Okay, so yesterday I was basically Joe, quietly wishing Jacob to think the same thing.
:F Believe me, I think Joyce deserves a great guy like Jacob, and I totally ship it, but this ship can only sail in treacherous waters. No matter how you slice it, Jacob slowly deciding that he wants Joyce/Sarah more and Raidah less is literally the best case scenario here. It could so very easily be messier than that, and it’s still underhanded chicanery to which I have a hard time giving my approval. Please tell me I’m not the only one this anxious about these events. x(
I dunno. While no one is exactly pure in intent here, the way Raidah talked about his future and how he needed her to succeed was…offputting to me. Too stage-mom-y? Idk.
That’s actually one of the many reasons I’m shipping it. If she comes home with Jacob, who is fucking PERFECT for her (intelligent, respectful, supportive, shares many of her ideological and spiritual beliefs), and any of her family takes exception? It gives Joyce clarity into who in her family she can trust to support not only herself, but also Becky and Jocelyn, who need it most.
Reltzik
…. that hasn’t already been clarified?
Liliet
Hank is still a bit of a question mark
Reltzik
More of an ellipsis.
Blackbird
Mostly, but not entirely clarified. Joyce has three brothers and we have no idea where the third one (Jordan, I think?) falls on the “shit relative” spectrum.
Lin
Three siblings – Joyce has two brothers and a sister.
Jacob asks her if she knows where to find a first aid kit.
ugh
^ This. If Raidah loses her shit first and asks questions later then SHE is a terrible person. Right now Jacob is doing literally nothing wrong apart from a little flirtation which does not constitute cheating and should not be outlawed in a healthy/stable relationship.
Sometimes relationships (particularly those in university or high school) are unstable and not meant to last. That doesn’t make anyone the bad guy, and Joyce’s intent to pry Jacob away from Raidah for Sarah is ~horrible~ but last I checked, Jacob has agency and opinions all his own. If he chooses to leave Raidah, then that is a choice he is perfectly okay to make.
I’m getting sick of people acting like Jacob’s doing some shitty, weird, underhanded thing just because they personally aren’t comfortable enough to trust a partner in that situation.
geno
I’m sick of people assuming Raidah is inherently evil because our protagonists don’t like her.
GJT
They said “If” not “when”.
And besides, we have seen enough onscreen to tell us she’s at least kindof a jerk, at best.
ugh
I said if, not when. I am hoping she ~doesn’t~ do a big blow up, but if she does then it ~will be~ the wrong thing and it would make her crappy.
I do already and unrelatedly think Raidah isn’t a nice person, but that’s nothing to do with the protagonists liking/disliking her and everything to do with her going out of her way to disrupt Sarah with her presumed new friends at the mall when she first appeared. She had no reason to be cruel and did so anyway with her friends to back her up. Systematically ensuring someone is ostracized because they crossed you is a shitty-person thing to do and it makes Raidah a bully.
Add to that the fact that she talked about Jacob like he was some errant and guileless puppy who needed her tender manipulations to become what he ought to? Yuck. Sounds a little too much like “I know what’s best for him even if he doesn’t” and that is abuser talk.
thejeff
I doubt she’ll do a big blow up. Not her style.
If I’m right about her, she’ll be subtler and more manipulative about it. Or she may pleasantly surprise me – After that last conversation with her friends, I kind of doubt it though.
Zee
Well let’s see
-lead a bullying and harassment campaign against Sarah for a year (note, did not just say a few bad things and cut her off. Actively harassed her in public and drop off anyone from being Sarah’s friend)
-ableist (seen when she talked down to Dina)
-after the truce with Sarah she still seemed to badmouth her to jacob
-seems to be classist or at least has sent sort of eliteism about her (“ditsy education major” )
-hasnt actually shown that she likes Jacob. When her friends told her to “be careful” she didn’t respond with oh no he cares about me too much, or no he’s not that kind of person. She responded by cutting down Joyce, saying she’s just a freshman and an education major, as if saying she’s far too below Jacob for that to be an option
I’m not saying she’s evil, but we have genuine reasons for disliking her and thinking Jacob deserves better
timemonkey
I’m sick of people ignoring all the valid reason we already have to not like Raidah. There’s a reason the protagonists don’t like her.
