268

Ladyfolk
Posted on July 8, 2017 by David M Willis

268 thoughts on “Ladyfolk”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    Danny aims to please

    1. Ana Chronistic

      shit why did I leap on my Carla shirt order so fast, I could’ve combined Terrible Lizbian shirt order!

      1. a/snow mous/e

        just donate your entire life savings to Willis in exchange for all of his past/present/future merchandise

        1. Reltzik

          *eyes his two-digit savings account*

          ….. I’m thinking about it. I’m thinking about it.

      2. Halpful

        Yeah, now I’m wondering if it’s too late to change my order…

  2. tim gueguen

    Joe may have the emotional intelligence of a lump of rock, but he’s not stupid, as shown by the Escher reference.

    1. Emily

      I mean if putting a detailed rating list of every woman at your college on the internet isn’t stupid I don’t know what is.

      1. Falcon

        Joe never intended his list to go public, and most people don’t really plan for their private documents to get hacked. Joe’s been heavily influenced by his chosen culture. Just about every brilliant person in history would be considered barbaric in many ways today. Joe ain’t dumb, just willfully ignorant and indoctrinated about some things.

        1. Emily

          Is there really a meaningful distinction between willful ignorance and stupidity?

        2. Sunny D

          Willful ignorance is the lack of awareness, and can be remedied with the acquisition of the knowledge being avoided, while stupidity implies the actual inability to understand on an intrinsic level.

        3. Cerberus

          I always saw willful ignorance as the person has full access to the information and people willing to explain it, but actively rejects it because that would interfere with a central mythology they hold.

        4. Falcon

          Cerberus has the right of it.

        5. Pylgrim

          I believe this is rasher the distinction between D&D wisdom and intelligence.

        6. Needfuldoer

          Considering how freely he was giving the password out, it was only a matter of time before it became public knowledge.

        7. thejeff

          Wisdom versus intelligence. Common sense vs book learning.

          And while I’m sure he didn’t plan on being “hacked”, most people also don’t regularly hand out passwords for things they want to keep private. I doubt there was really any hacking involved.

        8. Jimbo

          Having an RSS feed for his ratings list is just an invitation for disaster…

        9. BBCC

          Joe gives out the password like candy and set it up with an RSS feed and subscribe button. This was not a private list.

        10. Falcon

          A subscribe button? Most unwise.

  3. Doctor_Who

    I get why Joe goes to “Comic Book Guy” for his example of an undesirable male, but his first choice for “ladies want him” is Disney’s Robin Hood? So, the fox?

    Huh. I mean, I know that movie is one of the Furry Fandom’s Flagship Films, but kinda weird that his brain went there first. Maybe Joe’s secretly a furry? If we examined his childhood notebooks, would we find sketches of Maid Marian and Gadget Hackwrench?

    Oh wait, these damn kids are 18. Guess it would more likely be Sandy Cheeks and Master Tigress, or whatever they are into these days.

    1. pluto

      basically every girl i know who’s Into Dudes had a crush on disney’s robin hood when they were little

      i mostly just wanted to be him, and also kiss maid marian. you’d think i’d have realized i was a big ol lesbian sooner, but no

      1. Doctor_Who

        I never got into the whole furry thing overall, but I would have made an exception for Cheetara.

        1. Gojira

          With a shave, body paint and a mani/pedicure, any Thundercat would pass for human. They don’t even have tails!

        2. Tacos

          Didn’t they have tails in the reboot? I don’t remember.

        3. Rukduk

          Yes. Well, some of them did. It varied. Before Cartoon Network killed it that is. I think it was because actually acknowledging that there was both death and zombies finally made it “too edgy for a kids show” or whatever. I liked the reboot, and am very bitter as a result.

        4. Needfuldoer

          Then they should have moved it to Adult Swim or Toonami and rode the nostalgia wave into the sunset.

        5. Rukduk

          They killed it before Toonami came back. And then played reruns of it on Toonami for about a year. I think it got canned because there wasn’t enough nostalgia or they changed too much and got anger instead of nostalgia as a result. And then Young Justice went from “indefinite hiatus between seasons” to “canceled”. And around the same time Symbiotic Titan was canceled and replaced with…I want to say Clarence. There was a period there where Cartoon Network was axing and replacing shows left and right while looking for a replacement. Of the initial shows I believe Adventure Time might have been the only survivor (for a while) and that of the wave of replacement shows only Gumball and eventually Steven Universe came through. But I’m not entirely sure what’s playing on Cartoon Network nowadays besides Steven Universe, Gumball, and Teen Titans Go (piece of crap show).

        6. Halpful

          clearly it’s because the zombies weren’t pink enough. 😉

        7. Doctor_Who

          That’s probably why. As a kid when I was crushing on her, I doubt I even realized she was furry, I think I just thought she had oddly colored skin with markings.

          Years later I saw the pilot episode and it turns out the Thundercats don’t even wear clothes usually.

          Bit disappointing to realize that there was nothing under that swimsuit that wasn’t also hidden by fur.

    2. Rocketboy1313

      A fox is also a slang term for someone who is attractive.
      As in “Foxy Lady” or “What a total Fox”.

    3. JetstreamGW

      Because Brian Bedford had a hell of a voice?

      1. merbrat

        *That* was why I liked Robin! I forgot it was Brian Bedford. I was a non-conformist in my young crushes. I luuurved Brian, but he had a face made for animation/radio.

    4. Zach

      well, do you REMEMBER the first time you heard ‘Can You Feel the Love Tonight’? Simba and Nala got it on, no imagination needed there!

      Also Balto.

      And All Dogs go to Heaven…

      I’m having an epiphany. I think all of the flirting I ever saw growing up was in cartoon animal form, everything else was censored, because of course children have no sexuality at all and do not have crushes.

      Also Scare was so queer-coded I could see it as a child, great gay role model. I’d be a villain too if my name meant either trash, wanderer, and vagrant, and my parents wouldn’t tell me which they had in mind.

