203

Flowers
Posted on January 27, 2018 by David M Willis

203 thoughts on “Flowers”

  1. JetstreamGW

    Joyce is best halloween costume.

    1. Doctor_Who

      Getting the smile right is the hard part. Go too far with it, and instead you’re the Chatterer from Hellraiser.

      1. Deanatay

        Yeah, Ruth’s got the blue eyes down, but imagining her face with the triangle smile… breaks my brain.

        1. Steven Fisher

          I think we might have seen that once. She was threatening or hurting someone.

    2. ozzi

      Joe said hes was going as Joyce for……no I cant do that joke…….

      1. Deanatay

        Prom?

    3. HentMas

      isn’t that culturally appropriating white Christians? /s

  2. meanderling

    AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA so cute

    1. Gen

      Billie’s expression in the last panel makes me think we’re not headed for the easy drama yet.

      Would be nice to continue the “cute” for a bit.

  3. Passchendaele

    leefs

    1. Bicycle Bill

      Looks like an oak leef.

      1. Passchendaele

        and also a maple leef

        1. Goshii

          I can’t believe the Leafs are finally having a good season.

        2. Passchendaele

          wait, seriously? o-o

        3. Reltzik

          They’re 28-23 so far, which isn’t great and is only third in their division but is still (so far) a solidly winning season. For comparison, the Senators are 15-32.

  4. Danni

    archie and veronica

    1. Reltzik

      Betty and Veronica.

      ….. er, wait, which one’s Betty?

      1. jeffepp

        Gwen Stacy is Betty. Betty Briant is Veronica. Mary-Jane Watson is Cheryl. Well, the last one is the other way around, really.

      2. ProfessorDetective

        She’s the tomboyish blonde. Veronica’s the raven-haired rich girl. https://tinyurl.com/h4uaarl

        1. Roborat

          They are the same person, just palette swap the hair colour.

    2. Danni

      ruth is betty

      1. Some1

        Ruth is Cheryl. Evil, redheaded, has a brother.

        1. Woobie

          Only on TV.

        2. Some1

          I’m pretty sure Jason existed before Riverdale, but I can’t find any information on when he was first introduced.

          http://archiecomics.wikia.com/wiki/Jason_Blossom

        3. Some1

          Oh yeah, I think that panel is from the story where Betty (I think) and Cheryl are competing to see who can make a better green tomato pie, because it’s a favorite of Mr. Lodges and they something something win Archie’s affection somehow.

        4. Stoodmuffin

          He def was in the old comics, I remember him. And Cheryl was always a schemer. Just less murder in their version of the universe

        5. HeySo

          I wanna say Jason’s been a regular supporting character for her for most of the run. I seem to recall seeing him in comics in the 90s..?

          My hazy recollections aside, Cheryl’s wiki entry states “Cheryl Blossom was introduced in 1982 in Betty and Veronica #320 as a third love interest for Archie Andrews, but she and her brother Jason disappeared two years later. ” which, if accurate, indicates that Jason was introduced at, or briefly after the point where she herself was.

        6. Kamino Neko

          Yes, Cheryl and Jason both first appeared in the same story, Dare to Be Bare. (It ends with both of them being arrested – Cheryl for indecent exposure, Jason for public drinking.)

        7. Roborat

          I remember that storyline, I have no idea why, I don’t usually remember 35 year old comics.

        8. Stoodmuffin

          That seems so late, but it makes sense and sound accurate

        9. Mr D

          Also they are incesting in the Walking Dead Wanna-be “Afterlife with archie”

        10. Kamino Neko

          TV is the only place where Cheryl lacks a brother (due to the whole murder thing). Or where she has even the least bit of sympathetic characterization.

        11. Stoodmuffin

          actually a good point

        12. Some1

          Honestly Riverdale feels less like an Archie adaption and more like fan fiction, written by someone who doesn’t understand any of the characters. I would say that Riverdale is about as accurate as my stories on this website, but I wouldn’t make an asexual dude flog snog a girl.

        13. Stoodmuffin

          I’m super pissed about Juggy being not Ace.

          However, Archie’s weird mysteries.

        14. Stoodmuffin

          I get so ruffled when people just smack the show down as “fan fiction” or not getting it because the comic is over 70 years old and even fan boys miss how much weird and “out of character” shit they’ve done to keep a the same comic with the general plot line “Teenage every guy likes girl. Another girl likes him who he doesn’t. Eventually dissolves into whacky antics where both like him and he’s a general fuck up.”

        15. Stoodmuffin

          going. How much shit they did to make Archie keep going

        16. StClair

          Imagine, if you dare, what 75 years of Ranma 1/2 might look like.

