300

Upended
Posted on May 3, 2015 by David M Willis

300 thoughts on “Upended”

  1. Jen Aside

    ONE DOES NOT SIMPLY

    TALK TO AMBER

    1. spriteless

      Unless you’re Dorothy. Then you can do it and write it down!

      1. DarkoNeko

        (ok, i hope this’ll work)

    2. Kris

      Guess Danny’s gonna need to form a fellowship to out himself to Amber.

      1. Deanatay

        We shall call them “The Fellowship of the Closet”.

        1. Screwball

          …Then Becky takes 1 look at it & blows it to Hell…

          …Least the fireworks will be fun to watch…

        2. Quinn

          It will include Ruthagorn, Ethanadoc Getthewine, Billiemere and Mike.

        3. Yet_One_More_Idiot

          What’s Mike doing in the closet?

          Apart from maybe burning it down from the inside.

          Some guys just like to watch the world burn… 😛

        4. Rycan

          And Mike has a lighter.

        5. Someone

          Ethan: You have my sword.

          Danny: Oooh

        6. Disloyal Subject

          I laughed harder at that than I probably should have.

    3. Cholma

      POINTS! [/@midnight]

    4. Haven

      They’re taking the Ethans to Galasso’s!

      1. Cholma

        More POINTS! 😀

        1. AndieStardust

          MorDor…othy

          ?
          (i’m so sorry)

        2. Screwball

          Wait, if it’s MorDorothy, plus they gotta throw the ring into the volcano… *Starts getting rather weird & possibly scary processor images…*

    5. ThatGuy

      Well she is EITHER a cloistered antisocial recluse or a violent self rightous convict.

      She really needs to find some middle ground…

      1. Rycan

        Except I don’t think she’s actually been convicted for anything.

        1. DarkoNeko

          …yet.

    6. Tenn

      Yes you do.

      You totally do.

  2. Kris

    Well I guess we know Danny’s first impression of Becks.

    1. Doctor_Who

      Hear that, commenters who dislike Becky? You are being total Dannys.

      1. Belze

        Yea, do feel kinda dirty for agreeing with Danny.

      2. thebombzen

        Danny’s actually one of my favorite characters, at least after he met Amber.

        1. TheOtherDibbler

          Hey thebombzen, you and I should start a club, I’m quite fond of Danny myself and have never understood why so many people are anti-Danny. He’s kinda sweet and clueless and tries to be a good person – I like that in a character!

        2. DapperAnarchist

          I kinda like him too? Like, he does seem to be actually well intentioned and so on… just sort of incompetent. Compare to Roz or Mary, both of whom seem to enjoy standing in judgement over others. Becky is… deeply vulnerable. Both Becky and Joyce are faced with a pair of major transformations – in their best friend, and in themselves. That’s hard!

        3. Turbanous

          It has always been my theory that Danny reminds the readers of when they were equally clueless. They don’t actually hate DOA Danny but the Danny within themselves.

        4. DarkoNeko

          This theory is nice and I feel it’s probably true !

          (Batman makes *everything* hilrous)

        5. Captain Batson

          *thinks about gardening* Holy petunias, DarkoNeko, you’re right!

        6. fogel

          Maybe reminds the Danny-haters of what they hate? Cause there’s also cringe, rue, exasperation, etc., without hate.

        7. fogel

          Not to mention, “was I really, truly ever THAT young/naive/inexperienced?”

        8. Disloyal Subject

          Some of us readers still are, but we’re fast overtaking him. Sorta like a repeat of Ash Ketchum a decade later.

        9. Someone

          I also am quite fond of Danny, I shall join your club.

        10. DarkoNeko

          He got much nicer once he fleshed out after the “I’m just Dorothy’s loyal dog who follow her everywhere”, I think.

        11. Disloyal Subject

          It really was her greatest kindness to him, huh?
          Good call, Dorothy.

      3. Yet_One_More_Idiot

        I am not being a Danny, how dare you say such a thing!

        Danny is being a….a ME! Hah! 😛

    2. Safgaftsa

      To be fair, she’s been Danning it up for a few days now.

    3. Jimmy

      In fairness to Danny, he knows nothing about Becky other than what he just saw and heard.

      1. fogel

        I think that Dorothy is informing him, not rebuking him: ‘yes, she is, but her life is upside down, so I’ve been cutting her a lot of slack’

      2. Justin

        That happens a lot with Danny, I’ve noticed. Most of his “Danning it up” moments come from him having an incomplete picture, pieced with him being in the wrong place at the wrong time (see: the entire Blaine arc). Which is frustrating for us, who see this world in various snippets from different perspectives.

        1. Rycan

          So Danny has a chronic case of dramatic irony?

  3. Plasma Mongoose

    If only there were any non-straight people he could talk to… 😛

    1. Doctor_Who

      In this comic?! Good luck.

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        It’s a shame that Willis isn’t into that whole diversity thing that all the cool kids are into these days… 😛

        1. Kaoy

          Hey, diversity is a threat to us all, alright?! Entire universes have been ended because of an over concentration of collective peoples.

        2. DarkoNeko

          Soggy may rule.

        3. poofdepoof

          +1 internet, though -0.15 because Soggies*

  4. Spencer

    If a character with a large hatedom criticizes another character with a large hatedom, which one ends up facing more hatred from the reader?

    1. GoogerGeiger

      I think it actually just ends up creating a black hole somewhere in the Universe.

    2. Doctor_Who

      The answers are Faz and Blaine.

    3. Rycan

      Do the hatedoms each come to the defense of the opposite character, or do they join forces? Stay tuned!

    4. Safgaftsa

      The thread gets moved to 4chan.

      1. Clif

        And who can blame them?

      2. Disloyal Subject

        Which board?

    5. Paradoxius

      So far it looks like it’s just a 50/50 split. I can’t wait until someone who holds themself to hating on both of them on every strip gets to comment here. Mental gymnastics is my favorite sport.