      1. Rukduk

        Scar is the ultimate tragic villain. The only reason things under his leadership don’t go well is because of a multiple year drought and his unwillingness to leave Pride Rock and migrate. Which is something real lions actually do. There’s also the fact that in order for Nala and Simba’s relationship to not be incestuous, Scar and Mufasa would have had to be outside invaders overthrowing a deeply disliked pride leader with Nala’s mother already pregnant with Nala, making Nala a little older than Simba. Because otherwise they would be either half-siblings or first-cousins (this type of thing is why real life lion prides do not actually function like a monarchy). This also explains why Zazu is so excited at the prospect of a political marriage between Nala and Simba; it’s linking the old and new bloodlines and wiping away any last vestige of illegitimacy attached to Mufasa’s rule. It also seems that Mufasa and Scar did not kill off the old pride leaders cubs and start replacing them with their own (which is what real lions do) because they were planning some form of monarchy to be eastablished, and realized that genetic variety would have to be maintained for that to actually work. Which also explains why Mufasa only has one cub (Simba) and only one real mate. In order for the pride’s numbers to not be steadily decreasing, Mufasa and Scar must be doing something else; they’re letting wandering males hunt in the Pride Lands and mate with members of the pride without allowing them to become members of the Pride Rock Pride. Either that, or there is one larger “over pride” and multiple smaller “subject prides” in the Lion King universe, which I’ve never heard of happening in real life. Which means that Lion King exists in some sort of post-singularity for animals society.
        …
        Wait a minute.
        Is the Lion King series a pre-quel to Zootopia? In the Lion King animals are showing signs of greatly increased intelligence, cooperation, human-like behavior, and organization compared to their real world counterparts, and we already see signs of mutually beneficial predator-prey relations/society in how all of the “prey” animals bow at the presentation of their “predator” king’s heir. Scar shows a willingness to actually work with and integrate into Pride Rock society the hyenas. Timon, Pumba, and Zazu are safe from being hunted because of their political connections. The “Circle of Life” seems to be a form of social contract between predators and prey that limits how many prey the predators can hunt in exchange for a guarantee that the prey will allow a certain number of themselves to be hunted so the predators won’t starve. By the second movie the prey seem to have formed a sort of council or “moot” that meets at Pride Rock with no fear of being eaten. The spiritual leader/grand shaman/high priest for everyone is a baboon. And aside from the Timon and Pumba animated series (which is of course of very questionably canonicity) there are no humans in the Lion King universe. This could very well mean that Zootopia is an indirect sequel to the Lion King movies, taking place tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands years in the future!! I am so excited right now!! Must. Write. Fanfiction. Timeline!!!!

        1. Gesc

          This one was quite the read.

        2. Rukduk

          Sorry about that. Super hyper today.

  4. Conuly

    I get why Joe goes to “Comic Book Guy” for his example of an undesirable male, but his first choice for “ladies want him” is Disney’s Robin Hood? So, the fox?

    Wait, I think The Toast had something to say about this…

    100% of women want to have sex with a man who embodies the fox version of Robin Hood from the cartoon Robin Hood, but most do not actually want to have sex with a fox or a man dressed as one

    http://the-toast.net/2015/04/14/things-ive-learned-about-heterosexual-female-desire-from-decades-of-reading/

    1. JessWitt

      Man, with that voice and how he didn’t wear pants.

      1. JessWitt

        Disney’s Robin Hood, that is.

      2. Doctor_Who

        Weirdly, Brien Bedford never really did any other voice acting. I’m surprised, he was very memorable.

        1. JetstreamGW

          He was mostly a stage guy, near as I can tell. Lots of Shakespeare. I imagine movies and TV were more a side gig for him.

    2. Gojira

      When trying to understand human sexuality, its more important to study what (or who) we do, not what we say.

    3. zoelogical

      he’s just…not that charming

    4. StClair

      Doesn’t that really mean that they’re into Errol Flynn’s version, or would be, if anyone still showed those instead of the animated knockoff?

      (Kind of like how more people know the Flintstones than the Honeymooners – and even there, both are fading/aging fast.)

      1. Doctor_Who

        Know how lots of furries are into Gadget?

        She’s based on the character of Jordan from Real Genius. The show’s creator said she was the inspiration.

        Which helps me see the appeal. I was never into furries, but damn did I have a thing for Jordan growing up.

        1. StClair

          I… I liked both, let’s leave it at that. *-_-*

        2. GuruBuckaroo

          The thing about Jordan that I love is that she was the prototype for what we call today the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, yet she didn’t have to go through a makeover/transformation or become “traditionally” attractive. If you didn’t realize it when you met her, you never would – but those of us that did fell for her bad. We didn’t need a transformation to know she was always gorgeous.

  5. Kernanator

    How long does Joe think he needs to wait before his transgressions are forgotten?

    1. JessWitt

      Long after he’s dead. Probably after the Earth is dead.

    2. Mollyscribbles

      Once everyone on his list has graduated he’ll be in the clear.

    3. Gojira

      A week or two, but that’s 50 years in reader time.

    4. StClair

      802701 A.D.

      1. Uncertainty Moth

        I bet Joe’s read “The Time Machine”

        That’s why he belongs here

        1. StClair

          or at least seen one of the movies.

          among the ancestors of the Morlocks?

    5. Tacos

      When the inevitable heat death of the Universe occurs.

    6. BenRG

      I’m pretty sure that he’s expecting this to be a long haul. So, maybe four weeks?

      Yes, I’m being sarcastic although, knowing Joe, he may actually think women have that short an attention span.

  6. AnvilPro

    Joe really is the hero of his own story

    1. BenRG

      Yeah; and that’s the problem, isn’t it?

    2. nlips

      To be fair, aren’t most of us?

      1. Paradox

        I dunno about you, but I’m the villain in my story.

        The ideal epilogue is moving into a secluded area near a small town that I can ransack for food. Maybe a guard dog. Glare at cars passing by for hours at a time while slowly boiling myself from the inside with hatred and rage.

        I will be the “get off my lawn” person.

  7. Kay

    A good fifty years, tops, and he can go home.

  8. Emperor Norton II

    I’m sure that there are people who will make long and interesting comments on all the things wrong with Joe in today’s strip.

    But at this point, a Joe-centric strip really only needs one comment:

    Gawddamit, Joe!

  9. lia47

    that was a lot of pop culture references for a guy who doesnt belong in the nerd pit

    1. newllend(henryvolt)

      Think he’s coming out of the nerd closet.

    2. Romanticide

      oh Joe has always been something of a closet nerd ,since the other universe, but he kinda prioritises not being seen as one. 😛

  10. abacuswizard

    “It’s like if M.C. Escher had designed the Death Star”?

    Have you ever been to U.C. Davis?

    https://daviswiki.org/Death_Star

    1. Zach

      It’s beautiful, thank you!

      I shall daydream of this place for a long time.

  11. Screwball

    So his List was hacked, so he’s hiding in the Computer Sciences building. While it was a while ago, you would still need to know WHAT your doing, computer programming. Something tells me he’s not as safe as he thinks he is…

    Also, it’s weird, I can see only 3 posts as I write this..

    1. Lexi

      You don’t really need to know what you’re doing. I was one of those two female CS majors, but of the two Computer Science buildings on campus, one of them had a lounge where the CS student hung out, and at least a couple of the girls who hung out there were bio majors, or history majors. They learned of the location of our lounge and its cheap pop, and stayed for the lengthy discussions about what happens when you drive a racecar off Niagara falls (Does it fall nose first or tail first?)

      1. StClair

        When I was at school, 25-30 years ago, the CS labs were the only place (at my liberal-arts college) that you could get on the Internet. Like, at all.
        The Web didn’t exist until my senior year.
        Times certainly have changed.

