184

Beaned
Posted on May 3, 2020 by David M Willis

184 thoughts on “Beaned”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    dose eyes T_T

    1. Regalli

      I know. Oh, Joyce. And oh, Amber and AG knowing exactly what she’s going through as she says that last part.

      These poor, dear girls.

    2. Deanatay

      It would appear Willis still has power over MY feelings *snif*

      DYW

  2. OtterBoy1

    Where’s Mike?????

    1. C.T Phipps

      Taking over hell with Toedad and Blackmage.

      1. abysswatcher1993

        Mike: “Rip and tear… your mom for a nickle.”

        1. Deanatay

          RIP Toedad

          (In this case, RIP = “Receive Infinite Punches”)

    2. Marsh Maryrose

      Most likely, still in a coma

      1. Ron again

        If Blaine (who is known for lying an awful lot) was not lying about the coma.

        1. ktbear

          This is still my head canon til proven otherwise.

        2. Regalli

          We know AG was there at the time, though, and that Amber and AG are talking again (so she knows what Blaine said, and said ‘in the hospital’ to hallucination!Mike.) AG’s not entirely sure, but she thought ‘in the hospital’ was credible enough to believe it on some level and Hallucination!Mike suggested Blaine might be lying about the hospital, specifically. Given what we saw of him in the last flashback, if he’s NOT hospitalized… I mean, there was no way he was walking in that state. If he’s not hospitalized I have to assume it’s because AG saw him die and is Not Processing That until the immediate crisis is over.

  3. ValdVin

    All of Joyce’s things are converging. I’m just relieved Joyce isn’t reflectively, unconsciously, clutching her hand.

  4. Stephen Bierce

    *weirdly muted quasi-clock bell tones echoing in the distance*

    1. Marsh Maryrose

      I would have thought the muted sound would be a hammered dulcimer, but who knows.

      1. Geneseepaws

        Hammered Dulcimer Played by Rich Mullins? Or Bill Murray?

        1. Khyrin

          Neither. It’s the bell tower of the La Porte County Courthouse.

        2. Marsh Maryrose

          It’s a clock tower, not a bell tower, and there are no bells in it. Not even clock chimes, as far as I can tell.

        3. Needfuldoer

          Rich Mullins playing a somber refrain of Joyce’s theme music* on the hammered dulcimer.

          *If Crockett gets theme music, Joyce does too.

      2. Dean

        I don’t think a hammered anything would be appropriate, under the circumstances.

        1. Azhrei Vep

          I think a hammered something would be the most appropriate, given the circumstances.

        2. Opus the Poet

          Tubular bells are played with hammers…
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXvtDm820zI

        3. Opus the Poet

          The good part starts at 17:07 and lasts until 24:05.

  5. Rosicrucian

    This is why Joyce is still a good person, no matter how much she’s doubted herself.

  6. Suet

    2 for 2 times has Joyce cried in front of Amber.

    This just feels so, so wrong.

    1. King Daniel

      Amber isn’t here.

      1. Lumino

        The non-blue dialogue says different.

        1. King Daniel

          Amazi-Girl has spoken in non-blue dialogue before (example #1: when she broke up with Danny). The speech bubbles are not a good indicator – the only reliable in-comic indication is the presence or absence of cheek blushes.

        2. Mordecai

          I actually really like that—added nuance and attention to detail

        3. Jamie

          Hm. Willis didn’t tag Amber. Might be a mistake?

        4. clif

          Well, he didn’t tag Blue Boss either. But seriously, no cheek blushes, so no Amber, so no Amber tag.

        5. Bicycle Bill

          “Blue Boss”, er, Blaine is visible in the lower left corner of panel six (well, at least Amber’s cape, which is still taped around his head, is visible), and he is indeed tagged.

      2. Needfuldoer

        Amazi-Girl’s driving, Amber’s riding shotgun.

  7. C.T Phipps

    Amazi-Girl: Joyce, we need to make sure he’s dead.

    Joyce: Okay

    *Joyce goes downstairs*

    *BANG*

    Joyce: Okay, now what?

    1. clif

      You need to post this multiple times, because I’m pretty sure it would get funnier each time through.

    2. Keulen

      Ok that was legit funny.

