265

In-town
Posted on January 21, 2025 by David M Willis

265 thoughts on “In-town”

  1. Dana

    Happy Dummingversary to me and to anyone else who found DoA via questionablecontent.net filler ten years ago!

    1. Jo_cubstar

      I found DoA through Shortpacked!, but I found Shortpacked! because Willis and JJ did link swaps to each other, but their link text was them insulting each other… I honestly think it’s still like that, but I haven’t checked in ages lol

      1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

        I don’t recall when/how I got into QC, but I got into DoA when someone I know shared the “Girls Don’t Get Real Pockets?” strip.

        1. Thag Simmons

          QC was big enough that I think if you were into webcomics at all back in the day you’re just going to be passively aware of it. Not quite Penny Arcade or XKCD levels but not far removed.

          Don’t know how true that is nowadays.

        2. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          I am pretty sure the first webcomic I got into was Megatokyo, and still my favorite, sorry DYW and Jeph.

          (And Megatokyo is still alive, if four story strips and two non-story strips in 2024 counts as alive.)

        3. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          Although come to think of it I was into Girl Genius, Dork Tower, and PvP back when they were actual dead treeware comic books before any of the above.

        4. Michael Steamweed

          Something*Positive, Girl Genius, and Questionable Content. Shortly after, xkcd, then Dumbing of Age, then others. Lo, from the Long Ago days.

          Archaeologists and Historians have studied those times. Clearly all those webcomic authors were good friends and roommates.

        5. Breetzy

          8 Bit Theater, Penny Arcade, VG Cats, Something Positive, Devils Panties, LFG, Girl Genius… So many old webcomics. Dominic Deegan is still an old fave.

        6. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          Did ancient webcomic artists really wear red capes and goggles and draw in high-altitude balloons?

        7. Decidedly Orthogonal

          S*P was my gateway drug, way back in the before times of December 2001. Quickly picked up (and have since stopped following some of) more comics than I can remember. But what I continue to love about them is that they aren’t beholden to parent corporations. The artists are independent (baring some collaborative ‘houses’), and anything goes.

        8. JA

          It’d be nice if it’d update more than like two times per year. I’ve been waiting 15(?) years for Volume 7 to come out.

        9. Thag Simmons

          My gateway was Order of the Stick, and I thought it was updating slowly these days

        10. MAC089

          I am still a keen fan of QC but gave up on Megatokyo when I realised that I hadn’t the faintest idea what was going on.

        11. Doug D

          I think the first web comic I *really* got into was “Goats”. This was back in the Before Time, when there was no patreon or anything, and you had to fund them by buying merch. I still have a “My Killer Robot Skull-Fucked Your Honor Student” t-shirt from those days!

        12. Firseal

          My first webcomic was 8-Bit Theatre.

          I am pretty sure I didn’t get here from there, but I did get to one of the predecessor comics somehow from that.

        13. Azrael

          I found DoA via Shortpacked, which I found through someone sharing the “I’m Batman and I can breath in space!” strip. Though I dropped out of reading it for much of the run, and only came back to it in the last couple of years to catch up.

        14. Furie

          I got into it via a comics app that it turned out was ripping images from feeds and adding their own ads to monetise other people’s content. Fuck those guys, obviously, but kinda thankful to have found it.

      2. Formedras

        Sadly, according to the DoA link in QC, Dave Willis no longer eats butts.

        1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          Too many preservatives in them these days.

        2. Clif

          Goes off to Google “World’s largest collection of preserved butts.”

          Returns with link to “World’s Largest Collection of Fossilized Poop”
          https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/admire-the-worlds-largest-collection-of-fossilized-poop-at-the-new-poozeum-in-arizona-180985309/

        3. Firseal

          That is a horribly missed opportunity for them to call the exihibit the syp-oozeum

      3. Imp

        I found QC through Shortpacked, funnily enough.

      4. The Lurker

        I got here through It’s Walky. But I got to QC through Girls With Slingshots or the Whiteboard.

    2. BarerMender

      I joined in 2014 by reference from Captain Cassidy’s blog.

      1. BarerMender

        Oh,no! I’m a lizard! I hate it.

        1. NGPZ

          that’s an iguana, Fuckface

          change the capitalization of your email for a new gravitar

        2. Marianne

          I love how, even if you know “Fuckface” is the name of the iguana, that still looks like you’re insulting someone for not being able to properly distinguish an iguana ?

        3. NGPZ

          woop you’re right LOOOL XD

        4. clif

          The real question is how do you distinguish an iguana improperly.

        5. eh, whatever

          By being Australian and calling a monitor lizard a “goanna”.

        6. Nymph

          that’s pretty distinguished, yeah.

        7. Schpoonman

          “AND NGPZ COMES IN WITH A TIRE IRON TO THE ANKLE!”

        8. NGPZ

          ?

        9. Wizard

          Just sayin’, iguanas are lizards.

