336

Ms. R
Posted on October 2, 2020 by David M Willis

336 thoughts on “Ms. R”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    so sexy mistakes around dads and “fake” moms = ok, got it

    “real mom” Danno, did you ever take your foot out of your mouth after Ethan

    1. Ana Chronistic

      Isn’t this the reverse of the Consequences strip, since Joe’s ENTERING the room?

      1. Gigafreak

        I can’t stop seeing the Deathbulge door kick. Using THAT as the reference, it’d mark Danny as the Lame-O since he was here first. …Which makes sense, really.
        https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-deathbulge-party-saga

        1. Sunny

          My first thought was also that that’s the sort of kick you’d expect to see in Deathbulge.

    2. JetstreamGW

      Speaking as someone who’s dad has been married and divorced a number of times, I personally would use the term “real mom” with regards to my mother, and literally nothing with regards to the litany of women who could have claimed the title of “step-mom.”

      1. plasticwrap

        Some people have really good relationships with their step-moms. My wife is closer to her step-mom and her step-mom’s new family than she is her dad because her Dad’s a murdering sociopathic piece of shit.

        1. a/snow/mous/e

          …is your wife an alt-universe Amber O’Malley

        2. HenrEek

          I’m kinda intrigued about how a much milder assumption about Amber pissed the hell out of people in a past strip (considering the time frame)…

        3. Zach

          We just called Grandpa’s wives or long term girl friends by their first names.
          Nataly was nice.
          The one he had a kid with I still call a grandma.

      2. DrunkenNordmann

        Thing is, it’s not Danny’s parents, is it? It’s Joe’s. Danny really needs to learn how to think before opening his mouth.

        1. C.T Phipps

          Every single thing out of Danny’s mouth is judgement on someone or something.

          It’s kind of weird his present version ISN’T a fundamentalist.

        2. abysswatcher1993

          I keep saying Willis has transformed Danny into an avatar of what Willis hated about himself during Roomies.

        3. C.T Phipps

          I actually would love to have seen what Sal was up to at church camp, though.

        4. BBCC

          Smoking wherever the kids sneak off to smoke, probably.

          What? That’s what all the rebel types were doing when I went to Catholic school.

        5. Needfuldoer

          Plot twist: the MSF course was offered as an elective.

        6. Woden87

          Motorcycles, (roller)skating, and fighting?

        7. Agemegos

          Well observed! I hadn’t noticed that.

        8. BBCC

          Sure, but Joe doesn’t really seem to consider Stacey a mother either.

        9. C.T Phipps

          Enough to spend Thanksgiving with her and the Dad he hates.

        10. BBCC

          Joe’s mom took him to orientation and then his dad came for Freshman Family Weekend. I’d guess they have an every other occasion type deal, which means Joe probably spent Thanksgiving with his mom and then this past Christmas break with his dad and Stacey.

          Even if he did go to their house for Thanksgiving, that really doesn’t mean much. Lots of people feel obligated to be stuck with family for that – hence, his dad. That doesn’t necessarily mean anything about Stacey.

        11. thejeff

          Probably split the Christmas break, since it’s weeks long.

          But yeah, “real mom” isn’t really bad here. For some step families that certainly wouldn’t work, but Stacey’s been his step mom for about 5 minutes. There’s no way, even if she was the best step mom ever that she’d feel like a “real mom” yet. And Joe’s never shown any signs of not getting along with his mother.

          Hmm, I just noticed: Did any of our main cast actually grow up with step parents? Joe and Amber are the only divorces I can think of offhand.
          Robin’s mom remarried, I think. Not sure how old she or Roz were when that happened. Not main cast anyway. 🙂

        12. BBCC

          Sarah’s parents are divorced so she might have stepparents.

        13. Sirksome

          I don’t know Joe’s home life situation but I doubt that was a choice. If he has to spend time with his dad in whatever joint custody/visitation or whatever you call it and Stacy’s there he can’t really do much about it.

        14. BarerMender

          Joe’s an adult now. Custody and visitation no longer apply. He can see his mom as much as he wants.

        15. Agemegos

          True, but I would have thought the plain contrast, not marked with any special emphasis, was between “mom” and “stepmom”, not between “real mom” and “fake mom”. Perhaps Stacey has been pushing the “call me ‘Mom’” line without due sensitivity.

        16. Vukodlak

          The thing is Joe didn’t give a *&**)@ so why do you? Did he contradict Danny? No. And considering she called Danny to check up on her son I think maybe Danny is a higher authority on Joe’s family relationships then you.

        17. DrunkenNordmann

          Please read the comment I was responding to again. There’s a difference between somebody mouthing off about their own parents and somebody else doing it.

          Not to mention that silence doesn’t automatically constitute consent.

        18. Jed!

          But Joe and Danny are tied to the hip, and Joe didn’t seem to mind Danny saying it. They probably talked during break about Stacy, Danny Danned up and said “real mom” and immediately backtracked, and Joe said he didn’t care if he called her that. Which makes sense, since he’s known Stacy for a few months, and has lived with her for at most one month. One page ago, Joe referred to her as Amber’s mom instead of saying “our mom”, and the page before that, Joe and Amber had basically separate farewells with their dad and mom respectively.

        19. Ana Chronistic

          Just saying: So at any point here, is specifying WHICH mom necessary? Joe can conceivably grok from context, or ask if he’s not sure. The “real” part is unnecessarily (potentially) insensitive depending on audience and context. Like “redskin” is fine if you’re talking about potatoes, but OTHERWISE it’s problematic ?

        20. Ana Chronistic

          Like, my husband has multiple brothers, yet I’ll often just talk about “your brother” to him without naming names, and he gets it fine.

          I guess I’m personally on this bc it feels like something to be aware of when talking to others, also bc this thread: https://mobile.twitter.com/TECHNOPlNK/status/1311119609140064257

        21. thejeff

          Potentially, but if you know your audience well enough not actually. (Which doesn’t apply to racial slurs – since the damage isn’t necessarily to your audience.)

        22. JetstreamGW

          And if Joe had an objection, he’d have voiced it. It’s Joe. He ain’t shy.

          He didn’t.

      3. Undrave

        And like, you’re an adult, just use their first name.

        1. thejeff

          That’s a transition they’ve barely started. You don’t overturn an entire lifetime of thinking of your friend’s parents as “so-and-so’s mom” or “Mrs. So and So” overnight when you turn 18.

          Hell, I’m over 50 and I’d still say “your mom called”, even if I’d use her name when talking to her directly.

    3. a/snow/mous/e

      Danny’s Danned-up response: “Why should I apologize to a background character like him?! He didn’t even get a sillhouette!”

      1. BarerMender

        Yes he did. He’s behind Joyce and Becky.

        1. Ana Chronistic

          That’s Joe. Think snow mouse is referring to Ethan

    4. RowenMorland

      I think Danny might have a very specific type of foot fetish.

  2. Chris

    If you’re going to tattoo yourself with washable markers, you might as well go for a face “tattoo”.

    1. Leorale

      Those spread and become unreadable as you sweat, as I found out freshmen year. (I drew on somebody’s face, he said I could.)

      1. Reltzik

        Maybe use alcohol-based markers?

        1. leaf

          It was a dry campus

        2. Geneseepaws

          Do they Make 3.2 % markers?

        3. clif

          Thank you leaf for my second laugh of the day. (Of course it’s still early where I am).

  3. Shanunu

    Do people really get identity crises like this in freshman year…..

    1. Bryy

      Yes.

      1. clif

        Yes. Or any time thereafter. Never had one myself, but in my experience they peak around 40 to 50 and go down in frequency after that.

        Maybe I just haven’t had mine yet. But while I may have sometimes been uncertain of my plans for the future, I’ve always been pretty sure who I was. But I’ve had some friends with corkers. One in Jr. High (which used to be the two years before a 4 year high school).

        1. BarerMender

          Three years. Junior high was 7th, 8th, and 9th grade.

        2. clif

          Used to be 2 years. My highschool had freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. Slide rule competitions were still a thing.

        3. clif

          For the history, see https://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2229/Middle-Schools.html

        4. Roborat

          Where did you park the horses?

    2. TemporalShrew

      Danny’s current behavior is the result of the perfect, disastrous union between two phenomena: freshman year experimentation, and something known as “being Danny.”

    3. Reltzik

      Also, sophomore year.

      Also, junior year.

      Also, all of high school.