I accidentally misread “Jacob slowly deciding that he wants Joyce/Sarah more” as Jacob gradually developing into a Joyce/Sarah shipper. Should… Should I want this?
I’m sure there’s a rule somewhere that says roommates should always ben shipped.
BBCC
Billie would agree with that rule at the start of this comic.
Mr. Bulbmin
Indeed: Shipping Rule #24. Any and all characters who are one another’s roommates, direct rivals, coworkers, or closest friends must be shipped, due to proximity if nothing else.
I’m… pretty sure Joyce has never masturbated. I think the closest we’ve come is her crying over a sexy thought.
So… that’d be the first hurdle, being a-okay with sexy thoughts at all.
Godfather
I’m gonna second that. She’s extremely, extremely repressed, and it’ll take a whole hell of a lot of therapy (friend therapy, professional, romantic, in whatever way helps) to get her to accept her own romantic and sexual feelings as NORMAL. Which they are.
Really the only person in this mess I’m not side-eyeing the fuck out of is Jacob who has done nothing wrong possibly in his entire life. Like everyone else is basically trying to manipulate this dude to their own ends Joyce is just the worst at actually manipulating people.
The only reason I’m not more upset at the other “conspirators” here is that they’re all pretty bad at it. The whole “manipulation” basically boils down to dressing Joyce up pretty and putting them in proximity.
It’s still underhanded in intent, but in practice, not so much.
I’m genuinely unsure whether it’s suspicion over Jacob being in a relationship already, or whether it might be a bit of jealousy. And yes, I do ship Joe and Joyce, partially because they’re such opposites.
The rules of drama state that the elevator’s oxygen supply is dangerously low, threatening to suffocate the trio if they don’t find a way out soon enough, and Joe refuses to work together because he’s angry at Jacob for having firebombed his home planet and just wants to watch him die.
Oh, and also, Joyce needs to revert to her gelatinous state to regenerate, and will need to pool up in someone’s shirt.
Needfuldoer
You’d think she’d have a spare sleeping bucket or two hidden around the building.
I’m sure everything will be fine once Rachel finishes integrating the rogue AI she found on a flash drive in the parking lot with the building automation system. Poor thing’s just lonely…
Goshii
While Carla is designing the winch that will keep the elevator from crashing to the ground. The winch will simultaneously cause a robot easy bake oven to follow mary around until which time the robot will throw the pie in mary’s face.
Ultimate Drama Fusion. The elevator breaks down, it starts getting hot so they lose some clothing and then when it’s fixed Raidah is the first one to have a look inside.
Either:
a) Joe is uncomfortable with their flirting,
b) Joe’s dawning feelings of jealousy about Joyce are bothering him (yes, I’m a Joece shipper),
or most likely
c) Joe is a Jew, and therefore doesn’t get the joke.
I’m a Jew and I’ve heard the poem before. The fun thing about being a member of a minority religion is you grow up learning an awful lot about another culture, either whether you like it or not, unless you live in an.isolationist pocket community.
Non-denominational school? Still has hymns, teaches about major religious festivals at various points of the year, talks about doing good things which may or may not have a religious slant…
Watch TV/read books set in [a variant of] the real world? Oh hi there Christmas/Easter/church weddings!
School trips? Here’s a church, bunch of information about churches in general and this one in particular, and stories about dead people buried here. And this is a castle chapel. Similar.
Joe may.not think the joke is funny but he probably gets it and is probably glad Joyce is feeling up to cracking a joke (even if he doesn’t like the flirt vibes he can sense between the two of them).
I think he does enough to possibly not be cool with what he knows Joyce has been up to, driving that wedge in. We saw what happened with his dad, he isn’t cool with cheating, so he might not be good with this, even if it’s not exactly the same situation.
