Sabbatical
Posted on April 15, 2024 by David M Willis
The Dumbing of Age Book 13 Kickstarter continues!  We're about $2000 from unlocking the LAUNDRY JOYCE and LAUNDRY DOROTHY magnets!  and watch this space, maybe a surprise magnet today well, watch the space below on the front page you get it

411 thoughts on “Sabbatical”

  1. JA

    Lit night.

    1. Reltzik

      Nah, a lit night is getting blitzed on hot toddies at an evening poetry slam.

      1. Decidedly Orthogonal

        #dranks reads like poetry to me.

  2. Icalasari

    #dranks

  3. StClair

    poor Becky.

    1. Taigan

      Becky is like “if Joyce is gonna start drunkenly making out with a girl, it should be me!”

      1. Doctor_Who

        “Or at least Sal. I could respect it if it were Sal.”

      2. Warcodered

        It’s not just that though, Joyce goes out and drinks for the first time, and doesn’t take Becky her childhood best friend but takes Dorothy. Even without the whole romantic angle, platonic best friends in that situation could be jealous.

    2. Sirksome

      Why? She has a hot girlfriend right behind her.

      1. StClair

        yes, but tell that to her heart.

      2. BarerMender

        “Hot girlfriend” vs. “love of my life.” Yeah, hot girlfriend will never fill the gap.

        1. Sirksome

          Kind of awkward considering Becks and Dina are essentially fiancés or pre-engaged? Is that a thing? Joyce is just a first crush. Although I suppose even with Joe, Joyce still isn’t fully over her first crush either.

        2. BarerMender

          Pretty cavalier, calling the love that got Becky through her awful childhood a “first crush.”

        3. DaisyFM

          Sal, that’s a generic black v-neck shirt.

        4. DaisyFM

          Uh, this wasn’t meant to be a reply. Oops???

        5. Mturtle7

          Yeah, but Sal knows damn well that the only way Joyce would have a shirt like that is if she stole Sal’s! Deductive reasoning in action, sir.

        6. Seralyna

          I mean you also were being pretty dismissive of the actual meaningful relationship with a person she loves that she is in as well. Seems only fair.

        7. Sirksome

          Is there another term for it? I’m sincerely asking because from my perspective Becky has an unrequited attraction to Joyce from her childhood she’s effectively moved mostly on from. Does that not define a crush? I honestly wasn’t trying to be cavalier but I don’t know what to call it. Pining? Longing? Yearning? Like she’s still with Dina and has expressed love for her, yet is still wants to be with Joyce. I don’t know the term for unrequited feelings.

        8. Allen Alberti

          no, you had it right.

        9. Tan

          It’s cavalier, but it’s also true. It’s her first crush. And that’s super-hard to get over when it’s also someone you have a deep and lasting non-romantic connection with, as those feelings don’t just disentangle however much you may consciously want them to.

        10. Johnny Posadas

          “we’re pre-engaged” means “we are going to break up eventually and it is going to be messy”

        11. Karla Jean

          Becky and Dina aren’t “pre-engaged,” they’re teenagers in their first relationships who have been dating a few months.

        12. Leorale

          Everyone in the comments that I’ve read so far is reading this as purely romantic jealousy. I read it as also jealousy over her Best Friend status, and her Best Friend In Christ status. Becky has many feels.

        13. Mark

          Yeah, looks like “we used to get silly together like that, and I miss it.”

        14. Allen Alberti

          this is the correct take, in my humble opinion.

        15. Zaxares

          Becky is very obviously still carrying a torch for Joyce, but she understands that Joyce is not lesbian and so reluctantly accepts that their love can never be, not in the way she wants. But this kind of love is not something that you can let go of; I am of the belief that if you love someone, truly, utterly love someone, you will ALWAYS love them. No circumstances, no pesky logic, will ever stop you loving them. And that’s the way it is with Becky’s feelings towards Joyce.

          Don’t get me wrong, I think Becky does love Dina and will likely be very happy with her. But a part of her heart will always belong to Joyce and wonder what it would have been like if things were different.

    3. Thag Simmons

      Not entirely sure how I should read that expression.

      1. Puppeteer Nessus

        Worry for Joyce, maybe. Or FOMO

        1. Needfuldoer

          Both?

          Both is good.

      2. Golden Yak

        “Joyce and Dotty having a drunken make-out? …dang but if that ain’t super hot.” *chews lip*

      3. AlexaSpuds

        A mix of thinking Joyce looks hella hot, and jealousy of Dorothy because Becky knows that Joyce is the type of gal who’s likely to drunkenly makeout with her girl friends.

    4. Coatl

      I don’t know, this expression is like a mix between minimal jealousy and perplexed, but it’s obvious that it’s going to require an explanation for the next day.

      1. Imogen

        “Why am I upset? I’m not upset. I have no reason to be upset. I just think Joyce might be being unsafe. I just think Dorothy shouldn’t be doing this behind my back. I just think nothing at all about this i’m FINE I’M NOT JEALOUS WHY WOULD I BE”

        1. staszu13

          Truth

      2. anon

        And maybe concern b/c she actually knows Dorothy isn’t going to yale and she doesn’t know if joycei s gonna be told at this bar lol

        1. Coatl

          That’s why I say that all this will bring 50/50 results.

      3. Heavensrun

        Lot of people reading it as jealousy, I’d clock it as genuine concern. Remember, Becky’s still pretty goody-goody.

        1. Coatl

          Well, we want drama, it is inevitable to interpret it that way

    5. Qube

      she is experiencing Emotions

    6. Comic.phile

      Becky is hurt by Joyce continuing to move away from their old shared faith, I think. And I think she knows that her struggle to accept New Joyce is why they aren’t as close friends as they used to be, but that only makes her feel more upset about it.

  4. Sirksome

    Did Walky call something? I don’t remember it if he did.

    1. Reltzik

      I think everyone (well, at least Walky and Becky) are interpreting this as a Jotty hookup.

      …. is the ship called Jotty? I know it’s been around for too long for it not to have a name and I doubt that name’s Jotty. Oh well, I’m going to call it Jotty until someone corrects me.

      1. mick4state

        Joyrothy?

        1. BarerMender

          Doyce?

        2. Mano308gts

          Doythy, the worst possible combination. XD

        3. JA

          I’m torn between this and Doyce.

        4. Ac

          Aw i like Joyathy

      2. Heavensrun

        I call it Joyrathy, myself. She be a fine ship, and I aim to sail her as long as she’ll stay afloat.

      3. Rabbit

        Why on earth is that what they’d be interpreting? Becky I can squint and See… but Walky? He and Dotty had a whole convo about her feeling all fucked up, remember?

        I don’t think he’s ‘calling’ that his ex is gonna hook up with Joyce.

      4. Qlx

        I’m confused about what Amber means by her line in this strip. Is she feeling like amazi girl needs to go keep an eye on them?

        1. Aura

          Amazigirl has a track record of being anti-underage drinking.

        2. zee

          Cringe. Cop behavior. I always took that as just looking for an excuse to beat sal I mean more random people up

        3. Mturtle7

          Amazi-Girl has explained to quite a few people, at great length, that her obsessive adherence to the letter of the law is actually meant to PREVENT her (or really, Amber) from beating random people up. The system as a whole is convinced at all that if Amazi-Girl doesn’t have a healthy, strictly regulated outlet for violence, then Amber will turn full supervillain and Do Bad Things.

          And like, she’s never indicated a desire to actually beat people up just for underage drinking. She just kinda yells at people about it. I’m pretty sure the most she would do is tattle on them, and/or steal their booze to pour down the sink, maybe.

        4. Mturtle7

          To be clear, I’m not actually agreeing with AG here! It absolutely IS cringe and 100% cop behavior, but at least she has her reasons, and her limits.

      5. Comic.phile

        I don’t think Jennifer, Joe, and Sal see it that way.

    2. BarerMender

      Walky has been speaking for ages about how much Joyce wants Dorothy. I.e., “Lez out, already.”

    3. anon

      he did tease joyce a lot about it and ask becky something like “does she treat all her female friends like she wants to go down on them or just dorothy”

    4. lyzyrdwyzyrd

      A long time ago he referred to Joyce as bisexual and someone said no she is straight and he just laughed.

      1. Li

        Either there were two incidents and I’m not remembering one or you’re misremembering when Lucy described Joyce as a white bisexual version of her, which delighted Walky so much that he said he loved her between snickers.

        1. deliverything

          To save people searching: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-9-comic/04-vote-for-robin/proselytize/
          I mean, for the one Li mentioned. Without knowing who the “someone” in lyzyrdwyzyrd’s comment is, it would take too long to search.

  5. DorJoJo

    Joe is proud of his qt ex-fundie gf

    1. StClair

      look at that face (faaaaaaace). he’s got it bad.
      (I love him.)

      1. Needfuldoer

        Can you blame him?

      2. JA

        Now that’s a meme I’ve not seen in a long time.

    2. BarerMender

      I read it as Joe is happy to see his girl having fun, but he’s worried she isn’t his girl, anymore.

      1. Rabbit

        The fact that everyone is acting like Joe is jealous of Dorothy romantically is really fucking weird to me if I’m being 100%

        Joyce has openly expressed some variant of attraction/longing/lust towards Joe very very recently. Joe is the person she turned to with all her fundamentalist stuff and discovering herself and had that friendship with. I think he’s just proud of her? Maybe a bit worried bc of all the past stuff she went through, if anything.

        Like I get that Dotty/Joyce is a popular ship, but every second comment I’ve seen both here and in one of my discords is about how he’s totally jealous of Dorothy.

        1. Julie

          I can’t fucking stand the Joyce/Dorothy shipping because of how solidly into Joe Joyce clearly is. Like, I’m queer too and I want to see more ladies hooking up with other ladies, but also people are allowed to be in committed opposite-gender relationships??? And happy about it???

        2. Rabbit

          Same. I’m Bi, I’ve dated men, women and a variety of others- and Joyce is so clearly into Joe. And I even read her as maybe a little bi-curious or bi generally at times (though I do think a big part of it is the fact she grew up with Becky skewing her idea of platonic relationships) and people interpreting any non-selfish acts of kindness as romantic.

