164

Aura
Posted on May 31, 2020 by David M Willis
For May 2020's first Patreon bonus strip, folks voted for BECKY'S DEAD MOM, so here you folks friggin' go.  All patrons can go read it, if they want to feel bummed. And remember, if you pledge up, you can read TOMORROW'S STRIP TODAY! PSSST!  Also, yo, Wack'd is doing a tenth anniversary BESTEST DUMBING OF AGE CHARACTER tiered showdown, starting on their Twitter June 1!  So keep an eye out for that sometime tomorrow and vote for your faves in these coming days. EDIT: i don't know what day it is

164 thoughts on “Aura”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    conscience incoming

    1. clif

      Maybe. The alt-text is non-canon.

      1. Abel Undercity

        The alt-text deserves a “damn you, Willis” in its own right.

        1. Wack'd

          There are few, if any, things about being Faz’s friend that could be considered a benefit.

  2. Doctor_Who

    Faz will now wander off and sing a wistful song about his conflicted feelings. You can’t hear it, but he actually has a beautiful tenor.

    1. clif

      He keeps him locked up in his closet.

    2. Rabid Rabbit

      Blaine will burst in: “And no singing!”

      Then he will comment on Joyce’s ‘uge tracks o’ land.

      1. Bicycle Bill

        EEEeeeewwwwww!!
        No matter from which angle or perspective I view that last sentence, RR, it still comes across as just plain …. pervy.  

        1. Androiddreams

          Its a Holy grail quote, ongoing from the no singing bit 😛

  3. Hilzabub

    In 30 seconds, Faz is spare parts in the back of the van. Hopefully.

  4. Foxhack

    “No one good was harmed.”

    Yeah that isn’t raising a lot of red flags or anything.

    1. Mra

      well Toedad is dead

      1. AquariusLoser

        Not to mention Blaine & his underling were quite thouroughly beaten.

    2. Lumino

      I think that’s a good sign, personally. Faz acknowledges that the kids were the good ones, while Blaine and his buddies were evil.

      1. BarerMender

        Good point.

      2. Twitcher

        He might be referring to Joyce as “not good”, i.e. the person who kept Amber away from home and in school.

  5. EvilMidnightLurker

    How much effort does it take for him no not smile?

    …and suddenly I see horror behind it.

    1. EvilMidnightLurker

      ^to not smile

    2. Doctor_Who

      He went to the same back-alley doctor as Jack Nicholson in the ’89 Batman.

    3. Foxhack

      Wasn’t there one panel where his expression changed? I think he was with his mother.

      1. Foxhack

        Oh wait no it’s this one where he closes his mouth

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

        He gets a Simpsons mouth.

    4. Regalli

      In Shortpacked, I think we only saw him drop it twice. One was after Amber dropped on him about five bombshells in one (revealing that they shared a father, said father was dead, that she had known for some time, and she kept it from him despite him wondering about his father – he never got the chance to meet Blaine in that universe – because Blaine was a piece of shit and Amber didn’t really want him to have to navigate that relationship. Oh, and Faz had a creepy sexual fixation on her that whole time.)

      The second was when he attempted to touch a pregnant Robin’s baby bump, and she death-glared him so badly he threw himself into a lion pit at the zoo. (He was next seen months later, at the literal end of the strip, standing atop it and covered in lionskins as Soggies poured into the universe. He was visibly smiling in that panel.)

      So… Joyce can PROBABLY manage the degree of Murder Rage needed to make him drop it, but it takes a LOT.

      1. Needfuldoer

        Robin’s death glare has, so far, been the only thing to make him visibly open his eyes in either universe.

        https://www.shortpacked.com/comic/tummy

    5. Someone

      Forget the smile, I’m waiting for his eyes to bug out like every anime character that goes from closed eyes with a smile to psychotic slasher face and wide eyes.

  6. Nono

    Friends is… a strong word, considering you just kinda watched him for one afternoon.

