253

State of the Union
Posted on August 16, 2023 by David M Willis

253 thoughts on “State of the Union”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    shared nightmare? did we walk into Dumbingofception?

    1. Yet_One_More_Idiot

      Honestly, I wasn’t sure at first if this was part of Joyce’s comic or a dream. And if a dream, is it Joyce’s….or Dotty’s? 🙂

      1. GholaHalleck

        Dottys. The horse not being a Joe Centaur is a dead giveaway.

        1. Needfuldoer

          That could change; this is only the first strip of the arc.

      2. Pylgrim

        I don’t think Dorothy is feeling these days as confident as Joyce still and always sees her.

        1. Daibhid C

          Yep, which is why I think this is Dorothy’s dream. If it was Joyce’s vision of how great she is, everything wouldn’t be going wrong. Instead, this seems to be a classic anxiety dream with an added dose of “And the only thing you have going for you is an entirely misplaced sense of confidence.”

        2. Yet_One_More_Idiot

          OTOH, it could be Joyce’s dream where everything is going wrong and then at the last moment, Dotty will solve all the problems absolutely perfectly, like Joyce’s personal knight in shining armour. ;D

      3. Tan

        It’s Joe’s dream. I am calling it now that Joe wakes up, turns to Joyce who is next to him, describes the dream, and she’s just “Oh, yeah, I’ve had that one.”

  2. Amós Batista

    Joyce aways have the greatests dreams. Just imagine the day when she get any recreative drug. It will last an entire storyline.

    1. C.T. Phipps

      I’m hoping its actually Dorothy’s dream.

      1. Masumi

        Me too. And if so, I’m a big fan of “I can buy pants on the way”.

        1. Bicycle Bill

          … but she had pants on in the second panel

           Or don’t I know how weird dreams operate?

        2. cain

          That’s exactly how dream logic works, in my experience

        3. Wizard

          I’ve had dreams where I went from driving a car to riding a motorcycle to running without any noticeable transition. Disappearing pants are fairly low on the weirdness scale.

    2. Alongcameaspider

      I actually think it’s Dorothy’s dream

      1. True Survivor

        It’s disturbing that Dorothy has been so off the rails lately that we genuinely can’t tell if Dorothy is the craziest thing in this dream because she’s a figment of Joyce’s subconscious or that Dorothy has started acting that manic even in dreamland.

      2. Amós Batista

        If it is true, Dorothy will get an awesome dream, too.

      3. Dante

        Big Brain: It’s Dorothy’s because we haven’t seen her been this confident in months. Not even Joyce has this unshakeable kind of trust in her anymore and she knows it.

        Galaxy Brain: It’s Dorothy’s because she’s wearing no pants

        Enlightened Brain: ohgod this is hella bi I love them your honor

    3. Alaric

      I’m pretty sure this is Dorothy’s dream. It seems to be her anxieties that are being showcased.

      1. Bemisawa

        Agreed.

    4. milu

      Dreams as a storytelling device are most useful in revealing inner conflict that couldn’t be narrated any other way because the protag hasn’t even admitted it to themself.

      typically a nightmare scratches the sort of itch that’s about deep, nagging fear or shame: “what if I (Dorothy) am not as strong and capable as I want to be?” makes way more sense than “what if my bff is kinda nuts, while i myself am quite reasonable?”

  3. Doctor_Who

    Great, another timeskip.

    At least this time we don’t need to be caught up on events, since this is all so logical.

    1. Spriteless Aunty

      ?

    2. clif

      Indeed.

    3. shanunu

      Might not be a timeskip. Maybe Dorothy…. took a nap?

  4. NGPZ

    Clearly horny sapphic dream?!?!?! ????

    New potential DoA game material!?!?!?!? ???

    I AM STIMMING SO MUCH YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

    1. RassilonTDavros

      I can’t think of any other explanation for Dorothy being pantsless in Joyce’s dream, and I doubt science will ever find one.

      1. anonymsly

        I don’t think it’s Joyce’s dream, I think it’s Dorothy being pantsless about to read Dexter and Monkey Master fanfic instead of her State of the Union address.

      2. Rocketboy1313

        Let’s do some psychoanalysis. As Joyce sees Dorothy as an aspirational figure that opened her up to the world of orgasms via sex-fiction… They are riding a horse which might be an animal representation of Joe.
        Perhaps Joyce wishes she had the sexual agency to just have sex with Joe as Dorothy would have the gumption to do were she so inclined.

        1. milu

          you’re assuming this is Joyce’s dream though. i’m pretty sure it’s Dorothy’s. and the horse is probably just dream logic, and also, an objectively funny animal, and also, this being the first strip of Book 14 it needs a bit of panache, and also, self-deprecating chuckle about how Willis isn’t an expert on horses.

          (if i had to find some relevance to it then maybe it’s a tell that Dotty’s childhood presidential dream is really an updated princess fantasy.)

    2. GholaHalleck

      All we need is a nightcore remix of Erasure’s Always and this things got legs for miles.

      Also the 4k official video of this song is somehow even more perfect then an attacking robotic unicorn.

