220

Schnazzy
Posted on April 1, 2015 by David M Willis
2015-03-patreon1previewThe Dumbing of Age Patreon has your requested Asma bonus strip! (for reals, no April Fools) (April Fools things are for terrible, awful websites run by immoral jerks)

220 thoughts on “Schnazzy”

  1. Jen Aside

    …Joyce, you’re an APRIL FOOL for not telling Becky about that |=I

    tell herrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

    1. Kris

      In Joyce’s defense that’s a really hard topic to just bring up.

      1. Rezkel

        And one she spends most of the time denying to herself anyways

        1. OctopusGardener

          If you look, she’s even unconsciously grabbing the hand that got cut.

        2. Leadsynth

          Oh shit, is it Joyce’s blood or Ryan’s blood on this sweater?

        3. OmegaDez

          Who’s Ryan, and should I know what this sweater represents?

        4. EvilPenguin

          Yeaaaah you might want to read the comic from the start.

      2. Doctor_Who

        Becky: “Hi, Joyce! I’m a lesbian!”

        Joyce: “Hi, Becky! My new bestie is an atheist, I’m dating a gay guy, I worship a cartoon alien now, and I’m horribly traumatized from a near rape I experienced!”

        Becky: “…You win!”

        1. Rezkel

          should be more like

          Becky: “Hi, Joyce! I recently found out I’m a lesbian but so did my ultra-conservative Christian dad who pulled me out of school and was going to try and “fix” me. So I ran away and now have no money, home, or ability to fend for myself.

          Joyce: “Hi, Becky! My new bestie is an atheist, I’m dating a gay guy, I worship a cartoon alien now, and I’m horribly traumatized from a near rape I experienced! Oh, and I’m starting to suspect that everything I ever believed in or thought was true is wrong”

          Becky: “…You win!”

          Joyce: “…No we both win”

        2. blackhat64

          I’m pretty sure they both lose.

        3. GoldStarz

          And aren’t losers the REAL winners?

        4. Lume

          Only when they don’t lose.

        5. Arikel

          I swear to god this comment section.

        6. SonicBlueRanger

          The answer…is no.

        7. HeySo

          False. The answer is always ‘All of the Above’, years of the United States educational system couldn’t possibly have misinformed me of anything.

        8. No Name

          But what if it’s a true/false question?

        9. Screwball

          It is both, for at 1 moment it is false, yet another true…

      3. Riku

        “Where’d Ethan go?”
        “I fired ’em”
        “Aw why’d you go and do that? I can’t be dropping friends seeing as how I can’t walk around alone since being raped and all”

        Totes everyday conversation

        1. Jen Aside

          why not it’s like ripping off the bandage

          …okay, maybe not the best thing but still, those things get gross after a shower

  2. otusasio451

    NO ONE TOUCHES THE SWEATER BUT JOYCE.

    1. HeySo

      Cue Joyce hopping onto the bed in a crouched position and hissing at Becky, before grabbing the sweater, stroking it, and cooing about her precious.

  3. Azumangled

    …Uh oh.

  4. Lucas

    Story time, Becky!

    1. Doctor_Who

      Once upon a time it wasn’t story time and Joyce was happy.

    2. Safgaftsa

      Tomorrow, Sarah walks in and says exactly that.

  5. TheTJ

    Becky is making herself a bit of a nuisance…

    1. Riku

      Be fair, it’s not like she could’ve known.

      1. TheTJ

        No, but she has a power. The Power to say or do the worst thing.

        It’s actually starting to get impressive. I wonder what would happen if she were to turn it against Mike?…

        1. Plasma Mongoose

          At least Becky’s ability to rub people up the wrong way isn’t even in the same league as Gordon Brittas.

        2. Willoughby Chase

          Ah, memories.

        3. Riku

          Sounds more like bad luck to me. In this particular situation anyway

        4. TheMirai

          Especially since once she saw blood on the sweater, she (I think) got really concerned.

        5. B.D

          That… I’m actually looking forward to when Mike and Becky finally meet.