    1. Strangeshapes

      It’s a relative thing. And never mind … use the guilt! Uuuuuuuussssseee the guuuuuuuiiiiillllttttt!

      1. Needfuldoer

        Sweet, passive-aggressive guilt and puppy-dog eyes are Joyce’s deadly weapons.

        https://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-8/03-faz-is-great/operate/
        (And the one after this.)

  7. Stephen Bierce

    Giving You The Benifaz…Of The Doubt
    Giving you a minute to try to work it on out…

    1. Deanatay

      ‘benifaz’ gives me the -fits.

  8. William Leonard Reese Jr.

    Faz looking like he’s about to break into a rendition of “Ready as I’ll Ever Be” here.

    . . . Also Faz and Joyce have *met*? I must have COMPLETELY blocked that interaction from my mind. Especially if it led to Joyce thinking of them as friends.

    1. Kyrik Michalowski

      It was during the time that Faz came to visit/steal a usb from, Amber. I can’t remember the exact strip though.

    2. mrnoidea

      Book 8, Arc 3.

      1. mrnoidea

        (i dont remember the exact page numbers)

        1. AntJ

          just click on the dropdown menu for “Archive” and choose “Faz Is Great”

  9. AutobotDen

    Sucker punch of feels.

  10. Mr D

    A quick reminder to everyone here that THIS Faz isn’t Shortpacked’s horrible creep but a teenager who lives under Blaine’s abuse 24/7

  11. sharktrs

    eagerly anticipating tomorrow’s strip

    it better not cut back to Sal and Amber

    1. Needfuldoer

      Check out the free preview of tomorrow’s strip in the Patreon link on Twitter. It’s blurry enough that you can’t make out dialogue, but you can usually tell which characters show up or if there’s a scene change.

      It’s actually kind of fun guessing what’s going to happen next.

  12. Mra

    Well, his stepfather is a murderer, mobster, and abuser who is not above turning that violence on his own family. I bet he is scared.

  13. Kravis

    Joyce needs distance from Faz.

    SOCIAL distance!

  14. Kyrik Michalowski

    So is this going to be Faz’s epiphany that he shouldn’t be helping his father hurt people? Or is this merely going tk be Faz saying he wish he could help but can’t?

  15. NotAnElf

    C’mon Faz, show us you’re better than your father…..

    1. Opus the Poet

      Way to set the bar high there NAE. All he needs to do is literally not kill her…

      1. Chris

        Now, let’s be fair. Blaine didn’t kill her either… /s

  16. Brumagem

    Yknow, you really have to wonder more and more about Blaine’s reasoning skills. Anyone else would never hope to keep their identity a secret if they’re towing around their own child on a crime mission

    1. BigDogLittleCat

      *step*child, Blaine is quick to point out.

      1. Opus the Poet

        “Stepchild” is how Blaine avoids going to prison on child rape charges.

        1. Khyrin

          Before anyone goes on a tangent: Faz’s mother is just old enough that she would have been a minor or only recently had reached the age of majority when Faz was born.

        2. Needfuldoer

          Sarah’s “Twenty-five, tops” judgement of Yuri’s age has to be hyperbole. If Faz is almost sixteen, that would make that guess biologically improbable.

          She’s probably at least in her early thirties, hopefully at least 34, but just looks younger.

          It’s also been implied (or at least assumed by the audience) she’s connected to one of the mob families. If a mob boss caught wind one of his stooges knocked his teenage daughter up, there’s probably a good chance said stooge wouldn’t be breathing for much longer afterward.

        3. Chris

          That’s why he’s so insistent on “STEPfather”. He really doesn’t want the boss to realize that he offed the wrong stooge.

        4. Regalli

          “Twenty-five, tops” is definitely hyperbole.

