194

Goof-off
Posted on July 13, 2015 by David M Willis

194 thoughts on “Goof-off”

  1. Jen Aside

    I’m not in this comic, and even I want to leave the room ¬_¬

    1. Jen Aside

      yay, 1500 tho!

      1. newllend(henryvolt)

        *Reads Alt text* Damn! Did not now I had read 1500 pages of this shit.

        1. newllend(henryvolt)

          *Know

        2. Dana

          You now know

        3. Dana

          *know now

        4. Usayasha

          Now you know now.

        5. Disloyal Subject

          I’m reasonably sure that I don’t. Who is Now, and why should I know them now?

        6. Mr Ak

          No, now YOU know now.

        7. Charlie Spencer

          “The more you know…”

        8. Deanatay

          And knowing now, is half the battle! Now.

        9. das-g

          Is it, now?

      2. Cephalo the Pod

        I think we’re only at 1481, actually (going by Archived Book Counts).

        1. madock345

          Maybe he’s counting the Patreon strips?

        2. LiveWire

          1483, in my folders…
          Are we counting the naked commission art, or Slipshine? I guess “no.”

      3. saltchocolate

        Congrats, Willis! That’s a milestone.

  2. TrueVCU

    Amber: I AM THE QUEEN OF MIXED MESSAGES

    1. Dana

      Huh, I thought that was Ruth.

      1. Disloyal Subject

        I think she’s go with a more ominous title. Maybe Imperatrix.

        1. Jen Aside

          IMPERATOR AMBEROSA

        2. TrueVCU

          Winner!

  3. Mr. Random

    NO ONE CAN ESCAPE THE AWKWARD,

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      Not if Dina has anything to do with it.

      1. Mr. Random

        And she does.

    2. TachyonCode

      No one can escape the awkward comma at the end of your sentence D:

      1. Barf Ninjason

        That reminds me of this one time when I neglected to close a parenthetical (which I will admit was somewhat cruel but really, can you blame me?

        1. Dean

          They do say that when Judgement is called way up yonder, the recording angel will lay all of the unclosed parentheses you left in life on your head. Which would be pretty uncomfortable, I guess.

        2. Disloyal Subject

          Most of them are probably in small point fonts anyway.

        3. Mr Ak

          Your parentheticals were undergoing a separation? That can be pretty rough, I hear.

        4. ScumlordAzazel

          o.o Why would you do this to me?

        5. -Sentinel-

          )

        6. saki

          Thank you.

    3. Mr. Random

      ….! It was suppossed to be a !… They use the same button.

      1. Lamia

        What sort of keyboard do you have where ! and , are the same button? They’re at opposite ends of my keyboard? o_O

        1. GreyTheDefender

          Probably a mobile device of some sort.

        2. Mr. Random

          It is a mobile device of some sort. An Ipad to be specific. An IPad 2 to be exact.

  4. Demon Something

    And cue the lack of celebration, because DAMN Dina.

    1. newllend(henryvolt)

      If it wasn’t awkward before it’s sure as hell awkward now.

  5. dr-calamity

    Jeez Amber, your brain doesn’t even have corners.

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      Neither does the world but we still mention them anyhow.

    2. TachyonCode

      Technically, with the maze-like structure, brains are nothing but corners, all the time.

      1. Boojum

        Watch out for Brain Minotaurs!

      2. StClair

        twisty little passages, all alike.

    3. Deanatay

      That burning sensation? That’s LUST. For CARAMEL.

  6. GoogerGeiger

    RIP Iwata 🙁

    1. Kris

      This made me sad. 🙁

  7. Kris

    Well I guess that secret’s out. Wait….was it really a secret? Everyone who knows he’s dating Amazi-Girl knows she’s Amber right?

    1. Leorale

      Dina doesn’t specify that it’s Danny, so she’s still fine.

    2. Plasma Mongoose

      I know that Danny, Dotty and Dina know for sure, I believe Ethan and Mike know and there was hints that Mandy and her room-mate knows too.

      1. Catullus

        Mandy and Grace actually think that Amazi-Girl is the Other Rachel.

        1. Plasma Mongoose

          I got the impression that they were saying “Other Rachel” as their way of saying, “Mum’s the word, we will keep your secret safe”.