    3. Fogel

      rim shot/hi-oh
      You’ve made me recall a joke a friend told me.
      1st guy: “How’s your mom?”
      2nd guy: “She died.”
      1st guy: “I’m so sorry!”
      2nd guy: “It’s okay. It was either her or me.”

  8. bryy

    We’ve still got a month and a half of strips in this arc. Weeeeeee!!!!!!!

    1. Regalli

      Closer to two, since it ends June 23rd and we’re only barely into May! Yaaaaaaaaay*SOB*

      1. Needfuldoer

        As if 2020 hasn’t already been the longest decade…

  9. Ryan the Cool

    “blue boss”

  10. CMasta

    Prepare the toetag

    1. Valerie

      How has this comment been here for twenty minutes without a reply? It’s pun gold.

    2. Needfuldoer

      Don’t forget the toebag.

      1. Deanatay

        tag ’em and bag ’em

  11. BBCC

    Unfortunately, feelings don’t work that way. They seldom do what you want them to, the unruly bastards.

  12. AntJ

    I guess Amazi-Girl doesn’t feel a need to disguise her voice anymore

    1. Meagan

      Hmm, this brought to my attention that Amber is not tagged but there is one panel of “her” voice. I wonder if it is an accident or if it means something. Merging, perhaps?

      1. BBCC

        The voice is an affectation. AG’s spoken before without it and Amber’s spoken with it. It’s still AG around here – you can tell by the lack of blush on her face.

        1. Mordecai

          Not asking anyone to archive trawl, but would you or anyone happen to remember when Amber does the voice? I’d love to see that

        2. BigDogLittleCat

          I think it was when she started hanging around with Danny, since he knew both her and Amber. That’s when she changed her hair too.

        3. BBCC

          https://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/02-everything-youve-ever-wanted/blame-2/

          Most recent one I remember.

        4. King Daniel

          Hovertext even confirms that it’s Amber, not Amazi-Girl, doing the blue-speech there.

        5. Mordecai

          Thanks to you both!

        6. thejeff

          Or here, though she’s dressed as Amazi-Girl, that’s Amber all the way. She’d gone out specifically to damage AG’s reputation, IIRC.

      2. Zee

        They have the same vocal cords y’know. Blue speech bubbles are just a voice amazi puts on but it’s not like that’s her natural speaking voice

    2. segnosaur

      I think it more a case of “Joyce is upset… I should speak in a more normal voice to comfort her”.

  13. Dunedon

    Missing an Amber Tag starting in Panel 2 … looks like Amazi-Girl vacated so that Amber could be there for Joyce.

    1. Dunedon

      And that first bit was supposed to have a ? mark after it. I think that’s what the text bubble colour change means, but I’m not sure.

    2. Yumi

      Still could be AG, just not doing the voice, which was, at least at a point, more of a conscious thing.

    3. Nono

      Cheeks aren’t red, it’s still Amazi-Girl.

  14. Passchendaele

    those darn people and the emotional attachments you involuntarily form with them whether you like them or not

    also holy shit, joyce saw someone get beaten to death [citation needed] with a hammer, that’s an extremely reasonable thing to feel emotional about

    1. SuperZero

      She saw him get hit once. She heard him get beaten to death while she fled.

      1. Miri

        I suspect that imagining it from the sound effects is at least as bad as seeing it happen 🙁

        1. Passchendaele

          oh yeah, even if she didn’t see it, she might as well have

    2. Meagan

      I enjoy your use of [citation needed] here to acknowledge lack of confirmation of death.

      1. Passchendaele

        what’s better/worse is I’m definitely going to cite any confirmation I get

  15. Regalli

    Interesting to note that twice now there appears to be a line of Amber’s (since it’s both out of the blue-text and seems a bit more in line with what Amber would say than AG) while AG’s the only one tagged. Doesn’t necessarily mean much, but. Interesting.

    Oh, girls. 🙁

    1. Nono

      The voice was just a thing she started doing. The differentiation between them (for us viewers) is their cheeks; Amber has red cheeks.

