397

John
Posted on March 21, 2016 by David M Willis
joycemagnets2016The Dumbing of Age Book 5 Kickstarter has nine days left in it!  There's now new pledge tiers where you can grab either a new Joyce magnet or a Billie magnet along with your book.  (You'll also get a free Amber magnet by default, because that's how rad this Kickstarter has gotten.)  I will also have these Joyce magnets with me at Emerald City Comicon where I will be exhibiting along with Explosm early next month!  That's April 7-10.  That's right, I'm going to be in Seattle for that weekend and not at BotCon.  Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat.  Must have suffered some sort of head wound. Anyway, new Joyce magnets.  Get them at ECCC or through the Book 5 Kickstarter!

397 thoughts on “John”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    free food with strings attached, that’s what family’s all about

    –actually, anything with strings attached, that’s what family’s all about

    1. Chengrel

      Sounds about right.

    2. Seer Of Rage

      I sure as hell know it.

    3. Kris

      Why do you think Thanksgiving’s a thing?

      1. Doctor_Who

        Exactly. Having an awkward dinner with people you really wish you didn’t have to associate with dates back to the very first Thanksgiving.

        The Puritans were like the Fox News quoting relatives of the native Americans. And they never left.

        1. Lan

          Sounds more like my grandpa on my dad’s side. He’s like if Fox News didn’t have a filter. Kinda wish he didn’t exist.

        2. Drek

          Because you disagree with him? Jeez

        3. Opus the Poet

          Have you been listening to Fox News lately? Now try to imagine the things that were too bad for them to put on the air.

        4. Pat

          Wow, calling everything bad “disagree with” sure is a transparent way to fail to make something not look bad that’s for some reason way overdone.

          It’s like the people who use it aren’t terribly creative and also don’t notice when nobody buys it.

        5. Gareth

          As a British man I feel like I should apologise that went the puritans your way. In our defence our country was briefly ruled by Puritans and we really didn’t want those people in our country anymore.

        6. Jack

          True fact: Puritans didn’t actually leave England to escape religious persecution, they left so that they would have the freedom to persecute others.

          It’s one of those things where they teach you the sanitised version as a kid and then never get round to explaining the actual truth of the matter when you grow up.

    4. Bruceski

      In my family we attach our own strings. Saves on time.

      Generic guilt sucks.

    5. Rukduk

      Eh, my family tends not to attach strings to anything. Unless it starts with “Could you do me a favor…”

    6. caesaria82

      Oh hey, your avatar has arrived in the comic 🙂

    7. Mr. Random

      Strings come later, attending is what comes with strings in my family.

    8. Pastafarian

      Free food, my number one weakness.

      1. Disloyal Subject

        The achilles heel of college students everywhere.

    9. Bunk

      What about puppets with strings attached?

      1. BrokenEye, The True False Prophet

        I once had strings, but now I’m free

    10. justchris

      The umbilical cord’s kind of a string….

  2. Architex

    Not everyone got blue eyes, huh.

    1. No Name

      Given John’s reaction, my idea is the kids who are good at heart got dad’s eyes while the kids who aren’t got mom’s.
      Although I have heard Willis has said he likes to arrange it so the kids have the eyes of the parent of the opposite gender and the hair of the parent of the same gender – which in retrospect should have tipped us off to Jocelyn.

      I hope to atheist god it’s the second one.

      1. modulusshift

        You *just* beat me to it. 🙂 that’s an awesome easter egg, though.

      2. Wheelpath

        I’m pretty sure it’s the second one because John doesn’t seem bad and didn’t Jocelyne already say they don’t like John much? Anyone they don’t like can’t be bad, right? I mean Carol said she agreed with Mr. MacIntyre…

        1. Needfuldoer

          All we know about them is what Joceline said during freshman family weekend. Jonathan was “too married” to go, and Jordan was “too Jordan”.

          If there’s a black sheep in the Brown family, it’s probably Jordan.

        2. TC

          Maybe he’s not the black sheep: I have a cousin who is “too Jordan” (not his actual name), which in his case means he is beyond shy. We rarely ever saw him at family dinners at home, let alone anything involving public places. Of course, you could be right.

        3. Kamino Neko

          Jordan’s the black sheep. Hank and Carol talking about how clamping down/not clamping down on Joyce (respectively) ‘will lead to another Jordan’.

        4. trlkly

          He’s saying he won’t dare to be seen eating with Becky. Seems pretty bad. Heck, that’s what I was coming down to comment on: how it’s too much to ask that mom is the only bigot in the family.

      3. Sam

        Lmao, atheist god, I’m using that from now on. Really hard being heathen in the South.

        1. Disloyal Subject

          Swearing by Humanity is always fun, or any particularly spectacular geography. Or constructed monuments.

        2. Mr. Bulbmin

          Or, alternatively, swear by another swear word.

          “I hope to fuck” is a common one, actually, and no one had called me on it.

        3. Aeromechanicalace

          That’s because unless you’re asexual, EVERYONE hopes to fuck.

        4. Chris2315

          Don’t atheists worship Athena, goddess of wisdom? I mean, it’s right there in the name…

        5. Deanatay

          Must… supress… pedantism…

        6. Chris

          No, no… please do go on: the only thing that makes a false cognate joke funnier is pedantism.

        7. Inspector Hound

          “Must… supress… pedantism…”

          I am stealing that line (well, I’ll credit you too) and using it at every opportunity.

        8. Arian

          ITYM “Must suppress pedantry.” 😛

        9. B

          What the heck is an ITYM?

        10. JaneDoe

          My guess would be “I think you meant” or something similar.

        11. Peter

          Aka Atheismo

      4. BigGuy

        I am actually getting the feeling that John is helping Jocelyne come out to Joyce and possibly to Jordan. Probably not the parents though. He could just be protective – maybe Jocelyne only wants to talk to her brothers/sister and not to someone she doesn’t know and trust.

        It’s also possible that Jocelyne doesn’t know that Becky has come out as lesbian, so maybe she thinks that Becky would be unaccepting.

        1. Kamino Neko

          Since their parents are going to be there, that seems very unlikely.

        2. trlkly

          I didn’t read it as them being there, just that Joyce’s parents were supposed to tell her about John and Jocelyn meeting up with them.

          If the parents are there, then that give John more of an excuse to not want Becky–just so his mom won’t make a scene.

        3. Kamino Neko

          ‘just that Joyce’s parents were supposed to tell her about John and Jocelyn meeting up with them.’

          As I said below, this makes less than no sense to me.

          John asked if their parents had told Joyce about the dinner.

          In my world, this means one of two things:

          A) The parents are going, but never mentioned whether Joyce was joining them.
          B) They were supposed to pass the invitation on to Joyce, who didn’t RSVP.

          ‘Are we still on’ takes B off the table.

      5. Rowen Morland

        Atheia has no comprehension of your hopes 😛

      6. Aeromechanicalace

        Isn’t atheist god the flying spaghetti monster?

        1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          ITYM the Invisible Pink Unicorn

    2. Vagabond J

      Good ol’ Genetics.

    3. modulusshift

      …oh gosh wait, Willis said he had a method about this. Eyes of the opposite sex parent, and other major features from the other parent.

      So Jocelyn having blue eyes was a hint from the start. 🙂

      1. podian

        Wait, so they’re all Harry Potters?

      2. AgentKeen

        Then there’s Joe, who’s basically a clone of his dad.

        1. Deanatay

          Or, Joe’s mom looks a LOT like Joe. Maybe he married his sister?

        2. Deanatay

          Gah, need an “‘s dad” in there. Otheriwse it sounds weird.

          Wait, it sounds weird anyway, doesn’t it?

  3. Nicster216

    TOO MANY BROWNS FOR ONE STRIP!

    1. Jay Eff

      It’s a brownout!

      1. Doctor_Who

        Code brown, everyone!

        1. Svata

          Everybody needs to cool brown.

        2. Screwball

          Let’s just hope none of them start singing, I don’t think anyone would like being exposed to any Brown Notes…

        3. Brotato

          God… damn it

        4. Plasma Mongoose

          And don’t forget to bring your brown pants.

        5. Screwball

          WAIT! You may be wondering why the red suit. Well, that’s so bad guys don’t see me bleed. This guy’s got the right idea… He wore the brown pants!