What Joe does get is that Joyce just told a joke that he didn’t understand but Jacob did. (Joe being Jewish and the joke being an exclusionary Christian one.)
269 thoughts on “Footprints”
CandidCanid
Okay, so yesterday I was basically Joe, quietly wishing Jacob to think the same thing.
:F Believe me, I think Joyce deserves a great guy like Jacob, and I totally ship it, but this ship can only sail in treacherous waters. No matter how you slice it, Jacob slowly deciding that he wants Joyce/Sarah more and Raidah less is literally the best case scenario here. It could so very easily be messier than that, and it’s still underhanded chicanery to which I have a hard time giving my approval. Please tell me I’m not the only one this anxious about these events. x(
Shiro
I dunno. While no one is exactly pure in intent here, the way Raidah talked about his future and how he needed her to succeed was…offputting to me. Too stage-mom-y? Idk.
Shiro
…wait, I totally misread that, ignore me!
Lexi
It doesn’t seem underhanded to me. It seems like “A thing that sometimes happens, and maybe just sucks.”
Although, I’m really, really curious what happens when Joyce comes home with a black boyfriend.
Whirlwitch
A black EPISCOPALIAN boyfriend. Let’s focus on what’s vital, here.
Kinoko
That’s actually one of the many reasons I’m shipping it. If she comes home with Jacob, who is fucking PERFECT for her (intelligent, respectful, supportive, shares many of her ideological and spiritual beliefs), and any of her family takes exception? It gives Joyce clarity into who in her family she can trust to support not only herself, but also Becky and Jocelyn, who need it most.
Reltzik
…. that hasn’t already been clarified?
Liliet
Hank is still a bit of a question mark
Reltzik
More of an ellipsis.
Blackbird
Mostly, but not entirely clarified. Joyce has three brothers and we have no idea where the third one (Jordan, I think?) falls on the “shit relative” spectrum.
Lin
Three siblings – Joyce has two brothers and a sister.
Arawn
What happens when the elevator doors open up and Raidah is there?
Vukodlak
Fun
Reltzik
Jacob asks her if she knows where to find a first aid kit.
ugh
^ This. If Raidah loses her shit first and asks questions later then SHE is a terrible person. Right now Jacob is doing literally nothing wrong apart from a little flirtation which does not constitute cheating and should not be outlawed in a healthy/stable relationship.
Sometimes relationships (particularly those in university or high school) are unstable and not meant to last. That doesn’t make anyone the bad guy, and Joyce’s intent to pry Jacob away from Raidah for Sarah is ~horrible~ but last I checked, Jacob has agency and opinions all his own. If he chooses to leave Raidah, then that is a choice he is perfectly okay to make.
I’m getting sick of people acting like Jacob’s doing some shitty, weird, underhanded thing just because they personally aren’t comfortable enough to trust a partner in that situation.
geno
I’m sick of people assuming Raidah is inherently evil because our protagonists don’t like her.
GJT
They said “If” not “when”.
And besides, we have seen enough onscreen to tell us she’s at least kindof a jerk, at best.
ugh
I said if, not when. I am hoping she ~doesn’t~ do a big blow up, but if she does then it ~will be~ the wrong thing and it would make her crappy.
I do already and unrelatedly think Raidah isn’t a nice person, but that’s nothing to do with the protagonists liking/disliking her and everything to do with her going out of her way to disrupt Sarah with her presumed new friends at the mall when she first appeared. She had no reason to be cruel and did so anyway with her friends to back her up. Systematically ensuring someone is ostracized because they crossed you is a shitty-person thing to do and it makes Raidah a bully.
Add to that the fact that she talked about Jacob like he was some errant and guileless puppy who needed her tender manipulations to become what he ought to? Yuck. Sounds a little too much like “I know what’s best for him even if he doesn’t” and that is abuser talk.
thejeff
I doubt she’ll do a big blow up. Not her style.
If I’m right about her, she’ll be subtler and more manipulative about it. Or she may pleasantly surprise me – After that last conversation with her friends, I kind of doubt it though.