        2. Lord Stoneheart

          An earlier strip had Danny overhear a conversation they had about Amazi Girl. They were quite skeptical of Amber possibly being Amazi Girl. Considering Other Rachel appearance is really similar to Amber except for the hair, I assumed they were sincere in thinking that it’s Other Rachel.

        3. Spencer

          I thought so too, but according to Willis that really was their guess.

      2. Lamia

        Isn’t there someone convinced it’s Sal?

        1. Cedrick

          Yes, Billy

    3. Heatth

      Pretty sure Joe doesn’t know Amazi-Girl is Amber. Also, before Danny figured out AG identity, he bragged about her quite often, so I guess some other random dudes from class might know as well.

    4. TJ Pittsburgh

      I think Joe is the only one who knows that Danny is dating AmaziGirl–whatever he thinks about *that*–but he doesn’t know that AmaziGirl is Amber.

    5. John

      Danny told Billie that he’s dating Amazi-Girl, whom she still thinks is Sal.

      Everyone in that suite knows except Sierra, though. Unless Walky’s in Dorothy’s room… I believe he knows that Dorothy knows, but doesn’t know himself.

      1. Jason

        This is starting to sound like a logic puzzle.

        1. Mr Ak

          You don’t want to get caught dating both a wolf and a goat at the same time. It gets messy.

        2. Kryss LaBryn

          What about the goose and the bag of grain?

        3. Reepunzel

          The real answer is to beat the goose unconscious with an oar and grab the fox before it flees for its life.

  8. Plasma Mongoose

    Dotty’s new BF might be setting her brain on fire cos he’s the opposite-sex clone of Sal.

    1. gkheyf

      whoa, good call! i did not catch that at all, but that sounds about right. and danny only learned that at the party, but it was before amber arrived, right?

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        It helps that while Walky looks a lot like a short-haired Sal, his uncoolness helps make the resemblance a little less obvious.

        1. Tacos

          Or… as Walky himself pointed out, he’s the one without boobs.

        2. Majere

          If anything Sal is even less cool than Walky, it’s just that their respective uncoolness takes very different forms.

        3. WolfLann

          The party would have ended way differently if Sal had stayed a little while longer. She would have figured out what is bothering her about Walky for starter. Just like Danny http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/03-the-butterflies-fly-away/tall/

    2. dailybrad

      Ah, good point.

  9. Leorale

    1500! Yay!! Thank you for the comics!

    1. Leorale

      also is it true that if you stop drawing comics you EXPLODE? I am pretty sure that you would explode. It’s like that movie with the bus that can’t go below 60mph or something.

      1. Stephen R. Bierce

        That’s one of the reasons why his buffer is into the term of the next President of the U.S. (assuming the U.S. survives that long). Maybe he can take up storyboarding movies or something.

    2. JessWitt

      He’s halfway there to beating Jeph Jacques!

  10. Kraken

    Amber’s really bumming me out in this universe…

    1. Lamia

      Well, he gets 2 days of catch-up where Jeph doesn’t publish 😛

  11. gkheyf

    lulz. amber is reading off a perfect girlfriend script, then suddenly ‘btw, don’t forget what makes us so incredibly complicated’. nice, willis. no irony lost between these two

    and much as dorathy tries to be drama-resistant, dina cuts through all pretext! but dina certainly is noticing awkwardness and responding to it in an appropriate way: fuel on the fire, baby! burn the world!
    …or it would if it were someone less chill than dorothy

    1. Annamal

      It’s a lousy script honestly.

      Why on earth does praising the person you are with have to lead to denigrating their last partner and reminding them of the fact they were dumped?

      What’s wrong with “I think you’re fantastic” without the snide.

      1. Kraken

        Also insulting a boy you barely even know is shitty, even with the twin shenanigans.

      2. Kathleen

        You must be a better person than me. I often talk about my dislike of people with close friends. And ‘what’s the deal with her bew boyfriend’? is a common enough gripe. She’s talking to her SO, you’re supposed to be able to say how you feel about people with them without pretense. She definitelh goofed by forgetting Dina was in the room.