        6. neeks

          They already met earlier, when Becky was shouting “I’M A LESBIAN” and Joyce was wishing she’d dial it back a bit. I don’t think they actually exchanged words yet though.

        7. HeySo

          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/02-threes-a-crowd/tool/

          Mike: “I left too soon.”

        8. Raijin K

          I have an idea how it could go.

          Becky: Hello, Mike.
          Mike: Bite me.
          Commenters: OH GOD BECKY IS THE WORST SHUT UP BECKY

        9. Adam Black

          LOL

          followed by
          Mike: I had sex with your mom for quarter
          Becky: My moms dead

          Commenters: OMG. becky you need to stop slut-shaming mike.
          Your mom died a long time ago. Why do you have to rub our faces in it.

        10. airyu

          Can you link me to some Becky hate comments? Whenever I reas the comments section, everyone seems super polite. Like today, becky hate is zero as of my posting. But I see people conplaining about Becky hate all the time??

        11. Raijink

          I replied to one. Politeness has little to do with it. When you interpret everything Becky does has ” the worst thing” it’s pretty clear you’ve made up your mind about the character.

        12. airyu

          I guess I just don’t see how saying that Becky seems to be manipulating Joyce as “Becky Hate.” I don’t see it that way, but I can 100% see why someone would read a character that way.
          I also don’t think it’s wrong to hate a character. My hatred of Mary makes me want Mary to appear int he comic 10000% more.

        13. Nono

          Difference is that characters like Mary and Blaine are intented to be disliked. Becky is supposedly a well-balanced important side/main character that just gets a lot of heat.

        14. Halloween Jack

          There was some powerful threadpooping yesterday, it shouldn’t take you too long to find.

        15. Rycan

          Keep in mind, the worst of the worst gets promptly deleted when Willis finds it.

        16. Screwball


          airyu
          Can you link me to some Becky hate comments? Whenever I reas the comments section, everyone seems super polite. Like today, becky hate is zero as of my posting. But I see people conplaining about Becky hate all the time??          .

          Yesterday, it was the 3rd comment branch that had the first Becky-bash attack. Gotta admit, when I see a comment chain going into a “Character-X should die cause they’re nothing but trash” direction, I usually end up just skipping it. Well, unless it’s about an actual bad guy (Toe-Dad, Amber’s Dad, Ryan, etc.), then it might be interesting…

        17. HeySo

          No, the comments would be ‘A QUARTER? Mike only pays a quarter (versus a nickel) if they’re REALLY good. Wow, Becky’s Mom, Wow.’

          I mean, who even care about what Becky is saying at that point, focus on Mike and his affair with Becky’s Mom.

          And on that note, I guess we’ve figured out the next Slipshine..

        18. DarkoNeko

          I like how, for people like me who couldn’t remember clothing to save their life, there are signs like the way she’s holding her hand.
          It’s enough to make out it’s what she was wearing THAT night.

        19. DarkoNeko

          uuuh why did that post end up there instead of the bottom of the page ? 🙁

        20. No Name

          You forgot to click “Cancel reply”.

        21. xerxes93

          wow, it’s almost like she’s a character whose actions are relevant to the plot and not an actual person! Who’da thunk!

    2. KingMabel

      She’s running away from home to live in her best friend’s dorm room, who she has a crush on. It was bound to happen.

  6. Mr. Random

    Yeah…. Not that one.

  7. Opus the Poet

    Near-rape sweater!

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      I rather have a terrycloth sweater myself…

    2. Deanatay

      I worry that Joyce sees it not as the ‘almost got raped in it’ sweater, and more as the ‘made a guy WANT to rape me’ sweater. Joyce strikes me as a self-blamer, unfortunately.

      Fortunately, this subject is hard to talk about, which will limit my rambling.

      1. Bagge

        That’s a real risk – and given the “sweet lesbian facts” she learnt a day ago she really doesn’t need to connect Becky with that trigger warning.

    3. -Sentinel-

      Ooooh, didn’t make that connection. O_o

  8. epershannd

    no…..no…;-;

  9. KingMabel

    Continuity?

    1. nothri

      Continuity!