      Also…

      1. a/snow/mous/e

        and then senior year onward is job identity crisis where you wonder if your degree is what you want to do with your life after all x.x i think i have this disease where i have no motivation to do anything, idk if you’ve heard of it, it’s called laziness

        one silver lining about covid-19 is there’s a lot more unmotivated people now so at least i feel less bad that i have zero work ethic

        1. clif

          Laziness is the foundation of almost all progress.

    4. tim gueguen

      Just ask Nitz.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PV6o8ceu5fM

      1. Chronos

        I really wished they made more of that show.

        1. insomniac

          The creator got the rights back & raised funds for a movie!

    5. leaf

      Or, like, whenever

    6. Yotomoe

      Nope. I was more or less the same guy in freshman year of college that I was Senior year of high school. A big fucking nerd.

      1. clif

        And proud of it. ((That part’s important.))

        1. Opus the Poet

          Sydney says so anyway. https://grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-87-i-can-see-why-this-might-be-cause-for-concern/
          Fortunately I had a basic idea of where to look so I didn’t have to trawl the entire 11 years of archives.

  4. meanderling

    I see Danny has dropped the hat. Bad move Dann-o, it’s actually cold now, and maybe you can shove it in your mouth next time you’re tempted to say some dumb shit.

    1. Sirksome

      He didn’t drop the hat. The hat abandoned him realizing it had done all it needed to and moved on to the next step in it’s never ending journey. Danny getting a new hat would be a hollow gesture that pales in comparison.

      1. Reltzik

        Worse than a hollow gesture. It would be a cap-itulation.

      2. tim gueguen

        It is in fact a TARDIS hat. It will probably end up in the 26th Century next.

        1. woobie

          So, next year in-comic?

        2. Rani

          Bernice Summerfield will find it on a Dalek’s carcass during an archeological dig and promptly lose her shit.

    2. C.T Phipps

      The hat left him after he went Slytherin.

  5. Sirksome

    Aw! For second I though Danny maybe had gotten a little street cred. He’s the character I pity the most honestly.

    1. butts

      Nah, it’s just the same old Danny we know and… tolerate…

  6. Bryy

    I honestly really kinda cringe at the Joe storyline. He progressed for like *one day*. But I guess that was the point.

    1. TemporalShrew

      I’m really hoping we loop back around to examine the extent to which he’s all talk at this point, because otherwise, I really don’t see what the point of the previous attention paid to him was.

    2. C.T Phipps

      Joe presumably will not update or share a do list again.

      So that is progress.

      Just progress as a horrifying consequence of personally vilifying yourself.

    3. Jay

      tbf he has progressed a little do we know if he slept with anyone after Malaya other than Malaya?

      That’s progression.

      1. thejeff

        To be honest, I don’t think he actually slept with a lot of girls before Malaya. I wouldn’t be surprised if Roz and Penny were it. It was mostly image and he’s still committed to keeping that image up.

        It was the creepy attempts that were the problem. I don’t think he’s been doing that anymore, despite still pushing the attitude and the jokes. I can’t think of anyone he’s directly hit on.

        Which suggests his fling with Malaya shut down his belief that he could actually change enough to be safe in a relationship, but he’s still kept the lesson that his previous behavior was harmful. So now he’s trying to project the image to keep any emotional connections away, but not trying to hook up either.

        1. Needfuldoer

          Since the list leaked, he’s still tried to hit on at least Sarah, Mandy, Rachel, and an unnamed throwaway character who should ascend to “recurring extra”. Baby steps?

        2. thejeff

          Well, in that last one he caught himself and while the others were after the list leaked (or while the list was leaking), weren’t they before his actual attempt to change? And his reversion to type with Malaya?

    4. Wereg

      I’m operating under the impression that Joe has actually changed, but he’s fronting because he doesn’t enjoy how the change has made him feel. He feels kinda shite about himself after all that and especially after he vauge-vented about how he really feels about Joyce.

      Alternatively, he hasn’t changed and it was all for nothing. I wouldn’t be particularly surprised.

    5. tbf

      This is foreshadowing. If Joe’s character development was going to be ignored in season two, he’d have been dropped like Mike was.

      1. Schpoonman

        Can I buy you a cookie? That was amazing.

  7. Bob

    Oh great…. Danny stuck around.

  8. Jenny Islander

    Wait, what’s wrong with making art on your skin while being smart enough not to make permanent art until you are absolutely sure you want it?

    1. Reltzik

      IKR?

      I guess it’s because it’s a mix of adult-ish things (getting tatoos) with childish things (drawing on yourself with crayola markers)? Like he took something badass and wimpified it?

      1. Sirksome

        Also Joe in general is really quick to call Danny out on his bullshit.

        1. thejeff

          Joe is in general really quick to call Danny out, whether it’s bullshit or not.

    2. Dara

      At very very least, it should’ve been sharpies. At least make it difficult to take off.

    3. YipeeKiYay

      If the ink is water soluble, his sweat will lift the ink from his skin and cause it to run, likely staining his shirt and potentially notebooks, bed linens, etc.

    4. RowenMorland

      I wonder if Joe would also rag on him for maikng a 3D render of himself with the tattoo sleeves, or if he bought a bunch of dolls or models and painted them with mockups.

    5. Roborat

      This reminded me of my daughter’s favourite book when she was little. Purple, Green and Yellow by Robert Munch.

  9. Schpoonman

    Fake-tattoo-sleeves guy, is that an untied tie around your neck?

    1. auroki

      I’m beginning to believe only Leslie knows how to knot a necktie on this campus

    2. Reltzik

      And, judging by the cast banner, an unbuttoned, untucked, unironed dress shirt.

      1. auroki

        Kinda defeats the point of trying to rock the necktie look. Now he just looks like a coffee boy who got fired an about to start pandhandling on the street.

        Will draw sharpie tats for a cheese sandwhich!

        1. Chris Phoenix

          Hey, in QC verse, Samantha is making real money drawing sharpie tats!

        2. Deanatay

          That’s on robots, tho. Their skin may react to Sharpie ink differently than ours does.

        3. Demolition Fan

          Most likely it does, but even -in- QC-verse it is acknowledged that they are temporary and will fade. That impermanence is actually part of the appeal to the AI’s that get them. Not because they are then able to be free of them when the tats fade, but _because_ the tats are temporal, they only get to be enjoyed for a brief while.

  10. danielle

    neat
    a rose

    1. Geneseepaws

      Based on…. nothing really, I’m gonna guess: peony and koi.
      Or since it’s hidden a little and it’s Danny, peonme and coy.

  11. Kravis

    But Joe, if there are no Moms around, how is the-not-REALLY-dead Mike goin’ to fuck them for a nickel?!

  12. Maemae

    I just wore lots of flower crowns my freshman year of college.

    Honestly I should start doing that again.

    1. Demolition Fan

      not enough people are wearing hats.

  13. opal

    I’m wondering how many phases he went through in the timeskip. I’m guessing anywhere from 10 to 38

  14. Stephen Bierce

    “Next up on David Letterman, how to make Three Bean Salad with one kind of bean and Magic Markers.”

    1. clif

      Would I watch a Youtube video with that title? Let me think.

  15. Undrave

    Aww… I was hoping Danny would just move on to ever increasingly stupid hat with each new crisis.

    1. Agemegos

      And take up piano-accordion.

      1. Undrave

        Just keep going down a never ending rabbit hole of silly hats and weird instruments. Eventually his friends plan an interventon when he’s up to Top Hat and protable Theremin.

        1. clif

          I feel compelled to point out that Theremins never prot. They are completely unprotable.

          Some day in the far far sci-fi future someone will invent a miracle technology, a process to allow the editing of posts after they are posted.

        2. RowenMorland

          I think at that point Danny will have moved on to playing the Antagonistic Undecagonstring, and have 4 arms, each one with tattoo a sleeve that he lasers of each night and then re-applies the next day.

  16. William Leonard Reese Jr.

    “Your Real Mom, anyway.”

    . . .Am I reading this wrong or did that seem *really* dickish to anyone else?

    Like he’s tired of Joe talking about Stacy?

    1. C.T Phipps

      Nope. I thought it too.

      Danny is the Bruce Lee of passive aggressive dickishness.

    2. Vukodlak

      Joe’s an adult… legally speaking. And we was a grown adult when his father got married. The woman who gave birth and helped raise him is his “real mom.” It is perfectly okay not to consider the woman your dad married after you left for college as “not mom”.