      1. Regalli

        Oh, yeah, but the one a couple days ago where there was no voice in the middle of the fight (when she’d want to be all intimidating/try and not COMPLETELY give away the game to the Goons) while she was complimenting Walky’s butt seemed a bit more like Amber than AG in general, and we couldn’t see her face either way. We also had that bit where Amber and AG were talking to each other earlier in this storyline where, since it was the same panel, the only differentiation was word bubbles, so there’s some precedent which is why I’m confused. This one does seem as likely to be her dropping the voice as not.

        1. SuperZero

          Ethan was the one who complimented Walky’s butt.

    2. Meagan

      Thank you for pointing out this is not the first time; I had not noticed that. This confirms that it is Significant.

  16. Kyrik Michalowski

    Well on the brightside, either way Becky doesn’t have to go with her dad. On the downside, they’re going to need therapy. You don’t watch someone get beaten to death/near death and not have some trouble handling it.

  17. Yumi

    I was about ready to panic at the tags because Blaine’s in there and I didn’t see him in the comic at first…luckily he’s still tied up on the floor.

  18. Agemegos

    The bottom half of the strip does not load.

    1. Agemegos

      Now it does!

  19. CMasta

    All things considered if we get out of this with only one death and Blaine picking up a murder charge that gets him life (or does Indiana fry ’em like Texas does) you’d take that as a pretty successful DnD session.

    1. Needfuldoer

      Yeah, he’s looking at six or seven counts of kidnapping and one count murder (if Ross doesn’t survive).

      I’m not a lawyer, but I think Blaine’s murder charge would be either second degree (since Ross’s murder wasn’t premeditated) or felony murder (since it happened in perpetration of the other crimes).

      That murder charge would be the only thing preventing him from getting bail, because Indiana.

      1. Regalli

        Indiana doesn’t do degrees of murder, last I could find when I checked a few days ago. They use a single murder charge determined by ‘malice aforethought’ (which, IIRC, is generally a thing for determining second-degree) and the felony murder rule, though, both of which he qualifies for, along with manslaughter. And if the kids start testifying about mob ties… well.

        1. Needfuldoer

          If he’s convicted, I bet Gramps will make sure he doesn’t last long in prison. No reason to let a low-level stooge get away with drawing so much attention.

        2. Regalli

          Oh, yeah. Hell, I’d be surprised if he makes it to trial without an “accident” occurring.

        3. Agemegos

          Especially since his only way out of about “life plus 220 years” would be Federal witness protection.

  20. BigDogLittleCat

    Now is when bloodied Ross bursts through the door, intent on destroying all between him and his goal, and Joyce says, “on second thought, I’m okay with these feelings,” and kicks him back down the stairs.

  21. DarkoNeko

    Ok, new plan, everyone get out of the house and scream out of their lung until the neighbours call the cops…

    1. Agemegos

      Or they could call 9-1-1 themselves. Even if they aren’t willing to go through the pockets of Ross or the Ryans’ bros, they have Blaine’s phone and probably Ambazi-Girl’s.

      But I keep forgetting! Tinkerbell would die.

      1. Delicious Taffy

        Who?

        1. Agemegos

          Taylor, Tyler, Dawson and a couple of others who don’t get tagged. They were trying to intimidate witnesses against Ryan and beat up other enemies of his, Ryan being the guy who roofied and attacked Joyce. They are working for Blaine now, but their fundamental bond is that they are Ryan’s bro’s.

        2. Agemegos

          Grr! Autocorrect inserted a spurious apostrophe.

        3. Delicious Taffy

          No, I know who those bozos are. Who’s Tinkerbell?

        4. Agemegos

          Sorry. I forget how foreign and dated all my cultural references are to young Americans these days.

          There was a play called Peter Pan that was adapted into a novel and a pantomime, and even filmed a few times. It was a huge cultural influence for about eighty years. Back when community groups used to put on pantomimes for children at Christmas it was chosen more often than any other text. There is a statue of the main character in one of the big parks in London; a major childrens’ hospital in the UK used to get a significant part of its funding from the royalties. It was huge. I tend to forget that it has been supplanted by Transformers and so forth.