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyPh8aIdR-4

  10. Plasma Mongoose

    I’m surprised Joyce even kept her trigger dress.

    1. Lyssie

      I’ll bet she just threw it in the closet when she changed her clothes and then Did Not Think About It. Throwing it away would involve thinking about it, and thinking about why she needs to throw it away…. Much easier to simply forget it exists.

      1. Lyssie

        God damn, I need to get a Gravatar. This Joe makes all my posts look creepy.

        1. Archivist

          Eeyes it does.

        2. SDGlyph

          Wait, the bunny thing is less creepy than Joe?

        3. MeghanTheWorldEater

          It’s still creepy just in a different way.

        4. Safgaftsa

          I kind of assumed Lyssie was just referring to the bunny as ‘a random Joe’ instead of ‘DOA Joe.’

        5. Lyssie

          Nah, I just immediately went and got a grav. DoA Joe leering at my comment about Joyce’s rape trigger sweater was the final straw that overcame my laziness.

        6. Lyssie

          It’s at least not leering suggestively at every comment I make. And it was right there on my hard drive and I am lazy.

        7. Disloyal Subject

          Yeah, the leering Joe gets old after a while. Eventually I’ll pick something other than savagesparrow’s Inquisitor T-shirt, but it was convenient at the time.
          I rather like the dog-bunny-biped, though; well-picked.

        8. Megatron

          I will give you ten energon cubes if you change your name to Frank.

        9. neeks

          I understood that reference! (Maybe. Donnie darko, right?)

        10. Megatron

          Yes fleshling.

        11. Screwball

          LOL I’m with Megsy 😛

          (wow, never thought I’d say THAT…)

          It’s got a stethyscope, sethoscope, 1 of those heart-listening things, maybe Dr Frank…

      2. Cricket

        Definitely a dynamic that happens. Sometimes it’s easier to not even clear out items that are reminders of awful times because that involves interacting with the items again.

    2. dralou

      Ditto. I guess she just didn’t want to interact with anything reminding her of that night, “forgetting” the clothes in the back of her wardrobe.

      Becky’s comment suggests that Joyce didn’t even wash it…

      1. Kryss LaBryn

        Blood doesn’t usually just wash out in the gentle cycle on cool (the way a sweater would need to be washed).

        However, if it hasn’t been washed yet (heat can set the stain) then dandruff shampoo can take it right out, even if it’s dried.

        The more you know!

        1. DarkoNeko

          Hey, it’s pretty useful.
          They who never had a nosebleed throw the first sto-*– acutally, please don’t, there’s enough blood already.

        2. Screwball

          *starts throwing rocks, aiming for noses…*

        3. Roborat

          Wait, so you don’t go over it with an erasable marker?

        4. Solenoid

          At least it’s not going to be the comments section filled with ways to hide the body.

  11. otusasio451

    Oh…oh wait, it’s THAT sweater.

    1. boomwolf

      Literally took the words right out of my mouth. Are you a wizard?

      1. Hank

        Reverse ventriloquist.

        1. stevecharb

          Reverse Ventriloquist?

          So the puppet’s hand goes up HIS ass?

        2. DarkoNeko

          kinky.

        3. Clif

          And painful.

  12. Cephalo the Pod

    Happy April Fools, everyone.
    Is this gonna be a thing from now on? Massive drama on April 1st?

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      April Fools? More like April Cruels.

      1. 6Qubed

        April First? More like April Worst.

        1. nothri

          Month of April? More like month of Fail…prl. DAMMIT YA’LL TOOK ALL THE GOOD ONES!

    2. sps48

      April First. And most every other day.

  13. HeinousActsZX

    Old Man Willis sure seems grumpy!

    We gotta get him into the April Fools Spirit!

    I know! Let’s make a promo for Transformers Animated season 4! Surely he’ll crack a smile at that!

    1. Tacos

      Better yet, make a promo for a Transformers series all about Hot Shot.

      1. Screwball

        What about 1 about Minicons?

      2. LeftWingFox

        IDW Transformers spotlight on Ambulon.

