon for crushes to develop from friendships. Her crushing on Joyce does not invalidate any of what they did, or imply that she was only around for that.

      1. ahuh

        Yea, I think most of us have had that experience of being friends with someone and at some point figuring out we’re attracted to them. It’s not that surprising, given that the kind of people we want to be friends with are probably the kind of people we’d want to date. Becky’s just never had the chance to learn that 1) you do not need to and probably should not disclose every crush, or if you do do so very slowly and carefully and 2) just because this is a normal thing to have happen doesn’t mean you should assume they will share your feelings even if they value your friendship.

  145. Taithar

    Has anybody mentioned the relevance to the second panel of this strip?

    1. Taithar

      Never mind, apparently Ellen linked to it in the comments of yesterday’s strip.

  146. SDGlyph

    We need new invective for a situation like this. “Damn you Willis” has become playful and feeds the man. I propose to follow the early commenters:

    God damn it, Willis.

    1. bubblegumsenpai

      God Damn it, Willis

    2. fogel

      Make it God damn you Willis–it would be asking God to Damon God.

      1. Malasdair

        Willis Damn Willis!

  147. Kim

    I’m thinking Becky will/may run into Amazigirl, who can relate to her situation of being rejected by your best friend because of hirs sexuality. Would be great if she introduced her to Ethan and they found support in eachother’s stories. With the punchline of Joyce introducing him as her boyfriend (if they indeed still see eachother like that)

  148. Gamaran Sepudomyn

    Considering that Joyce shipped Billie and Walky based on the fact that they were childhood friends, Becky thinking the same of her and Joyce isn’t all too surprising.

  149. Taigan

    The alt-text shows that Willis is unhappy with hurting Becky as we are. There’s a way he could make it up to her/us. Willis needs to put a cameo appearance by AU Becky in Shortpacked before the end where she’s happy with someone. He can’t make Joyce gay in either continuity, but there’s some nice girl out there for her.

    1. Speedball

      …I fully support this!

    2. Kelly

      There is no reason Joyce couldn’t be bi in DOA

  150. Nono

    Just a quick reminder that the last time Joyce talked to Becky before this, it was Joyce telling Becky that she was holding hands with a boy.

    Becky went MIA for a week.

    Yeahhh…..

  151. Nitroglycerific

    I just discovered this series and marathoned the entire thing in a day. And then you leave me on this note?

    I WAS NOT PREPARED.

    1. redfacedone

      That’s how I did it at first, then I got to the fire alarm strip.

    2. fogel

      Unprepared IS the Willisverses, so just accept that,and you are prepared in the only way you can be.

  152. Mc

    Allow me to make my first

    DAMN YOU WILLIS!

    Or, I think it’s my first posted one.. mental – not so much.

  153. Cheryl

    Im sitting in a glass room. and everything just shattered. I’m now floating in a void of shards and nothingness…..

    1. Kim

      awesome

  154. showler

    Please run down the stairs, not up the stairs, Becky.

    1. Arianod

      If she does now, you can say you warned her!

  155. Code

    We need more Dino in the series.

    1. fogel

      The Dinasaur, right?

  156. epicstaredown

    oh noooo please no stop being sad!

  157. Myergh...

    So now we’re getting comments by people recently (or prominently) rejected projecting their other party onto Joyce. Wait, that includes me and I have Borderline, yet I’m not doing that… Have I become self aware? *Gasp*

    Honestly, I’ve really liked this chapter. It seems a lot more cohesive in message than normal, though it may just be me looking a bit harder.

    From personal experience, Joyce will attempt to still be friends as a sort of act of solidarity but fail within a couple weeks.

    From actual character analysis, Joyce will grow from personal exposure to how others think. To see her best friend, who she trusts immensely, act in a way she would generally find reprehensible would probably help her question it, as Dorothy has sort of been doing already.

    From personal experience, Becky will be an overly attached piece of garbage who can’t shut up for 5 second.

    From Willis experience, she’s currently a rhetorical tool who he seems to have grown fond of, meaning she’ll probably stick around and have good things happen to her.

    Sorry if I seem jaded towards “characters as people.” Melodrama analysis isn’t my thing (If you can’t tell by me probably getting stuff wrong) >.>

    1. Myergh...

      Erm, personal experience applied to Becky is meant to be me. I don’t actually see rejected people like that >.>

      But what I’m trying to say is, don’t apply an unfinished story to your life, it’s not resolved yet. It’d be like hating a song the writer hasn’t finished yet. Not everything they’re trying to say is out there yet so you can’t really know what’s being said.

      I dunno, just don’t be rude to an approximation of real people in the comments.

  158. Kevin

    Willis, I don’t like how the comic implies that lesbianism always leads to dysfunctional relationships and devastating sadness instead of 24/7 sexytimes.