        17. maxyai

          Imagine 75 years of this comic:
          “Joyce, did you do your assignment?”
          “My brain computer is on the fritz again.”

      2. Lokitsu

        That’s a mean thing to say. Betty is Archie’s crazed stalker.

        Joyce is Betty.

        1. Lokitsu

          Oops replied to the wrong post. Dammit.

  5. Kernanator

    *credits roll*

  6. adjudicus

    Awww….

  7. ashely

    has the ottawa senators’ logo been on the dartboard that whole time?

  8. Stephen Bierce

    Leaves are fallin’ all around
    Time I was on my way
    Just the same I’m much obliged
    Such a pleasant stay
    Time has come for me to go
    The Autumn Moon light my way…    –Led Zeppelin

    1. Nobody

      Ramble on

  9. No Name

    In answer to all the future questions: the image on the dartboard is the logo for the Ottawa Senators, a rival hockey team to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

    1. foamy

      Kinda surprised it wasn’t the Habs TBH

      1. moriarty70

        If there’s one thing Leaf’s and Hab’s fans can agree on, it’s “fuck the Sens.”

    2. Reltzik

      …. wouldn’t “rival” imply some manner of parity?

      1. BBCC

        Yeah, you’re right.

        The Sens aren’t nearly cool enough. 😛

        (JOKING!)

      2. No Name

        Ok fine, not so much “rival” as “enemy”.

        1. HeySo

          “Antagonistic Entity Viewed With Utmost Disdain But Not THAT Much Disdain Because That Would Imply They’re Worth Caring About”?

          I mean, I’m just spitballing, it’s not like I actually know anything about the politics related to beating people up with sticks while running around on ice.

          😛

        2. Needfuldoer

          Tsundre Hockey?

        3. HeySo

          Oh, very nice.
          That, that I would watch.

    3. No Name

      And before I get questions regarding how I knew that:
      Watch this video

    4. Bicycle Bill

      We have seen that before — http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/04-the-whiteboard-dong-bandit/pick-2/ — although not in so much detail.

    5. Arianod

      OK, thanks. Using my context clues, I had determined it must be some hockey thing.

  10. Keulen

    This is adorable and it needs to continue. Of course having said that the next strips will be whatever Malaya is doing right now or something.

    1. Some1

      yeah, but if we continue to see this it’s likely something will go wrong. While if we cut away it will probably be fine.

    2. HeySo

      “Of course having said that the next strips will be whatever Malaya is doing right now or something.”

      Okay, so, Malaya, Mike, and Sarah walk into a room..

      ..it’s actually a ward of the hospital. Where Toedad and Blaine recovering from wounds. Also, Carol Brown and Faz are there for some reason.

      And for some reason, Roz and Carla are there, and neither of them are in a good mood, so they only add to the negativity.

      Oh, and Head Alien- er, I mean. Some nutjob in a Head Alien outfit.

      And.

      Dina.

      Dina is there. And everyone wants to hurt her.

      //

      There you go.
      Now no matter what comic we get, it won’t be as awful as what you just had to imagine. You’re… welcome?

      Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to wash up. I feel dirty.

      1. HeySo

        Yes, imagining some of those people wanting to hurt Dina is just too unbelievable. So let’s say they get cleared out in an initial altercation and thus can’t help Dina once the League of Evil Parents (and Faz!) works their way over to her.

        1. GoblinScribe

          What’s really inexcusable here isn’t the horrible idea, it’s the blatant Carla/Sarah/Roz/Malaya hate. Unpardonable.

        2. HeySo

          Huh? I added the second comment to clearly indicate (the characters you sepcifically listed) weren’t at all hateful. (In fact, I appreciate every one of them, with several being among my favorite characters.)
          I was referencing a tangent into negativity at first, and those are all* the negative characters in the comic. If we’re referencing Malaya, Roz and Sarah really aren’t much better in their typical interactions, and the purposeful intent Mike and Carla put behind their own displays of negativity can make them rather problematic to get on the wrong side of, as well.

          *Except Mary, whose exclusion is the true unpardonable element of my “collection of negativity”. Then again, adding her in with the League of Evil Parents (and Faz!) might be a bit too much nastiness all in one place for the universe to handle.

    3. Arianod

      Don’t worry; even if you didn’t say anything, the next strips would be Malaya or whatever.

  11. Yumi

    That last panel looks so football-player-and-cheerleader, only more Canadian and gayer than it traditionally is.

    1. HeySo

      “and gayer than it traditionally is”

      Wait, so jocks and cheerleaders *aren’t* usually just together to act as each others beards?