      1. GallowsOfGalatea

        If this helps you out: I love them both and now find myself performing quite the splits.

      2. Rycan

        They’d handle it with hypocrisy, of course. “Not cool. Becky certainly is obnoxious, but Danny’s just being a dick by talking behind her back like that”.

        1. fogel

          🙂

        2. fogel

          But the people who really get to me are the commenters who say things about other commenters. What? D’OH!

  5. DarkoNeko

    a superheroromantic heterosexual ? 😮

    1. DarkoNeko

      Also third panel, Dotty’s kinda talking throught the 4th wall, eh ? 😀

      1. Leorale

        Danny and Dorothy in the third panel are an excellent summary of the comment section re: Becky.

  6. Stephen Bierce

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxYsgRsNg2s <- "My Hero, Zero"

  7. GoogerGeiger

    Danny, you forgot to mention you’re attracted to Amber’s ex.

    1. newllend(henryvolt)

      I know I am

      1. fogel

        It might be interesting to know if/how attraction to the various characters varies by sex, gender, and placement on the kinsey Scale. And Becky Scale.

        1. Clif

          So where does Mike rate on the Becky scale?

        2. DarkoNeko

          Anywhere you don’t want him to be.

        3. fogel

          I think we don’t much about Mike relative to SP-Mike. I THINK that he said, in front of Ethan, that he and Amber did after Ethan and Amber’s Prom Night Debacle, when the 3 of them were sitting at a picnic table. He twice started to say something that ignited Amber, who didn’t want him to talk about whatever it was, at least in front of Ethan. I’d be interested to know how someone else interprets that.

        4. thejeff

          I read that as Amber trying to keep him from throwing the Prom Night Debacle in Ethan’s face again and again. He wasn’t about to reveal something new, just bringing up the prom night in every sentence.

        5. Rich

          That was my take on it as well.

  8. Plasma Mongoose

    Also, 1st Panel Becky’s chin rivals Jay Leno’s.

  9. Doc

    I hope the Carla magnets are unlocked soon.

    And Danny, I don’t think you get to call people obnoxious, I’m pretty sure you obnoxed your way into both college and Amazi-Girl,

  10. Yarrun

    In which Danny is half the comments and Becky’s the other half

    1. Bagge

      Yeah, it was a pretty exhaustive summary. If Becky had added “By the way, I’m rad” I think we would have got everything.

      Makes me wonder, how big is Willis’ buffer again? When will we start seeing strips drawn after the Becky-backlash happened in the comments?

      1. neeks

        he just posted a preview of august 3rd’s strip, so that big. a few months.

        1. David M Willis

          The buffer watch is always located on the left hand side of the page, for your reference.

        2. DarkoNeko

          …wow, I never noticed it before O_o;

        3. LiaHansen

          whoa

          how often am i on this site? three times a day?

        4. Bagge

          Huh, go me for paying attention…

  11. Just Me

    It’s refreshing to finally hear someone speak the truth about Becky. IF Dorothy and Joyce keeping cutting Becky enough Slack, she’s gonna hang herself with it.

    1. Spencer

      Also they’re cutting her some slack because her life is in shambles and she’s holding onto Joyce’s good nature for support.

      And, Danny can totally find her obnoxious. She barges in, talks about something completely inane, barely registers Danny’s presence, and then quickly runs out. It’s not like they had an engrossing chat over brunch.

      1. Rich

        Right, and she burst in during what was an intensely private conversation to boot. Danny has no way of knowing her personal situation. We’ll see if he remembers Dorothy’s warning in future interactions or if the slack will remain uncut by him.

        1. Yinello

          Becky invited her to get in when she opened the door, so I don’t see how she’s at fault for interrupting a private conversation. They could’ve just asked her to go away.

        2. Spencer

          She interrupted a private conversation when she walked in without knocking. We call that “barging in.”

        3. m-m

          Becky leaned into the room and said “Thank god this is the right room” (or something close) and then Dorothy said “Becky, get in here” and proceeded to ask her about Becky’s place on the Kinsey scale. Dorothy could easily have said, “Hey, Becky, we’re in the middle of a private convo. Come back in a few minutes?”

  12. spriteless

    I wonder if Mike will be the one who ends up explaining it right?

    1. John

      Postcoitally.

      1. DarkoNeko

        *snort*

      2. Airyu

        +10

      3. MrZombieScordo

        So mike would fuck amber’s boyfriend out of hate again? awesome.

        1. timemonkey

          Probably In her bed.

        2. Disloyal Subject

          Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if he managed every bed on the floor.
          Impressed, sure, but not surprised.

    2. Rycan

      Well, I can’t see how that could possibly go wrong.

      1. fogel

        Fersure, cause Mike fixes everything he touches, right? ;-0

        1. saki

          *nods* It is known.

        2. thebatman22

          Hell fix your mom for a nickle

        3. Rich

          That’s “fixes” in the same way a vet “fixes” an animal, right? Pain, blood, knives, and severed testicles in a bucket at the end of it all?

        4. Rycan

          Then there are fixatives, which is used to fix tissue samples. And by ‘fix’, I mean ‘kill anything and everything, but leave the tissue intact’. Formalin (formaldehyde in water) is a popular fixative. And fun fact: pure ethanol is often used as a light fixative – it kills almost everything. And humans drink the stuff.

  13. Spencer

    So with the tumblr megapost, I’m guessing this is the end of Danny and Dorothy’s interactions for now?

    Bummer. I was really liking seeing them bounce off of each other, and it was cool seeing them interact positively for once. Although given how they’ve been talking, I guess neither of them holds anything against the other anymore.

  14. Iron Mask

    She is pretty obnoxious, though.

  15. Rich

    Looking back over the last few days worth of strips, Dorothy has cemented my vote for her inevitable Presidential run. Wonder who she’ll tap for her VP? Robin? World peace would be nice.