      1. C.T Phipps

        Except it’s none of Dan’s business to make that kind of judgement, especially as he just spent thanksgiving with his stepmother.

        Also, “real” mom, implies one is the “fake” mom.

        1. Vukodlak

          The WOMAN CALLED DANNY. He knows her, she has HIS phone number.
          So this is a woman who Danny saw Joe call mom FOR YEARS. It is a hell
          of a lot more his business to make that judgement then YOU. Joe has
          previously shown he didn’t care about any of his dads long list of wives.
          So Danny is perfectly positioned to make that judgement of “real mom.”
          And did you notice Joe not disagreeing?

        2. BBCC

          Joe’s dad doesn’t have a long list of wives. Just Karen and now Stacey. But yeah, I don’t think Joe considers Stacey a mother.

    3. auroki

      I wouldn’t say dickish. Me and my siblings all have different fathers. So hearing real dad and step dad was kinda common place and didn’t really bother us growing up.

      Plus Danny probably said it like that to tell Joe which of his mothers he is talking with. If anything it shows a bit more respect than referring to her as “birth mother” which in my experience of growing up irratates parents more. Probably due to being titled as a parent simply because they bred the child and not because they helped raise them.

      Sorry for rambling.

    4. BBCC

      It would be dickish if Joe considered Stacey a mother, but I don’t think he does.

      1. auroki

        Yeah, in the end it really comes down to how the individual themselves views it. There really isn’t a right or good answer as to how to refer to your parents when they divorce and remarry.

        1. clif

          The polite thing to do is to refer to them as Birth-mom and Imaginary-mom, thus making everyone equally happy.

    5. RacingTurtle

      Yeah. Maybe it didn’t bother Joe (or maybe it did, Joe overlooked it, then went after the marker tattoo because Danny was already on thin ice when he made the “risky behavior” crack); it definitely bothered me. Like, why specify? Given the facts of the situation, Joe’s mom would be Mom and Stacy would be Stacy, so, like, wtf, Danny? I feel like he insulted Joe, Stacy, and Ms. R all in one go, and I don’t know if there’s a reason we’ll learn later or if it’s just that Danny is…well, Danny. (I don’t even hate the guy! But he must wear the best-tasting shoes on the planet, ‘cause he sure loves putting his foot in his mouth.)

      1. Bix902

        My guess is that Joe hasn’t spoken to his mother in a while because he’s been excited by the idea of having a whole new family unit. His mother is probably at least a *little* upset by this.

        Sometimes friends need to be a bit blunt or harsh to let you know that your actions are negatively affecting other people.

    6. Corneel

      He could just have said “Your mom”, that would have put across the message without added pettines.

  17. Sporky

    Haha, the first panel immediately made me think “MOM HOLY FUCK” and then coincidentally the rest of the comic is about moms

  18. Skater Girl

    For once I am siding with Joe.

    1. abysswatcher1993

      Both are idiots. Everyone in this building is a jerk with intelligence of a satam villain. They all are just better than the antagonist of this series.

      1. Delicious Taffy

        Dina. >:[

        1. clif

          Also, apologize to Dr. Robotnick at once.

          Why no, I’ve never actually watched Sonic, but I had a friend who was a Jim Cummings fanatic.

        2. Delicious Taffy

          Robotnik is an engineering genius and he’s pretty cunning, but otherwise he’s a fucking moron.

    2. Jay

      I shockingly have been siding with Joe a lot ever since we found out he and Joyce were texting during THAT fiasco.

      Ironically he’s a huge voice of reason in the series and a LOT of the time he’s right, sure he has a REALLY bad vice with relationships and sex but a lot of what he’s said I’ve begrudgingly went “wait yea no that makes sense”

  19. TemporalShrew

    Danny is an unceasing, monumental goober, 24 hours a day. It must be exhausting, I laud him for it.

  20. plasticwrap

    Not a bad idea to test run that sort of thing.

  21. BlackScarabFilmZ

    So we lost Mike, but still have to put with Danny? I call shenanigans!

    1. C.T Phipps

      Danny realizes he can be the dick to everyone now. It’s the role he was born for.

  22. Cattleprod

    Ah, just missing Carla, Malaya, and… Billie with shorter hair? Or someone super obvious that I’m blanking on, like how I couldn’t simultaneously remember Joyce, Dorothy, and Amber for a while early on.

    1. dralou

      Marcie ?

      I honestly don’t know who this silhouette is. Could be Billie, could be Marcie, could be someone else, à la Booster/Mike…

    2. hof1991

      Marcie. Roller derby action figure Marcie.

      1. Segnosaur

        Thing is, Marcie wasn’t a central character. (She wasn’t a student, and while she was important to Sal, she had little interaction with the other characters.) I suspect she may still be in the comic even if she isn’t in the new banner.

        Compare that to Billie, who interacts with regularly interacted with Ruth, walky, Joyce, etc.

  23. BBCC

    Danny, not getting real tattoos if you’re not sure which, if any, you want is probably smart.

    But wash those off before Sal sees them or she’s gonna rib the living HELL outta you.

  24. bejouled

    I just realized there’s no silhouette for Ethan.

    1. clif

      He’s keeping a lonely vigil at Mike’s grave site.

    2. AndysDrawings

      Same :/

  25. Miri

    That “real mom” comment… Danny always kinda hoped HIS parents would split up too and his father and Joe’s mother would make them real brothers forever, didn’t he?

    Also, oh Danny, no: when you try to find yourself you don’t try on all of the costumes you can think of at the same time. This is real life (well, a comic telling thereof), not a game of dress-up. You aren’t going to find an outfit that transforms you into a whole new person; you need to work out who you are inside and what you want to improve upon and then gradually change your outside to match the evolving inside.

    1. Axel

      hey I’ve gotten piercings when I’ve felt fucked up like four times and it has always gone excellent thanks

      (I’m mostly being sarcastic. I mean, the above is true but I don’t disagree with anything you said)

      1. clif

        On the other hand, I see nothing wrong with making changes, even bold changes, in your personal brand or image. Quick, someone tell Danny about AB testing.

    2. Rectilinear Propagation

      Is Danny hoping his parents split up something from this comic or another universe?

  26. auroki

    Damny knot your necktie you fool! Becky already pulled that look!

  27. Agemegos

    Joe’s mother phoned Danny? She hung up as soon as Joe arrived?

    Is Joe not speaking to her, or is she not speaking to him? Or did I miss a nickel somewhere?

    1. Axel

      Hopefully just didn’t want to call him while he was with his father. Probably thinks he’s avoiding her (and he is, because he has to have new feelings about his dad and his dad’s girlfriend and feels like he’s betraying her and stuff).

      1. C.T Phipps

        Oddly, Joe seems far more accepting of his dad than before.

        Maybe he thinks Joedad really does love Stacy.

    2. RacingTurtle

      Y’know, I was just wondering yesterday if Joe’s relationship with his mom might be a little strained, but now that we have possible evidence of that, folks, I do not like it!

      1. BBCC

        One of the patreon strips implied he reminded her in a bad way of his dad.

      2. Agemegos

        Back when I was Joe’s age — or any time, really — I would have disliked it if my mother had called one of my friends to check on my movements.

        She could have waited a bit longer and phoned Joe. She could have asked to speak to him or asked for a greeting to be passed on when he arrived. Checking on him through a friend and hanging up when he arrived is a bit odd.

  28. ElectricBlue

    Haha, oh man, I wish I’d noticed Danny’s tattoo sleeve in panel 1 on my first readthrough so I coulda properly appreciated the reveal that it’s markered on. But like, of course it’s not a real tattoo, Danny is still Danny after all

    1. ElectricBlue

      Also, I like how the first sleeve we see is more typical tattoo-sleeve content (a rose and a fish) and the second sleeve is decidedly more Danny-ish (a ukulele and… I think the blue blob is his hat? And idk what the grey and white parts are but I wanna say it’s some computer-y stuff?)

    2. Keulen

      I didn’t even notice the tattoo with the rose and fish on his right arm the first time I read this strip.

  29. C.T Phipps

    Ah yes, your REAL mom.

    Classy, Danny.

    Its weird how I think you may be the worst of the group now.

    1. abysswatcher1993

      I am not calling Stacy his mom until Richard proves he can be monogamous for the next 6 months.

      1. C.T Phipps

        That’s really up to Stacy.

        They could be a poly or nonmongamous couple for all we know.