      2. Stephen R. Bierce

        –“Don’t forget JAMES BROWN/Rockin’ in the U.S.A.!”

    2. Cathode

      It amuses me to see a Walky gravatar talking about browns.

      1. Nicster216

        I aim to please 🙂

      2. Rukduk

        To quote a few strips back “Dude, that’s racist.”

        (Spoken in a joking manner)

        1. No Name

          Those gravs. Coincidence? I think NOT!

        2. Disloyal Subject

          Funny, I was thinking hash browns.

    3. lejwocky

      Too many Browns, too many browns…

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        But Brown is Real.

        WARNING: TVTropes Link.

        1. Disloyal Subject

          At least no one linked Two by Two; Hands of Blue.

        2. Disloyal Subject

          And I still don’t know how to do hovertext, apparently. Maybe next time.
          (Was supposed to read ‘Brown Note’ with ‘Two by Two, Hands of Blue’ as hovertext.)

    4. Just Here

      Bring me… my BROWN pants!

    5. Willoughby Chase

      Cue the brown noise …

  4. Seer Of Rage

    :3

  5. Cattleprod

    I can’t look away from how the shadow perfectly lines up with his stubble in panel 4.

    1. Doctor_Who

      It’s like he got the reverse of the tan you’d get from a Batman mask.

      That’s the real reason Batman is only active at night. If the lower half of Bruce Wayne’s face had a suntan, people would ask questions.

      1. tim gueguen

        Given that he tries to convince the world he’s a playboy Bruce probably uses a tanning salon.

      2. Showler

        Actual plot point in a comic from the sixties.

  6. Rob Cottingham

    Laying down the law, setting boundaries and ordering off whatever menu she wants. Joyce has come a long way.

    1. Architex

      She will still be setting boundaries between the items on her plate, however.

    2. Nicster216

      also is it just me or have i seen people with a gravatar of that exact pic of “josh” in the third panel WAY before this strip came out ?

      1. Catullus

        Indeed you have seen it; Willis posts preview panels from upcoming strips on the DoA tumblr.

        1. Catullus

          ^ I messed up the link in that post, let’s see if this one works.

        2. Nicster216

          WHAT SORCERY! also link doesnt work for me:(

        3. Emperor Norton II

          Making links is in itself a form of sourcery. Which is why it often fails.

      2. Doctor_Who

        Willis probably posted a preview panel on tumblr.

      3. Cephalo the Pod

        It was in a preview panel on Tumblr.

      4. No Name

        The only one I saw was Ana Chronistic, and that’s her schtick.

    3. Bagge

      She’s a REBEL now

  7. Stephen R. Bierce

    *plays “Dixie Chicken” on one or the other car stereos*

    1. AndieStardust

      “Porque no los dos”

  8. gkheyf

    i am missing so much in these strips, i don’t even

    1. caesaria82

      What do you mean?

      1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

        gkheyf probably has a older browser that doesn’t support STML (SubText Markup Language).

        1. gkheyf

          or i am mid-west-illiterate and all of these references to restaurants and landmarks are hurting my googling fingers.

          …but i also didn’t know any of the christian musician references, so maybe i’m just not that worldly

        2. davidbreslin101

          Wrong side of t’ Atlantic, here. And webcomics make a LOT more references to local chains than mainstream American films, TV and comics do. It’s an education. “White Castle” really threw me.

  9. Emi

    Becky shenanigans are going to lead to Jocelyn getting outed, aren’t they

    1. newllend(henryvolt)

      Jocelyn should get the fuck out of dodge while she can.

    2. brumagem

      How? Ethan’s the only significant character (we know of) who know’s about Jocelyn.

    3. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      Yes, when Becky thanks “Josh” for the cool shirt Becky borrowed from “his” room. The one hidden in that locked box way in the back of the closet.

    4. Disloyal Subject

      She is the natural enemy of closets. Her passive aura deals 4d6 radioactive damage to them per round.

  10. Doesn't Usually Comment

    OMG is that Jocelyne?

    …Wait, it has to be, the post is *tagged* Jocelyne. Is she going to come out? Is that the same shirt in the same style that Becky has? ………….

    FAST FORWARD A WEEK PLEASE

    1. Betty Anne

      I’m going to guess that’s why John wants it to be “family only.” I actually didn’t even notice the tags. ^^;

      1. Dana

        My assumption as well.

    2. Dara

      I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed the shirts.

    3. Doctor_Who

      Becky becomes Jocelyn’s official style icon when she notices they already dress the same.

      Just wait until the new haircut debuts!

    4. Architex

      Every instance of “Joshua” has her tagged as Jocelyne, so that’s nothing new.

      But the shirts! Obviously one of ’em is gonna have to change.

      1. Bicycle Bill

        Willis even went back and retroactively changed all the Joshua tags to Jocelyne following this comic strip.

    5. Foxhack

      I dunno about the shirt, it looks like a normal button-up one to me. I always thought Becky dressed a bit tomboyishly.

      What’s up with Jocelyn? She looks waaaaaay younger here. I think?

      1. Disloyal Subject

        The ‘looking younger’ bit might just be from being less stressed. She had to be very careful what she said, did, and thought around her parents at Freshman Family Weekend.

        1. Tacos

          That sounds like it’d be quite stressful actually.

        2. Deanatay

          I’m not entirely sure that John is in on her secret, either. He did call her Josh. But, that simply may be because Joyce doesn’t know, yet.

        3. thejeff

          Frankly, I’d be shocked if John was in on her secret. Or anyone else in the family or that she’s planning some revelation today.

          Which isn’t to say it might not come out in the argument over Becky, but she’s not planning it.

        4. Emperor Norton II

          Possibly, just possibly, Jordan knows. I can imagine that Jocelyne has contacted Jordan, knowing that Jordan would not have any interest in telling the rest of the family.

          I mean, while it is true that we don’t know yet what exactly turned Jordan into the “black sheep”, but knowing Carol, it is not exactly far-fetched to imagine that they became an atheist or came out as gay or just even joining a church that accepted gay marriage, or even just registered as a Democrat.

        5. Showler

          Given Willis’s past writing style and tendency to foreshadow, if John knew about Jocelyne I would have expected him to hesitate while saying “Josh” as an indication to the audience.

    6. Wublub

      “It’s the shirts, Hank. The shirts! We have to confiscate the white, androgynous button down shirts!”

      “But then they’ll have nothing to wear to nice but not super formal events.”

      “I DON’T CARE. I WILL NOT HAVE MY CHILDREN BECOME DEVIANTS, EVEN IF THEY DO HAVE TO DRESS MORE ON THE CASUAL SIDE OF DRESSY CASUAL.”

  11. John

    Hi, Joyce. I just called to tell you not to talk on the phone while driving.

    1. tim gueguen

      Don’t know about Indiana, but in Canada talking with a cell phone in your hand while driving is a ticketable offence. Except Nunavut.

      1. Tacos

        It’s like that here in the US for the most part. It’s just that nobody follows that rule.

        1. tim gueguen

          Yeah, you see people here still doing it as well.

        2. Opus the Poet

          The second most frequently ignored driving law, first being speed limits.

        3. Captain Button

          Even before failing to signal? I find that hard to believe.

      2. John

        Yeah, it’s like that here (Vermont) too, as of I think January of last year.

        One of my friends got pulled over for eating a cheeseburger because the cop thought it was a phone.

        1. Dragon_Nataku

          ILLEGAL CHEESEBURGER

          Confiscated for evidence

        2. Betty Anne

          Fun fact! Eating behind the wheel is still a distracted driving offense! Most places just won’t ticket for it, because it’s so common.

        3. John

          No, it’s not. Our law specifically names “portable electronic devices”. Stuff like this varies widely between states. Check your local regulations!

        4. Betty Anne

          I should have specified I’m in Wisconsin. We’re a “it’s not illegal unless you fuck up” state. :p

          Because of the dangers of distracted driving, Wisconsin state law prohibits drivers from being “so engaged or occupied as to interfere with the safe driving of that vehicle.”

      3. cesium133

        I would think that in Nunavut they would have none of it.

      4. Roborat

        And in Nunavut, the send you out into the ocean on an iceberg.

    2. Dean

      Joyce, you are a potential driver’s ed movie. Scene cuts to the car upside down, glass all over the place, a single shoe lying on the road. The shoe might or might not have a foot still in it.