          Anyway, one of the characters in the play and panto is a “fairy”, called “Tinkerbell”, usually portrayed by a spot of light from a baby spot and a tinkling sound played on a triangle. In a climactic scene Tinkerbell drinks a draught of poisoned laxative to save the protagonist, Peter, from drinking it. She starts to die, which is represented by the spot of light being dimmed and made smaller. Then Peter busts the fourth wall and addresses the audience. He* says that Tinkerbell can be saved if enough children believe in fairies, and in the pantomime version he calls on the children in the audience to clap their hands to show that they believe. After a few rounds of calls for more and louder clapping Tinkerbell recovers, the spot returns to its usual size and brightness, and the trianglist plays an especially joyous tinkle.

          There is no alternative ending for if the kids don’t clap.

        5. BBCC

          If it helps, I’m a young person and I know Peter Pan. Granted, I usually think of the Disney movie not the book or play but still.

        6. Agemegos

          I guess that in the movies they can’t do the “clap if you believe” bit.

        7. Agemegos

          * In the pantomime, the role of Peter Pan is traditionally played by a young woman, but the character is male, you understand.

        8. Bicycle Bill

          Not just in the pantomimes.  Kathy Rigby and Mary Martin, among others, have portrayed Peter in stage plays and movie versions over the years as well.  It’s only in the last couple of decades (it may have started with the casting of Robin Williams as ‘Peter Banning’, the grown-up version of Peter Pan in ‘Hook’) that the role ceased becoming exclusively a ‘female-playing-a-boy’ part.

        9. Delicious Taffy

          Are you putting me on? Is that what you’re doing?

        10. Jhon

          Dang, he’s on to us.

  22. abysswatcher1993

    Stupid Ross being all human so you can feel bad when he dies even if he was an evil bastard.

    1. Meagan

      I think regardless of how “evil” he was at the end, Joyce was going to have feelings about this because she grew up with him as an important adult figure in her life who she used to trust.

      1. abysswatcher1993

        If this happens with Ross, I can’t imagine how Joyce will behave in front of Carol.

        1. Dr T

          Joyce’s eventual schism with Carol will be one for the ages and likely fairly cathartic.

  23. Romanticide

    I want to tell Joyce there is no sin in having a heart and feeling bad when people are dying. Even terrible ones 🙁

    1. Rabid Rabbit

      Terrible ones she’s known her entire life and thought were good people until just a few weeks ago.

  24. Joey245

    Joyce deserves ALL OF THE HUGS after this storyline is over.

    1. BigDogLittleCat

      Becky might be entitled to a few.

      1. Regalli

        Becky and Joyce with a blanket fort and ALL THE SADNESS HUGS.

        1. Sombrero

          Please, reserve some for Amber.

        2. Regalli

          Honestly, I think a huge cuddlepile on top of the velociraptor would not go amiss here, especially since Dina’s going to be, at minimum, concerned for her roommate and girlfriend and having the complicated feelings of “this does nothing to me, but YOU are sad and that is bad, even though I had no pleasant interactions with this person, ever.” I wouldn’t be surprised if the post-crisis fallout hits Dina, too.

        3. Opus the Poet

          Are there any psychologically undamaged Identify-As-Female characters left? Everyone is going to need therapy after this semester…

        4. Nono

          Sarah’s pretty nonplussed, Dina seems pretty stable.

          And I guess Lucy.

  25. Rabid Rabbit

    It’s absolutely wrong of me to look at panel 5 and go “Hmm, that’s a nice pair of pairs of bosoms. Which Kickstarter level gets you two characters making out again?”, isn’t it?

    1. Agemegos

      I’m a bit disconcerted by panels 4 & 5. In panel 3 Amazi-Girl’s “A” logo is in the middle of her chest as usual, but in panels 4 & 5 it seems to be on her right breast.

      1. clif

        It’s a matter of angle and perspective.

        But you can be the one to tell her she has a large A.

        1. He Who Abides

          I believe that the proper term is “thicc”.

      2. Bicycle Bill

        Daisy:  “Did.  She have.  A CHEST WINDOW?”
        (head in hands) “Woulda made a great front page splash…”

        1. He Who Abides

          Didn’t know that you could print that kind of splash on the front page.

  26. Bagge

    Becky: Same

  27. GutterChick

    Oh yeaaaah, they just all watched a dude get beaten to death with a hammer. That’d be pretty scarring

    1. Rabid Rabbit

      Well, Dorothy was definitely a bit scarred by seeing Ryan get slashed up.