        1. abysswatcher1993

          I doubt that is the case if we know Richard.

        2. thejeff

          Good lord. Yes, they could be, if we ignored all previous evidence and characterization. We know that Richard said they were going to be exclusive back when he first talked to Joe about it. Nothing has ever hinted at either of them suggesting it or being okay with it.

          But it keeps coming up.

        3. Schpoonman

          Someone a few days ago really ripped into the “solve cheating by having an open relationship” thread and I wish more people had read it.

        4. BBCC

          Sounds like a good read. Link?

        5. Demolition Fan

          Everyone also keeps forgetting how much Richard was having his mind blown by the sex he has with Stacey: “You wouldn’t believe the things we’ve done.” Whatever they’re doing, Stacey is hip and has her thumb on Richards buttons somehow.

          Stacey was with freaking BLAINE and she was savvy enough to get free, and to do it in a way that she kept her life, her child, AND got support for Amber all the way to graduation. Even with court and the law, none of that is guaranteed. I’m not Stacey’s fan, she definitely has issues/is a mom, but we would do well to stop selling her short. Something is going on upstairs and it shouldn’t be ignored.

      2. CJ

        Sorry, what has Stacy’s mom-status to Joe has to do with Joe’s dad’s fidelity?
        If she’s a mom to him or not is something Joe decides. (also Stacy decides if she is willing to mom him, but given the strip before, I’d take that as given).

        1. thejeff

          It has to do with whether the marriage lasts more than those 6 months and thus whether there’s anytime to build some kind of mom-like relationship.

    2. Vukodlak

      So what your saying Stacy is just as much Joe’s mom as the woman who gave birth and raised him? Reality check the person you called “mom” for two decades is your real mom not the woman your dad married a few months ago. What could Stacy have possibly done for Joe to earn equal mom billing?

      1. DrunkenNordmann

        What they’re saying is that it’s not Danny’s call in any case – he’s just going around being Danny again and being Danny hasn’t really worked out for him in the past, has it?

        1. Harvey Janus

          Except it’s not Danny making that call? He’s known Joe for a lot longer than college and Joe’s likely used the phrase “Real Mom” in the past if his father had any girlfriends who seemed serious since the divorce. He really seems the type to have pulled a “You’re not my real parent.” when he was a teenager.

        2. thejeff

          Which is really a perfectly fair thing to pull on a shortterm girlfriend of your father’s when you’re a teen, if they’re trying to “mom” you. Or even your new stepmother of a month or so, when you’re a technically adult college student.
          You’ve got to earn that parent status.

          It is shitty if you’re pulling it on a long-term step parent who’s been there to raise you, but that’s not where they are.

        3. Corneel

          He could have “Your mom”. The real only adds pettiness.

        4. Harvey Janus

          I mean, there’s been a couple notes elsewhere in the comments that say Willis said on patreon it was added for reader clarity so we don’t assume it’s Stacy calling to make sure Joe got into the dorm room okay.

  30. Black

    I think Danny’s being smart about this, actually; a tattoo is not only expensive, but it’s basically permanent. No reason to mark up your body unless you’re sure that’s what you want to do.

  31. abysswatcher1993

    There’s like 20 years of history of Dannny warning Joe about consequences, and even after Joyce joined the tradition of warning Joe, this sexy addict doesn’t learn the lesson. I mean, at any moment a girl could come up to him with a positive pregnancy test, or he could wake up with a rash in his genitals.

    1. BBCC

      It’s impressive that it’s been 20 years when both are 18-19. XD

      But your point stands.

      1. thejeff

        Since the first strips of Roomies!

    2. C.T Phipps

      Again, none of which is any of Dan’s business.

      Joe being a lot more responsible about these things than Dan.

      1. abysswatcher1993

        My counterpoint: Danny is right about all of Joe’s behaviors. It’s just that Danny is an asshole in general.

        It’s like how Rorschach was right about all the bad things happened, but for the wrong reasons and he was a psychopath.

        1. DrunkenNordmann

          Danny’s been reminding me lately of Walter from The big Lebowski.

          He’s not necessarily wrong, he’s just an asshole. And people tend to not lend any authority to the words of assholes.

    3. drs

      Condoms aren’t perfect but I suspect Joe uses them reliably and well.

  32. Yotomoe

    Ah, I’m glad to see Danny hasn’t changed. You are my constant Dan. You are my rock.

    1. RacingTurtle

      Perfect comment, right here.

  33. KJ

    At least use sharpie Danny

  34. katerly

    do not like the emphasis on “real mom” there Danny. Kinda shitty.

    1. abysswatcher1993

      Maybe Danny isn’t aware of the family situation of Joe. Joe isn’t very open about his feelings.

    2. Vukodlak

      Kinda shitty to give every woman his dad has been married to equal “mom” billing as the woman who gave birth to and spent a couple decades helping to raise. If I was Joe, I would refer to the woman I called mom for the past eighteen as my “real mom” to differentiate her from various step moms.
      How the hell is it fair to refer to a woman

      1. DrunkenNordmann

        Danny isn’t Stacy’s step-son, Joe is.

      2. Bogeywoman

        I would just call her “mum” the ‘real’ is best case superflous at best and an intentional have at worst. Imo “kinda shitty” is a fair in between.

        Since everyone’s giving their own take (which I think is rad), my sister calls the woman our dad married “mum” and I call her “lynn” but neither of us call our biomum “real mum”.

        1. DrunkenNordmann

          “Kinda shitty” seems to be Danny’s go-to MO these days. Last time we saw him, he decided to shit-talk somebody’s comatose best friend because he wanted to get in his pants.

  35. Buli-Buli

    I agree that the “real mom” thing could be a problematic term, but let’s be fair here. Not only has Danny known Joe for ages (and thus should have a good feel on how Joe feels about it), but Joe didn’t react at all to the comment.

    Let’s save our negativity for when Danny actually screws up.

    On a different note, I noticed two things.
    Danny called Joe’s bio-Mom “Ms. R”. Which is a small but noticable detail. I’ve known divorced moms to keep their husband’s surname as a way of avoiding further paperwork and/or to keep the same last name as their kids. Obviously, Ms. R wanted that surname gone.
    Also, anybody get the impression Joe is particularly excited to be away from moms in particular? Did he have some conflict with Amber’s mom? Like did she try to hard to fill the mother role or something?

    1. abysswatcher1993

      Joe has stated he prefers to avoid people to not harm them. He is basically like Amber, but while she is depressed and speaks like a misanthrope, Joe does whatever makes him happy as escapism. None are healthy reactions.

    2. SuperFroakie82

      Yeah, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Joe’s already talked to Danny about this and they’re already on the same page either

    3. thejeff

      Hadn’t noticed “Ms. R”. That’s actually kind of weird, since I assumed the “R” was for Rosenthal, but if she’s gone back to “Ms”, then her previous name also starts with R? Confusing to us.

  36. SuperFroakie82

    Uh… what’s up with Danny’s face in the cast photo there?

    1. abysswatcher1993

      He is aware he will continue to be Willi’s cosmic punchbag.

    2. Keulen

      Yeah that’s gotta be the silliest face on the cast photo so far.

    3. Spencer

      He misses his hat.

      It was a sweet hat.

    4. Bogeywoman

      He had a happy accident from standing too close to Lucy ?

  37. Axel

    I replied to some stuff but as its own thought, rereading this and some of the comments has me worrying that maybe Joe’s mom is up to some shit (we do know that there are some damn shitty moms in this comic); ie she’s been complaining to Danny that Joe’s not with her and stuff. If so, she probably didn’t like, start out of nowhere with it, but like “Joe’s not responding to my texts, do you know if he’s okay?” then escalating.

    There’s no actual evidence for this, it’s just a ‘what if’ that I hope (for Joe’s sake) isn’t happening

    (my lifelong best friend got into a really unhealthy/inappropriate relationship [not dating or sexual] with another of our childhood friend’s moms when we were in our early 20s, so my head keeps thinking about that sort of thing)

    1. Axel

      “she’s been complaining to Danny that Joe’s not with her and stuff.”

      by which I mean, she has been complaining to Danny consistently over the break, since whenever Joe ended up at his dad’s house. Not just in the ‘is he there yet?’ phone call just now

  38. Mr D

    Those are pretty sweet for being made with washable marker.

  39. Nenja

    When I saw the sleeve in the first panel I went DAMN he got tattoos over break? Then I read the last panel and laughed.