          The more confusing part for me, is that even though there are tons of jokes- Dorothy has never come across to me as anything but straight. Even in the Joyce Getting Birth Control segment with the older lesbians mistaking them as a couple, it just felt… kind of weird? The whole segment felt like Dorothy doing the mom-friend thing and Billie even got all annoyed w/ her about it.

          So having it skewed into a joke about the women thinking they were into eachother felt weird.

          It’s annoying to even have to disclaimer this with me being queer/bi but I get some people criticize wlw ships for bad purposes. But like, I like plenty of the other ships in this comic, even as a hardcore Joe/Joyce shipper I kind of liked Sal/Joyce at one point if only because the dynamic was cute.

          But like, Carla/Charlie or Carla/Malaya? Marcie and her unrequited Sal crush and then Marcie and Malaya? Dina and Becky? (The last one I’m not super fond of but it’s mostly because of the fact that Dina is kind of Becky’s rebound, and I kinda saw that when they got together so now it just feels like a matter of time)

          and the worst part is that I *like* Dorothy a lot as a character, even if recently I’ve had less interest in her. I just don’t get the need of every other comment to insist this is gonna end in a makeout session when it clearly feels more like she’s gonna end up venting about Tristan/her old crush/ some of the fundie stuff which is WAY more interesting then a borderline ooc drunk smooch to me.

        3. Julie

          100% to everything you said. It would be completely out of character for Joyce to cheat on Joe.

        4. Sirksome

          I’m a Joyce x Dorothy shipper and at least for me it’s just a fun concept mostly because of how unlikely it is in the current status. Joyce is in a committed relationship to Joe and already stated in a conversation with Dorothy that lead to this exact scenario that she won’t cheat or more accurately participate in an orgy because she’s faithful.

          That being said I think it’s kind of in bad faith to say there’s nothing there. I can understand frustration with the shippers but the story does go out of its way to plant seed and hints from both girls. Dorothy the most resolutely straight one, has had bouts of jealousy, lead a masturbation lesson, and had vaguely homoerotic dreams featuring Joyce. Considering sexuality can be very fluid and even circumstantial to specific scenarios as varied as humans themselves I don’t blame anyone for seeing it even if they will likely ever happen. Personally I see it happening when they’re two retired widowers finally admitting there was something and spending their twilight years in a cute, domestic, situationship. Becky will still be jealous.

        5. Rabbit

          >it’s kind of in bad faith to say there’s nothing there.

          First, that’s not what bad faith means, bad faith means with intent to deceive – and second It’s not. It’s just a different opinion.

          I’ve read through this comic multiple times, and most of the vaguely homoerotic stuff you mention, (at least the actual things that happen and not the horse dream), feels ooc on one level or another, or at least to me- dorothy doesn’t read as being into any of it.

          Like everything with Dorothy and the laundry machine thing felt so weird and creepy to me (and quite a few other people in the comments section) on Dorothy’s part, and kind of weird on Joyce’s given everything she had been saying prior to it.

          I can say there is nothing there because I truly see nothing there. You see something I don’t, and that’s fine. But most of the hints feel vague or joking at best, and it’s never something I’ve seen any actual indication from Dorothy on, being one of the most explicitly stated and up until semi-recently acting fairly ‘straight’. I don’t care if Dorothy is straight or not, but she hasn’t really done anything that’s pinged for me as a queer person.

          Not to mention, I do believe Joyce to at least be bi-curious. That does not mean she needs to have a WLW relationship to make it real, either and I am so beyond done with stories doing that (granted it’s not in mainstream media, it’s a lot of comic/webcomic/fandom shit)

          I also think exploring queerness through Joyce learning things and trying to figure out what is or isn’t in her spectrum of attraction, or if her view of platonic female normalcy was skewed by Becky (as has been suggested in-comic also multiple times iirc)

          Either way, I don’t care if Dotty dates a girl, I just genuinely don’t think that girl is Joyce, nor should it be. If anything I think Dot had more chemistry in her weird Lois Lane/Superman thing with Amber/Amazigirl.

        6. Sirksome

          @Rabbit. Fair enough, and sure I likely used “bad faith” in the wrong context if that’s a problem. I should have said I believe your opinion ignores what I believe to be at least intentional teases. Not that the occasional crumb of ship bait will actually lead to romantic resolution in any way.

          Lots of this comic is left up to personal interpretation. I personally get frustrated when anyone excuses Walky’s teasing of Joyce as acceptable because they’re “sibling coded” when I feel like he often crosses a line or fires off either unprovoked or unequal in intensity. (Just my example. I try not to blame people for liking it)

        7. TerribleTransit

          While Dorothy is definitely predominately straight, you can’t really look at Chekhov’s Mildly Homoerotic Horse Dream (called out immediately after as being such) sitting on the mantle and say there’s nothing there. And that’s not the only time Dorothy’s potential latent feelings for Joyce have been alluded to. Even if you read her actions as completely, totally straight, there’s a lot of narrative weight telling us another shoe is gonna drop, and now seems like the perfect time.

          That’s not to say it will result in reciprocal making out or cheating, though

        8. Mark

          Re: the dream. Considering Dorothy’s current stressors, there are other reasons to dream in metaphors like nakedness, riding something powerful and difficult to control, hubristic self-confidence, and failure with dire consequences. The dream could be expressing any or all of those reasons.

          Executive summary: it could be about sex, but it could be about something else, or it could be both. Dreams are weird.

        9. TerribleTransit

          If it were a real person having a real dream, absolutely. There would be a ton of other explanations, many of them even more plausible.

          But this is a work of fiction, where things often happen with intention, and the subtext is STRONG that it’s about… not even necessarily sex, but some kind of deeper feelings beyond friendship.

        10. Amelie Wikström

          I just think Dorothy is way too considerate of Becky among other sensitive people to get naked with Joyce no matter how much they both want it. Cause, I’m sure it hasn’t escaped her notice that it was heartbreaking for Becky to find out Joyce was straight. Somewhat like the Ethan/Danny/Amber situation, i.e. “we would be the world’s biggest assholes.”

        11. Armadillo

          Glad I’m not the only one bothered by this. Shippers are free to ship whatever makes them happy, but try to keep at least one foot planted on the ground, please! Feels like some shippers are living in an alternate dimension sometimes with how carried away they get.

        12. Li

          pffft

          I think you just don’t really understand shipping, friend. It is beholden to nothing and no one. It has nothing to do with Willis’s authorial intent. People can and do ship characters who have never met, characters from entirely separate canons who COULD never meet.

          Best not to let that bother you, bc no amount of “please don’t do that” is going to change human behavior. Shipping arguments date back to at least as far as Ancient Greece, and probably well before that.

        13. zee

          I’m all for shipping anything for the fun of it, I love me some crack ships. What bugs me is when people say that it’s definitely gonna happen in canon and it’s so obvious and you’re dumb for thinking otherwise when the text..clearly doesn’t agree with that. Joyce isn’t gonna leave Joe for Dorothy and she probably won’t cheat on him either. It just feels…weird when people get that level of insistent with it. At best it can look kinda delusional in some cases, at worst it feels, kinda disrespectful? To other people involved? To the material and writers? I’m not saying that’s the case here but like, let’s use zutara fans as an example, with how bullish they get, with how little actual canon material there was.

          TL;Dr ship whatever you want I love crack ships but don’t start pushing on other people that it’s gonna be canon when that’s highly unlikely, and especially don’t be aggressive about it

        14. Li

          I mean, you’re saying someone you think is delusional for believing a given non-canon ship is gonna become canon should a.) be more respectful of others, and b.) admit their subjective opinion on what’s gonna be canon is objectively wrong.

          I’m all for less aggressiveness but it needs to be on both sides, which maybe includes not calling people delusional for having a different (however wrong) perspective on what’s gonna be canon.

        15. Li

          Like. I’m not saying the people who are LITERALLY saying “you’re stupid if you don’t think Joyce/Dorothy is gonna be canon” are being nice, either. That’s obviously rude.

          But I think there’s a difference between saying “there is no heterosexual explanation for ” and saying “you’re stupid if you don’t think this is gay”, and I also think calling someone delusional is actually a lil bit more rude than calling them stupid.

          (Also I wouldn’t compare this to zutara when supercorp is right there.) (Though I think theorizing about and pushing your ships in this comment section is in kind of a weird gray area in terms of hassling the creator about what you want. It’s not as bad as @-ing people on Twitter and no one involved SEEMS to be sending Willis any death threats, but it’s not as “leaving Willis alone” as posting a lot of ship manifesto stuff on tumblr, either. I guess I just have to trust that if Willis actually minded how anyone’s talking to them about ship preferences, they’d moderate the comments out of existence…)

        16. Li

          *no heterosexual explanation for [insert normal platonic thing here]

        17. Taffy

          >everyone
          [citation needed], because no it most certainly is not everyone

        18. Big Z

          I know, right? Every time someone points out some way Dorothy acts like she wants Joyce or vice-versa, it always seems like the most out of left field reach to me.

          And Joe’s face is 100% “I really like this girl” and 0% “I’m worried she’s going to dump me for her friend”, for the record.

        19. BarerMender

          Joyce’s feelings or Joe might be solid, but that doesn’t mean Joe knows that. Also Joyce said something to Joe about Dorothy teaching her to masturbate. Joe is entitled to his insecurity.

        20. Li

          Oh right, she DID mention that.

          Okay I guess Joe has one reason for “makeouts” to be on his radar, I’d completely forgotten that line so I was definitely assuming the tinge of worry was something else lol.

        21. Li

          Though also jeez did you have to start this up in THIS thread, DoorJoJo definitely didn’t want to hear about it.

        22. Li

          Oh wait it’s DorJoJo. As in possibly Dorothy/Joe/Joyce. Okay, criticism rescinded lol.

        23. Mturtle7

          I am standing on the sidelines here, with a pitchfork in one hand, a torch in the other, and a maniacal grin on my face. I have been waiting to join an anti-JoycexDorothy Angry Mob for YEARS, and I am SO EXCITED right now, you have idea.

        24. Rabbit

          I’d say this is more of a group of people kvetching with cans of beverage in their hand by a fence ala king of the hill style than a hate mob for a wlw ship.