        10. BarerMender

          I say it’s a lizard, and I say to hell with it.

        11. BarerMender

          With a tip of the hat to E.B. White.

        12. Decidedly Orthogonal

          There’s an article about Grav Roulette on the Walkypedia.

          https://walkypedia.fandom.com/wiki/Grav_Roulette

    3. Armadillo

      I know I found this comic directly before the timeskip (literally the last comic of the first semester with the big group shot. But as to how I found it… I genuinely have no idea. Maybe someone posted a link to it somewhere?

    4. Kim

      This might actually be how I found it! ?✨ I can’t remember, but it was around that time! ?✨

      Thanks for bringing it up. And hapy tenth to you! ??✨

    5. Dara

      I started following DoA when it was announced on Shortpacked! but I don’t remember how I found Shortpacked! which is to bad I guess?

      I did go back eventually and read Actually Everything. It was a ride. xD

    6. Mark

      I came here from It’s Walky! but I don’t recall how I found that. Maybe found a link at Wapsi Square?

    7. Nymph

      This is me, and I came to QC through Something Positive!

    8. Ed Callahan

      Sorry Dana, I hit Report by mistake.

    9. HueSatLight

      I found it from Jon Rosenberg reposting a lot of Willis’ twitter posts and I was, “guess I’ll see who this is”

    10. Chokfi

      You know what, that is where I found it. Though I think while catching up later

    11. Thallo

      …oh gods, that WAS how I found this wasn’t it? That…does not seem right time wise, noooo.

    12. Azrael

      I found “Roomies” via Campbell’s “Fans!” and just followed Willis’ succession of comics along from that.

      Speaking of first webcomics, mine was “Sluggy Freelance”. Came across a reference to Bun-bun in another source and have been traveling down a roughly 25 year long rabbit’s hole since.

  2. Ana Chronistic

    Real talk: grammatical perfection in fiction is unnatural, occasionally have grammar flubs in your dialogue to make it feel like real people talking

    /said for no reason in particular

    1. Puppeteer Nessus

      Me too

    2. Queen Anthai

      I’m a proofreader and intellectually I understand that, but it also makes my brain itchy. XD

      1. Mark

        I’ve never been a proofreader, or trained as one, but I tend to mentally re-compose disturbing grammar or usage as I read.

        1. Clif

          What’s the most disturbing grammar you’ve run across?

          Perhaps I should specify, in English.

    3. RassilonTDavros

      I think it depends on the character for me. Joyce and Jocelyne using largely “correct” grammar makes sense for them IMHO.

      Whereas if someone were to write, say, Sonic the Hedgehog or Knuckles the Echidna using articulate grammar all the time (with occasional crumbs of slang, but from no later than 1969), it would just feel like the writer didn’t understand the characters at all.

    4. Yumi

      Feels like this one does this, no? Guess it depends on if you think of “tunes” as, like, a collective uncountable concept, but I would generally think of it a countable noun (as opposed to “music,” for instance).

    5. Rose by Any other Name

      Fully disagree.
      Grammar exists to emulate speech. If you can say it, you can write it with proper grammar.
      That includes slang and dialects.

      1. Yumi

        I’m not sure what Ana meant, but I was thinking of it in terms of how speakers do occasionally make grammar mistakes– not in using slang or dialects or not bothering with prescriptive rules, but in that sometimes you say something and it comes out slightly off. Like if you are saying multiple adjectives for something and they don’t come out in the typical order, and it sounds a little odd– you’d probably say it differently the next time or if you thought it through, but also whatever because it’s not that big a deal.

        But also, that’s a level of reality I’m fine with losing in written media because it stands out more (to me at least).

        1. Decidedly Orthogonal

          Yup. It’s similar to how shows and writing rarely address defecating unless it’s relevant to the plot. We know characters would have to do it far more often than is portrayed. It’s just not necessary.

      2. foamy

        Only via circularly defining correct grammar to be “anything that is said”, which isn’t particularly *useful*.

        1. clif

          To the contrary, I find it very useful.

    6. Michael Steamweed

      No worries. The phrase comes from “passe tyme”. And “pass time” is an older but still correct usage. The very modern “pastime” is also okay.

    7. Amelie Wikström

      I thought this was a comment about the language the characters have been using for a while which has, at times, seemed unnaturally formal. Didn’t realize there was a phrase that could be taken as imperfect grammar until I read the comments about it. What boundless pedantry.

      1. Clif

        Welcome to the Internet, Amelie.

    8. HueSatLight

      It’d be hard to tell the difference by listening, but Dina can tell that sort of thing, when it’s important.

      1. HueSatLight

        me, a intellectual, for my whole life: “It should be Past Time, because it has to be a traditional way, from the past, to spend your free time. Like baseball.”

        until I looked up pastime today

        1. Clif

          Appropriate gravatar for a born intellectual!