        Well Ambulon/Pharma.

        We had to split it.

  14. Kris

    You mean that wasn’t burned to ashes?

  15. Jon P

    If she thinks the dresses all look plain, she hasn’t gotten to the yellow one that sent Joe’s eyebrows a-flyin’.

    Also, I think Joyce is going to lose her composure now…

    1. neeks

      Dress shirts, not dresses.

  16. Cerberus

    I’m really hoping that this is the moment where Joyce starts sharing her trauma or Becky starts ferreting it out of her as that’s a best friend moment that needs to happen and Joyce has been keeping way to much trapped inside with no one she feels safe enough to tell.

    1. timemonkey

      Problem with that is that this IS in character for Joyce, she’s a youngest and has shown a tendency to be territorial over certain items. There’s a good chance Becky will just assume that’s her favorite sweater or something.

      1. dralou

        … with blood on it. I’m pretty sure Joyce is a neat freak, so… nope, not really in character.

      2. SDGlyph

        I think the “I see blood on it” line cuts that option out, though.

        1. SDGlyph

          Jinx!

    2. sps48

      Sharing trauma is overrated. It can cause stress whenever it is thought of, so reminders, however intentioned, may not be welcome. Reliving something over and over isn’t always healing. Plus it can get in one’s head and keep sleep away for most of the night.
      Et cetera. In my experience.

      1. Regalli

        True. Still, the way she’s been dealing with it isn’t healthy either. I really think she needs to see a counselor or someone. (Is it too much to hope for that Becky thinks something’s up, takes Dorothy aside and asks her, and Dorothy tells her enough that they can figure out how to help Joyce from there?)

      2. timemonkey

        Except she’s already reliving it constantly and losing sleep to nightmares.

  17. Stephen Bierce

    Yeah, don’t tell me you don’t know what love is
    When you’re old enough to know better
    When you find strange hands in your sweater
    When your dreamboat turns out to be a footnote…    –Elvis Costello

  18. Gangler

    She hasn’t even washed Ryan’s blood off of it. Wonder what that means. Has she just been too upset by the sweater to deal with it or does preserving it have some significance to her?

    1. andy

      Or blood stains

    2. Kris

      My guess. It was tossed in anger buried over time and forgotten until just now. Panel two is a look of surprise.

    3. timemonkey

      It might be her blood, she cut her hand too.

    4. Lyssie

      “Just too upset to deal” has my vote.

    5. Bill

      Why does this make me think about Jackie Kennedy’s pink dress?

      I was going to say the same thing timemonkey did.  Ryan did grab her (and he had touched his cut-up face before doing this, so he probably could have smeared some blood from his hand onto the sweater), but Sarah showed up with her Louisville Slugger and turned him into a ground-rules double before anything worse could happen.  Joyce, OTOH, did have a pretty good gash on her hand when she woke up later on, so I’m inclined to believe it is Joyce’s.

      1. B.D

        Heh. “Turned him into a ground-rules double.” Love it.

    6. Halloween Jack

      Deep in her mind, Joyce knows that, if she pledges her soul to Satan, her Dark Lord will give her powers to scry her attacker’s location from his blood, and wreak her awful vengeance upon him. So she’s putting off getting out the Woolite until she can make that happen.

      …well, that’s what I’d do.

    7. Bagge

      It DOES mean, among other things, that she has a sample of DNA from an attempted rapist, that – if filed properly as evidence – could be used to identify him and build a case, or at least help strenghten the case if he is implicated for other similar crimes.

      It probably won’t happen since Joyce won’t go to the police, but I hope Sarah or Amaziegirl gets wind of it.

      1. fit-to-freak

        like literally one of the worst things in the world is to report someone’s rape against their will, it’s incredibly violating and hurtful and potentially re traumatizing. so I really hope neither of them would ever ever do this.

        1. Bagge

          I absolutely don’t suggest they do it against her will. I suggest talk Joyce into putting the sweater in a plastic bag and store it somewhere safe, and IF (and only if) Joyce decide to be involved in a case, present it as evidence.