  5. Regalli

    Well, guess we know the Book Title. Have we ever gotten the book title in the literal first strip before? Because “I CAN BUY PANTS ON THE WAY!” is the one to top.

    1. Rose by Any Other Name

      100% Agreed.

      Also, weirdly, I kinda relate to Dorothy on this one. I often have dreams where I am naked or in some state of undress – and while in some of them I attempt to do something about this fact, in others, I’m just like ‘fuck it – I shall carry on without!’ and everything just kinda works out.

      1. brionl

        Yeah, when I’m not wearing clothes in my dreams, I’m all “Woohoo! Look at me, I’m nekkid!”
        I have anxiety dreams about being late.

        1. Rose by Any Other Name

          I used to get anxiety dreams about forgetting to do homework for a class.

          Now, having been a teacher for 10+ years, I get anxiety dreams about forgetting to show up and teach a class.

      2. Wizard

        I haven’t had any naked dreams for a while. Instead I’m wearing a dress and no one seems to find this odd.

        1. Rose by Any Other Name

          Why would it be odd to wear a dress?

        2. Gwyn

          Can’t speak for Wizard, but for some folks (such as me), it’s not compatible with how we experience gender or want to be seen.

    2. Aura

      Agreed, although I think Dumbing of Age Book X: You’re not wearing any pants has a certain charm to it as well

    3. Tawdry Quirks

      I’ll be disappointed if it’s not the title as well. But this certainly is the best first strip of a book yet.

      And I’m not completely convinced it’s Dorothy based on her pants disappearing. I’ve certainly had a few dreams where other people’s pants disappear and reappear at random.

      1. Masumi

        Suddenly I’m wondering if it’s weird I’ve never once noticed people’s pants (or lack thereof) in dreams.

        1. Chris (the other one)

          Me as well. I can’t say I’ve ever had one of those ‘standing in front of the class naked’ dreams. Not once. Is that strange?

  6. quark

    alright, place your bets, whose dream is this

    1. Jahu

      Faz’s.

      1. Doctor_Who

        Can’t be, one of them still has pants.

        1. clif

          So far.

          You can see the rate at which clothing will disappear in Fazz’s dream in this chart.

    2. Reltzik

      Dorothy’s. Joyce hasn’t noticed that she’s going off the rails yet, so Dorothy’s the only one who can have this nightmare.

      1. Lumino

        Yeah, that seems the only logical answer to me. We’re clearly meant to think this is Joyce’s, but only Dorothy fits.

    3. NGPZ

      Joe’s

      1. NGPZ

        Also personally hoping that it ain’t Joyce’s, I don’t wanna have to spend too much time coming up with a title for my next DoA game because “Joyce’s Nightmare” is already taken LOL

    4. John Campbell

      Horse’s.

      1. Amós Batista

        “Why two youngs in my back? That’s a nightmare!”

      2. butting

        The horse is dreaming of riding a dragon tho

    5. Rose by Any Other Name

      Joyce, I’m assuming. Where the Horse is a stand in for laundry appliances.

      1. True Survivor

        Could work for Dorothy, too. I think Reltzik has a point. Though, Dorothy could be acting strange due to being a figment of Joyce’s mind.

      2. Needfuldoer

        Ooh, that makes a lot of sense.

    6. UrsulaDavina

      Becky’s dream

    7. Cmasta1992

      Dorothy is the safe money but Sarah as an out of body observer would be funny

    8. HueSatLight

      I guess people can have different types of dreams, but I have never once in my whole fucking life had a dream where someone else was unexpectedly unprepared in multiple ways for the very thing they were stressing about in waking life and I was the manifestation of their nagging doubts. (put not intended)

      gold star for the horse legs.

    9. Jeff K!

      Well, the one who is pantsless in public is usually the dreamer.

      1. John Campbell

        Horse: no pants. QED.

      2. Vanessa

        Ah but Dorothy is the romantic fixation here! She of the unshakable confidence and mutual sexy times! Or at least the way Joyce sees her, right now Dorothy is probably having stress dreams about banging Walky while Lucy looks on disapprovingly and lectures on morality.

    10. Vukodlak

      You know what I think would be hilarious if this was neither Joyce nor Dorothy’s dream. Imagine Walky shooting up in bed and wondering What the *$*)*) was that about.

      1. Autogatos

        *obviously* this is Jocelyn’s cat’s dream.

    11. a/snow/mous/e

      Dorothy, she’s having a “nightmare” but it’s lucid enough that she’s just ignoring the bad parts.

    12. Bo

      *Shaking people by the shoulders* “WHOSE DREAM IS THIS??>??”

  7. Diane

    Okay, we got a new character to vote for for a bonus strip: Horse.

  8. Warcodered

    and is Joe the horse?

    1. Nash

      The washing machine is the horse.

      1. Steelbright

        But Joe is also the washing machine.

      2. Ray Radlein

        The walrus is Paul

        1. Ed Callahan

          But Paul is dead.

  9. Stephen Bierce

    You are the Crow’s Toes
    You are the Fleas’ Cheese
    You are the Ants’ Pants
    You are the Bees’ Knees

  10. RassilonTDavros

    Dumbing of Age Book 14: I Can Buy Pants On The Way!

