179

Station
Posted on October 7, 2018 by David M Willis
This Friday I'm gonna be back in Bloomington, Indiana!  I'll be doing a signing event at Vintage Phoenix Comics from 5-7pm.  I'll have books and magnets and maybe some prints!  Come say hello!

179 thoughts on “Station”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    “Was… was that a Tuesday by any chance?”

    1. Ana Chronistic

      “I mean, it was for ME.”

  2. Doctor_Who

    Sal right now.

    1. Kernanator

      I think of her as being more like this: https://i.redd.it/cjadg8lpvi3y.gif

      1. Tan

        Neither of these links are a person being hit by a sudden avalanche of bricks, and I just want you both to know how tremendously disappointed I am in both of you.

        1. butts

          hope this helps

        2. JepMZ

          Yes, butts always help

        3. Tan

          That’ll do, butts. That’ll do.

        4. stoodmuffin

          I think it’s so combination of all of them?

        5. Ryek Hvek

          Ton of Bricks is no longer relevant to gas station convenience stores, as the dust violates OSHA workplace regulations. They were forced to upgrade.

    2. FacelessDeviant

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCtrZcxRsbY

  3. TooOldToBeCool

    “Penny in the air…and the penny drops.”

    1. Doctor_Who

      Penny suddenly falls from above and lands on Sal. She has no idea how she got there.

      1. Stephen Bierce

        Penny Lover
        Don’t walk on by
        Penny Lover
        Don’t make me cry        …
        –Lionel Ritchie

      2. Khyrin

        For a moment, I thought you two meant Penny Polendina.

        Now I’m sad.

        1. The Other Mike

          Well, Penny Polendina landing on Sal out of nowhere with no idea how she got there would be pretty in character.

        2. King Daniel

          “Well, darn. My targeting computer seems to be misaligned. Oh – cannonball!”

      3. Rabid Rabbit

        But what the hell, she’ll hit it.

  4. timemonkey

    Well he said it, she heard it and Carla remains amazing.

    1. Shaith86

      You misspelled ‘annoying’ 😛

      1. Needfuldoer

        Amazingly annoying?

        1. HeySo

          Annoyingly amazing?

        2. Needfuldoer

          Annozingly amaying?

  5. Opus the Poet

    Walters was a different universe.

    1. Doctor_Who

      Technically Sal has every possible last name in SOME universe, so all Carla’s guesses are valid.

      1. vlademir1

        That only holds if we presume an infinite omniverse.

      2. motorfirebox

        Don’t even need multiple universes, just an infinite this-verse.

      3. Regalli

        Would the parents Wilkinson still be… wait why do I even ask, of COURSE they would still be dead. Sal cannot know a stable and healthy relationship with living parents.

        1. BBCC

          Maybe not dead, but probably still gonna create a maladjusted Sal because Willis has already said Sal always ends up disaffected.

          She needs a hug.

  6. BBCC

    Carla, there are less jackass-y ways to ask a pretty girl to wear matching shirts with you. Just because you and Sal like to tease doesn’t mean it’s okay when either of you go over the line and that’s what you’re doing here.

    And oh shit, yeah, plot. This ain’t over.

    1. Inahc

      wheeeeeee

    2. Regalli

      Seriously Carla. We were so close and I think even if Sal heard that all and put the pieces together, I think she’s closing off more in response. The end of that conversation was the most important part!

      Also you’re coming on way too strong without actually doing the part that gets a real response – ‘you’re single, I’m single, why don’t we go get lunch together and sit somewhere Mary can see us while talking loudly about Christian hypocrisy and how much Jesus would hate it?’*

      * I’m not saying this is the best possible first date, but Sal doesn’t have skating gear so that rules out like a third of the options.

      1. Nono

        I don’t think Carla’s hitting on Sal at all? Might just be me being obtuse, but it just seems like their regular dynamic – Carla being hyper and, well, Carla, and Sal who usually begrudgingly tolerates it and sometime even hangs out with her.

        It’s just a day when Sal doesn’t want to deal with it.

