The Dumbing of Age Book 10 Kickstarter is pluggin' along! As of this writing, we're $178 from reaching $45K, when the next magnet tier is unlocked! That'd be CLOSEST COSPLAY AMAZI-GIRL (after some reader input), and hopefully when I wake up in the morning tomorrow I can add that new tier. Yeah, yeah, Kickstarter weekends are slow. Starin’
The Dumbing of Age Book 10 Kickstarter is pluggin' along! As of this writing, we're $178 from reaching $45K, when the next magnet tier is unlocked! That'd be CLOSEST COSPLAY AMAZI-GIRL (after some reader input), and hopefully when I wake up in the morning tomorrow I can add that new tier. Yeah, yeah, Kickstarter weekends are slow.
102 thoughts on “Starin’”
Ana Chronistic
is it Walky’s funk
Doctor_Who
Eau de Mcnuggets de poulet.
Deanatay
Eh, it’s a college dorm full of freshmen. He doesn’t smell all that unusual.
RassilonTDavros
So either his strip got picked and has somehow already been published, or the entire campus knows him as “the guy whose roommate died.”
Cattleprod
The real tragedy is that Mike didn’t live to see the comic.
Opus the Poet
This is why this website needs an upvote system.
JA
Plot twist: Mike would’ve been its biggest fan.
Sirksome
I understand why a student death would be news but did Mike really have enough presence on campus for most people to know he is and who his roommate was? Did Daisy run an article on that shit or something? And assuming Walky is the subject of these stares why would random people even recognize him or care?
Victor
At a school that big?
Not a chance. I mean, it would have been in the school paper, like the guy who died after drinking an entire bottle of Jack my freshman semester. I didn’t know him, I never met him, and decades later I don’t remember his name.
Now the bUTt chugging guy? He didn’t even die. But if you google “butt chugging” today you’ll see his picture. That made the national news.
And now my alma mater will always be known for something.
Needfuldoer
Did he mark those activities down on his calendar? That might be important in a decade or two, and you can’t rely on PJ and Squee to remember.
Miri
I want to know but I don’t want to Google that…
Needfuldoer
About the act in general, or that particular instance? Look up “alcohol enema” on Wikipedia for the former.
Vukodlak
Well Mike’s a bit more then the guy who died doing something stupid.
He’s the guy who died fighting two gunman who kidnapped a bunch of students
Charles Spencer
Mike’s been dead for two months. If anyone was staring at Walky back in October, they’re over it now.
Jabberwocky
I mean, his res hall would probably know.
Tan
My money’s on “Booster did something”
Clif
Walky is the photo-manipped hero of Booster’s NightGuy comic.
Octopus Ink
No, Walky – it’s BEACUSE you’re wearing pants.
THAT’S out of the ordinary.
Sirksome
Is that that one douchebag that was super skeptical of those Ryan rape allegations when that started floating around campus in the foreground of panel 2? If it is then fuck that guy.
BBCC
Oooh, what’s happening?
JetstreamGW
… Maybe it’s just ‘cuz his hair’s a little messier, I think?
…
I have no idea.
Rose by Any Other Name
Random Guesses:
1) Lucy spent the night in his room (platonically helping with the comic) and everyone now thinks they slept together.
2) Joe made a new list as a self-parody, this one ranking male hotness, and he put Walky at the top.
3) Walky is having a psychotic break and actually isn’t wearing pants.
4) Lucy published one of Walky’s comics on the internet and everyone has read it.
5) Joyce recently published a new fanfic which involves a romance with a dashing man with messy hair (based on Joe), and everyone thinks the character is based on Walky.
6) Walky is trapped in a false reality, the whole comic has been a amazingly slow cold open, and now everyone is going to turn to Walky at once and reveal the twist that they’re all AIs.
7) Entirely coincidentally, the smiling individuals had sex with one another the previous evening and are actually flirting with one another – Walky is just walking through the middle and misinterpreting.
8) Before his death, Mike paid all of the staring individuals to wait until a precise moment several months later to all stare at Walky. His original plan would have continued as follows: Mike would have run up and kicked Walky in the nuts. All of the staring people would have then pointed and laughed at Walky. In this moment, they are all waiting for a Mike that shall never appear. Like Godot.
9) … I’m not topping the one above. Goodnight everybody!
I am Nothing
Any of these would be amazing to see, honestly.
Jolly good job!
Chronos
1 wouldn’t get all that many looks in college. Certainly not everyone, and *especially* not complete strangers.
2 or 3 seem the most likely to me, though I don’t see Joe as being that self-aware, and I’d have to wonder what would have made Walky snap now, of all times.
4. Possible, but I feel Lucy would have asked Walky before doing so, and if so, he’d think of that in this strip.
5. Possible, but I think she’s too engaged in her worldbuilding to work on this side story.
6. They’d be Soggies, not AIs.
7. That’s something I’d totally think in real life if everyone were staring at me, but I don’t see that happening so much in fiction.
8. That seems like something Mike would do in the Walkyverse more than here, unless I’m badly misreading him.
Honestly, I think it’s more likely either he’s known as the guy who lost his roommate, or he’s not so good at hiding his Superhero identity.