      Man, coulda sworn I had that pegged.

      1. StClair

        Ha ha, “pegged”.

        </sebben>

        1. HeySo

          ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

      2. Ansel

        ‘Gayer’ as in ‘even more gay than normal’

        1. HeySo

          I dunno. Neither Ruth nor Billy is overcompensating in their respective displays of masculine and feminine role adoptions, so I’d still argue less “gay”. 😛

    2. Dara

      srsly tho’

      and also so much adorbs oh my gods

  12. Loki

    Take her hand

    won’t you take a poor sinner’s hand?

  13. TemperaryObsessor

    Definitely looks like prom.

    1. David DeLaney

      … shouldn’t that end with an “n”?

      –Dave, no wait, we’d have to pay to see the ending

  14. Hazel

    *sniffle* These gals are gonna be the best of pals

    1. Yumi

      I love a good portrayal of strong female friendship.

      1. Some1

        Dumbing of Age: As edited by 4kids

        Ross’s gun is now him holding him arms strangely.

        No gay people allowed, everyone is now either cousins or gal pals.

        Swearing and references to religion is no removed.

        Mary now hates people with red hair.

        Ryan is cut entirely.

        Sal drinks soda and has a lollipop

        etc.

        1. BBCC

          Nah, the cousins thing was Cloverway. Can’t pin that one on 4Kids.

          But let’s keep this going because why not?

          – Dina would never mention evolution

          – Marcie just wants to be friends with Malaya which kinda makes that bit with her and Sal awkward. ‘I don’t want to be friends with her, I want to fuck her’ kinda is hard to translate into ‘I don’t want to be friends with her, I want to be friends with her’ but since when does that stop bad dubs?

          – Honestly, the storyline with Toedad would probably just be cut.

          – Billie and Ruth reaaaaaaallllllyyyyy like their Snapple.

          – Marcie doesn’t get to smoke either.

          – Whatever happened to make Marcie lose her voice, we’re not gonna get to se it.

          – Sarah’s roommate just really missed her mom and went home to be with her dad. Not sure why Raidah’s pissy in this version.

          – They’d probably just make Carla cis. >:(

          – Sal and Walky’s parents just like Walky better for some reason nobody will ever bring up.

          – Not sure if Sal’d be allowed to keep her tattoo.

          – A lot of girl’s shirts and other outfits would have to be redesigned.

          – Danny REALLY REALLY wants to make friends with Ethan.

        2. Clif

          – Mike would have all these nickles for no reason.

        3. HeySo

          Mike’d be the hardest thing to edit, honestly. Basically nothing he says can be untouched, but he’s too critical to storylines with his manipulations to remove entirely (though given the quality of the dubs that we’re referencing, that element isn’t likely to stop such removals from happening), and his expressions are too bitter for them to just change him to “a nice guy”- though him being helpful and everyone being mean to him for no discernible reason COULD be rather unintentionally funny to us TRUE WALKYFANSâ„¢.

          Of course, given the masterpieces of dubbing that we got with Naruto and One Piece, I just gotta also assume that all the voice actors will be super whiny and goofy-sounding and have absolutely inexplicable accents that don’t match their characters at all.

        4. BBCC

          Considering the quality of scripts in a lot of these dubs, Naruto has no right to complain about anything ever.

          But One Piece…oh, poor, poor One Piece.

          Thankfully, I’ve heard Funimation’s is much better.

        5. CJ

          Wait, what are you talking about? There a sites that take shows and make cut versions of stuff that totally redesign the story to be “kid-friendly”, Christian or whatever?
          If there are, why aren’t they shut down like all those community-translation sites the illegally translate manga and anime?

        6. Proxiehunter

          Back in the 90’s 4Kids would dub anime to air to American children after school or on Saturday (which was still the day you got up early in the morning to watch cartoons with a bowl of sugar cereal that was part of a balanced breakfast as long as you ate a balanced breakfast along with your bowl of cereal). They sanitized the living hell out of everything. They still somehow didn’t manage to scrub out the fact that Sakura’s friend in Card Captor Sakura had a massive lesbian crush on her even though they tried their damnedest.

        7. Proxiehunter

          90s and early 2000’s. I think Sakura was actually the early 2000’s.

        8. CJ

          They were legal???!?

        9. Jay

          100% I remember watching sailor moon and wondering why the “cousins” were so close to each other.

        10. Emily

          They were an official dubbing and licensing company. In many cases they were the ONLY legal option to watch those shows in English.

        11. C.

          Content that was okay for a Japanese kids show isn’t always appropriate for American kids shows, and the shows’ owners didn’t mind edits being made to fit that national demographic.