      1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

        Needs more crushed doll’s head.

        1. Needfuldoer

          Doll’s head? Driver’s Ed videos have gotten soft.

      2. Marie

        What, they’re in Canada now?

  12. Brigid Keely

    Ahhhh, Round The Clock. I’ve gotten food poisoning so many times from their restaurants. Good times. Good times.

    1. Roborat

      Most people would have stopped after one incident.

  13. AJ_Black

    John, Josh, Joyce… I’m seeing a pattern here

    1. Cephalo the Pod

      Jordan

    2. tim gueguen

      Then there’s cousin Jackson, who they don’t talk about, him being a pop singer and left wing activist.

    3. ChrisHerself

      In my old homeschool group there were three families, each with at least 4 kids, who all did this. And all the names started with J. #JustChristianThings

  14. dailybrad

    Joyce rocks. Also, goddamn, Jocelyn’s cute.

    1. Rukduk

      Her eyes in panel three just seem to say “ooh what’s this?”

    2. a snow ʍousɐ

      ikr
      <cutie

      1. a snow ʍousɐ

        I was half expecting the gravatars to suddenly update and my comment to become nonsensical.

  15. AutobotDen

    Bless you, Joyce. <3

  16. Kris

    *spit take* Joyce has brothers!?

    1. Rob

      She’s closeted trans, actually. http://walkypedia.wikia.com/wiki/Jocelyne_Brown

      1. Betty Anne

        Jocelyn is. John is sporting a man-stain on his face, so he’s probably a dude, or at least doesn’t mind of people mistake him for one.

        1. Emily

          I mean I wouldn’t equate facial hair with being cis there are a lot of reason’s a trans person (especially a closeted on) could opt to let it grow. running the gamut from “pass as cis more easily” to “can’t be arsed to shave it religiously.”

        2. Betty Anne

          Hence the “doesn’t mind if people mistake him for one” on my comment.

      2. Kris

        I know about Jocelyn. I was talking about this “John” guy with the five’oclock shadow. I thought he was a myth spoken in passing. Or this “Josh” who until seen is a figment of superstion. I think there’s one more but that can neither be confirmed nor denied until drama dictates it’s necessary.

        1. Rukduk

          Jordan. The apparent “black sheep” in the eyes of their parents.

        2. John

          “Josh” is Jocelyne’s birth name. Jordan’s the possibly-a-figment one.

        3. Kris

          Wait. At first I was joking but now I actually am confused. How many siblings does Joyce have? And infinitely more important…..do they all wear glasses?

        4. John

          In this universe, three.

          Jonathan “John” Brown, first appearance today, is the oldest. He’s married, presumably to a woman because Carol thinks he’s the good one.

          Next is Jocelyne Brown, also appearing today, who’s the one who came to the Parentpocalypse in disguise as “Joshua”, and came out to Ethan after the Showdown at Showalter Fountain.

          Then there’s Jordan, who we know little about other than he’s too Jordan to have come to the Parentpocalypse.

          Then Joyce is the youngest.

          Joyce had two more older brothers in the Walkyverse, but Willis seems to have decided they were surplus to requirements in DoA. They also had J-names, but I forget what they were.

        5. Tacos

          That’s a lot of Js. Man, if I ever had kids, I’m definitely not giving them names that all start with the same letter…. Or names that rhyme.

        6. Tacos

          *have kids.
          Not had.

        7. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          This is a thing. I had a friend in high school where everyone in his family had the initials J. A.

        8. Tan

          But then how do you distinguish your high scores in arcade-style games?? Where are their priorities!

        9. Kamino Neko

          Theme names are pretty common… I knew a family in high school where they were all named for stones… The girls were all jewels (Amber and Jade, and…IIRC, the third was Ruby), and the boy was…Cole. (Homophones count!)

        10. Gareth

          My mum’s name is Jillian and one of my uncles is called Julian. Not a great show of originality in the part of my grandparents.

        11. Opus the Poet

          I think half the women in my church have names starting with “M”. And I have problems keeping names straight even without that.

        12. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          Teenage John showed up in a Patreon bonus strip.

        13. a snow ʍousɐ

          Jonathan goes by “John”? That’s weird, usually it’s spelled Jon. John is an actual name.

        14. Kamino Neko

          Oh, gods…don’t…I made the mistake of going there, once…

        15. Betty Anne

          LOL @ Kamino. I see you’ve run into forum pendants. XD

          @ a snow ʍousɐ: Basically, it boils down to Americans* are stupid and don’t know how to properly use names that are millenia old. ^^;

          *And various other, largely English-speaking and Western, contemporary peoples. But mostly USAians. :p

        16. Betty Anne

          *pedants

          GODSDAMMIT. I knew that typo was going to happen, and it STILL got through the spellchecker. 😐

        17. John

          Yeah, as a John who’s spent forty years having people drop his ‘h’ or try to expand it into a different name, it irritates me.

        18. John

          Hmm. Come to think of it, maybe I should reserve the term “Showdown at Showalter Fountain” for the one that actually involved gunfire.

        19. Marbar

          Showdown 2: Shown Downer

        20. trlkly

          I hope the other two are cousins or something, just get some cameos in. Then people will tell me about them, and I can go look up and see why she had so many.

          BTW, I wonder how many brothers and sisters Willis has. Did he reduce them because he only had three?

        21. John

          There’s nothing to tell, really. None of them ever appeared pre-DoA, and the only name we were given (“Bobby”), Willis has retconned. Even Jordan we’ve discovered more about in DoA than in the entire run of Roomies!/It’s Walky!. There might have been a bit more at the end of Joyce & Walky!, but I haven’t read the pay part of that.

          Heaps of kids are pretty common amongst certain flavors of fundie. They basically see it as their God-given duty to outbreed the infidel. There are drawbacks to this approach.

        22. Kamino Neko

          Willis has spoken of his siblings – one each brother and sister.

        23. a snow ʍousɐ

          She just got Jordan’s name mixed up, guys. She knows Joc is the one in this strip

        24. a snow ʍousɐ

          She or he. For some reason I thought Kris was definitely a female name for a second.

      3. Shiro

        Technically she still has brothers, John and Jordan. It’s just one’s not present right now.

      4. not someone else

        Indeed… all we’ve seen up ’til now is her sister. I think that was the joke. :3

    2. Kamino Neko

      She has 2 of them, John and Jordan. Plus a sister, Jocelyn.

  17. Rukduk

    Good on Joyce for setting her foot down. Well, mostly setting her foot down. Also, how long can John last before we all know to hate him?

    1. Nicster216

      give it about 3 strips 5 tops (also knows as probably 10 minutes in dumbing of age time)?

    2. Betty Anne

      John’s not outright fighting with Jocelyn, so maybe he’s fine?

      1. Nicster216

        im betting joyce will get in a fight with her mom over becky causing “josh” to tell the truth

      2. Tacos

        Well he probably doesn’t know “Joshua” is actually Jocelyn.

        1. Betty Anne

          I’m going with the “benefit of the doubt” crew (probably a mistake, knowing Willis comics, but… XP). It’s entirely possible John’s parents think that he’s “the good one” because he’s gotten good at pretending over the years, like Jocelyn. Remember, Jocelyn mentioned that Joshua is her parents’ favorite. ^^; Was John actually “too married” to make it to Parents’ Weekend, or did he just not feel like keeping up a mask the way Jocelyn did for something that really didn’t have anything to do with him?

        2. Spencer

          I wonder. Jocelyne mentions how she’s the favourite “because they know the least about her” and Carol talks about John’s time in public school as if it was corrupting and what motivated her to homeschool the rest of the kids.

          Shot in the dark, but maybe Jonathan married a woman who wasn’t white?

    3. brumagem

      I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe to him the absence of Becky will make the Brown parents more tolerable? Still kind of a scummy thing to do to Becky since she has literally NO other place to go, but still.

      1. Zach

        He could either not know or simply not realize what Becky’s situation is, mind you. Even if he knows she has nowhere else to go he might not have been thinking that at the time

        My first reading of the comment was that he had something heavy and personal to discuss at lunch and, while Becky may be very important in Joyce’s life, she’s not particularly important in John or Jocelyne’s life. It doesn’t have to be Jocelyne’s coming out, John might be filing for divorce or losing his job and he decided to tell his family about it at lunch today, but Becky’s presence makes it a less comfortable place for him to bare his soul

        But then I remembered when we last left off, and now I’m back on the “this is probably an intervention to get Joyce away from the heathens” interpretation with most other people.