        1. That Guy

          I… uh… no.

          If you’d gone to school 35-40 years ago, maybe. The internet was being used by multiple large businesses, banks, and had competing private firms for personal use by the time you went to college if 30 years is the far window. As it stands, ARPANET (the precursor) had been an educational and defense resource for a decade plus prior to that.

          Don’t tell me there were no internets. I was all up in my dad’s business, stealing his “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego” game off of Prodigy.

        2. thejeff

          I went to school around the same time StClair did, maybe a little earlier. I could get at Usenet from a dialup Bulletin Board gateway. You could get on the Internet from the CS labs, as they said. That’s sort of the point of ARPANET being an “educational and defense resource”. Your average Joe couldn’t just get on it.
          The Web didn’t exist yet. Theoretically the Web went live in 1990, but it was a couple years after that before it saw much real use. The other internet services were still the main point – email and usenet and some of the business to business stuff.

          Then came AOL and the Eternal September of 1993.

        3. Spencer

          I wonder when the first angry fandom complaint went online.

        4. MatthewTheLucky

          1990.

        5. thejeff

          Well before that. 🙂

          Parts of Usenet were wretched hives of scum and villainy long before the actual Web.

        6. StClair

          and then came the Eternal September…

        7. StClair

          d’oh, you said that already.

        8. StClair

          Exactly.

          Class of ’91; and I didn’t say Prodigy, or CompuServe, or AOL, or BBSes – I said the Internet. Which, again, was still limited access even at universities (especially non-technical ones).

          I spent a lot of time on USEnet and using FTP, most of it on dumb text-only terminals, VT100s. I remember the first web pages, black and white images and simple blue links floating in a sea of default grey. I remember the outrage over the first spam. Heck, when I started using email, some people were still using manual routing with bang paths.

      2. @zombieundergrnd

        Everybody knows it floats in a barrel.

      3. desolation0

        Short of air forces acting significantly on the front vs the rear, the front and rear of the car could sort of be treated as two independent masses. Since the front loses its support against gravity sooner, it would tend to nose down and have the rear play catchup along the ballistic trajectory. If a ramp is involved, then you could basically tailor it however you want, the natural tendency would still tend to be nose down after following the ballistic arc upwards.

  12. BBCC

    I have been informed that Comic Book Guy is in fact a Simpson’s character and is in fact worse than Joe with women.

    However, for the sake of contempt for Joe: I can name off the top of my head 20 men in comics I’d have sex with before Joe. Joe’s pretty awful.

    1. Irredentist

      Is one of them Batman?

      1. inqntrol

        It is always Batman…because he’s Batman.

      2. BBCC

        You know what? Yes.

        If said Batman is Dick Grayson.

        Or Bruce Wayne during some of his better written days.

        1. C.T Phipps

          I blame all of Bruce’s out of character moments on not enough sleep and Alfred’s Turkish coffee. Get the man a better schedule and he’s cheerful like in the Animated series.

        2. BBCC

          That is definitely one of the best Batmen I’ve seen.

        3. Fallingivy

          My favorite Batman in unpretty’s fanfic Batman, the Batman who goes to Walmart with Dick and frees beta fish from bad conditions and talks to Walmart employees about unions and better jobs in Gotham.

        4. StClair

          oh, those stories were/are fantastic.

        5. BBCC

          Sounds like something Bruce would do.

        6. Felgraf

          “I *DID* go to college, Tim.”

        7. Rukduk

          Is it weird that I’d put Alfred on the actual list?

    2. zoelogical

      ok and now i would like to request the list, For Science

      1. BBCC

        1) Wally West
        2) Dick Grayson
        3) Kyle Rayner
        4) John Stewart
        5) Steve Rogers
        6) Clint Barton
        7) Aquaman
        8) Falcon
        9) Clark Kent
        10) Bruce Wayne
        11) Roy Harper
        12) Jason Todd
        13) Barry Allen
        14) Guy Gardner
        15) Star-Lord
        16) Luke Cage
        17) Ryan Choi
        18) Ollie Queen
        19) Tony Stark
        20) Rhodey

        I would like to note that all of these are when the men involved are being written at their best.

        1. desolation0

          Not too much into the villainous bad boys?

        2. BBCC

          Eh, this was 20 folks off the top of my head. Not necessarily a comprehensive tindr profile where I’ve swiped different comic book men as ‘yes, maybe’ or ‘no’.

        3. Shiro

          I would sleep with Star-lord before Joe, but damn is it a close call

        4. BBCC

          Different tastes for different folks. Feel free to replace him on your own list with Martian Manhunter or Bucky.

        5. Rukduk

          Or Loki, Kal-Dur, Superboy, Wolverine, and Nightcrawler.

        6. Shiro

          …damn, you really called my taste in comic book dudes, well done 😀

        7. BBCC

          Nice! 😀 Traumatized but largely nice men then?

  13. Passchendaele

    In his mind, he says the last line softly, a tear dripping from his eye as he sees the prison bars in front of him. He grabs onto them while the ukelele plays sombre music (or becomes a harmonica) and he serves his long sentence. In reality, he’s delusional. 😛

  14. Derek

    and people make fun of JOYCE for being delusional?

    1. StClair

      we can do both!

  15. Dean

    He can fashion a rude dwelling from discarded printer cartridges, securely lashed together with ethernet cables.

    1. Clif

      That has a certain amount of odd appeal.

  16. Rukduk

    Now watch one of the women who’s a C.S. Major immediately walk up to and flirt with Danny, completely oblivious to Joe’s existence.

    1. C.T Phipps

      Danny is actually probably attractive to Sal since she seems to like brainy thin types (except not assholes). Also Danny did get both Amber and Dorothy.

      I wonder if it would break Joe to realize being a nice person is not a Nice Guy and thus immediately off-putting.

      1. vlademir1

        Well, Sal did describe him as “adorable” when he started tutoring her… She also told him at that time that being adorable wasn’t going to get him in her pants (due to presumption of his motives).
        Where things have gone since then, I could see her warming up to Danny’s appeal but I also see Danny himself not per se being interested at this point

        1. Flakky

          I could see it happen for several reasons, but firstly because the universe seems to conspire against Amber.

        2. Spencer

          Much like Walky/Dorothy and Ruth/Amber, it’s one of the Walkyverse ships that didn’t work out in the end (in this case, Danny eventually fell for Billie and married her).

          Poor Amber.

        3. Spencer

          I meant Ruth/Billie dammit.

        4. David M Willis

          don’t make me start shipping ruth/amber

        5. Spencer

          They’d probably tear the entire floor apart.

  17. Tacos

    I so want that precaution to backfire and everyone comes over to hear Danny’s sweet, sweet ukulele playing skills.

    1. Rukduk

      Yyyeeeesssss!!

    2. Remmington Steele

      This would make my day.