Zee
Well let’s see
-lead a bullying and harassment campaign against Sarah for a year (note, did not just say a few bad things and cut her off. Actively harassed her in public and drop off anyone from being Sarah’s friend)
-ableist (seen when she talked down to Dina)
-after the truce with Sarah she still seemed to badmouth her to jacob
-seems to be classist or at least has sent sort of eliteism about her (“ditsy education major” )
-hasnt actually shown that she likes Jacob. When her friends told her to “be careful” she didn’t respond with oh no he cares about me too much, or no he’s not that kind of person. She responded by cutting down Joyce, saying she’s just a freshman and an education major, as if saying she’s far too below Jacob for that to be an option
I’m not saying she’s evil, but we have genuine reasons for disliking her and thinking Jacob deserves better
timemonkey
I’m sick of people ignoring all the valid reason we already have to not like Raidah. There’s a reason the protagonists don’t like her.
Deadjolras
I accidentally misread “Jacob slowly deciding that he wants Joyce/Sarah more” as Jacob gradually developing into a Joyce/Sarah shipper. Should… Should I want this?
Jamie
I’m sure there’s a rule somewhere that says roommates should always ben shipped.
BBCC
Billie would agree with that rule at the start of this comic.
Mr. Bulbmin
Indeed: Shipping Rule #24. Any and all characters who are one another’s roommates, direct rivals, coworkers, or closest friends must be shipped, due to proximity if nothing else.
Zach
Also, Joyce could admit she sexually wants Jacob and stop crying when she masturbates.
That’s a thing that could happen.
Jason
I’m… pretty sure Joyce has never masturbated. I think the closest we’ve come is her crying over a sexy thought.
So… that’d be the first hurdle, being a-okay with sexy thoughts at all.
Godfather
I’m gonna second that. She’s extremely, extremely repressed, and it’ll take a whole hell of a lot of therapy (friend therapy, professional, romantic, in whatever way helps) to get her to accept her own romantic and sexual feelings as NORMAL. Which they are.
Emily
Really the only person in this mess I’m not side-eyeing the fuck out of is Jacob who has done nothing wrong possibly in his entire life. Like everyone else is basically trying to manipulate this dude to their own ends Joyce is just the worst at actually manipulating people.
thejeff
The only reason I’m not more upset at the other “conspirators” here is that they’re all pretty bad at it. The whole “manipulation” basically boils down to dressing Joyce up pretty and putting them in proximity.
It’s still underhanded in intent, but in practice, not so much.
Ana Chronistic
Joe knows the TRUTH
Joyce’s dirty-ass shoes were left behind, and her socks didn’t leave footprints
(also Jacob carried her tho)
Reltzik
Technically, shoes leave SHOEPRINTS.
Ozzi
Joe also is a 15th dan master at this game. He sees this and doesn’t like it as it reflects his father’s behaviour
Goshii
Now lets not get podantic about this.
Stu
I’m genuinely unsure whether it’s suspicion over Jacob being in a relationship already, or whether it might be a bit of jealousy. And yes, I do ship Joe and Joyce, partially because they’re such opposites.
BadMonkey
Thank you. I was beginning to think I was the only one seeing it as possible jealously (whether Joe sees it as that or not).
Clif
I think Joe is just irritated because he doesn’t get the joke.
Ana Chronistic
he doesn’t dig it lololololol (but also prolly that it’s corny)
Godfather
DUDE. Me too. I don’t know why but I really do ship them.
Combination of concern and irritation with a slight tinge of jealousy. That’s my guess.
Doctor_Who
The rules of comedy demand that the elevator break down and Joe be trapped in there with them.
Arawn
The rules of drama demand Raidah be there when the doors open.
Rowanmikaio
Why not both? The longer that they’re trapped in an elevator, the more likely that Raidah will hear about it and be there when it opens.
Vukodlak
Because by that point he’d have set Joyce down and they’d be sitting on the floor
Doctor_Who
Don’t forget that it’s really hot in there, so the guys have taken off their shirts.