          Amber, however, follows that line with “I try not to think about it” and later that night says to Walky, “It would mean he cheated on my mom[…] with a teenager”, and she’s much more likely to know Yuri’s actual age. (We know from a Patreon strip that Amber babysat for Faz at least once pre-divorce, and if she was concerned it’s possible she looked it up hoping for an “oh, it is less creepy than it looks” situation.) So yeah… Hopefully at least 34, but that’s a hope.

        5. HeySo

          “Hopefully at least 34”

          Age of consent in most states (and countries) is 16, so she’d really only need to be 31 [to avoid the legal considerations, not the moral ones]. But if she looks 25, she might be, say, 28.. which’d mean she was 13 and still technically a teenager. So yeah, it gets ugly real quick. Well, uglier.

        6. HeySo

          Okay, forgot for a moment this bases out of Indiana. Google says age of consent 16 (as expected) but notes that if they’re under 14 it also counts as child molestation (in addition to statuatory rape). Though apparently you can just defend against that aspect by claiming that you weren’t aware at the time that they were under 16, so it’s apparently a hard law to get jail time for [if you have the right connections, at least, as Blaine certainly seems to].

          [14 and 15 year olds fall under the state’s Romeo & Juliet law, and can consent to anyone up to 4 years older]

        7. Khyrin

          Yeah, I was working with the assumption that Yuri’s 34, not 25.

  17. James

    /checks the alt text
    Thanks, I hate it.

  18. chris2315

    “I need distance.”

    “Yes, my aura is intimidating.”

    “What? No! There’s a global pandemic going on right now. Stay six feet away from me, please.”

  19. BBCC

    Come on, heel-FAZ turn. Eh? Ehhhhhh?

    1. Regalli

      We believe in you, Faz. Do one good thing in your life!

      (I just spent entirely too long getting the wording right for a She-Ra reference. Anyway, come on Faz! Pull a Catra! It probably won’t end with you saving the universe with the power of love for your childhood crush, but it also probably won’t end with you dead? Hopefully?)

    2. Ron again

      Nope, sorry.

  20. Dr T

    Wait, what the smurf is that supposed to mean, Faz? When was Joyce not good around you?

    1. Regalli

      I think he’s referring to non-Joyce people, since he’s clearly feeling some kind of guilt here.

      Specifically, the only person who appears to have been injured at all after Joyce’s lunge and subsequent panic attack (so excluding Dina, who we can make a case for Faz disliking OR liking due to the grappling hook incident, let’s all just ignore the implications there as long as we can) was Amber dressed as AG (based off that bruise forming under her right eye), who was probably classed as a Bad Person in Faz’s briefing because AG and he’s only now starting to experience doubt.

      That, or he’s self-aware and is sorting all the hostages as “good people” and the kidnapping accomplices as bad ones.

    2. SuperZero

      She asked if everybody is okay, he responded that all of the good people are unharmed.
      Presumably he wasn’t counting her, since she wasn’t asking about herself. Note that many of the bad people are not okay. Faz may be distinguishing them properly.

  21. Dr T

    She called out for Dorothy third. Some girl crush she has.

    1. BigDogLittleCat

      I read that as her realizing that Sarah was most likely to get hurt because she was the most likely to try to physically intervene.

    2. Segnosaur

      At least Dorothy made the top 3.

      She didn’t ask about dina (even though she was the one most likely hurt), nor Amber, nor Walky.

  22. Some1

    Faz: Faz has seen the error of his ways and will sacrifice himself so you can escape.

    Joyce: You can’t!

    Faz: No doubt you will protest my sacrifice but I am willing to atone.

    Joyce: No, really, we’ve already have had one guy die this story arc, it will get overplayed if we do it twice! What? are we going to have two funeral scenes, that would be ridiculous!

    1. inqntrol

      “And the cost for just one funerals is high enough, we don’t neef 2.”

      1. drs

        Family 2-for-1 discount.

  23. Saucy Jack

    Prediction: Faz goes a little TOO Casanova on Joyce; Joyce goes absolutely Incredible Hulk on Faz.

