252

Comfortable
Posted on November 5, 2021 by David M Willis

252 thoughts on “Comfortable”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    look that’s just the RECOMMENDATION, like with the Best By date!

    1. Ana Chronistic

      DOES EYES

      JOES EYES

      1. Tim

        Dat triangle smile.

        1. Rose by Any Other Name

          Dat lower lip bite.
          I know that move. I have used it of old.

        2. Sombrero

          Means Liz is Mike’s new secret identity.

    2. Ana Chronistic

      Now I have to wonder just how naïve Liz is

      If she finds out it’s men’s vitamins, is she gonna freak out and be like, “WILL THAT MAKE ME A MAN?!”

      1. Paul Grant

        Only if she’s in Rocky Horror 😛 “In just 7 days”

        1. Abel Undercity

          Dig it, if you can.

        2. Roborat

          And 7 nights.

    3. Decidedly Orthogonal

      It’s ok, she doesn’t care about B-6, she’s looking for the D (she thinks).

  2. Thag Simmons

    And good decisions were made by all.

    I can’t wait for this to not backfire at all.

    1. Nono

      Danny made the wise decision to get out of dodge.

      1. alongcameaspider

        I mean he wasn’t given much of a choice

    2. Keulen

      Sarah definitely won’t be angry when she finds out.

      1. Keith Curtis

        Or Joyce.

        1. StClair

          worse, Joyce will be ~disappointed~.

  3. Exarch

    That last panel makes me cringe – Joe should not be lying to her about anything if he plans to go through with this

    1. woobie

      He is informing her of the max daily dose straight from the label.

      1. Z

        Yes but he’s still letting her think they’re “weed drugs” not multivitamins.

        1. Rocket Relm

          This gets into a whole philosophical discussion regarding obligation to make sure people are informed about the world around them, and moreover, how “incorrect” they can be before you’re obligated to say “no no, it means this”.

          Really if I went around correcting people on stuff I knew was wrong but that they had a presumption on, I’m not sure I’d get to do anything else.

        2. SuperZero

          She didn’t presume anything. He lied to her about them in the first place.

        3. Decidedly Orthogonal

          Eehhnnn, she asked for, “an edible.” He gave her something edible. Her own sister witnessed the exchange and didn’t interfere. Liz is bein’ stupid and although I don’t believe in karma, but my sympathy for her evaporated when she showed us who she really is as a person.

          “When someone shows you who they really are, believe them the first time.”
          — Maya Angelou

        4. Felix

          There is no obligation, people are free to be and remain ignorant. Rather than an obligation though, you might feel the need to inform them.

          It’s one thing if it’s a fairly harmless misunderstanding but a whole other thing if it can lead to actual harm.

        5. nothri

          Just throwing this out there- speaking as a guy who has attention deficit I am very thankful when people who realize I’ve interpreted data incorrectly let me know so I don’t do something stupid or end up looking like an asshole. I feel like if it isn’t subjective and is very clearly just someone misunderstanding a fact (e.g.- a multivitamin is a multivitamin and not weed) it is actually a decent and kind act to gently let them know they’ve made a mistake and not leave them to get lost in the wilderness with a broken compass, if you will pardon the metaphor.

        6. Switchchris23

          If he did get her high before they did anything sexual, she could turn it against him if she ended up regretting anything, or if she gets exposed. We already know she isnt a good person, don’t want her claiming he got her high to take advantage of her.

        7. Huehuetotl

          I’m sorry what? “not a good person”? Being annoying doesn’t mean someone would lie about being assaulted.

        8. quixoticmaunster

          Wow you’re really just going to perpetuate this idea that being falsely accused of sexual assault is a common thing?

          Or the idea that Liz is “a bad person” for not being the kind of person you want her to be? The worst thing she has done since arriving on the scene is handling her exit from religion in a way the comment section wishes she hadn’t. She didn’t hurt anyone, she didn’t pressure anyone, she came to visit her sister and her new friend and is getting to explore herself a little.

          I’m not sure what fluffy imaginary world most people in these comments sections grew up in, but being kinda dumb at 19 is NORMAL not “a bad person” and she’s fully entitled to explore her sexuality, her interest in drugs, as well as her feelings about religion without suddenly being the devil.

          Also, can’t stress this enough, JOE is the one lying to her about drugs he hasn’t given her and using her to scratch an itch rather than being open about why he’s interested.

        9. temperaryobsessor

          While she hasn’t done much explicitly wrong she’s sort of lying to her parents to keep their impression of her as a good girl.

        10. Spencer

          What do you think would motivate someone to lie to their dad and stepmom about something that other people relentlessly mock them for, to the point where they feel the need to put on an extreme performance they can see while at college?

        11. Paradox

          Exactly, while I highly doubt the comic will go in that direction, she clearly still cares about her parent’s opinion of her, if they found out that their “goof Christian daughter” had sex with some rando, its not too far fetched for an otherwise good person to lie to save face

          Like the person above you said, being dumb at 19 is normal, I would say that lying about being taken advantage of sexually, not out of malice but out of a desire to make authority figures direct their wrath away from YOU, falls under that purview

        12. Amias

          Meet literally any queer adult and you’ll meet someone who has had to lie to their parents for safety and/or financial security. My parents needed to think I was a “good straight Christian girl” until I moved away and wasn’t dependent on them. If I had told them otherwise, I would have been put in a dangerous position.