        But, really, there’s not enough to go on just yet

    4. Emily

      She can’t set it all the way down or she’d be speeding.

  18. Marc in MN

    My theory is that one is never too old for chicken fingers.

    1. Rukduk

      Considering we just get a larger chicken finger and call it a “chicken strip” instead, I am inclined to believe this theory.

  19. newllend(henryvolt)

    Welp looks like we’re about to have a Brawl in the family.

    1. Pastafarian

      …are you referencing that Smash Bros. comic? Cause I think you are.

      1. Disloyal Subject

        Either that or he says Joyce’s hands thirst for necks.
        I’m hoping for both.

    2. Spencer

      It’d be really shocking if Willis crowbarred in a death in the family.

  20. Christiannemarie

    I smell an intervention coming on.

    1. Doctor_Who

      “Joyce, your chicken finger obsession is getting out of hand.”

      “No! I can quit any time I want! I just don’t want to!”

      Joyce then sits in the kiddie section and eats chicken fingers with Linkara.

  21. ubertenorman

    Wait, you’re not going to the last Funpub botcon?

  22. Cephalo the Pod

    Not sure how to feel about John’s comment in panel four. Specifically, what tone is meant to be interpreted.

  23. Leorale

    The elusive John!
    Yay more Brown family drama. I hope Round The Clock serves popcorn.

  24. Betty Anne

    Joyce, godsdammit, hang up and drive. D:

  25. Wolf

    Dumbing of Triangle: DAY 5

    http://imgur.com/jQ82Bam

    Old strips now being ported: http://imgur.com/a/7FHYX

    1. tim gueguen

      Love Joyce in the last panel. On the other hand the idea makes them look like they’re related to the Joker.

    2. Needfuldoer

      Smiling of Age?

    3. Disloyal Subject

      You’re doing good work, friend.

  26. Cheshrin

    Good for you, Joyce. Don’t let your family’s prejudices stop you from getting your chicken fingers.

    … I’m serious, Establish your boundaries, stick up for the people you love, AND get good food while making things incredibly awkward for your homophobic family! Win-win-win!

    1. Cheshrin

      (Though, the March 31st preview panel has her getting very angry at a menu, so maybe she won’t end up getting those chicken fingers after all because they’ve been taken off the menu or something. And now I’m sad. At least we/ll still get the “boundaries + sticking to your guns” part?)

      1. Disloyal Subject

        That would fit with Mount Bald being closed and the Brown house not feeling like home anymore.

      2. Dragon_Nataku

        Mass chicken recall

      3. Emperor Norton II

        Someone below posted a link to Round the Clock’s menu.

        It says, and I quote:

        “Kid’s Menu
        For those 10 years or younger, no exceptions.”

        I think we all know why Joyce is staring angrily at said menu now.

    2. DarkoNeko

      no *you* have chicken fingers !!

  27. M-M

    Oh wow. It’s about to get messy at the diner.

    1. Bagge

      That’s what happens when you order from the children’s menu.

    2. Dara

      Being out at the restaurant really argues against that for me. At least, as far as intent goes. Causing a situation is one thing, doing it in public is entirely another.

      Things may heat up, but the public presence will keep a lid on it.

      1. Emperor Norton II

        And sometimes, the pressure of keeping the lid on makes the whole kettle explode…

      2. Gordon

        Except the Browns publicly took issue with Joyce being friends with Dorothy the Athiest. Like, they argued and did the passive aggressive prayer circle.

        1. thejeff

          The prayer circle was back in her room. IIRC, they avoided the public issue by basically pulling Joyce away from the initial meeting.
          There was a bit of a kerfluffle when they met again, but that time Hank stopped it from getting too bad.

  28. Jay Eff

    Chicken Fingers are for the children.

    Grown folks eat chicken toes.

    1. Bicycle Bill

      Grownups eat chicken finger platters, and pay more for them.

    2. Kamino Neko

      Only if they like authentic Chinese food.

  29. Bicycle Bill

    We are in what would be the 6th week at IU.  In no way, shape, or form is Joyce the same idealistic, naive, wide-eyed little girl who was gleefully exploring her new dorm room when we first met her.  And that is a VERY. GOOD. THING.

    You go, girl.

  30. JessWitt

    Yay Brown mini-family reunion. Also this is gonna be about “Joshua”, is it?

  31. transgressingwaffle

    This weeks updates are gonna be awesome!!!!!

  32. Shiro

    *punches the air* Yessssssssssss baby girl you tell ‘im, you earned those chicken fingers

    1. Bagge

      Even if they are from the children’s menu. NO ONE TELLS JOYCE MOTHEREFFIN… MOTHERFUCKING! BROWN WHAT MENU TO EAT FROM

      1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

        There’s a ship I don’t want to see sail.

        1. Bagge

          Not even for a nickel

  33. Someone

    Looks like my theory was debunked by Willis 🙁

    http://itswalky.tumblr.com/post/141411773697/dude-i-think-someone-has-to-debunk-this-theory

    1. Someone

      Also, it feels like that guy was strangely desperate to have my theory disproven.

      1. brumagem

        To be fair, the theory was pretty … out there. Youth Pastor Powers looks about 30 at the very oldest, so I’m not sure how he could possibly have college-age kids. What inspired it anyway?

        1. Someone

          Comedy value, it was never really meant to be taken seriously. It was mainly a joke about how he has the same hair color as Mary.

    2. zoelogical

      does anyone know the youth pastor’s backstory in the walkyverse?

  34. Spoopyfox

    Love how both queer characters are wearing a white button down

  35. Durandal_1707

    Not to be outdone by Amber’s dangerous antics, Joyce decides to flirt with death by talking on the cell phone while driving.

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      At least it’s not texting and driving or even worse, playing phone games while driving.

      1. Dez

        Nice avatar, Mongoose!

        1. Plasma Mongoose

          Thanks, if only I could remember where I got it from… hmmmmm 😛

      2. Betty Anne

        If you’d rather her be worse than drunk behind the wheel, sure.

  36. Vinny

    Are my eyes going worse – or does Joyce suddenly have on elbow length gloves or superhero gauntlets in the 2nd panel?

    1. Tacos

      That’s her wrist brace from when she sprained her wrist after punching Toe Dad the fuck out.

    2. Jay Eff

      Oh, that’s just the cast, or whatever, from her Punching-Toe-Dad-related injury..

      1. Jay Eff

        Looks like Tacos wins (as Tacos are prone to do)

        Anyway, if Joyce did have the Infinity Gauntlet, well, who KNOWS what would happen once they get to Round-The-Clock~

    3. Showler

      She has a wrist brace she has been wearing for months?

    4. Rukduk

      That’s her wrist brace from when she injured it punching out Toedad.

      1. Jay Eff

        Sorry, guys– Tacos already beat us!

    5. epershannd

      I think it’s just the shadow that’s falling over her fingers. You can still see the line of the cast and slight color change where her fingers bend if you look closely.

      1. Vinny

        Actually, looking closer at the 1st panel, I can see the edge of the brace just under the steering wheel. (My monitors at work are a lot bigger than what I’ve got at home – but comix are blocked at work)

  37. Briny

    Can anyone fill in us Coastals about this place they’re talking about?

    Seriously, I don’t speak Indiana.

  38. Tacos

    I’m guessing Round-the-clock is some regional fast food place huh?

    1. Dara

      They have a website and it seems to imply there’s only the one. But there are other similarly-named restaurants on the web, also in the midwest.

      http://www.roundtheclockLa Porte.com/

    2. Dudeman

      Yeah, it’s a regional 24 hr diner. I live on the border with Indiana and we have like five of them around us.

  39. Mollyscribbles

    Okay, so we’ve got John, the married one (who is presumably married to a cis woman given that their parents openly acknowledge him), now we just need to see Jordan to collect the whole set.

    1. tim gueguen

      I’m still hoping Jordan is the black sheep because he’s off being a missionary or something along those lines.