      Not nearly as scarred as he was, though.

      (I am a bad person.)

      1. Schpoonman

        Not as bad as Ryand and all their ilk.

  28. ian livs

    You can dislike somebody and still have a surprisingly big wave of Emotions about them dying, Joyce. Which is to say, I lost somebody fairly recently that I hadn’t even been in contact with for a year or so–and hadn’t been close to in something like half a dozen years–and then I spent several days absolutely destroyed because of it. I guess it makes you really realize how human they are, even if they suck?

    (For clarity, and for my own closure, it was my first BF. He was… well, to be concise, he was basically Joyce pre-any character development, but a dude in a church that prized that. He was raised in the same bigoted fundie group I was, so I understand WHY he held all the flaws he did, and I kinda hoped one day he might break out of it too, because he always meant so well. Maybe we’d become friends again and maybe I could tell him I wasn’t the “uwu perfect Christian girl” who was his first “GF.” Maybe, maybe… Except he couldn’t even live to see 24. It’s… dumb. I’m okay now, but… feelings are messy sometimes, is what I mean. That last panel is a mood.)

    1. BigDogLittleCat

      I’m sorry. Even if you were no longer close, it’s still a shock. At 23, what a shame.

    2. BBCC

      My condolences. Feelings are complicated.

    3. Regalli

      My sympathies. Deaths that young hurt BAD, and yeah, feelings are complicated.

  29. Jonah Sanville

    “I promised myself he’d have no power over my feelings anymore” is something I’ve said multiple times to myself about multiple people. I know how you feel Joyce, but it’s okay, you’re not weak. Not at all <3

  30. Jonah Sanville

    also i feel real dumb but who is “mustache guy”?

    1. Rotunda

      Ross.g

    2. Agemegos

      Ross McIntyre, known as “Toedad”. Becky’s father, He had a prominent moustache, and Amazing-Girl seems to think that’s the only aspect of his identity that Walky will have registered.

      1. clif

        And she’s probably right.

  31. NinjaNick

    I think there’s going to be a hug before psycho-Blaine breaks through the cape and duct tape. Somebody needs to get his hammer before he does.

    Becky is probably going to be broken if she hears this.

    1. Needfuldoer

      Nobody else had better touch that bloody hammer. It’s probably a murder weapon now.

      Don’t contaminate evidence. Grissom would be disappointed in you.

  32. Dave

    Joyce, you feeling bad for ToeDad just means you’re a better person than I am…

    …WELP! *starts a conga line while singing “Cuban Pete”* They call me Cuban Pete, I’m the King of the Rhumba Beat~…

    1. RedCat

      To be fair, to her he is a real person, and to you he is a character in a comic.

      1. Schpoonman

        I grew up with several near-Rosses.

    2. Geneseepaws

      When I go boom chikky-boom chikky-boom chikky-chikky-boom.

    3. ZerglingOne

      For years he was the other major father figure in her life. That kind of deep seated attachment doesn’t just let go easily. Plus, aside from the 2 incidents now, all of her memories of him are likely positive.

      She is furious with him and was fast developing at least some hate for him, but I guarantee she didn’t want him dead. In prison definitely, but not dead. I have someone who is no longer my friend, was once my closest, best friend in the entire world. I hold so much anger for him, I cannot express it in words. But if he were to die tomorrow and I to hear of it, I would still be devastated.

  33. C.T Phipps

    Spock: Jim, they’re dying.

    Kirk: LET THEM DIE!

    Joyce: I know just how you feel about those bongos!

  34. SillyGoose

    I’m not crying, you’re crying.

  35. BenRG

    And that was how Joyce’s childhood finally died.

    1. GutterChick

      18 is a pretty good run IMO

      1. BenRG

        It’s not the ‘when’ that’s the problem; it’s the ‘HOW’.

        1. Opus the Poet

          And I give you a non-existant upvote?

  36. Vukodlak

    It occurs to me that maybe they should call an F@!!?:;$ing ambulance as he might not be dead.

    1. Keulen

      They could check to make sure at least. And if he’s still alive, yeah they should call an ambulance.

      1. SuperFroakie82

        I think you’re supposed to call an ambulance even if they are dead, anyways.