          Not only is lying to your parents an extremely common thing to do at age 19, it is sometimes both necessary and justified.

        13. Prior Semblance

          I think “literally any” is pushing it a bit far.

        14. Spencer

          There have been so many wack comments during this entire interaction.

        15. Thag Simmons

          Liz can be selfish and impulsive, and I guess that makes her a bad person. Seems like a reasonable and fair standard

        16. Chris Phoenix

          Reading this right after the Wilde Life comment section – where half the women Oscar meets are literal monsters who try to kill him – Liz’s smile and statement in panel 2, and Joe’s reaction in panel 3, seem like ominous foreshadowing.

        17. Chris Phoenix

          Argh, meant to put that at top-level.

        18. Needfuldoer

          Never lie to someone about the food you’re giving them.

        19. CODDE117

          This is like the opposite of drugging someone. This is only a problem if they are being bought and sold.

          If my child asked for alcohol and I gave them sparkling grape juice, telling them that it’ll get you really drunk, I have really done no harm.

        20. CODDE117

          Although, now that I think about it, it might be important to understand proper dosage of both edibles and alcohol.

    2. MrSmith

      Technically not a lie

      1. Chris Phoenix

        I know someone who, at a young and foolish age in the 1960’s, was very strung out on drugs and looking for more. He was approached by a stranger on the street who said, “Here, take this, you’ll like it.” My friend said, “What is it?” and the stranger said, “Nicotinic acid.” My friend thought “Nicotine! Acid!” and swallowed it.

        Nicotinic acid is vitamin B3, which would have either no effect or a mild positive effect. My friend thinks that stranger may have saved his life.

        1. Chris Phoenix

          …And on further reading, B3 is indeed bad in too high doses, extra-bad for some people, even though it’s water-soluble I shouldn’t have said it would definitely be harmless-or-good. Don’t take medical advice from the internet.

        2. Ray Radlein

          Taking medical advice from the internet: STILL probably safer than taking random pills from complete strangers on the street

        3. SillyGoose

          Low bar to clear, except maybe if the street in question runs between a hospital and a the staff’s favorite watering hole.

      2. Exarch

        The lie happened earlier in the day, and he’s choosing to play along with it, continuing the lie

        1. Clif

          Nowhere did he lie. She asked him for a edible. He gave her an edible.

    3. Jamie

      FYI, when you use an emdash, it should not have spaces around it if you’re not writing for the newspaper.

      I felt like I should point that out lest I be accused of lying for not doing so.

      1. BarerMender

        I heartily disagree. Em dashes should always be set off by spaces. It just looks better.

        1. King Daniel

          That’s en dashes, I believe.

        2. Jamie

          I mean, I would certainly prefer a multivitamin to an edible, but my preferences aren’t the styleguide.

          Just like I’d still prefer two spaces after a full stop.  But have bowed to the incarnate reality that is whitespace-trimming browser rendering engines.  All hail Lynx!

        3. Ana Chronistic

          Which is interesting bc I can see double-space after your sentences here

        4. Clif

          Multivitamins are edible.

      2. Steelbright

        Idk what else is going on but (as a copyeditor) hear, hear on the em dashes! No spaces!! Misunderstood punctuation for sure. Though like King Daniel said, an en dash might sometimes have spaces around it, I guess, in place of a proper em dash (for newspaper/AP style, I think).

    4. Nicoleandmaggie

      I’m really upset that he wasn’t paying attention on consent day in that gender class. I mean I’m sure he makes sure girls consent and doesn’t do drunk girls but he could just use a few words here to get the point across to her so she doesn’t take advantage of people who can’t consent in the future.

      1. Clif

        Joe is responsible for making sure that Liz doesn’t take advantage of people who can’t consent in the future? I can’t help feeling that I may have lost the thread of the conversation here somewhere.

      2. nicoleandmaggie

        She’s suggested twice that they both need to be taking drugs in order to have sex. Yesterday she suggested he get high which means HE wouldn’t be able to consent (he could have said something about wanting to enjoy it) and today she suggested that she get high which means SHE wouldn’t be able to consent. At either point he could have done a sexier positive version of “Dude, that’s not cool.” It is ALL of our responsibility to make sure that people don’t get into situations where sex happens without consent. Consent is important and especially teenagers need to know that they can’t get people drunk or stoned in order to have sex with them. So yeah, if Joe can prevent a rape with a cute comment he should. She definitely seems to be willing to be educated on how to be hip and secular and consent is sexy.

        1. thejeff

          You have to get pretty high to not be able to legally consent. If these were real edibles and they both had another then had sex, would they be raping each other? It makes no sense.

          It’s certainly not good to get people drunk/high in order to persuade them to have sex, but the legal bar is much higher than you’re suggesting.

        2. BBCC

          Unless you’re getting someone so drunk or high they don’t know what sex is, you’re unlikely to hit the legal bar for rape. That doesn’t mean getting someone drunk or high to change ‘no’ into ‘yes’ isn’t rape. It means you’re probably not getting charged.

        3. Nicoleandmaggie

          What BBCC said! Now I’m wishing for more strips of Lesley’s class because it sounds like a lot of people could learn from a very special storyline. It reminds me of all the idiot boys arguing with the resident counselor the first week of college. You mean we have to get affirmative consent EVERY time?!?! Won’t that ruin the mood? If we’re both drunk are we taking each other?? That’s why you don’t both get drunk or high and have sex and you assist your friends to not do that either. Good grief.