        25. Mturtle7

          Oh…*looks sadly at torch and pitchfork, then tosses them aside*…well, I’m down for that too! Bit less exciting, but I can still kvetch and sip my Sprite with the best of them! Honestly, the part I really care about is getting to hate on this particular wlw ship and not feel bad about it.

      2. Oz

        Do you mean that as like “oh no Joyce is cheating on me with Dorothy” or like “oh no Joyce is changing too fast for me”? Either way I don’t really see it. But I guess I could see Joe being a little jealous of Dorothy as in “Joyce really loves and trusts this person who actually hates me and doesn’t trust me, and I fear Joyce will eventually start seeing me the way Dorothy does”

      3. Comic.phile

        I seriously don’t think he’s worried about her cheating, at all

      4. Kazuma Taichi

        It reads more to me like he’s worried about her getting drunk

        like a “aw you’re so cute, but pls be careful and don’t over do it hun” sorta thing

  6. Blibdoolpoolp

    I’m not sure how happy or concerned I am to see them already so schwasted they’re posting evidence on social media but I do love every panel of this page so I can’t complain.

    1. Jamie

      Yeah. I’m down with them telling everyone, but uploading evidence to the public internet is … well, they’re drunk.

      1. StClair

        There’s that impaired judgment.

        1. Reltzik

          There’s A FRACTION OF that impaired judgement.

  7. Joe Moose

    Joe is all, “Uhm…?”
    Becky is all, “I’m gonna ravish a dinosaur in a moment.”

    1. Proxiehunter

      Or get ravished by a dinosaur. Given how Dina short circuited Joe’s brain that might be the more likely option of the two.

  8. Schpoonman

    Dammit, Joyce, you should have at least texted Sal about the shirt/wardrobe-sharing.

    1. Mollyscribbles

      She can tell Sal after that her closet is free to raid if she needs to dress conservatively for some reason.

      1. Schpoonman

        They had that conversation, but Sal doesn’t want to borrow anything.

    2. Amós Batista

      be crime, commit gay

  9. Nick Piers

    Aww. Joe’s reaction is priceless. He’s happy his girl is out having a good time.

    1. staszu13

      Happy but a little worried. I read it as “Good for you, Joyce. Guess I’ll see you after the expulsion.”

    2. Julie

      He looks so proud!

  10. Switchchris26

    Here comes a massive hangover that is gonna make Joyce never want to drink again lol.

    1. mick4state

      If only that’s all it is. I’m expecting Becky to disapprove, which causes conflict with Dorothy. But if they’re found out, this could go VERY poorly.

    2. zee

      I feel like you need to get really fucked up to get a hangover at 18. Then again American bars don’t serve real food and i doubt theyre drinking water. That’ll probably do it

  11. Purblebirb

    Oh wait you’re spelling it “trystin'”.

    1. David DeLaney

      take care of the sense
      and the sounds will take care of themselves

      1. Laura

        Hmm?

        1. Leorale

          It’s a quote from Alice In Wonderland. The Duchess is claiming that, if you know what you want to say, the words will come out correctly.
          (And a play on the older saying, “take care of the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves”.)

        2. Laura

          Oh, that is a good one!

  12. KM

    Should they really be posting about underage drinking on social media?

    1. Taffy

      Yes. Definitely.

    2. John Campbell

      Gotta do it before they raise the social mediaing age higher than the drinking age.

      1. clif

        Now that will be a popular measure.

    3. Jamie

      Won’t it be fun when her mom finds out.

    4. staszu13

      Oh I’m sure there won’t be any consequences. (Looks nervously to see if Dean McHenry, Joyce’s parents, Dorothy’s parents, Ruthless or any other authority figures sneaking a look at her Instagram I think)

      1. Li

        we also know it’s a Dry Campus, I’m not sure how much that’s extended to off-site drinking but I imagine it being underage… sob.

        I doubt we’re about to read the story of how they got KICKED OUT or anything, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be the threat of like academic probation…

    5. anon

      well considering amber said she was tracking joyce’s phone i imagine she might’ve seen it eventually if she can access joyce’s photos/clouds but idk if ‘amazigirl’ would help versus amber joining them for drinks

    6. Needfuldoer

      Plausible deniability: The shot is tight enough that you can’t really tell where they are (besides somewhere dim and magenta), and they can always lie about what’s in the glass.

      1. Miri

        Mocktails at an 18-21s student club night, no..? Surely?? It was an ironic caption!

    7. zee

      What if her account is private? She seems the type

  13. Amós Batista

    Joyce is my heroine. I don’t know how people feel about it, but she is. All her path inspires me, since her first day at college until this moment.
    When, despite all her oppressive past, she’s finally able to left her traumas and issues behind, to be a simple girl, that just drink and have fun with her friend.
    This pic in first panel is, for me, the peak moment of this storyline and perhaps of her live: she’s not afraid of nothing. She shares a great moment with her friends, and to her own boyfriend. She just doesn’t care.
    I often daydream with DoA, and sometimes, when I got myself in a moment when my old christian inner voice starts to scream, I remember how Joyce is dealing with it.

    1. True Survivor

      I am glad this comic speaks to you. Also, that Joyce is your heroine and not, as I initially read it, heroin.

    2. Shorduie

      Same. As a former christian, every time I see Joyce thriving it fills me with joy

    3. Dante

      This is a beautiful comment, truly. One of the best things of fiction is how it moves us :33

    4. staszu13

      Don’t recall who said it or when, but the words were to the effect that Joyce always comes from a feeling of love. That sometimes leads her to foolish actions but nothing mean spirited.

      1. David DeLaney

        *Aziraphale intensifies approvingly*

    5. NGPZ

      aaaaaaawwwwwwwweeeeeee :’)

      1. NGPZ

        okay what the, I thought this was eaten as a “duplicate comment”, hence why I typed out the second one.

        How ironic XD

        1. Amós Batista

          WordPress things. Don’t worry about it.

    6. NGPZ

      aaaaaaawwwwwwwweeeeeee ?

    7. Mturtle7

      Isn’t it awesome?!

      So many people in the comments this past week have been waiting for the other shoe to drop, but I’m just here like “This IS the other shoe, you cynical f*cks! The other shoe is HOPE! Joyce is just genuinely having a really nice time with her best friend, free from all her old hangups. That’s not a SETUP for something, IT’S THE CATHARSIS, and if you can’t recognize that, well, too bad for you.”

      1. Mark

        Sounds nice. I am hopeful.

  14. Alongcameaspider

    Well this is a fine comic that I’m sure won’t have consequences somewhere down the line

    Also anyone else kind of getting jealousy from Becky’s expression there, maybe not as over Joyce as she thinks

    1. BarerMender

      Yeah, Becky hates the idea of Joyce being with another woman, but she’s also loving the mental image.

      1. mindbleach

        “Touche, arch-rival. Touche.”

    2. anon

      As many ppl have said, it’s not called “smarting of age”

      And Dina is great but she is technically a ‘rebound’ so i can imagine there’d still be a baseline of ‘love’ with a childhood friend, tho i’m sure she’ll get over it if she keeps enjoying the sex/other benefits of dating someone not joyce lol

    3. HueSatLight

      It’s a jealousy, but probably a different flavor than before.

    4. Li

      I’m not quite sure what to make of Becky’s expression, beyond “unhappy”, but I’m looking forward to the fallout.

      1. Li

        Man this makes it sound like I dislike Becky. I LIKE BECKY, I just think that’s an intriguing drama bomb in waiting…!

  15. Animedingo

    What did walky call and what does the amazigirl comment mean

    1. staszu13

      I believe Walky said something about Dorothy and/or Joyce drinking (can’t recall when). Amber, during her Amazi-Girl days, used to crack down on underage drinking. She is apparently considering bringing her back

  16. Sirksome

    Amber really has something against underage drinking. Is there a story there?

    1. Coatl

      Maybe there are more things about her past that we don’t know.

    2. Jamie

      I think the implication is that Amazi-girl isn’t standing by to save the day again?

    3. anon

      well, she also knows what happened with ryan and did feel guilty with that one strip with joyce going “why didn’t you catch him” or so , so she’d prolly be hesitant about joyce enjoying alcohol even with dorothy around

    4. Li

      I’ve always assumed it was bog standard Lawful Good reasoning, with a sprinkle of like…

      Amber never fully trusted herself in any way. Amazi-Girl hewing to the letter of the law on this stuff was always, I think, a way of keeping her in check; of ensuring that she had a higher authority, so to speak, and wasn’t going to turn into a dark anti-hero.

      (This all reflects some naïveté around the law, ofc, and implies early Amazi-Girl would have felt compelled to enforce things like loitering ordinances that definitely just criminalize being homeless, but I think we’d already seen some lamp shading of that even before Amber took the steps of beating Ryan half to death and stuff.)

      Anyway I don’t THINK there’s a deeper story here (Blaine was never a drunk, for example), but maybe I’m wrong.

    5. zee

      She’s cop brained

  17. Grimey

    Walky and Amber’s reaction is funny to me just by virtue of ‘concerned but not really’. Like they both just decided at the same time ‘yeah this is fine’.

    Becky though…Becky might be more down bad than Joe.

    1. staszu13

      Becky is, in spite of her sexuality, still a practicing conservative Christian and would likely still disapprove of Joyce’s drinking.
      Naturally Billie would approve. SMH.

      1. DailyBrad

        I dunno, like I know she got mad about the drinking at a past party, but the issue there was that the party was specifically for Joyce’s sake. I am not sure if she otherwise feels super strongly about it.

        1. staszu13

          Well, if I’m reading her expression right, Joyce has a lot of explaining to do.

        2. NGPZ

          I mean, maybe that, she probably also worried about both of them because they posted their underage drinking on social media.

      2. UrsulaDavina

        I just would like to note that Progressive Christianity has been around for a while now. It supports LGBTQIA+ rights, dives into social justice issues, and values scientific insights. It’s an approach that aligns faith with contemporary values and progress. I am going to guess that Becky and Lucy attend a church with those values.

      3. zee

        She’s not conservative, just devout. Excluding her panic attack when Joyce left the faith, she only applies her most staunch beliefs to her self and even there she’s gradually easing up (eg premarital sex)

    2. Coatl

      I dare say that Amber’s heroic instinct seems to indicate that she should go there.