    1. Farmer_10

      Of course he’s not doing that. Perfectly normal lesbians have perfectly normal, well adjusted relationships. But this is a a dumbing of age lesbian though, so misery is a required part of the initial package. Good things come much, much later.

      1. maxlines

        Bet there will be at least one suicide attempt.

    2. Mr. Morningstar

      to be fair, the straight relationships arent fairing much better

  159. Mr. Morningstar

    telling someone you have fancied for so long and hear them say that they are straight may be one of the most heartbreaking things you can experience as a gay person.

    not only does it mean they dont like you that way,
    it means there was no chance at all they would like you.

    I know that feel becky.
    I know that feel.

    1. Kevin

      Of course a straight person could never have their heart broken by a gay person.

      1. Mr. Morningstar

        no yeah i know that but with a straight person they dont have to fear being shunned by the majority of society for confessing to the person they love, hence why it is significantly harder for a gay person to do it then a straight person.

    2. Kevin

      (of the opposite sex, to be clear)

  160. fantasyfreakvi

    I just hope this doesn’t turn into a suicide storyline.

    Stay strong, Becky!

    1. la6ue mous snow angel

      Don’t even say it! D:

  161. la6ue mous snow angel

    Joyce took that a lot better than I was expecting. She didn’t slap her and say, “GET OUT YOU DEMONSPAWN” or say that she felt betrayed. She just stammered that she didn’t feel the same way and she wasn’t into girls.
    Honestly, I think Joyce reacted like a rational human being. There’s not a lot more you can expect from someone put into that information.
    Now, Joyce, go find her! Go console her! Go tell her that there are plenty of lesbian/bisexual fish in the sea! Although perhaps not quite as many as there are heterosexual fish…

  162. Crumplepunch

    Tragedy is when it’s nobody’s fault.

    1. Halloween Jack

      Comedy is when Faz shows up and says that he can cure everything with his dick.

  163. Crumplepunch

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t that Joyce’s first kiss?

    1. James Rye

      Nah, she kissed Ethan before. And she took that first kiss WAY worse than this one here.

    2. SDGlyph

      No, Ethan was her first (and only?). I think it’s the first time she’s been kissed, though – as in, by someone who’s actually attracted to her.

      1. SDGlyph

        Oh wait, of course you knew that and I fell for it. Sorry.

      2. Crumplepunch

        Right you are, silly to forget that one.

        All the drama bombs kind of merge together after a while.

    3. Nitroglycerific

      I wager she’s still in shock. Give her time, and the weight of what just happened will sink in.

    4. Sir Robin

      No, she kissed Ethan

    5. Kelly

      How many of these comments have there been in the past three strips? I think at least 9 or 10. Anyway way too many, since Joyce has kissed Ethan at least twice.

  164. JohnnyO

    Willis sailed my ship out to sea just so he could torpedo it.

  165. Vigonator

    I predict next strip joyce will just say ‘fuck’ and plant her face on the bed, followed by becky running into probably hopefully walky and dorothy

    1. la6ue mous snow angel

      *fudge

  166. Jackson

    Becky, it’s hard.

    Being a kid and growing up.

    It’s hard and no one understands.

    1. Pteropine

      You are the best commenter. It’s you.

  167. unicornwater

    Wow, I was expecting her to blow up. Joyce handled that a lot better than I thought she would.

    1. wynne

      That’s what I was thinking. She could have gone all fundie on her but she didn’t, so GOOD JOB Joyce.

  168. avstron

    WILLIS I SWEAR IF BECKY GETS RUN OVER OR HARMS HERSELF
    AND JOYCE HAS TO DEAL WITH THE GUILT

    my…
    my feels

    my poor feels.

    1. Mitsukara

      I don’t think this universe has trucks, though!

      1. John

        Sure there are. But as the hovertext for the strip where Amber ziplined onto one says: In the Dumbiverse, truck is hit by you!

    2. JWLM

      What on Earth did Joyce do wrong? For that matter, what in Heaven or Hell did Joyce do wrong? She’s straight — she can’t fulfill Becky’s fantasy. I feel for Becky more than you can imagine, but Becky was responsible for *how* she handled coming out, not Joyce.

      The only way that Joyce was wrong was in what she said about love during lunch, and that was not aimed at Joyce, but rather at Walky. With luck, she’ll realize how painful Dorothy’s whole ‘I love you, you know’ line was to Walky, and how trapped he felt. And even there, Joyce handled Becky’s fantasy far, far better than Walky handled Dorothy’s far more grounded claim of loving him — she took it seriously and didn’t blow it off.

      Sorry, Joyce is really a hero here. Why are you punishing her?

      1. Regina Phalange

        No one’s blaming or punishing Joyce…avstron just said Joyce would feel guilty if this scene led to Becky’s death in some way. And yeah, OF COURSE she would. Yes, we know that there was no possible better way for Joyce to handle the situation, but she’ll be thinking “what if I said something different? What if I did x different? Would Becky still be alive if x?” You can feel guilt regardless of whether it is logically your fault.