          Let me find the tea video.

        4. BBCC

          I remember I was once in a high school philosophy class where our substitute asked us for an example of rape that many don’t realize as rape. I responded “Picking up a drunk girl” and when she said I was right, I have NEVER heard so many high school boys jump to go “WOAH WOAH WOAH WHAT”.

        5. thejeff

          That hinges on what “drunk” is understood to mean. How drunk do you have to be to lose your ability to consent? One beer? A little tipsy? If both people were drinking, who raped who? There are reasons the laws around this tend to be pretty strict about defining how incapacitated you have have to be to lose the ability to consent.

          Or to bring it back to the comic: was most of Ruth and Jennifer’s sex rape, since Jennifer at least was at least somewhat drunk most of the first season?

        6. BBCC

          I never said the law doesn’t have reasons to define consent the way it does, but it DOES leave out a lot of rapes. Folks who work in the social issues side instead of the legal issues side know that. Hell, I know YOU know that since a while ago you were the one who said ‘the legal standard for consent leaves a lot out’ or something along those lines. Again, using alcohol or drugs to get around a ‘no’ without hitting the point of incoherence is still rape, you’re just unlikely to get charged for it.

          If both people were drinking, from what I can tell, the consensus seems to be there isn’t the criminal intent necessary for rape, but I’m not an expert in working with rape victims on either the legal or social issues side.

          And going “But what does drunk meaaaaan” in this context seems disingenuous. You know full well ‘one beer’ or ‘a little tipsy’ is not what I said and you know full well that that’s not what most people mean when they say drunk. That’s not a good basis for making legal definitions, no, but we weren’t in a law class when I said it.

          Ruth was drunk at least as often as Jennifer was, and Jennifer spoke often about how much she loved getting drunk and getting railed, at least once in front of Ruth. We know, and Ruth knew, she was okay with drunk sex ahead of time. But since you want to bring up examples from the comic – how about when Sal was falling down drunk and Jason brought her home? There were a bunch of people in the comments cheering for them to go to town, even though Sal couldn’t even freaking WALK and definitely had her inhibitions affected by the amount she drank. BUT she was coherent and so legally Jason probably wouldn’t be charged for it, even though, yeah, it would’ve been rape (which is why Willis commented it wasn’t happening).

        7. misanthropope

          now hold on. the consent was clear and enthusiastic. the drugs are part of the foreplay in this situation. does that somehow neutralize the consent, in your view?

          howsabout a little friendly bondage. agree upon a clear plan of action, put your partner in the ropes and gag. so… whatever happens next is rape, you know, because dogma? they can’t sign the triplicate during the actual sex acts and that’s what matters ethically, right?

        8. BBCC

          Can’t speak for Nicoleandmaggie but my view is if you’re sober (as Liz believes she is here – she at least thinks she’s sobering up) and say ‘I wanna get high and get fucked’ ahead of time to your prospective partner and they say ‘Yeah, I’m down with that’, I’d still say you got consent. You CAN agree to things ahead of time.

    5. thumb

      The lie is telling her she shouldn’t have more drugs. Also, the “drugs” did not impair her mental state or judgement. He’s doing somewhat questionable things, but that’s not one of them.

      1. Clif

        He didn’t tell her she shouldn’t have more drugs, even if edible multivitamins are technically drugs. He told here what the recommended dosage was.

  4. tim gueguen

    Joe is so going to regret this.

    1. Rose by Any Other Name

      Joe will remember this.

      1. Fay

        Sarah will remember this.
        And Joe’s kneecaps will remember this, once she’s through with him.

        1. Agemegos

          And Sarah will go to jail with a felony conviction, if so.

    2. Needfuldoer

      How far along do you think they’ll get before he hallucinates Joyce in Liz’s place?

      1. The Wellerman

        Wouldn’t it be funny if Liz also hallucinated Joyce in Joe’s place?

        She IS gonna be high on the Placebo effect after all!

        1. Needfuldoer

          Placebo effect contact high!

        2. Decidedly Orthogonal

          By osmosis!

      2. Charlie Spencer

        Somewhere around panel 2 of yesterday’s strip.

    3. Rabisch

      Joe is already regret this.

    4. Pylgrim

      I get the feeling that he’s not going to be able to go through with it.

  5. A Red Balloon

    Liz’s face in the first panel is like GOLD!

  6. Alethiolet

    She’s gotta find out at some point, right?

  7. Siddlaw

    Joe: Yes Liz, now just keep that triangle smile going for me . . .

  8. V

    Not a giant triangle mouth! That’s his weakness!!

  9. Schpoonman

    Hold up, did Joe just develop sclera or are his eyes THAT shiny right now?

    1. King Daniel

      They’re so shiny Tamatoa wants them for his collection.