        1. Regalli

          I’m a bit more inclined to think it’s flirting because it’s SO over the top possessive – Carla can be rude, but rarely quite this level of derailing – and we have seen how Carla acts around a crush before with Malaya and that interaction was kind of similar. Different dynamic, but still Carla shoving herself in, acting VERY forward in ways that seem wtf even by Carla’s standards, and yet no actual direct action. (Bets she’s scared of romantic rejection, anyone?)

          Could still be normal Carla, but even when she pushes a boundary – like talking to Amber after the stabbing, which is also her NOT buying into Amber’s monster narrative and letting her close off – it’s rarely this pronounced for this long. Hell, she’s given Ruth some space since the outing and even if she won’t apologize, she acknowledges Ruth IS angry about it. Here she’s so oblivious JOYCE would back off. That says to me there’s something else up.

        2. Regalli

          Also being all ‘look you’re wearing a jacket with my name we could be matching jacket buddies’ makes more sense to me if she’s responding to Strange Dude Starting An Awkward Conversation as ‘But maybe she’s into him? MUST INTRUDE.’ Feels like more to go on than AG having a crush on Sal, anyway.

          Either way it’s totally out of bounds, but if it is weird failed flirting I can at least see WHY. Carla is rarely as inscrutable as Mike.

        3. BBCC

          Especially now that Willis posted what Carla sharpied on her own sleeves. McSmokin’ apparently.

        4. stoodmuffin

          Orientation aside, the line between ribbing/flirting/boundary crossing/ teasing/ just “being pals” is so uncomfortably blurred in our society at times it can be hard to tell what is what. Setting those boundaries takes time and negotiation, which considering both Carla AND Sal’s views on “people,” would be complex even DESPITE Carla’s interjectory nature.

          And I don’t know about DOA Carla, but I know that the closet had super impacted my understandings of interpersonal feelings that I’m still trying to figure out what I am and being accountable for ass lord ness in relationships.

          Never mind how the first bit is complicated by how often anything between two women is filed away as “fem friendships” or “gal pal-ery.”

          Never mind ADDITIONALLY with how Ace folks are erased or represented (as much as trans folks) that people don’t think Ace people would flirt period? Or that, because they don’t experience sexual attraction, they also don’t want sex. That too is a misconception that complicates how we see interactions. Never mind how quick *I PERSONALLY* am to ship almost ANYBODY can neglect Aro Identities.

          I’m just saying consent and boundaries should be something we work on as a society, but with our current views and erasure of identities and such…

          Fuck I couldn’t tell you when Carla would be crushing or just hyper focusing, or being a butthead. OR how easy it would be to seperate the three from each other.

        5. stoodmuffin

          I mean, I’d ship it. But Sal says she doesn’t swing that way, right? And it kinda seems boundary invading. Idk. I’d I ship almost anything.

        6. thejeff

          I’ll give you “more to go on than AG having a crush on Sal”, but that’s not much. 🙂

        7. BBCC

          This is shipping. Since when is that relevant? 😛

        8. KtBear

          I’m thinking maybe Carla is simply following through on this? http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/01-when-somebody-loved-me/insomnia/

        9. Inahc

          Darnit Carla, shoves is not loves. 😛

        10. Heavensrun

          Yeah, Carla isn’t hitting on Sal, she’s teasing her.

        11. BBCC

          Party pooper. 😛

          Seriously though, it probably isn’t intended to be but since when does that matter with shipping? 😛

        12. stoodmuffin

          Accurate.

    3. Zee

      Idk if im missing something but it really doesn’t seem like a mutual thing to me. A lot of sales “relationships” to me just read like “x is annoying sal and violating her boundaries when she just wants to be left alone”
      Lucky she has danny

      1. BBCC

        She’s enjoyed hanging out with Carla before, especially before Malaya moved in. She’s not enjoying it right now, but she’s enjoyed hanging out with Carla before.

        1. BigDogLittleCat

          Enjoyed it or tolerated it?

        2. BBCC

          Enjoyed it. As much as she enjoys hanging out with anybody who isn’t Marcie anyways.

    4. stoodmuffin

      A big ass thread and you’ve hit it on the head on the head before it even starts, BBCC

  7. DailyBrad

    Carla is such a goofball.