        2. HueSatLight

          [knowing wink]

        3. Aura

          WITCHCRAFT!

  3. BBCC

    Amy Grant and Rebecca St James will also get you made fun of, Joyce. 😛

    1. BBCC

      Oh, that’s right, Willis ordered a new Search for Sal season. Let’s roll the dice!

      1. clif

        Sure.

  4. NGPZ

    re: $80,

    I’m ready with vodka, a thick Slavic accent, and desire to CRUSH CAPITALISM ?

    1. RassilonTDavros

      Alcohol does sound really, really nice right now.

      1. RassilonTDavros

        Fuck yeah, new Grav!

    2. Opus the Poet

      Yes let’s overthrow laissez faire Capitalism and instate Social Democracy!

      1. clif

        Have we really given anarchy a fair chance?

        1. NGPZ

          given anarchism’s definitive opposition to social pyramids and especially the coercive means used to establish and perpetuate them, and socialism’s goal of ending capitalist coercion in particular,

          anarchism is very much compatible with socialism, but not so much with social democracy, at least given the latter’s goal is merely to *reform* capitalism without long-term intent to see it abolished

  5. Doctor_Who

    I was going to suggest Joyce probably has a lot of Disney movie soundtracks, but actually I had an evangelical friend as a kid and he wasn’t allowed to watch most of those.

    Too much magic and such. Talking animals were technically allowed but considered very iffy. I remember the day I brought home The Lion King on VHS (naturally banned, whatever newsletter his mom got this stuff from was VERY against visions of Holy Ghost Lion Dads and Baboon Shamanism). We basically planned a multi-stage whole heist to sneak him over to watch it.

    1. Thag Simmons

      Joyce explicitly wasn’t allowed to watch Tangled and Frozen, so most likely not.

    2. ian livs

      That’s wild. I’ve heard from a friend who knew someone in that same boat, too. Many of my fundie-evangelical peers and I grew up on mostly just Disney/other old kids stuff (and no cable TV or internet, ofc) but I can see why the magical elements might make some people clutch their pearls.

      1. Doctor_Who

        The one that broke my brain was that he was explicitly forbidden from ever watching ET.

        Sci-Fi was NOT banned in his house, because if it’s science (even fictional science) it isn’t magic. Even when it clearly IS magic; he was allowed to watch Star Wars, though personally I suspect that’s because his dad (much more chill than his mom; very Carol and Hank now that I think about it) was a Star Wars/Trek fan.

        ET though? Apparently the evangelical scuttlebutt was that he represented Jesus. He heals people, comes back from the dead, ascends to the heavens, and I guess there was some popular artwork that depicted Jesus with a glowing heart.

        And they weren’t offended that ET might be a metaphor for Jesus, they decided that the movie was literally saying Jesus was just an alien, and therefore blasphemous.

        1. clif

          I bet they loved The Life of Brian.

        2. Michael Steamweed

          So, I’m betting they were completely opposed to Star Trek V: What Does God Need With A Spaceship.

      2. Slartibeast Button, BIA

        Was this before or after the highly unsuccessful call to boycott Disney for giving benefits to same sex partners of employees?

        1. ian livs

          Way before that

  6. mindbleach

    You don’t have to ideologically agree with music to enjoy it.

    Slayer alone is four incompatible directions.

    1. Nymph

      No, but I don’t think that was the point. I think it was more Joyse not wanting to listen to heavily religious music while dealing with religious trauma.

      1. thejeff

        Also, a lot of her music is stuff she listened to because it was heavily religious. Not just a cool song that happened to be religious, but part of her religious indoctrination.

        1. Nymph

          Also this, exactly yes.

  7. Kyrik Michalowski

    I get the sense that something is about to go horribly wrong, and for once that feeling has nothing to do with my personal life.

    Any ideas what could/will happen, and how bad it will be?

    1. Kyrik Michalowski

      Gravatar changes? Noooooooo…

      Welp, the search begins anew.

      1. Kyrik Michalowski

        No Billie/Jennifer thank you

        1. Kyrik Michalowski

          Acceptable for tonight.

        2. clif

          Quiter. We are doomed to search until achieving Sal.

      2. mindbleach

        Wait, these are mutable? How?

        1. Opus the Poet

          You can add invisible chars to your e-mail addy or if you have G-mail you can add digits to the end of the part in front of the @ to get a still-valid addy that will change your avvie.

        2. RassilonTDavros

          Not sure if this works for non-Gmail users, but I personally re-roll the Gravs by changing the capitalization of various letters in my e-mail address.

        3. RassilonTDavros

          liKe So!

        4. RassilonTDavros

          Yeah, I’m thinking Becky’s a better fit. Might make another go tomorrow though.

        5. clif

          Good luck!

        6. thejeff

          Changing capitalization is the easiest way and should work everywhere.