  40. Lawzlo

    Did Danny do that to himself? If so, I’m gonna give him serious props for that. He’s answering the phone with his right hand, so that’s probably his dominant hand (I haven’t checked enough comics to see if he’s right handed or not), but he has a clearly recognizable, and seemingly nicely rendered rose on his right forearm. So assuming he’s right handed, he drew that on himself with his left hand? That’s pretty impressive.

    Even if he’s left-handed, that would be a bit of a challenge, and he appears to have done both forearms with equally intricate designs, which means he’s using his non-dominant hand for drawing at some point. Again, mad props for his ambidexterity.

  41. Alex Boston

    So has “Danny” transformed into “Dan”, or is that just what Joe calls him?

    1. RacingTurtle

      Joe calls him Dan. Assuming Danny likes it, I’ve always thought it’s kind of cute that it’s the best-friend-only version of his name.

  42. Jay

    I’ve said it once Joe I’ll say it again. Clean. up. ya. ACT.

    I love ya Joe, you’re *this* close to being my favourite character (and perfect shipping material for Joyce)

    I need that Joe arc lmfao

    1. RacingTurtle

      You’re not alone. Most of the things I wanted more than a Joe arc have already happened by this point in the comic, so I am ready, goshdangit!

    2. Demolition Fan

      You and I are both fans. But Joe is college age, and he is there to learn more than is just in the books. While I enjoy watching his development, I wouldn’t hope to see him jump on the monogamy band-wagon. He knows there’s stuff he wants to experience. If he doesn’t he’ll just end up resentful, and/or cheating like his dad. And he at least, seems self aware enough to want to avoid doing that. Joe isn’t into hurting people. He was stupid and clumsy in having and handling the list incident, but he publicly owned and apologized for what he did, even if he didn’t do it well, he did do it. But he also didn’t let it stop him from doing what he wants/needs to do.

  43. mrnoidea

    Real talk—and sorry for not mentioning the comic this time, this one’s personal:

    I’m tired of the shit Trump’s pulling in my country right now, along with all those who support him. My mom’s voting for him because she equates the protests in Portland to a gang zone, and Dad’s voting Trump for lower estate taxes. I’m not fucking kidding. This is aside from my sister, cousins, and other relatives who are on the same page (except my grandma, which is nice).

    I know a shitshow is gonna happen everywhere after Election Day, regardless who wins, so I wanna help out some anti-fascist group in a big city. I was thinking Portland at first, but I’m not sure if I wanna cross state lines with California license plates at this time. All I know is that I can’t stay in my rural town and keep working a 10-hour-per-week job (I’m lucky not to be unemployed, but still) while the wildfire haze above me worsens with every year.

    I wanna quit, move out (my lease ends Nov. 1st anyway), and do something meaningful. Despite my parents’ flaws, they taught me to be a good person. So that’s what I wanna do. I just don’t know what.

    1. clif

      You could move to DC, hang out on the national mall and join the resistance. But honestly, investing in a oxygen mask is a lot cheaper. Alternately you could write to your congressperson and demand to know why we aren’t cautiously experimenting with seeding the upper atmosphere with reflective chemicals as a counter to global warming and seeding the massive dead areas of the oceans with nutrients for plankton to pull in the carbon-dioxide and as a side effect help maintain the biodiversity of the oceans.

      1. Agemegos

        We tried the second one, and the effect was very disappointing. The limiting nutrient turned out to be iron, and we spread a bit of that about, producing an algal plume that was detectable in satellite observations, So far so good. But in a matter of weeks the algae died off, and carried the iron to the bottom in the algal detritus. Crunch the numbers we found that we had released more carbon dioxide to the air by running the engines of the ship that spread the fertiliser than we had removed from the water.

        Obviously there are possibilities, such as using sailing ships, or spreading fertiliser from ships that would be traversing the dead zones on other business. But we were hoping for a long-term effect of at least a spring-summer growing season, and the experiment was a bit of a bummer.

        Of course, the really disappoint thing is that there still seems to be a lot of cheap possibilities in switching coal and oil to renewables and reducing consumption of energy, iron, and cement, which are blocked politically by the corrupt influence of coal and oil interests. Twenty-five years ago, when I was working on GHG emissions reductions strategy for the Kyoto Conference, it looked like we could do it, affordably, provided that we started by 1999–2000. We chose not to.

    2. Rectilinear Propagation

      If you search Twitter and are careful you can probably find someone who can point you to something more local than Portland. Unfortunately, I also have no good ideas but I do wish you lots of good luck.

      I’ll add that as someone living in one of the antifa zones or whatever the Hell he called them, I wonder if he somehow got anti-facism mixed up with construction and bad traffic, ’cause that’s the only thing going on around here.

      1. clif

        Yeah, I would have thought most of the US. was a anti-fascist zone, but that’s just me.

    3. Ana Chronistic

      WELL THE GOOD NEWS IS unless it’s another idiot plot of his: https://mobile.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1311892190680014849

      1. Agemegos

        https://www.sbs.com.au/news/us-president-donald-trump-and-his-wife-melania-test-positive-for-coronavirus

        Even though he’s elderly, obese, and probably not in good cardiovascular shape, he probably won’t get very sick and is unlikely to die of it. But this means that the next couple of debates ought to be held remotely, which affords some possibility of their being effectively moderated and actually getting to discuss some policy.

        1. thejeff

          And if he doesn’t get symptoms or recovers quickly, it’ll just be more feed for the “It’s not so bad. Only the weak die. Rush to herd immunity” crowd.

        2. thejeff

          It’s also going to burn through the White House staff and top advisors. There’s been no masks and no social distancing there.

          Quite possibly the rest of GOP leadership too.

          This is definitely going to change things, but it’s almost impossible to predict how it’ll play out.

        3. Deanatay

          Hopefully, though, it will cut down on the time he can spend campaigning, which will lower his numbers further at the polls. A big concern I had about this election was that Trump supporters will still turn out for big rallies, while Biden supporters are more likely to stay isolate. Hopefully, this may balance the scales.

          I feel slightly guilty about calling a threat to someone’s life a political positive, but that’s a personal issue, I’ll deal with it internally.

      2. ValdVin

        I know, right? Very appropriate day for this comic about “risk assessment” and “behavior catching up with you” to run.

        1. Ana Chronistic

          Biden: “Don’t you ever think about the consequences?”
          Trump: “What are those”

    4. khn0

      There’s a need for resistants everywhere, and not only in TAZs, but ofc one must be pretty tough to resist where everyone is collaborating.
      I’d say the first for whatever is to dfine you ideologic position, then get in touch with the closest you find, and then determine whether you want to move or not.

  44. bcb

    If you do enough high-risk stuff you good end up getting kidnapped by mobsters!

  45. Catt

    It’s looking at the front of the cast photo that we’re getting a five man band:
    Joyce is the Leader, Becky is the Lancer, Amber is the Big Guy, Dina is The Smart Guy, and Dorothy is The Chick.

    1. clif

      That’s President Chick to you.

  46. Badgermole

    I think if Danny just called Ms. R Joe’s mom, he’d know who he was talking about. Joe has just the one mom by all indications. Stacy is his step-mom. ‘Real mom’ is an unnecessary redundancy that implies the existence of a ‘fake’ mom.

    Danny probably doesn’t mean to sound judgy but he’ll be damned if he somehow doesn’t choose the worst words every time.

    1. BBCC

      I think this is a fair enough take. Joe probably doesn’t consider Stacey his mom so just calling Karen ‘your mom’ is probably good enough.

    2. Vukodlak

      Joe wasn’t bothered by it. And if he’s not bothered by it there is no legitimate reason for you to be bothered by it.

      1. Badgermole

        ??? This is a weird argument. I’m bothered by a lot of things Joe, the fictional character written to be an occasionally insensitive douchebro, likely wouldn’t be bothered by.

        1. Vukodlak

          Its Joe’s Mom, if he feels its appropriate to refer to her as his “real mom”
          to differentiate her from his step mom of three months. You have no right
          to get offended on his behalf.

        2. DrunkenNordmann

          Silence doesn’t automatically constitute consent – it could also mean not wanting to bother because Danny puts his foot into his mouth so often that it might as well be stuck in there permanently.

        3. Harvey Janus

          Joe calls Danny out on a lot of things, this seems like the weirdest thing to be silent about if it actually bothers him.