    3. Leorale

      I came here to basically request this! It would be a spin on “when I’m with Jacob, I’m the Danny” except it would even extend to when he’s with Danny.
      Only, now the women all know about Joe’s list, so they’ll probably avoid him and he can’t be the anybody.

  18. Keulan

    Is that any particular tune Danny’s playing here, or just random ukulele music?

    1. Delicious Taffy

      Dog Festival Directions, if I had to hazard a guess.

    2. Koms

      He’s playing today’s song on the hacked muzac. “Nobody likes you. Everyone’s left you. They’re all out without you. Having fun”

    3. DonDueed

      In A Gadda Da Vida

    4. Opus the Poet

      Smoke On The Water
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnADC_Ijp5Y

  19. newllend(henryvolt)

    I wish I can say he’s overreacting, but sadly I think he’s still not realizing the scope of his acrions enough. This will probably take a looong ass time to cool down, years even.

    1. Emperor Norton II

      It’s not so much that he’s overreacting, it’s that he’s reacting in a completely wrong direction.

  20. Wraithy2773

    …………so, how fucking sad is it that we can honestly say that Joe acknowledging that female CS majors actually exist is a step up for him?

    Scale of 1 to 10?

    Also: 5 bucks says that Joe’s going to suddenly leap up and exclaim that it must have been one of the women CS majors who hacked it, because no man would want to expose his list, clearly any man that came across it would treasure the least for its valuable insights and bountiful strategy and I think I need to go take a shower…

    1. Rukduk

      It’s ok, we all do when we try putting ourselves into the “Joe” mindset for the sake of a comment.

    2. Cerberus

      I’m honestly most suspecting it’s Jacob.

      1) Because he and his girlfriend are really not a fan of his list. 2) Because he’s slipped up and spoke out of turn about someone’s thing before in a way that had unintended consequences. And 3) he’s got a lot of charisma and friends and so it’s easy for things to ripple out from him.

  21. Irredentist

    Oh relax Joe, in the real world, men don’t actually face the consequences of their actions. I’m sure you’ll be fine lol

    1. Ansel

      this

    2. Delicious Taffy

      That’s a strange thing to say. I face consequences for my actions all the time, and I’m a man. And let me tell you, I’ve done some shitty things to people, a few of which have even deserved it. Haven’t really met a situation where I didn’t get what was coming to me, and I don’t know any men who have. Unless by “men” you mean “misogynists, PUAs, rapists, etc.”?

      1. Falcon

        The precise version would probably be something like “men tend to face less serious consequences for a bunch of things, many of which are more egregious than the things women tend to face less serious consequences for.”

        1. Delicious Taffy

          See, clarification and additional qualifiers like that are much more useful than a broad generalisation. The more information your statement contains, the harder it becomes to misinterpret.

        2. DSL

          That doesn’t mean people won’t try.

        3. Delicious Taffy

          Those people aren’t worth talking to.

    3. Cerberus

      Hell, even in the fake world he’s in, he’s not even facing all that big of consequences. Like, he got caught doing some epic level creeping and the fallout from that is a lot of women are glaring at him and one woman he tried to smarm blew up at him.

      That’s pretty minor and he’s unlikely to really suffer worse than that in a world where the consequences for those behaviors are slightly amplified (because our world is terrible and it’s nice to read stories where sexism has consequences for the perpetrator, not just the victim).

  22. spriteless

    With Sal and Jason, Sal say’d “You’ll do.”
    A call back with Becky in a dino suit, and Dina saying: “This will do.”

    Therefore, Joe is gonna make love to the ukulele.

  23. Briny

    Not 100% on this, but is Amber one of those few CS majors?

    Not saying this in a “this is the setup, huuuuh?” way, just asking.

    1. C.T Phipps

      Joe’s dating options are now Mary and Shortpacked Amber along with anyone who has slept with Mike.

      1. C.T Phipps

        Doh, meant to be at the bottom.

  24. Well_Played

    Sniff* He’s a saint!!

  25. Nono

    At least Joe acknowledges his crimes?

    Hi Mary and Ryan.

    1. Fart Captor

      Not really. He’s still only accepting the fallout from his actions, but not acknowledging any fault.

      1. chris73

        How long has it been since this all blew up, half an hour maybe? Don’t you think he needs a little time to process all this?

        1. Fart Captor

          Sure, especially given how incredibly stubborn he is. But It’ll not saying he won’t, only that he currently hasn’t. If/when that actually happens, I will be extremely happily about it

    2. Cephalo the Pod

      Nah, the use of the word “crimes” seems sarcastically melodramatic to me.

    3. Remmington Steele

      isn’t chopped liver Ryan being served at the cafeteria?

  26. Fallingivy

    Off topic: how do all these women know what Joe looks like? The list got leaked along with his personal information (name) and picture? Was that stated and I missed it? (I’m sincerely confused if it’s been mentioned.)

    1. Gojira

      Everyone saw the sex tape with Roz.

    2. Tacos

      The guy hits on a lot of women. I think most know him from that or at least know somebody else who he has hit on.

    3. Shiro

      Missing stairs tend to get known.

    4. Cerberus

      He’s kind of hit on a lot of women and made himself as active a presence in women’s spaces that he possibly could.

  27. C.T Phipps

    Joe, are you on drugs?

    Because you sound either high or completely insane.

  28. Wack'd

    1. is joe a furry
    2. is joe a furry who somehow missed that the REAL hotty in this film is alan-a-dale
    3. is joe’s dismissal of alan-a-dale tied into his dislike of danny’s current persona

  29. Sam

    Danny why are you still here with him. Leave.

    1. C.T Phipps

      Joe is Danny’s Danny now.

    2. Wraithy2773

      Danny’s rubber-necking. Sometimes, when you see something horrible happening, you just… can’t… look… away…

    3. Dean

      You don’t abandon a friend at a time like this, especially when you can point and laugh.

    4. BenRG

      That’s the thing about Danny: No matter how bad things get, he doesn’t quickly abandon friends.

      1. Sam

        This wouldn’t be quickly, this would be the slowest abandoning in history since he dragged him literally everywhere on campus first and had to forcibly move Joe, even though taking him to safety was a FAVOUR.

        1. Delicious Taffy

          I think it still counts as quickly if it’s the same day.

        2. Sam

          I wouldn’t say that is quickly, I would say it is still slowly considering he clearly crossed a moral line for Danny then expected DANNY to still try to run about and ‘fix it’ as best he could.

  30. a/snow mous/e

    i hear disney’s robin hood was quite the fox

  31. caesaria82

    Disney’s Robin Hood was legit the sexual awakening character for so many people I know lol. I was more an Ariel girl (yes, fishtail and all lol) and various anime characters of all genders, especially Tsubasa from Captain Tsubasa (idk was that show a thing anywhere outside Japan in the 80s except here in Germany?)… I mean come on, soccer players, amirite? xD

    1. Bagge

      There was a side character in Chip and Dale with a romantic subplot with Chip that I found… interesting. Actually more for the romance than the sexuality (the Fantasy book genre had me covered there)

      1. Delicious Taffy

        Was this one of their various standalone series, or Rescue Rangers? Because Rescue Rangers had Gadget in it, and she sorta overshadowed any side characters there might have been.