    2. Needfuldoer

      I think that’s just extra shiny. It’s happened before!

      https://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-8/03-faz-is-great/lying/

  10. Rose Red

    okay joe you should tell her at some point that they’re not actually weed gummies because at some point in the future she’s going to get herself into trouble thinking that she can handle her weed when she has never actually had it and she’s going to be way too stoned her first time and it’s not going to be fun for her

    1. Thag Simmons

      These edibles ain’t shit

      1. The Wellerman

        Yeah and then this happens.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORu4fHu1fTs

    2. Z

      It’s reminding me of the scene in 50 First Dates when Adam Sandler’s character admits to the woman he was about to hook up with that she’s been drinking virgin cocktails all night and is not, in fact, drunk because he isn’t willing to actually take advantage of a drunk girl but will facilitate the illusion of being someone’s drunken mistake.

      1. Rose by Any Other Name

        You know… it’s really kinda sad that many people think they need to be drunk before they’re allowed to be sexual.

        If I’m planning on a sexual encounter, I hydrate.

        1. Clif

          The thing is, we go to a lot of effort to instill inhibitions in kids in an attempt to keep them out of trouble before they are actually capable of making decisions for themselves that will work for them long term. But when they become competent adults, the inhibitions don’t magically melt away, and in a some cases do more lasting harm than good.

          I’ve never needed alcohol to have a good time, sexually or any other way, but I completely understand why some people do.

        2. Nicoleandmaggie

          Agreed. This is a big thing that culture pushes on women. It’s why most romance novels were kind of rapey in the 80s and 90s if they had sex in them. Women were supposed to be forced by an alpha hero or impaired because god forbid a good girl choose to have sex before marriage when she’s thinking straight. So much garbage. And Joe could be sex positive about this stuff! But he’s also still a teenager, not the hero of a modern romance novel.

          And also agreed on making sure she knows they weren’t drugs.

        3. Rose by Any Other Name

          Oh I know. I said it was sad, not that I didn’t understand why.

          Also, yeah, as a romance novelist myself, there are some very unfortunate tropes that I grew up reading. That’s one of the reasons why I started writing my own.

    3. Peep

      For real. If she thinks her tolerance is ‘two strong edibles and I only kinda maybe felt something’… Hoo boy.

      Our girl here is gonna end up on another fuckin planet

    4. Axel

      I’m just picturing the “the edibles were fake?! wait, did we even actually have sex?”

  11. woobie

    I’m still anticipating a Sarah interruption, but where’s the drama in that?

    1. UrsulaDavina

      My guess is she will see Danny sleeping down stairs ask him why for some reason. Maybe to ask who Joe sleepimg with then he reveals it, then we get a shot if angry Sarah running then cut to Joe and Liz post coital with Joe saying I sense a disturbance in the force.

      1. Reltzik

        There is absolutely no chance that Sarah would want to know who Joe is sleeping with…

        … unless she already suspects.

        1. Ray Radlein

          …Joyce finds out something from Liz’s Facebook page about her not making it back to Muncie already

    2. Rocket Relm

      I 100% anticipate a Sarah interruption… but only after enough has happened for there to be Slipshine material.

      1. Jamie

        I will bet you there will not be a Sarah interruption.

        She will merely find out later.

        1. Needfuldoer

          Sarah’s firey rage will be set off, she’ll glow with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns, travel back in time by sheer force of will, and beat Joe senseless with her energy bat as they get started.

        2. thejeff

          Possibly when she runs into Liz the next morning.

      2. Roborat

        I still think nothing is going to happen, either Liz chickens out or Joe develops a conscience.

    3. Rabisch

      I think more of Sal at the window asking where Danny is. That would be able to stop anything.

      1. thejeff

        There are definitely issues with using the window rather than knocking at the door.

  12. C.T. Phipps

    I wish Joe was just having sex with someone he wanted to have sex with and not to exorcise his Joyce lust.

  13. Mehe

    Joe’s not gonna go thru with it.

    1. BarerMender

      I’m afraid you might be right.

      1. Fist_of_Life

        whereas I’m afraid they might be wrong. I hope they’re right, but I hope a lot of things.

      2. Rainhat

        I’m actually pretty good with the idea that Mehe might be right .

    2. Carla's #2 Fan

      Yeah I don’t think he will either, thankfully.

  14. Yotomoe

    SHE’S SO FUCKING CUTE GUYS.

    1. newlland(Henryvolt)

      Fuck damn it she is.

    2. A Red Balloon

      Yeah! That first panel’s especially cute!

      1. Rose by Any Other Name

        That lower lip bite. That’s a power move.

    3. MrSmith

      Shes all right, got a ways to go to top Joyce and Lucy though

      1. Reltzik

        ….

        I know you’re talking about the cuteness ranking.

        1. MrSmith

          What else would it be?

        2. Chris Phoenix

          To “top” someone can mean to dominate in a kinky way.

        3. King Daniel

          It can also mean to place a spire at the top of a building.

        4. Yotomoe

          It can also refer to a spinning toy that uses centrifugal force in order to stay upright.

        5. The Wellerman

          You mean centripetal, don’t ya?

        6. J. Gawain

          @The Wellerman I found the STEM major.
          @Yotomoe Seriously though, you do mean centripetal,right?

        7. Reltzik

          Depends whether it’s relative to a rotating frame of reference.

    4. StClair

      “Fucking cute” is exactly what Joe has in mind.

  15. Blibdoolpoolp

    I sure hope Liz doesn’t do anything reckless like go over the recommended daily allowance.

    1. Z

      It actually can be dangerous. Especially with the immune boosters that have high Vitamin C – diarrhea and stomach pain await. Overdid Emergen-C once. It was a mistake. A horrible, horrible mistake.