    2. gkheyf

      whoa, just so we’re clear, i’m not saying that she’s a good person for saying that. but she is successfully playing into validating his views

      1. Jen Aside

        I’m weird. I do on occasion complain about something my exes did (hopefully in the context of dealing with a current problem but sometimes I lapse), but I couldn’t give a shit who they’re seeing now. “Oh, X is seeing a hot mess. Whatever, not my mess.”

  12. Idon'tcarenomore

    Dina the adorable, and the clueless.

    Although I know that she is correct in not wanting to date Danny as Amber because he threw her under the bus when she needed him most: life would be easier if Amber and Danny were the dating pair.
    Oh well, then Danny wouldn’t get the thrill of dating AG, and Amber can justify (somehow) dating the shitheel.

    1. Lord Stoneheart

      I can’t link right now, but back in the first chapter of this book, Danny suggested breaking up with Amazi Girl and dating Amber instead so they didn’t have to be so secretive. Amber rejected it out of hand, saying she just didn’t like the idea. She also implies throughout that chapter that Amber isn’t good enough to deserve a boyfriend, which is why Amazi Girl is the one who gets the guy.

    2. Spencer

      Dude, you know that’s not the case. Amber was being a clingy stalker and Danny was freaking out because he realized he actually was really into her and was worried it would sabotage his relationship, and then the very next day he tried to track her down because he wanted to talk to her and clear things up.

      Also, we know Danny wants to date Amber and that he likes her plenty even completely separately from her being Amazi-Girl. I don’t get you and your massive hate boner for Danny. You don’t have to like him but why invent reasons not to?

      1. Red Comet

        This. The Amazi-girl/Amber situation has been portrayed consistently as problematic and unhealthy, as much as we like and feel for Amber. This is the one thing that Dan didn’t Dan up!

      2. Li

        I think that’s an unfair characterization of Amber but it’s completely true of how Danny saw her, if you mean on freshman family weekend when she inserted herself into his day with his parents. I mean, he was right, her behavior was weird and inappropriate, but he didn’t know she was desperate to elude her father, and he didn’t know he was already dating her.

        If you mean something else feel free to elaborate, I’m coming up empty. Otherwise, I agree that it’s ridiculous the way people keep acting like Danny isn’t willing to date Amber, he was and she doesn’t want to because of her own issues.

        1. Spencer

          Yeah, I was referring to her actions during the Freshman Family Weekend arc and how Danny perceived her actions.

          Sorry, I should have been more clear on that.

    3. Lord Stoneheart

      When you say that Danny threw Amber under the bus, are you referring to Freshmen Family Weekend events? Because there’s a lot of stuff Danny didn’t know back then. From Danny’s point of view, Amber jumped into his day, claiming to be his girlfriend. When Danny asked why she was doing what she was doing, Amber said she would explain later. Then Amber pushed Danny in front of his parents to say how great their (in Danny’s mind fake) relationship in front of his parents. And when they were alone again, Amber explained nothing.

      We as readers know that Amber had reasons for doing what she did. We know that she was trying to get away from her father. We know that she was already dating Danny because she is Amazi Girl. We know that she has trouble talking about her father because he put her through hell. But Danny at the time knew none of that.

  13. Sam

    Poor Dorothy. First gets crap from Becky and now gets gossiped about by Amber, lol.

  14. newllend(henryvolt)

    Do you ever wonder that Dorothy might be Amazi-girls Jim Gordon ?

    1. Someone

      But Jim Gordan doesn’t know who batman is, she’s Amazi Girls Oracle.

      1. newllend(henryvolt)

        Ya that’s sounds more like it.

        1. Someone

          Problem is we don’t have anyone that talks to Amazi-Girl a lot who doesn’t know who she is. The closest i can think of is Walky

      2. Matthew Davis

        Jim Gordon has never stated outright that he knows who Batman is. He’s a detective, a very smart man, and nobody’s fool. I consider it an insult to the character to assume he doesn’t know, instead of that he does know and simply isn’t admitting it. That’s just me, though.

        1. elielh

          Well to quote him in Batgirl 026 when Batgirl, who is his daughter, is about to take out her cowl :
          “Do you think I’m a fool? I’m a cop. A good cop.
          If I wanted to know who was under all those capes, I would make it my business.”
          In conclusion, he could know, he just DON’T WANT to know.

        2. Dr. Smart

          I was thinking of the exact same line!