      Becky’s expression seems to express slight disbelief, but perhaps deep down there is some jealousy.

      In Joe’s case, I don’t know, but his expression is strange, as if it were a face of pride and a bit of fear.

      1. clif

        That’s what a bemused face looks like.

      2. Miri

        Huh, I read it as pride and arousal on Joe lol…

  18. True Survivor

    I know Amzi-girl has a problem with underage drinking (and indeed all crime save violent vigilantism, in an extreme display of selective hypocrisy) but I don’t recall how she deals with it – I don’t think she would go around beating up Amber’s friends. I know we’ve seen this come up before, I just recall when or how or why. Can anybody help?

    1. Doopyboop

      https://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/03-the-butterflies-fly-away/disperse-2/ and https://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/03-the-butterflies-fly-away/expulsion/ are the best examples I can think of, I agree that she wouldn’t go around beating them up. Honestly I imagine Amazi-girl would sneak to the bar, stealth Dorothy and Joyce away, and then go on a superhero monologue about the dangers of underage drinking and the laws they’re breaking. I don’t think she’d snitch to any cops, but she’d definitely give them a lecture and try to steer them away from ever doing it again.

    2. Taffy

      She yelled at Danny for drinking at Joyce’s dorm party, and that was the end of it.

      1. Sirksome

        She also instigated a fight with Sal loosely justified by catching her underage drinking too

        https://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/03-up-all-night-to-get-vengeance/my-share/

        It’s consistent characterization for Amber but is her beef with it really because it’s illegal? Tons of kids drink underage. It’s a strange line in the sand to have from a teenager herself.

        1. Jamie

          I don’t really believe Amber or Amazi-girl have an issue with it, personally. Her problem is never the drinking. It’s just a convenient excuse.

        2. thejeff

          Basically.
          It was an excuse to start the fight with Sal, then she felt that Amazi-Girl had to be consistent and doubled down by yelling at Danny about it.

        3. Mturtle7

          In my view, a really important detail here is that, right from the start of that scene, Amazi-Girl was trying to make sure that Sal & co. came at HER, rather than the other way around. She wasn’t actually willing to beat kids up for underage drinking, per se, so the most she could actually do was yell at them for underage drinking and then hope that they took the bait. In her head, I’m sure she was convinced that SHE wasn’t really starting the fight, though anyone with common sense could see that’s exactly what she did.

  19. Dara

    oh gods amazi-girl please come back from sabbatical

    1. Dara

      i mean not to beat up on joyce and dorothy obviously BUT STILL I MISS YOU AMAZI-GIRL

      1. staszu13

        We all do. I have to wonder if Amber can separate her alter ego from her late, unlamented father taking credit for that.

      2. Dara

        Also surprise Jennifer approves of dranks but honestly in this case so do I; “sorry Becky but just because she’s bi doesn’t mean she’s in love with you” and you gotta learn that someday; dang, Sal, recognising a shirt from that much of a shot, there must be more to it than we know, and finally:

        Becky you’ve just made me flash back to that scene where Dina says “I know” when told she’s likely “just a rebound,” and don’t you dare disappoint Dina. Don’t you dare.

        1. Dante

          You’re 100% right on every account, and you should say it

        2. Coatl

          The truth is that Becky is going to demand an explanation. and I agree that it would be a low blow for Dina if Becky dares to do something stupid.

        3. Nymph

          I’m so glad I’m not in a friendship where my friends think it’s appropriate to demand an explanation for fun nights out.

      3. Coatl

        That she would come back, SHE WILL COME BACK, roller derby is not going to keep her forever

      4. Needfuldoer

        Amazi-Girl needs to give them an anti-drinking PSA speech, like the ones that ended every episode of the 80s G.I. Joe.

        Because knowing is half the battle.

    2. NGPZ

      PLEASE PLEASE!!!! It would make for EPIC video game material!!!! T_T

    3. Segnosaur

      I admit there was a lot of good storylines that stemmed from the Amazi-girl persona.

      But, when we got deeper into the character and we saw that Amber was actually to the point where she developed multiple personalities, it got a bit.. worrying. (Yeah, its a webcomic character not a real person. Still empathetic though.)

  20. Pocky

    I mean, I understand Becky lol

  21. Golden Yak

    Hmm, wonder how many of her old circle of friends/family follow her account.

    1. Dara

      yeah, that’s my actual worry, dad’s gonna be pissed

      1. staszu13

        I don’t see Dad Brown as pissed (he’s a little low-key for that) but Carol? My God, she’s likely to go Total Karen on Joyce.

        1. Needfuldoer

          I wouldn’t be surprised if Hank did something similar with his buddies back in college.

        2. Segnosaur

          Yeah. Remember the lunch Hank had with Joyce and company post-kidnapping? He commented on some drawing having a “nice set of breasts”.

          Overall I think Hank is probably a pretty decent/forgiving person who just chose to marry the wrong creature.

          https://www.dumbingofage.com/2020/comic/book-10/04-is-a-song-forever/ownership/

        3. Mark

          As if Carol would have anything to do with that evil social media stuff!

      2. Proxiehunter

        He’s not mad. Just disapointed.

        1. HueSatLight

          Hank disappointed. John holier-than-thou-i-told-you-so glee.

    2. zee

      If it’s private she probably removed/blocked a bunch of followers after the whole “bailed beckys kidnapper and the guy who pointed a gun at me out of jail” thing

  22. Jeremiah

    Aww, Joe looks pretty proud of her.

    1. Coatl

      His expression is somewhat strange, like a mixture of pride and a certain fear, fear in the sense that perhaps a side of Joyce is manifested that no one, not even the characters and we, know.

      1. zee

        I don’t see fear just a mixture of pride and “that’s so cute”

  23. Bittersweet

    Oh this is how Dorothy loses her Yale offer isn’t it

    1. a/snow/mous/e

      she threw it in the trash already

      1. Jeremiah

        Not throw it just hasn’t answered because of her identity crisis.

    2. Nono

      Depends. Is she tagged?

      1. staszu13

        Not that I see

      2. Proxiehunter

        Not sure who you’re asking about but I only see Dorothy and Joyce tagged. Which is odd.

        1. Proxiehunter

          Wait you mean in the social media post not the comics tags.

    3. Needfuldoer

      Watch this be the one piece of kompromat that slips through her diligent curation.

    4. Li

      That’s definitely a possibility.

      Personally, I think it’d be a relief for Dorothy to have that window closed right now. But we’ll see!

  24. ESM

    Well, Joyce’s mom is obvious going to see that

    1. Taffy

      Good, maybe she’ll have a heart attack.

      1. Amós Batista

        Taffy!

        1. Taffy

          I can dream.

        2. Schpoonman

          It’s okay to want bad things to happen to unrepentant bad people in fiction. We root for villains to lose, do we not? Well, sometimes they won’t stop trying until they’re dead.

    2. Needfuldoer

      Maybe we’ll finally get to see the Carol version of The Joyce Face.

  25. Dante

    Honestly? Jennifer going “you show’em” all proud of Joyce is the most sympathetic she’s been on a while. I can’t help but remember when they talked about changing despite other people’s opinions.

    (Not that she’s done a great job, but hey.)

    I love that they’re having fun. I love that they look good and they’re being silly and omg Joe is so in love. They so deserve a good night, both of them :’33

    (And yeah, Becky’s totally jealous. It’s no coincidence her panel is happening behind Dina’s back.)

    1. Dara

      Ah!

      It’s no coincidence her panel is happening behind Dina’s back.

      Yes. Nice catch.

      1. staszu13

        I wonder if Dina even knows

        1. Dante

          Sarah went “you know you’re totally a rebound don’t you” a while ago, which visibly upset Dina as she said yes. I’m very much hoping it hasn’t been eating at her since, considering how good Becky has been to her so far.

          If things explode though, I also hope she doesn’t think herself foolish for her trust.

        2. Needfuldoer

          Found it!

          https://www.dumbingofage.com/riddles/

        3. clif

          Thank you for your public service.

        4. Dday

          Dina definitely already knew about Becky’s jealousy towards Dotts over Joyce and was even bold enough to talk about it in front of everyone. She tried to be totally understanding about it, but idk what happens if this actually fractures the relationship…

    2. Coatl

      I know it sounds like I’m talking too soon, but it seems like Jennifer still has a certain amount of appreciation for her former teammates. I’m not going to lie, I don’t like her, but if Raidah were to suddenly betray her or leave her aside, she might realize it now. of people who are worth it.

      Okay, I know I still have my doubts for the simple fact that the two of them are too relaxed and it is believed to be an unfortunate event, but this is supposed to be for them to have fun and nothing more. Very well, I will continue to give the benefit of the doubt.

      Look, rest assured that Becky is going to demand an explanation and let’s just hope she uses common sense and Dina isn’t affected.

      1. Dante

        Re: Jennifer – I really hope the same, tbh. I used to like her way more when she was closer to genuine.

        As for the rest… Yeahhhh, I know something will go wrong. I’m just hoping it’s not tonight, y’know? For once? ;AA;

  26. Li

    Unsure of Joe’s expression. Maybe a lil worry? He’s really cute about Joyce.

    Becky’s expression gets more of a pure “rubbing my lil rodent hands together in anticipation of drama” reaction from me.

    1. Li

      Oh also Jennifer’s reaction surprised me but it’s nice. I assume a callback to her talking to Joyce about the specific feeling of frustration from trying to change but your friend group not letting you forget who you were.

    2. Li

      Also one reaction missing from this strip is anyone in Joyce’s family.

      Saving that for another strip? Or did Joyce make a separate Instagram(?) that none of her family knows about?

      1. staszu13

        I’m sure we’ll be hearing from the Browns soon enough. I can practically hear Carol screaming bloody murder all the way from La Porte

        1. Li

          That would be interesting. The last time we saw her she seemed kinda checked-out, so I was more thinking John and Jocelyn, but ofc Carol is also a possibility!

          Given everything else, though, I’m surprised my FIRST thought wasn’t “Tristan sees it through the community grapevine and gets back in touch”, because that’d make a lot of narrative sense.