    And interesting. I wonder if Sal’s just playing it cool, or if she doesn’t get what he’s driving at. I am glad she isn’t dismissing him, regardless, I think she can tell it’s something pretty serious.

    1. Nono

      She seems to realize it in panel 4.

      1. DailyBrad

        You two are right, at first, I thought she was stopping from Carly grabbing her arm, but if that were the case, she’d be looking at her in the final panel, not at Ethan’s general direction.

    2. Jay

      She didn’t pick up on it at first, but she definitely got it by the 5th panel

  8. William Leonard Reese Jr.

    And the penny drops. Hm. I most say that I honestly don’t know how Sal is going to react to this. Shame at what she did? Anger at the reminder? A mutual heartwarming talk that let’s the two deal with their shared past? I am REALLY interesting in these upcoming strips, they’ve been a long time coming.

    1. DailyBrad

      I don’t think she’d be liable to be angry, especially with Ethan’s approach with saying he isn’t here to assign blame. I think she’s likely to be feeling anxiety at being reminded of the incident, but I don’t especially think she’d lash out at him for it.

  9. Reltzik

    Reality ensues in 3… 2…

    …. wait, why’d my internet just die?

  10. Marlowe

    “Hands off!” “My hands may be off, but my name is still on” is the most Married Couple Banter I have ever heard

  11. Meta

    Carla’s coming off as somewhat more of an asshole than usual

    1. timemonkey

      Only because she doesn’t know what we know.

      1. Nono

        Even so, continuing to pester someone after you interrupt them mid-conversation and them walking away? That’d grate on anyone.

        I mean…. read the room.

        1. Chris Phoenix

          She’s trans. If she spent much time reading rooms, she’d see lots of transphobia. She’s probably practiced notreading the room in self-defense.

        2. Emily

          I’m trans and I still have basic respect for other people’s comfort zones. Honestly, the most annoying thing about Carla is how much the comment section gives her a pass for being insufferable because she’s trans as if that has any bearing on whether or not you should treat the people around you with basic respect.

        3. Miri

          I really liked the strip where she was talking about how being trans doesn’t mean she needs to buy into the forever sweet and passive BS version of femininity and that she CAN be a female, trans AND an asshole.

          It’s so HARD to reject that BS even when you recognise how harmful it can be. I can only imagine that it’s even harder for trans women, who (a) apparently STILL need to perform hyper-femininity to get taken seriously by professionals and access medical services to physically transition, (b) thanks to our awful society have even more reason than most women to at least sometimes want to blur silently into the background, (c) have spent some portion of their lives being told that they are not female, which must build extra internal pressure to embrace all aspects which can be spun as being female, even the cruddier ones. And she’s what, 19? She has her head more together than a lot of people twice her age.

          So yeah, she’s being an asshole. It’s delaying plot from happening. It’s irritating. If she doesn’t knock it off soon it’ll cross over into bullying territory and that really isn’t OK.

          But it’s still kinda awesome that she’s comfortable being such an asshole.

        4. stoodmuffin

          That first part is A BIG reason why I like Carla.

          There’s so much with begin trans fem that’s “Okay I don’t want to perpetuate bs and this is just me being MORE of who I am,” vs “I’m either expected to do this/ I never had a chance for some of the “girly” stuff and I want to be able to embrace it!”

          It feels what every step is a land mine! I like Carla being unapologetic, but there are times where I want her to clue into boundaries more. There are times where I LIKE she gets to be the asshole for reasons Miri mentioned, but at the same time too far into that can come with “I’m not like other girls” thing.

          It’s always this thing about “not being like girls enough” so you’re “a guy in a dress” or, you just want an excuse to do fem shit and then are “a guy in a dress.”

          Like you can’t fucking win! AUGH.

          This seems like something so small but it ties into EVERYTHING from over medicalizing trans issues/ “you must be this trans to count”/ “passing” to any way we deal with shit on our own means we’re terrible.

          I can’t speak for the other trans person in this thread but it perpetuates my unhealthy anxieties and paranoia’s for SURE.

        5. Ivy

          Damn trans people and their…

          *picks card*

          Not reading rooms!

        6. stoodmuffin

          It feels like that, a lot.