        1. Bagge

          Rescue Rangers!

          And no, it wasn’t Gadget. The thing was that one episode actually depicted attraction, and romance, and relationships and a boy-character I identified with trying to deal with his heart going pitter-pat WITHOUT falling back to 50ths loony tones stereotypes about serenades or wolf howling or hi-jinks or misunderstandings. Just “…I like her… now what?”

          It was very formative.

  32. C.T Phipps

    So, anyone ship Danny and Joe?

    1. Leorale

      Danny can do better.

      1. Leorale

        (Also they’re pals, and not into each other romantically or sexually.)

        1. Spencer

          That seems to be a requirement for shipping.

      2. Doki

        Thiiis, I’d be disappointed if Danny settled for Joe*.

        * (Joe as he is now, minus character development)

  33. JustcallmeSoul

    Okay Willis, it’s time to end the cliffhanger

  34. bryy

    I just looked this place up on the Googles. Jesus, it is beautiful.

  35. Hellespont

    Either Joe and Danny are much smaller than I thought, or that is one big ukulele

    1. ValdVin

      There are three sizes of common ukulele tuned the standard way, as is Danny’s. They are 20, 23 and 26 inches long.

      (I learned that because I play guitar and I’m left-handed, and found out that the smallest uke tuned like a guitar is the baritone, which is 2 1/2 feet long, sort of defeating the purpose of a uke.)

      https://ukuguides.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/ukutabs-ukulele-sizes.jpg?x30934

  36. Ivy

    There has to be more female cs majors

  37. Delicious Taffy

    Well, since blatant sexism is boring, I can’t think of anything interesting to say about this strip.

    Anyone have a favorite Doctor? I’m partial to Eccleston and Capaldi, myself.

    1. StClair

      Pertwee was my favorite, back in the day. Of late I’ve enjoyed Tennant and Smith, but honestly haven’t watched enough of any of them to make an informed decision.

      1. Delicious Taffy

        Smith is pretty good, if a bit of an acquired taste, and what I’ve seen of Tennant, I’ve enjoyed enough. Haven’t gotten around to checking out Pertwee, yet. Any recommendations for a good introduction episode? I like to start off with a strong episode of a series, before I get going on the first one.

        1. StClair

          It’s been so long, I honestly couldn’t tell you. Sorry. -_-

    2. Bagge

      Matt Smith! Even if his stories range from “Hell yeah, Moffat,” to “Too much, Moffat” and all the way to “NO MORE MOFFAT!!!”,I love both the positive and negative sides of the Doctor he brought to life.

      1. Delicious Taffy

        Before I started watching Smith’s episodes (I always seem to be about 2 years behind, somehow), I noticed a lot of people saying he was the worst Doctor in recent memory. Never understood that, honestly. I thought he was a lot of fun. Actually, he was my first Doctor, if you don’t count a snippet of one of Eccleston’s episodes, back when he was still new and I thought I was watching something related to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Haven’t gotten around to checking out much from before Nine, but Eight, Seven, and One look promising.

        1. Bagge

          I think part of that was because he came after David Tennant, and also that the show shifted tone a bit. Personally I loved it, but I think it was fair to contrast between him and earlier doctors.

    3. Sam

      David Tennant was the best Doctor and no one can convince me otherwise. The others were good, Matt Smith was good, but David Tennant was just top notch at hitting me right in my feelings.

      1. GuruBuckaroo

        You have obviously never seen any of Tom Baker’s seasons (Doctor #4 in the original series). Pretty much universally proclaimed the best Doctor, although there are arguments to be made and every opinion is valid. Tennant was great, but Tom Baker was beyond reproach and beyond comparison.

      2. Remmington Steele

        Tom Baker, Ecclestone and Tenant in that order.

    4. Wraithy2773

      …Smith for me, albeit this is a “credit the actor for doing great in spite of a poor showrunner” thing. When Smith was given good material, particularly fitting the “Old, tired man in a young, energetic man’s body” style that Smith was going for, he knocked it out of the park.

      It’s just… well, Moffat’s a fantastic writer when he’s working under someone, but he’s not a good showrunner, and Smith rarely got the material he deserved :(.

    5. chris73

      Eccleston is easily the best Doctor though my wife prefers Tennant (something to do with the hair)

    6. wwwhhattt

      Patrick Troughton. The stories weren’t always that great, but he was the best at panicking.

      1. thejeff

        It’s really a shame that so much of the Troughton era was lost.

        I don’t really have a favorite. Especially in Classic Who the Doctors were all so different it’s hard for me to compare them directly.

    7. Vampire Chipmunk

      Eccleston will always be my Doctor, but I enjoy Tennant and Smith too. Capaldi’s Doctor I have a bit of an issue with, he told a little girl she wasn’t special and my whole brain immediately went “does not compute.”

    8. Cerberus

      Tennant is definitely the one who is “my” doctor, because that’s the era and storylines in which I really got into it. But Eccleston and Baker are definitely up there.

    9. Rukduk

      Unfortunately, Doctor Who is a gap in my nerdiness. I never watched it, and when I found out the volume of material I was scared off.

      1. Halpful

        I watched it when I was about five years old. all I noticed was the daleks and the phone booth. I really liked the daleks, though 🙂

        I did see a couple of episodes of the reboot, but, couldn’t stop noticing the doctor being a bit of a self-centred git.

  38. Bagge

    I love how Danny, through all this bullshit, manage to remain true to his new persona.

    He is a good egg.

  39. CJ

    Oh, Joe, you see your story pronounced in 10 feet high letters at the local theater.
    But it’s only a boring home video.

  40. BenRG

    Ah, Joe! You know what your real problem is here? Your real problem, the thing that’s stopping you from dealing with this, is your ego. You can’t see any fault on your part in any of this. You show it in your self-pitying monologue here where you continue to assume that being attractive gives you license and impunity. Really, all you need to do is take down the list and replace it with one word, “Sorry”, and things might start to get better.

  41. Eldritch Gentleman

    Reminds me the story of Abu Hasan and his fart.
    Abu Hasan was at a Sultan’s party or something and after everything lots of delicious food he let go a fart SO THUNDEROUS that it was heard throughout the city.
    He ran away in shame to some country across the sea and stayed there for a decade or more.
    But after all that time he got homesick and returned, hoping that none will remember his thunderous fart.
    As he was walking down the street he heard a child asking her mother what day she was born on and the mother replied
    “On the day Abu Hasan farted”
    After hearing that Abu Hasan fled once again, never to return to his home country.