      2. anon

        i mean other than maybe jocelyne she def wouldn’t tell any other sibling let alone her parents about an insta post versus fb unless it’s one of those ‘connected’ accounts that multipost

        1. staszu13

          Curse you, connected social media!

        2. Li

          See, I agree she wouldn’t if she had made it recently.

          But I don’t think we know that she did? She had a Twitter account where she used to retweet bible verses at Jennifer, but that’s about all we know about her social media accounts unless I’m forgetting something.

      3. Li

        I’m doubling down on us getting another strip of reactions, because I think this quick cut to different reactions is otherwise END OF STORYLINE material, but we didn’t get that particular alt text?

    3. Rabbit

      My full interpretation of Joe’s expression is a combination of happiness for Joyce, pride that she’s branching out a little since their friendship was the first place she opened up about her loss of faith and identity and all that stuff + him know about all the Ryan stuff. So he’s worried, but happy she’s not stuck in that fear of it in a sense? Also that she took action for a friend maybe.

      And worry, for aforementioned reasons. Perhaps also thinking she looks really nice due to the makeup Carla put on her.

      Also something I don’t know if was ever actually discussed in the comics for the rankings a billion years ago, since people were mostly debating the past events-

      But him saying she’s a 4 but would be a 10 with experience or whatever crass thing he said-

      That basically means she’s a 10. Like appearance wise, at least. (in Joe’s opinion) Which means she outranked *SAL* of all people. And part of me wonders if that might be factoring in now as he’s growing up a little (not experience as in sex, but her sort of branching out and trying more things/embracing his compliment from before that clearly made her happy and confident enough to even DO this with dorothy)

      Anyway, I’ve rambled enough. I’ve been a Joe/Joyce truther since I started reading Willis’ stuff, and I liked it more than the canon ships there lmao

      1. Miri

        What was it he said to Ethan’s roommate whose name begins with a J and often escapes me?

        “She tries and works on herself and strives to be better and one day she will be PERFECT”? or words to those effect? He thinks she’s pretty, Carla’s made her hot, and now she’s relaxed and happy and if that isn’t super attractive in somebody you love/like in a healthy relationship I don’t know what is…

      2. BBCC

        He said she was a 4 and he’d upgrade her to a 10 with his dick. It wasn’t him calling her perfect or a 10.

        I love Joe and Joyce too but I really wish people would stop bringing that line up as a sign of Joe loving her. It was a really gross, misogynistic line and not a compliment towards Joyce.

        1. Rabbit

          Oh no, I’m not saying him saying that crass shit was ‘love’ I’m saying he effectively said appearance-wise she was a 10 (but lacking experience sexually which would fix it, which I agree, fucking ew)

          But I was thinking about it in a less crass scope of Joyce learning more.

      3. Amós Batista

        I understand the reasons of his expression in today strip, but even Joe knows that ‘Do List’ were garbage shit. (And I’m still wanting for Other Rachel revenge him because of her ‘3’).

      4. Li

        Honestly with BBCC on that line 500%, it just was not one of Joe’s better moments and his later feelings for Joyce don’t retroactively change that.

        Anyway, you’ll notice I didn’t say anything about him being worried Dorothy was gonna steal his girl, for the following reasons:

        a.) the overt hostility in these comments has absolutely sucked all the joy out of getting shippy moments for a pairing I like, and I definitely wouldn’t make a top-level bringing it up right now lol, are you kidding,
        b.) I genuinely don’t think that’s why he’s worried!

        I think his expression is conflicted. I think his eyes are drawn in the way Willis does when characters are on the verge of tears (glassy), and I think his smile is kind of crumpled too. If he were purely happy, I think Willis would have drawn him differently.

        But I’m not actually making guesses as to WHY he looks concerned. Maybe it’s the Ryan thing, maybe it’s just “Joyce is getting tipsy, underage, in a public venue, which isn’t the smartest way of going about it to avoid getting caught”. I think he’s also glad to see her having a good time. I wonder if he’s maybe a little worried about Dorothy as a person, because while they’ve never been friends, he’s KNOWN her since junior high, and Joyce probably gave him some heads-up here of her concerns and her plan?

        (Idk it seems like the kind of thing Joyce would want a sign-off on from her partner, not because she still believes a boyfriend/husband has dominion over a girlfriend/wife but for all sorts of reasons, like wanting him to know where she’ll be and why she might not pick up her phone, or wanting his advice as someone a little older and much more worldly than her, or….)

        (It’s also possible ofc that she didn’t check in with him, just like she didn’t double-check with Sal about borrowing her clothes — it’s possible this whole outing was more of an impulsive “emergency!” sort of thing, so this is how Joe is finding out, and that’s contributing to the tinge of worry.)

        Anyway thanks for your uh mini TED Talk defending your love of Joe/Joyce? Sorry that you apparently feel the need to justify it instead of just enjoying them being together finally?

        1. Taffy

          Never try to justify your ship to anyone
          They’ll think it’s an invitation for debate
          They’ll think you can be talked out of it
          They’ll try to steal the joy right off your plate

        2. Li

          This is an excellent little couplet (or near enough imho), ty. ❤️

    4. JoeCovenant

      I see that as a “Awww, look at my previously religiously shackled girl having fun! 🙂 “

      1. Li

        His eyes are drawn in a way that from Willis usually means glassy, on the verge of tears, and his mouth is a bit crumpled.

        I just don’t think it’s 100% unreserved happy.

        But we will see!

    5. Amós Batista

      Or he’s just 25% envy, like: ‘I wish I am there, drinking with her, too.’

      1. Li

        Maybe.

        I think there are a lot of reasons to be worried about what they’re doing, none of which involve Dorothy and Joyce making out, bc unlike Walky and Becky (and Lucy), that’s never been on Joe’s radar before as even a possibility, so why would he be worried about it.

        But what they’re doing is technically illegal and now Joyce has posted about it on her Instagram. Plus he’s not there to help fend off creeps! That alone would be enough reason for a protective boyfriend to be a lil worried.

  27. Imogen

    I’m glad that the Chaos Scenario is moving closer and closer to mainstream acceptance. Dorothy kissing Joyce = maximum emotional havoc for all involved.

    1. staszu13

      Is this point the Dorothy-Joyce kiss is probably inevitable

      1. clif

        Inevitable, but not for years, our time.

        1. BorkBorkBork

          So, like, by Friday their time.

  28. anon

    lol idk if her parents follow her social media but i wonder the legality/if the police would actually issue her a ticket bc of this proof lol

    1. staszu13

      This might be the cue for that smarmy lawyer from the Walkyverse (Ryan something?) to waltz in

      1. RassilonTDavros

        Bart O’Ryan (spoilers for basically the entire first half of It’s Walky! if you haven’t read it). Who is apparently a law professor in this universe, though whether that makes him likely to be an actively practicing lawyer is beyond me.

    2. Proxiehunter

      Proof? I see no drinks in the picture, just a hashtag one could argue was a joke and two girls faces blocking out any evidence of their location.

      1. Needfuldoer

        There’s a glass in-frame, but that could be anything in there.

        1. Dday

          They’re just #dranksing rusty water.

    3. Bittersweet

      The police wouldn’t do anything about it. Universities on the other hand? This is enough to warrant getting in trouble depending on how pissy the university is. At mine it would’ve been enough for an expulsion, they tried to kick out a grown ass man (30) veteran dude because someone saw him go to a bar. I didn’t care for the guy too much, but him tearing into the people interrogating him at the college was very much catharsis by proxy because the uni had a lot of stupid rules.

      Idk if a public one would have those same ones though.

      1. anon

        well roz did release a sex tape but i’m sure her ‘connections’ just let her off easy with a warning but any other normal student without a political relative prolly would’ve gotten kicked out or so

  29. Bryy

    Is it wrong that I don’t know if that’s a genuine statement from Jennifer or not?

    1. DailyBrad

      I do think it’s genuinely, absolutely. She has wanted both of them to cut loose for a while now.

    2. NGPZ

      Drama craving. Her Billie is showing. :p

  30. DailyBrad

    This is really cute, I’ve gotta say.

  31. RassilonTDavros

    Ah yes, posting about your underage drinking on social media with photographic proof. Can’t wait for that shoe to drop in, oh, five years.

    Also, oof, Becky. Like on the one hand your actual girlfriend right there and you’re kinda being unfair to her (and I have to imagine that’s gonna boil up to some extent at some point), and also Joyce and Dorothy don’t appear to have actually kissed outright– but all the same, it’s kinda gotta suck to realize-and/or-think that your childhood crush who wasn’t into girls is into girls, just not you. And, for that matter, that your lifelong best friend chose to have a “major” first experience with someone who wasn’t you.

    I’m not entirely certain how to read Joe’s expression here.

    1. Coatl

      Becky is going to be all over Joyce later, but let’s hope she doesn’t have the nerve to hurt Dina because of her obvious jealousy.

      Joe’s face at this moment (in my opinion) is between pride that his girlfriend is having fun and a certain fear that Joyce will show a side that no one knows and that is possibly a mixture of strong repressed emotions due to her upbringing.

    2. David DeLaney

      Joe’s easy:
      proud of Joyce, being in a public place doing something entirely new with the support of her friend
      worried for Joyce, because of what she’s doing technically illegally & without any experience in being drunkeroonie, and Dorothy is obviously also hammered
      and so _incredibly_ turned on by the wide triangle smile and the totally expanded bluepils of his girlfriend flat-out enjoying herself that his nipples are diamond-hard right now

      1. Coatl

        Wow, this comment is the most accurate and is actually a combination of many more reactions.

      2. Schpoonman

        Could he cut glass with them?

      3. Blume

        I accept this explanation!! Very apt descriptions.

    3. Grimey

      I do feel like Becky has always felt a certain—want to keep the door closed on any growth Joyce might do, especially in regards to through Joyce. Like it’s okay for Becky to learn about herself but not Joyce or at least not without her. It could be jealousy that she is being outstripped by Joyce here. Becky gets to shed the past with a girlfriend and interest in science and sex but the second Joyce steps out of her upbringing it’s kinda like “uh whoa there bud!”