        3. vlademir1

          No, it’s not just you. Plenty of Batman fans accept that as rote unwritten canon and it’s all but stated in a scene in Arkham Knight and clearly implicit in certain exchanges in both comics and some of the graphic novels.

        4. Dean

          I think of all of those Golden Age Batman stories that start with Bruce Wayne hanging out in Commissioner Gordon’s office. “Feel free to look through those unsolved casefiles, Bruce old chum, I’ll just sit here smoking my pipe, ready to answer any idle questions you may have.”

    2. BenRG

      Lois Lane without the romantic entanglement. Oddly enough, Danny is the other half of Lois’s relationship with Superman.

  15. MeghanTheWorldEater

    Wait so did Dotty wake up in Joyce’s room this morning and just now get back to her dorm? Or did Joyce kick her and Walky out last night and she just now got up again?

    1. Lord Stoneheart

      I would guess Dorothy woke up in her own room. She’s shares a half bath with Amber and Dina. (Or its later in the morning and she woke up in Joyce’s room and already went back to her own room to start the day. Dina implied she slept in, and Dorothy is known for waking up the earliest out of the hall).

    2. newllend(henryvolt)

      Probably dragged her back over to her room.

      1. MeghanTheWorldEater

        Am I a bad person for wanting to see Joyce dragging a passed out Dorothy down the hall…

        1. saki

          … and Becky staring jealously? Nono, that’s normal.

  16. JessWitt

    Well that’s one way to backbite, unintentionally.

  17. GoogerGeiger

    Wouldn’t it be easier for Danny to “dump Amazi-girl” and “start dating Amber”?

    1. JessWitt

      They’d have to wait a long while before dating publicly then – people’s eyebrows will be raised at her uncanny similarity to AmaziGirl if they date right away.

      1. Tacos

        Danny did suggest this but Amber immediately rejected it out of hand.

        You did bring up a point though. Do many people even know they’re dating? I’d assume most wouldn’t believe some guy saying he’s dating a superhero.

        1. Boom

          This was before the whole thing about her identity was revealed.

      2. John

        Assuming that there’s anyone who a) knows that Danny’s dating Amazi-Girl, b) doesn’t already know that Amber is Amazi-Girl, c) is paying enough attention to Danny and Amazi-Girl’s personal life to notice, and d) cares.

        1. JessWitt

          Yeah, Danny is pretty unbelievable – but why take such stretchy risks?

        2. Kamino Neko

          Joe fits all those, with the possible, but not guaranteed, exception of the last.

        3. John

          Joe cares about Danny’s personal life (as long as he doesn’t get all feelingsy about it), but I don’t think he cares about the Amazi-Girl’s-identity question.

          Actually, I’m not sure he believes that Amazi-Girl really exists. I think he thinks the whole thing is just sexy role-play that Danny and Amber are doing because Danny has weird kinks.

          And to be fair, I’m not sure that’s entirely wrong.

        4. Greenygal

          He believes Amazi-Girl exists, because he saw the article in the paper. He apparently was not aware that Danny was dating her before that point, and I’m not sure if he’s aware of it now, because he really didn’t seem to be paying attention when Danny tried to tell him.

      3. Dana

        He’s already got a track record of going from one uncannily similar looking girl to another though. I think Amber’s preference on it is the deciding factor.

    2. doffsFedora

      Yeah, but Amber wants to date him as Amazi-girl.

    3. tim gueguen

      That would require Amber to be psychologically healthy, and Danny to have some sort of backbone.

    4. BenRG

      I’m not sure if Amber has the self-confidence that enabled Amazi-Girl to jump into a relationship. If it does happen, it will be one of the signs that her psyche is healing.

  18. Rabid Rabbit

    Panel 2: On the one hand, yes, there’s the ‘Walky looks like Sal, therefore…’ aspect of it.

    On the other, Amber is finally speaking for what I suspect are more than a few readers.

    1. tim gueguen

      Walky’s the kind of guy who should probably have spent a year or two working instead of going to university right out of high school.

    2. Someone

      Walky is needed though, he’s the comic relief, without him this comic would breakdown into mess of tears and physiological issues.

      1. Orbit Junkie

        What on Earth makes you think that won’t happen (or isn’t happening now)?