          Email addresses aren’t case sensitive, but the gravatar hashing algorithm is.

    2. Thag Simmons

      I’ll say that’s probably a common feeling right now.

    3. Opus the Poet

      Yes, I have been terrified for my Trans friends for the next 4 years (had to remove a sub-conscious typo of “tears”). I have more Trans friends than most people, because I have a habit of inviting homeless people into my home and a large proportion were Trans.

    4. Dara

      How about a full declaration of war on trans, nonbinary, and intersex people today by the new administration?

      That’s pretty bad.

      1. NGPZ

        helpful reminder that an executive order can very easily be stricken down by federal judges as unconstitutional, even if it’s not gonna completely stop it it can at least by our homies and allies some time

        the situation is VERY BAD, but not completely hopeless

        in any case do not obey in advance

        believe me in CA we’re are going to do EVERYTHING in our power to make sure trans, NB, queer and other vulnerable minorities are safe

        even if and when that comes down to drawing a line in the sand ?

        1. Dara

          Even they admit a lot of this requires changes in law, but they absolutely will go for maximum enforcement everywhere they can.

          I’ve been studying the fundamentalist movement Willis here escaped from for decades. I know their shit, I know who wrote this, I know what they mean by it.

          Big trip line will be if they start cancelling existing travel documents. Watch for that.

        2. NGPZ

          if we must go as to far as California and surrounding states becoming our own country, with our own economy, and even our own army and navy if need be, to protect the rights of vulnerable people seeking refuge, so be it

          our human rights, are those we will protect by any means necessary ✊?

        3. Dara

          As much of a fighter as I am, I really don’t see Americans being willing to do that.

          Straights wouldn’t even give up a chicken sandwich to stop funding anti-gay politics. They’re not about to give up the country.

          Doesn’t mean don’t fight back, believe me, I’ve been in this a long time. We won last time, and that’s literally why they abandoned rational thought and empiricism to fight the fight again under new, dumber rules. I think we can win, but it’s gonna be a vicious, ugly fight, and it’ll depend upon keeping meaningful elections, which they absolutely want to eliminate (and are eliminating, anywhere they can).

        4. NGPZ

          *Hopefully* it won’t have to come to becoming our own country.

          Even then, what exactly is “giving up the country” anyway?

          If anything, providing reduge to vulnerable minorities would be upholding the promise of a country which is *supposed* to be about freedom and equality, and with it MAXIMUM right to call themselves “Americans”.

          And if the bigoted assholes on the other part of the continent don’t like that, THEY are the ones who can dare to succeed again and see what happens.

        5. NGPZ

          *refuge to vulnerable minorities

        6. NGPZ

          *secede again

        7. thejeff

          Hopefully it won’t come to that because any attempt at secession will lead to civil war and that will get really bad, really fast.

          There’s an awful lot states can do to mitigate damage short of that, though at the same time one of the worst consequences will be the feds letting loose the worst impulses of the more regressive states.

        8. Nymph

          Right, but the point isn’t “that’s a bad idea” although I think it is. The point was: people won’t do that. They won’t give up the most basic shit to defend us by-and-large, they aren’t going to go to war and secede.

          People overwhelmingly voted for Trump. It’s a fucking nightmare and I wish it wasn’t true, but the FACT is that people had an easy way to make sure this didn’t happen and they were either complete morons who voted for him or they failed to vote. (Or they voted third party in a two party system, which is also just a terrible idea).

          It’s important to focus on things you can actually affect, on help you can actually offer, rather than pipe dreams of California becoming its own country. I know we’re all stressed, but sweeping assurances of things that absolutely will not happen aren’t helpful. Sorry.

        9. NGPZ

          whether or drawing a line in the sand happens de jure, it’s almost certainly gonna happen de facto

          one thing’s for sure, official secession and the gruesome shit that come with it ain’t needed for the masses to acknowledge that at this point, this country is “United” in name only

          the other side use words like “freedom”, “equality”, “individual rights”,

          they may be using the same “English” words and grammar, but they are in fact speaking a very different language than we are

          more literally so than you may think.

          Over in Europe, Bosnian, Montenegrin, Croatian and Serbian all used to be the same language, Serbo-Croatian, and to this day they all use majorly the same vocabulary and grammar as they did before

          but yet they all ardently affirm they speak different languages. Why? It is because their speakers all have very different and fiercely incompatible views on government and civics, important political and cultural differences which are extremely important to them but may be unintelligible to outsiders

          no less over here, it is not so much a matter of fostering official division, but of doing away with the Illusion of Unity

          we may not be able to affect the government-drawn lines defining *official* territory, but we don’t (or rather *shouldn’t*) even need to

          for some of the greatest power of our liberation fronts, and one of the most important elements of a bloodless revolution, via the work of activists and creators alike, comes from long-term mass promotion of a shift in mentality

        10. Uly

          Nymph: People overwhelmingly voted for Trump.

