139

Wacky college hijinks
Posted on November 27, 2024 by David M Willis

139 thoughts on “Wacky college hijinks”

  1. NGPZ

    Dino digga gonna teach them sisters to ride on a ball!!! ^^

    *plays “Cha-La Head-Cha-La” from Dragon Ball Z CD on hacked muzak*

  2. Ana Chronistic

    “You have sisters with fake asses?”

    (did this damn Grav get fixed yet)

    1. Reltzik

      They’re very mulish.

      1. Laura

        X-D

    2. Casi

      it seems to be a confused sarah, so i think so?

    3. Michael Steamweed

      Hey, now, it’s impolite to point out a woman’s fake ass, just like with fake boobs and fake hair.

  3. Doctor_Who

    Dina is not only the best character, she’s fully self-aware about being the best character.

    1. Aquila

      Which is very rare, since people thinking they’re the best tends to lower their stock significantly.

      1. Needfuldoer

        It’s the difference between thinking you’re the best and knowing you’re the best.

        1. DJTsurugi

          and then there is being the best, like Carla. ~<3

        2. Lilith Rose

          I find the difference tends to be the former has unearned confidence, while the latter is always doing things to earn confidence.

          Confidence is sexy, but only when it’s deserved.

      2. Lysbeth

        Yes, but she is perfect on account of being autistic and gay so that works

      3. Bobcat2022

        she’s become Actually Correct Faz

  4. Thag Simmons

    Okay, so Jocelyne and Dina haven’t met before.

    1. Alongcameaspider

      My guess is Jocelyne came out to Becky in a phone call and Dina just happened to be in the room at the time

    2. Doopyboop

      A possibility I had considered is that Becky be yappin’, so she probably told Joss everything about Dina prior, either through phone calls or texts. And with Dina, she might have told her ahead of time since their meet-up with Joss seemed intentional, like “hey Joyce’s sister is coming to visit is it okay if we do lunch with Joyce and Joss?” and Dina was like “okay sure”.

      1. MacareuxMoine

        I’m quite sure that Becky told Dina everything about ‘Josh’ helping them to break into her parents house. So giving her an update beforehand was inevitable. As to when she gave it, the possibilities range from ‘right after learning about it’ (cause she had to tell someone, who would keep it secret, to not burst) to ‘just on the way downstairs’.

      2. Morleuca

        I would assume Jocelyn gave Becky permission to share with Dina

  5. Dawn

    Jocelyne is collecting all the sisters. She’ll pick up Sarah by the end of this trip as well. And maybe a few more.

    1. Doctor_Who

      “How many sisters we got on this strip anyhow?”

      “YO!”

      “…I knew it, I’m surrounded by sisters.”

      1. Shadowsnail

        Where’s all my soul sistas?
        Lemme hear y’all flow, sistas.

    2. Paradoxius

      And yet she’ll never have accumulated more sisters over the run of the comic than Joyce. Ironic, isn’t it? The one sister she couldn’t collect was herself…

      1. eh, whatever

        That goes both ways, though.

      2. Felian

        The real sisters are the sisters we make along the way

    3. Laura

      Liz, too!

    4. Michael Steamweed

      Jocelyne (later): “Pleased to meet you, Dorothy. Hey, Joyce, is she a new sister too?”

      Joyce: “NO. I have…other plans for her.”

      Jocelyne: “Wait, you have other plans? Or do the shippers have other plans?”

      Greek Chorus: “Yes.”

      1. Mark

        Dorothy: “Plans…?”

        1. Mark

          Stares hard through the fourth wall: “What are you up to?”

        2. Shadowsnail

          Dorothy is to plans as Dina is to science.

        3. NGPZ

          I really want to see Dina help Dorothy embrace her autistic self T_T

  6. Sirksome

    There are too many sisters…..Don’t worry. Much like the line this references this cryptic threat will never be paid off.