      2. Rabid Rabbit

        But Walky provides a lot of the physiological issues, at least those relating to the digestive system.

        The rest of the physiological aspects can be left to Slipshine, thank you very much.

      3. timemonkey

        Assuming you find him funny.

    3. saki

      Am I the only one whom Walky kinda reminds of Beast Boy from Teen Titans? Maybe that’s why I like his silliness so much. I had the biggest crush on BB as a kid. XD

      1. timemonkey

        That is a good description of him and explains why I dislike him so much.

    4. Jen Aside

      To be fair, independence/confidence is very attractive in a partner. Danny has been super clingy to Dorothy, and I haven’t been super excited about Danber, but he’s been good on occasion, so we’ll see.

      Walky and Dorothy have fun together, too–what were/are Danny’s views on Dexter & Monkey Master? Did Danny and Dorothy have ANYTHING in common other than they boned before?

      tl;dr: A lot of great people aren’t great TOGETHER.

  19. Cizak

    Hey, look! It’s Amber being a complete shit to a total of three people in four panels! Is she gonna get the same amount of hate from the commenters as Danny does in any given scene he’s in?
    Ahahahahahahahahahaha no, of course she won’t. That would mean the Danny hate would actually be justified.

    1. Someone

      Plus the fact that only Amber was really talking shit, Danny was just agreeing with her, not good either, but Amber gets away with way more than she should.

    2. Lord Stoneheart

      Who’s the third person? I only count Walky and Dorothy.

      1. Nono

        I’m assuming Danny with the whole ‘remember, you’re not ACTUALLY dating me.’

        1. Lord Stoneheart

          Panel 4 you mean? I don’t think she’s rubbing it in Danny’s face on purpose. It’s just that in the third panel she’s all “That’s okay because everything worked out perfectly for us!” And then she gets a distressed look on her face and reminds him that only Amazi Girl is dating Danny. (Which is slightly at odds with how she acted in the first three panels). I took panel 4 more as her realizing that this situation is not perfect, and she’s reminding herself of the situation more than she’s reminding Danny.

    3. John

      Seriously? I know there’s at least one regular poster around here who’s an endless Amber-hate machine, regardless of whether she’s actually doing anything wrong at that moment or not. She’s gotten more hate from him alone than Danny has from everybody lately.

      1. Nono

        I’m not sure Danny’s gotten much hate lately, actually. He got an undeservedly large amount early on, then it tapered off a bit after he found out about Amazi-girl’s identity and then even more after the bisexual revelation. A lot of the recent Amber/Danny comics have correctly identified Amber’s hypocrisy, although they have been fair at pointing out that Danny hasn’t exactly been the bastion of maturity, either.

    4. timemonkey

      Amber’s apparently immune to fandom hate, somehow despite being frighteningly unstable, completely irrational and violent she’s somehow become a fan favorite.

      But yeah, personally I’m not happy with her right now.

      1. Leorale

        Amazi-Girl is immune to criticism.

        1. timemonkey

          Okay, I admit, that was funny. XD

      2. Someone

        Amber however is nothing compared to what Mike gets away with.

        Mike: I manipulate my friends and act like an ass to everyone.

        Fandom: He’s a good person dammit!

        Jeez its the people who thought the Sephiroth was a good person all over again.

        1. Dallium

          I personally put Mike in a different category as the other characters. Mike is a jerk because he’s a jerk. I know it, you know it, he knows it. He owns it. He never tries to be anything else. When Mike does something horrible, it’s just Mike being Mike. We aren’t outraged because a) it’s expected and b) it tends to be someone for some reason assuming Mike will do the decent thing when they should know better, so they kinda deserve it.

          Also a large part is probably a bleed over from the other universe, when Mike’s dickery very often did ultimately benefit the victim when it wasn’t just comic relief, and he did demonstrably care about his, um, “friends?”

        2. Someone

          I don’t think someone should get away with being an ass, just because the other characters should expect it. They are still an ass, predictable or not

        3. Spencer

          Nah man, Mike only tells Amber she’s doomed to become an abusive monster, slutshames Dorothy and harasses Joyce because he cares so much. You just don’t get it!

