149

Twin sister
Posted on April 26, 2023 by David M Willis

149 thoughts on “Twin sister”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    they sure are!

    (sorry, first one that came to mind)

    [and then it turns out Booster’s twin is someone else entirely lol, very Willis move]

    1. HueSatLight

      She’s still not tagged in the old ones so maybe

      1. Reltzik

        Yup, the lack of tags confirms it’s a fakeout.

        1. Carla's #2 Fan

          I had the same thought. Unless it’s a double bluff! 😮

        2. Bicycle Bill

          With all the other things he’s probably been doing with the closure of the Kickstarter, he might have been too busy to go back and retro-tag the previous comics.  I’m willing to cut him some slack for the time being.

        3. AndysDrawings

          I feel like sometimes characters have gone un-tagged until a name has been explicitly confirmed on-panel, but I could have dreamed that

      2. HueSatLight

        Charlie now tagged in one strip. https://www.dumbingofage.com/tag/charlie

        1. shoopdawhoop

          Six, now.

    2. milu

      @first link: awww nice!! I’d forgotten about that comic, it’s so beautiful <3 i am a bit saddened to see it seems abandoned…

      Also, re: ostensibly female but genderwonky comic book characters named Charlie, has anyone been reading "Humor Me" by Marvin W on Webtoons, and if not, what's your excuse ?

      1. Taffy

        My “excuse” is that Webtoons seems strange and unfamiliar to me, and so I don’t trust it to have anything I’ll like on it.

        1. Ana Chronistic

          well luckily they seem to be “unscrolling” some of the more popular comics (Cursed Princess Club) so there’s an option!

  2. Mr. Random

    Oooooh that’s her name.

  3. Caro

    charlie!!! oh that’s perfect i adore that

    1. Caro

      i wonder if it’s short for charlotte

      1. Doctor_Who

        It’s short for Charleston Chew.

        Booster is short for Booster Gold

        Their parents had odd naming preferences and eclectic tastes.

        1. Sirksome

          It was a hot debate for the Booster parents between their favorite snack and their favorite comic book hero. Luckily they had twins!

        2. MM

          I don’t care if this is canon; it is in my heart.

  4. NGPZ

    We finally know her name!!! ?

    And what a wonderful name, Charlie. ?

    1. Clif

      Charlie Rod. Hm.

  5. Sirksome

    Hopefully Charlie has Cheetos. Hopefully.

    1. Carl Muckenhoupt

      Right. If she’s got cheetos she can share them with the nice lady who was looking for cheetos in yesterday’s strip.

  6. BBCC

    Charlie is a cute name! And yeah, I can imagine she’s hard to track down.

  7. Kyrik Michalowski

    Wait, does Charlie actually to this school, or is she just visiting Booster to get her Switch back?

    1. Dave Van Domelen

      I mean, does Charlie actually go to any school? Her migratory patterns would seem to make matriculation difficult.

    2. Dr. T

      Well, she’s attending Gender Studies class with Carla, Ruth and maybe Becky. I don’t fully recall whether Becky is in that class this semester.

      1. Sirksome

        I guess it depends on how okay Leslie is with random people sitting in on her class. She’d probably be cool with it. Leslie’s no snitch.

    3. Doctor_Who

      Becky seemed to recognize her as a classmate last strip.

      Unless she mistook her for Booster, but I can’t imagine that Becky’s Cute Girl senses would make that mistake.

    4. Thag Simmons

      I’m pretty sure she does?

    5. Fay

      I’m pretty sure Booster had explicitly said in the past that they have a twin sister that also attends IU.

  8. Yotomoe

    Damn. Good luck, Charlie.

    1. NGPZ

      Finally, a reference I get! XD

  9. Yotomoe

    I’d love to see Sal and Walky doing the twin thing for a bit. I feel like it’s less about their similar looks and more about the energy they present. Sal with a goofy face or Walky with a serious face would be a godsend.

    1. GholaHalleck

      Fun-sad headcanon of the day.

      Sal used to be the Wacky One, but their mom yelled at her for walky “copying” her, so she stopped.

    2. Doopyboop

      https://64.media.tumblr.com/11bbfce9185de1478370b40408bd4d2a/tumblr_n6tp0l4LPw1qkinreo1_1280.pnj Willis drew this once and I loved the concept of the two switching like this.

      1. CMasta1992

        Walkified Sal has me feeling some sorta way and now I have to figure if this says more about what I think of Sal or Walky.