      1. Bagge

        Maybe he switched to a another church, only marginally different for an outsider.

        1. Needfuldoer

          He mixes his peas into his mashed potatoes.

        2. Bagge

          HE WOULDN’T???!!!!!

        3. thejeff

          I suggested awhile back that he’d joined another church, one too conservative & fundamental for the Browns.

      2. Mollyscribbles

        Nah, these are the sort of people who support missionaries — at least the kind who go off to non-white countries, act superior, and focus on converting people. Jordan would be the kind who goes off and feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, visits prisoners, and helps ensure people get clean drinking water.

        1. Shiro

          So you’re saying Joyce’s brother is actually Jesus

        2. Mollyscribbles

          No, he’s white.

  40. Shiro

    Heh, both of them have a cute lady with flippy hair in a white button-up in their passenger seat, I love it.

    1. caesaria82

      This is such a cute comment, amplified by cute parkour-ing Carla in your avatar 🙂

  41. Bicycle Bill

    Small point, but isn’t John’s actual name “Jonathan”, and isn’t “Jon” the traditional/customary short form of that name?  Why isn’t he being tagged as either “Jonathan” or “Jon”?

    Also an interesting bit of trivia re: Jonathan.  Translated from the Hebrew, it means “YHWH has given”.

    1. Marie

      A lot of people shorten Jonathan to John. Whether or not it is/was considered proper, it’s not weird and isn’t incorrect if that’s how John shortens it

      1. Tenn

        I mean, if you can shorten Robert to Bob, William to Bill and Richard to Dick, you can damn well add a silent H to Jon.

  42. pertainstothesea

    Round the Clock is a really good Greek coffeehouse-type restaurant (so sit-down, not fast food). They have menus that are longer than some novels and offer every food known to man in portions too large for any mortal. The inside is decorated like a train (at least the La Porte location) which is pretty cool. I guess it’s technically a chain, but it’s only in northwest Indiana so it’s very regionally limited.

    1. Dara

      So there are more of them? The one in La Porte has a website that implies it’s the only one, but there seemed to be others of similar names also in the midwest.

  43. caesaria82

    Oh Joyce Brown, I just love you a lot.

    And yaaaay, hi Jocelyne! <3

  44. Cerberus

    Comic responses:

    1) JOCELYNE!!!!!!!!! (eeeeeeeeeeeeeee)

    2) Ooh, dear, that’s some red flags flapping over John. The insistence on family for no really good reason other than to exclude Becky (even though I imagine she was invited to a good number of “family” events in the past) shows that he may be more aligned with the parents than the kids are or are becoming (Joyce, Jocelyne, Jordan). Now, he may turn out all right, but I’m definitely throwing up a yellow alert until the lunch is successfully navigated.

    Which on that note, damn Joyce is on fire with her lack of willingness to put up with that kind of passive-aggressive maneuvering anymore. It’s going to fuck her and bad, but it’s hella impressive.

    3) Oh, my, that Panel 5 Becky’s face.

    Like, sure, it’s a minor touch in a comic with a lot to it, but still… Becky doesn’t let her facade crack easily. Even when she’s scared, even when she’s hurt, if she’s with others, it’s all smiles and optimism and wacky Becky. That face usually only cracks when her worry or her fear or her hurt is too loud to fully block out and in that panel, her face has cracked.

    And it’s easy to see why given the torrent of emotions she must be feeling right now.

    There’s the concern and worry. Becky still hasn’t been told what is going on and Joyce has not seemed all right and has acted way out of character in her “let’s get outta here plan”. Plus, she’s snapping at family and not worried about angering them, but Becky has reason to be worried about that given what happened to her in pushing back against parental authority. She doesn’t want a similar situation to befall Joyce and especially doesn’t want it to be because Joyce was defending her.

    After all, she’s been relatively low-key where she can this weekend. Taking Carol’s initial onslaught of awful and merely deflecting the second in-comic onslaught. She even made sure not to enter Joyce’s room at first as she knew Carol was watching her and likely to freak about it if they hung out in a room with the door closed. And here she is watching Joyce go all out in defending her…

    And then there’s that. Joyce is defending her. Joyce is taking on the whole damn world for her, showing that incredible strength and determination and just a little bit of oddball behavior that made her fall in love in the first place. This, much like, Joyce punching out her dad must feel like all her sexual fantasies come to life. But they’re just that, fantasies. Joyce will never like her like that and she knows that, but this must sting on that fantasy even as she logically knows that this is heart-warming but not necessarily in the way she would have fully hoped and she knows she is faithful to her badass dino girlfriend who’ll bite her dad’s face for her.

    There’s a world of meaning there on that face and I imagine we’ll only see that continue to crack as Joyce’s family continues to hammer on the “family” point that’s got to be such a sore point for her given everything and as Joyce continues to take greater risks in standing up to her family…

    And on that note, I really am excited to see how Jocelyne interprets Joyce’s fearless defense of a queer friend and willingness to speak her mind and whether or not that will prompt Jocelyne to take a risk in opening up to her about what has been going on in her life.

    1. Shiro

      God, now I’m seeing the inevitable Joyce stand of “These are my sisters and they are perfect and I love them, and if you wish to remain in my life, you will love them too.” Becky’s so used to shrugging off and being nonconfrontational and taking up as little space as possible at home that now, when her best friend is being so very present and so very forceful and so very resolute in defense of her…I understand why she’s got that worried look.

      But yessssss, my beautiful naive evolving little goodness warrior, you go slay that dragon.

      1. Cerberus

        Which makes me wonder if this new group of Becky’s is the first to actually think she has a value as a person rather than what she represents for her potential service on behalf of the “real humans”. Who don’t see her non-confrontational wacky Becky archetype as her entrance fee to humanity, conditional on how long she can keep the dance up.

        1. achallenger

          have i ever mentioned how much i love reading the comments here?

        2. Bagge

          With the exception of Joyce, obviously. There was a reason Becky’s plan when rejected by her father, school, friends and everyone else in the world was “get to Joyce.”

          There was a reason that was a good plan.

    2. Xelgaex

      Yeah that last Becky face. Having your best friend/long time unrequited crush declare that you’re her family has got to be some kind of feeling. Possibly several different some kind of feelings all at once.

      1. drs

        “I love you like a sister. Like a SISTER. And not one of those twincest fanfic sisters.”
        “How you even kn-”
        “Look, nachos!”
        “Ooh, where?”

        1. Bagge

          Joyce has had unfettered access to internet quite a bit longer than Becky… enough to find all the flavors of Twilight fan-fiction.

    3. not someone else

      (eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee) <3

      Jocelyne is my favorite. I'm not sure why. Maybe I just identify with the deeply-closeted schtick she's got going on. "Are you kidding? I'm their favorite, precisely because they know the least about me."

    4. Bagge

      I know, right. That Becky face is just so beautiful! She already knew Joyce would stand up for her, but to actually be there on the spot and see Joyce place herself between you and her family…. no, don’t cry Becky, don’t be a Debbie Downer.

      1. Shiro

        They’re happy cries! That’s the opposite of Debbie Downer.

        1. Wublub

          She doesn’t look happy to me. She hasn’t seemed happy since she got back to her hometown and realized that Joyce is going to keep finding herself in positions where she’s defending Becky at the risk of weakening her other relationships.

          Even though it’s not Becky’s fault that all this is happening, she feels like it is. She feels like a burden, and every time Joyce sticks up for her she’s thinking, “It’s great that I have a friend who will risk everything for me, but she shouldn’t have to do that. I’m just making life harder for her.” She probably feels a little guilty for even coming with her, which is just messed up. Becky deserves to be happy just as much as Joyce does.

    5. Marie

      I’m really hoping that her siblings were hoping for family only so that John could support Joc coming out even though I know it will be awful and painful (but otoh siblings all supporting each other!)

    6. ischemgeek

      I am really really really hoping that Jocelyn is with John and John was all “family only” because Jocelyn and John have decided to trust Joyce with knowing Jocelyn’s gender identity and aren’t sure if it’s something to trust Becky with yet.

      I don’t think I’m right. What I think is the case is that John takes after his mother on the bigotry front.

      But I’m hoping.

  45. John

    This is gonna be the worst strip for using ^F to check for replies to my comments…

    1. Cephalo the Pod

      You could just temporarily change your name to something like “Johhn”.