          Fuck her for not knowing what we know, and also trying to exist in space!

          Yeah, she could be better at boundaries. But man, just as not everything maybe about her people use that to hold her to a standard we don’t hold fucking WALKY too.

      2. BigDogLittleCat

        She doesn’t need to know the substance of their conversation to know that that she was interrupting something. She paid no attention to the signals that showed it wasn’t just random chitchat.
        But even if it were just random chitchat, it’s freaking rude to barge into a conversation to make it *literally* all about you and putting your hands all over someone that you already know won’t like it. To interrupt any conversation so rudely that someone walks away just to get away from you, that’s being an asshole. And then following her just to pester her more.

        Teasing someone after they’ve made clear that they’re not amused, that’s being an asshole.
        Mary doesn’t count because that’s war.

        This bugs me because I usually love Carla, but this isn’t funny.

        1. Marisa Mockery

          Carla likes being an asshole and is really entitled. Her world revolves around her, Sal happens it be in it, and ergo can be used at any time. It’s not healthy but….well….DUMBING of Age, not Emotionally Stable And Well Rounded Young Adults of Age….

        2. C.T Phipps

          Carla believes her role is to be the asshole. It’s just she’s decidedly less assholish than most of the people around her.

        3. DailyBrad

          I think in her case, Carla kinda likes needling Sal and always has. She has ribbed her in the past, but I think she still respects Sal, particularly after when she showed off that she did, in fact, know how to skate and was choosing not to.

        4. Zee

          Listen, putting your hands all over someone who openly doesnt like being touched crosses the line of playful ribbing and shows that you definitely do not respect the person

        5. BBCC

          The only time Carla’s touched Sal before this was earlier in this strip in Sal’s room, and Sal didn’t object to that. And this time, when she did object, Carla took her hands off. Carla’s definitely being a jackass here, but ‘putting hands on someone who’s asked her not to touch her before’ isn’t really part of said jackassery.

        6. stoodmuffin

          That’s what I got from it, as well

        7. thejeff

          OTOH, Sal’s reaction of “can we talk weird rambly shit later”, doesn’t really show her to be particularly invested in that conversation. Maybe she’s happy for the interruption, even with Carla being annoying.

        8. Sam

          I read it the reverse actually where she was more invested in talking to Ethan but wanted to exit to get away from Carla who was annoying her.

          If someone came up and interrupted a conversation of mine and I said to the first person ‘can we continue this later’, it is 100% because I want to get away from this person annoying me.

        9. thejeff

          Perhaps. OTOH, they were just barely into a conversation, Sal had no idea what Ethan was talking about and “weird rambly shit” is pretty dismissive.
          To go along with that, Carla is much closer to being a friend than he is, annoying though she may be.

          Friend interrupting near-stranger accosting you about some weirdness could even look more like a rescue.

        10. Sam

          The way she words it is dismissive of it, but she still shows an intent to listen to it later even if she doesn’t fully understand what he is on about.

          She shows no interest in listening to Carla, becoming annoyed seconds after she touches and starts speaking to her. Carla might regard Sal as a friend, but Sal regards her as an annoyance/nuisance most, if not all of the time.

        11. stoodmuffin

          I saw it more the way jeff did, if not a little bit of both.

          But Sal being disinterested in. LOTS of things is kind of her go to.

          So everyone hyper analyzing Carla’s every little motion here seems to be only looking at a small part of the picture, here.

          It’s not that Carla should instantly get a pass, but Sal’s personality of “aloof” ties into her reaction to both. I can’t tell HOW She views Carla because she. Often kinda down plays lots of things? I think she’s giving them both a chance in these last few strips and when it doesn’t seem convenient, relevant, or not annoying, she blows them BOTH off. Because, again. We’ve put stuff together that Sal does only in Panel FOUR. That Carla doesn’t know, either.

          Carla should maybe interject, less. But I think Willis was intending some light silliness before this got real. I just think it was Sal kinda giving up on dealing with both of them until she pieced things together?

  12. Stephen Bierce

    Meanwhile, this strip is sponsored by the Washington Capitals NHL team. (The RA at Billie’s dorm is a fan?)

