185

Newer, better
Posted on March 14, 2025 by David M Willis

185 thoughts on “Newer, better”

  1. Thag Simmons

    The sad thing is that if Jennifer wants a character witness this is probably the best she can do.

    1. Proxiehunter

      Joyce has definitely witnessed that Jennifer can be quite the character.

      1. Thag Simmons

        Yep, but unfortunately for Jennifer her next best alternative is her embittered ex so Joyce will have to suffice.

    2. Freezer

      She could do far worse.

  2. Davus

    What does she want?

    1. Thag Simmons

      I assume the same favour she asked Raidah for

      1. Steamweed

        That is what I’m guessing.

    2. Proxiehunter

      A shrubbery. And for Joyce to cut down the tallest tree in the forest with a herring.

      1. Cholma

        Nobody wants Jennifer to say… “Ni!”

        1. Needfuldoer

          Shh!

        2. VicMortimer

          Ekke Ekke Ekke Ekke Ptang Zoo Boing!

        3. Schol-R_LEA

          Zeeky Boogie Doog!

        4. Steamweed

          Gotta say, I did not expect this.

        5. Astariel

          NOBODY expects the…oh, wait, wrong bit.

        6. Lilith Rose

          That’s right! In this case, EVERYBODY expects the…

          wait… Steamweed didn’t…

          EVERYBODY expect Steamweed expects Monty Python references! So please, this is supposed to be a happy occasion. Let’s not bicker and argue over who killed who. But let’s look at the greater question… ‘Is there life after death?’, and to help discuss it, here are three dead people.

        7. Lilith Rose

          *except Steamweed

        8. clif

          No-one excepts the Steamweed expection.

        9. Casi

          and now for something completely different

        10. Steamweed

          I applaud all y’all.

      2. Lysbeth

        And… ANOTHER shrubbery!

    3. anon

      maybe a deep part of her that doesn’t want to admit it cares for asher and wants joyce ot talk to ethan to get info since they are friends, although other than casually revealing super personal/intimate details idk if she’d really press more than “how’s your new relationship going” if not invite joe on a ‘double date’ kinda thing (tho that’d be fun to see)

      1. GholaHalleck

        She’s hyper focused on Alice now, I doubt she really cares about Asher so long as she can pretend to have at least one kind of “normal” relationship.

        1. anon

          That makes sense too, i guess joyce might be willing to help tho i’d imagine alice to bring up boundaries and such, even if it’s not the same situation as joyce potentially cutting her own mother off

          i’m down for alice having more of a role in the cast but patreon strips aside be interesting if there was a spinoff too (tho i guess at some point its’ easier to put it all in one comic esp since i assume willis isn’t gonna retire anytime soon)

        2. elebenty

          He better not! We have to get these kids through college!

        3. Thag Simmons

          I like Alice, but if Willis decided to make a Dumbing of Age spinoff comic she would not be my first bet

        4. GholaHalleck

          Glassos/Cheers pastiche would be fun.

        5. Wack'd

          sometimes you wanna go
          where everybody is a FOOOOOOOOOL

        6. Thag Simmons

          Shortpacked! but in a restaurant would be a pretty easy sell, yeah.

        7. anon

          @thag: i don’t necessarily mean a full main role (idk if she had a bigger role in its walky or teh one with the alien stuff lol), but maybe more of a main cast/seeing more than once in a blue moon

        8. Thag Simmons

          In the older continuity she was Billie’s best friend, but that was not a particularly developed role. Like four total pages, all in supporting roles.

    4. Taffy

      She wants meth, and she knows Joyce can tell her where to get it for a good price. It’s the only explanation that factors in her recent activities and motivations.

      1. Jeremiah

        Tedd spotted!

        1. clif

          wait. Where?

        2. clif

          Looks at background characters but there aren’t any.

        3. Taffy

          I assume my current gravatar has some character named Tedd from something called EGS. I wouldn’t know though, because I don’t read that comic. I just found a picture of a sexy glasses-wearing character, and I definitely don’t have strong opinions on any headband-wearing blondes, secret siblings, gender casual superheroes, fairy summoning Asian women, or alien squirrels who may be contained within.

        4. clif

          Well, okay then.

      2. Steamweed

        Meth? I thought she wanted mdma.

      3. Li

        Tedd!!

        Sorry, love EGS ?

    5. Reltzik

      She wants for Joyce NOT to be her only option.

  3. Michael Steamweed

    “The student is now the master.”

  4. Sirksome

    Oh no. Joyce is Jennifer’s best friend! Hah!

    1. Lingo

      Again!

      1. justin8448

        Wow, it was forever ago the last time this happened.

  5. Armadillo

    Don’t worry Jennifer, this isn’t a new low for you, things were always this bad!

  6. jeffepp

    And, her world crumbles further.

    1. Deanatay

      Best thing that could happen to her.

      1. Bryy

        Actually, yeah.