    1. BigDogLittleCat

      That’s what I’m afraid of. I hope not, if only because that would be piling too much trauma on Joyce, and I’d hate for Willis to succumb to authorial overkill. On the other hand, this arc *does* have two people dressed as superheroes, two kidnappings, preposterously stupid college student accomplices, and now a motorcycle in pursuit.

      1. SuperZero

        There have been notably more than two kidnappings. But are you counting Walky as a superhero?

        1. Segnosaur

          I think the previous poster may be counting 2 kidnappings as
          1) all the kids lumped together as a single kidnapping all combined as one incident
          2) Blaine’s fleeing with Joyce as a second kidnapping

    2. Amara Rezby

      Neither of them need that sort of additional trauma. I think we’ll finally see faz’s other eye. We’ll see the signs of physical abuse from living with Blaine.

      1. Needfuldoer

        Hey, you’re right! His hair has consistently covered his left eye this whole time. I didn’t notice that.

        Hopefully (for the story, not for Faz) that’s a Chekhov’s Gun.

    3. Needfuldoer

      She subsequently escapes via the Faz-shaped hole left when she threw him across the truck.

  24. Raen

    …did she? I can’t remember them ever interacting.

    1. Elie Stav

      They interacted a lot during the “Faz is Great” arc. https://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-8/03-faz-is-great/liked/

    2. BigDogLittleCat

      When he came to campus and Joe offered to watch him for Amber, and then Malaya propositioned Joe so he handed Faz off to Joyce.

  25. OtterBoy1

    Are they still in the back of the van?

    1. Bicycle Bill

      Yes.  The handrail-like thing is actually a rub rail/anchor point to secure cargo against the walls to prevent it sliding around, and Faz is sitting on the top of the wheel well.

    2. Needfuldoer

      I think Blaine switched vehicles while Joyce was blacked out. That’s a moving truck, not a van.

      It would also separate Blaine from this interaction, since the cab and box are usually separate.

      1. Bicycle Bill

        Have you ever seen the INSIDE of a Sprinter-type van when it’s set up as a cargo-only vehicle?  It’s very bare-bones, with metal ribs supporting the interior bare-metal walls (which are just the opposite side of the exterior panels of the vehicle; any dents caused by shifting cargo on the inside shows up on the outside), no insulation or soundproofing, semi-exposed wiring, and no interior paneling/protection (like the rub-rails) unless special-ordered or added by the end-user after delivery in much the same way the 1970s-1980s custom vans were created. And depending on the order specs, it may or may not have a partition separating the driver’s compartment from the cargo area.

        Blaine has not changed vehicles.

        1. Needfuldoer

          Yes, I have. They’re not flat sided cubes.

          I’ll accept it as artistic license, but dammit with everything else going on right now I need something petty and ultimately harmless to feel aggravated by!

        2. Chris

          I spent a number of years accepting deliveries for a living. I know what the insides of delivery vehicles look like. This looks much more like a box truck than a cargo van, though most box trucks are built higher so there are no wheel wells blocking parts of the floor.

        3. Needfuldoer

          That’s why I’m thinking it’s a van-based moving truck, like the 10-foot U-Haul cube vans built on Chevy Express platforms. There’s no extra box section over the cab, and you still need wheel wells because it’s just a box plopped on the standard van frame.

  26. Some1

    Faz has to capture the Avatar…I mean Amber to regain his honor.

  27. Bunny

    Sooo, was Faz going along with Blaine’s plans in order to keep Blaine from his usual reaction when a child of his disappoints him? When it was Amber he went home and beat the crap out of Amber‘s mom. What if Faz thinks he is protecting his own mother.

    1. NelC

      It’s not necessarily a conscious thing. You just learn not to do the things that will lead to violence. Or if you have to do them, to do it quietly and out of sight. So your dad tells you to do something, you just do it without thinking about the whys and wherefores. That might come later, or it happens in another part of your brain. Compartmentalisation is useful.