  11. Proxiehunter

    Not sure which of them is dreaming.

    Also it was 12:10 or 12:11 before I could access the new comic. Might be time to give the server a kick.

    1. Jo_cubstar

      It’s been 12:12 for me the last couple nights :'(

  12. Animedingo

    Nothing odd here

  13. Golden Yak

    This took a turn.

  14. SeanR

    An early draft of the speech on a draft horse. While getting a bit drafty from lack of pants.

    At this rate, the first thing she’ll promise in her speech is to reinstate the draft.

  15. Taffy

    Just gonna drop this here. Panel 2, aye?

    1. Amós Batista

      Thank you so much for remembering me Robot Unicorn Attack.

      1. Taffy

        An infinite side-scrolling runner with these two on horseback, jumping between pieces of IU’s buildings and scenery, dashing to collect script pages and Dexter heads, that’s what we really need.

        1. Taffy

          With a midi loop of that song “Sober Up”

        2. NGPZ

          YES YES YES YES YES YES YES

          Alright, fuck it, I’m making this!!!

          *orders a bulk of energy drink*

    2. jeffepp

      Robot Unicorn reference!

  16. Cattleprod

    Everyone clicked on ‘horse’ to look for prior appearances, right?

    1. Jo_cubstar

      No, but I did just now lol

  17. Yotomoe

    Yeah she’s at least 50% gay.

    1. NGPZ

      u b low ballin it XD

    2. Sirksome

      Which one though? We don’t know whose dream this is yet.

      1. jeffepp

        It truly doesn’t matter.

        1. Bemisawa

          For all intents and purposes, it might as well be the plural ‘she’. …Which isn’t a thing of course, but she has been working to change that.

  18. morhek

    *bisexual thoughts intensify*

  19. k

    Pretty sure this is Dorothy’s dream. She’s dreaming about how she’s clearly got everything under control. Nothing to worry about, she has the correct answer for everything.

  20. ScarletSabre

    Oh good, seems we’re getting more Shortpacked content

  21. True Survivor

    We see Paris, We see France, We see some ones underpants.

    ..and that fact that they are color coordinated to her top and socks is somehow one of the realistic things about this dream.

    1. Dana

      I’m just impressed that horse can take them all the way to the Capitol.

    2. DailyBrad

      Vertical striped panties are definitely a rarer variant than horizontal, so maybe Dorothy put in the effort to find thee.

    3. Thomas

      Note the Eiffel Tower in the background.

      1. True Survivor

        I know. I noticed that. Willis is very clever.

  22. Alongcameaspider

    I didn’t realize that yesterday’s comic was the end of a storyline so the sudden shift in tone felt like whiplash

    Even more so since it’s a dream sequence (at least I’m assuming it is)

  23. BBCC

    Well that sounds like Dorothy! I can’t see a problem with this.

  24. Raen

    Don’t they say most people can’t read in dreams?

    1. NGPZ

      Not if you’ve got that autism superpower ?

    2. Imogen

      You don’t have to “read” to gain the information you think you see, speaking as an autistic girl who can’t read in dreams (except exactly once, and that was a very special case).

      1. Laura

        Feel like telling the story? No pressure!

        1. Imogen

          It’s suuuper simple–basically, I dreamed I was in bed and in possession of the then-unpublished book of a series I really liked at the time. It was a big fantastical-looking tome, and when I opened it, glowing letters scribed themselves across the page like the book from Secret of NIMH’s prologue. As I read them, I heard the character’s voices. It was only 2-3 sentences, and I was hearing them aloud. That’s probably why I was able to read it in the dream–minimal cognitive load.

          This dream did predict that a certain family in the book series was going to lose some members, so, you know. Basically a prophecy dream.

    3. Cattleprod

      Trying to read it dreams always forces me awake as I realize I’m making it up on the spot like one of those predictive text things.

      1. Needfuldoer

        I’ve had that happen once or twice. No fun lucid dreaming for me, my brain hits STOP and EJECT when I realize it.

        I don’t usually remember dreams, but any instance of text I do remember from them is either early-large-language-model nonsense, or it changes every time I look away from and then back to it.

        1. Laura

          Oh yeah, same! Just random-ass text, everywhere I look!

        2. milu

          Oh wow! Ass-text of a random nature you say? that must be, i assume, rather arousing and/or silly

        3. Laura

          Definitely silly! X-D

        4. Laura

          See also:

          https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/63891/what-is-the-origin-of-suffixing-ass-to-adjectives

        5. Mr D

          For me, realizing I’m dreaming causes the dream to stumble for a second, and my brain basically telling me “Hey, looks like we’re asleep, you wanna wake up?” and me having the choice of “Wake up” or “Nah, five more minutes”

      2. clif

        when I graded papers in my dreams I never had that problem.

    4. Dante

      I’ve even had entire dreams happen on the internet, as in, the dream is reading anything from an old-style heavy-text html webpage to my Tumblr’s dashboard, discord/chat room; or has some plot that relies on most of the information being conveyed through actual written language.

      I’m pretty sure it’s The ‘Tism.

      1. Masumi

        I’ve had entire dreams in code. Not sure anything made sense, but I was hunting for bugs.