      1. Captain Button

        But then he’d have to watch out for Buckaroo Banzai!

        1. John

          I am clearly a Black Lectroid.

          (This is going to make even less sense when the gravatars get reshuffled.)

    2. Betty Anne

      Get a recognizable grav for posting here! 😀 I just scroll for tits when I’m looking for replies to my comments. XD

      1. Captain Button

        “Scroll For Tits” would be the name of my next MRA PUA band, if I could stomach having one.

        1. ChrisHerself

          The first album, Corner the Damsel, never really took off, but their smash single “Negging is the Most Fun A Man Can Have (Without Taking His Clothes Off)” showed that they’d really found their sound with the sophomore effort, Tits or GTFO.

    3. trlkly

      Hence why I use the name I do. No one uses is. Heck, it has no vowels.

      If I go to a site, and see that this name is taken, I’m almost certain it means I’ve logged in before.

  46. Saaaam

    What could possibly go wrong

    1. TheNinthShader

      IT COULD BE THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT!

      1. thejeff

        I feel fine.

  47. DarkoNeko

    I hope you stopped before answering that, Joyce.

  48. Kelli

    I looked up the Round the Clock menu, and apparently there are chicken fingers on the grown-ups’ menu, too. (I bet someone has already pointed this out.)

    1. Leorale

      You were the only one to point it out so far, but still, the fact that you researched the menu somehow exemplifies why I am fond of this comments section.

      1. Bicycle Bill

        *ahem*
        http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/03-when-god-closes-the-door/john-brown/#comment-1041377

        1. Leorale

          I stand corrected! You are both part of why I am fond of this comment section, then. Well done. ^^

    2. Bagge

      DON’T TELL JOYCE, SHE IS NOT MEANT TO HAVE ACCESS TO THAT MUCH POWER!!!

      1. TheNinthShader

        PENIS!

  49. Kris

    You know I was thinking that Joyce considers Becky family which makes her Joyce’s sister basically, which means…..Becky is literally the Brown’s read headed stepchild! You can’t make this up! Well I guess technically you can since this is fiction but whatever.

  50. EvilMidnightLurker

    This is going to be Round-the-Clock’s worst day ever. There’ll be a screaming family/religion argument and total breakdown before they even get to the dessert menu.

    1. Cerberus

      Nah, it’s Saturday.

      Sundays are the worst.

      1. Emperor Norton II

        Today’s “Link that shows information that is not exactly unknown to you, but still punches you in the gut by showing just how humanity is a bedraggled, selfish, entitled mess” award goes to Cerberus. The prize is a ticket to the next Trump rally.

        I will now sit here quietly in my corner and thinking we should just nuke the whole planet and start all over again with cockroaches.

  51. Bagge

    Awwwww. Becky in the last panel. “Wait, what? Joyce is standing up for me AGAIN? I don’t want to cause her that much stress…. but daaang if it’s not one of the best things that ever happened to me.”

    1. Someone

      Joyce is actually leaning slightly forward, causing a bit of her crack to show. Becky is trying really hard not to look.

  52. KiTA

    Um, is Jocelyne presenting as a girl right now? Has she come out as trans to her borther?

    1. Yossarianduck

      From what I can see she’s presenting pretty androgynously – further study is required!

      1. Cerberus

        I’m gonna guess that she’s doing the common trans thing of seeing how closely you can get to what doesn’t feel dysphoric without tipping yourself off and putting yourself in danger.

        She’s not out, but she’s taking a slight more amount of risk to decrease the amount she needs to hide away every time she visits home.

        1. trlkly

          What threw me was one time someone I knew online came out as trans, and he had been doing the exact opposite. I had a huge crush on him, actually. Still do, so far, actually, despite being a straight man. Not sure if and when it will become a man-crush.

    2. trlkly

      I doubt it. Why would John have called her Josh if she were fully out to him? I don’t see any spite from Jocelyn for using the wrong name.

      I agree she’s seeing how “feminine” she can be and get away with it.

      1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

        To me even if John knew all about Jocelyne, it would be wrong to use her real name to Joyce without permission, unless John knew that Joyce already knew all about Jocelyne.

        And even with permission, that’s not something to reveal to Joyce on a phone call while she’s driving.

        One thing driving a lot of the comments here is conflicting assumptions about how much John and Jocelyne know about Becky and the Toedad incident, and what they think this weekend is about.

        The sitcom plot would be Jocelyne knowing nothing about recent events, and trying to come out to the family this weekend, but constantly being misunderstood as talking about Becky and Joyce rather then herself.

        1. thejeff

          I’d be completely shocked if they hadn’t been informed. No matter how screwed up you family dynamics are, you don’t hide something like that and still invite them round to see Joyce. You don’t spring something like that on them.

      2. Zach

        Because outing somebody who is still in the closet is still a pretty shitty thing do?
        Jocelyne is still in the closet with Joyce, and it’s for her to reveal, bit Jonathan.

        1. Zach

          That should have been “not Johnathan,” not “bit Johnathan.”

  53. Uniqueantique

    First look at Jon with passenger, I thought was a girl, then realized it’s Joshlyn. I’m guessing what going to happen when Carole gets a load of the way he/she is looking now….Carole has had no clue that Joshlyn is transgender to the best of my knowledge.

    Glad Joyce is speaking her mind, but why in Hell is doing it on a cell phone while driving?
    Guessing the family has more than one vehicle seeing as how Joyce took one. Ask as no adult children at home? and Carole doesn’t work outside house and may not need her own vehicle…on second thought, yeah she’d demand one. nm
    Going to be interesting lunch.

    1. Shiro

      It’s kind of rude to refer to a trans person as “he/she”–Jocelyne is solidly, canonically, and explicitly a she. Also, your first thought was right, John’s passenger is a girl.

      1. Marie

        Not to mention ‘Joshlyn,’ although I am giving you (op) the benefit of the doubt for now and hoping you meant ‘a girl’ as in ‘a date.’

    2. Cerberus

      In my experiences, people see what they want to see and it takes a lot of androgyny to clue people in, especially when they are family.

      That said, I can definitely see Mama Brown making digs about how Jocelyne’s hair is getting “so long” and it’s time for a cut or how that shirt “doesn’t suit (incorrect pronoun)”.

      Though the fact that Jocelyne’s playing with that line means she might be getting to the point where she’s needing to make in-roads in existing as herself in some meat-space sphere (not just online) just to keep the dysphoria from swallowing her.

      1. Marie

        I feel like it could go masc/fem/androgynous when we see her stand up, but I’m reading the same. Could just be projection though, I’m largely not out (nb my femme name here) and I go as far as I can exempting binding and pronouns around my parents.

      2. ischemgeek

        Hi yes this.

        Every time a trans friend has come out to me, it’s been a surprise. And I’m someone who 1, knows trans people in meatspace and so can’t pull the “I’ve never known one” card, and 2, has always been very uncomfy with my assigned gender role (though not my assigned gender? Like I’m fine with being a woman but I don’t like the assigned role of womanhood, if that makes any sense at all, I have no idea), so you’d think I’d be better able to pick up on that stuff, but nope. Always a surprise at first and then an OOOOOOH moment when all the little pieces I never picked up at the time fall into place (admittedly, part of this may also be that I am autistic and so pick up subtlety and social hints pretty much never, but most of it is that social cisnormativism is a powerful thing).

        1. Daibhid C

          “Like I’m fine with being a woman but I don’t like the assigned role of womanhood, if that makes any sense at all, I have no idea”

          Speaking as a guy who’s reaction to “guy stuff” (caring about football, knowing which way round to hold a hammer) is “Yeah, you want to ask my sister about that”, this makes perfect sense to me.

          (That’s guy stuff aside from toxic masculinity. My reaction to that is just “Yeesh.”)

        2. Unerringly Errant

          Ok, this is something I’ve never really understood and am still trying to figure out. Why do people care so much about gender? It’s clearly a completely artificial societal construct. I get the concept behind being transsexual, in which you feel you’re trapped in a body of the wrong sex, but if you feel you identify more with the gender role typically associated with your opposite sex, who the frack cares? I’m a heterosexual, married man that loves baking, chick flicks, wants to have kids WAY more than my wife, refuses to watch scary movies, is bored to death watching sports, and once had an instructor tell me that I was the only guy they had ever seen dragging their wife to a ballroom dance class instead of the other way around. I just don’t understand why people want so desperately to be the “correct” gender when the whole thing is a load of crap, stereotypes and lazy thinking.