      1. Bunny

        It’s a survival trait. Sounds like you have a Blaine in your life. Sorry, friend.

    2. Wraithy2773

      …I don’t think so.

      For one, I have a feeling that Blaine would put the abuse on Faz directly. I wouldn’t be shocked if he was hiding a black eye under all that hair.

      For two, I think Blaine, veteran gaslighter that he is, probably didn’t give Faz a full and honest description of the plan. Probably some argument on the level of “the only way you’ll ever get into that college you want is if we stop wasting money on Amber’s education”, with a ton of guilt-tripping and macho-shaming bullshit piled on top of it.

  28. Icalasari

    Never put those ideas that the alt text put in my head again

  29. Mr. Random

    My guess?
    To go against him is to put his mom’s future in danger, as well as his own.
    He’s still just a kid.
    Thinking that he needs to maintain everything as best he can.

  30. Rikunda

    His phrasing… So who does he consider good and which are bad? It seems odd…

    1. SuperZero

      Seems he considers the people Joyce is concerned about good.

      1. Rikunda

        Which leads to the question… Who are the bad? Does it include his dad? What is the motive here?

        1. SuperZero

          Motive for what?

  31. Rotunda

    Comic geography fans: I have identified the kidnap house as 548 South Lincoln Street, Bloomington, IN. The van took off the wrong way—southbound—on Lincoln. The students gave chase on foot to just past the Presbyterian church, and then turned around to see the motorcycle squad. Sal and Amber took off south on Lincoln and turned left—eastbound—where it ends at Hillside Drive, presumably following the van.
    Hillside Drive leads to a road out of town that isn’t the fastest way to another town, but does cross a reservoir. I’m worried about what evil deeds Blaine has in mind for such a route.

    1. Bicycle Bill

      Good job, Rotunda.
      Although then I have to nit-pick Willis a little.  If our little band of kidnapees were chasing Willis south on Lincoln, their shadows should not have been directly front of them (as seen in this strip) but off to one side, since the sun rises in the east, not the north.

      1. Bicycle Bill

        But then he gets the circular window in the gable of the house on the corner of Hillside and Lincoln correct, along with the driveway, the little ash tree, and even the freaking bus stop sign (!!) on the curbside of Hillside, so I’ll give him this one.

        1. Rotunda

          I actually had to work backwards from the T-junction at Hillside to find the house. There are really very few houses in Bloomington with their ridgeline perpendicular to the street, a walk going up some stairs to meet the porch at the left side, and no driveway. But there are also relatively few T-junctions in the close-in part of Bloomington, and the house as portrayed has a distinctive curved retaining wall that was easy to spot in an aerial photo-map.

      2. Rotunda

        Yes, that’s true: shadows in the northern hemisphere can never be due south of their objects, and the strip is set in the morning, so the shadows of the buildings on the east side of the narrow street should extend partly across the street.

        Or maybe this is a masterful hint to readers that Dumbing of Age is a work of fiction.

    2. Needfuldoer

      Huh. According to Zillow, the house was listed for rent in February and there are plenty of pictures of the interior. It was prime pickings for a visual reference. Good detective work!

      Everyone, please remember this comic is a work of fiction. The people living there now probably didn’t abduct a bunch of college kids from IU with the intention of getting one to drop out. If you’re in that area, please leave them alone.

      1. Bicycle Bill

        Apropos of nothing — could you imagine, as someone proposed a few comics back, if there WAS a “Dumbing of Age” Rent-a-Segway self-guided tour?  People cruising by and taking pictures, which would, of course, stir the current residents’ curiosity, only to be politely told — DoA fans are polite people who would be willing to satisfy their curiosity, right? — about the comic strip and the manner in which their house was a part of it.