      If she’s on her own multivitamin then there actually could be problems doing too much of Joe’s.

      1. Dana

        In general the damaging ones are the fat soluble ones. I’m surprised to learn C can have such unpleasant effects, but it’s not the life threatening effects you can get from fat soluble vitamins or some of the B’s. I didn’t know about the damage B3 or B6 can do either before the half-assed fact checking I did prior to posting this.

        1. Ray Radlein

          Yeah, generally megadoses of Vitamin C just get you, as one doctor friend of mine from college put it, “expensive piss”

        2. JBento

          That’s because our ability to absorb Vitamin C is, to put it mildly, shit. It’s a rather large thing, so it has to be absorbed actively, AND the transporters that ferry it from your digest tract are the the same ones that absorb iron, so they have to pull double-duty.

        3. Seregiel

          It can mess with other medication though by changing their absorption rates.

        4. zee

          This is why I slather this stuff directly on my face instead of ingesting it
          (Vit C and niacinamide serums)

        5. Rose by Any Other Name

          With as much citrus juice as I drink and/or cook with, I’ve never really felt the need to take any supplemental citric acid.

        6. Agemegos

          Vitamin C is ascorbic acid, not the same as citric acid.

  16. Yotomoe

    Ok, sex be damned, I just want them to at least make out.

    1. Dana

      Makeouts you can see here, sex you have to pay for on Slipshine?

    2. Rose by Any Other Name

      I just finished checking out the entire art dump that your name links to. Beautiful stuff! I’d only seen like 10% of that previously.

      1. Yotomoe

        I’m glad you enjoyed it. I’m quite fond of a lot of it myself. And some of it makes me cringe.

        1. The Wellerman

          What do you think is the cringe-iest?

          And what do you you think is your favorite?

        2. Yotomoe

          https://i.imgur.com/iChdR6U.png
          This one. It’s drawn bad for sure but this was an observation I found a lot funnier than it really was. Really cringe.

          Favorite is harder. I really do like these though.
          https://i.imgur.com/lPxLJ9L.png
          https://i.imgur.com/2yNtxv4.png
          and special mention to this https://i.imgur.com/IxJennj.png

        3. Yotomoe

          https://i.imgur.com/iChdR6U.png
          The post didn’t go through but this is my most cringe. It’s drawn bad for sure but this was an observation I found a lot funnier than it really was. Really cringe.

  17. Kravis

    I know I have an unfortunate pun about “Vitamin D” stored in here somewhere…

    1. Delicious Taffy

      Lol Liz is about to, at any rate.

    2. King Daniel

      What about Vitamin J?

  18. newlland(Henryvolt)

    That look in panel 3 has got me worried.

    1. Mr D

      Nah nah don’t be, that’s just the look he gets when all the blood rushes out of his brain

  19. MrSmith

    I still have hope this won’t happen…sure the hope is slowly diminishing but still you can do it Joe (or rather not do it) don’t let little Joe ru(i)n your life

  20. Derek

    Panel one Liz face tells me she’s excited about this, so I’m not quite believing the people on previous days who said she seemed uncomfortable or talking herself into it. Liz definitely wants sex. Whether having sex with Joe for clout (in her head) is a good idea is a different matter.

    1. Jamie

      This comment section projects like a planetarium. The lights are everywhere and they fill the sky with constellations.

      1. Derek

        I’m projecting…because I think Liz looks happy in panel one? ok…

        1. Chris Phoenix

          I read Jamie as saying that the previous-day people you mentioned were the ones projecting. But maybe I’m just projecting…

        2. Jamie

          That is an accurate interpretation of what I said, yes.

          Sorry for being oblique while mostly agreeing with you, Derek. (I thought about having an opinion about whether or not Liz is talking herself into this, but decided against it. I dislike snap judgements, especially my own.)

      2. The Wellerman

        *sniff*

        That was beautiful!

    2. justin8448

      Liz is definitely way more into this than I expected after her initial re-appearance. Good for her!

      Also FYI Derek, I think Jamie was agreeing with you by suggesting that everyone else was projecting in their comments on previous comics, not you.

      1. Derek

        You’re correct and I am boo boo the clown

    3. Fist_of_Life

      This was me. I was projecting pretty hard, and I’m not ashamed to admit it, or ashamed that I did it. She seems a lot more comfortable this comic than the previous one, which gives me hope. The last panel still gives me slight niggling doubts about her being in over her head though.

    4. Kazuma Taichi

      I stand by what I said, though I never thought she looked uncomfortable about the prospect. Since all the people who were worried for Liz’s reasoning probably blend together in memory, I’ll reiterate my initial rationale: her phrase “I want to do secular things” makes me believe she’s doing this less out of lust and more out of being-one-of-the-seculars.

      She’s clearly excited about being a secular, and I’m not expecting taht she’s necessarily gonna regret this later in her life (there’s a possibility but just that), but it’s still a rationale that feels off to me. And like I could easily be reading it wrong, but that one phrase just sets something in my brain to questioning, and the lip bite doesn’t quell that notion

  21. Kitschensyngk

    Is it just me, or does that second panel scream “ulterior motive”?

    1. SillyGoose

      Oooh, paranoia! I like it! Didn’t think of it before, but that would def be in line with local habits.