        1. King Daniel

          Mike said not to call 911, though.

        2. segnosaur

          He did because some of the police may have mob ties.

          But, Blaine (the one who threatened to have mike killed) is now incapacitated, and is unlikely to at on that threat at this time.

        3. Agemegos

          If there are cops with mob ties the kids cannot avoid them by refusing to call 9-1-1. Never have been able to. It makes no sense.

          If the mob wants Mike dead and is able and willing to use its crooked police it’ll send them. If the crooked police want Mike dead they’ll find and kill him themselves. If Blaine had enough power to engage the crooked police he’d have done it. These crimes are going to be discovered and reported by someone sometime come what may. The idea that Mike is in danger if someone calls 9-1-1 and safe otherwise doesn’t stack up.

        4. thejeff

          But while Blaine was active and still had his hostages, there was a pretty decent chance of him getting a warning from his asset in the police department, if 911 was called and police started responding to a mass kidnapping.

        5. Agemegos

          That didn’t apply when Mike said “no cops” because there had been no kidnapping then, and it doesn’t apply now. The only reason for the Interfering Kids not to call 9-1-1 is that Willis hasn’t worked out an alternative ending for if they do.

  37. Mark

    So where’s the whacky hijinks in this strip?

    1. King Daniel

      “Hijinks” is what Blaine named his hammer.

      And he definitely went whack-y with it.

    2. Needfuldoer

      Someday, they will ensue again.

      1. Mark

        The thing with the hijinx is it, imho, takes away from the severity of the message. That when we get a “serious” strip it feels more like A Very Special Episode, like last strip where there’s a serious fight going on but we have a couple of panel of weak boys talking about butts.

        Just makes it harder, for me, to take the serious stuff seriously when I’m half expecting something wacky to happen

        1. FacelessDeviant

          Verily, the age of Shennanigans are upon us!

  38. SuperFroakie82

    I hope that Joyce or Becky talk to Ross before he dies and that gets some sort of dying revelation about how horrible the things he’s done have been and how he can’t control Becky or who she is. Although, it would probably be more realistic for him to be stubbornly stuck in his beliefs until the very end, and might conflict a bit with the message Willis is trying to present here, although I can’t claim to know exactly what that is. I mean, Ross is definitely less evil than Blaine, but I’m not sure if he would get humanized that much. But I’ll still hope.

    1. Bysmerian

      What bothers me isn’t just that Ross is unlikely to have a deathbed heel realization, not just that he may well die thinking he was doing the right thing, but that regardless, if he dies Joyce’s church will mourn him as a martyr and good (if possibly–maybe–misaimed) soul who died saving a bunch of kids who won’t respect his sacrifice for them.

  39. Rikunda

    As a person who lived for years with an abusive dad and brother (The types don’t matter for the purpose of this PG) you are never prepared for how you will feel when the time comes. You can hate their guts, but you are programed to care. You can move on, live far away, but when that comes… What could have been leaks from your eyes.

  40. Zaxares

    Wait, so the goon squad hired off Facebook KNEW their boss straight up just attempted to murder a guy and they STILL stuck around? Man, they’re either way more evil or WAY stupider than I first thought.

    1. BenRG

      I think that they’ve said this before but their problem is entitlement. They think that they can do whatever they want to whoever they want because they’re the natural alphas of society and no-one has any right to stop them.

      So, yeah, rape, grievous bodily harm and even murder is entirely within their abilities and they will then expect to get off scot free because of who they are.

    2. Bicycle Bill

      First of all, do they know that Blaine tried to kill Ross?  It was just the two of them in the basement with the kidnap victims, remember?

      And if they did, they may have figured that they’re in too deep to get out now, so they may as well play it through to the end.  Don’t forget that until Amazi-Girl showed up, they still thought they had the upper hand.

  41. Commander Clash

    You know what another sad point is? Even if McIntyre does survive, he may still feel his actions were justified because he was going to “fix” his daughter.

    1. Heavensrun

      You never know, head-trauma can change a person’s perspective.

      I mean, physically. Brain damage can change your personality.