  13. Koms

    Oh thank God

  14. Electriccombines

    Carla I adore you but READ THE ROOM SIS

    1. Reltzik

      Why should she take direction from the room? She’s clearly more awesome than it.

      (Read that as sarcastic or not, your call. It’s Shroedinger’s sarcasm.)

    2. stoodmuffin

      See? A wholesome comment that can both give her heck, but not paint her as the worst ever. Cool. You are neat.

  15. Mr. Random

    G….. go on.

  16. Tacos

    Yeee-uuppp. Shoe just dropped.

  17. tigsberg

    Only time I have really disliked Carla, this plot has been bubbling forever and I really want to see it progress. And of course Sal just says “Yeah” because of all of this commotion.

    gdi Carla :S

  18. BigDogLittleCat

    Usually I love Carla, but this is just obnoxious for the sake of being obnoxious.

    1. newllend(henryvolt)

      Congratulations you summed up the intended motivation of her character.

      1. BigDogLittleCat

        Maybe, but IIRC the only person she’s repeatedly and deliberately hassled just for the sake of hassling is Mary. The difference is, when she’s bugging Mary, she’s not playing. That’s strategic warfare.
        With everyone else, it’s in passing or part of a conversation, or the other person plays along (cf: Joyce and the jug shower shoes). I don’t recall her acting lime this to anyone other than Mary.
        I forgetting something?

        Teasing Sal when the jacket first made an appearance, fine. But after Sal made it clear she doesn’t want to play that game, following her down here for the purpose of carrying on is over the line.

        1. Bagge

          I think the logic on planet Carla is that she and Sal are friends, or something close to it, so she doesn’t have to keep the same distance as to, for example, Dorothy and Amber. She has a bit of the same dynamic with Ruth.

          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/01-when-somebody-loved-me/insomnia/

        2. BigDogLittleCat

          Yeah, I think she thinks she and Sal are “friends” (Carla’s quotation marks); whereas she’s just someone Sal knows who would get her beer and who shows up when Malaya is around.

        3. Bagge

          I dunno, I think she is a bit more than that to Sal. Of course, Sal defines friend in singular, but Carla seems at lest to be someone she doesn’t mind hanging out with.

        4. BBCC

          Plus, it’s hardly the first time these two have gotten under each other’s skin in the course of ribbing – Sal’s done it too (see: Her teasing Carla about her ‘crush’ on Ruth, which Carla did not appreciate).

        5. thejeff

          There does seem to a tendency among some of the commentariat to overreact to friendly ribbing, which is pretty common teen behavior, whether it’s inappropriate or not.

        6. BBCC

          I mean, I’d argue Carla’s crossed into the ‘Sal does not appreciate it’ line, but i’d still generally say she and Carla are friendly (even if Carla’s not in the zone we call ‘Marcie’ where Sal would call her a friend – although, on the other hand, Sal’s called Malaya a friend before for lack of a better word, so who knows?)

        7. stoodmuffin

          The last three comments you guys have said has been my mood for this thread.

          Idk. I mean we get a TINY bit of Carla to potentially lighten the mood, maybe giver her a hard time for being slightly to much of a dick, and analyze her character to PIECES when this was clearly was not the heavy thing that was about to drop. Idk

      2. newllend(henryvolt)

        There’s nothing wrong with obnoxious for obnoxious sake if it’s just the lukewarm type of obnoxious which happens to be the Carla bran of obnoxious

  19. LordSimian

    STATION!

  20. Vangeln

    An undercover cop?

  21. Cholma

    Ooh, you can almost *hear* the bell ringing in Sal’s head in Panel 5.

    1. Peter

      That’s the sound of a penny dropping.

      1. Bagge

        No, she was fired, remember?

        #NotGettingTiredOfThatJokeAnytimeSoon

    2. stoodmuffin

      Indeed

  22. Xccj

    I thought Carla grabbed her arm off-panel at first in Panel 5…

    1. Vulcanodon

      Sal would be looking at her, instead of back through the door.