  20. Bagge

    Awwww.Amber tries to flatter Danny in the most obnoxious way possible. Look how passive he is, he basically just agrees with whatever Amber says. I’m not sure he’s flattered as much as he just wants her good mood to last. She’s sending an awful lot of mixed messages

    1. Lord Stoneheart

      As passive as Danny is a lot of times, I don’t think he’s just agreeing with Amber to keep her in a good mood. It’s not like Amber has said anything here that he actually disagrees with. We’ve known that Danny has a pretty low opinion of Walky.

      1. Bagge

        Point, but he’s certainly not adding anything on his own. None of his earlier slurs.

    2. Spencer

      I do think Danny is genuinely criticizing Walky right now. At a surface level he does come off as kind of a goob.

      It’s kind of crappy of Danny to get critical of Dorothy’s love life, but it’s not really any worse than how Dorothy reacted the first time she saw Danny and Amber together.

  21. Darkoneko

    The best and most fantastic way. Right.

  22. Kraken

    Amber: …he’s cute…
    Danny: I know, right?

    Danny imagines Walky’s bare torso

    Danny: Such a sexy goof-off… what?

  23. Cephalo the Pod

    Book 1 – 287
    Book 2 – 271
    Book 3 – 295
    Book 4 – 333
    Book 5 (so far) – 295

    If the archive counts are accurate, than this is only 1481.

    1. Lord Stoneheart

      I think an archive count is missing the Patreon strips.

    2. merbrat

      Plus, how many Slipshine?

      1. merbrat

        *refresh*

  24. Nono

    Dorothy isn’t hung over, but I’m guessing Walky is going to wake up with a splitting headache.

    1. Tacos

      He’s probably fine. He’s gotta have quite the metabolism if he can eat all the junk food he does without getting fat.

  25. ThatGuy

    Welcome home Willis (assuming you are home, yet!)

    Also, Okayish-Boy!

    1. Someone

      I am possibly desirable, i am incredibly unthreatening, i am Okayish-Boy!

  26. Eve

    Yet another person who notices the walky-sal resemblance but isn’t able to place it.

  27. BenRG

    Dina, tact does tend to involve not passing on the fact that someone is being trash-talkedbbehind their backs. It helps avoid conflict.

  28. Random Opinion

    Dina, you inner monologue is on the outside again.

  29. Melvin Schlock

    Congrats on reaching that millstone!
    Maybe you should number these things to keep count.

    1. Bicycle Bill

      Millstone?

      1. StClair

        It grinds slowly, but exceedingly fine.

        1. Tacos

          What’s it grinding? Corn? Millet?

      2. Melvin Schlock

        I was punning on the 3rd definition

  30. justaguy

    Just to let you know. Yours is one of 2 comic sites that seems to have a problem loading in the Feedreader 3.14 RSS program. You both hang the program. I’m not sure if it’s some sort of html issue or what. The other is El Goonish Shiv.

  31. Aolbain

    Danny and Dorothy never really got each other, did they?

    1. BenRG

      Youthful hormones ensure that high school romances are rarely based on communication and understanding of the other.

      1. gc

        As opposed to post-high school romances.

  32. Rutee

    Yeah, Amber, because you don’t have a dream that actually interferes with your relationship that Danny doesn’t value, you have less to be concerned with than Dotty does. Go fig.

    1. aroree

      Well said.

    2. Spencer

      Is Danny just always going to be defined by that? They both acted like dicks. They’ve moved onto other people who are more compatible with what they want in a relationship. It’s basically a totally positive development for both of them, and hell at least they seem to be getting better at communicating with one another, like in the last arc when Danny talked to her about his confusion.

      1. Rutee

        Horse shit. Danny was a dick. The most dickish thing Dotty did on camera was not break up with him sooner. They did not ‘both act like dicks’ in that relationship. Dotty *is* behaving in a way past the maturity level of her peers, but that’s not dickish, it’s naive at worst.

        1. Spencer

          I know it’s a bit late to respond to this, but whatevs.

          I seriously don’t see how putting off ending a relationship you know was going to end is not dickish. Like, it’s not Dorothy’s fault Danny is a clingy putz, but things only escalated because she allowed them to. And then after that, because Danny said something that was totally shitty, instead of even trying to communicate with him Dorothy just stomps off and screams in his face.