          “Overwhelmingly” is a bit of an exaggeration. He got 49.8% of the popular vote. Harris got 48.3%.

        11. Clif

          Not even the states voted overwhelmingly for Trump.

          If people want to do something effective about the next four years, they can join the ACLU. This would actually be useful, while talk of succession is not.

        12. thejeff

          NGPZ: Not sure exactly what shift in mentality you’re talking about when you bring up secession, but regardless of mentality, those government drawn lines defining territory are going to continue to matter, since the federal government will continue to enforce its laws (and executive orders).

          Which doesn’t mean, as I said, that there isn’t a lot states can do to resist.

        13. NGPZ

          indeed, for the sake of resistance, it will very much pay for allies to know the difference between what legal fiat says must *officially* be (de jure) and how effectively them laws can actually be enforced in *practice* (de facto)

          for instance, albeit US public schools were de-segregated in 1954 de jure, for the longest time afterwards they were still very much segregated de facto, on account of long-standing economic disparities and cultural circumstances sustaining the practice

          during the Prohibition, alcohol production and consumption were illegal *de jure* (with sparse exceptions such as in medicine and industrial use) but those VERY much continued *de facto* on account that the law was virtually impossible to enforce in practice, if only because breaking those laws was largely supported by it’s whole own culture defining the “Roaring 20s”

          As we are also reminded in works like On Tyranny, most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given.

          If we know that, we can use that.

        14. Nymph

          @NGPZ – I’m not reading that many paragraphs when I already have the vibe of what you’re saying, so apologies for that I just don’t have the spoons right now.

          I think it’s important to focus on things that are actually going to help people. If you think it’s important to talk in these grandiose ways about shit that just isn’t going to happen, and even if they did they would start a literal war, that’s totally for you to decide. I disagree with you, but what else is new.

          @Uly – Fair. I’ll admit I was thinking of the electoral votes and not the popular vote when I spoke on that. The rest of my point still stands.

        15. NGPZ

          uh, what exactly isn’t going to happen, how would it start a war, and how do you know it’s what I’m saying given you said you didn’t read the paragraphs?

          ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

          But given you said you don’t have the spoons, completely understandable.

        16. Nymph

          California seceding.
          Because America doesn’t like secession.
          I started reading and skimmed a bit, just didn’t read in detail.

          Remembering why I usually don’t bother responding to you. ??Good bye again.

      2. Dana W

        I like how they claim its becose they care about women. They do horrible things to women, they don’t even want them to vote. They just think this will play well with gullible leftists of they use what they see as feminist buzzwords.

        1. thejeff

          “Women must be protected, even if they have to be controlled.” Really it’s the other way around of course, but it’s an approach that even appeals to many women.

        2. Michael Steamweed

          We should expect that the new administration will do everything it can to (1) control women and (2) force birth rates up. They are scared about future population declines.

        3. Nymph

          Yeah, I’ll admit that I had a really horrible creeping feeling about any extra reasons WHY they’re defining male and female by which half of the baby-making we are.

        4. NGPZ

          the whole “population decline” thing is just bullshit

          same with “overpopulation”, REAL experts predict that the world population will level off at around 10 billion people, extrapolating shit from the average global birthrate comes from the fundamental error of assuming each country started industrializing at exactly the same time 9-9

        5. Charles Phipps

          Note that Malthusian economics was the early environmentalist movement but also linked with fascism.

          Because it wasn’t, “Too many people.” It was “too men of THOSE people.”

          It justified the Irish Famine’s response.

        6. NGPZ

          yep, very easily goes with the marked obsession with “social decadence” definitive of fascist mentality, as also seen in Mary’s recent attempt at recruiting Joyce (-_-)

          https://www.dumbingofage.com/2024/comic/book-15/01-love-dares-you-to-change/advances/

        7. Dana W

          I used to be a conservative Republican, its not the birth rate in general they are scared of its the decline in WHITE children they are afraid of. They know that white Americans are not having children fast enough to replace themselves. And THAT terrifies them. They assume that if they become a minority they will be treated the way they treated everybody else.

        8. Charles Phipps

          That helped move me from being a conservative as well.

          Especially when I realized what the real reason for a lot of anti-choice people’s takes were. Because they sure as shit weren’t concerned for the mother or what happened to the child after birth.

    5. Charles Phipps

      The weirdest comfort I can offer is from a trans friend. “I’m cautious but I believe that the massive changes the fascists want would require them to be a different combination of stupid, lazy, and corrupt than they are right now. Infighting will do a lot of the heavy lifting for the next four years.”

      1. Yumi

        I mostly find hope in recognizing that the communities I care about have been in worse situations before and have gotten through them before. Now, that’s not meant as “everything will be fine”– there will be needless suffering, for many people, and it may take a long time to start to make progress again. It’s not a short-term hope for me, but a long-term hope that communities will continue on.