        4. DrunkenNordmann

          To be fair, we also don’t know what happened during the timeskip.

          Last time we saw Danny he was already subscribing to the whole “I’m gonna say stuff that might technically be correct in the worst way way possible” spiel.

          Maybe Joe just can’t be bothered anymore.

        5. Harvey Janus

          That sounds like a double-standard there, frankly.

          “We don’t know, so Joe changed but Danny didn’t.”

        6. Bix902

          Enough people are so aghast that Danny called Ms. R Joe’s “real mom” that I’m wondering how many of them have had to deal with shifting and sometimes messy parental relationships. Like right now I have my mom and my birth mom. When I was younger mom was “stepmother” and birth mom was “mom.” But those relationships changed as I aged. And even though my relationship with my birth mother was deteriorating as I got older, for a very long time I was careful not to slip and let her know I called my step mother “mom” because I knew it would hurt her feelings.

          From Joe’s interactions with Stacey and Amber it’s clear he’s really into suddenly stepping into a new family and the hope that his dad can actually change. He probably talks to Danny as if Stacey is his new mom, or as if he didn’t even *have* a mom until now. He’s also probably not talking to his mom as much as he should.

        7. DrunkenNordmann

          I think the issue is the “real” part. Danny could have just called her his mom. “Real mom” just sounds incredibly petty, especially when it comes from somebody not directly involved.

        8. Demolition Fan

          “You have no right to get offended on his behalf.”

          Thank you for putting it so succinctly. I’ve struggled with this idea for a while, because there are times when we need others to step in on our behalf, but I think you are correct that getting emotionally offended for someone else is over the line. Sure, do it for yourself, but projecting your being offended onto someone who has potential cause but isn’t, is just as insensitive or disrespectful.

        9. Badgermole

          I don’t have the emotional investment to get ‘offended’ by anything happening to/around these fictional characters. There are cringy or tasteless ways of expressing meaning and I do have every right to observe that.

  47. Sirksome

    I don’t know why Danny’s getting called out on that “real mom” line. It seems like such a small thing that isn’t even the real focus of the strip. Very confusing thing to focus on.

    1. BBCC

      It hits some people hard, especially if they or someone they know has a step family or adoptive family or family figure that’s not related by blood that they love very much. It can be hard to remember sometimes others have non-bio family they simply aren’t close with and may not consider family.

    2. Axel

      Even if Danny didn’t mean it in some weird aggressive way, it’s still a weird thing to say

      1. Derek

        Is it so weird? Danny is still adjusting to Joe having a stepmother, so this might be his brain overcompensating to note that, even though this fact is more obvious to Joe

        1. clif

          Axel, to me it seems a completely natural thing to say, albeit one that could easily be insensitive.

        2. Axel

          I have established from this comic and the actual real people in the comments that people in Indiana and I think very differently and had vastly different childhoods on the whole, so maybe it’s not? But it would definitely be weird for me to hear, or say to one of my friends whose parents divorced after they moved out. I mean, I wouldn’t be calling anyone else their mom (nor would they), so it would just seem like a weird, aggressive dig at “your parents are divorced, and you don’t hate “”the other woman”” enough” or some shit

          I also couldn’t see anyone in my friend group ever criticizing someone for avoiding their parents (we all have good reasons ranging from them doing terrible things to them just being not nice to be around), which is the other way this comes across to me, like he’s accusing Joe of neglecting his mom or something.

        3. Axel

          And just to clarify, it’s not because I think that’s objectively mean (although as clif said, it’s easily insensitive). It just seems like something that would have to be very intentionally added to a sentence, not something that would naturally come out of anyone (that I know)’s mouth, so they must be trying to make a point

      2. Rectilinear Propagation

        It’s only weird if that isn’t how Joe refers to her and Joe didn’t even blink at Danny’s comment.

        It’s possible it didn’t really register and they’ll circle back to that comment next strip but if Joe himself has taken to disambiguating his moms by referring to his biological mother as his real mom, it’s not weird for Danny to start doing it too.

        1. Axel

          regarding this, rectilinear propagation, you’ve made me think of one place where it seems less weird to me, which is if, after meeting too many of his dad’s “friends” (when cheating) and girlfriends (after divorce) he went on a whole “you’re not my REAL mom” thing, which Danny as his best friend would of course have witnessed.

        2. Regalli

          Ooh, yeah. That’d be a Thing, wouldn’t it. Especially since the divorce was, what, when he was 12 or so?

    3. Ana Chronistic

      Mostly because it feels like an unnecessary clarification… Joe can either easily understand which mom Danny means or, if he HAS to know which one specifically, he can ask. Why does Danny need to spell it out?

      1. Corneel

        This.
        Also, being the adoptive father of my wife’s children the calling of a biological parent the REAL parent hits close to home. I know that Stacy is not Joe’s adoptive mother, but on the other hand we do not know exactly from this Comic (ie DoA) what the exact situation with Joe’s “real” mom is either.

  48. JessWitt

    For Pete’s sake Danny, just buy cloth arm sleeves. It’s less degrading this way.

  49. Usarnavon

    Oh yay, Danny’s here! Possibly the only mlm left in the main cast!

    …yeah, if Mike and Ethan are both gone, I think I’m gonna bounce. I was really looking forward to all their relationship stuff between them and Danny, but then Mike died unceremoniously off screen. And Ethan isn’t in the silhouettes, so he might have left the comic, (also unceremoniously and off screen.) I know the male characters never score high on the popularity polls, but it sucks that only the queer men got buried like that. If all that build up was really just bait, then I don’t think this comic is actually meant for me.

    I hope that’s not the case, though. I mean I blew a slipshine subscription on seeing Mike and Ethan, and those things aren’t cheap. And I really like Willis’ comics, too… but I can’t deny that there isn’t much of a history with male romances in those works. Ethan’s had two emotionally unfulfilling one-night stands with Mike across two comics, one unhealthy relationship with a purposefully bland side character, and a bit of sleeping around with a few more background characters. Mike has slept around and had an unfulfilled crush. Danny had an unfulfilled crush. Everyone else is a background character with little to no panel time. It just feels like queer men don’t actually get to exist around each other in these comics, not in any meaningful or lasting way.

    I thought that was gonna change with the Mike/Ethan/Danny drama, since there’s a lot of genuine emotion there, as well as a lot of narrative focus. And I’m not certain yet that it’s all called off – there could totally be a reveal that Mike went into witness protection because he woke up and talked to the police, and Ethan went with him to keep him company. Or heck, Ethan just went to a different school but still keeps in contact somehow, so he and Danny repair the relationship they almost had. Or just anything at all that isn’t some rendition of the Bury Your Gays trope. But from what everyone has been saying, I don’t think that’s gonna be in the cards. It looks like those guys are gone, and if after some time it turns out that all that hype was for naught, then I don’t know if I’ll be able to stomach reading this comic anymore. I hope I’m wrong, but the evidence so far isn’t doing any favors.

    1. Axel

      I feel like it’s a little early to count Ethan out, but I do get what you mean, and it does feel like the m/m relationships are disappearing.

      1. clif

        Ethan is listed a Jacob’s roommate on the cast page.

    2. BBCC

      I don’t think there’s reason to assume Ethan won’t be back. He might not be back in this storyline but there’s more coming.

    3. Spencer

      I think WRT Ethan’s appearing in the comics he’s just taking a short break so he can be mad at Amber for as long as he wants, plus potentially grieving Mike since I don’t think he’s 100% dead yet. Mike finally gets written as an actual character (particularly the implication he’s got feels for Ethan) and instead of milking that for a love triangle he does one good thing and dies? I don’t believe it.

      However, your feelings regarding the MLM representation in the series are valid. As another queer dude who in the past has had some majorly complicated feelings over the whole Ethan/Danny stuff that I’ve mostly smoothed over as “it’ll happen when it happens and I hope it’s great”, I’ve just come around to thinking that there’s not enough panel time in the day for this series to represent as many people as it wants, and that I shouldn’t pin all my hopes on queer dude stories on one writer on their own.