  22. Victor Riley

    Yeah, he’s having a crisis of conscience. I don’t think he’ll do it. (Just my guess, I may very well be wrong)

    1. MrSmith

      But is his conscience stronger than Evil Dick (I hope it is)

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZHkkLBOrvE&t=1s

  23. BBCC

    ALL ABOAARD THE SS TRAINWRECK.

    1. Thag Simmons

      It’s not an ominous name, it’s a ship not a train, it’ll be fine. It’ll be fine

      1. Reltzik

        What could possibly go wrong?

      2. Jamie

        These two have the most titanic assets in the cast, amirite?

        1. Jamie

          (I am not right. I forgot about Jacob. Does he still count as “in the cast”? I’m gonna say no, because then I’ll be right again.)

    2. JBento

      To be fair, “SS Trainwreck” can describe pretty much every main cast relationship in this comic that isn’t Danny/Sal and MAYBE Dina/Becky.

  24. Yotomoe

    https://imgur.com/a/hlE5IdO
    Ok I didn’t get as much done with this as I wanted but I’m making progress.

    1. The Wellerman

      Woah. Now that’s classy!

      Keep up the great work!

    2. Delicious Taffy

      That push. Woof.

    3. Florence

      I am blushing, this is so good

    4. StClair

      And then Joyce exploded.

    5. A Red Balloon

      This is oh so GOOD!

      The licking might not be there yet, but I can just taste it! ooooo!

    6. Yotomoe

      I just realized I forgot the kiss marks in panel 2 oops. Can’t leave those out. They’re important to the plot.
      https://imgur.com/a/isUnOWY

    7. Bagge

      ?

    8. Spencer

      Dude, I’m just gonna tell you upfront I’ll start sending you money if you make your own comic, and I don’t think I’m at all alone in that.

    9. Keulen

      Good progress.

    10. Rose by Any Other Name

      Lovely! That’s going in the folder later.

    11. zee

      The gentle glasses take off…
      Whew

  25. Tarpo

    This comic has been up long enough for someone to have made a “She is looking for her Recommended Daily Joe Allowance of Vitamin D” joke and yet here I am having to type it out myself

    1. Reltzik

      Kravis already got the D pun in there.

  26. Deadjolras

    Oh God, the triangles…. They’re spreading!

  27. Grimey

    …I don’t know why but I think Liz is about to get pregnant or at the least have a scare. I hope that isn’t a terribly problematic thing to say but this reads almost like…Inexperience on her part, edibles that may lead to a lack of protection.

    1. MrSmith

      I think Joes pretty good with protection, could be wrong though

      1. Wizard

        Since avoiding commitment is kinda his whole thing, I’d certainly hope so.

    2. Axel

      I hope just a scare, I’d hate an unwanted pregnancy arc, regardless of if it was brought to term.

      1. Bicycle Bill

        “… I’d hate an unwanted pregnancy arc, regardless of if it was brought to term.”

        With the normal time-scale in this comic strip, we’d all be dead and our grandkids would be reading about the birth.

        Although it would still be Willis’s original art, as he would have had the buffer filled to at least that point

    3. JBento

      I don’t think the pregnancy thing is going to happen. That’d be pretty much what happened to Mary in It’s Walky!, and that was something Willis has said he loathed in retrospect, because it felt like he was punishing the characters for having sex.

      1. Grimey

        Oh! Good then, I retract my statement. Joe will just die by Sarah’s hand then probably.

    4. Keulen

      I’m pretty sure Joe’s good about using protection.

  28. Florence

    Something will probably go wrong but the combo of Liz being very cute and Joe clearly appreciating being valued is getting to me

    1. Spencer

      Yeah like, you gotta wonder how many of his other partners ever talked to him like this.

      Roz wanted him for shooting her sex tape and they’ve banged a few other times, Malaya did him explicitly because it would annoy the most amount of people, Penny… that was probably playing into some weird sex fantasy for the both of them. That’s the on-panel confirmed characters.

      It’s possible I’m overplaying this, but, like, did any of the women he’s been with ever say something like “I’m glad I found you”? Did Joe ever give them a reason?

      1. Florence

        I don’t think so, and Joe is all about bro code crap so he doesn’t do many honest conversations with even say Danny let alone hugs. Perhaps Joe being an affection virgin so to speak kind of adds an interesting element to this match up

        1. Doki

          I’ve heard this happens to a lot of men (especially cis men). A lot of men are legitimately shocked when they’re given any kind of direct compliment on their appearance. I’ve seen some cis guys open up about it before, and it’s just… really sad? :C

        2. Spencer

          I mean, yeah, that’s the score.

        3. Agemegos

          The only direct complement about my appearance that I ever got (that wasn’t accompanied by a laugh, other than a girlfriend making an unconvincing statement about the size of my dick) was at my fortieth birthday, when the maîtresse d’ at an expensive restaurant commented on the length of my eye-lashes. You can guess that I was startled.

        4. MrSmith

          Good point, i never thought of that

      2. Thag Simmons

        I doubt that

        1. Thag Simmons

          To be clearer, I doubt that any of them did.

  29. ADLegend21

    He’s gonna get cold feet, calling it now.

  30. Antonio Tyler

    She there for dem gummies only

  31. Mr. Random

    She got the smile.

  32. NinjaNick

    Happy sex!