    I wonder if a similar fate (though with a shorter interval between escaping and returning) will happen to Joe.

  42. Average joe

    Ok I live in small towns so things like sexism and that kind of stuff don’t bother me i ok at things like is he being a dirty rat bastard who gets off on the thought of these women thinking this is a compliment or did he just not know any better wasn’t raised an differentfrom what he did? Because like I said im from a small town if pure sexist to a girl where I met from you’ll probably get your ass knocked lut by her or her significant other to cuz incase anyone still thinks small towns are full of nothing but bigots most I’ve lived on not really lot of gay folk. But back on topic so I can end this rant and that is he’s not trying to be a dick or sexist or anything like that he just doesn’t see each what he ever did s being gay like that and to be honest not entirely sure how he got into college he doesn’t seem the greatest of today’s minds can I’m 17 and saying this haha. Ok rant over sorry

    1. Delicious Taffy

      I think maybe you’re saying something reasonable? I can’t tell, because you’ve typed it in the format of a Lovecraft protagonist’s final journal entry.

      1. tangled_z

        Thanks for that, this is the first time in a while that a comment made me laugh at loud. Now I just want to read the rest of those journal entries.

    2. Trolldrool

      Okay, I’ll give this a shot.

      I think what you’re saying is that Joe doesn’t himself understand that he’s being an asshole and genuinely believes that all his creepy remarks and behaviour is something women find attractive. So that from his own point of view, he’s just being a nice guy.

      I also think, though I could be wrong, you vented some frustration on stereotypes you’ve encountered towards small town communities like the one you grew up in.

      And finally, I think you questioned how someone like Joe even got into college in the first place, since he doesn’t seem to be very intelligent when he has to deal with his own mistakes.

      1. Average joe

        Yes thank you that’s what I was trying to say and yeah I got completely off track that stuff doesn’t really make sense now but to be honest I did write it at 3 in the morning and had just seen a video that had aggravated me on the subject small towns.

    3. Gesc

      Commas, for the love of God. COMMAS.

  43. chris73

    This is good from Joe, he sees that his actions are not good and we can tell this by use of the word crime so he knows somethings wrong

    If you don’t think your behavior is wrong then theres no reason to change it and now that Joe knows its wrong its his first step to correcting it.

    So thats good from Joe, I also like the way that Joes gone on a flight of whimsy here, reminds of something from Its Roomies

    Keep on improving Joe but you’ve still gots a ways to go

  44. Reltzik

    Joe, you know that scene in the movie where the irksome annoying character is down in the dumps, and they open up and they say what they’re thinking and suddenly they’re sympathetic?

    …..

    Quit trying. It doesn’t work for you.

    1. StClair

      You mean like the one in The Emperor’s New Groove where Kuzco (narrating) starts complaining, again, and Kuzco (on-screen) tells him to shut up, everything that’s happened is his own fault?

      1. Scar Man!!!

        that was pretty awesome

      2. Rukduk

        It’s really nice that Kuzco develops that level of self awareness. That movie is criminally underrated in my opinion, when it’s this epic story of this spoiled rotten, irresponsible, childish, party-animal Emperor maturing and becoming a responsible, kind, and much better overall person. And implied to be a better ruler with more care towards his subjects as well. Also, more fiscally responsible, because instead of building that incredibly gaudy summer palace/capital, he instead has his “summer palace” (rulers throughout history did tend to have both a winter and a summer capital due to the lack of reliable infrastructure and communications needing them to move based on season so the local government actually did as they were told and didn’t get too independent) as a simple herder’s cottage (and pool). And he spends a decent amount of time living with the common folk, meaning he’s much more in touch with their wants and needs. Also, odds are high that Pacha’s village has seen a greatly increased amount of travel and growth from being the Emperor’s summer capital, and has probably gone from little farming village to minor city/provincial capital and a center of craft based industry and market commerce.
        …
        Sorry, as a history major I’m actually really interested in the human and societal development results and implications of Disney movies. For example, by the end of Rode to El Dorado, Tulio and Miguel have saved the self sufficient native city state (of multiple hundreds of thousands of people given it’s size) of El Dorado from both Conquistadors (and the resulting slaughter and slavery) and European diseases while nearly perfectly preserving the local Mayan/Aztec Culture, with their only real influences being the abolishment of human sacrifice (possibly already on its way out, given the king’s response to it whenever it’s mentioned), the introduction of Cigar making, Spanish guitar making and music, and some ship building technology (mainly the introduction of sails). Considering also that El Dorado didn’t appear to have either slavery or an oppressed underclass, I’d say that for a couple Spanish con-men those two were the least harmful white people to ever discover anything.

  45. Karishi

    Not to worry, Joe. Given the look of the girl in the previous comic, at least one of those two female CS majors already knows who you are and has seen your list.

  46. Danni

    joes obliviousness to his mediocrity has the density of hippo teeth

  47. Cephalo the Pod

    Okay guys, Amber’s in a preview panel for October.
    You can all stop freaking out about the possibility of her killing a guy now.

    1. Spencer

      I’m hoping showing up in a preview panel means we see her soon.

    2. Rukduk

      Speaking of the preview panel, it makes me want to start shipping Carla/Amber despite the fact that I’m kinda shipping Carce (Carla and Joyce).

  48. Jessica

    The Robin Hood comparison irked me and I spent WAY too long trying to figure out who would be better, like “he’s sort of got Charming’s haircut and Shang/Kristoff’s build but personality-wise is, what, early Flynn Rider…?”when it dawned on me: JOE IS GASTON.

    1. BenRG

      Correct; right down to the fantastically over-optimistic assessment of his own value.

      1. Scar Man!!!

        NO ONE JOES LIKE JOE!

        1. Rukduk

          No one’s head is incredibly thick like Joe’s!

        2. Deanatay

          Oh, what a guy, that Joe-ston!

    2. Cerberus

      Holy shit, you’re absolutely right. He totally is Gaston. Right down to externalizing his rejection.

      1. Rukduk

        Jeez, his treatment of Danny actually mirrors Gaston’s treatment of Le Foue to an alarming extent.

    3. BBCC

      I…..that is very accurate and, imo, Gaston is one of the scarier villains.

    4. Rukduk

      Damn, he is. But which Gaston? Animation Gaston or Live-action Gaston?

    5. 3oranges

      It’s a good parallel, but is that enough to make him Gaston? Shouldn’t he be slick and quick? How is he at biting in wrestling matches? How many antlers does he have up, and how well does he expectorate?

      I think the champion for an incredibly thick neck is Becky’s father, but he loses out on having a swell cleft in his chin, because he doesn’t have one.

    6. CJ

      You are not refering tot he Gaston drawn by Franquin, are you?

      1. Kamino Neko

        Gaston, from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. It is a good comparison. (All the others are actual love interests to their movie’s protagonist. (I’d call Elsa the deuteragonist for Frozen – Ana is the protagonist.) Gaston is…not.)