      2. avstron

        yup exactly what Regina said.
        I was worrying about Joyce feeling guilty.
        Because when these things happen, you feel guilty for the smallest thing.

  169. brute

    i can’t help but wonder if Willis was going on about how great becky is so that we’d be super psyched for her storyline and then super crushed when this happened.

    if that was the intent, then well played, sir.

    1. Mitsukara

      Isn’t all this going on while Ruth and Billie are getting up to some many wrongs finally-put-right-what-once-went-wrong in a nearby room, too? That’s some potentially awkward timing.

  170. Lone Wolf

    I feel like a terrible person for saying this, but… I’m just not feeling it here.

    I mean, yes, on an intellectual level, I can understand that this is an emotionally devastating moment for Becky and Joyce (moreso the former), but I just can’t actually feel any kind of sadness or empathy for Becky. Mostly just because… well, I don’t really have any attachment to her. I’m not emotionally invested in her just because she hasn’t really been around at all. She showed up at the beginning when Joyce was moving in, and I think she may have talked with Joyce over the phone a few times?

    It’s just hard for me to feel anything for her when I don’t really know her. It just feels kind of rushed is all, like, “Okay, here’s this character you saw once at the beginning of the series, now she’s back, she’s awesome, she’s fun to be around! NOW I’M BREAKING HER HEART, FEEL SAD FOR HER, STICK YOUR HAND IN THE TV DO IT DO IT DO IT!”

    1. Carlz

      I really Don’t think it’s ment for you to feel bad for Becky. I mean you should for the sake of ” Ah Damn Girl that sucks. I hope you figure your stuff out and don’t take this to hard.”
      But in the sence that everyone in your life brings you a lesson this was a lesson for Joyce. She know knows a girl who was raised the same as her in a strict Christian world and still came out as a “sinful” lesbian. (Maybe lesbian, she could be bi or something) So this will give Joyce the ability to really get a proper outlook on people’s sexsexuallieso see the pain that Becky is going through will also see what pain Ethan will most likely put himself through if he keeps trying to trick himself into being straight.

  171. eromer

    I am hoping she is running right into the arms of Daisy….who better to understand…and the whole door window thing…

    1. Halloween Jack

      Shipping this is the only way I’ll make it through the weekend sane.

      Sane-ish.

  172. Nena

    This is SUCH a difficult age to be. Willis captures this so well. I feel awful for both girls.

    I knew a boy when I was at IU who came out as gay. His asshole fundie parents rejected him and he shot himself in the head.

    1. David

      Well, fastest projectile in biblical times was a rock, so his parents should be happy they managed to organize a stoning for him. The Old Testament God would be proud of them. The New Testament one would likely be less impressed with them as they are spurning the lamb that died for the world’s sins.

  173. redfacedone

    And thus, Amazigirls archenemesis, [name of nemesis] was born….

  174. QD

    The next slipshine is “Becky reenacts that one scene from Mulholland Drive. You know which one.”

    1. Kim

      😀 ! (I laughed out loud for real )

      1. Arianod

        I did too and I feel horrible for it.

  175. WikiDreamer

    Oh….Wow… Uhm…damn…this…this is actually quite…beautiful

    I mean yeah, it’s obviously the end of their friendship (or is it?) but it was so bittersweetly done. Joyce really, really has grown a great deal from when we first met her. I honestly expected her to explode or implode into an emotional mess but THIS!? Again, WOW. I can’t believe I’m saying this but, Good Job Willis on fully fleshing out your characters. Expect an e-mail from me fairly soon on this matter. We have business to discuss.

    1. WikiDreamer

      Sorry for double posting, but I didn’t make this realization until I explained it to my BF: Am I the only one who notices just how absolutely distraught Becky looks in panel three? I mean, her world, her entire world has been absolutely destroyed…and by her own hand no less! I haven’t put anything past Willis since I started reading his work and I hate to say this, but I wouldn’t be too surprised if Becky never makes it back to Anderson.

      1. David

        Uh, Anderson’s a closed chapter anyway. Becky’s been evading the topic and Sarah has been pointing out that there’s fishy business.

        1. fogel

          Expelled or went well or quit officially?

      2. bubblegumsenpai

        The thought has been brought up a few times, yeah.

  176. Nagash1959

    Fun game you can play with this strip only, repeatedly hit the “First” and “Latest” button until you need to drink to avoid feeling so bad!

    1. RoxyRocketeer

      so drrunk

    2. Gizen

      Actually, for some reason if I click ‘Latest’ from the first comic, it actually sends me to this one.

      http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/01-when-somebody-loved-me/keeping/

      I have to click latest again from there to get to today’s gutpunch.