  23. alice

    PSA: YOU CAN BE ANNOYED AT SOMEONE AND DISLIKE HOW THEY’RE BEHAVING WITHOUT HATING THEM

    1. alice

      (@ the carla haters)

    2. Nono

      Hate’s a strong word. A lot of people strongly dislike Carla for her behaviour, but she’s nowhere near the level of Blaine or Mary or Toedad.

      Carla’s on the same level as Joyce right now for me; sweet occasionally, but her irritating moments are overshadowing the nice ones.

    3. Jamie

      You trust people on the internet to discriminate between being annoyed and hating?

    4. Rabid Rabbit

      You can also hate them without secretly being in love with them. Just mentioning.

      1. Deanatay

        It’s true – not all love is tsundere!

        All the really GOOD love is, though.

    5. Emily

      PSA: People use the word hate as rhetorical exaggeration all the time stop being a pedant.

  24. Teddae

    Run tf back sal run back to ethan!!

  25. JessWitt

    Ethan had those final words, but damn he made them count.

    1. Bagge

      Yup. In the contest of “Explain a decade old trauma for a person you don’t know, but who comitted it, in less than ten sentences, while an incredibly annoying skater makes drive-by comments” he aced it.

    2. Jamie

      Not really. She robbed more than one convenience store.

      1. Tacos

        Yeah and how many of those had her hold a kid at knifepoint before then ending by getting stabbed in the hand with her own knife by another kid?

      2. Zee

        Well, 2 so that narrows it down a tad

  26. MatsuoTanuki

    You’re the salt of the earth Carla.

    1. King Daniel

      So she’s a luxury, providing +1 Food and +1 Gold? Well, she did buy those beers for Carla and company – I guess that counts as food? – and she’s rich, so…

    2. Rabid Rabbit

      She has incredibly rich parents. No she’s not.

      Except maybe in the sense that she salts the earth over which she has passed, to be sure the grass will never grow there again? Which is sort of stupid, really, since she quite likes grass.

      1. darkgloomie

        Grass can be tricky to skate through, though. She may preemptively clear out specific paths of grass for her own use.

      2. Agemegos

        What does “salt of the Earth” mean to you? To me it means a very worthy person, not a poor one.

        Not that I think Carla is either. I’m not saying she’s wicked, just that “salt of the Earth” is a high bar.

        1. Deanatay

          Biblically, salt was a very valuable commodity, so the phrase meant ‘a person worth as much as salt’, a high compliment. During Medieval times, however, salt was used to poison conquered lands, making them poor, so the phrase sometimes came to mean the opposite. It’s a misconflation of ‘salting the earth’ with ‘salt of the earth’, but that happens in language.

        2. Roborat

          I thought it had a different meaning. In those days armies foraged for food by pillaging farms and towns as they invaded. So the retreating army would salt the earth and poison the wells to deny that to the enemy.

        3. Inahc

          Hence the ” misconflation of ‘salting the earth’ with ‘salt of the earth’,”

          Although since I’m already nitpicking… “Misconflation” is redundant. “Conflation” would be just fine (and technically more correct).

      3. Cyrus

        I’m pretty sure Matsuo was making a Scott Pilgrim reference.

        1. MatsuoTanuki

          *game show bell* Correct. But all these responses were fun to read as well. ^^

  27. Bagge

    No red panels at least. This is promising.

    Um… she’s gonna talk to Amber or Amazi-girl again before she talks to Ethan, right?

  28. pjeseb

    I’m surprised Carla doesn’t already have Malaya’s name written on her sleeves. Or her arms. Or her forehead.

    I’m pretty sure Carla would walk around wearing a sign saying “property of Malaya” if Malaya promised to mock/demean her for it.

  29. Pl0x

    Tomorrow we skip to Walky and Billie. Probably.

  30. Marsh Maryrose

    I don’t know why it took me so long to notice that Carla is wearing wrist braces most of the time, and good for her. Sure, once in a while she’s wearing them while apparently wearing regular shoes, and sometimes she has one on one arm but not the other, but safety equipment is good.

    Mind you, she should still be wearing a helmet. Your toe stop catches on something, you go down BOOM! and it’s not likely to be good for what’s inside your cranium.