        Joe is a Gaston who thinks he’s a Shang.

        1. Kamino Neko

          All the others are actual love interests to their movie’s protagonist.

          I should say, all the others introduced into the discussion by Jessica – Robin is the protagonist of his movie.

  49. BenRG

    I had a sudden flash of Joe mooching off as Danny still sits there, playing his ukulele. Suddenly Amber appears and sits down next to him and starts to sing REM’s ‘Everyboy Hurts’.

    1. BenRG

      Sorry, that should have been ‘Everybody Hurts’.

      1. Shariku

        Yet it was still somehow appropriate!

  50. Trolldrool

    I don’t know if I’m supposed to feel offended by Joe’s twisted perception of nerds and the world we live in or laugh at Joe’s twisted perception of nerds and the world we live in. If I can choose, I’m going with the latter.

    1. C.T Phipps

      Joe was raised by a Revenge of the Nerds Betamax.

  51. Josh Spicer

    Alright, let’s got on with it.

  52. JBento

    Woot, a light comic on the weekend, question-asking time: I’ve occasionally seen the term ‘hotep’ in a few articles, but none of them said what it meant, and I’m afraid of Urban Dictionary. So, uh, what does ‘hotep’ mean?

    (in b4 all the “*I*’mhotep, the Architect” jokes)

    1. McBogue

      Here are the facts you requested:

      http://www.theroot.com/hotep-explained-1790854506

      1. JBento

        Thanks.

  53. Remmington Steele

    You know, the easier way might be just to confess your sins Joe. Reform yourself, get a steady girl friend that kind of thing.

    1. Temperaryobsessor

      Everything except the steady girlfriend sounds like good advice. His father married his mother with no real desire for a long term monogamous relationship. I think that was worse for both of them than if he left her right after they had sex. What Joe needs to do right now is learn how to treat other people like people and how to respectfully let other people know he’s open to casual sex. There is a learning curve for that though so he needs to apologize and keep to hookup apps or ladies who approach him.

  54. Scar Man!!!

    You act cool, but your references are incredibly nerdy

  55. Vulcanodon

    Once the nerds learn about his deal (and a few already know!) he is in for an epic and unrelenting pranking…

    1. Cerberus

      “Lady Carla, we come from the CS department in great need.”

      “… you know my price.”

      “Yes, we have lain the cookies out as demanded. Please visit your talents against those who have wronged us.”

      *munch munch* “It will be done.”

      1. Rukduk

        “…With utmost hilarity.”
        “Also my lady, why are the lights in the lounge off?”
        “They’re doing maintenance work. I’d have it done already, but they didn’t ask properly.”

  56. ajm5007

    I’m wondering if Joe is aware that this is entirely his own fault and he’s duly earned it? He seems to at least suspect as much, but I can’t be sure.

    1. Cerberus

      It’s hard to tell because his mask is so thick. I hope he’s starting to realize it and that he can’t run from character growth and the dreaded “feelings”. But that might be in vain.

      1. Dragon_Nataku

        I feel like when he says “crimes” it’s more like “crazy drums making shit up and blowing things out of proportion” rather than “I did something wrong.” So more like he feels that it’s a “crime” only in the minds of women because women are irrational and illogical.

        TL;DR: I don’t think Joe learned anything from this.

  57. Cerberus

    Comic Reactions:

    Oy, Joe. Why you gotta be like this?

    So yeah, first up, let me just say that Danny is the best friend that Joe currently doesn’t deserve and hopefully will deserve again. Like, it’d be fully in Danny’s right to bail on him, especially as he’s going on long-winded rants insulting those like him.

    But Danny stays, lets Joe work through his issues and delusions with nothing but a quiet listening ear and presence. And this is especially big considering how Joe has blown up at Danny in the past for trying to reach out to him.

    It’s a subtle statement of “yeah, even if you’re being kind of a giant douche, I’ll be here still trying to salvage this friendship” (which I have mixed feelings about because he’s being so mistreated and taken advantage of currently in this friendship).

    And what heartens me is that last panel. For all of Joe’s attempt to tear down Danny’s growth, he returns happily to it, knowing Joe’s comments can’t change this internal sense of calm and exploration. And that’s huge for Danny. We’ve seen him absorb and internalize so much shit, agonize over it for days.

    And here, even with constant mockery and put-downs, he’s asserting his Dannyness as loud as it can be for himself and no one else. That is something that would not have happened at say Parent’s Weekend and makes me feel really optimistic about Danny’s growth going forward.

    And there’s a spark of hope there at the end from Joe. It’s a direct insult at Danny’s growth and hobby, but it doesn’t have the same vehemence it once did and I can’t help reading a double meaning into it. That Joe thinks it’ll do not just because of the fiction he is spinning in his head where ukuleles drive people away, but also because it actually is calming and relaxing in a moment where his entire central fiction is collapsing onto itself.

    A sort of almost acceptance that I can’t help hoping leads to some real growth on Joe’s part to match the growth of Danny.

    And as for Joe… his rant is awful, hurtful towards his friend, and based in 1980s stereotypes with a hostile read towards the women in C.S. who are already dealing with enough crap.

    And it borders on full-on delusional. He’s not any type of catch right now* and women in C.S. are just as likely to sneer at him and his demonstration of all the worst crap they have to deal with in the major than to throw themselves at him because he’s showered and works out.

    *And it’s always interesting to me that the guys who try and get into this culture of being a “player” reveal quite quickly that it’s about performing masculinity for other guys than about anything related to women. Like, there’s distinct things you can do if you want to be attractive to women and for cis guys there is a painfully low bar in certain places. But this culture of giant muscles, “machismo”, and sexism tends to be more frequently a turn-off rather than a turn-on. Joe isn’t “looking good for the ladies”. He’s looking good for other dudes, so they’ll believe he’s the sex magnet he styles himself to be.

    Plus that Panel 3… Oy, I’ve written and erased several things about this panel. Cause I want to be sympathetic to the real pain he’s feeling. Like, as far as he’s used to, this is the first time he’s gotten real lasting consequences for his behavior and he’s teetering on the cusp of having to abandon something he’s made a central part of his life for years. And his face in Panel 4 betrays that he kind of knows the shit coming out of his mouth is complete nonsense to try and soothe his ego about losing all that.

    But at the same time, it’s just so hard not to roll my eyes at him. Like, he’s play-acting like some hard-done person who can’t even go outside when what he’s facing is about the most minimum consequences possible and entirely related to bad shit he did that does far more harm.

    And as someone who actually has to weigh the benefits of going out against safety and spoons because of societal transphobia, I have a hard time sympathizing with his self-imposed exile to avoid the consequences of some angry stares he more than deserves.