    1. Laura

      “Do you know what you get if you feed a tribble?”

      1. clif

        Fewer Klingons.

      2. Casi

        one of the best episodes of Star Trek DS9

  7. Raven

    I can’t tell what emotion Joyce is having in the last panel

    1. Alongcameaspider

      Maybe feeling insecure, like she’s not cool enough to be Jocelyne’s sister

    2. katerly

      She was the last to hear about Jocelyn (in her mind) and now probably feels replaced

      1. Caro

        I feel like she’s remembering what Ethan told her, the ‘always be your sister’ line. The emphasis on that word makes me think it’s likely…

        1. Straximus

          Yeah. And when she realizes Ethan also knew before her…

    3. Reltzik

      Joyce’s big sister wants different sisters that aren’t Joyce.

    4. KM

      I mean she’s still processing being one of the last to know and Dina (unintentionally) upstaging her at every turn. Jocelyne doesn’t seem to have picked up on that because I doubt she’d have reinforced that insecurity by proclaiming she wants another “real ass” sister if she did.

      1. Kimi

        It is always a weird insecure feeling when you bring a friend to visit a family member and the family member spends most of the time complimenting them, especially if the family member doesn’t compliment you directly often.

      2. Mark

        Jealousy intensifies.

      3. Morleuca

        euphoria is a bit blinding

    5. Patrick Duke

      I think Ethan’s “Tell her, ‘You will always be my sister” comment finally caught up with Joyce and she realizes Ethan was talking about Jocelyn and not Carla.

      1. audkitten

        Yep that’s what I’m thinking too

        1. Straximus

          Yeah. And when she realizes Ethan also knew before her…

    6. Victor Riley

      I think it might be Dina’s comment about them being inevitably wed…

      Joyce is learning to be a lot more accepting, yes… but she may not have faced the gay marriage issue. She was raised on the insistence of “Man-Woman = Marriage”… so that might still be lingering.

      (Our first reactions to anything is what we’ve been conditioned to do… it’s our second and beyond reactions are who we actually are.)

      Her subconscious may be getting okay with the thought of 2 women getting together, or 2 dudes… but marriage is an almost mythical status that, again, she’s been conditioned to be insistent on. Heck, she started the comic with the intention of not getting an education, but to find a husband so she could be a stay-at-home-mom. None of this new acceptance thought was even on her radar… but she’s learning. (Had she not already met Carla, or learned about these things in her classes… she would have reacted WAY different to Jocelyne, I think)

      She’ll check herself, deal with it, and be fine. But she’s going to have those few realization moments.

      1. John Campbell

        She’s already RPed being married to Dorothy…

      2. Tan

        Joyce’s reaction to Becky & Dina’s potential marriage already happened: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2023/comic/book-13/02-turning-saints-into-the-sea/kindasorta/

      3. Adept

        I don’t think so. Becky and Dina getting married in the future has been brought up before. Joyce has no problem with it.

        1. Michael Steamweed

          She rather celebrated it. With a high-pitch frequency joy(ce)ous shout that only dogs could hear.

        2. Mark

          I think even a few of the dogs were asking each other: “do you hear something? I’m not quite sure….”

        3. Victor Riley

          Hmmm… then I’m stuck on what it might mean.

      4. Nymph

        I love when people post paragraphs of analysis based on a single expression lmfao

      5. Shade

        Honestly I don’t think its the wedding thing, I think she might be feeling a bit jealous and insecure.

      6. Felian

        I actually think Joyce at that point was still more concerned with the *premarital* part of pre-marital hankypanky, than the gay part of hankypanky… like, “alright, people are born gay, i get this now, BUT THEY STILL HAVE TO FOLLOW THE INEVITABLE LAW OF MARRIAGE”

    7. HueSatLight

      I don’t know if she’s thinking about right now, but I expect it will be on her mind sooner or later. Especially after she figures out Ethan knew too. And I presume nobody has told her about Jordan yet.