    1. Regalli

      Plot twist: Carla actually has a helmet the exact color of her hair, with either the same opening in the back some anime characters have (I still cannot comprehend Pokémon Black and White’s head situation) or an elaborate attachment.

      That or Ruttech invisible helmet tech.

      1. Khyrin

        Myguess is the dango are affixed to the hat, and if actually Hilda(?)’s hair, it’s no longer attached to her scalp.

        1. Regalli

          It’s that whole ponytail though. It must be heavy.

      2. Deanatay

        She actually simply had her skull reinforced with titanium. No need for a helmet.

  31. abysswatcher1993

    Did Sal just connected the dots?

  32. Keulen

    Looks like Sal realized what event Ethan was trying to take to her about (before Carla interrupted them) in the last two panels here.

  33. Jamie

    Apples-to-Apples is a seriously unwieldy nickname.

    1. Ainara

      Apples? Appleman? A2A?

  34. Darkoneko

    Took you long enough

  35. Alanari

    I’m really curious. Now it’s sals turn to react to being confronted with an unpleasant past. Amber runs away, Ethan tries to confront it. I wonder what she’ll do.

    1. Agemegos

      Flash back, maybe.

      1. Nimitrick

        You win a prize

    2. BigDogLittleCat

      Sal’s been open about her past, so I’m guessing an apology, rather than denial or embarrassment. Well, she might be embarrassed about the hurt she caused, but she’s never tried to hide the fact that she has a record and why.

      Although I think the gloves show that there is more going on than she lets on.

  36. Kittie

    I can’t be mad at Carla but if it takes another year for some progress on this plotline I am going to scream.

  37. Rabid Rabbit

    CARLA.

    Over in Wilde Life, we have also talked about following very closely and not-quite-touching. And about following creepily around in general.

    Jesus.

    Don’t make us summon the spiders, Carla. Just… don’t make us.

  38. DaveM

    So,
    Joyce routinely shows no respect for personal boundaries, and often regards other peoples privacy as unimportant.
    Robin routinely shows no respect for personal boundaries, and often regards other peoples privacy (and opinions) as unimportant.
    Carla routinely shows no respect for personal boundaries, and often regards other peoples privacy (and feelings) as unimportant.

    In all three cases we’re supposed to find this hilariously funny and not at all intrusive and unpleasant.

    Even Mary (who has much the same characteristics, except she uses her intrusiveness for evil) gets away with blackmail and transphobic comments with little more than some social disapproval.

    Or maybe it’s just me.

    1. thejeff

      I’m pretty sure that in Robin and Joyce’s cases at least, while it may be intended as funny it’s also intended as intrusive and unpleasant. In Robin’s case, why Leslie was so desperate to get rid of her. In Joyce’s, there’s definitely been enough in-comic reaction to it that it’s clearly intended as a character flaw – likely one she’ll eventually need to overcome.

      It’s actually been much less emphasized with Carla overall, though it’s been more to the forefront recently, so it’s probably going somewhere.

      And Mary is completely different and clearly established as a villain.

    2. Sam

      Robin was very clearly shown to be in the wrong and that her actions were intrusive and unpleasant and horribly wrong. Leslie clearly didn’t appreciate her actions and she was eventually ousted out of her house and she didn’t get the girl. She got comeuppance.

      Joyce’s behaviour is sometimes portrayed as funny, but it has multiple times been shown to be a character flaw. It has been shown to irritate people. People have snapped at her for it. Because of her sweet nature, people tend to begrudgingly be more tolerant of it so she has never had consequences that stuck for it (yet). But it is hardly shown to be endearing or likeable, it is often shown as annoying.

      Carla has had less appearances and tends to hang around people less so with her it comes up less, but it is definitely being shown here to be ANNOYING, not endearing even if what she is saying could be seen as amusing. Being funny and annoying aren’t necessarily distinct from each other, and it can actually make it more annoying to you when there is genuine comedic value to it.

    3. BigDogLittleCat

      I’d say it’s just you if you think Mary gets “little more than some social disapproval.”
      Most readers class her with Blair and Toedad. Her being ranked with the violent abusers is a pretty sign that readers aren’t giving her a pass.