    Especially as I can’t help emotionally connecting it to the same sort of “woe is me, I’m undone” performances you get out of some allo cis het white guys when you call them out on some sexism or racism or so on, where they act like the act of receiving the most mild form of pushback possible is the equivalency of robbing their free speech and doing actual violence upon them.

    Or to Assange pretending his camping out in an Embassy to avoid rape charges for which he is extremely guilty of, is somehow a political prisoner situation equivalent to Chelsea Manning’s years of brutal solitary confinement torture.

    Like, it’s frustrating how for folks so unused to any real oppression the slightest inconvenience to their central mythologies is treated as real oppression. Especially as this frequently ends up manifesting as brutal laws against POC, trans folks, and gay folks to try and make us stop existing and ruining their fantasies about how the world works.

    I don’t think Joe will go there, but it’s frustrating that he’s working so hard to avoid any actual processing of what he did wrong here or why women are mad at him or what harm he’s done with his actions. It’s probably mostly a shell. We know he’s terrified of thinking about feelings and others. But at the same time, it’s deeply frustrating.

    1. Orion Fury

      And apparently I should have scrolled up just one comment before making mine. Would it be considered the antithesis of your’s? Probably some big word that I can’t think of right now.

    2. vlademir1

      On your aside about the whole “player” subculture being about performing a particular flavor of masculinity for other men, it’s actually even more of a travesty because of how it’s typically ultimately built as a reaction to the stereotypical middle/high school male dominance hierarchy and the deep seated insecurities in one’s masculinity it constantly creates and reinforces in those who care about social standing (something western culture makes a normalized big deal concern) but aren’t in the lead 1% “alpha” grouping (which in most schools is 2-5 guys total).

    3. Rukduk

      I just want to add one thing: the final panel shows that Danny might be a musical savant. Think about it. I need the space of what seems to be a couple hours he’s gone from trying to play a rather tortured note to playing comforting music. And half of that time was spent dragging around Joe!! And even if the ukulele was the first thing he discovered in that three day period, that means in only three days he’s gone from first-time amateur to decently proficient. And learning any instrument is very, very hard in the first place. What I’m trying to say is, I’m just super happy that Danny has found something else that he’s really good at that he can tie to his sense of self worth. The other one would probably be his ability to actually tutor/teach people that he demonstrated with Sal. And this is partly for himself and partly just to make other people happy. It just helps show that the more he breaks out of his preconceived idea of who he is, which was a role his parents pushed him into, the happier (and less naive) he is. Honestly, final panel Danny is one of the most relaxed and happy we’ve ever seen him. And if he were to switch from being a computer science major to being an education major, I can easily see him being one those eccentric teachers that all the students want to take because he makes learning either fun or actually possible. Sorry, I just can’t gush enough about that final panel.

  58. Orion Fury

    So…almost, not quite?

  59. Vulcanodon

    THIS -> ” this culture of being a “player” reveal quite quickly that it’s about performing masculinity for other guys than about anything related to women.”

    And not just the dating (or pick-up) games. So much of living as a man is not about being a man so much as making sure you look like a man for the benefit of other men.

    1. Bagge

      There is a concept in a certain Swedish dialect (northen) called Knapsu that means “non-man” or “non-manly”.

      To clean is Knapsu. Unless you clean your car. That’s a gray area. To dance is Knapsu. To have emotions is Knapsu. I’m sure owning multiple pair of shoes is Knapsu too.

      The one overarching goal of being a man in that culture is to NOT be Knapsu and the constant fear is to be regarded as Knapsu.

      1. Halpful

        so in english that’d be “girly”, and other such gendered insults. :/ toxic for all genders at once!

  60. John

    It occurs to me that Rachel is probably a CS major.

    1. vlademir1

      I seem to remember that it was established she is, but I’ve recently found that if I delve that deep into the old comics I’ll start rereading and lose a couple hours so I can’t really go confirm that right now.

      1. Bagge

        …as in “might show up at any minute”?

        “Great” choice of hiding place, Joe.

  61. steelbright

    Methinks Joe is setting up some heavy foreshadowing for himself….

  62. Tenn

    The nerdity is already rubbing off on him. 🙂

    Or, more likely, the nerd is coming from inside the Joe.

    1. chiscii

      oh man that is not a sentence to miss the ‘from’ on my first read

  63. chiscii

    I’m actually so attracted to Danny in that last panel. It conjured a really cute image in my head of a boy just irradiating positivity, and I’d wanna like lean on his chair, listen to him play, and if we can sing then sing with him. At the end of it ask for his number, real cute and casual to hang out sometime later. Completely ignore Joe throughout the ordeal unless he loosened up and sung along or something.

    Imagine if that happened in comic though? Danny would be getting a new love interest and Joe would have to face the fact that he’s not as overwhelmingly attractive as he thinks he is. That would be a direction for Joe’s arc and Danny’s love history to take.

    If I weren’t still in exam hell I might just write that fanfic, but ugh.

    1. thejeff

      That’s cause Danny’s a good egg. 🙂

  64. goggleman64

    Man, fuck this guy.

    His weird play-acting in the last couple strips really rubs me the wrong way. It’s as if, in his heart, he’s a kid who thinks he’s playing with action figures when he interacts with other people. He talks to Danny like someone might talk to a pet.

    I have *such* a hard time squaring this Joe with the one who talked Joyce through her visit with her folks.

    1. Fart Captor

      Like a lot about Joe, it’s not actually that complicated. Joe’s personal blend of toxic masculinity is very performative. All about creating and maintaining a very particular image.

      When he was texting with Joyce, there was no audience. Nobody could even overhear the conversation, so he didn’t need to put up his usual macho.meat head act. It’s much easier for him to drop the bullshit that way than it is face to face, talking out loud, where he can be seen and heard being emotional or vulnerable.

      Hell, I myself still struggle saying stuff in person to people who know me that I seem to have no problem saying online to near or complete strangers

      1. Cerberus

        Yup, toxic masculinity is a performance. But what we perform is a part of who we are and if Joe can’t wrestle himself free, it will become increasingly more difficult to keep his mask from just becoming his true face.

    2. thejeff

      Yeah, the “weird play-acting” or whatever the hell it is, is getting to me too.

      Get over yourself Joe. Who do you think you are, a Romantic poet or something? Next thing, he’ll be using the story of his awful suffering to pick up chicks.

  65. ailorn

    Danny is supper cute in the last frame… when i was in college i would have totally been eyeing that up… also too shy to actually talk to him.

  66. Goki

    You go Danny, keep being awesome.

  67. David H. Adler

    I note that the Open Source Conference was held in the Austin Convention Center which I believe may have, in fact, been designed by M. C. Escher. There are literally parts of that 5 block by 2 block building where you cannot get from one point on a floor to another without taking detours to other floors.

    But I’m not bitter or anything.

  68. ajm5007

    I believe the appropriate plural form is “Jabbas the Hutt”

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