    1. Rycan

      The campaign wouldn’t be dull, that’s for sure.

    2. Opus the Poet

      Nope. Dorothy will run as Robin’s running mate for a campaign, then on her own for POTUS 8 years later.

      1. Rich

        Eight years is clearly inadequate. They’ll just have to repeal the 22nd Amendment for her. Dorothy’s better than Reagan anyway.

        1. fogel

          Irl Reagan or Willis-verse Reagan. Huh. That’d be hella ticket: Robin and Reagan! I’d say Historical Jesus with either,but he’s not a citizen. Might be an illegal immigrant.

        2. Rich

          W-Reagan was much better than I remember irl-Reagan being, but he’s not a valid running mate, what with being declared legally dead and all.

        3. fogel

          Last time anyone handed me a presidential straight line that fish-in-the-barrel-y was the Thanks giving when someone I knew was reading the news on the college radio station, the annual story about the president pardoning a Turkey, while W was in the White House. I emailed her while she was still on the air that I was impressed how she kept a straight face while reading a story with George W Bush and “turkey” in the same line. She … accused me of not being helpful.

        4. Rycan

          Hey – that’s Jon Stewart’s job, not yours.

        5. fogel

          I cosplay as Jon Stewart.

    3. fogel

      Robin as Joe Biden in 40 years? She does suffer from Foot-in-Mouth.

      1. Rycan

        Joe Biden and Sarah Palin in one, more like.

        1. saltchocolate

          That makes my head hurt.

        2. fogel

          That’s understandable, but probably makes Robins head hurt even worse! Although maybe she can compartmentalize the two personality streams?

  16. fogel

    Does Dorothy think Becky isn’t obnoxious, rather, up-ended-ious; is obnoxious, but only because her life is upended; OR she gets a pass on being obnoxious, which she is by default, because her life is upended?

    1. Arianod

      Yes.

      1. fogel

        That solution goes very well with your grav and I like both! 🙂

        1. Arianod

          *Bows* ^^

  17. caesaria82

    Gosh, I just love Dorothy so much. And her face in panel two is the cutest friggin thing.

    1. Bagge

      agreed.

  18. Halloween Jack

    We all remember that Becky is working off of Joyce’s list of who to invite, right? Unless her merely being tactless officially makes her worse than Hitler.

    1. Rycan

      Gah, it’s way too early for Godwin’s Law.

      1. fogel

        Halloween Jack might have meant that nice Georg Hitler that someone mentioned the other day. It’s no slur on Becky if she’s not as nice as he/ is.

        1. Rycan

          Oh, darn, forgot about Georg Hitler. Apologies to him.

    2. Opus the Poet

      You can have the nicest family, and ONE GUY tries to wipe out an entire race and take over the world…

      1. Disloyal Subject

        More’n one race.

    3. Bagge

      I was going to make a joke about Hitler and a list… but no, it turned out it wasn’t even a little bit funny.

      1. Arianod

        That’s usually the case whenever Hitler is involved.

        1. DarkoNeko

          Seriously, US people and their Hitler-mani.

        2. Arianod

          Well, they say Americans like to keep things simple (?) and it’s really simple with Nazis: you always know where you stand with them.

        3. Rich

          Except for Georg.

        4. Rycan

          We’ve found that he lends himself quite well to almost any political hyperbole. Because scaremongering over commies got old, I guess.

  19. fogel

    I suspect that Danny is right about Amber, not Dorothy. Is she really ready to hear that her new boyfriend is crushing on her previous boyfriend, who dumped her when he decided to come out of the closet but then turned around and went back into the closet after Amber spent all summer fighting g Ethans mom on his behalf about his orientation …. if she is she’s not just Amazigirl, she’s a bloody wonder.

    1. Rich

      Dorothy’s advice might be a little different if Danny had mentioned who he was crushing on, but that detail’s been omitted so far.

    2. Rycan

      Yeah, Becky has not seen just how difficult it is for Amber to let go of just about anything. Here’s to hoping that will one day change for the better.

      1. fogel

        Amen.

      2. Rich

        That might be an advantage here for once. She’s really unlikely to break with Danny over him coming out and his interest in Ethan (that would be letting go) and she’s never given up on her friendship with Ethan no matter how frustrating she’s found his behavior with Joyce (which would also be letting go). If there’s one person she might encourage Danny to explore his bisexuality with it’s probably Ethan, and she might see it as an opportunity to help Ethan step out of the closet and stay out. I’d guess those two are the men she trusts most in the world, assuming she’s been honest about her feelings about the breakup with Ethan.

        OTOH, we don’t know if an even slightly open relationship is palatable to anyone involved here, so that’s a potential problem.

        1. fogel

          Intriguing thoughts.

      3. Rycan

        Well, duh, of course Becky hasn’t seen that side of Amber – I’m not sure she’s even met her! I actually meant Dorothy, not Becky.

        1. fogel

          I knew that. 🙂

        2. DarkoNeko

          …Becky meeting Amazi-girl would be all sorts of interesting XD

        3. Rich

          I predict she’s be an Amazi-Girl fan. If nothing else, we know Becky really, really likes girls, and it’s right there in the name.

          Tangentially, Becky shares a remarkable number of traits with Jimmy Olsen. Red hair, freckles, tendency to make impulsive decisions and say things that they shouldn’t, looks good in women’s clothes. Just needs a signal watch and she could totally be Amazi-Girl’s pal.

  20. AgentKeen

    Where we find out that the comments section is a bunch of Dannys.

    1. Jimmy

      I, unlike most people, don’t think that’s a bad thing. Besides, he just met her and he’s just calling it like he sees it.

      1. Arianod

        Yup. Without any background info, that’s what anyone would think.

    2. Disloyal Subject

      We’ve all been Danny at some point in our lives.