        12. C.

          Sakura was Nelvana.

        13. ValdVin

          -Sierra has to cover up her feet.

        14. Les Moore

          I thought Ryan had already been cut entirely?

        15. ValdVin

          That’s why they call those steps the cutting room floor.

  15. Nono

    Ruth isn’t actually cold (she’s Canadian), it’s an excuse to get her coat so later on she can put it around Billie’s shouders.

    1. Geneseepaws

      Oh, you made me choke on coffee.
      One hundred points and a gold star to you! My friend from Canada thought that 12 Fahrenheit was windbreaker weather; “Just a shell to cut the wind- eh”.”
      (And I SO want this to happen…)

    2. Jay

      As a Canadian I can vouch, most american weather is simply sweater weather. Heck I wore a windbreaker at -20C one day and was mostly fine (only my hands and face were cold)

      1. Roborat

        My brother in law was in Dallas for a training course, when they had a “cold day”. It was probably about 55 -60 F, so of course all the locals were wearing parkas, he was in a t shirt and shorts, wondering what the hell was going on.

    3. TheGrammarLegionary

      I dated a girl from China for a year and did exactly that, more than once. She worked out pretty quickly that Canadians don’t really get cold, but never said a word about me always having a jacket around her.

  16. Shiro

    See, this is the one that gives me some hope for the relationship surviving. I was so nervous that they were headed for a breakup now that it’s not a sexy BDSM-tinged mutual suicide pact.

  17. DinaWho

    Can someone who is better at faces explain what’s going on with Billie’s eyes in the last panel?

    1. Jackson

      Looks like an eyeroll to me.

      1. Inahc

        but a happy one. 🙂

        1. Stoodmuffin

          Making fun of her gal who can’t see how pretty she is.
          It’s like, the face equivlent of the banter they’ve been having over how adorably cute these goofy kids on their date are

    2. Bicycle Bill

      Looking up to heaven, thinking “Thank you, God”?

    3. HeySo

      Fondly bemused eyeroll.

    4. BenRG

      She’s rolling her eyes, likely at how needlessly self-conscious Ruth is being.

  18. CastawayJ

    This looks straight Breakfast Club

  19. DeadGuyKai

    Yeah, fuck the Senators.

  20. Keulen

    Have we ever seen Ruth wear a sweatervest? I don’t remember seeing her wearing one.

    1. David M Willis

      http://www.dumbingofage.com/2010/comic/book-1/01-move-in-day/agreements/

      1. Keulen

        I had completely forgotten what Ruth was wearing in her first appearance.

      2. Reltzik

        That was a sweatervest? I thought it was just a normal vest.

        …. sorry, don’t mind me, I’m just knitpicking. Purls before swine and all that.

        1. Yumi

          Nope, sweatervest.

        2. HeySo

          Is the sweatervest named “Chuck Testa”?

        3. tyersome

          I don’t want to needle you or start a row, but you should consider yourself upbraided from hoopy to loopy frood.

        4. Marsh Maryrose

          You’re really stitching together a story there, aren’t you. Tit for tatting, I always say.

        5. tyersome

          Maybe, I think were in danger of losing the thread for this yarn …

        6. adjudicus

          *cracks knuckles*

          Wool you be kind enough to explain how you manage to weave sew many puns into one sentence?

        7. adjudicus

          I have a vested interest in finding out.

        8. Chris Phoenix

          All these puns are making me perspire… even though I’m not usually a sweater.

        9. tyersome

          I do it without pinking. Shear instinct I guess?

        10. Geneseepaws

          Now you’re just knit picking.

  21. DailyBrad

    I like this a lot. Also, kinda looks like Billie’s nervousness before has dried up after Ruth’s fussing. I think it must have been comforting to her.

  22. Architex

    This is gonna be a great night!

  23. NF

    This is the cutest thing.

  24. Some1

    Dungeons and Dumbing Part 9

    The next day everyone awakes to find Dorothy sitting up in bed.

    Joyce: You okay Dorothy?

    Dorothy: Yeah, what happened.

    Walky: You kinda got poisoned, passed out and spent a night in an old guys house.

    Dorothy: Wait, what?

    Billie: Walky saw hallucinations, and I fought a giant squid.

    Danny: We fought a single tentacle.

    Walky: Wait, what squid?

    Cyrus Kzar: Ah, you must have come across the Wooded Octo. You see this entire forest rests on a massive underground aqueduct. There is a massive octopus there that lives and feeds by draping its tentacles through the small fissures that allow the ponds to fill.