      1. George

        You probably have a version of the first page cached in your browser from when the ‘latest’ link actually did point to that comic. Forcing a reload on the first page should get things working as normal.

  177. Dani Kelley

    BEEEECKKYYYYYYY.

    I’m really kinda proud of Joyce, though. She could have handled that so much worse. Like…she wasn’t mean. She just didn’t return the feeling, which of course sucks for Becky but WAY TO GO JOYCE FOR NOT BEING AN ASSHAT OMG.

    1. KRVeale

      *nodnodnodnod*

  178. fogel

    “oh god oh god i’m so sorry becky i’ll make joyce gay if it makes you stop crying oh god please stop don’t be sad”

    ?Why is God invoking God?

    1. Arianod

      Why not? He did while he was nailed on the cross.

      1. shadowcell

        hey god why are you crucifying yourself, why are you crucifying yourself, why are you crucifying yourself

        1. fogel

          I work in mysterious ways?

  179. AgentKeen

    So of course I’m doing a re-read of the current chapter, and I get to this:

    http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/01-when-somebody-loved-me/mistakes/

    I should really stop being surprised by how much set-up there is.

    1. a4lbi

      Shit I Learned at Willis University: There is always a set-up. ALWAYS.

      It is why I enjoy re-reading arcs, though.

    2. Roe

      the problem in that comic: Joyce thinks Billie is in love with a Boy, so she thought the girl-o-girl hanky panky was one of the “problems” being solved. Becky thinks that Joyce means Billie is in love with her female high school best friend. so much set up i can’t take it. wow.

  180. Matt

    anyone else getting a pop up about taking a survey that redirects you when you try to read the comments.

  181. Heavyoak

    becky needs to propose to joyce.

  182. Raznaak

    Well, maybe she will run to Billie and Ruth and engage in a three-way lesbian hatefuck?

  183. Bagge

    Sexy lesbian suicide pact – cancelled

  184. Jay C

    Owww
    My soul.

  185. Knightsky

    …and then Becky runs into Head Alien, who offers her a reality where Joyce reciprocates her love.

    1. Maycroft

      I vote for that storyline.

  186. Varangian

    Well, Joyce, those million dicks aren’t gonna suck themselves.

  187. TsunamiJane

    I’ve been Becky before. 🙁

    1. AriBerri

      Oh man me too. First time I liked a girl, we were both in catholic middle school. I told her over the phone and her response was about thirty seconds of silence and then “It’s a phase. You’ll get over it.”

      1. Hoboturtle

        Ow, that hurt physically and I’m not even in your shoes.

  188. wakeangel2001

    Its funny how being asexual (she always talked about getting married, not having sex) can get someone coded gay these days huh?

    1. Wolfe

      Trust me, she’s not asexual. Have you seen the way she blushes when certain things are mentioned? Being celibate does not automatically equal asexuality, especially when one is only celibate because of religious beliefs.

      1. la6ue mous snow angel

        How can I respond but:
        amen!
        It isn’t asexuality; just Celebi. I mean celibacy.

    2. la6ue mous snow angel

      I think in her case the term is chaste.
      Because while she’s chased after hot guys like Ethan for so long, she’s never managed to get them to tempt her into sin.

  189. Why

    Does anyone else think Becky is being kind of selfish.

    1. That Damn Rat

      I wouldn’t say selfish, desperate maybe, she’s pretty much just realised that her feelings are at odds with the values of her entire social network, and that leaves her pretty much completely alone in the world. So she’s desperately seeking something she can hold onto.

    2. la6ue mous snow angel

      Yes. Through no fault of her own, but she didn’t plan this out well.
      Becky kind of went in there trying to impose her sexuality on Joyce.
      I actually think Joyce handled it as best she could From what we’ve seen of her reaction, I think this is going to be a turning point in Joyce’s life where she realizes people of other sexualities are just as human as she.

      1. la6ue mous snow angel

        *could. From

        Honestly, I wish she had just probed the question a little more before locking lips with Joyce.
        She really jumped to conclusions and ended up basically forcing herself on someone who didn’t feel that way about her.
        I feel bad for Becky, but this situation could have gone better if she’d been a little more honest with Joyce about her sexuality and with herself about Joyce’s sexuality.

    3. Trolldrool

      Not really. Rejection hurts for everyone and given the community she’s grown up in, she probably put all hopes into Joyce having the same feelings because she fears her family will denounce her when they find out. She’s acting out of desperation, not selfishness.

      1. la6uɐ mous

        Obviously her running away isn’t selfish, but it was a bit shortsighted to expect she could just plant one on Joyce and Joyce would instantly realize they were destined to be together.
        She basically went around looking for little hints that Joyce was into girls and she ended up wanting it so bad that she deluded herself into seeing signs where there were none.