        1. Charles Phipps

          1407 days until it’s over.

  8. Sirksome

    What music is even hip with kids today? Billie Eilish?

    1. Kyrik Michalowski

      The Beatles? That’s what the kids listen to; right?

      1. Mada

        The Beatles put out a new single a couple years ago and the kpop fans went apoplectic and bought so many BTS singles it pushed the Beatles out of the top 10 completely.

    2. ian livs

      A lot of the teenagers I know are going through a phase where they listen to the same pop-punk stuff that a lot of us grew up with, oddly enough? idk if it’s because the teen librarian is also in my age group or what, but I’m not complaining

      1. Dana W

        I saw a kid today, a teen wearing an AC/DC Back in Black shirt. I was 15 when this came out in 1980. I am now 59. I’m not against it, its great to see the shirts, I just don’t get it. Its like if in 1980 I was wearing a T shirt for Johnny Ace or the Ink Spots.

    3. Yumi

      Recent students of mine love this song.

      1. Mada

        (Together Forever is better.)

        Also he does a decent cover of “Everlong”

        1. Yumi

          The kids weren’t requesting those.

        2. Dara

          [finds Together Forever]

          …this isn’t a Pokémon song? How is this not a Pokémon song? Is it just me? It can’t be just me. This just screams Pokémon to me.

        3. Schpoonman

          His cover of Everlong is pretty fantastic. Just him and a guitar was fantastic, imagine him as a frontman with Dave on drums.

      2. Michael Steamweed

        That. Shall. Live. Forever.

        1. Schpoonman

          I got got, I’ll admit it. Yumi, are they actually asking to listen to that or did you just style on everyone who clicked the link?

        2. Yumi

          They did honestly love Rick Rolling. These were kids who were like 10 to 12, and I was kind of amazed by the longevity of it. One of my students had the song come on in the middle of his talent show performance.

      3. ian livs

        It genuinely slaps

    4. Thag Simmons

      I don’t know, I wasn’t hip with the music of the teens even when I was a teen.

      1. clif

        Same. But then the Beatles improved.

        1. Dara

          How, by breaking up?

          (kidding, kidding…)

        2. Schpoonman

          The devastation that would come to the world of popular music from letting Ringo back into their band was only outdone by Lars Ulrich staying in Metallica all these years.

      2. Daibhid C

        Pretty sure when I was a teenager, everyone was listening to They Might Be Giants, folk music, the Cats soundtrack, and that Discworld album by Dave Greenslade. The charts just didn’t reflect this because of the squares, man.

        1. Thag Simmons

          That week when everyone got really into old sea shanties was the first time I knew what it felt like to be in touch with the musical zeitgeist

        2. thejeff

          I’m so far out of touch with the musical zeitgeist that even though I’m into old sea shanties, I missed that week until I found out about it a year or more later.

        3. Michael Steamweed

          I’m still fond over discovering Gregorian chants, along with tens of millions in my age group.

      3. Looney

        me too. i was in high school in 2015 and i was only just then discovering the foo fighters about twenty years late. i have no idea what is on the radio right now.

        1. Clif

          Doesn’t matter. Most people aren’t listening to their music on the radio.

    5. Uly

      Probably… Taylor Swift? I’m gonna say Taylor Swift.

      But my niece is, inexplicably, a fan of 90s music. We discovered a mutual appreciation of Postmodern Jukebox three days before they came here on concert, and she was both the youngest and also by far the most enthusiastic person in that crowd. A whole bunch of people in their 40s and 50s, two teens.

  9. jeffepp

    Go meet Sal, and that one dude that hangs out with her, who’s name escapes Joyce.

    1. Dean

      Nightguy?

      1. clif

        –

        1. Michael Steamweed

          Perfect gravatar choice is perfect.

    2. thejeff

      Hat?

  10. Jeremiah

    Never pasa the aux to Joyce. She will thank you for this later.

    1. clif

      I have decided to believe that aux is Italian for ox.

      1. Jeremiah

        Your mom is Italian for ox!

        1. Clif

          That’s what Mike said.

  11. Queezle

    I love how well Jocelyne knows her sister. Does Gravatar change mean we could get Jocelyne?

    1. ian livs

      asldkfj that’d be so neat! (but hey, at least I’m Joyce’s *other* sister, hehe)

    2. Sirksome

      There has to be a Jocelyne one right? I mean even Lyle gets a grav and we only saw him like one time.

      1. AMagicalDuck

        I had to check the wiki because I straight up could not remember who Lyle is despite having read both series he’s in like 5 times

      2. AMagicalDuck

        Turns out there is a Jocelyne

  12. Queen Anthai

    Awww, I want to go back to being Blowjob Cat. 🙁

    1. NGPZ

      change the capitalization of your email 😉

      1. Thag Simmons

        Is Blowjob Cat still in the pool?