    Dorothy: how did it get in there?

    Cyrus Kzar: Its species is known as the Titan Octopus, they live off the coast in large pods. There young however are quite small, able to fit in a mans palm. Often these young are collected alive and kept in barrels of water to be sold to fish markets. While moving a shipment through these woods, a cart carrying a barrel of octopuses hit a bump and a barrel fell off spilling its contents. Most of the octopuses died, but a single one fell into the water and drifted into the aqueduct.

    Walky: makes sense to me!

    Joyce: That’s so sad!

    Cyrus Kzar: Indeed, tis a sad tale of the Wooded Octo.

    Billie: Anyway, we need to get going. Which way should we go?
    Dorothy pulls out the map.

    Dorothy: This is strange, we need to reach those mountains, but a massive wall blocks the way.

    Cyrus Kzar: Ah, yes in order to get past the wall, you must travel through the aqueduct. There is a small hole where water is exchanged that runs under the wall.

    Joyce: And to get through the aqueduct.

    Billie: We need to get past the octopus.

    1. Some1

      I have a confession, I’ve literally been making this all up as I go along and hoping that no one notices. I have no idea whats going to happen until I’m writing the chapter where it happens.

      1. Inahc

        improv! 🙂

      2. Marsh Maryrose

        As I recall, the makers of Alias and Lost pretty much admitted they were doing the same thing, so you’re in good company.

        And Robert Heinlein said his favorite method for writing a story was to throw a bunch of characters into a predicament, and wait for them to figure out how to handle it.

        1. Some1

          I’m telling you guys now, no one is in Purgatory.

        2. HeySo

          I don’t recall hearing that for Alias, but I do remember when they admitted that for Lost. (Side note, I recall hearing something nearly identical for Heroes, as well, and the narrative flow of that series certainly indicates it as being likely.) As I recall, they actually bragged that they didn’t do any preplanning for either episodes or seasons whatsoever, and just came up with them as they moved forward- which, incidentally, they acknowledged as being the reason why the show ended up getting so many flashback episodes later on (ie, because they couldn’t figure out how to progress the main story and needed extra time on it).

          I appreciate improv and a lot of the extended elements thereof, but the “Yeah, we don’t actually do any work on this.” bragging vibe I recall getting from the Lost creators really just came across as unprofessional and arrogant, rather than conveying that they were attempting an atypical approach for more meritorious reasons.

          Michael Bay has said the same things about his films, as well- in that, he doesn’t really put thought into the story, it’s just a vehicle for the action, and that he’s not responsible to anyone for that because his fans appreciate his style [which, y’know, fair ‘enough- except when you’re taking major franchises and tearing up their lore and turning it into a mockery of what it was].

          All still better’n Uwe Boll, aka “I R GENIUS. I PUNCH ANYONE WHO DISAGREE, JA. BUT ONLY WEAK-LOOKING GEEKS, JA.”. Think he manages to still top the list of shoddy directors even now, even despite his name really not having come up for a long time.

          Well, there’s also M. Night, but at least he actually tries with his films. I mean, The Wicker Man gives me nightmares for *all the wrong reasons* [then again, most of Cage’s films do, so that may not actually be M. Night’s fault], but he did manage to give us Unbreakable (which is a film that should be a must-watch for any fan of “thinking superhero” or more subtle, drama-driven sci-fi stories).

      3. Roborat

        That is pretty much how most writers work, so join the club.

  25. ANeM

    It hadn’t really stood out to me as weird before when just seeing her face, but with her arms and clavicles exposed it’s really weird that Ruth’s freckles are bilaterally symmetrical.

    Also upon further examination basically every freckled character in the strip has the same freckling patterns, for face and arms. I guess that makes it easier.

    1. WonderRabbit

      I would agree, except I never noticed… until now.
      And now I can’t unnotice it. Thanks.

      (But it seems like fit some reason, symmetrical freckles on face are okay, but on the body they are weird. Maybe because cartoon characters rarely have shoulders bare, let alone freckled ones).

  26. DarkoNeko

    Bear your colours with pride

  27. AeroQC

    Nice touch having the Sens logo on the dart board.
    Perfect representation of your typical sports rivalry.

  28. Tacos

    RE:ALT-TEXT: One does not simply “retire” sweater vests.

    1. BenRG

      No, one donates them to Joyce Brown who starts making disturbing noises about “Yesss! All the Precious! Aaall of theeemmm!”

    2. Proxiehunter

      Do you send them to a farm where they can run and frolic with the other sweater vests?

      1. Chris Phoenix

        http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3658

        (SFW art, mildly NSFW text)

  29. Gen

    Butch Cassidy and the No-Pants Kid.