    5. Miri

      Really?! I’ve never heard that and have had dreams when I’ve been reading before.

      Mind, I’ve also had dreams where I was twins (in surround-sound split-screen); an ancient enchantress with painful arthritic hands, casting an illusion to look young, who could fly; a young shape shifting wizard’s apprentice; that I had wings (woke up with a really bad back after that one); that a radio station in another country decided to, as a prank, run a sustained terror campaign against me while I was a college student with a serial killer on my campus, terrifying me to the point I wasn’t sleeping, and that when one of my male friends came to check up on me, I ended up stabbing him then very slowly sawing his leg off with a bread knife while he sobbed that he could never hurt me and I sobbed that I was very sorry but I just couldn’t take that chance… I’ve encountered demonic animated dolls, armies of brainwashed children abducting people, artificer sorcerers trying to destroy orphaned children of surprising power and take over countries, animals becoming human and changing everyone’s memories to give them a space in our world…

      I am usually too tired to dream these days (when you have one kid who struggles to get to sleep on her own, all 3 may wake you up at some point in the night, 2 who generally want you to start the day early, a full-time job, and you kinda need to do some of the house stuff even if your husband is awesome and also does a lot of kid stuff and house stuff – but also is NOT going to wake up once he’s asleep, you stay tired). When I do, it’s sometimes EXHAUSTING. But reading is one of the more mundane activities I have done in my sleep.

      1. milu

        Whoah that’s a quixotic dreamlife you live there! Love that for you.

        I hope you get to experience such wild dreams again soon, maybe once one of your kids is old enough to sub in for you and take care of the smaller ones in the morning every once in a while?? ?

        1. Miri

          The’re 3, 5 and 8. The eldest does sometimes make breakfast for her sibs term-time but is currently on teenager hours (generally getting to sleep after 11, and mostly getting up after 11 too), and the 5 year old last decided her desire to draw on the kitchen counter right in front of me outweighed the negatives connected to this decision yesterday??‍♀️ (she was quite aggrieved that I confiscated the pencil… Thankfully it was a pencil and washed off. With 3 years between them, her sister trying this would just end in a brawl).

          I think by the time the eldest will be reasonably able to ensure the middle one wouldn’t get up to mischief, the younger two will have both grown out of random acts of destruction ? and hopefully by then I will be able to sleep…

          I did tell the eldest last night that expecting me to stay up to keep her company until she’s asleep until she’s married and can make her husband do this is unrealistic, and this won’t be happening. But eventually she told me what was bothering her so hopefully tonight will be better…

        2. milu

          ahahaha drawing on furniture right in front of parent,

          CONS:
          – parent make noise @me??? maybe
          – ???

          PROS:
          -V. COOL IDEA
          – rly wanna do it
          – furniture looking a bit boring rn
          – i am artist = parent happy DEFINITELY
          – maybe something interesting happen???
          – yolo

        3. Jason

          The biggest one is that impulse control is literally a part of our brain that we’re not born with working. It’s a combination of that part of the brain developing, a learned skill, and hoping neurodivergence doesn’t get in the way because that isn’t fun.

          So yeah. Child brain goes “do thing!”, child brain also goes “but consequences whoops I am already doing thing and here are the consequences”. And then often the child is asked why they did the thing, and say they don’t know, because they literally don’t know. The reason is “brain said to and the part that makes me able to not isn’t fully functional yet”.

          And then sometimes those of us with ADHD never have that part of the brain working quite right. That’s… delightful to live with.

        4. Miri

          Yep, assuming no neurodiverseness, only 19 years until I can expect her ability to reason through cause and effect before doing the thing to fully develop…

          Kiddo is currently on an all crayons/pencils/felt tips ban (she is still allowed to write/draw on her electronic drawing tablet) because she then managed to do a HUGE (actually quite pretty but NOT THE POINT) abstract rainbow swirl picture on the wall – about 3 feet wide and 2 feet tall. I obliterated 2.5 magic sponges removing it. Coz she is old enough to not literally need supervision every waking second, or should be…

          She should grow out of this phase eventually…

  25. Sirksome

    I think someone got into Joe’s chewable weed before bed.

    1. UrsulaDavina

      Those are multi vitamins.

      1. Yumi

        Dorothy went to take multivitamins, but the turned out to be weed gummies.

      2. Taffy

        No, he said they were weed. He said so.

  26. temporalshrew

    I’m just glad they tagged the horse or I wouldn’t have known what that thing was, even though horses are exactly that size.

  27. UrsulaDavina

    My only complaint is the horse isn’t a unicorn.

    1. Pizzasgood

      I actually misread “State of the Union Address” as “State of the Unicorn Address” when I first saw the page.

  28. Taffy

    So, I’m getting vague symbols from this. Maybe Joyce kinda sees Dorothy as overconfident and sort of bluster-y, with tinge of “I have no idea what I’m doing!” mixed in there.

    1. HueSatLight

      Joyce is the symbol here. Everything she observes/says is how Dorothy is screwing up. Plus this doesn’t quite look like Joyce’s Dreams color palette.

      1. Miri

        Yeah, I think this is a Dotty dream, and Dorothy is seeing Joyce, her “project-friend”, sorting her life out and growing.