        1. NGPZ

          of course? why wouldn’t they be? XD

        2. Thag Simmons

          I hadn’t been seeing them, and I know sometimes new avatars replace older ones.

        3. NGPZ

          heck I saw Needfuldoer with them just yesterday LOL

        4. clif

          Blowjob cat is easy. Sal is hard.

        5. Thag Simmons

          I’m glad to see it’s still in the pool, it’s a good avatar

        6. Needfuldoer

          What?

    2. Yumi

      You could copy the picture you want and actually set it as your Gravatar; that way it could be the same even long after the current Gravatar cycle.

      1. Thag Simmons

        Yeah, I did that with the Bloodrose avatar after it got removed from the pool.

        1. HueSatLight

          :O there was a Bloodrose avatar?

  13. JD

    “woof $80!” is always a fun activity with friends.

    1. clif

      Expensive after a while though.

  14. Charles Phipps

    Poor Jocelyn doesn’t realize Joyce may soon start to snark back.

    1. Michael Steamweed

      The real snark has been inside her all along.

      1. Clif

        I thought it was the snark she made along the way.

  15. Steve

    By the sliding time scale, Rich Mullins and dctalk are college kids’ parents’ music. No idea what Christian or recently ex-Christian college kids listen to these days.

    1. Michael Steamweed

      Is…Is that a Spanky? Lo, I have not seen of the Our Gang in decades!

    2. CWA

      I think Joyce would listen to her parent’s music. I think that is right up her alley.

  16. Cheshrin

    I have nothing constructive to add to the comment section, I just saw everyone else talking about the Gravatar pool getting re-rolled and I didn’t want to dig through the archives to see what my new roulette-assigned internet face is.

    1. Cheshrin

      Sad Ethan! I think Ethan was one of my first ever gravs nearly a decade ago (MFW the passage of time) so this feels right.

  17. Suet

    Will Jocelyne see more of Joyce’s art? meet Sarah? None of the above and hi-jinx happen instead?

    “yo pass the aux cord” “u better not play Rich Mullins” “…”

    1. Needfuldoer

      [ Hammered dulcimer intensifies ]

  18. AMagicalDuck

    Need a new gravitar

    1. AMagicalDuck

      No

      1. AMagicalDuck

        Did you know Gravitar is the name of an Atari game

        1. AMagicalDuck

          It came out in 1982 in arcades and was released on the 2600 the following year

        2. AMagicalDuck

          I just realised I’ve been spelling Gravatar wrong which makes the connection to the video game far more tenuous

        3. clif

          Maybe you’ve been spelling it right and the Gravatar people spelled it wrong.

        4. Mark

          Maybe they spelled it that way because (a) it’s more appropriate to their function and (b) please don’t sue us Atari!

        5. Dana W

          I remember. I’m old.

        6. Clif

          I’m old, but I keep forgetting.

  19. IntangibleMatter

    Despite coming out today, reading this comic feels like discovering a meme template which you’ve seen used for years and only just discovered the source. It just feels “meme template”.

  20. Ike

    What’s the etiquette of informing Willis of mistakes in this comic? I’ve never been early enough to catch one before. Or is it not a mistake and saying “pass time” instead of “pastime” is an American cultural difference?

    1. NGPZ

      is cultural difference pretty sure

    2. clif

      “Pass time” is short for “a way to pass time.” A pastime is an activity.

      1. eh, whatever

        And that’s what a popular pastime is.

        Why pastime isn’t spelled passtime is beyond me, though. Must be the same stinginess that gave us fulfill…

      2. Michael Steamweed

        The phrase came from “passe tyme”. So “pass time” is an older but still correct usage. The very modern “pastime” is also okay.

        1. Clif

          Something something analogy pasgass.

    3. Stacyswirl

      I wondered the same thing, it seems to me to be one of those commonly mis-said phrases, like “for all intensive purposes” instead of the correct “for all intents and purposes”. The “a way to pass time” definition seems like a retroactive justification for it. It really stood out to me as a wrong thing for Joe to say, and also so strange because part of why it is commonly mis-said is that it sounds the same, but I’ve never seen it written down, just spoken.

      1. eh, whatever

        It can’t be missaid if it’s pronounced the same. That’s logically impossible.

        It can only be miswritten, misspelled, as it has been here.

    4. Needfuldoer

      No you’re right, it should be “pastime”.

      1. Zaxares

        Yep. In this particular context it should indeed be “pastime” that Joe’s saying. It doesn’t really bother me enough to raise a fuss about it, but it IS an error. XD

    5. Taffy

      That doesn’t really matter.

    6. Michael Steamweed

      No worries. The phrase is originally “passe tyme”. So “pass time” is an older but still correct usage. The very modern “pastime” is also okay.

    7. Suet

      popular pass (nah, I’ll pass if we’re going to do that) time

    8. HueSatLight

      In Joe’s head, it’s two words, so his speech bubble is fine.