          She doesn’t have to deal with it perfectly. That’s fine. I don’t think I’m asking too much of people to acknowledge that Dorothy had a hand in how shitty things got as well.

          That, and Dorothy has been totally shitty to Danny, between getting pissy at him for bringing Amber to his room and trying to rob him. Like, that last one is astronomically more terrible than anything Danny has done to her in the entire comic.

        2. Rutee

          When the fuck did she try to rob him? Perhaps you mean ‘steal’, which is not particularly shitty given that she was going to return the shoes. Robbery requires a threat of violence or actual violence, which is only a realistic expectation of Amber, among tagged people in this comic. And compared to being an asshole to someone’s face about their life’s ambition, stealing one of many pairs of shoes for a day is not particularly horrible, consent or no (It would in fact be dickish if he owned as many shoes as Walky)

          What Dorothy did wasn’t something most people would understand as dickish – you might, in general, consider negligence of this variety dickish, but frankly, I consider it more likely that you’re trying to create a false equivalence. I do think she should have dumped Danny sooner. If only for her own sake, but also for his. The hand she had in making their situation bad was ‘assuming he’s a responsible adult’, which is a flagrantly stupid decision with nearly anyone on the cast page (I think Leslie’s still on the cast page). Last I recall of Dorothy’s plausible jealousy (which you seem to be saying she is), was when she was making sure he wasn’t humble-bragging to make her feel bad. Which he was, on some level.

          Christ on a stick, personal identification with danny does not suddenly make everything he does an equivalent or okay reaction.

        3. Spencer

          Danny being a dick, something I have always readily acknowledged, does not mean it’s okay for Dorothy to try and take his shit without his permission. I personally feel that a teenager’s casual sexism, and to be frank I think that situation was way more complex than just “Danny is sexist”, is not empirically worse than fucking theft. For starters, one is an actual crime.

          The point I was trying to make is not “Dorothy screwed up too so therefore everything Danny did is perfectly valid” but instead the acknowledgement that neither dealt with it perfectly, that they both made mistakes, and neither is a bad person for it. Both are now in better places, with people who are more in line with what they want, and are far better at communicating with each other. Do I think Dorothy could have ended things sooner and spared them a lot of drama? Sure. I also think Danny was stupid to bank everything on his relationship and sacrifice going to a better school. Like, holy shit, they’re kids and they make mistakes and somehow this is not something wholly unique to Danny.

          Also, you’re incorrect on what moment I’m referring to. I was talking about the part where Dorothy was interviewing Joe and when Danny walked in with Amber, she got pissed off at him for moving on in “just four days.”

          Just because I defend Danny does not mean I’m trying to tear down Dorothy. Calm the hell down.

  33. Spencer

    Between the sliding timescale and Danny only now really solidifying his relationship with Amber, I get that they haven’t really had the chance to talk a lot like this, but what is the point of having these conversations nearly five years after the break-up? Dorothy got her bad shit mostly out of the way early on, but I feel that Danny’s been defined by their relationship in a way that’s been actively hurtful to our perception of him as a character.

    Like, how long can this story arc last? How long can Danny be the jilted ex to a relationship none of us ever got the chance to really care about? Maybe it would have been a cliche but a nice little “okay we’re done but let’s not have any bad blood between us” between Dorothy and him would have at least allowed him to sort of start fresh as a character.

    1. Lord Stoneheart

      Well in universe it’s only been five weeks. And the reason why this conversation is happening now is because Dorothy got brought up last strip. And Danny has never really gotten a good impression of Walky. The only times he’s interacted with him involve him asking for his shoes seemingly out of nowhere, Walky going on a weird non sequitur at Galasso’s, and Walky getting really drunk at the party. (Walky did seem quite a bit more drunk than Danny or Ethan). I’m not surprised that he feels annoyed, and thinks “She dumped me for him?”

      On another note Danny and Dorothy aren’t on the worst terms with each other. Seeing as he was willing to come out to her. (Though he didn’t really have many other choices).

      1. feli

        I know people who can be like that after years just because they got dumped. One of my exes isn’t even talking to me – we were an item for a few months only, then I broke up. I told him, nicely, face-to-face and everything. He started telling people I probably cheated and stuff. And then started acting like I’m thin air. Some people just can’t get over being dumped.