  21. saki

    … I kept expecting Dotty to suggest Danny talk to Leslie. Well, obviously she realizes communication is important to a healthy relationship, so I’m not surprised she told him to talk to Amber. Especially since Danny forgot to mention his man-crush is Amber’s ex. Oopsie. I’m really looking forward to seeing how all this develops! 😀

    1. Rich

      Yeah, Leslie does seem like the most obvious person to point him toward, even if she is a professor rather than a counselor. At the very least she can direct Danny to campus support resources.

      1. fogel

        Too bad he’s not taking her class. Though Joe, Walky, and Danny in the same class would be quite a trifecta for Leslie.

        1. fogel

          Are there any other guys in gender studies besides Joe and Walky? (Which is already a high proportion relative to many/most gender studies classes. Since male is not a gender there’s no real reason for them to enroll.)

        2. Gamaran Sepudomyn

          *male is not a gender* > What.

        3. Rich

          Male is a biological descriptor of your sex, and isn’t directly linked to gender. It describes your DNA and plumbing, not your sexual identity.

          Masculine would be the correct term for describing someone with the stereotypical “guy” gender identity. Gender is more nuanced than biological sex – one either is or isn’t male, but masculinity is a spectrum of behavior.

          Admittedly, very few people use those terms correctly.

        4. fogel

          True, that, about the terms, but masculine isn’t a gender either. Masculine is the human norm; feminine is a deviation; gender is a deviation from the human norm. QED. It’s like this textbook about health and medicine that I have: it says that females and people of the feminine persuasion are disruptive because they aren’t male/masculine. Well, it doesn’t say that explicitly but since it doesn’t say anything about male/masculine in the context, just stuff about how f/f people have problems fitting into health/med institutions, I’m inferring that the f/f have problems cause they ‘aren’t quite the thing’ (ie, m/m). So, sex AND gender are problems because f/f make them so. It’s like Henry Higgins sang in My Fair Lady…. although in the interest of full disclosure I should probably state that my first girlfriend explained to me that I was suffering from testosterone poisoning; she was very tolerant, though. (Just in case, the preceding is plays off of a marvelous Shortpacked episode about transformers and sex/gender, (among other things), in which Lucy receives the very blankest of blank looks when she uses, basically, the above approach on a customer ranting about female transformers, because transformers don’t have sex/gender. I showed that cartoon to someone I know who teaches about masculinities, who thinks that cartoon is fabulous.)

        5. fogel

          PS, the textbook is real. It includes little sections about ‘women and X’, ‘women and Y’, ‘Women and Z’, but nothing about men/masculinity and those topics. And even those sections are glued on, not integrated into the main lines of the text, as if someone realized, ‘.Hey, we need to include chicks in this!’ Which is better than what went before and a start, BUT… Oh yeah, testosterone “poisoning” is real, also. Sort of. Depending how you look at it. I think the “poisoning” part was her interpnetation. She may have meant it as a joke. Or not.http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=25638

        6. fogel

          Did I mention tl;dr?

        7. Rich

          I’ve seen medical textbooks almost that bad, but they certainly weren’t recently published. Barely in the last century, even. What’s the publication info on your monstrosity? I may hunt it up through the library system so I can see the mess firsthand.

        8. Rycan

          To be fair, testosterone (aka androgen) isn’t very gentle with your body. With all else being equal, men will always have shorter life expectancies than women, and the reason is that testosterone increases the risk of things like heart attacks. Oh, and the anabolic steroids whose dangers you’ve been warned about? That’s basically synthetic testosterone. And I haven’t even mentioned prostate cancer.

          Your body does plenty of things that aren’t always beneficial to itself.

        9. Rich

          Yeah, I wasn’t arguing against the possibility of testosterone poisoning. It’s the bit on slightly more than half of our species somehow being deviations from the norm due to being women. That’s bogglingly awful science.

        10. fogel

          Well, the book is neither old nor new, it exists in Text-Book-Time, which I’m sure you know: a “new” edition every couple of years, with a few bits added and a few subtracted — maybe “completely revised” every generation or so…. Anyway, I hope that I didn’t give a false impression about what it says explicitly. Above is my take on it from xraying it’s beneath the skin structure. Which really is badly out of date. Though common enough still. The academic equivalent of “background radiation” from the Big Bang. But The authors don’t claim to have “thoroulhly revised” the thing in light of the past generation’s research on sex and gender. They just tacked on some sections about F/Fs … and “race”, and “ethnicity”and … they may have mentioned non-straight, etal. … or not? Yowza.

        11. TheBiggestTom

          While this is correct, it’s worth noting that this is for purposes of clarity, rather than for any kind of crazy social-justice bent or to pwotect pwecious feewings.

          In practical discussions of gender and sexuality, considering only realistic situations (for instance, talking about bathrooms), the average person only needs to concern themselves with 2 gender identities, male and female.

          However, in an academic setting, you have to say that someone has a “masculine” gender identity, as opposed to “male,” or else you become ambiguous about whether someone is biologically male or simply identifies male. There’s nothing wrong with this!

          Also remember that in casual/political settings, “masculine” is a descriptor to describe someone who shows a specific set of culturally expressive traits, such as being tough or strong. In academic settings, “masculine” is someone who identifies and appears to adopt a set of cultural values relating to their birth sex – therefore you can be a shrimpy librarian with a man-bun who likes poetry and soft kitty cats and still have a masculine gender identity.

          And again, most people won’t ever have to care about this unless they are lucky enough to know someone who deviates from the typical gender binary…something many social justice advocates seem to miss.

        12. Rich

          I’m advocating for proper use of words, not social justice. Misuse “nauseous” and “nauseated” and I’ll be equally cranky.

          That said, I think there are far more people living outside the usual binary gender identities than you believe. Knowing one or more of them (at least on a casual level) isn’t “lucky” or especially rare anymore.

        13. fogel

          Social Justice for misused words! What?

        14. fogel

          I do have multiple settings re female/feminine & male/masculine, for pragmatic reasons.