        1. la6uɐ mous

          Not that that was necessarily selfish per se, but… she’s just really not in a good state of mind right now.
          She wasn’t thinking straight and that made this scene inevitable. She needs to clear her head a bit and think about it more positively. It’s a learning experience and it didn’t compromise her relationship with Joyce.

        2. la6uɐ mous

          In any case, she might want to stay with someone else for a few days to sort out her feelings. Maybe Ruth would help as an RA… Amber still owes Joyce a favor…

        3. JWLM

          Yeah, you know, staying with Ruth, who’s still coming to terms with her own bisexuality and is still so terribly shy and scared around Billie…not such a good idea.

          Personally, I’m hoping the Joyce decides she wants to talk to Amazi-Girl again. Amazi-Girl might be able to find Becky before she does anything too stupid…and Amber might be able to comfort her about the pain of propositioning someone with an incompatible sexual orientation.

        4. la6uɐ mous

          I’m hoping for Amber, but I don’t know whether Joyce will think to ask Amber to get AmaziGirl to help. I would guess she’s going to act on instinct here. Either she’ll run to AmaziGirl or she’ll run after Becky.
          I think she’ll run after Becky, but there’s still a chance she’ll end up talking to Amber afterward…
          I guess we just have to hope.
          After all, Becky doesn’t have anywhere else to stay.
          And it’s just a bad idea to stay with Joyce.

  190. Regalli

    DAMN, though. Becky’s entire world’s clearly falling apart – if she comes out, she’s risking being disowned or expelled or both, and she just needs someone on her side SO BADLY, and if Joyce feels the same then she has a girlfriend and it’s okay and she has someone with her when this shit goes down and it’s not THAT much of a stretch, is it? Only, of course, Joyce doesn’t feel the same way and Becky’s screwed.

  191. Jehosaphat

    Well… that’s an oh shit moment.

  192. Kaos

    spirit crushing moment. so sad. so much sadness.
    Damn you Willies DAAAAMN YOU! *cries in a corner with a bottle of whiskey*

  193. Heather

    Unrequited love sucks for everyone involved really. It sucks to be rejected, it often sucks to be the one who rejects someone. Especially when it comes to friends. You can’t help who you do or do not fall for though. That’s life.

    It’s even worse when it involves same sex relationships though- because for people like Becky it means one hell of a risk, something far riskier then anything almost any het relationships have to face. Sure, if one of them had been a bloke in this situation the rejection would still hurt a fucking lot but Becky is also risking outright rejection from her family too by doing this if not powerful people/the majority of people in the society she was raised in. Including her parents. She can’t even go to her parents about this sort of thing. Just imagine that. I mean what little we know of her parents sends alarm bells as it is. I mean what if Joyce got it into her head to say something? Or maybe her parents already found out when she got it into her head to do this? Or a suspicious roommate at Anderson said something….

    And it didn’t even work out. Rejection is a risk all people who admit their feelings run the risk of clearly but it’s just so much worse and more serious if it involves two people of the same gender for obvious reasons. Because you could literally be putting your very life in danger.

    Becky is probably so very alone honestly and it might have even just made her more desperate to be with Joyce. She can’t go to her parents (they don’t let her have a freaking phone for god’s sake, how will they react to this sort of thing? They can’t be trusted to be good with this- they’d probably send her to some form or reparative therapy or whatever the hell they call that cesspit of emotional abuse these days) She is also at Anderson, a CHRISTIAN college and I’m 99% certain can’t discuss that kind of thing there. Anything to do with LGBT+ would be most likely, at best, in the context of ‘love the sinner, hate the sin’ which would not help at all. It would still treat her as something broken and wrong.

    UGH.

    /wants to hug Becky.

    1. Heather

      God sorry, I keep rambling here and repeating points but I’m very emoptional right now.

      1. Regalli

        You put it pretty much perfect there.

  194. Sir Robin

    There are a lot of feels for this comic. Joyce isn’t going not be something she is not, and Becky just can’t not feel the way she does. Seems to me she suddenly came to this realization, maybe even got punished for it, and thought Joyce would be the one to help. So now what?

  195. Willoughby Chase

    So the picture when they’re all at Gallassos? Joyce and Becky side by side … is that before or after this event?

    Or just symbolic?

  196. Nina

    Too sad to even damn Willis. Poor Becky.

  197. shammers

    becky had it half right. joyce does overcompensate some homo feelings with boy-talk.. they’re aimed at someone else

    damned if i don’t feel awful seeing becky’s deteriorating expressions

  198. KRVeale

    As much as this entirely storyline is a FeelsBomb of high magnitude, I’m actually delighted with Joyce.
    Her entire response is surprise, shock and in some ways *sadness* because telling the truth means breaking Becky’s heart.
    It doesn’t look like she’s registering disgust or horror at all, and seems like a very similar reaction to what’d happen if her oldest male friend had done exactly the same thing.
    So we’re still on a Fast Train To PainTown, but it’s for reasons that are not – in isolation – awful.