        2. David M Willis

          It is her own blood. She cut her hand on the glass and wiped her hand on her sweater. Ol’ gash-face didn’t really have a chance to wipe his face on Joyce.

        3. Bagge

          Ah, of course. Then my suggestion is rather useless.

        4. fit-to-flip

          That’s not I bad idea I guess. Unless she decides she needs to destroy it- that happens sometimes.

  19. anonymsly

    Joyce. Joyce. Joyce. You wanted to talk to Becky originally to tell her about your troubles and get her advice and support. This is exactly your chance to do it without sounding like you’re trampling or belittling Becky’s troubles and without getting into a misery one-upsmanship competition.

    Come on, Joyce! Talk! Or, alternatively, come on, Becky! Ask questions!

    1. Bagge

      Please Joyce, this is the perfect time. No distractions, just you and Becky.

  20. Spencer

    You know, I half expected “I’m writing the conclusion to Joyce & Walky! April Fools!”

  21. Dean

    If you don’t look at the rape sweater, it can’t hurt you.

    1. newllend(henryvolt)

      How would a piece of clothing remind her of that ? I barely remember what I had on last Friday let alone what I had on what 3 weeks ago? and its still not clear if she remembers every single detail of what happened that night.

      and if its the blood why not just clean wash it.

      1. Regalli

        She remembers what she was doing before she was drugged (“the nice pastor’s son”), so she almost certainly remembers that she was wearing that sweater, she probably spent a lot of time picking what to wear for her first college party.

        And while people don’t typically remember what clothes they’re wearing on a day to day basis, it’s a different thing entirely in the aftermath of a traumatic event. Joyce remembers enough to know Amazi-Girl was there, and to have nightmares where she sees Ryan with the gash and face right before things would have gotten seriously bad (albeit on what appears to be the wrong side of his face. I’m going to attribute that to her memory loss, even though the rest of the time she remembers it on the correct one.) She was really excited for that party, she changed clothes so it’d be special, so it makes sense that she’d remember she had been wearing it afterwards.

        1. Bill

          When Sarah and Billie put Joyce in her upper bunk after they her got back to her room, she was still wearing the sweater.  And in a following strip, snuggled up with Sarah that night, the sweater was in the bunk with them.  And as time went by, Joyce did probably remember more and more of what happened that night, but just compartmentalized it.

      2. Stifyn Baker

        It doesn’t have to be in active memory. All that was really required for today’s events to pan out was that she came home, threw the sweater into the bottom of the wardrobe in a stress, and then forgot about it. How many of us actively look in the bottom of our wardrobes? Then Becky finds it, and the memories come crashing back…

      3. Tacos

        People can often recall very specific details or things following a traumatic event.

      4. Chrissy

        You’d be surprised about the odd, specific, yet seemingly irrelevant details you remember with crystal clarity after a traumatic event.

      5. Aris Katsaris

        That’s probably because nothing very traumatic happened to you last Friday or 3 weeks ago?

      6. Rodimiss

        I can remember the clothes that I was wearing the day my cousin and I flipped his quad, and that was three or four years ago, because I liked the shirt I was wearing and we fell into a thorn bush and I remember thinking “oh man I hope I didn’t rip it up.” And if Joyce liked the sweater enough to wear to a party, yeah she’s gonna remember she bled on it and was wearing it all throughout afterwards, she’s gonna remember that sweater goes with that.

  22. comickibble

    Ooof, ouch, right in the heart Willis, damn.

  23. advancecasette

    fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck

    1. Opus the Poet

      No, thank you.

  24. tim gueguen

    I’m surprised Becky didn’t make a Velma reference. Given that it’s a persistent little fungus I would assume she’s seen at least one or two episodes of some version of Scooby Doo.

    1. Dr. T

      I don’t see how anyone can remember what outfit Joyce was wearing when she was almost raped. How long ago was that in real time? I thought it was a Velma reference myself and that Joyce thought that was a little too much in-your-face about Becky’s new-found lesbianism. I completely whiffed until I saw everyone else’s comments.