        15. Rycan

          Words have feelings too, fogel!

        16. fogel

          And, dear Rycan, i wish that i could say that no words were misused in the making of these comments, by me or anyone else.

    2. DarkoNeko

      eh, children tend to leave adults out of their problems for as long as possible.

  22. Isaac Rader

    It does make a lot of sense that Becky being… Becky… is a defense mechanism.

    1. fogel

      🙂
      Is that a recognized psychological disorder?

      1. Rycan

        “Well, I’ve diagnosed your son with a mild case of Becky Syndrome. Give him some space, but make it abundantly clear when he crosses the line.”

        1. fogel

          That suggests that there’s a Becky Scale. I assume that Becky herself defines one end of the scale, but is that 1Becky, or 6, or 11, or 25. However it’s labeled, Exposure to anything higher would probably cause a lot of folks here to combust.

        2. Disloyal Subject

          I’m thinking she’s a five, but the scale uses lots of decimals and occasionally fractions for precision.

    2. Zatar

      Maybe partially but the first couple of comics kind of imply she’s always kind like this a little.

      1. fogel

        Having your life upended might be one of those things that doesn’t change your persona, it intensifies what you already are.

        1. chris73

          Like the saying that pressure doesn’t build character it revels it?

        2. Rich

          Pretty accurate, that. Of course, sometimes what’s revealed isn’t what you expected or wanted.

        3. fogel

          Which is kind of what W-verse Jason told Amber about Mike: he doesn’t do anything that he doesn’t want to, so if he does something it’s because he wants to do it — but it might not be for the motive you’d prefer.

  23. Itama

    wait…. Danny voiced all our thoughts in this strip….
    we are DANNY in this strip.
    WILLIS MADE US ALL DANNY.

    WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WILLIS??!!

    1. chris73

      I’ve never had a problem with Danny but well done Mr Willis

    2. Someone

      Danny is the Everyman, he is every man

      1. DarkoNeko

        AND every woman.

        1. DarkoNeko

          (and everyone inbetween.)

        2. fogel

          Also everyone on the Kinsey scale, 1–6.

        3. neeks

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7_sqdkaAfo

    3. Heavensrun

      Pfft. This comment section was ALWAYS Danny. It’s why it hated him so much.

  24. Steven

    Yeah, Dotty, people who become caped vigilantes tend not to be the best at handling their personal problems.

    and given Amber’s penchant to freak out I say telling her her new boyfriend discovering he has the hots for her old boyfriend is prime meltdown fuel.

  25. Rycan

    I love how, out of everybody at IU, Becky decided that the one person besides Joyce who’s been the nicest to her must be her nemesis. It’s fun to watch.

    I’m just worried about what’s behind the mask. DoA really needs a psychologist added to the cast.

    1. Bagge

      Yup, it’s very sitcomy of her.

    2. DarkoNeko

      eh, I think she goes along with Walky more (tho he doesn’t pay for dinner)

    3. fogel

      “As the Consulting Psycholgist I’m advising that the University seal off this entire dormitory. If we can keep these students contained we might be able to treat them.”
      “But if they’re locked in there together won’t they keep reinforcing each other’s conditions?”

      1. Rycan

        “Sir, we’re facing a possible epidemic if we can’t contain this. Time is of the essence.”

        1. fogel

          And, then, the DoA-singularity! Not that I want to alarm anyone. But, Time, indeed!

    4. Deanatay

      I still think Mike’s a psych major.

      1. fogel

        And his whole persona was drafted as part of an elaborate research design? Did he get approval for doing research on human subjects?

        1. Gamaran Sepudomyn

          No, but he was so in-character already that that just encouraged him.

        2. Rycan

          Unless they all signed a consent form sometime before he showed up in the strip, then no.

  26. Bagge

    I fear that Dorothy has a somewhat idealized image of Amber and Amazigirl.

    1. Someone

      To me Amber is less the hero that everybody needs and more the depressed nutcase who will destroy herself if she doesn’t get the help she really really needs. She is literally starting to see her and Amazi girl as 2 separate people. That’s not healthy.

      1. DarkoNeko

        She snapped once.
        And to be honest, as much as an horrible reader it makes me, i’m really looking forward the next time it happen (and a big fight with Sal ?)

        1. Rich

          Three times, I think. The flashback attack on Sal during her arrest, the fight with Blaine, and arguably the parking lot brawl with Sal and friends. All of them chain back to the first incident and her hellspawn of a father, and she seemed a little less out of control during the most recent break.

          She needs help, but she’s a long way from being broken beyond the point where she can get that help.

        2. DarkoNeko

          She wasn’t a superhero yet during the store robbery, so I counted it out but… the parking brawl ? Nothing much happened but hmmm… maybe.

        3. Rich

          It was borderline, partly because Sal refused to paly along. Her being so off script from the villain Amazi-Girl was looking for diffused things a lot. Almost like walking away from a dangerous situation is a better idea than escalating it, eh?

          And Dorothy not blowing her cover in the paper the next day was a huge source of stress gone. That was what triggered that night’s whole crime-fighting rampage to begin with.

        4. Someone

          I feel that she needs to face Sal without the costume.

        5. Rich

          It would be interesting to see, since Sal doesn’t seem to have a clue about their past history (or Ethan, for that matter). Be interesting if she immediately sees through Amber’s secret identity – that costume’s not that good. “Hey, you’re that girl in the cape from the parking lot. What the hell’s your problem, anyway?” Having Sal finally connect the dots and go “Meh, that was a long time ago. I’m over it, why aren’t you?” would really be fairly hilarious, and would yank the rug out from one of Amber’s bigger obsessions.

        6. Rycan

          Not sure that Sal is at the point yet of forgiving whoever stabbed her in the hand (from her point of view, that is).

        7. Greenygal

          I don’t think we have any data yet on how she feels. She might be “Waitaminit, you’re the one who stabbed me in the hand? I hate you forever!” or she might be “Yeah, you stabbed me, but I did kind of start it; I’m over it now.” We won’t really know until she says something about it.