    1. Benjy

      I liked how she handled it, too.

  199. democraticMayonaise

    I’m just gonna sum up the comments here

    “Relates”
    “DAMN YOU WILLIS”
    “Becky is having a poopy time this week”

  200. Alexx

    Ahh….oh boy. Weather the storm. This’ll get better, right? It’s just her childhood friend and crush for years. This will…it’ll be fine.

    ….please tell me Joyce isn’t going to make this worse. I know her faith is important to her, but it’s not gona be THAT important, right? We’re not gona have to go through some crap with her ousting Becky for a bit before she comes to her senses?

    1. deathjavu

      Sure, Joyce’s role model in religious fervency came when Joyce was already feeling messed up and admitted to liking girls, specifically her.

      I’m sure Joyce will take this all juuuuust fine.

  201. Boomwolf

    Also, I gotta ask, if one person is “everything to you”, what does that say about you? That your entire life is defined by that one person? I dunno, maybe I’ve got it wrong, but that sounds a lot more sad than it was meant to.

    1. JepMZ

      I don’t wanna sound agecist, but they are still teenagers :0

    2. Adam Black

      TLDR; Its just a real feeling.

      ( i told my self i wouldnt comment again but…. )
      It simply means that Becky is in touch with her emotions.
      Thats it.

      And her emotions,
      are someone who is deeply in love with her best friend, and believes ( not without many, many, many, good reasons ) that those feelings were reciprocated, and believes, not without good reasons, the basis of her feelings is in part, that reciprocation.

      In that context, its actually a LOT more rational that it looks, if that minor insanity known as Love can be ever characterized as rational.

      These are not ( necessarily ) the words of a desperate stupid clingy person,
      she is simply telling you What-This-Feels-Like .

      Its a mistake to read this as signs of a desperate, sad, strange, psychological complex .

      Its just that garden-variety , perennial , weed called ‘love” . You may think youve weeded your garden of such silly irrational triffles, but its known to infest the most barren and empty plots…

      Pay attention!
      Willis is giving you a lesson in the Phenomenology-of-love-and -the-broken-heart.

      Despise Becky at your own peril .
      Else when that seemingly unlikely day arrives, The derision your poured on this poor fictional red-headed lesbianish heroine rebounds upon your own heart: True love always feels foolish.

      Love itself, is merely a measure of how much we will potentially allow another to hurt us .

      At best you can hope for clean pain, without the dirty commentary and mental over-judgements about how foolish it all is for everyone, to rebound back on you , like a massive catapult of stupid.

      This is a real feeling.

  202. Benjy

    Honestly, this is probably the best possible reaction by Joyce. Instead of talking about sin or getting so freaked out that she ran away, Joyce was honest. She just doesn’t feel that way.

  203. Morty

    This is gonna sound kinda mean, but really? She put all her eggs in a “I love Joyce, Joyce loves me, We’re gonna fall in love and hanky panky” basket? She didn’t even consider that Joyce might not reciprocate her feelings even if she Were into girls? Which she could legitimately Not BE? It just seems really poorly thought out on her part

    1. Gangler

      I don’t think she’s thought this out much at all. Sounds like she just figured out the nature of her feelings for Joyce at some point within the last month, worked herself up into this state over it, then in the spur of the moment caught a train over here so she could make her grand romantic statement. Not really the calculated plan you seem to be treating it as.

      If it helps, it’s not like she’s actually lost all her eggs. She will presumably be able to pursue other loves now that she better understands this part of herself and knows Joyce is off the table. You know, after she’s taken some time to recoup from this whole ordeal.

      1. grantimusmaximus

        True. It’ll take a long, long time though, more than likely. As one who has in the past done the all-in-one-basket romantic gesture thing, losing the basket is all kinds of sad.

        Not that being on the other side of that is any fun, either, having been on the receiving end too.

        Man, love kinda sucks sometimes.

    2. ninja_jesus

      No, I’m sure she knew there wasn’t really a chance, but she had to at least try.

  204. ToTeM

    It Could have Gone better and i kinda hoped for way better, but it could have gone a LOT worse and i’m really happy it didn’t

  205. grantimusmaximus

    WILLIS

    WAT R U DOIN

    WILLIS

    STAHP

  206. Andres

    Willis you monster!

  207. Lume

    … And they’re gonna make out and have sex and have forty childre- FUUUUUCCKK

    1. la6uɐ mous

      You can keep pleading but they aren’t gonna fuck.

  208. Michelle

    I am gay and have had my heart broken. Joyce did this very well and anyone who is upset at her needs to settle down. Getting mad at a straight person for not being gay is ridiculous. Not all religious repressed people are secretly gay. Some people are, gasp, straight! I’m sorry if this sank your ship but accusing religion of screwing up Joyce’s sexuality may be a wee bit shortsighted. It screwed up her reactions to sex, certainly, but she probably is straight regardless.