        Glasses, birth control, masturbating, steps towards an autism diagnosis, a boyfriend who can be a total horndog but who seems to be interested in trying to do right by her even if Dorothy doesn’t trust his ability to do that… where does that leave her? Pantsless, riding a giant horse, with a fanfic instead of her speech to Congress, and running late, with the friend she kinda thought she was better-than, calling her on it, apparently.

        She’s terrified that she’s out of control, childish with childish dreams and ambitions, and that everyone can see see failing.

        Disclaimer: I like Dorothy and don’t think she consciously looks down on Joyce or wants to keep her around to make her feel better about herself. But if you are mature, organised, intelligent, a leader, and going places, you are presumably more mature, organised and intelligent than everyone else. You are fit to lead them. You are going places they are not necessarily capable of going. Even if there isn’t a conscious “and I’m better than you” in there – if you view yourself the way Dorothy views herself, it is, by definition, with respect to other people and means that however much she may like them, and however many good qualities she may recognise in them – she also thinks her good qualities are kinda superior (hence her being the one who should be in charge, when we aren’t talking about an “I’m good ay making sure everyone can play to their strengths, and everything gets done” leadership style, which Western government kinda isn’t)…

        Take for example the masturbation. Joyce did not think this was something she should be doing or was missing out by not doing. Dorothy decided she knew better. In this example, Joyce ended up deciding masturbation feels awesome, and Dorothy was trying to help Joyce view Joe objectively, rather than through a haze of horny-hormones, as she was concerned for her friend and didn’t want her to get hurt by a known player – but she also decided FOR Joyce that this act, which she had previously been extremely strongly opposed to, was in her best interests and was therefore going to happen, and that Joyce’s judgement about Joe could not possibly be based on data she was not privy to and was therefore wrong. She knows Joyce didn’t like Joe. She knows they went on a disaster of a date. She knows Joyce knows about The List… She didn’t have the faith in Joyce to assume that if Joyce decided Joe was worth a second chance, it was down to MORE THAN horny-hormones.

        While Dorothy may not know she thinks she’s better than Joyce – she thinks she’s better than Joyce.

        When Sarah started treating Joyce’s quirks as joke material to flirt with Jacob – at least she realised she was being unkind and stopped pretty quickly. For a ~19 year old who doesn’t generally like people, who is being irritated, and who does want to make a connection and has accidentally stumbled across a way that feels initially quite natural (complaining about little sibling type figure) – she took a good look at herself and course-corrected pretty fast. Dorothy still thinks she’s right.

        If Joyce can point out she’s wrong in her dreams – she must be failing…

        1. DoAChristian

          … Dang.

          Maybe I’ll try that dream analysis after all.

          For the sake of argument, if this is Joyce’s dream, than as Taffy stated, she’s starting to see the cracks in Dorothy’s front.

          Joyce admires Dotty a whole bunch, especially after Dotty pushed her out of her comfort zone resulting in several positive changes: birth control, autism diagnosis, and masturbation. However, those were still pushes out of
          her comfort zone and no one likes being bulldozed into changing.

          And then there’s Joe.

          Dorothy was so insistent that Joe was just a creep that she tries to forbid Joyce from dating him, then teaches Joyce to masturbate in a borderline lesbian activity just because she’s convinced Joyce is only being horny and will give up once she has an outlet.

          But she’s wrong.

          Joe remains endearing to Joyce and makes it clear he’s trying hard to not be a creep. So Joyce introduces him to Dorothy as her boyfriend…

          And Dorothy admits she was wrong for once, and Joyce is capable of making her own decisions.

          There’s also the fact Dorothy has lost 2 boyfriends to her ambitions, isn’t where she wants to be with her grades, and keeps mentioning how she feels she isn’t where she needs to be to become president.

          All in all, Dorothy is looking less capable than she presents herself, and this may be Joyce trying to recognize and reconcile that fact.

          That said, I do like and believe the idea that this is Dorothy’s dream. It makes more sense for her to be introspective about her life rather than Joyce to be analytical about Dorothy.

  29. AbacusWizard

    Oh neat, another time skip! I’m a little sad we don’t get to see the election; maybe we’ll get parts of it in a flashback later though.

    1. Imogen

      underrated joke

  30. Doopyboop

    It’s especially interesting for Dorothy to be pantsless because during their ‘laundry day’ Dorothy still had shorts on the whole time.

  31. Hazel

    Reading this only half an hour after waking yp from my own stress dream where I was also late for something.

  32. Dara

    If Joyce: she’s undressing Dorothy in her mind and I’m for it

    If Dorothy: she’s dreaming about Joyce staring at her ass and I’m for it

    I see no downside here, carry on

    1. Needfuldoer

      Dorothy’s clothes keep changing, but gradually disappearing until she’s in the nude behind the lectern, live on every channel in the country, staring at blank teleprompters, holding blank papers.

      That’s how we’ll know it’s her nightmare.

      1. thejeff

        But Joyce is the one getting upset about it while Dorothy just blithely rolls with it.

    2. Dante

      Either way, what a ride &heart;

    3. HeatherJean

      Nope, it’s Dorothy’s nightmare: Having to give the State of the Union Address in a State of Undress. Joyce wouldn’t have thought of the pun.