      1. Cass

        I didn’t recognize it on seeing it, it’s Becky’s comment about it being bloodstained that made it clear for me when it was from and explained Joyce’s reaction.

      2. John

        3.5 years. The blood is kind of a tip-off, though.

        1. jeffepp

          I was thinking Velma as well, until the blood reference.

        2. Kryss LaBryn

          Yup, me too. And me too.

          Shame, because if it wasn’t for the memories and blood it’d probably look super cute on Becky.

          Mind you, when it’s a girl who has a clothing item with blood on it… well, that can happen without traumatic events, as well. Just sayin’.

      3. Carriethedragon

        The blood may’ve done it for many people, but I straight-up recognized the sweater. …I spend too much time reading this comic, don’t I?

        1. timemonkey

          I got it right away too.

        2. John

          Yeah, my reaction was something like: Oh, hey, Velma sweater! Wow, Joyce hasn’t worn that since… the…… oh, damn. 🙁

      4. HeySo

        Whiffed: To lightly or briefly smell.

        I don’t follow your word use o.O

        1. John

          Also, in baseball, to swing the bat without making contact with the ball. Metaphorically, Dr. T completely missed the reference.

        2. HeySo

          Oh hey, look at that.
          Thanks for the reference clarification 🙂

    2. Rabid Rabbit

      Joyce wasn’t allowed to watch that show beause it promotes witchcraft, so likely Becky doesn’t know it either.

    3. SonicBlueRanger

      Maybe not. Since Joyce and Becky had the same basic childhood Wills did her parents (Or Toe Head Dad) probably didn’t want her watching such satanic programing as a stoner and his talking dog unmasking con men dressed as spookums and monsters.

  25. John

    > (April Fools things are for terrible, awful websites run by immoral jerks)
    You’re just scarred by that strip swap back in the It’s Walky! days.

    1. MeghanTheWorldEater

      Wait what happened? I haven’t heard this story yet

      1. Kamino Neko

        There was a crossover thing between a bunch of web comic artists.

        He ended up swapping with Dave Gonterman, which would traumatize anyone.

  26. Cephalo the Pod

    Uh…guys?
    Check out Shortpacked.com

    …

    You know what don’t do that.

    1. MeghanTheWorldEater

      dab dab Dab Dab Dab DAB DAB DAB DAB! DAB! DAB!!! DAB!!!!

    2. Jones

      I am scarred forever

    3. SDGlyph

      aaah

      aaah

      WHY

    4. Safgaftsa

      I’m not currently reading Shortpacked, but this doesn’t even seem relevant–

      –checks date–

      –right.

    5. B.D

      My new head-canon is that at least one Dumbiverse character is secretly a dimensional refugee from the DABverse. (It is Asma, oddly enough.)

      1. Nono

        It’d probably be Dab, I mean Dan.

    6. SonicBlueRanger

      I don’t see anything wrong with dab. dab dab dab dab Sonic Reference dab dab dab power rangers dab dab dab dab dab dab dab.

    7. Claire

      I know it’s for April Fools but…doesn’t make it any less terrifying.

    8. Tenn

      All hail Dab. Praise be to Dab.

  27. Rezkel

    HAHAHA April Fools

    Does the author hate holidays? Seems like harsh stuff always happens on them.

  28. SDGlyph

    Reads Willis’ comment: “Ahaha, I guess Jeph or Joel must have an April Fools strip up?”

    Comic loads: “Oh.”

    …and see panel 3 Joyce unconsciously(?) rubbing her hand where she cut it on his glass jaw. :/

    1. Regalli

      She did that one of the other times when she kept seeing Ryan on campus, too.

      1. Leorale

        She’s very consistent about it; holding her gashed palm means she’s thinking about that traumatic event.

    2. Deanatay

      BTW, if you’re looking for a lighthearted April Fool’s joke, check out the Shortpacked site.

  29. Liz

    …moment of truth?

  30. Cass

    Oh Joyce, sweetie, if you don’t feel capable of about what happened yourself you should consider asking Sarah or Dorothy to take Becky aside and tell her what happened, so she doesn’t trod on your trauma without having any clue she’s hurting you.