      2. Bicycle Bill

        That might have gotten him views of the interior of the house from which to work, but I still think he would have actually had to have been there to get all the other details right.  In fact, several years ago I seem to recall him mentioning in the comments or in his Tumblr about having actually been in one of the dining areas of Read Hall and taking notes and sketches in order to show it correctly in the comic.

  32. mrnoidea

    Alt-text, in The Office Steve Carrell’s voice: “NO.”

    1. 3oranges

      “NO, GOD, PLEASE NO.”

  33. Bagge

    Yes, Faz. You are the baddies.

    1. Chris

      And then Faz was a zombie?

      1. Bagge

        The chart points UP!

    2. Needfuldoer

      But they’re not wearing hats with little skulls on them. How can he tell?

  34. Regalli

    You know, I was remembering a couple hours ago how someone drew a parallel between Faz and Howard as perpetually cheery, inappropriate teenage boys who are almost certainly victims of abusive father figures trying to stay out of trouble, and the likelihood of the cheeriness and inappropriate-to-the-point-of-absurdity being a mask?

    Yeah. Um. No reason I’m bringing that up right now, certainly not the last panel.

    1. Wraithy2773

      Thank you! And them too!

      Does anyone here sincerely think that Faz was given anything resembling the full and complete picture of what was happening here?

      Because FUCKING BLAINE is his father! Faz has shit he needs to sort out and he’s been on the wrong side of this, but we’ve barely seen the character in DoA-verse, where he’s been creepy as fuck but otherwise largely harmless.

      5 bucks says that Blaine’s spun bullshit about how the only way the family will survive and for Faz to have anything resembling a successful future is for Amber to leave college.

      1. thejeff

        He may not have been given the full picture, but he saw it play out. He shouldn’t be ignorant of how bad this is, no matter what Blaine’s told him. And he freed Blaine and is thus directly responsible for this whole second act.

        He is still a kid and an abuse victim, which is more of an excuse than any bullshit Blaine spun, but also doesn’t mean he’s harmless. We really haven’t seen enough of him to know, especially in this arc.

        1. Regalli

          Blaine certainly knew Faz was present (and likely had him wait as a precaution, because I doubt he was brought in to be another fighter,) and would have Questions if Faz didn’t show up to help. (Why expect consequences THIS time.) We also don’t know how much Yuri knows about all this, or how upset SHE might be if Blaine goes to jail. (We have no idea what, if anything, she does as a job.)

          We don’t really have a good sense of DoA!Faz, but he had no reason to be that open to Joyce in the ‘she’s the nicest to me’ strip (it wasn’t even Amber who handed him off to her,) and that suggests he wasn’t playing an angle there. I think you’re right and there is a serious degree of ‘desperate for Blaine’s approval, or frankly anyone’s’ that’s part of his cooperation here, but there is a very clear stick if he says no, as well.

          Basically I think Faz’s brain is a deeply tangled-up mess of pain and the one consistent part of this is ‘Bad Things Will Happen if Faz doesn’t help.’

        2. thejeff

          “I didn’t help because they were watching you.”
          or
          “Because I was hiding outside the room and couldn’t get back in where you might have been without being spotted.”

          Blaine had no real chance to specifically tell Faz to hide and wait, since he didn’t expect the escape attempt and had no contact with Faz once it started, so he should have had little idea where Faz was or what he’d be able to do.

          Doesn’t mean Faz wouldn’t have expected retribution for not helping him regardless of course. Abusers are rarely fair in their punishments.

          But my main point is that Faz can’t be excused on grounds of not knowing what was going on. Maybe at first, but by the time of his significant act, he’d seen enough.

    2. DaveM

      Yeah, Imagine that Faz is a psychologically abused child who retreats into a fantasy world where they are the unbeatable figure everyone admires.

      Of course that would be COMPLETELY unique in the DOAverse so I’m obviously completely wrong here. 🙂

  35. Axel

    I know he’s not but I first ready this as Faz passing out/turning off as soon as being questioned about something emotional

    1. clif

      Faz will go into the outermost west and remain Faz.