  33. Dday

    “Whoops, sorry Becky! Turns out I actually AM into girls, just not you.”

    1. Sirksome

      Honestly I just think Becky got slotted into a sister role to Joyce and that’s why she got rejected. I couldn’t imagine Joyce with Sarah either for the same reason. Also the same reason Walky and Billie never hooked up. When you become like family sometimes that’s all it takes to be taken off the table. I shouldn’t be framed as an insult to Becks.

      1. RassilonTDavros

        Finally, someone else puts it into words.

      2. Dday

        Not an insult so much as an injury. I think Becky picked up on this a long time ago, which is why she was always so mean to to Dotty

    2. Steelbright

      Hahaha ouch. I think that’s honestly sometimes the way it goes though. Sometimes you’re just really close with somebody you don’t wanna bang, regardless of your general sexual orientation

  34. BarerMender

    Wait, Dorothy has pants in panel two. Where did they go? Did Joyce steal them? Or was it Horse? Whoa. Let it be Horse.

    1. BarerMender

      But wait again. The horse appears to be a mare. Never mind.

  35. Jason

    Irt the alt text, I’m of the opinion that a dream about riding a dragon would be significantly improved simply by the presence of riding a dragon. No matter who is dreaming it.

    1. HueSatLight

      I believe it’s a reference to a drawing Danny drew of him and Joe riding a dragon when they were little kids.

      1. Jason

        Oooh, well remembered! I’d forgotten that. And also still adorable.

  36. Frelance

    That horse has character. I trust that horse.

  37. DailyBrad

    I like that this could be either of their dream.

    Also, “I CAN BUY PANTS ON THE WAY!” for potential book title.

  38. Annamal

    I suspect this is Joyce’s dream resulting from a combo of her Joe conversation and interesting laundry thoughts.

    Dorothy is entirely capable of rationalising any bisexual dream (even in her current extremely frayed state)…Joyce on the other hand…Joyce will have issues.

    1. Dante

      See, that’s interesting because. How long can Dorothy keep rationalizing her attraction (because come on IT IS ATTRACTION) to Joyce?

      (Like, gurl I know the rituals are intricate but of all the reactions she could’ve had to Joe, she went “I’LL TEACH HER TO COME SO HARD SHE WON’T THINK OF HIM! >:(“, paragon of straightness that it ain’t.)

      1. milu

        I don’t know, i’m not happy about it but I’m on team “Dorothy may well be as straight as she thinks she is”. The laundry room caper actually does make sense as a combination of
        – Dorothy’s duty as an enlightened feminist to her less fortunate sister
        – genuine worry and sympathy for joyce
        – partially hoping that’ll cure her of Joe, yes
        – sitcom logic
        – INCSOA

        1. thejeff

          “INCSOA”?

        2. milu

          “It’s Not Called Smarting Of Age”

          …yes ok i made it up, but think of how many human-hours a day would be saved by the DOA commenter community by using this streamlined acronym instead of typing it out every time

        3. thejeff

          Of course. I should have known, but I wasn’t thinking in DoA terms.

        4. smolgrlboi

          I need to have that phrase saved on a sticky note for the next time the comments go crazy over a bad decision made by a 19 year old (or however old some of these kids are).

  39. Qube

    whatever do you mean, alt-text, would a dragon be bad?

    1. NGPZ

      Because itd be hella hard to draw, even more so than a horse.

      1. Autogatos

        As someone who illustrated an entire picture book full of dragons, I’ll happily draw dragons over horses any day!
        Horse anatomy just…does not make sense. They have been my artistic nemesis since grade school!

        1. smolgrlboi

          their hooves are their fingernails! 🙂 horse anatomy is horrifying!

        2. Qube

          I feel like my subtle joke about novelty dildos went unappreciated 🙁

  40. thakoru

    Unofficial poll (comment below): Whose dream is this?
    *Joyce
    *Dorothy
    *Horse

    1. Thomas

      *Joe, who dreams of being the horse.

    2. Aura

      *Carla’s, this world and everything in it belongs to her

      1. Dara

        I was going to reply Joyce, but your argument is both sound and persuasive…

        1. Aura

          Carla is great and we are all but bugs!

    3. thakoru

      *Willis, having a nightmare about drawing a horse.

    4. GLaDOS

      The tumble dryer is dreaming that it is a horse.

  41. brionl

    Pants are overrated.

  42. Thomas

    “Pants? Where we are going, we don’t *need* pants!”

  43. Jenniffniff

    Is that the Eiffel Tower?

    1. Rognik

      There are lots of iron towers shaped vaguely like that. I’m going to say it’s the Tokyo Tower until directly proven otherwise.

      1. Dara

        Honestly looks more like Tokyo Tower to me for some reason.

        Maybe it’s that knockoff version in Vegas.

      2. Agemegos

        The, it’s not the Blackpool Tower. The diagonal bracing is wrong for the Blackpool Tower.

    2. Dante

      Good catch! That’s evidence on this being Dotty’s dream – she went to France with her parents (said so back in the, oh wow, they were drinking at Joyce’s party and she was going like “relax it’s not first time I’ve done it, I tried wine when we went on a trip…”, etc.)