      1. Rabbit

        I’ve gotten this vibe from her too. It’s not unexpected- she kind of downplayed Joyce’s crisis of faith thing in a really unfair way, and she generally seems resistant to Joyce growing or changing much even though she’s changing literally all the time, and weirder still it feels like Joyce is punished for not wanting things to change (when becky returned) but it’s not really addressed with Becky

        It’s a specific thing, but the Comic/narrative can feel… really unfair to Joyce a lot of the time, especially in recent years. I know it’s a serialized story but having to wait 3 years IRL time to get… like, any payoff skews feelings on characters for me a little bit.

      2. Blume

        Yeah, instead of jealousy in the romantic sense- I’ve just been getting this vibe! You worded it well ^^> it just looks like she’s hesitant/skeptical/uncomfortable. Something along those lines. I’m sure she’s worried too, obvi, but I think Becky is usually just upset that Joyce is becoming someone she doesn’t exactly know from the inside out. That may be where her jealousy of Dotty comes form too? Someone knowing the “new” Joyce.

        Dunno,,,

      3. Needfuldoer

        Joyce is basically the last thing Becky has from her life before 6 months ago. Of course she’s going to be afraid of her changing, because they might grow apart.

        1. Rabbit

          It ain’t called smarting of age, for sure

          But it is still hypocritical. She tells Joyce she’s glad college changed her (to be accepting of Becky), and when Joyce wishes stuff wasn’t changing so fast it’s kind of framed as a ‘bad’ thing to wish and a sign of her fundie-ism

          Then Joyce is changing more and accepting more change and now Becky doesn’t want her to change any more than she already has/become static in a sense. Or at the very least is downplaying her hardship with everything intentionally.

  32. Francoinblanco

    since Dorothy already has a compromising photo on the internet, she can now seek professional help with nightmares after being kidnapped and witnessing a murder

    1. Rotunda

      Dorothy has been seeing a therapist at least since witnessing Amber carve up Ryan, but she told Ruth she was lying to her therapist about her recent depression in order not to have that on her medical record when she enters politics.

      1. Li

        This is I think exactly what Francoinblanco means. That was Dorothy’s worry, but this photo would already do that kind of smear campaign damage to her future political aspirations (that she might not still harbor), so she’s free to get actual help.

  33. Doopyboop

    Becky’s reaction actually reminds me of something I went through when I was in college. I think I was a freshman, I was chilling on tumblr (it was 2011 so of course lol) and suddenly a video popped up on my friend’s tumblr. He was a year behind me so still in high school, and the video was one somebody else made where he was trying to dance but clearly drunk.

    I know it’s not the popular viewpoint, but I was someone who obeyed the law, aside from one instance of peer pressured experimentation when I was like 12, I never tasted alcohol before 21 and certainly not to the point that someone would videotape me doing so. So I reached out to my friend in a message with “did you get drunk?”. I was concerned. He quickly got mad at me, accused me of ‘stalking’ his page even though I was literally just scrolling on my dashboard, and things were a bit testy for a bit. We talked it out later but I predict something similar for Joyce and Becky.

    1. eskimolos

      This exactly. I was very similar at that age, without any religious connotations, and I think Becky still has a lot of the same hangups Joyce has, but also still believes in the sanctity of her immortal soul.

  34. IntangibleMatter

    The varying degrees of concerned, tired, horny, and knowing that that is in fact Sal’s shirt seem to mirror the comments these days.

    1. David DeLaney

      Isekaied Into a Webcomic As a Background Character: One Commenter’s Story

  35. Amós Batista

    Becky, you know, if you prompted to get Joyce to drink before, maybe you wouldn’t be so jealous about it, today.

  36. Chasey

    I really like seeing all the characters’ reactions like this.

  37. AlexaSpuds

    I hope they make out, the potential for shenanigans and drama afterwards is endless, plus it’ll be nice for Dorothy to finally realize she’s bi.

  38. John Campbell

    Don’t worry, Sal, Joyce will wash it before she gives it back. I’m sure Dorothy will help her with the laundry.

  39. Armadillo

    As a Canadian, seeing all the discussion about underage drinking is hilarious. Underage drinking only really happens in high school where I’m from, so seeing any kind of fuss about a college student drinking is never not going to be mildly baffling to me.

    1. Sol

      Some provinces the drinking/smoking/etc age is 19 so sometimes you can be a college student underage drinking (and i guess for college students whos birthday is near the end of the year). It’s never not funny to me though that Ontario is sandwiched between two provinces where the legal age is 18 and theirs is 19 lol

      1. Armadillo

        The provinces that can drink at 18 are actually in the minority, there’s only 3 of them. But those 3 are strategically placed so that the drinking age jumps back and forth from 19-18 every time you cross provincial lines. I’ve always found it funny as well!

    2. Dante

      Hailing from LatAm here, and yeah same. It’s a culture shock thing I’m glad we still get, because it means that law hasn’t caught on beyond the USA.

      Underage drinking here is, well… Illegal but also kind of a tradition. Not a lot of people wait until they’re 18, tbh.

    3. HueSatLight

      There’s not as much fuss in the US either, compared to the comment section. like cops are dicks, but they’re not monitoring facebook to write tickets to random white 19 year olds posting pictures of drinking.

      1. Da Boy

        Out of curiosity, what’s the historical reason for the 21 drinking age?

        1. Taffy

          Lawmakers in the early 1900s were obsessed with multiples of 7, for really weird and honestly stupid reasons that were closely interlinked with the textiles industry. It had something to do with common thread counts and ABV somehow lining up numerically, and a few very dedicated lobbyists pushed that angle in a way that leaned on the predominantly-Christian culture of the time. It’s all very convoluted and silly.

        2. clif

          Your not wrong, but also somewhere around 18 your body is fully developed for most people, and around 21 your brain, particularly the frontal cortex, is fully developed in most people.

        3. Taffy

          If I’m not wrong, we’re in a lot of trouble. I made all of that up on the spot as I was typing it.

        4. HueSatLight

          Do you have one of those magic typewriters that changes reality whenever you type into it?

        5. Da Boy

          Which is why giving 16 year olds driver’s licenses gives me anxiety. I understand the need due to how the size of US and the state of the public transport but still… 16 year olds driving cars is just terrifying.

        6. HueSatLight

          reducing drunk driving deaths.

        7. David DeLaney

          In the ’80s, a campaign finally pushed the federal gov’t (Congress specifically) into attaching it to federal highway funding for the states, at which point every state where it was still 18 raised theirs to 21, some over the course of 3 years like Ohio, and others immediately.

          (Still ridiculous in my mind, as you can DIE for your country at 18 here, but quite explicable when you think of the Puritan & religious thread running all through this country’s history. We be _prudes_ here.)

      2. Li

        Which doesn’t make posting your misdemeanors to social media any smarter, mind.

        Also I’m sure some cops do do that, the same way they hide their cars behind bushes to try to catch people speeding.

    4. Needfuldoer

      That’s just the ingrained puritanism talking.

      Because freedom.

      ‘Murica. o7

    5. BBCC

      Right? I’m always like ‘Oh, right, 90% of them can’t drink yet’.

    6. Amós Batista

      South American here, hang there *drunk high five*

  40. sdrainbow

    JOYCE NO

  41. DashWallkick

    Joe’s expression is so cute. He’s so in love with his sunny and loving girlfriend.

    1. Rabbit

      I agree

  42. The Jighole Man

    Walky: either expected lesbian stuff or expected dorothy to go drinking at some point
    Becky: would if not in a committed loving relationship, but i am, so i won’t, but if i wasn’t…
    Jennifer: either glad that they are drinking, or glad that they are lesbian (assumed)
    Joe: I hope she’s having a good time (that raised eyebrow leads me to believe that he happy that his girlfriend is expanding her comfort zone and having a good time.)
    Sal: is that my shirt?

    im usually wrong, so i feel safe predicting that the next pic is going to be a pic of them kissing, and the reactions are going to be
    Walky: did not see that coming
    Becky: WOULD!!!!
    Billie: Damn 🙂
    Joe: Damn…
    Sal: Seriously though, she better not get lipstick on my shirt.

    1. clif

      😀

    2. Jinx

      ?

  43. William

    Becky seems unhappy about this. Is it because she’s worried about the potential disaster of Joyce getting wasted, Joyce’s eternal soul, or is it a jealousy thing?

    1. Rotunda

      Most likely jealousy along the axis of Joyce and Becky having been best friends, and here Joyce is going in a major new direction with Dorothy as companion.

    2. Bash

      I think she feels left out.

    3. The Jighole Man

      nah, that’s a lower lip bite. that’s mouth sign language for “want”

    4. Da Boy

      Oh the way she is biting her lower lip she is definitely losing it over how hot Joyce looks… and probably jealous that she isn’t there getting drunk with her. Dotty won this part of their rivalry.

      1. Blume

        She doesn’t have the sparkly “Euphoria in my pants” eyes tho!

  44. Suet

    That’s the quirkiest pose Dotty will ever make. Stunt on ’em.

    What would be considered as “some third option”, poll? Normalcy in a night of feast or famine of debauchery?

  45. Aslan

    Wonder what Walky and all that cleavage attached to Amber are up to

    1. Aslan

      Remember, Amber, narcs get the spray bottle

    2. Taffy

      He went there for more video gaming, but she’s peeved so she’ll probably just shove his head in there to work out the mad.

  46. Suet

    Unlike Joyce’s Twitter account, the Instagram account isn’t real.

    I wish it was, cause by the looks of it, she posted more than one picture.

  47. Lars

    Did Carol see that pic? Or Joycelin?

    1. NGPZ

      As for the former, depends on whether or not Twitter has already been sliding-timescaled into X

      0_0

  48. LaGrosseLegume

    WE NEED THIS PICTURE SEPARATELY!

    1. Amós Batista

      We need to see the OTHER PICS!!!! (Right arrow at first pannel “>”).

  49. M!a

    WAIT WAIT WAIT I got this…

    — The pic(s?) go(es?) on social media, Tristan sees it/them and hoots/hollers on Jesus’ behalf.
    — Fucking CAROL comes to try to drag her little apostate out of Sodioma University.
    — We have to go through the whole fucking abduction thing again, just with a remix of characters.