      Typically for the worse, but you never know…

  42. Dracke

    Joyce feeling pain seeing someone you used to love dying or death means you are human, you can control what you do and what you do with your feelings not how you feel…if we couldn’t we wouldn’t be human anymore

    1. Heavensrun

      Hell, even if she didn’t care about him at all, if he was a stranger, Joyce is the kind of person who would have problems processing that. It would be traumatic for anyone, but Joyce is a genuinely caring person.

  43. Johnny Austin

    I’m sorry I kinda went off the handle there last I spoke, so to speak.
    I’m not supposed to talk about politics.
    I try to steer clear of it but it sneaks up on me, I was reading and I reacted.
    Sorry to get my crazy all over your thing.

    I don’t really internet, I don’t understand computers at all. A phone and pushing buttons is about my limit, so long as the bits that do stuff are set up for me.
    I’ll ask the city library to buy your books though.

    I’ll keep my thumbs to myself for a bit.

    The pacing of the kidnapping is spot on, read altogether.

    I got snatched when I was younger, teenage.
    I kept it together and talked my way to saftey.
    Entirely different circumstances, but your portrayal rings true to the memory of that day.

    Sorry again about the thing, I’ll try to not let me happen again.

  44. hof1991

    For Amber/AG this was about her and her evil dad. That’s why she had to finish it herself. No police, no assistance. Now Ross is dead or badly wounded. The police will be involved. Her mom will be involved. Campus authorities will be involved. This isn’t an anonymous throw down. This arc runs another fifty days, but it might see the end of AG.

    1. BigDogLittleCat

      I agree. I don’t see any way AG escapes detection, which means mandatory therapy for Amber, if not jail.

    2. Van Jealous

      If cross-Walkyverse continuity is being maintained (and I say that with some trepidation), then Blaine doesn’t die for many years, as Stacy informed Amber of his passing in one of the later installments of Shortpacked, if i recall correctly. But then again, if he dies in this comic too, I don’t think that many readers will be all that upset.

      1. Heavensrun

        This is explicitly not in the Walkyverse continuity. Blaine or anybody else could die (or not die) at any point in this series if Willis decides that’s what he wants to do.

        He generally avoids events like that because since time in the comic passes so slowly, it would put characters into a state of grief for years of realtime, but for a character like Ross, that’s somewhat mitigated by the fact that characters feelings about his death would be complex and not necessarily dominate their daily lives.

        1. segnosaur

          Not only would characters have conflicted feelings over Ross being killed, the comic has gone on for around a decade. It wouldn’t surprise me if the kidnapping and escape was some sort of climax, and the remaining strips would wind things down. (So even if there was some mourning, it wouldnt’be that detrimental.)

        2. Regalli

          It’s designed to be a season finale, the blog post said – Willis has said their goal in starting DoA was to be a comic that could run forever because it started when the Willises were starting to think about kids. I could see DoA ending eventually, but there’s still a LOT of character arcs that are unresolved even with this and have clearly not been dropped, and Willis has indicated “season finale” by no means suggests a “SERIES” finale. (There was an allusion over on It’s Walky that there were “no immediate plans, but we’re bound to see [Billie’s] parents at some point” in January, WELL after the leadup to this arc had begun – the Mike fight strips had already run when this showed up.)

        3. Regalli

          We knew Shortpacked was ending a year before it did. Didn’t know why, did know there’d be an active conclusion, and there had been a phasing out of the cast beforehand to ease the way out. So it would be uncharacteristic to end the strip while actively suggesting otherwise, and while I don’t remember where the buffer was when the wedding arc from Joyce and Walky ran in January, I’m pretty sure this arc had been plotted out already.

          It’s probably going to shift gears, for sure (I anticipate Raidah and Mary moving into more present antagonist roles for a while soon, before another adult takes straight Villain status, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of our main cast have lighter arcs to match as, say, Ruth’s familial issues come into play,) but ending seems… less likely.

        4. thejeff

          I suspect we’re going to have some nasty Brown family fallout in the aftermath of this, thanks to Carol’s role in getting Ross out on bail. That’s already been set up, with both Hank and Joyce knowing something about it.

        5. TemperaryObsessor

          Naturally Carol will blame Becky or Joyce for losing half the families money.

        6. Regalli

          Oh, that’s a given. I meant more “after the fallout from this arc”, which I’d consider part of the wind-down implied.