  8. katerly

    Aww Joyce. Lotta stuff is changing again

  9. Opus the Poet

    Joyce is feeling? Neglected? Abandoned? Left for dead?

    1. NGPZ

      “You let her know that she is– and has always been– your sister.”

  10. thakoru

    A wizard is never lame. Nor is he tryhard. He always comes off exactly as cool as he means to.

    1. Michael Steamweed

      Well, sure, if you got the likes of Sir Christopher Lee and Sir Ian McKellen portraying you. 😀

  11. John Campbell

    But if Becky’s your sister, and Dina becomes your sister, then, by the transitive property of sisterhood, Becky and Dina are sisters, and that just makes things weird.

    1. Nymph

      Not how chosen family works at all

      1. Mark

        A non-transitive relation.

        1. Shadowsnail

          Nice!
          Now I’m conflicted. Is the relation irreflexive because one can’t be one’s one sister, or is it reflexive because one should treat oneself with the respect one would give a sister, i.e., The Greatest Love of All principle?

      2. Regret

        I’ve had chosen family where the resulting lack of social pressure to have sexual or romantic opinions about each other was a large selling point.

        So chosen family can work like that if the choosers want it to.

  12. Sirksome

    Joyce’s expression is functionally unreadable, but she’s wanted a sister all her life and to not only be told after her friends but to also seemingly be upstaged by said friends must not feel great. I’m sure it’s just some miscommunication but Dina suddenly stealing the sisterly affection Joyce pined for…..it might be a rough day for her.

    1. KM

      Yeah, and no one’s actually deliberately upstaging her or acting with malice, they were just being themselves and having fun. I hope Jocelyne picks up on that soon and assures Joyce

      1. Coatl

        Exactly, the others are chatting naturally, and yes, Joyce is capable of saying something that triggers a conflict. But it’s obvious that Jocelyne is going to notice that.

        1. Needfuldoer

          I hope they get to have a one-on-one about this. Maybe later when one of them broaches the subject of their parents’ reactions…

        2. Shade

          Honestly some time with just the two of them is probably called for even if they don’t discuss this specifically.

    2. anon

      I think she’s just processing but in the end it’s a good thing versus jocelyne being bitter and just coming out only online and functionally cutting off everyone in her family and ppl associated , so she has plenty of time to bond and do ‘sisterly things’ together since she made a comment way back like “i’ve wanted a sister all my life”

    3. Felian

      i also wonder if maybe Joyce feels left out because she is the only non-queer person present (well, except Joe, but he has been very quiet, maybe for the same reason – being afraid to say the wrong thing or take up too much space). It can feel intimidating to not know enough or be part of something enough to actually feel included. Everyone else is bantering and bonding via mutual queerness, and Joyce does not know the script.

  13. Deanatay

    Joyce: That’s a big HECK NO, Joss-ter! I have lost a LOT of my hangups recently, but incest is still a hard NO!

    1. Deanatay

      *Off to one side, Becky’s face turns red, steam starts to rise from her collar*
      *Dina walks over*

      Dina: You are imagining having sex with me as your sister.

      Becky: Hey, the lure of the forbidden is powerful!

      D: But, you have no experience of having siblings… I see. You are imagining having sex with me as Joyce.

      B: Y- you still love me, right?

      D: I do.

      B: Thank God!

      1. NGPZ

        THREE WAY!
        THREE WAY!
        THREE WAY!

      2. Michael Steamweed

        Dina is not the perfection we deserve, but the perfection we need.

      3. Mturtle7

        …Alright, this broke me. Congratulations, you won, now GET OUT

  14. Sirksome

    You know what we really need to pick this story up? For Sarah to appear shortly followed by Liz! That’s right. Let’s escalate this to an all out SISTER WAR! Then we’ll see who’s really the best adoptive sister/real sister to their shorter, possibly autistic, sibling!