  31. AgentKeen

    Yeah, why is that at the bottom of your closet? It looks really nice on you…

    Oh…

  32. Lapin

    Burn it, Joyce. Just douse it in lighter fluid and burn it. Trust me, it’s a catharsis nothing else can beat, beyond setting that asshole himself on fire.

  33. Cricket

    Well, it’s an appropriate comic for the first day of Sexual Assault Awareness Month…
    I want to hope/imagine that there are some good support resources Joyce can access at this college, but if most colleges I’m familiar with are any judge, that’s probably not the case.

  34. diello

    When I hit the random button (to try to get close to that night…): http://www.dumbingofage.com/2011/comic/book-1/06-yesterday-was-thursday/sweatervest/
    Bam. There’s the introduction to the sweater.

    1. Screwball

      Then keep going for a few pages & you get yourself Chekhov’s Gun… (Warning, TV TRopes link…)

      Plus if you look in the 2nd panel of that strip, you can see a caped figure running across the rooftops. I’m thinking someone followed them to help out maybe…?

      1. diello

        Oh I have already read this comic from the beginning. Just verifying the orange sweater 😉

  35. Bluesnake462

    I’m surprised she didn’t burn it.

  36. maycroft

    Whuuuuuuuut???

    1. SDGlyph

      Thiiiiiiiiiis.

  37. newllend(henryvolt)

    ok the guy is bound to come back, probably creeping on another girl like Mary…that would be a great twist for a chapter, ya Mary dating whats his face and everyone finds out and everything gets awkward from that point.

    1. Nightsbridge

      I wouldn’t wish Ryan on anyone. Not even Mary.

      1. Disloyal Subject

        It might be interesting if they wound up dating, though. I wonder how she’d react if she found out about his attempt to rape Joyce?

        1. Egwenna

          I imagine she’d say it was Joyce’s fault for being at the party and leading him on.

        2. neeks

          Probably tell Joyce it was her fault for attending the party and associating with Dorothy et al in the first place.

  38. zmm

    Poor velma sweater.. it works well for both of them too. But.
    Frankly I think she should throw it away since it’s a horrible memory.

    also tell Becky
    granted she and amazigirl will probably go turn Ryan? into a eunich

  39. curiousg

    Oh snap, can they use that to prove Ryan’s identity if they make a report now?

    1. Safgaftsa

      Yes. But they won’t, because Joyce’s dad would pull her out of school.

      Becky of her own accord.

      1. fit-to-freak

        if Becky reported Ryan against Joyce’s will, I would finally join the group of Becky haters because that shit is the lowest of the low.

    2. Regalli

      Possible, but Joyce got a wound on on her hand from the glass, too, so we don’t know if the blood’s his or hers. Given the circumstances, wouldn’t be worth trying.

  40. Reflex76

    Well, we had gone too long without angst.

  41. Megatron

    You know what Becky reminds me of? A soldier who comes back from the battle field. Like, you try to fit in after a two year tour of duty fighting Autobots on whatever god forsaken wasteland we’re fighting over now, you come home and suddenly you’re behind on everything.

    And your friends haven’t so much moved on, but without that daily contact, you don’t know what’s really what. Because communications from home are always lacking in details.

    And your friends sometimes get impatient because they have to fill you in on everything and they don’t always remember what it is you don’t know.

    I hate Prime.

    1. Raijin K

      Joyce has actively avoided telling Becky about the party.

  42. Heavensrun

    Oof.

  43. Lyssie

    … Oh. I just noticed that in panel 3, she’s holding her hand. Her right hand. The one she glassed Ryan with, and got a nasty gash on in the process.

    1. B.D

      It healed up rather well. Someone would ask about a scar.

  44. CarlaGriffin

    Becky no! You have ginger hair, you are not allowed to wear orange!

    1. Shadow Eagle

      good point… Gingers and Orange don’t mix… don’t the combust or something??

  45. Idon'tcarenomore

    I have to agree that now is the time for Joyce to talk to Becky about what happened to her.
    Her best friend needs to know for a couple good reasons:
    1 Stop Becky from leaning so hard on Joyce and start fending for herself.