      2. Spencer

        Oh no, absolutely. I understand that it’s only really been five weeks, and also that Danny doesn’t have the best opinion of Walky, nor should he, really. It’s not some divine mandate that he has to like his ex’s new squeeze.

        What I was getting at is that I feel Danny has sort of been defined as a character by the break up, and since we never really got a solid view on their relationship, it feels sort of pointless to try and make this a recurring thing for Danny, and since Dorothy’s handling of it has been pretty good (I mean she was a petty asshole here and there, but nothing that felt character defining) it feels like Danny just comes off that much worse about it.

        Plus, it’s old hat. I get annoyed enough seeing the comments bringing it up all the time. I’d rather not see Danny do it too.

    2. timemonkey

      Danny’s never really actually dealt with the break up. He still hasn’t acknowledged his part in it or why she actually dumped him. He just immediately tried to latch onto Amber (which he realised was just him trying to replace Dorothy) and then Amazi-Girl (which came with it’s own bucket of issues so deep he’s been preoccupied for weeks).

      A lot of characters are defined by relationships we never saw much of. Sal and Walky’s respective quirks are the result of their parents neglect and over indulgence, Amber is entirely defined by her relationship with her father, Ethan’s entire arc has been based off the bad relationship with his family and how their rejection affected him.

  34. Les

    I love Dina’s brutal honesty. Of course, technically Amber doesn’t have a boyfriend…

    1. JBento

      Going by yesterday’s strip, I think Dina considers Amber and AG to be the exact same person – she even has trouble telling when she is being on or the other.

      Also, geez, Danny just can’t win with you people – when he called Amber out after the party about her insisting that he was dating AG and not her, everyone was saying he was being a shitty person. Now that he agrees with her, he’s ALSO being a shitty person.

      I bet if Danny gave everyone a million dollars, half the commenters would go “but I wanted my million dollars in bills of a smaller denomination – stop being shitty, Danny.”

      1. timemonkey

        Amber and Amazi-Girl ARE the exact same person, the only difference is what she allows herself to feel.

      2. Bagge

        Different commentators have different opinions about Danny…

      3. aroree

        He’s always a shitty person….well, ok. No he is not. He’s not malicious or….really all that bad. But he IS Danny. And Danny is a Danny and I don’t like him at all.

      4. Spencer

        Most everyone was on Danny’s side when that happened.

  35. Dallium

    I like how 170 comments later no one picked up on the irony of Dina feeling socially awkward so she decided to make it better by standing in a small bathroom with an acquaintance. What if Dorothy is less bothered by the trash talk than she is than by what she views as the physical invasion of privacy Dina has perpetrated?

    1. Jen Aside

      Dorothy didn’t seem bothered by Amber invading while she was brushing her teeth, which is much less of a “private” thing and more “this is where the sink is” thing.

  36. Jenny

    Never liked Amber or Danny in this story and this just reminded me why.

  37. Ainen

    Why won’t they just say they’redating, again? I forgot.

    1. Spencer

      Danny has told a few people that he’s dating Amazi-Girl, so presumably the idea is that if he starts dating Amber then someone could put two and two together.

      What’s likely happening (and was brought up in this comment section) is that Amber is giving everything good in her life to her Amazi-Girl identity because she thinks of herself as worthless. This strip, and more than a few others, show them being really cutesy and loving towards each other before Amber puts the kibosh on it because Danny is “supposed” to be dating Amazi-Girl.

    2. Dallium

      The short answer is Amber is cray-cray

      1. Reaver

        No, the short answer is that Amber thinks SHE isn’t good enough for a relationship, Amazi-girl is

  38. Edupoet81

    Amber and Danny certainly aren’t on their best behavior here. Unfortunately, talking about people behind their backs is a character flaw many share. I know I have joined in on those conversations from time to time when I was younger and trying to fit in. I’m not proud of it. I never claimed to be a saint. These days, I generally avoid that, unless it involves a person who has hurt me in some way, and I need to vent. One reason I generally avoid that behavior now is that I recognize how problematic it is. I always wonder what people like that say about me when I’m out of earshot, and it makes me highly uneasy. I don’t blame Dina for wanting to get away from that situation.

  39. -JAD-

    I only have 1481 strips so far… what did I miss? (excepting patreon and slipshine)

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