    You’re my witnesses ALL OF YOOOOOOOOOOOU…

    1. LaGrosseLegume

      Naaaah. Willis won’t make an abduction arc for 3rd time, will they?
      *nervous smile*

  50. HueSatLight

    I wonder who the surprise magnet will be. No antagonists apparently. Well, except for history’s greatest monster [your favorite character].

    1. HueSatLight

      Sal! Maybe history’s greatest monster will be next.

  51. CianM1301

    I voted “some third option” in the polls to act least keep some glimmer of hope, but having looked through some of the potential results from some of today’s comments, I now can’t help but think this will go poorly.

  52. ADLegend21

    Becky wants 3 girlfriends at the same time right about now.

    1. ADLegend21

      hilarious that I have Joe as my gravatar right now

  53. goggleman64

    That first panel is so much fun!! I feel like we don’t often get shots that close, and it’s really expressive! Especially for Dorothy ~

  54. Derek

    wait so was I actually right and they took Sal’s clothes without asking? because that’s extremely shitty

    1. Taffy

      It’s fine and not a problem.

    2. Needfuldoer

      Joyce has blanket permission to borrow Sal’s clothes.

      1. ValdVin

        Yeah, what’s gonna happen? Joyce will get the small of smoke off rhem?

        1. Needfuldoer

          She might stretch them out a bit.

        2. ValdVin

          Oh, that. Eh, yah, that’s a possibility.

      2. DashWallkick

        Yeah it’s easy to forget but Sal was actively encouraging her to de-nerd herself.

      3. Derek

        since when?

        1. Needfuldoer

          HueSatLight posted the link, but it was 2018 our time.

          https://www.dumbingofage.com/buds/

    3. HueSatLight

      It’s cool with her, probably just a surprise.

      1. Mturtle7

        …I’m not gonna lie, I was actually really unreasonably upset about Joyce taking Sal’s shirt without permission when I read today’s strip. I know it’s not actually a big deal, but somehow it still bothered me…

        What I’m really saying is THANK YOU so much for the link. I can rest easy now, knowing Joyce is not in fact a nefarious shirt thief.

    4. crow

      Maybe mildly assholeish, I dunno about extremely shitty

  55. Slartibeast Button, BIA

    Plays “I want my shirt” on hacked Muzak:

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

  56. Da Boy

    Hey just wondering but… could they get in trouble by posting this on social media? Like someone from the school seeing this?

    1. Taffy

      I’m not sure the faculty of this university have spare time to trawl the individual social media feeds of their 50,000 enrolled students, cross-reference their posts with their student IDs, and care about who’s three years too early to touch a beer.

      Basically, who’s gonna give enough of a shit?

      1. Needfuldoer

        Carol.

        1. Taffy

          Carol has no known ties to the faculty or influence on the school in any way. She can cry until she’s dehydrated and make braindead Facebook rants all she likes, it’s never gonna be a problem when it comes to Joyce’s education.

        2. Da Boy

          Wait, didn’t she have a connection to the Dean and talked about trying to get Amber thrown out?

        3. Taffy

          Wrong mom. You’re thinking of Linda.

        4. Da Boy

          Ah, don’t know how I could make that mistake. Sorry

        5. Taffy

          It’s fine this time, but if it happens again I’m docking your pay.

        6. thejeff

          That was Linda. Walky and Sal’s mother and the Dean’s former wife.

        7. Needfuldoer

          She doesn’t need a direct line to the school staff to make Joyce’s life difficult.

        8. Taffy

          No, but that’s not relevant to my original point that the school staff won’t give a damn. I was exclusively talking about them, until Carol hijacked the conversation. The “who’s gonna give enough of a shit” didn’t cover her.

        9. HueSatLight

          what’s she going to do, throw away Joyce’s stuff?

        10. Taffy

          She’s gonna post mean-but-vaguely-deniable things on Facebook and get a very pointed bumper sticker.

        11. Needfuldoer

          No, bring her even more bins!

        12. Proxiehunter

          Well, after she tries calling the campus and demanding they force her daughter to come home and being told that’s not how it works that’s not how any of this works (unless underage drinking OFF CAMPUS gets an expulsion for the first offense at their college which I doubt) she’ll come onto campus and try to pressure Joyce into leaving.

        13. David DeLaney

          and then we get Carol in rant mode running headlong into Dina in Defensive Dinosaur CHOMP mode, among other people, and I anticipate those strips with unholy glee^{tm}{R}{C}

      2. BBCC

        No, but if it did somehow come to their attention, they might. Depends how dickish they are. Honestly though it’s a dry campus but they probably aren’t on campus and haven’t brought booze there.

        1. Taffy

          Eh, this entire line of thought feels incredibly reach-y and paranoid to me.

        2. HueSatLight

          might as well be the FBI having Joyce under constant surveillance after she googled “how to do alcohol?”

  57. Needfuldoer

    Posting evidence on the Internet is a great idea.

    /s

    1. Da Boy

      Immediate consequences aside, wouldn’t this be a danger to Dotty’s future prospects? Be it Yale or further down the line, Cancel Culture and Politicians love to dig up old stuff to bash their opposition with.

      1. Taffy

        Oh please, a picture of Dorothy in her jogging clothes would be enough for those losers. Anyone pathetic enough to use this extremely harmless selfie against her isn’t gonna stop there, and she’s already got multiple published interviews with a violent vigilante who turned a guy into spaghetti sauce. “Dorothy Keener advocates extrajudicial killings?!!”

        1. Needfuldoer

          Remember when they lost their collective shit when someone found that video of AOC dancing on a rooftop at BC? (It was a harmless group project, recreating a sequence from some 80s movie like The Breakfast Club.)

      2. HueSatLight

        She might think it could, but no. This is a tame photo and makes her look relatable.

  58. Aura

    My 2 3 4 5 6 cents:
    * Pic is cute, very happy for them cutting loose and having a nice time doing something mildly subversive, which, at worst, will serve as a humanising incident and not as anything truly threatening to the power structures at hand.
    * Not sure if Walky’s call is about an assumption they’ll hook up or one or both of them getting drunk.
    * Becky I read as having pretty mixed feelings here. Not sure how to process Joyce changing or her jealousy (which could be a combination of ‘why couldn’t it be me?’ and ‘losing my best friend’.) I think she’s been picking up on and feeling threatened by the shifts in Joyce and Dorothy’s relationship of late.
    * Jennifer’s response of pride is nice to see.
    * That’s also how I read Joe’s expression, he’s proud of and happy for Joyce.
    * lol @ Sal, great punchline after all the other reactions.
    * Jotty shipping stuff: Ok, there’s a looooot to unpack here, so I’ll start with the tl;dr: I think Joyce and Dorothy like each other very much, I don’t see a cheating plot happening, but I do think things are coming to a head and there will be some kind of drama that various characters and their relationships can grow (or implode) from.

    I read both Joyce and Dorothy as very definitely bi and there being something there, but what it is is hard to pin down. They’re both obviously interested in and attracted to other people and I don’t think either of them has really consciously acknowledged any attraction to the other, but they have shown us glimpses of it from time to time, we frequently have other characters commenting on their chemistry, and there’s the whole very queer episode of the shared masturbation session. They also obviously very much love each other at least as friends, and maybe more. So I think they love each other, and are attracted to each other but I don’t see anything happening with them right now vis a vis either sexytimes or romance. The timing’s all wrong with Joyce in a new relationship with Joe and very obviously very smitten and happy with him. They’re a cute couple who have been a slow burn, and I have too high an opinion of Joyce to think she’d throw that away (e.g. by cheating on him, or breaking up with him because Dorothy’s better), and I wouldn’t want her to. I think the potential of a Jotty romance has been teased/foreshadowed for like most of the comic and this has been building extra in recent arcs. If this is where things are coming to some sort of head as seems likely from the set-up and build-up, I think the most likely outcome is something akin to the Becky kiss/revelation — something happening to bring the attraction out into the open where it has to be acknowledged (maybe Dorothy realising she has feelings for Joyce, or could have feelings for her, or maybe Becky will blow things up with jealous assumptions and score some kind of hit), which causes conflict and drama in their relationships with each other, Joe, and Becky (and between Becky and Dina).

    1. Aura

      Oops, make that 7 cents! Miscounted 😛

    2. Aura

      Oh and something I maybe sorta implied but forgot to add: I think if the timing was different things could have worked out so they’d end up together and be a great couple who are also best friends, but instead everything’s going to happen in the worst way and create a perfect drama hurricane, which will be far more fun and interesting and provide lots of interesting avenues for story conflict and character growth!

  59. NGPZ

    Yippee!!! Dina strip!!!! ^^ (even if it is just her backside)

    Also, my cannabis pen hits much harder than I remember.

  60. DarkoNeko

    Becky. Becky no. Look at Dina instead.

  61. Björn

    Is Amber channeling Rorschach? ^^

  62. Risky

    That facial expression plus that hand gesture is pretty universal “I’m about to cunnilingus” or “would anyone like some cunnilingus” so I’m evaluating any comment theories above through that lens.

    1. NGPZ

      We’ll know for sure once the pink horny radiation gets that much above baseline ^^

    2. Taffy

      If it’s universal, I must be from an alternate reality, because I’ve only ever seen the “hehe oral sex” gesture be a hand raised up to the mouth with the middle and ring fingers spread? and the tongue very clearly and deliberately waggling between them. A tongue out and a peace sign this far apart has never meant that specific thing in any media I’ve seen or any conversation I’ve had with anyone.

      1. Li

        I’ve definitely seen it with the peace sign, but only inverted, e.g. the palm facing the person’s face??

        So, basically agreed that this isn’t that.

      2. Needfuldoer

        What does that imply about Spock?

        1. Schpoonman

          “Imply” nothing, remember pon farr?

        2. David DeLaney

          REMEMBER PON FARR
          SURRENDER DOROTHY

    3. Big Z

      Er, only if they’re much closer together.

      Sometimes a drunken peace sign and raspberry is just a drunken peace sign and raspberry.

  63. Rowen Morland

    It’s Joyce’s hand and Dorothy’s tongue though.

    You could consider it two separate gestures.