        8. Disloyal Subject

          You’re far from alone. It’s a horrible trait of mine and, I assume, many others’ that I relish my favorite characters’ psychotic breaks, and look forward to them. Amber, Sayaka, Twilight… When they fall, they fall hard.

    2. Heavensrun

      A bit, maybe, but she’s right that somebody like Amber would probably shrug this off. Although I expect some initial turbulance. Danny probably won’t phrase it well, and Amber will think he’s breaking up with her because he’s gay, to which her response will be GODDAMMIT NOT AGAIN HOW AM I DOING THIS?

      1. Someone

        Your like a magnet Amber, a gay attracting magnet

        1. Screwball

          Not so much a Gay magnet, more a Attracted-To-Men magnet. The difference – Gay is just into Men (as far as I can tell), Attracted-to-Men can also be Bisexual…

          Hey, I am learning. The magnet bit scared me a bit tho, damn they make me feel weird…

      2. fogel

        Yeah. Once could happen to anyone, BUT twice suggests carelessness, or some kind of personality thing. Amber might start to worry that being a dynamic female superhero turns nice boyfriends gay??

      3. Nightsbridge

        Her last boyfriend admitted he liked boys too, and while she handled it well it was still a terrible source of stress for her. This is a topic that should be broached carefully

    3. Steven

      Dorothy doesn’t realise that instead of dealing with her problems in a healthy way Amber finds something to fight.

      Traumatised by seeing a robbery, bit wangsty but okay, become a crime stopper.

      Boyfriend becomes gay, fight any and all who might prevent him from being open.

      Seriously the girl is already about to break, probably needs to, or I don’t know smoke some weed and chill the fuck out.

      1. Rycan

        Yeah, self-medicating on anything stronger than an aspirin is never the answer, if you ask me.

        1. fogel

          VERY True, but not many folks in the Pharma States of America have much trouble finding an MD to prescribe for them. (I DO NOT MEAN THAT PSY MEDS ARE BAD, very very very far from it. VERY. I mean that SOME of the MDs and some of the prescribing is no better or even worse than self-medicasing.)

        2. Rich

          Too right. The boss of my last-but-one job lost his family, his house, and his business largely because of the impact of psychiatric meds that were prescribed by multiple doctors without them doing adequate checking on what their cumulative effects would be. Self-medicating is still never a good idea, but blindly trusting your doctor isn’t safe either.

        3. Heavensrun

          Um, Rycan was talking about marijuana, guys.

        4. fogel

          Oopsie! Are my eyes red. Uh, are you going to eat those, uh, you know, … Uh. Wow.

        5. fogel

          Cookies! Yeah.

        6. fogel

          Anyone up for a run to Taco Bell?

        7. fogel

          Or, uh, Arbys?

        8. fogel

          What do you mean there’s no Arbys ?!?!?!?

        9. Rich

          That’s nice for Rycan, but he chose a trigger phrase for me. If you’re fortunate enough to never have known anyone who self-medicated with psychiatric drugs, congrats. I’m not. Toward the end my boss was so addicted to one of his controlled substances he was stealing the prescriptions from his daughter and wife to up his dosage beyond what the doctor would given him.

        10. Rycan

          I chose that phrase for a reason. It has a certain connotation, which saves me from having to explain my point.

          Besides, it’s still worth hearing what you had to say.

        11. Rycan

          True, but my statement was quite broad. Using marijuana as a crutch without the oversight of a good doctor is a bad idea, and so is doing the same with psychiatric meds. The consequences are different, but the point still stands.

        12. Rich

          Agreed. Heck, you can even mess yourself up with plain old aspirin. Some folks just do not believe in recommended dosages.

      2. Spencer

        Also her best friend was taken hostage and threatened with a knife and Amber was further browbeaten by her father for that.

        You know, while we’re talking about how wangsty she was at thirteen.

    4. Smiling Cat

      Dotty tends to have an idealized image of everything.

  27. CommentSpawn

    What’s weird is that this conversation is so much more open and honest than anything we saw when they were dating.

    1. Bagge

      I’m really happy for Danny that he found it in himself to talk to Dorothy about his situation. Their relationship was over but they know each other well and have mutual respect. Danny is a great friend of Dorothy.

      1. Rycan

        But Danny’s male! He can’t be a friend of Dorothy.

        1. DarkoNeko

          Well he’s certainly not a boyfriend anymore 🙂

    2. Rich

      When did we even see them dating? Did I miss a high school flashback? By the time they got to college it was already over for Dorothy, and she had to hit Danny in the head with a metaphorical brick to get him to realize it. If there was a lack of openness and honesty at that point it was because Danny’s perceptions were wrong and Dorothy was steeling herself to belatedly make it clear that they were through.

      1. CommentSpawn

        When I said it’s weird, I just meant that it’s strange in general to see a couple only having this kind of conversation after breaking up, not within the context of the strip. If I recall correctly, Dorothy’s and Danny’s words/actions both made sense from their perspective.

    3. Spencer

      It helps that it’s coming after Willis has a clearer view of both their characters, and years of character development and changes for both of them.

      But, yeah, I’ve really loved their interactions this past week. It’s nice that Danny has somebody he can comfortably confide to when he doesn’t know who to talk to.

    4. Kamino Neko

      The only conversations we saw between them while they were dating were their breakup and a lead-up to it….

  28. ThatGuy

    Well maybe she IS a zero, she’s just really a GUY!

    Dun Dun dun!

    (Dorothy would be a really cute boyfriend for Walky if she got a haircut!)

    1. fogel

      And Walky would be a really cute girl friend for D if he grew his hair out like Sal’ s….

  29. Zan Thrax

    Why is “Amber” in quotation marks in the fourth panel?