  33. Bagge

    That last panel is about Lil’Joe, right?

  34. Amós Batista

    I don’t like Liz”smile. I hope they made the sex, because she could be up to other things like, talk to Joe about Jesus.

    1. The Wellerman

      Which smile? First or second panel?

    2. zee

      It’s the same smile as Joyce’s

      1. Amós Batista

        Yeah, I remember Joyce’s smiles when she’s up to no good.

  35. Rabisch

    I find hard to think that Liz will leave Joe’s life after this. I don’t know, she looks like the type who comes back without giving any warning, at the worst possible time and even after years.

  36. Nenja

    I didn’t get the edible-joke, so I went back in the tags, and it turned out I had skipped a comic back in september. Huh. I always check DoA first thing in the morning, so I wonder how I managed to miss that one.

  37. Nenja

    That smile tho … I wonder if it reminds him of Joyce.

    1. skud fargo

      i get an odd feeling that one of 2 things is going to happen

      1: she’s gonna back out at the last minute, because the brave carefree “i can do whatever because there is no god” act is simply that, an act

      or

      2: he backs out at the last minute and tries to convince her that this is not the right way to live.

      1. HeatherJean

        or

        3:someone else shows up to interrupt things, possibly Sarah, Joyce, or Sal through the window.

        I’d like it to be 2, but 3 offers more opportunity for hijinks.

  38. GUIGUI

    I would say the primary issue is not so much Joe having casual sex with someone while breaking a non-expressed trust from her sister, but rather, that he is doing it because she reminds him of Joyce.

  39. Spencer

    Always Accurate Speculation Time: Liz has a great time and starts gushing about how attentive and caring he was, and then you’ll piece together it’s ’cause he had sex with her the way he wanted to with Joyce.

  40. T Campbell

    I admit to being a little disappointed that Sarah’s request didn’t even enter into Joe’s calculus. I guess he could say that he didn’t technically promise her anything, but I thought she carried a little more weight with him.

    So there’s little question in my min this will go awry. The big question is how. Overlapping options, some of which are not mutually exclusive:

    1) Joe and Liz will do it and, far from getting Joyce out of his system, Joe will find the experience of banging a proxy-Joyce just further whets his appetite for the real thing.
    2) Similar, but Joe realizes this isn’t working for him in time to cease operations before things get too compromising.
    3) Sarah will find out and burn even the shaky rope bridge that Joe has with her.
    4) Liz will tell Sarah herself by way of “apologizing” for stealing another of Sarah’s boyfriends. Cue fireworks and maybe a little self-questioning from Sarah, though freezing Joe out is still the most likely reaction to that.
    5) Liz will have a freakout of her own. Something about her dialogue seems a little denial-ish (“I’m not. I’m so totally not”). I doubt she’s exactly a pretend atheist in a pretend Christian shell, but some conditioning about premarital sex is hard to shed even independent of the influence of the Man Upstairs.
    6) Joyce will find out about this, and while she won’t particularly care, Joe will feel as awkward as if she’d seen him drawing pictures of how he imagines her naked body.
    7) Liz will film this, just for her own personal use, but it’ll bother Joe in a way his last taped performance didn’t.
    8) The encounter will come to a crashing halt when somebody posts something to Liz’s social media that shatters the Christian-girl facade she’s been maintaining there. Could be a “friend” of hers, could be Sarah’s brand of tough love, and I wouldn’t count out a resentful Becky.
    9) Jesus returns, points disapprovingly at them, and vanishes as the sound of floodwaters rising begins to be heard.
    10) Smash cut to ten years later, Joe and Liz married with two kids, a slight vacancy lurking in Joe’s eyes when no one is looking.

    1. JBento

      I’m actually pleased Sarah’s “request” doesn’t hold any weight. Sarah and Joe are not friends. Every interaction they’ve had is basically Sarah telling him how much she loathes him, even beyond her regular misanthropy.

      There’s quite a few reasons why I think Joe x Liz is not the greatest of ideas, to put it mildly, but “Sarah’s opinion” is not one of them and should not, in fact, be a factor in Joe’s life concerning pretty much anything.

      1. MrSmith

        100% agreed, you don’t go around telling someone ‘fuck you’ and meaning it and then expect them to do what you want them to do

      2. Agemegos

        Furthermore, Liz’s sex life is none of Sarah’s damn’ business. Besides which Sarah, who just wants to use Jacob’s body as a sex toy and who made an actual attempt to wreck his relationship out of spite towards Raidah, is a bloody hypocrite.

    2. Sombrero

      11) Liz find the experience so satisfying that moves permanently to Joe’s room, making Danny move permanently to Sal’s room. Malaya is rightfully annoyed and beats the crap up from Joe with Sarah’s bat.

      1. Spencer

        God it’d be funny to me if Malaya gets along great with Danny.

        Like of all the things Malaya will give Sal shit for they don’t with him because they see he’s this totally honest and earnest person who genuinely means well by her.

        1. JBento

          Malaya’s normal “you’re fakey” shtick is useless when faced with Danny’s hat and ukulele, because nobody would fake that.

        2. thejeff

          Though it still can be aimed at Sal for liking him, since it proves her apparent persona is fake.
          Not really of course, but in Malaya’s eyes.

  41. JBento

    I think the edibles joke is my favourite running gag in Dumbing of Age.