  36. Rani

    What is Faz’s voice supposed to sound like? Do any Shortpacked veterans have a voice actor/performance analogue? I got nth.

    1. Twitcher

      I’ve got a couple ideas. Dante Basco, maybe? Ken Jeong?

    2. Rani

      Never mind. I figured it out. Goro Akechi.

  37. Robbie

    Joyce uses sad eyes.
    I cannot read faz’s expression to tell how effective it is

  38. Dean

    The benefit of knowing Faz is that you can avoid him. Not in this case obviously, but generally.

  39. Vukodlak

    Anyone else thinking Faz is hiding a black eye underneath that hair?

    1. Axel

      I don’t think he’s had a chance to get one, unless you mean it’s from before he got in the van (don’t remember if his hair was over his eyes then).

      1. Wraithy2773

        He lives with Blaine.

        He’s had plenty of chances to get one.

        1. thejeff

          It seems unlikely. Not that Blaine would hit him, but that it would be that consistent.
          We’ve seen him on 3 separate occasions, weeks apart. He’s always worn his hair hiding that eye. I suppose Blaine could consistently hit him there and not elsewhere, but it seems odd.

        2. Wraithy2773

          I would agree that it might not be likely.

          …

          Of course, someone that routinely has to cover up a black eye might start wearing their hair in such a manner so that disguising it wouldn’t seem out of place.

  40. NinjaNick

    And friends must come up with a plan.

    I hope they’ll hear the sounds of a motorcycle in the next few strips.

  41. Inscrutablejane

    Really hoping Faz doesn’t default to creep mode here.

  42. SuperFroakie82

    Wait, is DoA ending in September? Cause some tweets by Willis seem to be implying that, but I haven’t heard anything about it ending soon before this.

    1. NinjaNick

      It’s DoA’s 10th anniversary.

    2. King Daniel

      Dumbing of Age Book 10 ends then; the final chapter title of the book has already been announced to be “Is a Song Forever?”, which was also the title of the epilogue to Willis’s original IU-set college webcomic, Roomies! – which featured early versions of many DoA characters.

    3. Needfuldoer

      I think he’s trying to get the story arc that happens after this one to end on DoA’s 10th anniversary.

  43. DarkoNeko

    That pun in the alt text is bad and you should feel bad :<

  44. foducool

    I think it’s interesting to see he says no one “good” was harmed
    so I guess even the great Faz has a conscience

  45. Fred

    I am making a prediction now: Faz and Yuri are working with Asher to deal with Blaine’s other “Family” problems: More specifically, Gramps’s problems with a loose cannon like Blaine.

  46. Kaz

    The triangle has been curved.

  47. Beef

    This is so sad. Who knows what kind of shit Blaine puts faz through. At least he recognizes he’s working for the bad guys

  48. Keulen

    DoA Book 10: My Aura Is Intimidating

  49. thumb

    Will Faz get a different expression? Something more . . . genuine?
    Egads

  50. Sombrero

    The Great Faz is no match for The Almighty Power of Big Blue Eyes. He will melt in a couple nanoseconds.

  51. hof1991

    Question for those who know the vehicle. Can you lock people in one of these? That would seem a bad design and unsafe in so many ways. But if you have equipment, you have to be able to lock the door. Guessing there is an exit handle.

    I don’t think the motorcycle gang is the answer. DYW is too inventive to play the same trope twice, so I expect something different here. Maybe as simple as the two of them opening the door at a stop light and running away. That would take Blaine off camera and let the cast resolve things. Amber doesn’t save the day, but Faz redeems himself. Or Joyce escapes but Faz stays with Blaine, which would be tragic. And the last we see if him is Faz waving goodbye to Joyce from the back of the van.

    1. Needfuldoer

      Assuming it’s a cargo truck with a rolling door on the back of the box, yes. Their latches only release from the outside, and are designed to prevent coming loose accidentally. The box and cab are also separate, so the door is the only way in and out.