    9. Barf Ninjason

      It’s supposed to be “pastime” even in ‘Murica, so either Willis or Joe has it wrong. Although, to be fair to either, it DOES sound more like “pass time.”

  21. Dana W

    Hey I LIKE the mall! But my Mall is the Mall of America.

    1. Michael Steamweed

      That thing is huge.

      1. Clif

        It has to be in order to hold America.

        What?

        1. Aura

          This America’s faulty, can we please return it?

        2. Dana W

          Google it, its so big the center has an indoor amusement park with multiple coasters.

        3. Jess

          And an aquarium underneath it!
          Damn I miss camp snoopy.

  22. zims

    Someday Joyce will graduate to Skillet.

  23. darkoneko

    It’s all Js today

  24. clif

    Sal achieved!!!

    1. Michael Steamweed

      Congrats! May your newfound gravatar identity reign long!

  25. Daibhid C

    Someone revising the thing they just said but in the exact same tone (or in the case of comics, in the exact same pose, so you know they said it in the exact same tone) is one of my favourite jokes ever.

  26. Doopyboop

    Oh man, the third panel takes me back. That desire to have nice school affiliated shirts and accessories but everything is WAY overpriced.

  27. Acebender

    Someone get Joyce a more diverse music taste

  28. ValdVin

    Great double-take punchline, and totally in character.

  29. Amós Batista

    Having left christianity and still listening some christian songs. From any reasons, from nostalgia to your love from key-change-songs….

    Like, who never??

  30. Kammon

    Time for Jocelyne to meet Carla?

    1. Da Boy

      Would be funny if Ruttech was supplying military gear to whatever conflict Jocelyne is protesting. The sweet sweet drama.

  31. ADD

    Hey now, this is the new Joyce. This is the Joyce who isn’t afraid to try new things. Some of it could be PFR!

    1. Clif

      PFR = Pretty Far Rout

  32. Charles Phipps

    The third panel is Joyce’s plots world domination face.

  33. staszu13

    I love Joyce’s self confident Joyce Face

  34. Pergola

    I will not play gravatar roulette.

    1. Clif

      Well, I don’t have Robin, Amber, Amazigirl, or Jacob yet, so I’m going to keep going. Usually Sal is the last one I get, but she showed up early this time.

      1. Clif

        Update. Have Amber and Jacob. Still no Robin and … have I seen Amazigirl this time around? I mean I can understand retiring Mary, for example, but Amazigirl?

        1. Clif

          Argh. Reviewed common avatars from the last few days. No Amazigirl. However it appears that I have not yet found Robin, Ruth, Becky or Ethen. Ruth appears to be the rare one this time instead of Sal

        2. HueSatLight

          I’ll keep an eye out for AG

        3. Clif

          I am mistaken. Going back a few days there are a number instances of Amazigirl.

        4. Clif

          At this point I have Robin and Ruth, but have added Liz and Amazigirl to the list. Additionally there are two different avatars I was counting as Lucy. I’m going to have to seek some clarity.

        5. Clif

          And now I’ve got Liz. So Becky, Ethan and Amazigirl to go.

    2. Taffy

      Yes, you will. ?

      1. Clif

        and may have already won.

    3. NGPZ

      Fair, Malaya a pretty good one anyway ^^

  35. Kyulen

    Sounds like Joyce needs to try listening to new music and expand her music taste.

    1. Charles Phipps

      I imagine it would go like her experiences with sushi.

    2. HueSatLight

      Joyce will get really into Weird Al, but won’t know any of the original songs.

      1. Da Boy

        I wonder what her take on Amish Paradise would be

      2. Mark

        Heh, it took me a long while to figure out that some of his stuff was parody of specific songs*: I’d never heard the originals. E.g. Another One Rides the Bus. Others I had heard, and recognized (I Love Rocky Road).

        ———-
        * As opposed to parody of styles/genres, like Those Were the Good Old Days or Christmas at Ground Zero.

        1. Charles Phipps

          That is actually fairly common as I understand it. So much so it’s called “The Weird Al Effect” by TV tropes.

  36. ZerglingOne

    Joyce needs power metal in her life. Stories of valiant knights slaying dragons and riding unicorns to syncopated minor scales.

    1. Clif

      That … sounds interesting. Is that actually a thing.

      1. Clif

        Holy Cow!!! It is a thing! Currently listening to Best Of POWER METAL Songs – Compilation Vol.1. Thank You, oh ZerglingOne!!!!!!!!!!

        1. Taffy

          Check out the movie version of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers theme, if you want a real jam.

        2. Clif

          Will do. I give about 50% chance you are taking advantage of my gullibility.

  37. Mr.Morningstar

    We could hang out and smoke some weed, and fill our bellies with DIET soda and play burnout revenge for the PS2

    1. NGPZ

      ngl that actually sounds perfect ^^

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