    1. Roktopus

      It’s such a weird (and kind of disrespectful, honestly, if my understanding of most major religions is at all comparable) fad that’s been going around a lot, I’ve noticed.
      Religious (usually female) characters being sexually repressed and secretly homosexual despite their beliefs and upbringing, or worse, because of it.

      Am I the only one who’s noticing this trend in fiction lately? I really hope Willis doesn’t go that route; it just seems a tad rude to portray religious people like that; saying they all secretly hate their own beliefs and are secretly sexually starved.

      1. David M Willis

        But an author who grew up fundamentalist and currently draws porn wouldn’t know anything about that, would he.

        1. Roktopus

          TL;DR: And I guess a professional artist and author who grew up with a devout French-Catholic mother and a REALLY devout German Mennonite father in a heavily Christian setting wouldn’t know anything that subject either eh?

          I and most of the kids I grew up with in church went to secular middle schools, high school, and colleges. Drugs, booze, sex, homosexuality, we’ve been exposed to the whole “non-Christian-friendly” scene long enough to know where we stand in it, and I’m not kidding when I say I’ve never seen a single one of them decide “oh wait, this religion stuff is dumb, I’m gonna go get high and screw like an ancient Greek.” 😛 There have been times when some of us have gotten involved in some stuff, but I’ve never ever seen any of us outright abandon our beliefs all together, certainly not just because we were horny.

          I’m new here, and I’m not really sure what you’re experiences with all this are, nor am I discrediting the way you’re handling the situation in your story (which I honestly like thus far), but what I’m trying to say is that I appreciate when an author doesn’t introduce a Christian character (which are usually the only characters I can really relate to) just so they can have them.. well… corrupt, for lack of a better term. Which a LOT of writers have been doing lately.

          I know I’m probably a minority, like, who cares what I think and all, it just gets frustrating to see my people constantly portrayed as a bunch of sexually confused and repressed nymphomaniacs who hate their own religion.

        2. David M Willis

          Suffice to say, I get enough people yelling at me that I don’t know anything about growing up Christian and that all my Christian characters are obviously strawmen and nobody has any of this stuff happen to them that there is something in the FAQ about it. See #8: http://www.dumbingofage.com/about/

        3. Roktopus

          Ah, yeah, like I said I’m new here, I can see what my comment probably sounded like. I can only imagine it’s aggravating having to explain the same stuff over and over again.

          I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions, I shouldn’t have. It just happens so often that writers have religious characters purely out of some fetish or anti-religious statement that I saw Joyce and just assumed. I’ve lost count of the times other artists and writers have introduced token Christian characters, and my first thought is “Let me guess, this character is A) going to be a hateful, intolerant dick, B) question their sexuality at one point C) realize religion is bad and renounce their faith”, and then was right. It happens so often, it gets tiresome to be vilified in fiction so much.

          I guess I just never came across the situation of having ones faith rattled so thoroughly, it seems alien to me. Thank you for being civil, I appreciate it.

        4. gwalla

          That’s nice that you went to public school and were exposed to the world at large, but Joyce wasn’t. She was homeschooled and insulated from a lot of secular influences.

        5. Hotsauce

          Obviously. Proverbs 22:6 man.

  209. Jordan

    What’re you doing Willis!?!?!?

  210. Em

    This is equal parts really really sad and really really fucking creepy.

    BUT

    Her reaction reminds me of Joyce and Ethan.

  211. potatoaddict

    The worst basis for wanting a relationship is too make yourself feel less miserable.

    So that’s why I won’t ask Willis what he’s doing. I already know.

  212. Farmer_10

    And now everyone seems to be pouring out their own feelings of rejection and heartbreak. Are you happy now, Willis? Is this what you were going for? ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!?!

  213. Tenn

    …and it’s Becky’s reaction that surprises me, not Joyce’s.

    I was kind of expecting tears at some point, but I didn’t think Becky would be so naive as to take Joyce’s returned affections for granted.

  214. Toshar

    IF THIS SHIP IS SINKING THEN I WILL SINK WITH IT!

    Becky/Joyce for life.

    1. Hoboturtle

      Im with you brother. The siblinghood of Joyce/Becky shall live on.

  215. HopelessSavage

    DAMMIT, WILLIS!!

  216. Cypherfox

    Just… ouch.

    1. Cypherfox

      And of course

      Besides, she’s in love now, so all of those problems are solved forever.

      1. liahansen

        Man, Becky was in some serious denial

        1. la6ue mous snow angel

          Yeah. Becky may need to take a serious look at how she’s acted these past few days…
          And it never hurts to start consulting a therapist either.