  42. Amós Batista

    I don’t know if I envy Joe, for his masculinity, or Liz, for her courage to go throught your past believes, and all people surround her who forbbiden her to do nice things.

  43. khn0

    In addition to the COP26 being now, I’d choose the following title as soundtrack for this comic:
    Rammstein – Benzin

  44. Sombrero

    Now seriously, is the triangle smile a Jesusy-girl thing or what?

    1. khn0

      The holy trigonometry

  45. BlackScarabFilmZ

    I wonder, is there something ethically dubious about placebo drugging someone? After all, Liz *thinks* she’s high, even if we (and Joe) know she isn’t.

    1. Sam

      It would be ethically wrong to drug someone that thinks they are getting a placebo (unless it is a drug study where it would be with permission). But I don’t think it is ethically wrong the other way around. It’s kind of rude at worst and if you have health issues where it would be a problem if he did lie, maybe don’t just trust some random guy to be telling the truth about random pills?

    2. Alex

      I mean it’s not exactly ethical to lie.

  46. George

    I am conflicted. I know Joe is going to pay *so* hard if he has sex with Liz, but I love their interactions. I also appreciate Liz’s courage here; it’s not easy to throw yourself out there.

    1. Steelbright

      Agreed here. This might end up being good for her but bad for him. Or it could be weird for both of them. I do think they’d have a real good time (and they’re kind of hilarious together) if Joe was in a different headspace.

  47. Greylurker

    So near as I can figure, Joyce and Liz are at the same stage. They are both rebelling against everything they were raised with, without really having a grasp of what they are rebelling against and why they should rebel. They just know “They Must Rebel” and are rushing down the first open road they find.
    Unfortunately both roads are dead ends. So they will either walk back to the fork and sit down and think things through before picking a better road, or they just get stuck at the dead end.

    1. Spencer

      They’re rebelling against stifling upbringings that enforce upon them unhealthy expectations of themselves and attempting to subvert the behaviors their peer groups reinforce as worthy of mockery.

  48. Agemegos

    This custom of pairs of people sharing a bedroom in student dorms is weird and awkward.

    1. crow

      Colleges exist to make money. If they can cram two people into one room and say it’s part of the “experience,” they will.

  49. Ray

    Has Joe ever been called “edible” before??
    …OH! You mean PSYCHOACTIVE edibles… never mind…

  50. crow

    What if Joe and Liz fall in love

  51. Sammi

    Wow, it’s kinda crazy how the comments section has reacted during this whole exchange… Something I’ve always enjoyed about this community since I discovered it is that there isn’t a lot of arguing or disagreement, but this has really divided everyone. Has it ever been like this before?

    1. thejeff

      Oh my sweet summer child, it’s always been like this.

      We’re passionate around here and we tend to pick sides and defend our pet characters and theories by trashing everyone else’s.

  52. Black

    I’m a little confused about this turn of events; didn’t Liz fuck Sarah’s boyfriend? Why would she be so weird about this even if she’s sorting out her faith?

    Or, did she lie about fucking Sarah’s boyfriend?

    1. Spencer

      She definitely never slept with him, but the actual circumstance is kind of vague.

      Sarah says that “stealing boyfriends is a fun thing half-sisters do”, but the preceding strip has Liz object to Sarah’s remark that Liz didn’t ask if any of Joyce’s hot friends were single by going “you told me you weren’t seeing him!” to which Sarah replies “so you wouldn’t want him.”

      Soooo that indicates whatever happened it happened one time, except that one time was predicated on Liz being told by Sarah that this guy isn’t her boyfriend.

      “So you wouldn’t want him” kind of strikes me as rueful commentary, to be honest, since the strip afterward has Liz say that she was more well-liked than Sarah. It’s really easy for me to read it as Sarah getting annoyed that Liz went after a guy she liked but didn’t say it out loud.

      1. Sol

        To me “So you wouldn’t want him” implies that Liz tends to get interested in, if not go after, guys who are taken (either by Sarah, or in general).

        1. Spencer

          That Sarah and Liz immediately draw to a single event makes me think it was just the one time, and being just one time changes the context pretty significantly, I think.

        2. Sol

          That could just be the most recent mention, or the only one that has relevance to Sarah. If that was the only time it had happened, then the “So you wouldn’t want him” doesn’t make sense, because she would have had nothing to base this off of.

        3. Spencer

          Yeah exactly. Sarah was being a tosspot, considering the next strip is her deliberately calling Liz “half-sister” and she just laughs it off. Whatever happened I don’t think it was something that actually hurt either of them, it just speaks to me more as something where Sarah’s being resentful and crabby.

  53. davidbreslin101

    Panel 4- Danny has had a LOT of practice at this. He knows to grab the adapter too.

  54. Robert

    If I’d encountered a Liz in college, she
    a) probably wouldn’t have noticed me existing, and
    b) would have intrigued me to a disquieting extent.

    Which my husband would find rather amusing.

  55. Steelbright

    hmm, i don’t think it’s wrong for Joe & Liz to bang if that’s what they wanna do, but Joe, at the very least if you’re going to fuck a woman you should stop lying to her about drugs. I mean this is much better than the opposite, but it’s still kinda shady.

    1. crow

      He’s lying so she’ll do less drugs

  56. adam Black

    Callback : did Joyce say these exact words to Joe ?

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