    You could…

    1. Amós Batista

      Wow, that’s reading too much. (But now, I cannot ‘disassociate’ both gestures anymore >.<')

      But, being serious, all my collegues does this gestures at party. So, for me, culturaly speaking, it's pretty normal.

  64. thumb

    Becky feeling jelly

  65. Lee

    Jennifer and Joe’s panels are both so sweet I’m crying a lil at 7 AM

    1. Segnosaur

      Re: Jennifer…

      Remember, Jennifer started drinking WAY too young in my opinion (early in high school?). And thanks to her drinking, didn’t she get involved in some car accident? And then there was the lesbian suicide pact with Ruth.

      There are times when she is a decent person. But, she has shown that she might have a problem with alcohol. So when she is “happy” about Joyce/Dorothy drinking, to me it has the undercurrent of “will she respond if it gets out of hand?”

      By contrast, Joe does drink. But, it does not appear he does so to excess. He enjoys “partying” but seem to have a much healthier attitude towards it.

      1. Lee

        I think Jennifer has enough perspective not to worry excessively about second semester college freshmen drinking once, but there may be a difference in culture/perspective at play here

      2. zee

        Fym “might have a problem with alcohol” it’s been stated in canon multiple times she’s an alcoholic. We past “might” a solid 13 years ago

  66. BBCC

    I like this. Walky of course is being silly and Amber disapproves but probably won’t do much about it (in this instance). Jennifer’s approval of something automatically worries me but in this case I think it’s right that Joyce trying to branch out outside what people think of her is healthy. Joe being so happy for her is adorable, and Becky, I think is worried about Joyce drinking (and maaaaaybe a little jealous? I don’t see it personally but I’m seeing it lots here).

    And Sal, of course, asking the important questions.

    1. DailyBrad

      I think Jennifer’s approving of Joyce, sure, but also, with the karaoke, she was trying to get Dorothy to cut loose, too, and now she’s finally doing it. Jennifer’s probably pleased as punch for both of them.

    2. Li

      I think Becky’s face is SOMETHING unhappy. I don’t know if it’s still jealousy (I think if she has any lingering issues, it’s with the idea of Dorothy/Joyce specifically, lingering “that’s MY best friend slash childhood crush, how dare you usurp me as EITHER” feels), or if it’s concern about this representing a possibly negative change (see also: Joyce earlier reminding herself that hell isn’t real while contemplating the alcohol — whatever feelings she had in that moment, they’re probably feelings Becky shares to some extent).

      Either way though I am HERE for the next day conversation.

  67. Deathstalker

    Because this is DoA I’m going to predict maximum lasting chaos:

    They get back fine, Joyce goes to Joe drunk and wanting. Joe recognizes consent with drink is questionable. Joyce breaks things off in frustration. Turns to also wanting Dorthey, and Dorthey’s roommate learns of it. (Not sure which location would be the most chaos, Dorthey’s or Joyce’s, like hearing though the bathroom or something, if Becky is with Dina.)

    Morning, hangover and all hell breaks lose. Somehow Wally is going I told you so, Joyce realizes that Even though she didn’t technically cheat, she’s hurt Joe, and we get that drama, as well as Dorothy realizing huh, actually bi or Pan, and I’ve been lying about my life more. So now the two are competing as they know so Joyce and Joe sleep together but I’m an emotionally empty way that frustrates them both, even though they like it, which we have Joe trying to not have it be a one time thing for his self image of girls just get with him and it’s emotionally empty in the time he absolutely wanted it to be emotional and attaching.

    Dina notices and starts to calm things down, because I think a certain CrazySunShine might have issue, if she gets hurt.

    Though if this were not this universe: Therapists make bank, but help with the knot.

    But I look forward to whatever other directions Willis has planned, and go back to lurking.

  68. UrsulaDavina

    Though this comic might seem light-hearted, it’s important to talk about the specific risks of binge drinking, particularly for younger individuals who might have smaller body frames, like characters Dotty and Joyce. For instance, someone weighing between 120-140 lbs and shorter than 5’5″ could find binge drinking especially dangerous. This isn’t just about their sex which as women has an effect on how alcohol is processed; it’s about biological differences where people with smaller body sizes tend to have less body water. This can lead to alcohol having a more concentrated effect in their bodies, resulting in a higher blood alcohol concentration (BAC).

    I’ve witnessed the harrowing effects of alcohol poisoning firsthand; a friend about the same age as Dotty and Joyce and maybe a little heavier and taller and suffered severely, and it was one of the scariest moments of my life we got him to hospital and fortunately, he survived. I myself had a blackout recently. To clarify, I’m not a regular heavy drinker—maybe 2-3 pints with friends on a Friday, The last time i blacked out was over a decade ago. But a rare occasion with my brother-in-law led to mixing five shots of whiskey with our beers. Despite being taller and heavier, that was enough to cause a blackout. Not being able to remember anything frightens me deeply. People aseptically teenager and young adults need consider their limits if they choose to drink.

    1. Amós Batista

      Without counting the chronic problems that underage drinking can causing.
      Sorry about these situations you passed throught.

  69. Dday

    Fo real feeling Becky’s pain rn

  70. Mturtle7

    Since nobody else has posted about this particular thing yet: I wonder if we should be concerned about Amazi-Girl being “on sabbatical”?

    I mean, does Amber just mean her alter’s not doing the superhero thing anymore, or is she also taking a break from roller derby, or has she actually just not been “out” for a while? And if the latter, is that a bad sign for the system’s mental health/group dynamics?

    I really don’t know much about plural systems, or what’s the polite terminology these days, so apologies if I’m getting anything wrong.

    1. Proxiehunter

      I think she hasn’t been out because she’s where Amber tries to put all her violent impulses. And now she’s getting them out through roller derby. I think Amazigirl coming out would either be a bad sign for Amber’s mental health or a sign that she thinks one of her friends needs violent protection. Protection she’s afraid to provide herself because she doesn’t have a code against killing like Amazigirl does.

  71. foducool

    I feel like Joe is gonna start balding from all this stress lmao

    1. David DeLaney

      with his (inherited) amount of testosterone I’m surprised he hadn’t already started by the start of the strip

      also boy howdy I didn’t think he could GET hotter but

  72. HueSatLight

    None of reaction frames are actually looking at Joyce’s photos.

    Walky and Amber are watching a youtube made by someone local about graffiti, Walky predicted they were going to say Amazi-Girl painted them. (It’s actually Lucy, using an A-G tag… shortpack reference for you-all).
    Becky put a some of her house money into crypto, and line goes down.
    Jennifer is looking at pornography.
    Joe is watching a confused puppy being shown how to go through a doggy door by a grown-up dog.
    Sal just saw an advertisement from Target.

    1. Drain

      ?

  73. Airyu

    Shouldn’t everyone here be tagged on the comic description post?, I only see Joyce and Dorothy tagged. Maybe it’s just cut off for me or something ;;

  74. Lightweight Baybee

    I’m hopin this goes in a polycule direction
    not enough representation in media for that type of relationship

  75. Chris

    This is NOT a coping strategy for dealing with stress, and Becky is the only one I can side with in the reaction panel. Alcohol doesn’t make you cooler, doesn’t make you smarter, doesn’t make you feel better.

    There’s a difference between Joyce growing as a self-actualized person who understands “sin” is, in reality, an attempt to regulate natural evolution pushing human drives through hormonal interactions with neurons through behavior that promotes the survival of a specialized labor social structure, and binging into self-destructive behavior that is both harmful to society as well as the individual.

    1. HueSatLight

      need a Roomies Danny avatar.

  76. crow

    Is Amber implying Amazigirl would be busting them if not on sabbatical? And if that’s the case, then does Amazigirl actually have a moral compass of her own, or is she just going by the law?

    1. crow

      Like maybe Amber should just be a cop if all she wants to do is harass people who aren’t hurting anybody

      1. Proxiehunter

        People seem to forget that Amazigirl is a legit alter. Amber has no shit Dissociative Identity Disorder, although she and AG normally seem to communicate pretty well but they did go through a phase where Amber would wake up with no memory of what Amazigirl had done while she was fronting. And between the two I’d rather have Amazigirl getting into confrontations than Amber. She’s the one with a code against killing.

  77. Heather

    I haven’t read all the comments but:

    A lot of people seem to think Becky’s expression reads as jealousy. But I think she looks concerned. Is it for Dorothy and the fact she wonders if she’s spiralling from giving up Yale/maintaining an aura of perfection? Perhaps she thinks it’s a red flag.

    Becky’s puritanical instincts which erupt from her upbringing with regards her former Bestie in Christ now out drinking?

    (She did struggle with the sex thing for this reason: and even knowing something isn’t a big deal isn’t the same as your feelings lining up perfectly: both she and Joyce were brainwashed and Joyce has even recently voiced this out loud herself in the bar itself)

    Or is she perplexed now that Joyce is more complicated than she gave her credit for outside of scandalised faces at Becky-antics. Now Becky may be fighting a scandalised face. /She’s/ supposed to be the rebellious one of the two.

    If there’s any potential for jealousy I more think it’s that. (Or besties jealousy as has been pointed out: I think the crush thing has sailed since Dina and her got more established, then again the… weird moment in the laundry room makes me wonder if I’m wrong and that’s a set up for a blow up eventually).

    Could be all of that at once I guess.

  78. Alan in DC

    WHAT is with that gesture Dorothy is giving in the first frame?

    1. HueSatLight

      It’s the peace sign.

      1. Alan in DC

        Not with tongue thrown in, it ain’t…

  79. Amós Batista

    Ben Shapiro, at 2040 presidential campaign against his opposite, Democrat Dorothy Keener:
    – I will ask to America: would you trust put someone in White House that spent all her college drinking as an underage? And clearly – shoving his phone with Instagram opened – with clearly sapphic intents with this girl?

    1. PedanticJerkass

      I’m hoping that Ben Shapiro isn’t A Thing™ at all anymore by 2040. Or far sooner than that, if at all possible.

      1. David DeLaney

        by 2040 his Theodore Chipmunk voice will have become so high-pitched only dogs and certain Republicans can hear it

  80. EpochFlame

    #dranks

  81. Nathan

    Dumbing of Age Book 14: Is that my shirt?

  82. Jim

    …Welp, there went Dorothy’s Presidency!

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