    1. Bagge

      Because Dorothy is really talking about Amazie-girl

  30. Nadda

    Also “life has been upended.” Smooth way of talking to the person who’s struggling with possibly being bisexual.

    1. Rycan

      Dorothy can’t really go into detail, and she is correct. Besides, she just finished telling Danny that bisexuality isn’t the end of the world.

    2. CJ

      Becky’s life has been upended because her family is full of jerks, not because of her sexual orientation.

      1. Deanatay

        Her school might also have had something to do with it. But, definitely not due to her sexual orientation alone, simply other people’s responses to it.

    3. Smiling Cat

      No offense to Danny’s internal struggle, but I don’t think his problems compare to suddenly becoming homeless and having almost everything you counted on for support tun against you.

  31. Synnerman

    Three way Slipshine?

    Danny Ethan Amazi-Girl?

    1. Rich

      I’m somewhat optimistically shipping the three as a poly triad, but that doesn’t necessarily include three-ways. Still, I’m sure it’d thrill some folks if that wound up being a thing.

      1. Kamino Neko

        That is definitely optimistic. Captain Monogamous, Super-Insecure Girl and Tradition Relationship Lad are a terrible set to pin hopes of a poly relationship on.

        1. Spencer

          I think that’s why it’s such a popular theory. Danny and Ethan seem so completely unlikely to enter a poly relationship that it becomes a probably theory.

        2. Spencer

          probable theory*

          My kingdom for an edit button.

        3. Rycan

          Which one’s Captain Monogamous?

        4. Spencer

          Danny, I think. Ethan’s been really vocal about his desire for a “normal” relationship and life.

        5. Kamino Neko

          The one who was afraid to even be friends with Amber because he was dating Amazi-Girl.

        6. Rycan

          Ah, I get it.

        7. Rich

          Sticking those labels on them is cute, but maybe oversimplifying things.

          Danny’s been very monogamous to date, to the point where even Amazi-Girl joked about it being inconvenient. But monogamy is one of the more changeable parts of a person’s sexual identity, and often springs mostly from a desire not to hurt your partner. If it becomes a hurtful trait because your partner desires a more open relationship, relaxing it to monogamish or limited-group poly is hardly a fanciful development.

          Amber’s insecurities appear to revolve around her father and her fear of losing control of her actions. When it comes to sexual stuff she seems plenty resilient to me. Ethan comes out in bed on prom night and what’s her response? She stands by him against the homophobes in his circle for months, and continues to try to help him work through the bizarre relationship he fell into with Joyce. That is not the behavior of an insecure woman. Sexing Danny as Amazi-Girl is worrying more as a sign of a personality disorder than insecurity. She’s certainly been confident in bed there, and there’s some indication that she’d like to transition towards her Amber persona being part of things as well. Note the way she stops doing “the voice” when it comes to pillow talk the last time they were together on camera, especially when she thought she’d hurt him. That’s Amber talking, not the super-hero.

          Ethan’s probably the biggest sticking point to me. Can’t get a good read on his libido, or whether he’s really interested in Danny in bed, or if his past history with Amber would keep him away from any relationship with her in it. Still, not sold on him being super-traditional about things. We’ve mostly seen him while he was trying to stay in the closet, including as a bearded couple with Joyce. How much of that is him, and how much was part of trying really hard not to be out?

          A triad’s still optimistic, but there’s arguments for it being feasible.

      2. Rycan

        How would a triad work, if Ethan has no attraction to Amber? They’d just wind up competing for Danny.

        1. Rich

          “Competing for Danny” implies a jealousy that shouldn’t exist in an ideal grouping. Sharing Danny seems like what would wind up happening, either in three-ways or with Danny moving between beds from night to night. No relationship is ideal, but poly folks tend to have very little jealousy within their group or they don’t hold together.

          The fact that Ethan’s not interested in Amber sexually isn’t a deal breaker at all. Of the three poly groupings I’ve known well, two of them included partners that had absolutely no sexual interest in some of their fellows, and one of them never wound up with more than two people in bed together at once in the four years I knew them. Some poly relationships are all about everybody piling in at once, but thinking they all do is a misunderstanding on par with believing that all bisexuals are naturally non-monogamous.

    2. fogel

      That would seem possible if there is a Law of the Conservation of Sexualty (etc) across the Willis Multiverse. All I’m saying is “Yes please”

      1. Rycan

        I think there is. It’s just about the only thing to carry over besides personality (sort of), appearance, name, and family.

  32. notlegato

    i hope mike attends the party, just for becky.

    1. Rycan

      He’d get kicked in the shins, and shoved back out of the door. On sight. I don’t think Joyce would suffer having her party crashed by Mike.

      1. DarkoNeko

        Sarah has her bat ready.

    2. fogel

      On the other hand, they might brief Mike and send him out to attend other parties where Ryan might show up…. THAT would be an awesome use of Mikes skill set.

  33. Crumplepunch

    Wait, how does Danny actually know what Kinsey zero means if he didn’t know about the scale already?

    1. Rosario

      Because Dorothy explained it in previous strips ?

      1. Rich

        Which was about two minutes ago in strip time. Danny may have some hearing and comprehension issues sometimes, but once things sink in his short term memory seems to work fine.

  34. Kraken

    I find it a little weird Dorothy let Becky go without really dealing with the ‘I don’t like you’ bit.

    1. Disloyal Subject

      Priorities. Danny’s still there, and she’ll be seeing Becky at the party.

  35. Spork

    Ha! That third panel is litterally the whole DOA fandom’s divided opinion on Becky. As much as I like her, Becky has overstayed her welcome, but Dorothy is right but her life being cut off from social contact except her and Joyce’s homeschool group right?

  36. hof1991

    Danny is right to be careful about telling Amber. Dorothy interviewed AG and was told AG had nothing to do with beating up Blaine, but Danny saw the rage. Neither of her sides is likely to handle this well. Oddly enough, AG might handle it better, since she is immune to criticism, while Amber might flip tables and break bones.