        3. Emperor Norton II

          I could probably write -the longest reply ever- to this one, but I think the most condensed version would be:

          Our brains are both incredibly modern -and- incredibly outdated all at once. It’s modern because we are able to learn things that no other animal can learn. It’s outdated because said brain is also still a product of evolution, and as such has a lot of baggage to it that once made evolutionary sense*. Our society is just developing too fast for our brains to have properly caught up, and since human evolution is -slow- (what with it generally taking 20 or more years between each generation), it’ll be a long, long, long time before getting rid of that baggage will even be possible. And that’s assuming that there will enough evolutionary pressure against it.

          And one of those evolutionary traits is conformity to society. For practically all other species, and for most of human existence, conformity to society is quite often literally a matter of life and death. True, back then society was usually a group of 20-150 people, and that’s relatively easy and flexible to deal with. When society became significantly larger, the unwritten rules got more and more set in stone, more and more inflexible… And suddenly, you have all those expectations of what you’re supposed to be doing based on what gender you were assigned at birth.

          Yeah, that’s the “condensed” version. I tried. I’m not good at this.

          *A pretty neat example is pareidolia, or how we see patterns where it doesn’t really exist. My modern brain knows it happens, knows why it happens, and knows why I should be careful about such things. But my outdated brain still sees a “face” on Mars.

        4. thejeff

          It’s far more important to not miss any of the patterns in the grass that might be lions than to be sure that all the patterns you think are lions actually are.
          Failing the second gives you a moment of panic, failing the first gets you eaten.

          But yeah, conforming to societal expectations is a major advantage. More so in our evolution, but even today. It’s easier to bond with others. It’s easier to find friends and mates and get advantages through networking. Societal pressure to conform is still huge. It’s not more than a few generations back that a lot of gender roles were still legally enforced, particularly on women. We’re now working removing gender roles and barriers on the cultural level, which is an even harder and stranger experiment. As far as I know, nothing like it has ever been done before.

        5. ischemgeek

          I care because everybody else cares.

          By which I mean: Everyone in the goddamned known universe has been trying to push me into the “good girl” mold since before I could even frigging well talk.

          Don’t run. Don’t touch that, it’s dirty. Don’t climb, you’ll hurt yourself. Smile. Wouldn’t you rather wear the dress, it’s so pretty! Isn’t science more of a boy thing? You look prettier when you smile. Won’t you smile for me? Are you sure you want to do that with all those boys? I don’t think that’s really an appropriate activity for a girl, why don’t you do girl scouts instead? Give us a smile, love. Are you sure that’s the right program for you? I mean, you were good at math in school but it’s harder in university. Well, I suppose there will be no shortage of nice men for you to meet, and it’ll be in-demand for teaching. Grad school? That’s nice. Have you met a man yet? Full-time position? Congratulations! So this means you can give us grandkids soon! You got a promotion? That’s nice. So when are you having kids? Don’t you know your biological clock is ticking?

          I could go on. Fact is, I have never been comfortable with the fact that society (and family and a lot of friends) cares more about my fertility than my accomplishments. And that’s pretty much par for the course if you’re a woman.

          Fact is, when everyone in your life is pushing square peg you into round hole gender role, it fucking sucks.

          So yes, I care about my gender and gender role. A lot. Because I have to. Because to be true to me and who I am and what I enjoy, it’s an uphill battle 24/7/365 with very little support.

          And it’s even harder for trans folk. :\

    3. Cacturne

      Jocelyne is a girl, though

    4. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      By over-thinking and over-researching on Patreon I have determined that Jocelyne lives a substantial distance away from La Porte. I assume that John also lives in that general direction and is giving Joycelyne a lift to the family summit.

  54. zmm

    I forgot..
    one bro was neat
    one was the suck

    1. Kiapdx

      Revision: One bro is neat & actually sis (though Joyce doesn’t know yet). One bro is aaaaaaall the suck.

      1. Bagge

        I’m not prepared to write him off as all suck yet, but he certainly impress me way less than his father.

        I think John’s primary motive is to keep Carol from blowing up (no doubt he had to listen to her tirade against Becky on the phone by now). But by doing so he take the stand against someone who REALLY needs support (and he puts himself in the path of the Wrath of Joyce, which is NOT a good place to be).

        1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          Now I am picturing Joyce with half of her face all bloody activating the Anti-Genesis Machine.

        2. Deanatay

          Dunno if John is the suck – we know he’s the eldest, and married. He seems hesitant to air the Brown’s dirty laundry in front of Becky, and I think he realizes already that this get-together at the Round-The-Clock is going to get messy.

          If he’s like some eldest siblings I’ve met from large families, he’s used to keeping his sibling’s secrets, and protecting them. He’s also used to being the bearer of his parents’ hopes and dreams. It may be that he moved out and started his own life as quickly as possible, to escape the suffocating influence of his parents, but that he continues to try and protect his sibs as best he can. Even if he doesn’t agree with them.

        3. trlkly

          Yeah, that’s what I’m hoping: that he’s just trying to make sure Carole(sp?) and Becky don’t get into it. At first, I didn’t take it as Mom and Dad being there, so I just assumed it was bigotry, full stop.

          But if he’s hiding in another booth because of the interactions, then it makes more sense. Or if he’s saying that there won’t be enough room in the booth for all of them, and that it would be awkward for some of them to have to sit elsewhere.

      2. Dean

        We know hardly anything about John so far. I’d like to see him in more than two panels before deciding that he’s irredeemable.

    2. TheNinthShader

      Is this the plot for a slipshine?

  55. Tenzhi

    So is Round-the-Clock a restaurant that was started by Bill Haley and the Nuggets?

    1. TheNinthShader

      Gotta love them nugs.

  56. Kiapdx

    Just got the honor of being the 999th donor to Kickstarter. Fight me :I

  57. BenRG

    Hey, Joyce? There is no rule that says that, when you grow up, you’re not allowed to orderffrom the children’s menu anymore! <em<No rule whatsoever! It all depends if you have the fortitude to deal with the waitress’s disbelieving stare!

    Oh… and stop being so defensive; don’t start an argument before someone says something offensive.

    1. Shiro

      She’s not arguing. Very pointedly not arguing, in fact. She’s stating her piece, giving her terms, and John can accept them or fuck right off.

    2. Emperor Norton II

      Unfortunately, Round the Clock’s menu seem to think it is a rule :

      “For those 10 years of younger, no exceptions.”

      1. Bicycle Bill

        Scroll down to page 4: “Chicken Finger Platter” on the “grown-up” menu.

  58. Raza

    I like Joyce’s magically appearing driving gloves.

    1. Tenzhi

      Not gloves. She has a wrist brace because of her injury, remember?

    2. neeks

      did…you mean her skin? (looks like she’s wearing a shirt with those half-sleeves, so i can kind of see how you’d arrive at that conclusion.)

  59. neeks

    becky’s all “tfw you’re the hill a friend is willing to die on”

    1. neeks

      but really, it does feel like this is building up to becky telling joyce that while she does appreciate her support, it doesn’t HAVE to come at the expense of her relationships with the other people in her family

      1. Bagge

        Probably. Becky and Joyce have been doing the “no,no let me sacrifice myself for YOU” dance since Becky first showed up.

        But in this case there are larger stakes for Joyce even than Becky’s friendship. This is about Doing The Right Thing and Being a Good Person.

        Up until very recently she assumed that her family and church had taught her to be just that, but after meeting Ethan, Dorothy, the new and improved Becky, and seeing ToeDad and Carol with new eyes (and learning Leslie’s “sweet lesbian facts”) she doesn’t trust the teachings of her family anymore. They lied to her, but they still expect her to play along the old script (not befriending atheists, excluding gay people, being subversive to her husband and so on). THAT is what Joyce is rapidly building up to confront her family about. (And incidentally, that is exactly what Carol is afraid of. She’s right that Joyce is leaving her definition of the Faith, not that it will do her much good.)

        1. Cephalo the Pod

          “…being subversive to her husband…”

          Do you mean submissive? Or have I learned a new meaning of “subversive” today?