    3. Thomas

      “I see Paris, I see France, I see Dorothy’s underpants.”

  44. Chaucer59

    Can’t be Joyce’s dream. She has her pants on.

  45. Rognik

    The worst part is I can’t even tell if this is Joyce’s dream or Dorothy’s. Maybe it’s the horse’s?

    1. NGPZ

      For all we know it could be Fuckface’s

      1. Laura

        I, Fuckface, can confirm that it is.

  46. bagge

    NO LIMITS!

    NO HOLDING BACK!

    NO PANTS!

    1. Laura

      No gods! No masters! No pants!

      Or, as my late sweetie used to shout during protests:
      “¡No, no, no! ¡No más pantalones!”

    2. Masumi

      NO PANTS!

      (Really, the thing that boggles my mind the most about anti-maskers is – how are you not protesting against pants first? Those are so much less comfortable! And don’t have the benefit of hiding peoples faces!)

  47. Steelbright

    Crack theory: the horse is gonna turn into Joe. Also i just can’t imagine Dorothy would be that confident in her own dream so because of that I’d vote Joyce’s

  48. Suet

    “Everybody’s Looking for Nothing” sounds like the major key version of— wait.

    Sweet Dreams AREN’T Made of This!! DYW!!!

    1. NGPZ

      Awe no more smug (mustard-filled) Joyce face for your avatar 🙁

      1. Suet

        Smug Joyce will be back soon™, just swapping around her many faces ?

    2. Laura

      Daring young women? Do your work? I’m stumped. What’s DYW?

      1. milu

        Damn You Willis! ? <- you have to shake your fist while typing it

        1. Laura

          Ah! All is clear now. Thank you!

          (“Alles klar,” as a kindly road worker once said to me.)

  49. Bash

    I thought this was Joyce’s dream about Dorothy going manically out-of-control, but actually it might make more sense for it to be Dorothy’s. I’m interested to see what happens next.

  50. foducool

    funny how, of all people, Joyce would be the voice of disBELIEF lmao

  51. Angel

    So is this joyce’s dream or dorothy’s…? be fun of they shared the same one tho lol

  52. Acher4

    How best to start a DoA book.

  53. Laura

    Ok, who’s up for a game?

    Tonight’s question is:

    What’s the strangest animal you’ve encountered (or been!) in a dream?

    1. Laura

      I can go first:

      Salamanders. Ugh! (*Shudders*)

    2. milu

      Oooh good game!! ummmmm… Pretty sure i had a whale dream once, but that’s not all that weird… I was looking for my dog this morning, i assume that’s super common (although i don’t actually have a dog irl)…

      I think i once dreamt about meeting a tardigrade, which would be very weird except in my dream it was really more of a dog, again

      1. Laura

        Yo’, a tardigrade dog is STILL weird!

    3. Autogatos

      This question has made me realize that for someone who loves animals, has a career drawing animals, and grew up watching mostly animal media…my dreams are weirdly devoid of animals??

      I have those “I found a kitten yay!” and “oh no I somehow forgot I had these hamsters/fish and didn’t feed them for a year and somehow some of them are still alive???” dreams…but that’s about it? Literally even my own cats don’t appear in my dreams.

      I guess the “weirdest” animal that’s appeared in my dreams have been the very bizarre (and sometimes fictional) aquarium fish my brain comes up with during the “forgotten pet panic” dreams.

      1. milu

        Cool! Ever tried to draw the funny fishies upon waking up??

      2. Laura

        Ooh, I love bizarre fish!

        And I would love to hear more about your amazing career drawing animals!

  54. DarkoNeko

    is that the Eiffel tower ?

    1. Amós Batista

      Yes. And do you remember who have traveled to Paris?
      Exactly, Dorothy.

      1. Bicycle Bill

        So if that’s the Eiffel Tower, that means she’s in Paris.  I hope the horse will miraculously become a seahorse, because otherwise she’s gonna be stymied when she gets to the English Channel.

        Which of course brings to mind a series of ‘Peanuts’ strips from 1968 (yes, I’m that old that I remember seeing them in the newspapers!) where, after a few turns around Woodstock’s frozen-birdbath-turned-ice-rink, Snoopy sees himself as “the world famous figure skater” and decides he’s going to take part in the Winter Olympic Games being held in Grenoble – so he puts his supper dish on his head like Johnny Appleseed and his cooking-pan hat, and sets off, only to come to a dead end at the Atlantic Ocean.   A couple of days later, he’s back home in his usual place on top of his doghouse while Linus asks Charlie Brown about his return.  The final panel of that strip showed Snoopy with his thoughts, “Well, there was this ocean, see…”

        1. Mark

          A hollow voice whispers, “Chunnel….”

  55. Da Boy

    Want a big horse, look up Draft horses. I didn’t know they were this huge until I read Silver Spoon XD

    1. Autogatos

      I’ve always been a bit afraid of horses, because I am a very small person and horses are very big and my parents told me the story of Christopher Reeves at a young age, PLUS a family friend ended up in a coma for a whole because of a horse…

      So the first time I ever saw a draft horse was not a fun time! Regular horses are big enough as is. D:

      1. milu

        A whole what? ?