  30. Stoodmuffin

    Ruth: being insecure and having actual legitimate self image issues

    Me: Eye-rolling as hard as Billie because Billie loves her and thinks she’s pretty and it’s obvious

    Also me: Squeeing so hard solar systems collapse because LOOK AT THESE TWO AAAAAAAAAAAH

    1. Adam Black

      I hate this commenting system now
      ~because there is no way to way to upvote yours

    2. Needfuldoer

      Well, Billie’s right…

  31. kitty

    here is kitty’s finnish word of the day!
    pronunciation guide: https://unilang.org/view.php?res=53

    mehiläinen (bee, bees)

    the english word “bees” is funnier

    have a nice day!

    1. kitty

      im sorry for not replying typically! i work the night shift and dumbing of age updates at 7 morning here, which is just after i come home to go to sleep

    2. Kamino Neko

      Mehiläinen, my god.

    3. Liliet

      this word sounds incredibly adorable

    4. Roborat

      Such a large word for such a small insect.

  32. ValdVin

    Billie, happiest she’s ever been while on the arm of someone in a team jacket.

  33. Stoodmuffin

    Making fun of her gal who can’t see how pretty she is.
    It’s like, the face equivlent of the banter they’ve been having over how adorably cute these goofy kids on their date are

    1. Stoodmuffin

      pretty sure this was meant to be a reply to the eye role comment. Oh well.

  34. Bast

    If your consciousness suddenly dropped into one of the characters in DOA which character’s body would you want to take over? (IE you have your memories, just in one of the characters bodies and life situation(You still have to deal with “your” family after all))

    1. adjudicus

      Walky. Mostly because I want to be able to eat 50 mcnuggets in one sitting

    2. Geneseepaws

      Ethan, Jacob, or Joe, in that order, cause they are all handsome and TALL. I bet they are ALL taller than me, except Walky, … and maybe Danny is the same height.

    3. TheGrammarLegionary

      Mike, because I am instinctively very polite and soft-spoken, but also enough of a jerk to think everyone’s reaction to sudden Nice Mike would be hilarious.

  35. DarkoNeko

    Plastic cup is too light and the flowers stand will tip over ?

    1. ValdVin

      Maybe. Perhaps Fuckface will get in there and eat the flowers.

      Yours is more possible, mine would take magic, but may be more entertaining.

  36. BenRG

    Poor Ruth! Thanks to that abusive thug of a grandfather, she’ll always spend her life, consciously or otherwise, looking for the way she’s doing something wrong. At least, right now, she’s got someone in her life to help her power through that or at least to tell her when she’s being silly.

  37. Eldritch Gentleman

    [in the Honest Trailers guy’s voice] Awww, this is just like one of my Japanese animes.

  38. Wright

    Oh my gosh – a bouquet of flowers in a red Solo cup. That is so college.

    And I have a feeling that, considering how strange she was feeling about being labeled, Billing a lot more comfortable being out with Ruth in a sports coat than Ruth realizes.

    Now all Ruth has to do is help her destroy all the dorkuses, and she’ll be her dream Prom date.

  39. CJ

    ? omg, Ruth, she’s totally charmed and into you. Stop making her work for you self-doubt.
    (I know, I know, it’s a bongo to learn not to listen to that abusive voice in your head.)

    1. Liliet

      Thankfully, right now Billie is 100% willing to help Ruth work through her hangups, and in fact being able to makes her feel better about herself. They’re slowly distancing from each other, breaking the codependency, but it doesn’t mean they have to go all the way to ‘dont owe no-one nothing’. This is something that’s good for both of them.

    2. Inahc

      It turns out setting boundaries with that voice does work! 🙂 Mine is actually trying to tone it down these days. I wasn’t really expecting that 🙂

  40. Ansel

    Can we petition to turn that into a maple leaf? …are there maples in Indiana?

  41. Ainara

    They look like good friends

    1. Pl0x

      Gal pals

  42. ValdVin

    Billie may be thinking Ruth has become happier since the last strip about autumn leaves.

    http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-6/02-that-perfect-girl/deep/

  43. Kamino Neko

    Oh, hey, I just noticed the Sens logo on her dartboard. Did she put that up after the Habs logo got too swiss-cheesed to stay up? <_<

    1. SpruceGoose

      I wonder if she’ll keep moving through the Atlantic Division or if it’s just other Canadian teams she doesn’t like.

      1. ValdVin

        She probably inherited a hatred of both the Montreal Wanderers and Maroons.