    3. segnosaur

      Possibly. And in the real world it would definitely be the end of Amazigirl.

      But, from a comic-book logic perspective, she might have enough cover to continue her Super-hero ways.
      – The fellow students may lie to cover for her
      – Ross may be dead
      – Blaine is in denial
      – Not all of the Henchmen may have been told that Amber=Amazigirl, and the ones that were may have also heard Blaine state “Amber is a coward… she lied about being Amazigirl so she could run away.”

  45. Rabisch

    Joyce is really a good person and friend.

  46. temperaryobsessor

    I just want to say everyone’s situation and personal grief dial is unique. And while Joyce shouldn’t logically feel ashamed for letting herself morn Ross. Someone else might not morn their abusive fill in the blank and thats also okay. Someone else might not morn their decent fill in the blank because XYZ and that’s also okay. It might come later it might not.

  47. Heavensrun

    So just popping in here to say these people need to call 911. I know that Blaine has mob connections, but honestly that is a problem they have to deal with whether they’re targeted for calling the cops or for beating the shit out of him and his lackeys and leaving them for dead in a random house. Calling 911 creates an evidence trail that gives Blaine’s connections reasons to cut ties with him. They kidnapped or killed/attempted to kill MANY PEOPLE. Walky’s family is connected, as is Becky herself. She and Joyce are basically local celbrities at this point. This is a -high profile case-. The kind of case that any decently “respectable” mob boss would put Blaine six feet under himself to avoid being involved with.

    People like Blaine use fear to make people comply, but their plans are usually paper thin. They never have the rock-solid security they project to others.

    1. Agemegos

      And even if the Crazy Kids don’t call 9-1-1, the cops are definitely going to get involved. Even if they let Ross die, hide the corpse, clean the scene, make the Rapegang Bros disappear, and swear a pact of silence. Whether it is Asher’s gramps, Blaine, or they themselves who controls their criminal activity, if they were ever going to do bad things to Mike or whomever, they are going to do them now. The idea that they can’t or won’t get involved without a call to 9-1-1 doesn’t make sense.

  48. Falcon

    Rage is a poor state of mind in which to make promises to yourself.

  49. Leadsynth

    Wait, what? I thought Joyce was crying because she realized they’d left Becky behind with Ross.

    1. Agemegos

      There was a strip in which Becky made a phone call to her dad to say that she was going to come to the place where he was, but if she ever actually arrived I did not notice it. Joyce and the Crazy Kids left Ross struggling with Blaine in the basement, Ross having been hit twice in the head with a hammer, blows that Blaine thought would kill him. If Becky was there too I did not notice her.

      1. Needfuldoer

        They’re still in the house they were being held captive in, and Becky hasn’t arrived yet.

  50. LovelyMonsters

    Willis, this strip is an amazing piece of craftsmanship to me.

    There’s an almost linear buildup (with dramatic pause, even!), only noticeable in retrospect, in which Amber humanizes herself for Joyce just in time to get hit with Joyce’s statement, the final panel’s line.

    The final panel, the only full-sized one in the strip, is almost a self-contained story, with Joyce and then Amber and then, behind Amber, her father, the strong diagonal lines of the shadows or lino in the kitchen pointing straight to him like an arrow from Joyce’s heart through Amber’s, lines that show that Joyce is the one speaking the last line of dialogue but both women are feeling it.

    The way everything in the scene is monochrome and neutral except the three primary-colored people in the shot, the way the “camera” pullback doesn’t just allow us to see part of Blaine but also makes Joyce and Amber look small and so literally shows us how both of them are feeling, the way the choice to shrink Joyce’s speech bubble (my brain intially supplied “dialogue box”) so we know her voice is now suddenly small–all this underlines a final piece of dialogue that demonstrates deep and fingerpoint-precise understanding of human feelings and holds so much pathos that it would be wrenching to read it even in script form.

    I mean I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know, you wrote it and drew it. But I feel like I have to list as much of this as I can because *so much* went into this strip, and it’s such a beautifully done piece of art that the artistic experience of it happens alongside and behind the emotional experience. DoA is always good, but this strip, to me, is exceptional, and I wanted to say thank you for making this.

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