RowenMorland
8A) The same as 8 except this is how Mike reveals that he isn’t dead. The entire comic after that is Mike saying “bongo, I lived.” and then an Achewood style silent expression exchange.
RowenMorland
Walky forgot to wear a bra.
Max
He has a “kick me” sign taped to his back.
brumagem
How come Asma has been working here for so long and hasn’t gotten a single promotion?
Rycan
Management insists that she’s only been there for a few months.
Maxy
You mean for two semesters?
Doctor_Who
I worked at the front desk of my dorm the whole time I was at college.
Never got a promotion, but damned if that wasn’t the easiest job ever. Paid to do my homework, basically.
John
I worked as computer lab monitor in the Pentium lab that no one used except EE and CS majors. I basically got paid to play Doom. (I may be dating myself a little here.)
Ana Chronistic
I played Sam & Max Hit the Road!
Miri
I played that but not at uni… Quite a while before I went to uni ?
JA
I never played a Sam and Max game. I feel I missed out on a cultural phenomenon.
Roborat
I played Zork.
Bicycle Bill
Maybe she’s like me at my job … perfectly satisfied (well, reasonably satisfied) with the duties I am expected to perform and level of responsibility/culpability that I have — and not seeking anything more, thank you very much.
hof1991
It’s a student job not a career. You can shelve books at the library but you shouldn’t expect that to magically give you a degree in information science.
Ryek Hvek
Working in the stacks gave you a better reading opportunity.
brumagem
The joke was that she’s been there 10 years but I probably should have workshopped it a bit more.
Roborat
It’s okay, I got it.
Rainhat
Work study jobs don’t have “promotions”.
Newllend(henryvolt)
Did Walky pull a Joe and secretly make a black list of all the girls on campus?
Needfuldoer
Doubtful. Two of the three ladies looking at him look bemused, not irate.
Stephen Bierce
*plays The Pretenders’ “Talk Of The Town” on the hacked Muzak*
Kyrik Michalowski
Oh boy, can’t wait to find out why everyone is staring at Walky.
I’m putting my money on it being related to his break up with Amber. Anyone want in on this action?
Sirksome
It’s a stretch but, maybe he got outed as Night Guy. Lucy figured it out almost immediately.
Bryy
It is most assuredly Night Guy.
Norah
But didn’t he breakup happen on Halloween, which would be several months ago in strip time?
Keulen
I’m wondering if maybe it has something to do with his comic strip, or maybe from him hanging out with Lucy?
Rycan
Well, you should tie your shoelaces, but that doesn’t explain it
Kyrik Michalowski
I’m amazed he hasn’t tripped on his shoelaces yet, I would have tripped after the first day.
Hydrohead
I do think this is why everyone is starring. They are waiting for the fall and don’t want to miss it. It’s always funny when it happens to someone else.
DailyBrad
I was going to ask about him going out without pants, but then remembered that, oh yeah, he’s done that at least once, like going all the way to Ruth’s room in his boxers.
Jenn
On Freshmen Family Weekend he accidentally walked around the dorm with his dick hanging out and got a lot of sneers for it. Then he was ambushed with a hug from Mrs Warner before he could fix it.
Owlmirror
Big headline in the college newspaper, with a big blown-up photo:
WHO IS NIGHTGUY?
(My predictions almost never pan out, so.)
Jhon
WHO is NightGirl?
Wonderboy
Everybody knows that Mike was his roommate and that he got murdered. We had a kid die at our school and trust me, that news travels VERY quickly, even at a large school like Indiana University.
Regalli
Yeah, but Mike already died. People would have time to hear about this before today, so the staring probably would have happened already.
Then again, it was never stated WHEN Mike died. We assumed soon after the timeskip for that ‘everyone gets time to grieve’ aspect, but it is possible I suppose that he died during finals or over the break and we’re only hitting critical mass of knowledge now.
Mr. Random
I mean…
It doesn’t look like people are angry.
So 50/50 on this being horrifying.
HeinousActsZX
Hey it’s Asma!
Haven’t seen her in a while. Hope she gets her own spin-off comic about the mairoom soon.
Slartibeast Button, BIA
Now picturing this as a late 20th century sitcom.
Bicycle Bill
Or at least a Patreon strip sometime.
Make it so, Willis.
ValdVin
I thought she was in at least one. Another would be nice, though.
Varangian
Walky did an “End of the Line” Slipshine with Amber, but it turned out a lot better for him than it did for Danny, except someone filmed it and now he’s Sex Tape Boy.
I am Nothing
Sex Tape Boy and his trusty sidekick,
RozAdult Film Girl!Bagge
“again”?
ValdVin
A reference to this?
I’m reminded of the “same shirt, second day” post in Leslie’s class also.
Heather
A mix of smiles and neutral faces lends me to think it’s something at worst kind of embarrassing than horrifying (could even be positive but that’s less likely and I don’t see people making this expression just on him winning the comic contest).
Josh Spicer
Oh cool Asma’s back.
Slartibeast Button, BIA
I see what you did there.
Steve