        Just moving right along that Kinsey Scale

      2. Sirksome

        Does this imply Walky has to shave?

        1. Dean

          That’s probably barbecue sauce on his face.

      3. AGV

        Lol he is a proto-Asher

      4. I Know Why the Mowed Lawn Screams

        I think about that swapped personalities drawing all the time, it’s arguably one of my favorite doa things to think about.

        1. milu

          I enjoy how your phrasing implies someone might want to argue with you on this, and all things considered, you’ve decided your chances in that argument are looking pretty good

        2. I Know Why the Mowed Lawn Screams

          This comment put a smile on my face so thank you for that 🙂

      5. Kim

        Globdamnit! I accidentally clocked report instead of the link -_- SORRY

      6. Amós Batista

        OMG, Sally and Wal.

    3. brionl

      Sorry, Charlie. We want tunas that taste good, not tunas with good taste.

      1. Laura

        Hm?

        1. StClair

          It’s a reference to an old ad campaign, featuring a tuna (named Charlie) that kept getting rejected (for getting killed, minced, and put in a can).

        2. Needfuldoer

          Now I’m all worried about Charlie the Starkist Tuna’s mental health.

          And that was BEFORE his role in the movie Food Fight!

        3. StClair

          A rather alarming number of corporate mascots have, as their highest desire/ambition, being selected for human consumption. it’s all very Hitchhiker’s “Dish of the Day”.

        4. Opus the Poet

          I understood that reference dot gif.

        5. Laura

          Thanks!

      2. not someone else

        I understood that reference!

        1. saltchocolate

          Me, too!

        2. Opus the Poet

          Dittos. I’m that old.

  10. shadowcell

    Dumbing of Age Book 13: Girls With Boy Names Are Hot!

  11. Yotomoe

    Also why does it feel so foreign to me to see Carla declare anything as “Hot”. Not that I disagree.

    1. DailyBrad

      She’s acknowledged certain things as hot before, like she’s got a masochist streak, but yeah, not sure she’s come right out and said it quite like this. And yeah, “guy name” girls can be hot, this is quite true.

    2. Angel

      well, you can still appreciate teh aesthetic. she did want malaya to step on her too. though i’d feel like she’d think a fellow roller derby person with ‘skill’ being ‘hot’ versus something like a name lol

      or maybe it also sounds appealing because like ‘tomboyish’-ness or like ‘something something subverting gender roles’ XD

      1. Yotomoe

        tbf I wouldn’t mind Malaya doing that either.

  12. Raja

    Charlie is such a good name for a gal, big agree. (also fond of Max and Ryan for girls!)

    1. BarerMender

      Dana used to be a guy name. Joyce used to be a guy name. Evelyn used to be a guy name. Soon there won’t be any guy names left.

      1. S

        Also Stacy, Ashley, Kim, Lauren, Whitney, and Hilary. All names that used to be male (or at least unisex) until a certain point when they heavily skewed female.

        1. milu

          Hell, even Maria used to be a guy name!
          … Somewhere. a very long time ago. Probably.

        2. Thomas

          Maria is frequently a guy name after a long string of more obviously masculine guy names, especially if the guy is Roman Catholic.

        3. Mark

          You see variants in Spanish and French cultures.

        4. Nedlum

          Charlotte Brontë singlehandedly feminized Shirley.

        5. snakerbot

          And Courtney. I think of that one in particular since I’m currently working with a male Courtney at my job.

      2. Hedgie

        Evelyn has at least been unisex enough that Evelyn Waugh’s first wife was *also* an Evelyn. So they used “He-Evylyn” and “She-Evylyn” to differentiate between them amongst their friends.

      3. Raja

        I’m ok with that. ok with all names being unisex one day tbh

  13. RassilonTDavros

    None of her previous appearances appear to have been retroactively tagged “Charlie” as of this writing. Perhaps we have a red herring on our hands?

    1. bibulb

      I was assuming “whoops, hands full with Kickstarter ending ferociously, no time to retroactively update yet.”

      1. Needfuldoer

        Same.

        I’d say it’s only indicative if they’re not retroactively tagged by tomorrow.

        1. thejeff

          I wouldn’t expect it until the connection is confirmed in the strip itself – probably when she shows up for class.

    2. Angel

      maybe it won’t be officially updated til she appears again and is acknowledged?

  14. foducool

    funny, Charlie is Waldo’s name in the books french versions

  15. newlland(Henryvolt)

    I would have gest Jetta or something but alright

    1. Needfuldoer

      Jetta? Fusca? Passat?