    On the plus side, she likes Danny and enjoys\ needs the sexytimes, but it seems like affection and a casual relationship. Danny is the monogamous one. She’s Batman and he’s the disposable girlfriend who ends up realizing it won’t work long-term.

    1. Screwball

      True, she is doing the voice…

    2. timemonkey

      Amber probably won’t react poorly to Danny being bisexual, provided he doesn’t mention that his body is totally lusting after Ethan. After all, being bi doesn’t mean he’s dumping her (he should but not because he’s bi) and it just gives them something in common to talk about.

  37. Daisy

    Glass houses, Danny…

    (That said, I’m a total softie who sympathises with Danny and Becky and forgives them because of their respective ignorance and awful life circumstances.)

  38. Volkai

    Panel two…

    I like the Walky/Dorothy pair, but I would love to see an alternate reality one-shot of Danny/Dotty working out.

    1. Spencer

      I don’t think they ever really could work out. Even if he’s mellowed out and gained some more confidence, Danny is still a very relationship oriented person, and going to Yale is still Dorothy’s number one priority, she’s just allowed herself a social life instead of becoming a bookbound hermit like she was expecting.

      At best, the two of them would stay together until Dorothy went away, and that wouldn’t be good for either of them. They both want totally different things out of life and it would hurt them both if they kept at it.

      1. fogel

        True, that, though IF Dorothy were male and Danny were female there might still be many folks who’d want and expect Danielle to drop out of IU to follow Ted (Theodore) to New Haven. A very short time back Joyce said she’d give up a “stupid job” for family. There’s even plenty of colleges in New England if Danni wanted to continue work on a degree (besides her Mrs.). Would Ted reject that?

        1. Lord Stoneheart

          Probably? I mean assuming we’re keeping all personality traits the same here, it wouldn’t change the fact that Dorothy isn’t looking for a lifetime commitment kind of relationship, and Danny is. Maybe a female Danny wouldn’t have been so dismissive of a male Dorothy’s goals, but I don’t think that would have kept them together. Dorothy was going to break up with him anyway, having her dreams be dismissed was just what made her give up on trying to be gentle about it.

        2. fogel

          With everything else remaining the same being the pivotal issue. Because not everything about personality is not personal, personality is affected in ways we are still discovering by social norms regarding, sex, gender, etc. I am really asking what people think, but I do believe that there are many dimensions of life in which the norms differ for men and women. I ask people if the ole Sexual Double Standard has faded away and the answers are decisively NO. I suspect that the same is true regarding SOs/spouses leaving their niches to follow the other. But I’m interested in what others think

        3. Rycan

          Not even the most progressive person in the world is going to be free of gender biases. There would be a difference, but I don’t think it would be a big one. The only ways I could see a big difference being made is if Danny is less likely to hope than Dorothy will set aside his/her ambition, and if Dorothy is more likely to tolerate Danny throwing his/her life away.

    2. Screwball

      I don’t think we’re likely to see the Dorothy/Danny ship sail again sorry, that’s been sunk, rediscovered & looted clean. At least they’re still friends…

      …How about a Slipshine of their first time together? Would that be close enough? 😛

      1. David M Willis

        there will not be any slipshines of underaged highschool teenagers

        1. Rich

          Good to know, even if it shouldn’t have needed to be said.

        2. timemonkey

          It’s been said over a dozen times by this point.

        3. Rycan

          Why am I not surprised?

        4. Rich

          Because you’re a good judge of human nature?

        5. timemonkey

          Instead of sex I wouldn’t mind a flashback to some happier times in their relationship.

        6. Spencer

          “Boy, I hope we’re together forever! I’m even going to Indiana U with her!””

          “Danny you’re a moron and that’s a terrible idea.”

          “What’s the worst that could happen; her dumping me on move-in day?”

        7. ahuh

          …I could well have done something like this if I’d had a girlfriend in high school, although it would have made more sense since I was seriously considering studying medieval art in college and IU has a fantastic medieval studies program.

        8. Rich

          That would be interesting. If nothing else, finding out when Dorothy’s Yale/presidential aspirations started would be nice.

        9. Screwball

          Ah, underage at the time? Fair enough, didn’t know that detail. My bad…

  39. fogel

    Panel 4, “All I know is what I read.” Spoken like a true Poindexter? Or not, if she’s aware of the limits of book learning?

  40. Church

    ONE DOES NOT SIMPLY “TALK” TO SUPER HERO GIRLFRIEND WHO ALREADY HAS HELLA PROBLEMS AND TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCES

  41. Tomas

    The quotes around the second Amber in panel 3 look like a typo.

    1. Jen Aside

      3?

      Dotty knows Amazi-Girl’s identity, so maybe she’s acknowledging that w/o clueing in Danny (considering she doesn’t know if Danny knows).

      1. Spencer

        She wouldn’t mention Amber unless she knew Danny was in on it, since he’s “officially” dating Amazi-Girl.

        They both know, and they both know the other knows.

      2. saki

        Wasn’t that already acknowledged at the beginning of their conversation anyways?

  42. Tenn

    Panel 3 is the censored version of “Dumbing of Age: The Comments Section (Abridged)”.

    1. Rycan

      It’s abridged because there’s no mention of Roz.

  43. Whittier

    Trivia: Bloomington, Indiana is at a dialect boundary, and “pop,” “coke,” and “soda” are said in roughly equal numbers. The linguistic research confirms my experience of having grown up there. My parents were from the South, though, so I said “coke” until I moved to St. Louis, where I worked at a restaurant and thus said “soda,” which stuck to this day.

    1. Rich

      I always get a kick out of people whose drink order goes along the lines of “I’d like a coke – Pepsi please” without blinking. Got the Xerox Effect in full bloom there.

      My grandparents always said “soft drink” instead of the other forms. Don’t hear that one much any more.

      1. chris73

        Come to NZ, its still in use

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