      1. DaveM

        Sorry, I didn’t explain clearly. I wasn’t suggesting that the readers liked or forgave Mary, but that in universe she seems to have gotten away with her abuse without any real repercussions.

        As for the Robin/leslie “incident”, I agree the whole readership saw it as being horrible, in-universe it seemed to be played as wacky-person Robin hijinks against the more stable Leslie (Robin was Ernie to Leslie’s Bert). And why did Robin leave? Not because she learned a lesson, not because Leslie clearly didn’t want her there, but because the party withdrew her endorsement. Her final line inside Leslie’s place “I’m sorry. I really liked it here, but I have to go.” As if she hadn’t heard a single word that Leslie was saying.
        As you say the readership definitely saw her actions as wrong, but in-universe it seemed to be player for laughs. The whole no respect for other peoples boundaries seems to be a quite common trope for many characters. As I said it’s probably just me.

  39. C.

    Just permalinking this Willis tweet for as long as it’s up:

    https://twitter.com/damnyouwillis/status/1048794349604155392

  40. Jago

    That supposed to be flirting, Carla? Just asking, i’m not an expert.

    1. Zaxares

      You know… Now that you mention it (and the last strip kinda makes it obvious), I think that this IS Carla’s way of saying “I’m into you”. She kind of did the same thing with Malaya, except that Malaya herself is far too self-centered to notice.

      Then again, both Malaya and Sal are in Carla’s “skater social circle”, so it might just be her way of self-reaffirming that “these guys like me”. If she does it to somebody who’s not friends with her, that would help to confirm the theory one way or another.

  41. FacelessDeviant

    Its Walty… I mean Wilky…

  42. Emily

    Fuck off Carla.

  43. Kaunisenkeli

    And the penny drops.

  44. ValdVin

    Carla’s backward skating in the last panel? That seems very much like her.

    1. Marsh Maryrose

      Skating backward is as easy as skating forward. With quad skates, you stop by turning to skate backward and putting down the toe stops.

  45. Zee

    *ENDLESS SCREAMS OF FRUSTRATION*

    1. WikiDreamer

      *sighs in exasperated frustration* Same Zee…saaaaaame

  46. C.T Phipps

    Sal: I’VE WAITED YEARS TO GET MY REVENGE!

  47. Micki

    Those last three panels are a work of art! Props, Willis.

  48. Ainara

    Panel 3 Ethan and panel 5 Sal look mad cute

    1. Ainara

      Also, I’m embarrassed to admit it took me way too long to realize panels 5 and 6 are Sal realizing who Ethan is and looking back in shock, and not Carla pulling Sal’s arm as she skates by causing Sal to look back to see who did that.

  49. MyrmicitePhilosopher

    Soo, I kind of read the last three panels by looking at her Feet.

    Third panel, we see one foot fall (a shoe drop).
    Fourth panel, the other foot is up in the air as she has her “wait, what?” moment.
    Fifth panel, her other foot is now on the ground (other shoe has dropped) and she realizes it.

    Am i just reading into something, or was this an intentional subtle joke thing?

  50. Deanatay

    The Uncomfortable Realization virus continues its slow spread.

    Amber, of course, is our Patient Zero.

  51. figureaddict

    Last panel, I just have to say it, “there it is!”. Realization clicking in.

  52. JBento

    And that was when Sal pushed Carla down the break-up stairs.

  53. MicaXIII

    GDAMMIT NOW IM ALL CAUGHT UP

  54. Undrave

    Pnael 5: *Record scratching sound*

    1. Remmington Steele

      Sound of a shoe store dropping.

  55. Abel Undercity

    Guys, I think Sal already knows what Ethan wants to talk about at panel 2. Panels 4 and 5 are her being startled that Carla, whom Sal just left behind in the building, has just bamfed outside ahead of her.

    1. BBCC

      We can see Carla coming up from behind her in the last panel.

  56. Darkoneko

    Sometimes I wonder whether Carla knew and is desesperatly trying to avoid the meetup.

    1. stoodmuffin

      She is clever like that, for sure. Idk. Hmm.

  57. stoodmuffin

    Oh! Ethan might have hit it bigger than first thought! OooooooooOooooooOOOOOOOooo colour me invested1

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