      1. Opus the Poet

        In the anime Solty Rei all the females except Solty were named after Toyota cars, so maybe those were girl names in Japanese. I can see Celica as a girl name, Corolla might have been a girl name before it was a cigar, Cressida I can see as a girl name (Toyota not sold in US). I think there was a Toyota named after the Japanese word for swan, that could be a girls name easy.

        1. Mark

          As in Troilus and Cressida? A very old girls’ name.

        2. Needfuldoer

          There was also Dr. Lisa Catera on Chicago Hope. The writers weren’t paid by GM, they just saw the Cadillac Catera ads and thought it was funny.

          https://apnews.com/article/de08bc9dd395acd8a70e3f9fd75dab69

  16. Suet

    Sure, but how would you consider the names Parker, Sam and Kelly?

    I am so gritting my teeth over the Rocket comment coz we thought THAT would be her name

  17. Jamie

    As long as the name isn’t a coconut named Charl, we good.

  18. AGV

    Charlie’s angels won’t disclose intel about their boss that easily

    1. foducool

      mostly because they don’t know where Charlie’s been either

  19. Bo

    i dont think its going to happen but it’d be absolutely hilarious to get a name drop and then just, like, NEVER see her in the comic again…

  20. Dday

    To be sure, “Rocket” would have been a pretty bongoin’ name as well

    1. RassilonTDavros

      Prepare for trouble

      1. Dara

        Make it double

    2. Angel

      plot twist: that’s booster’s gamer tag name lol

  21. milu

    Haha these dumbasses
    That’s some good classic dumbing

  22. Taffy

    We appreciate a Charlie.

    1. Clif

      I choose to believe she is Charlie Rod because she refused to change her last name to Sanchez.

  23. HueSatLight

    Billie, Robin, Alex, Sydney

    1. Ray Radlein

      Leslie is also a guy’s name

      1. Benjamin Geiger

        Surely you can’t be serious.

        1. Opus the Poet

          Yes I am, and stop calling me Shirley.

  24. milu

    After Jocelyn, Riley and Liz, Charlie continues the trend of main characters’ sisters being sweet precious babies ?

    1. milu

      (Though every strip she’s in increases the chance of someone calling her an untitled goose of quasi-fascistic annoyingness)

      1. Clif

        Avast you scurvy untitled goose of quasi-fascistic annoyingness.

        Yeah, that works. I approve.

        1. milu

          Yeah, I got insult game ?

        2. milu

          (…in asynchronous writing)

    2. sultryglebe

      Who was the one who just wanted to eat cereal in the dining hall?

      1. Dana

        Riley

        1. sultryglebe

          Thank you! I could not find it.

      2. Thag Simmons

        Riley DeSanto

        1. sultryglebe

          Thank you!

    3. HueSatLight

      Amber, Sal

  25. DailyBrad

    Charlie’s a good name. That was actually one of my exes’ names, but I won’t hold that against her, any more than Robin’s responsible for another of ’em.

  26. TheKelliestKelly

    I have once again, missed out on a Willis kickstarter through procrastination. I blame my terrible, draining job.

    Excited to meet Chatlie. I wonder who she could possibly be

    1. milu

      It’s a mystery. We’ve yet to see a single character who looks anything like Booster

      1. Clif

        Mike. Mike looks like Booster.

        1. 0kami

          “Booster”?

          Ooooh, you mean Replacement Mike, right?

        2. HueSatLight

          Mike is a guy’s name that gals can have.

  27. Fëanen

    Looks like Booster walked in on a meeting of the Red-Headed League.

    1. Needfuldoer

      Good thing they didn’t witness the ritual, or else they’d have to either be assimilated or escape to Bulmeria.

    2. RacingTurtle

      The League of Unhelpful Redheads

  28. nobodybasically

    I don’t understand the mouseover text. Anyone wanna enlighten me?

    1. Regalli

      So in the Walkyverse, the comics that preceded this one and which this started as an AU of, “Four words: Your twin sister, Sal” was a major reveal. ( http://www.itswalky.com/comic/shes-decided-to-join-us-after-all/ and the strip following.)

      Wack’d is the expert of all things Walkyverse so making it a reference would have appealed to them very much.

      1. saltchocolate

        Would have??

      2. thejeff

        Did the alt-text change?

  29. StClair

    Ruth with the sass.

  30. Amós Batista

    congratz on Kickstart, Willis

  31. Amós Batista

    Ruth just can’t get over Billie/Jennifer, huh?