  44. NoOneLikesRobin

    That line in panel 3 from Ruth would be where the date and the entire relationship ended for me. I’ve dated several girls who never missed an opportunity to turn even the smallest honest compliment into a distrusting self-doubt interrogation. I don’t know what kind of person can find joy in a relationship like that, because it sure as fuck ain’t me.

    I hope Billie enjoys nothing she ever says being good enough and her partner constantly thinking she’s lying about anything positive. I hope she enjoys a surly fight bubbling under every conversation, just waiting to rear its ugly head.

    …Now that I think about it, maybe Billie WOULD enjoy that. Huh.

    1. monkyvirus

      ‘Cause people with low self-esteem are the worst!

      Jokes aside, you can have any deal breakers you want but that one isn’t very nice. It’s not that big an issue. Just be supportive and avoid complimenting them too much until they feel more secure. It certainly shouldn’t sap all the joy out of your relationship!

      1. NoOneLikesRobin

        It is a huge issue and this is insanely dismissive about how destructive self-loathing and self-doubt can be to a person. The problem is that without professional help and YEARS of time taken to mature, they never *do* feel more secure. Ruth isn’t just a little down on herself, she hates herself so much she had to be hospitalized and put on suicide watch. It’s incredibly hard to be in a relationship with someone like that, because it is beyond your power most of the time to make them happy, to make them feel better because their brain won’t let you, yet they are looking to you to make them feel better, because that’s the entire point of a relationship. Any affection or support pings off of them because they turn it all in their head to “she’s lying. She doesn’t really believe that”. Ruth shows that’s where her head’s at in panel 3: “Billie’s lying to be nice”. That’s a HUGE red flag.

        And relationships are two way streets: You’re going to get very little out of it yourself, because the other person always ends up making any moment of intimacy about them. The monster in their head needs to be fed compliments, after all, and he is never not hungry. Worst case scenario, your partner resents you because they feel like they’re not good enough and at the same time, they never get anything from you that they need.

        People with self-esteem issues like this aren’t bad people, but being in a relationship probably isn’t a smart idea. One of the reasons people are attracted to confidence is this, people with major low self-esteem issues can be an absolute nightmare to deal with.

        1. Fart Captor

          Ruth IS getting professional help. And while yeah, it CAN be difficult to be in a relationship with someone as severely depressed as Ruth is, it’s still possible. Ruth isn’t going to be at her worst at all times. There will be good days as well as bad ones, and Billie’s already seen far, far worse than “unable to take a compliment”, and still decided that Ruth was worth it.

        2. NoOneLikesRobin

          Which I think is why Billie is a good fit for Ruth: She likes a good fight. I think they’ll work. I do not have the same patience after many, many years with girls who acted the same way.

          Professional help is awesome and everything, but it takes years, and that’s if you have someone competent actually looking after you. Since the medical field is a shambles, some doctors just throw a prescription at the person and call it a day.

        3. Inahc

          Well, I’m glad you weren’t meaning to imply Redemption Is A Lie, but, like, Ruth is both on antidepressants and in therapy. She got the magical perfect hospital visit where the doctors did all the right things and guessed the right medication on the first try (and it was one of those newfangled fast-acting ones too). She’s working hard on self-improvement,

          There’s lots of things to be optimistic about here. 🙂

          I guess what bothers me the most is you’re generalizing your own shitty experiences with people who weren’t getting help to everyone with similar problems. They can’t *all* be like that, some of them are going to have situations more like Ruth’s, or at least somewhere in-between. Health care isn’t completely broken everywhere in the world. 🙂 This stuff does take years in RL, and most of the work has to be done by the patient, but we have better tools than we did a decade or two ago, and more people are talking openly about mental health. So long as there’s a desire for self-improvement, there’s hope. 🙂

        4. BBCC

          Ruth’s meds probably haven’t actually kicked in yet – she said it was most likely the fact she’s getting help that’s giving her some hope until they actually kick in. I believe hers take about two weeks, if not a bit longer.

    2. Liliet

      I mean, this is definitely an upgrade on Ruth insisting their relationship could never have anything romantic to it and was basically a suicide pact. This is a move up, not down.

      1. NoOneLikesRobin

        This is true, but I think a lot of that has to do with Ruth knowing that being with Billie won’t sink her RA position, thus ending what she perceives as life as she knows it.

        1. GoblinScribe

          Worth considering that Ruth is currently coping with anxiety over Billie moving away. She’s scared that Billie is losing interest for fairly concrete reasons, not just due to depression. For that reason, I’m more inclined to be optimistic about her chances for getting over this attitude. Part of it might be concrete anxieties that can be addressed.