        2. Bagge

          …I DID mean submissive, but I kinda like subversive better.

  60. Why Lime?

    I forgot how adorable Jocelyne is. Send help. oAo

    1. Wublub

      The giant Joyce eyes, but with a shaggy pixie cut. She’s so adorable I could die.

  61. Mr. Random

    Okay.
    Jumping the gun a little early there, Joyce.
    He may not have meant it the way you took it.

  62. Willoughby Chase

    So, a family summit.

    Will this be like the Godfather?

    1. inqntrol

      In that case they are going to need a huge table.

      1. Gordon

        But they’re all going to sit on one side of it.

        Like Jesus did.

    2. tim gueguen

      “Joyce, who’s the guy in the suit?”

      “Don’t you remember? That’s Uncle Tony.”

      “Oooh, right! But hasn’t he been doing a 10 year stretch for importation?”

      “No, that’s Uncle Mario. They got Uncle Tony for wire fraud, and it was only a 5 year sentence.”

  63. Iamtheshark

    As a northern Indiana native all these references are very exciting for me

  64. TheNinthShader

    Gotta get those nugs.

  65. Volkai

    A BotCon without David Willis?!

    Look, I know I’ve never been to a BotCon, but I don’t need to have ever been to a BotCon to know that’s craaaaaazy.

  66. Griffin

    Petition for more Jocelyn following this story line. Every time she’s gone I miss her.

    1. Sunny

      I’d like to see Riley return to the comic.

  67. Jinxed44

    “She is my family. You want to get lunch you will respect this”
    Joyce is getting badass/growing up in a way some people never do.
    I love it.

    1. Captain Button

      Diss Becky and you’ll never lunch in this town again?

      1. Gareth

        Well you will but you will have to eat at boring places for adults that don’t serve chicken fingers. Is a world without chicken fingers one you want to live in?

        1. thejeff

          Chickens don’t have fingers.

          That’s why I’ve always been suspicious of that food item. 🙂

        2. Bicycle Bill

          I just want to know which part of the chicken is the ‘nugget’…

        3. thejeff

          “Different parts”

  68. Greyson

    *throws hands up* my daughter! my beautiful daughter! we need more jocelyn like yesterday

  69. Oberon

    Fuck, yeah! Chicken Christos are the very best Christoes!

  70. Kamino Neko

    People are reading a lot of positive reaction into what a pretty unambiguously negative reaction to my eye.

    That’s not ‘yay, she’s standing up for me!’ that’s ‘wait, why is she standing up for me, is John being a ‘phobe?’ or ‘Jeez, Joyce is throwing away her family for me, I don’t think I can do that to her.’

    1. Emperor Norton II

      Hmmm… I’m not sure Becky would be particularly surprised at John being a ‘phobe’. Remember, Carol thinks he turned out all right, and I feel confident that Becky knows this. And now that she knows Carol for what Carol is, she can probably make an educated guess about what this says about John.

      However, I think you’re probably right. Those eyebrows in particular are not happy eyebrows. I’d say it’s probably something closer to your second guess. Or even just something like “Here we go again, another round of passive-aggressive comments disguised as ‘just making conversation’. Best get used to this shit.”

  71. JQuire

    I’m confused….is this meant to be all the available Brown family members or just the siblings (plus Becky). Because both ways make sense but there’s a huge potential difference as to dynamic.

    1. Gordon

      I’m thinking it’s just the kids. It sounds like a general plan of “We’re gonna be in town to have lunch with Joyce” was made when she came home and they just finalized it with going to Round-The-Clock. I feel like Carol would have cooked for them otherwise. Or we would have gotten a scene where Carol mentioned going out for lunch today, which I don’t remember seeing.

      1. Captain Button

        My take is just the kids for lunch, then on of Carol’s big family dinners with all the trimming, and special prejudice with acrimony sauce.

    2. Kamino Neko

      I think I might be suffering some sort of culture shock here, though I’m not sure if it’s ‘not American’, ‘not Mid-Western’, or ‘not Fundie’…

      John asks Joyce if their parents told her about the plans for dinner at Round the Clock. If the parents weren’t going to be there, in my experience, there would be no assumption that Joyce was going to be there, if she hadn’t already been spoken to and confirmed.

      1. Betty Anne

        As American, Midwestern, non-fundie (raised by atheists, currently pagan), John and Joyce’s phone conversation suggests to me that John and Jocelyn had already made plans to meet their parents for lunch, and that it probably was decided to do it that weekend because Joyce was going to be home and could join them.

        John calling Joyce directly about it suggests one of two things to me:
        – He called the house and got a rant from Joyce’s mom about how Joyce and Becky disappeared in the car, and he’s afraid Joyce fled before he and Jocelyn could meet with them
        – He’s nervous about the meeting, and he feels more comfortable confirming everything with his siblings, and just assumes his parents will be there (subconsciously putting the burden on them as in the wrong if they forget and don’t show up, and at the same time avoiding talking to them until they’re at the restaurant)

        Either of those situations is why I took his “family only” comment to mean that he and Jocelyn are planning to talk about Jocelyn to the family. It’s reading to me less like, “Leave that icky lesbian out” and more like “Jocelyn’s not ready to broadcast this to everyone we know, just her parents and sibs.” He’s also probably expecting at least enough shouting to at best get them thrown out and at worst get the police called, both of which are grossly embarrassing to have happen in front of friends and acquaintances.

        1. tim gueguen

          It will be interesting to see what John and Jocelyne know about the Ross incident, or if they’ve even been told yet.

        2. JQuire

          That could be it. What’s throwing me off is talking to Joyce to solid up the time to meet. I have 100% been in family situations where my sibling has set up a meet up through a parent. It goes like: John has a conversation where Carol mentions Joyce will be in town a certain weekend. John says ‘Oh cool I was planning to be in town anyway. I should totally use it as an opportunity to grab lunch with her.’ To which Carol says: “ok, I’m about to call her and I’ll let her know..” etc. etc.

  72. Richard

    “Yes I know that’s from the children’s menu.”

    All of Joyce’s challenges in the real world, explained right there.

    1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      Well it is a metaphor for her transition from childhood, where everything was certain and your parents were always right, to adulthood, when you have to think for yourself.

      1. Richard

        She’s a modern-day Nora Helmer, except that, thankfully, she hasn’t had any children yet.

  73. Guairdean Beatha

    I’ve always said “Family are the people you love.” That’s why some of my blood relations aren’t family, and some of my friends are.

  74. Will

    Can we please start writing Jocelyne’s name correctly?

    Not ‘Jocelyn’
    Not ‘Joycelyne’

    Jocelyne.

    1. Lord Stoneheart

      Admittedly, I forget the e sometimes. Though it’s only mentioned in the comic once, and I forget to always check the tags.

      1. Betty Anne

        Same here. The only Jocelyn I ever knew didn’t use the “e” on the end, so it’s habit. I’ve never checked the tags unless someone points them out.

        Jocelyne it is. (Even though my spellchecker flags “Jocelyne” as wrong and doesn’t flag “Jocelyn.” XP Maybe that’ll be my reminder? ^^; )

    2. Kamino Neko

      Joycelyn drives me nuts…she’s a different person than her sister! Don’t lump them together!

      1. Spencer

        Joycelyn is great, okay? Her and her brother Johnathan both.

    3. Bicycle Bill

      And while we’re at it —
      it’s Becky with a ‘Y’, and Walky with a ‘Y’,
      but it’s Billie (and Marcie) with an ‘ie’.

    4. Will

      And then I found the post above that used “Joshlyn”. Why?!?

  75. Jhon

    Joyce doesn’t have a separate ringtone for her phone? Snarltone?

    1. Jhon

      — for her mom, I meant.

      1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

        The sound of jingling nickles.

    2. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      Buzzing, so it is probably on vibrate.

  76. Victor Riley

    Yep… Intervention coming.

    1. Showler

      I’m betting it starts with “are you okay after the Toedad disaster”, but moves on to “let’s talk about this gay boyfriend of yours”.

  77. Quietlythundering

    It’s cool, Joyce. Chicken fingers/ tenders/ whatever are like, 95% of the reason I get up in the morning.

  78. HiiroArana79

    Kids Menu 4 Life!!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

*

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.