    1. Laura

      Sisters before Misters!

  15. Pocky

    Joyce; lets just adopt most of the female cast at this point.

    1. Michael Steamweed

      But _not_ Dorothy. We have other needs for Dorothy.

      1. Throwatron

        Being related to the President would DEFINITELY be too much stress!!

        1. NGPZ

          no less than a King, a president and those close to them live as though a knife is dangling over their heads by a horse hair at all times

          in the end, a King who is liable for being replaced every 4 years is still a King

  16. IntangibleMatter

    Joyce seems to be uncertain about how many sisters her sister has, I hope they talk it out and Joyce doesn’t do something irrational to try to “prove” she’s cool enough to be Jocelyn’s sister.

    Oh who am I kidding she’s Joyce

    1. Coatl

      Exactly, the question here is….

      How will she demonstrate?

      1. BYM!

        Well, Dina is gay and autistic… Joyce is just autistic… But there might be some pictures on her phone right now that she could take advantage of to show how gay she is…

        1. Michael Steamweed

          “I’m queer too! See? My best friend sends me boobs pictures! And she taught me how to jill off!”

        2. Mark

          I was thinking: borrow Sal’s jacket again.

        3. brionl

          I approve this message.

  17. Charles Phipps

    Joyce must introduce her other sister!

  18. foducool

    starting to get a big ass sorority, huh, Joyce

  19. Chaucer59

    But that would make the inevitable wedding incestuous.

    1. Dday

      Is “adoptcest” an established fetish?

      1. Laura

        Yes

        1. clif

          You had to ask?

    2. Nymph

      That isn’t how chosen family works.

      1. Shadowsnail

        To remove ambiguity, we could develop a new vocabulary for chosen family. I nominate “chosis” and “chobro”.

    3. Carla's #2 Fan

      I was thinking the same. I was like “Jocelyn, no! Bad idea. Let them get normal married.”

  20. AbacusWizard

    Being exactly as cool as you choose to be is *super* cool. Keep up the good work, Dina.

  21. Adam Black

    I think she’s remembering Ambers Wisdom here on this,

    that its squishy to slash your adopted family

    1. Adam Black

      er squicky

      1. Laura

        And squishy!

    2. Felian

      A squish is actually a platonic crush (in aroace vocabulary), so there’d be no slash involved (or the people involved would indeed find it squicky, unless there’s an asexual who is not sex repulsed and has a squish on someone allosexual and they chose to do slashy stuff together).

  22. Amós Batista

    Oh no: last panel with action going to the left (Joyce walking), instead right.
    You can left Christianity, but the stigma never left you…

    1. Nymph

      what??

      1. eh, whatever

        Stigma, pl. stigmata: Jesus’s wounds from being crucified.

        1. NGPZ

          yee, it’s this belief in Christian sects where wounds called stigmata spontaneously appear in the same places they had on Jesus when he was crucified: the hands, wrists, feet, near the heart, the head, and back

          according to their tradition, they are meant to symbolize one who’s lived a life of virtue akin to Jesus himself, taking on a burden of suffering for the benefit of others.

  23. BBCC

    I don’t see why not, Joyce has already adopted half the female cast as a sister.

  24. Acher4

    Noone is at fault here.

    But Joyce is right to feel a bit betrayed with all of this, isn’t she?

    1. Nymph

      I mean, she can feel however she feels.

    2. Dot

      It’s fine for her to feel hurt that she was ranked less worthy of Jocelyne’s trust than Becky and Dina, but it’s fine for Jocelyne to make those determinations as a recently-closeted trans woman. It’s a conversation they should have.

  25. Shakes

    Personally I think the last panel is the look of realisation and not anything negative.

    1. MK15

      I think so too. The “two and two together” that Ethan knew and ~that’s~ what he was trying to say to Joyce.