Durandal_1707
The rules of drama state that the elevator’s oxygen supply is dangerously low, threatening to suffocate the trio if they don’t find a way out soon enough, and Joe refuses to work together because he’s angry at Jacob for having firebombed his home planet and just wants to watch him die.
Oh, and also, Joyce needs to revert to her gelatinous state to regenerate, and will need to pool up in someone’s shirt.
Needfuldoer
You’d think she’d have a spare sleeping bucket or two hidden around the building.
I’m sure everything will be fine once Rachel finishes integrating the rogue AI she found on a flash drive in the parking lot with the building automation system. Poor thing’s just lonely…
Goshii
While Carla is designing the winch that will keep the elevator from crashing to the ground. The winch will simultaneously cause a robot easy bake oven to follow mary around until which time the robot will throw the pie in mary’s face.
Eldritch Gentleman
Ultimate Drama Fusion. The elevator breaks down, it starts getting hot so they lose some clothing and then when it’s fixed Raidah is the first one to have a look inside.
Tom T.
The rules of comedy demand that Joe be trapped in there with them — and have to pee.
Koms
Rules of comedy dictates somebody farts.
Doctor_Who
Maybe Joe’s expression in the last panel indicates someone did.
CleverTrousers
The gentiles are at it again.
Sporky
I think Joe’s reaction in the last panel is supposed to be more about him being wary about their chemistry but TBH that’s all I can see too.
Agemegos
Yep.
Brute
i wish i could Like this comment.
duckgalrox
I am a Jew and that was kind of my reaction.
Deanatay
Either:
a) Joe is uncomfortable with their flirting,
b) Joe’s dawning feelings of jealousy about Joyce are bothering him (yes, I’m a Joece shipper),
or most likely
c) Joe is a Jew, and therefore doesn’t get the joke.
Deanatay
Mostly kidding about c). Mostly.
Miri
I’m a Jew and I’ve heard the poem before. The fun thing about being a member of a minority religion is you grow up learning an awful lot about another culture, either whether you like it or not, unless you live in an.isolationist pocket community.
Non-denominational school? Still has hymns, teaches about major religious festivals at various points of the year, talks about doing good things which may or may not have a religious slant…
Watch TV/read books set in [a variant of] the real world? Oh hi there Christmas/Easter/church weddings!
School trips? Here’s a church, bunch of information about churches in general and this one in particular, and stories about dead people buried here. And this is a castle chapel. Similar.
Joe may.not think the joke is funny but he probably gets it and is probably glad Joyce is feeling up to cracking a joke (even if he doesn’t like the flirt vibes he can sense between the two of them).
Shiro
…they’re perfect for each other. I’m so happy.
Joe is so annoyed. He does not ship it.
Ivy
Joe doesn’t get it
Reltzik
Joe gets it, it’s just stuff from another religion.
duckgalrox
I heard the footprints story when I was a kid. Jews get exposed to everything Christian in the US. We can’t avoid it.
AnvilPro
Joe’s trying, but he still doesn’t get “relationships” yet
DailyBrad
I think he does enough to possibly not be cool with what he knows Joyce has been up to, driving that wedge in. We saw what happened with his dad, he isn’t cool with cheating, so he might not be good with this, even if it’s not exactly the same situation.
Hard to say for sure yet, though.
Dean
Or he’s starting to realise that he likes Joyce, and is feeling jealous of their rapport.
Inahc
Why Not Both…
Rawrlicia
That is how I saw it! Same when Jacob picked her up. I secretly want Joe and Joyce to be a thing and have since It’s Walky.
I adore Jacob, but they are TOO perfect! Kind of boring together if that makes sense.
Lingo
The only wedge Joyce is driving in is her toe into the exercise machine.
OK, that’s a total lie.
Marsh Maryrose
What Joe does get is that Joyce just told a joke that he didn’t understand but Jacob did. (Joe being Jewish and the joke being an exclusionary Christian one.)
Leorale