      This video from U-Haul could be 1/4 the length, but it clearly shows how the latch works.

      But those trucks aren’t designed to carry people in the back at all. They have no provision for seats, restraints, or climate control (unless it’s a refrigerated goods truck). Of course that doesn’t stop it from happening, but usually for nefarious dealings like kidnapping and human trafficking.

      1. Vukodlak

        It’s not a rolling door, we clearly see the back of the van earlier it’s a two door rear.

        1. Needfuldoer

          This looks nothing like the interior of an unfinished cargo van. It’s too large and square.

          It looks like the back of a U-Haul or Ryder truck.

        2. Vukodlak

          https://www.dumbingofage.com/2020/comic/book-10/03-when-it-crumbles/coconspirator/
          It’s a two door with internal latches.

        3. Needfuldoer

          I know what he left in.

          The space Joyce and Faz are in is too large to fit inside that van.

        4. Bicycle Bill

          Google “Sprinter Cargo Van Interior” and look at some of the pictures of unfinished vans to see just how roomy they actually are. Interior dimensions of the cargo area of a Sprinter van measures something like 70 inches (almost 6 feet) wide, 70 to 90 inches in height (again, between 6 and 7.5 feet tall), and 102 to 185 inches (8.5 to 15 feet) in length, depending on the model and wheelbase length.

          There’s a reason the guys from “American Pickers” use one for their road trips, and that right there is it.

        5. Needfuldoer

          Look at the wide shot from yesterday’s comic. It looks like the inside of a 10′ U-Haul van’s cube to me.

          https://www.dumbingofage.com/2020/comic/book-10/03-when-it-crumbles/huh/

        6. Liquid Len

          By the taillights that looks like a Ford Transit

        7. Needfuldoer

          I think Blaine switched getaway vehicles while Joyce was blacked out. It’s a logical move if he could get enough of a head start, because the rest of the kidnapees will put out an APB on his Sprinter/Transit and he doesn’t know Amber and Sal are on a motorcycle looking for him already.

          If not, we need to have a word about set continuity with the script supervisor.

        8. brionl

          Or, as I mentioned yesterday , it could be a TARDIS.

        9. thejeff

          I think we’d need a word anyway. I don’t think there’s been time to pull a vehicle switch and no indication.

          Also doesn’t really make sense as any part of his plan to have a van at the sight and a bigger truck parked a couple blocks away?

          Could be cleared up in following strips, but without more indication than we’ve seen it’s kind of a cheat.

      2. Chris

        The box trucks I’ve used have been about 50-50 on whether they have an inside handle for the latch. Cargo vans always have a way to get out, as far as I know.

        1. Needfuldoer

          They usually have the same interior handle as the passenger version of the van. Even if the handle’s been removed, the door mechanism is the same so you should be able to jimmy it.

          Source: Retired work van sat for a while and I had to break into it after the exterior handle broke. I tinkered with the door mechanisms from the inside and freed the latch up. Then I opened and slammed the door a few times, which just enraged the swarm of hornets that took up residence in the wheel well…

  52. Sirksome

    Joyce: “Why would you do this? Why would you help him?”
    Faz: *dramatic pause* “We’re in the Endgame now.”

  53. Rabisch

    Time for Faz to start to cry and tell his tragic life to Joyce. Or make an evil laugh and say how much he want to destroy who is not Faz.

  54. Megan Rivera

    Faz gets his whole world ideology from incels and anti-feminists, of course he’s going to hurt women.

    1. Bicycle Bill

      Not all incels — or volcels, for that matter — are like that.  I speak from personal experience.

      1. thejeff

        Just being celibate doesn’t make you an incel. It’s an attitude.

  55. PB

    Faz, for the love of God, get readable expressions.

  56. Phil Dunlop

    Yep, I was right, Faz needs to be dead.

  57. Aprion

    die faz, you waste of everything.

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