      I think it also helps that I generally just like how Willis writes his queer dude characters on an an individual basis even if the romance isn’t happening. Shortpacked Ethan is a legendary thundering alpha nerd and his DoA counterpart breaking free of his angst and owning his sexuality was powerful to me and a relief after all the years of him being sad over it. DoA Danny is legit a treasure to me and helped me navigate my own journey in my sexuality as he question and fumbled his way into the shocking realization that liking dudes is okay too. But if you’re a reader not just looking for queer characters but starved for fulfilling romance of those queer characters, well, what are you supposed to do? Danny and Ethan have been single since 2016, and Amber’s moved on. If they can’t happen at all ever (which if Mike is dead that’s going to take *a lot* of effort from Danny to get back into Ethan’s good graces) then I feel there’s an opening for some more queer dudes to come in, and with Booster’s appearance as one of the few all new characters I can hope that we’ll started seeing more queer dudes in the cast.

      Ideally in an age of creator driven webcomics unshackled by the need to answer to any exec, we’d be drowning in amazing queer comics for dudes but… it hasn’t happened yet, not that much. Then again I’m also hella picky and don’t even like Check Please! so there’s a level where I am doing this to myself.

      1. Spencer

        how Willis writes their queer dudes* God, I’m so sorry. That was terrible of me and I should have remembered.

        1. Regalli

          According to Twitter profile, Willis still uses he pronouns in addition to ‘they’, so it’s probably okay. (Not sure what their relationship to gender is, of course, but by all accounts the twins still use ‘dad’ as well.)

        2. Spencer

          I hope so.

        3. BBCC

          If the twitter still says he/they pronouns, I think you’re okay.

        4. Delicious Taffy

          Now, there’s a question. What’s a neutral term for a nonbinary parent? I guess you could go the OotS route and just say “parent”?

      2. Harvey Janus

        I have to say Ethan “owning his sexuality” the way he did left a bad taste in my mouth. The whole ‘newly uncloseted gay guy sleeping around and not looking for a relationship’ thing feels like a very safe queer stereotype that’s hard to criticize without coming off as slut-shame-y, and in general his crush on Mike was basically just ‘Gay Teen Crushes On His Straight Bully’ but it’s fine because Mike’s actually not straight!

        I don’t know, I might not have the same reaction due primarily to dissatisfaction that there are so few amazing queer comics for dudes, and a whole bunch of shit in MLM online spaces that are way more prevalent than in WLW or general queer online spaces that seems to contribute to that.

        1. Spencer

          I think regardless of how I feel (I did like Ethan starting to play the field as he got over being paralyzed by his sexuality, and felt Mike actually being genuinely attracted to him an important humanizing tool that has so far gone unexplored), you’re still correct to be dissatisfied. We just plain are starved for quality MLM content and when we do actually see it we all have different takes on what we want to see happen.

          Just as an example, a lot of readers here were all on-board for Danny and Ethan to hook up ASAP after his breakup with Amber. Meanwhile, Danny gets to soul search and question himself and ultimately spend years of comics figuring out how to make himself happy instead of just flipping a switch and immediately jumping into Ethan’s arms, and that was a big deal to me! Danny got to be his own bisexual guy! I’m definitely ready to see him jump into a relationship after all his time (and yes, ideally with another guy because I want to see how Danny reacts to that new kind of relationship), but it was so much more meaningful to me that Danny got to have his growth come from within instead of his relationship.

          But then, how the heck can I tell someone that in the face of “I am specifically disappointed because there is little in the way of mlm in this comic.” I can go on and on about what Danny’s exploration means to me, personally, but then the reader who wants to see that actual romance and more queer men in the series in general happen is right to feel that way, because when it comes to mlm representation we’ve been missing out.

          TLDR: We just need more mlm in fiction in general, so we don’t have to pin our hopes on the few series that do feature mlm characters.

        2. BBCC

          Heck, this sort of competing needs issue has been a thing since Shortpacked. Ethan came out with little angst over there and some readers loved that it wasn’t a big deal for him. Others wished they could have seen something that reflected their struggle with coming out, hence why it was more of a thing for. a younger Ethan over here in the Dumbiverse instead, but obviously that left some people would prefer other takes.

        3. Harvey Janus

          I enjoyed Danny’s soul searching honestly! It was more interesting than “I’m bi now, time for a dude relationship!”

          And on the tldr, yeah, I agree and it’s kind of exhausting that we have to keep doing that for now.

    4. Nono

      Hey now, maybe this is the Second Coming of Drew as he rises to relevance. As long as he doesn’t date Danny, nobody deserves to be saddled with Danny, especially Current Danny.

  50. synnerman

    “Your real mom,” damn Danny. That asshole momentum is still flying high.

    1. Vukodlak

      Yeah its almost as bad as assuming a woman his dad had been married to for a few months is equal to the woman who spent two decades raising him.

      1. C.T Phipps

        Exactly the sort of thing I’d expect a Tzimicse to say.

        1. Vukodlak

          Damn you got the reference!

    2. clif

      Hey, Joe just announced himself by kicking the door open. They’re old friends that are willing to tolerate a good deal from each other. That said, why jump to blaming Danny for what may be just repeating Joe’s labeling.

    3. CJ

      Wording on that one is complicated. What would you have him say instead?

      1. DrunkenNordmann

        “Your mom”. Stacy is by definition his step-mom, putting “real” in front of Joe’s mother is just sounding incredibly petty.

        1. BBCC

          Word of Willis on Patreon is the only reason he put the qualifier there was so people would know Danny meant Karen, not Stacey.

        2. Sombrero

          Should we count this as unintentional dannyin’ up? Poor Dan can’t speak or do anything right. Willis should have mercy and let Mike’s ghost possess him.

        3. Harvey Janus

          I’d count it as the comment section deciding everything Danny does MUST be Danning it up.

        4. Sombrero

          The Kommentariat are just humble servants, faithfully intoning their DYWs. It’s Word of God that rules this Dumbiverse.

        5. synnerman

          Word of Willis? Alright then.

  51. John

    Tip, Danny: Who you are sucks. Try being someone else.

    1. clif

      And, we’re back to mindless Danny hatred. I’m off the topic.

      1. C.T Phipps

        No, no, mine is quite mindful.

      2. DrunkenNordmann

        I think it’s less people “mindlessly hating Danny” and more people wanting him to be better.

        1. Spencer

          Does it count when it’s a misreading of what Danny’s saying in the worst possible context?

        2. DrunkenNordmann

          Don’t see that happening – people have pointed out that “real mom” is a pretty shit way to phrase it and being technically correct while wording things in a terrible way has been Danny’s MO recently.

        3. EAFB_MD

          Pretty shit in a personal interaction is heavily contextual base. The characters tend to do a lot of things that are pretty shit if removed from the personal context and they don’t get railed on as hard as Danny is getting railed on here.

          Barging into a door by kicking it in is a pretty shit greeting. Relating a religious holiday to mundanity of having your cellphone last unexpectedly longer is a pretty shit comparison. Using Fuckface as a pet name you will be saying in public with no regard is a pretty shit name. Being called Hat Guy when you already have a preferred name is a pretty shit thing to do. And on and on and on and will probably continue on for the full duration of this comic.

          Saying things like Joe can’t be bothered anymore or that it’s none of Danny’s business despite not knowing full context, as more examples of him being unlikeably assholish, that he just Danned things up again, is jumping to the worst possible context, especially if comments are accurate that Willis meant it to be benign. Especially if another more charitable context is that that’s just the way Danny and Joe agreed upon, either implicitly or explicitly, since plenty of other posters with similar experiences find it normal or acceptable. Joe seems perfectly fine calling out something superficial and banal as Washable Marker tattoos, but it was too much trouble to call out “real mom” if he really feels troubled by it.

      3. John

        Yes, mindless hatred. It’s not like I could possibly have any legitimate reason to dislike a character that I’ve been reading about for more than a decade.

  52. BenRG

    Danny is still struggling to find ‘him’, I see, and seemingly choosing all the weird ways to do it!

    With regard to Joe, I don’t know if he knows that he’s engaged in a risky life-course and just enjoys the thought or whether he’s just too dumb to know the risks. Today’s strip suggests the former, which is worrying i na lot of ways.

    1. clif

      Unless my memory is lying to me, it’s been established Joe takes at least minimal precautions. Beyond that, he’s young and immortal. And to be honest, recreational sex isn’t necessarily the most risky option available to a college kid.

      Are we automatically accepting Danny’s risk assessment?

      1. BenRG

        I think that Danny has the advantage of being Joe’s friend and being relatively outside enough to see more clearly than some. However, I do think that there may be a bit of envy there that could be colouring his perceptions a bit.

  53. Lingo

    Danny, you could start with a less square haircut. Like, a LITERALLY less square haircut.