  26. jflb96

    The whole point of a sister-in-law is that they’re as much a real-ass sister as one you adopted. That’s why there was that whole kerfuffle around whether or not Henry VIII could marry his brother’s widow: in the eyes of the law – and this is Church law, so in the eyes of God as well as far as they’re concerned – if she’d consummated the first marriage, the second would be as much incest as if he’d shacked up with his actual sister.

    1. eh, whatever

      Different church.

    2. Da Boy

      I mean, some cultures have a thing with marrying your brother’s widow so I imagine different cultures have different interpretations.

    3. Mark

      It’s like they never read MT 22:23-30.

  27. Ornathe

    I don’t have the strip(s) at hand, so if someone does, feel free to add the links, but Joyce has stated before that she’s always wanted a sister. I think Jocelyne was even present for that. I think that might be part of her last-panel reaction here. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s also feeling insecure about being good enough as a sister, especially since Jocelyne tends to tease Joyce a lot but is being more openly appreciative of even Dina whom she’s only just met, but that can be talked out, I hope. Joyce has always wanted a sister who loves her, and she has one, but it might feel a little fragile right now, with everyone else in the middle.

    1. Doopyboop

      Ask and you shall receive! granted I didn’t get every time she’s mentioned a sister(which would be like half of anytime she’s with Sarah) but I did find when she mentioned it around Joss! https://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/03-when-god-closes-the-door/india/

      1. Sirksome

        Remember when we thought John might be cool too, before he set a record for how quick he let the mask slip that he was a homophobic douche that thought being gay was a trend, and that he skims from donations meant for the poor? Those were the days.

      2. Michael Steamweed

        “Hey Joyce good news” took a little while to come to fruition. But here we are!

  28. Arianod

    Jeez, Jocelyn. Leave some sisters for everyone else.

  29. Mark

    Could be worse, Joyce: nobody’s trying to make Joe an honorary sister.

  30. Taffy

    I like that Joyce is talking up her cool friend.

    They should hug.

  31. furubatsu

    I think Joyce feeling hurt over being the last to know about her sister (and even realising thst Ethan, a guy she dated for about a week and met Jocelyn once was trusted with this information before Joyce, as well as Dina whose implied to have not even MET Jocelyn until now knew) plus looking back at Joyce asking Sarah if she’s going about Carla the wrong way and Sarah’s response being “you’re meeting everyone’s expectations (of you)” and Joyce seeing that as an “oh no” moment is leading to a lot of self reflection and maybe even another hard push away from who she used to be pre-college.

  32. Dev

    Aww… 🙁

  33. Woop de doop

    That’s a good quote. I am exactly as cool as I choose to be which inadvertently arrives at an enviable amount. I’m gonna use that.

  34. Felian

    “Sorry Jocelyne, we have reached the maximum of possible sisters, because i accidentally started insisting Carla was my sister.”

  35. Jammy

    ‘Dina [Last Name]: An Enviable Amount of Cool’ sounds like a great biography title.

    1. NGPZ

      in this universe she’s Dina Saruyama ^^

  36. Needfuldoer

    (I’m not on Bluesky so I’ll post here)

    So sorry about Miss Sakaki, Willises. 🙁 Sometimes the kindest thing you can do is say goodbye, even when it shatters you to pieces.

    1. NGPZ

      ?????? May she have the happiest adventures in the Final Unknown

      *plays “Tapha Niang” by Toumani Diabate on passing car radio*

  37. Jess

    Ok so my brain is saying that Joyce is gonna try to be more like Dina because jealous. The consequence is that Joyce thinks that just means ‘perfect and gay’. In which case, poor Joe.

    1. Jess

      Oh I’m Joyce now. Cool.

      1. NGPZ

        Just like the fucking SpongeBob episode where Patrick starts copying SpongeBob because he wants to win a trophy so bad XD

  38. Lars

    And we have a book title. “I am exactly as cool as I choose to be, which inadvertantly arrives at an enviable amount.”

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