        2. Jen Aside

          I do see it as kind of a “well, it’ll hurt like hell if I get shot down, but it hurts as much not to try”/”Chasing Amy” kind of thing. Like, hanging on to the hope that, as much rejection as she has gotten/will get, if only Joyce loved her back, it would be okay.

          But it’s clearly not, and now she has to retreat to lick her wounds.

          But it’s still preferable to never having tried.

        3. ninja_jesus

          HEY EVERYONE, THIS GUY REFERENCED CHASING AMY

          Sorry. Just… It’s a good movie. 🙂

          And yes, that’s how I see it as well. Personally, I think it was a barrier for Becky to go through before she can move on and just be Joyce’s friend again (if that’s an option still).

        4. la6ue mous snow angel

          I agree… I think kissing might have been a little drastic, though. It’s never a good idea to start a relationship with a bold move.
          If you don’t know whether someone’s into you, you should ask them before you make a move.

      2. Al Schroeder

        And, I just reread THIS where Walky talks about whether Joyce ALWAYS followed her female friends around like she wants to go down on them…and Becky responds, ooo, I LIKE him…

        I bow to the Master of foreshadowing and cohesive plots, Willis. Especially since in webcomics, that’s almost UNHEARD of.

        1. liahansen

          ooooooooooooooooh

  217. The Austrian

    If Mary gets on this true Christian justice will be handed out. As we know The Lord will watch on dvr.

  218. Tealjoy Berry

    UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH this comic. My heart.

  219. treason

    I repeat. YOU MONSTER. Good Weekend to you all

  220. 0kami

    I suddenly saw a “worst case scenario” vision…

    If Becky runs off someplace to gather herself after being heartbroken…

    …and starts talking with a seemingly nice guy…

    … who mentions that he’s a pastor’s son…

    🙁

    1. grantimusmaximus

      nooooooooooooo

  221. Joebo

    I know we’re not supposed to talk about it, but I don’t remember Becky being gay in Joyce & Walky!

    1. Timni

      this be a different universe bro

      1. Joebo

        Yes, and Willis has gone on record to say that everyone’s sexual orientation was not changed when they crossed universes.

    2. A5PECT

      I don’t remember the subject of Becky’s sexuality being broached in J&W. So her J&W version may be gay and that detail has simply been left out, similar to IW Danny’s bisexuality.

      Alternatively, she’s gay in the J&W universe, but is closeted for whatever reason.

      There’s plenty of room to provide an explanation, is what I’m saying.

  222. Timni

    ohhh nooo Becky crying was the most heartbreaking thing I have ever seen, like second to every Amber-her dad scene and when Walky’s sister was like robbing the store, scaring Amber for life.

  223. hof1991

    Becky’s actions were right from romantic comedies. The long lead in to a declaration of love that is initially rejected but accepted after some dramatic demonstration. She and Joyce both believe in that. It was bound to end up in disaster, since romcoms are a bad guide to life.

    That said, great job Willis of portraying thi .

  224. fni

    i haven’t read this in like a week or so so ths all happened in like 2 seconds
    i was just wait whAt

  225. PandoraDanger

    That situation always sucks all around…. and not even the fun kind.

  226. Lord Geovanni

    You Introduce the second most awesome character next to Walky then kick her to the curve Dammit Willis!

    1. gwalla

      You mean curb.

      1. Lord Geovanni

        well that’s how i say it

  227. Krzysz

    And this is all the rest of those feels.

  228. Natalia

    I wonder what it’s like for Joyce to see herself, the same desperation, in a new way.

  229. Shadow

    I feel for both of them.
    On one hand- Becky really, truly loves Joyce. I’ve been in her position- telling my same sex, best friend throughout childhood that I was in love with them. Admittedly, I didn’t kiss them- but she did reject me. Just like Joyce, she wasn’t cruel about it- she was apologetic. But just like Becky, I was heart broken, because I had hoped for -so long-.
    On the other hand, I’ve -also- been in Joyce’s position. Not with a fellow girl, and not with them kissing- but with best friends informing me that they are in love with me, when I don’t- and can’t- return the feeling. Having to tell someone that just may be the worst feeling ever. Hell, even when they’re just confessing to a crush, it sucks, because you don’t -want- to hurt your friends, but rejecting them will do so, no matter what you do.
    Both sides of that situation suck, a -lot-. Becky is heartbroken and hurt, Joyce is shocked and guilty about not returning her best friend’s feelings- in the fourth panel, she looks like she’s about to start crying alongside Becky.
    ~Shadow

  230. brumagem

    She kissed a girl and didn’t really like it.

  231. PheonixGRX

    This (as well as the last 3 or so comics) were posted on Funnyjunk and are what brought me to this site. Since then, I have binge read up until this point within 3 days, and am loving the series. Keep up the great work 🙂

  232. kay

    I want to hug everybody. ;;;;

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