  54. Lingo

    Also, greetings to Rebecca St. James!

  55. Agni S Naidu

    That sleeve is actually really pretty

  56. Varangian

    Dan, m’boi

    Dan

    I love you

    But this shit is way worse than the ukelele OR the hat

    1. Varangian

      Holy shit he washable tatted the hat and the uke

      ON HIS ARM????

      DANNO, YOU ARE OFFICIALLY A HOT MESS

    2. clif

      Ukeleles are cool.

      You know, unless you actually inflict them on people.

    3. Newllend(henryvolt)

      Hey Danny there’s a little invention called temporary tattoos have you heard of them?

    4. liliaeth

      Really? honestly I think it’s a good idea. If you want to try out tattoos, but you’re not sure if you want them permanently yet, this seems like a good way to try out what you do or don’t like…
      Without spending too much money on it.

  57. Keulen

    So Danny’s making up for the loss of his hat by drawing on himself with markers?

  58. Spencer

    Danny obviously believes tattoos are sexy and powerful, much like playing music.

    I wonder if there are any tattooed musicians on campus he can take an interest in.

    1. BBCC

      Still doesn’t narrow it down from Sayid or Sal. 😛

      1. Spencer

        Yes.

        1. BBCC

          A+ response, I heartily endorse.

        2. Varangian

          Honestly? You know what? OT3. Sail this ship immediately, Dan.

        3. BBCC

          I mean, Sal was interested in Sayid and we know from Slipshine Sayid is into guys.

  59. Bagge

    You are the guy with the hat and the ukulele, Danny. We have been through this.

    1. Segnosaur

      He’s a good egg.

  60. Spencer

    Also y’all he just means Joe’s bio mom jeez

    1. Delicious Taffy

      What’s that? I couldn’t hear you over the sound of this molehill enlargement machine. It’s very loud, you see.

    2. DrunkenNordmann

      We know that. Everyone knows that.

      What people are pointing out that phrasing it that way is unnecessary and comes off as kinda petty.

      1. Spencer

        It’s only shitty if Danny meant it to be pointed commentary that Joe would have a reaction to.

        He did not.

  61. DarkoNeko

    at least it didn’t turns into an allergic reaction, i guess

  62. Zaxares

    *eyes Danny critically*

    No, Dan. I can assure you that THIS is not you either.

    On a personal level, I must say I always feel a bit strange about stories of people trying to find themselves, because by the time I was in college I already had a good idea of who I was and who I wanted to be. Outside of a few things (mostly involving technologies that didn’t exist at the time), my views and tastes on things like politics, sexuality, hobbies etc. have not changed very much in nearly 20 years. Sometimes I wonder if this is a blessing, or if I’ve missed out on a LOT. 😛

    1. BenRG

      I think that Danny is aware that the existing Danny Wilcox is not particularly someone he wants to be, given that Dorothy and Amber have both dumped him, Sal looks upon him as an entertainingly weird semi-friend and Ethan apparently now dislikes him. He just is having trouble finding a new version of him that doesn’t seem strange.

  63. FacelessDeviant

    That entrance. Is that a Deathbulge reference?

    1. Sunny

      It’s definitely the same sort of kick, although the door and hinges are still attached to the frame which is usually not the case.

  64. Regalli

    Danny’s character art looks long-suffering.

  65. Josh Spicer

    Oh wow Dan that IS old school.

    Also I hope we can get some proper Joe redemption. Or at least however it happens in terms of Joe.

  66. davidbreslin101

    Won’t you think of the CONSEQUENCES?!

  67. Deanatay

    Hey, who’s picture is that hanging next to Batman in Panel 2?

    It kinda looks like Weird Al, but there’s no way Danny could be THAT cool.

    Speaking of which, We’re all doomed.

    1. Deanatay

      Who’s it gonna be?

      “They gonna take out the cows! The cows”

      In the West Wing?

      “Here’s the deal! He doesn’t know what he’s talkin’ about!”

  68. ValdVin

    Danny, I’ll cut you some slack, as what you’re doing is easier than the reverse by mistake.

    1. BenRG

      Oh dear. And Willis counts Jeph as one of his friends. This could be a dark foreshadowing!

      1. Deanatay

        That was a guest comic, so unlikely.

        1. ValdVin

          I just wanted to promote LeftoverSoup and Roll to Save, the two comics that guest artist has. The former is completed, the latter is ongoing, and they share the same universe.

    2. Juanoku

      HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
      oh man…

      Comedy

  69. Jay

    I love these two idiots.

  70. Kazuma Taichi

    Anyone got the significance of 2309834?

  71. DSL

    P1 makes sense to me if it’s set in my college days or thereabouts, when the phone grew out of the wall and the number went with the room. But Danno seems to be talking to a smartphone, which I assume is his because Joe’s just arrived, and so why would Joe’s Mom be calling Danny’s phone and not Joe’s?

    1. Smooti

      as someone who usually has their phone on silent and thus misses calls a LOT, my mother is now in the habit of calling my spouse before they call me to get in touch, since my spouse answers their phone more reliably.

      i could see the exact thing happening here – joe’s mom knows joe won’t answer the phone, knows danny will, knows danny and joe are still rooming together, ergo just go straight to calling danny

  72. Smooti

    I used to do that too, Danny, but like… back in middle school. you’re 18, you can go get a tattoo right now if you want
    probably can’t afford a full sleeve while on a college budget, but, yknow.

  73. Jane

    So, I’m all for hating on Danny usually, but… Honestly, what’s the “right” way to handle this? And that he’d think of on the spur of the moment?

    He wants to concisely clarify which “mom” called, since he’s not aware that Joe was just with his stepmom, and there’s a good chance that either would be calling. Joe is presumably being encouraged to call his stepmom “mom”, otherwise there would be no issue here. Insisting on calling her “stepmom” in that case is rather rude, since it implies a more distant relationship than they hope for. Calling his “real mom” his “birth mom” seems pretty rude to me since it implies that she wasn’t involved in raising him. And the same logic basically holds true for all the other clarifying terms that I can think of; applying a qualifier to the relationship generally entails making the relationship seem more distant.

    Danny would be hella wrong if he were saying this in the case Joe had no relationship with his birth mother, and had a good relationship with an adoptive mother or his stepmother, but… I mean, that’s not the case here. He barely knows his stepmom, even if they spent winter break together.

    And to be blunt, so long as Joe continues to maintain a decent relationship with his mom, I’d be kind of uncomfortable with the idea that his stepmother gets put on equal footing just because she married his dad after Joe was already an adult. That seems pretty insulting to a woman who spent years raising him throughout the most formative years of his life – that a connection on that level could be so easily replaced just because his father put a ring on someone else’s finger, no further effort needed. With time, they could develop a relationship of similar significance, but that’s the work of years, not months.

    1. Sam

      It depends on what Joe himself calls them and how much he cares about seeming ‘close’ to them. If he calls one Mum and one Stepmum, that is perfectly clear and concise by itself and personally I don’t think adding the step in front makes it seem more distant (it is just a label that cuts down on explaining in my eyes honestly). He could also clarify by using the first letters of their names e.g. Mum K vs Mum S. He could also use adjectives where they contrast e.g. Short Mum vs Tall Mum, Bubbly Mum vs Serious Mum. Or you could even go with the basic: Mum 1 vs Mum 2.

      Calling someone a ‘real’ X is generally a faux pas in many situations unless you despise the other one or see them as invalid for the role but even then, it can be insensitive if the person themselves doesn’t refer to them that way. Joe doesn’t seem to particularly care but it’s definitely something foot-in-mouthy to say because there are other contrasts and ways you could identify them without going to the word ‘real’ first. It is really dependent on what the person themselves prefers though and what they personally feel is insensitive (like I don’t find qualifiers distancing or rude, but some people would be hurt by their usage; I personally would find it weird to call parents by their first names but that is also another option suitable for some people, just not for me).

      1. thejeff

        But the only way it’s a problem here is if we decide that Danny has less of a read on whether it’ll bother Joe than we do, despite Danny having likely been in contact with Joe during the break and certainly during the timeskip and having known him since childhood.

  74. Juanoku

    WHO AM IIIII

    1. Sarpiedon

      https://youtu.be/lG8rtV3vZrM

  75. Sarpiedon

    Sounds like Joe’s getting himself an STD this semester.

  76. Brighter Side

    We have hit peak Dan. I repeat: peak Dan.

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