    2 If you can’t tell your best friend who the Hell can you tell, it’s not like it’s a secret-several people know. And Becky will be hurt if she finds out from someone else, making things all that much harder on both of them.

    3 But, yeah that would mean Joyce would have to acknowledge that it really happened.

    I think that Mike was in the group when Becky came bounding out of the closet and announced to all and sundrie “I’m a Lesbian” at top of her voice on the campus grounds.
    So, Mike knows who she is, and heard the news.
    It will be interesting when they do interact I suppose.

  46. Proto

    “(April Fools things are for terrible, awful websites run by immoral jerks)”

    – a guy who runs a webcomic revival of his old comic that he was inspired to start when he ran an April Fools fake revival of said comic on another comic.

    …that probably sounded confusing, I was talking about when you ran the fake Roomies strip on Shortpacked that one time a while back

    1. a snow ʍousɐ

      Sarcasm
      What is it

  47. midnightlamp

    Awh jeez, shame the coolest thing in Joyce’s closet now brings up bad memories.

  48. Adam Black

    artisan blood? my favorite kind of blood

  49. Ste

    Or she can tell her when she’s comfortable and feels ready to do so.

    1. thejeff

      Except that she’s in denial and repression and it isn’t doing her any good. Pretending to be fine, but not at all fine.

      And she’ll never be comfortable and ready to talk about it. But she really needs to. To somebody.

      1. fit-to-freak

        it. takes. time. it takes time. it just does, and it’s not as simple as people are making it out to be. forcing that conversation? can be re traumatizing and make the person less willing to talk about it..

      2. Smiling Cat

        She needs to talk to somebody equipped to deal with it. Becky may not be the right person. In this case, people tend to switch cause and effect. Being able to talk about it outside of a safe environment isn’t a cause of healing, it’s an effect of the event losing its power over her.

        She needs to start small in a place where she feels safe. She hasn’t found it yet.

    2. fit-to-freak

      seriously wtf is with all this “obviously sexual assault victims have to talk about it right away!” shit

      1. Smiling Cat

        It’s based on good intentions and the belief that getting it out will alleviate the pain.

        Also, the successful prosecutions of these cases are heavily time sensitive. Physical evidence degrades quickly. Witnesses become less reliable. The more open and shut these cases are, the less likely the victim will have to endure all the worse aspects of a trial. I understand that trials can be particularly agonizing for victims, especially when the Defense Attorney’s most common tactic is to insist they were asking for it.

  50. SDGlyph

    Blood by artisans or blood of artisans?
    If you cut a hipster, do they bleed artisanal blood?
    Depending on oxygenation, hipster blood is either artisanal or venal.

    … I’ll see myself out.

    1. Bill

      Just keep that sweater out of the hands of the resident Wiccans.
      “The blood of a virgin, etc.”, don’t ‘cha know.

      …. don’t close the door, SD, I’m right behind you…..

  51. Willoughby Chase

    Them bones be a-rattling!

  52. pretty flacko

    “April Fools things are for terrible, awful websites run by immoral jerks”

    WILLIS WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?! You were OUR immoral jerk!

    1. Gigafreak

      http://www.shortpacked.com/
      “Were?”

  53. AeroQC

    I knew I had seen that Snazzy sweater before, took me a while to find it again. Man, it’s been a while.
    Also, tell her about it Joyce!

  54. HeySo

    Blood?
    !!!
    Plot twist, Joyce is Amazi-Girl.

    Now go reread the comics with that in mind 😉

  55. Bagge

    …and that’s when Becky realized that Joyce’s story is more complex than she thought.

  56. jlcasto

    I’m starting to dread the feels that will come with the rest of the week….

  57. Sporky

    I just thought Joyce didnt want her to wear it cause she’d look too much like Velma. Thanks for reminding me of important plot things comments

  58. Dr. Smart

    that’s twice in as many days shes been reminded of that

  59. ThatGuy

    yea i thought she was going to say with the red hair it made her look like Velma from Scooby Doo.

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