  56. milu

    Who are you to disagree? have you travelled the world and the seven seas?

    1. milu

      Darn! This was @Suet

  57. Kaz

    Assuming it’s Joyce’s dream, we now have to ask: are the freckles on Dorothy’s leg just Willis keeping up his character design for her, or Joyce having a vivid memory of it lol

  58. Masumi

    Everyone be talking about Dorothy being out of control or something here, but I don’t get it. I like her dream-attitude. Not letting your obstacles stop you is a strength.

    Afraid the dream will go downhill from here though…

    1. TulipKitten

      Dorothy’s conflict specifically has been basically that she feels like she needs to put pressure on herself and overprepare, and a massive questioning of if she can even do the job she has been striving for.

      I mean, I could see someone like Dorothy in local office or even as a senator, but president might be difficult since most presidents have been born into the role, and no president to date has had a political science degree. I picture her being a young progressive much in the vein of AOC.

      (Although I would love for a young progressive like AOC to gain a presidential or vice presidential seat)

  59. thumb

    If this is Joyce’s dream, it’s weird she’s having all these issues for Dorothy. If this is Dorothy’s dream, it’s interesting that Joyce is the voice of reason.

    1. Amós Batista

      Joyce has even said she’s her boss. At least, Joyce knows she’s controlled by her friend.

    2. milu

      It’s most likely Dorothy’s dream, and it’s not all that weird that Joyce is the voice of reason. In dreamland everyone is *you*, so here Joyce just plays the part of Dorothy’s doubts. In my experience, dream people behave very differently from their real-life counterparts.

      Typical example: lovers and partners tend to break up with me brutally and dramatically in my dreams. Do i think they are mean persons who pretend to love me but secretly hate and despise me? Ofc not

  60. Emperor Norton II

    I will be so mad if this turns out to be just a dream!

    1. milu

      SAME!!!! ?☠️???

    2. Bemisawa

      Hey, better a dream than an improv show. They’re completely failing to Yes-And each other.

  61. Juanoku

    I can’t tell whose dream this is and that’s very concerning
    … Also why is the horse tagged?

  62. ValdVin

    I am here for the President-elect’s freckled thighs.

    1. ValdVin

      Wait–i understand she’s going to the SOTU and not the Inauguration. I’m still here.

  63. AlaninDC

    Is that actually the Eiffel Tower in the second frame, or is there some familiar TV or cellular structure in Bloomington that has that top?

    If its the Eiffel, what is the significance of them being in Paris?

    Wondering and pond’rin’…

    1. Laura

      I see London, I see France, I see Dotty’s underpants…

  64. Steamweed

    I’m not naked in public. YOU’RE naked in public.

    1. Laura

      “No puppet! No puppet! You’re the puppet!”

  65. cain

    Dorothy is channelling Robin just a bit

  66. milu

    I’m sure panel 2 is entirely about Dorothy’s insecurities about how accurate this dream horse is

  67. Sye

    Plot twist: It’s actually Walky’s dream.

  68. Plaaaaaa

    Oh no, Dorothy’s on the horse! Drinking turned out to be a gateway to harder stuff.

  69. The Oracle

    This is completely unrealistic and I can’t take this comic seriously anymore.

    That horse only has 4 legs, and it hasn’t even got a tramp stamp.

  70. Lee

    see I’m assuming this is Dorothy’s dream because Joyce has a surprising amount of cleavage in a mostly-buttoned shirt

  71. Robert

    Dorothy is a master of all things. Even lucid dreaming.

  72. Roam85

    What the drugs?

  73. Hof1991

    Part of freshman year is being certain about a lot of things and finding out how wrong you were. Best time to find out since the costs rise as you get older.

    And this dream is Dorothy realizing that she need to craft an actual life and can’t live on The West Wing.

  74. Willoughby Chase

    Will they both be losing clothes?

    Joyce has to hang on some where

  75. Vulcanodon

    It’s not as gay as it sounds

    1. Bo

      which still leaves room for it to be Hella Gay

  76. Bemisawa

    Oh man, I love Horse!!! I’ve loved Horse since Horse first appeared back in the comic, way back when. Horse is def my favorite character. Such a depth of characterization. Such a commanding presence. Such a correct, accurate size.

    1. milu

      i am constantly Baffled and Mesmerized at how accurately sized Horse is

  77. Jdorr

    Is Joyce nitpicking her own dream? Cause I’ve done that

    1. anonymsly

      I think it might be Dorothy’s dream, myself.

  78. Ravendude

    Dorothy is giving strong Galasso vibes there.

  79. Rabisch

    Even the dream with the two riding together?? Now it’s undeniable. Dorothy feels physical attraction for Joyce! I don’t know if this it’s beautiful or a true disaster.

  80. Keulen

    I can’t tell if this is Joyce’ dream or Dorothy’s dream. Or maybe the horse?

  81. Wayne Farmer

    Is Joyce hallucinating from the burger Joe gave her?

  82. shikomekidomi

    It depends on the breed, but yes, some horses are exactly that size. Good job probably-dream-Dorothy.

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