    1. a/snow/mous/e

      Ever since she changed her preferred name, she got way less hot.

  32. ANeM

    Love how all three of these dufuses walked right past a dead ringer for Booster, two even interacted with her directly and still they have no clue.

  33. Architex

    Ah darn I thought the name might have been Turbo.
    As in, “I could have been TURBO??”

  34. Amelie Wikström

    I find it hilarious Carla spent all day yelling and carrying signs to get noticed by this person and apparently didn’t at any point check to see what she looked like.

    1. Sombrero

      That’s because she didn’t look like Carla.

  35. Needfuldoer

    …

    Oh! NOW I get Becky’s joke!

  36. Yumi

    A fun fact about me (AFAB enby): My birth name is one of those names that used to be unisex but now skews very heavily “girl.” The name I go by now is one that’s traditionally more “boy” but is starting to get more unisex.

    Once, I inquired about volunteering at an organization over email, and then when I showed up at orientation, the person I had emailed with said, “Oh! I guess girls can have that name, too” upon meeting me. To which I replied, “Yes, but that’s not what’s happening here.”

    1. Morleuca

      my necronym could’ve been used in the feminine, something I totally didn’t realize until I had shared my chosen name with just about everyone and had gotten very comfortable hearing it said. It was one of those moments where you are just doing something random and mundane and it just pops in there.

  37. Amós Batista

    Charlie Alpha Romeo Lima Alpha

    1. Opus the Poet

      Copy/Paste: I understood that reference dot gif.

    2. Needfuldoer

      Everyone who conducts business or does tech support over the phone should know the NATO alphabet. It saves SO MUCH TIME AND EFFORT compared to making up “[letter] as in [word]”.

  38. HueSatLight

    Just hypothesizing, Carla’s face blind and her egocentric routine functions as a cover.

    1. HueSatLight

      second link:
      https://www.dumbingofage.com/jesuschrist/

      1. Straximus

        You may be onto something.

  39. JepMZ

    Oh. I thought her name was Joementum

  40. Alan in DC

    I tried to get my spouse involved in DoA. She looked at the latest story arc and declared, “Jesus, aren’t there any normal students in this strip?” (Her choice of words).

    I answered, “Would you read a strip about UNinteresting people?”

  41. SmartAlec105

    I feel like no one is properly appreciating how much it must have taken for Ruth to hold back from making a comment on the transbian that said she likes it when girls have boy names.

    1. Yumi

      Hm. I more thought her “no comment” comment could have been in recognition of similar thoughts– she did date “Billie,” after all.

  42. Yakumo

    Dumbest thing Booster’s done in this comic, to my memory. I mean, there may people who assume that twin just means identical twin, but there’s plenty that know there are twins that do not look alike, even setting aside those who know the category fraternal.

    1. shanunu

      Maybe to Booster they look enough alike that they can just say “she’s my twin” and its apparent that they must be related. I mean, there were enough people in the comments guessing there was a relation between the person in the previous strip and Booster just from her appearance.

    2. Blue

      Don’t most biological siblings resemble each other?

      1. Yumi

        That’s definitely going to vary. If you don’t know two people are related, and they look similar but not identical, you’re probably not going to jump to “must be siblings”– especially if you’ve only seen them separate of each other. My dad has a friend who he looks more similar to than he does to his brother. (Sometimes he and his friend have told people they’re brothers, only to come clean when the person responds with something like, “Oooh, yeah, I see it.”)

      2. Opus the Poet

        I’m not physically similar to my brother, so no.

      3. Taffy

        Depends how many parents are involved, sometimes*. My brother and I look nothing alike, because we each take after our fathers in the looks department. Well, allegedly; I’ve never seen so much as a photo of my sperm donor, but the two relatives I’ve met who knew him say we’re identical. Thankfully he died on his own without me needing to step in, so my brother’s father was my dad instead. My other sibling looks like a combo of our donor and our mom (which I think might be how biology works but I’m not an engineer), so all three of us kids look pretty different. Also once my name change goes through, we’ll all have different surnames, for added fun.

        *Note that I said “sometimes” and not “in all cases, also there’s no variance with just two parents”.

  43. Laura

    …*plays Djamasté on the hacked muzak*…

    1. NGPZ

      I can’t seem to find any song by that title… or is it a band? ?

      1. Laura

        Here ya go:

        https://www.mixcloud.com/djamaste/ecstatic-dance-nz-spirit-2022/

        Thanks, NG!

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