        2. thejeff

          No, the suicidal part came first. The relationship is kind of founded on “we’re both toxic monsters, but if we drink ourselves to death together at least we won’t be hurting anyone else.”
          It’s gotten a lot better. 🙂

          And Ruth is getting professional help. Billie is supposed to be, though we haven’t seen her go to a session or even seen it referenced, so I doubt she actually is.

  45. Bagge

    Please, please, please – go as Joyce for Halloween!

    1. Eldritch Gentleman

      But the only kinds of hugs she is capable of are the ones that end in bodily harm.

      1. ValdVin

        The cosplay will go too far, and the last words we hear will be “I’ll hug those femurs right off you!”

  46. Liliet

    god blesssssssssssss
    honestly they are so great together
    Billie is honestly 100% happy with everything
    and Ruth is super flustered and therefore grumpy
    she’s super nervous about this, but Billie has yet to hit a wrong note, no matter how much Ruth pushes
    she is TRYING to fuck this up, to find where the break is, because she’s convinced it can’t be perfect
    and every time her fall is caught, every time her push is pushed back against, every time it doesn’t break, she gets better and gets more of an anchor
    there’s a reason ‘dating’ is The thing to do in a new romantic relationship. It will do both of them A LOT of good

    1. NoOneLikesRobin

      In my experience, unfortunately this isn’t how this works. People at Ruth’s level of self-doubt and self hatred don’t just need someone to stick by them for a while and deal with their neuroses, someone who will eyeroll away positivity being thrown back in their face as a lie bit by bit until they get better. If you’re that person’s partner, you’re not chipping away at their self-loathing, your effects aren’t cumulative. What you’re doing is feeding a monster that lives within them with a bottomless stomach, one who devours all positivity and encouragement, derives no nourishment from it and still wants more. That’s what makes it so deeply devastating to both parties.

      I reallllllly hope Willis doesn’t write Ruth as being “healed” by Billie. I think he’s better than that. Were this real life, there would basically be zero chance of these two having a stable, healthy relationship, but I think in DOA they can be written as having a relationship that works for them, that being one full of screaming and fights and angry makeup sex.

      1. Classic Appa

        They both have serious issues that need to be worked through, but that doesn’t mean they are necessarily doomed to dysfunction. They both have gigantic self esteem problems and think the world of each other. If they can help each other fall in love with themselves, it could work.

        I mean there’s a lot of obstacles, and a lot of ways they could fail, But I wouldn’t say it’s impossible.

      2. Fart Captor

        Ruth is currently in therapy and taking medication. Billie isn’t “fixing” her, but her love and support sure as hell aren’t useless, either

        1. NoOneLikesRobin

          My point is, on the timescale of DOA, if Willis is going to treat her mental issues realistically, this is basically permanent for Ruth. Billie’s love and support might buoy Ruth here and there, but you can easily spend a decade or more with someone like Ruth and not have your love and support cumulatively move the needle. Ruth is not suffering from a mild case of “I feel worthless and ugly today”, it is almost impossible for any love to penetrate her skull on a regular basis.

        2. Liliet

          I didn’t mean that Ruth would be ~cured by Billie’s love~. I just mean that I know from personal experience how much it can mean when someone shoves that rock bottom at your face and says “you aren’t going any deeper than this”.

        3. Fart Captor

          Half the reason Ruth is even still ALIVE is because of Billie. She was literally ready to let herself slip away, and was doing just that. From the beginning she’s been fairly clearly depicted as having ups and downs.

          Not being at her worst 24/7 does not mean she’s being depicted unrealistically.

  47. Adam Black

    iT Is Prom

  48. DrReagan

    And to think most everyone viewed this as an unhealthy relationship for so long, now they’re the cutest of cute. <3

    1. Beef

      Well to be fair it was a very unhealthy start that could’ve ended a lot worse than it did. There are still some unhealthy aspects but you’re right, they’re the cutest 😀

    2. Eldritch Gentleman

      It was a Suicide Death Pact until Carla went “NOPE, this is above my pay grade in cookies”.

    3. Reaver

      A suicide pact is unhealthy, no matter how cute it was

      1. thejeff

        Unhealthy, but they were unhealthy on their own. The suicide pact may have actually been good for them, strange as it may seem.

  49. Beef

    I love this couple so much. Please don’t hurt them Willis :c

  50. PB

    Hold handsssssss X3

  51. Osfagi

    Awwww

  52. Vi

    Oh this is so CUTE. They’re really genuinely in love. I know there are gonna be roadblocks but I so hope this works out for them longterm.

  53. Tenchan

    That last panel is so adorable! 😀

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