  7. tomorand

    kinda sounds like something becky would have told Joyce at some point a while back

  8. NGPZ

    speaking of the worldly,

    tonight’s a Total Lunar Eclipse! <3

    and today is Pi Day, and the birthday of the autista OG Albert Einstein!!! ^^

    (if you need an excuse to celebrate by doing whatever, there you go XD)

    *plays “Kryptonite” by Three Doors Down on hacked muzak*

    1. Nymph

      Albert Einstein was a german bus driver?

      1. clif

        I wonder how many bus drivers work for the German patent office?

    2. True Survivor

      Or is it other-worldly? Serious question. I mean the moon isn’t a planet, but it is also a distinct astrological body, yet it is in our planetary system. It is an object of mythology and spiritualism, but we keep ditching our electronics up there like its the bottom of a roller-coaster.

      1. AbacusWizard

        It’s another world, but it’s *our* other world.

        1. clif

          Louie Armstrong claimed it for all mankind.

    3. Miafillene

      Nyaaaaa! ?

    4. Steamweed

      Some nice reds on the lady this morning.

    5. Joy

      It was beautiful ❤️

    6. Laura

      Aww, I missed it!

      Here are some lovely photos, though:

      https://www.npr.org/sections/the-picture-show/2025/03/14/g-s1-53812/pictures-blood-moon-lunar-eclipse-last-night

      And, just ‘cuz, here’s some NASA & Chill…
      https://plus.nasa.gov/tag/nasa-chill/

  9. Opus the Poet

    Well that’s a switch from gagging about Walky seeing her boobs.

  10. Nymph

    Yay!! A chance for Joyce to feel good about herself and help someone who has been there for her in the past! Also a distraction from the tiddypics, which I will survive, somehow.

  11. Pocky

    it’s nice to be needed

  12. BBCC

    Joyce is the best little sister.

  13. Coatl

    Jennifer asking Joyce for a favor………ok, the expression on both of their faces says it all.

  14. True Survivor

    Joyce is very good at speaking with her mouth full. I don’t know if this is because as the youngest of many siblings, dinner was probably a death race to consume as many calories as possible before they were all gone, or because she secretly part chipmunk (which to be honest sort of fits). Regardless, that mitten is now likely very slobbery, which is, frankly, the worst sort of glove.

    1. Embe13

      unless leather mitten, look up garbo mitts
      water had to either penetrate the seam or go in with your hand

  15. Steve

    If she keeps looking at that selfie any longer she’s going to chew and swallow her glove.

  16. Mel

    We’ve reached levels of triangle smile on Joyce previously thought impossible!

    1. Reltzik

      *measures*

      That bottom angle of the triangle is more than 90 degrees. It needs to be less than 90 for it to be acute triangle smile.

      1. Mark

        Unless all angles are 90 degrees, at least one of them must be acute.

        1. Reltzik

          Well, her head is spherical (or close enough for a topology work), and on a spherical topology you can have triangles (depending where you designate “inside” the triangle) with all angles GREATER than 90 degrees.

          … I think THAT’s the new bar for “levels of triangle smile previously thought impossible.

      2. Deanatay

        Joyce _can_ be obtuse at times…

  17. Suet

    Oh no… no. Tony and Sarah are too good to be broken up by Joyce. Jennifer’s face is giggle-worthy tho.

    ‘S hard to use a glove while scrolling— how was she able to perfectly talk while biting into it

    1. Thag Simmons

      I don’t think Jennifer cares about breaking up Sarah and Tony, and if she did we already know her strategy is “do not interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake”

    2. Nymph

      Joyce would never agree to do that. No shot.

    3. Laserbeaks Fury

      Nah, I suspect the “expertise” Jennifer is about to avail herself of is Joyce’s ability to change herself since arriving at college.

    4. Steamweed

      Jennifer doesn’t want to break up Sarah and Tony. Raidah wants that. But Jennifer wants to be closer to Alice again. And she wants Joyce to wingwoman for her.

  18. Uly

    Happy Purim, guys!

    And Happy Holi as well!

    1. NGPZ

      Oh wow there’s 4 holidays today AND a total lunar eclipse :0

      HAVA NAGILA ^^ <3

    2. Reltzik

      *gifts graggers to everyone else’s 5-year-old kids like the little shit-stirrer that he is*

    3. Amós Batista

      Holi, Purim, Moon Eclipse…
      Lot of coincidences.

      (Also, I wish I could participate in Holi)

  19. DailyBrad

    I love how this isn’t even the first time she’s had the rock bottom realization of Joyce probably being her strongest friendship in college. Like, this just keeps happening to her.

    1. Sporky

      I don’t know if “rock bottom” is fair. Yes, it sucks to have only one friend, but if you do only have one, Joyce is a great one to have.

      1. StClair

        Agreed.

      2. Thag Simmons

        Two key things here is that Jennifer hasn’t really leaned into being Joyce’s friend, so she’s not really getting the benefits, and that while Joyce is probably Jennifer’s closest friend, Jennifer is at most Joyce’s sixth closest friend, probably lower.

        1. Sirksome

          C’mon. Sure Jennifer isn’t the best friend but she’s at least in the top 5. What you think Dina edges her out?

        2. John Campbell

          Last semester, probably not. This semester, yeah. Hell, I think Jennifer is below Walky. Joyce wasn’t making lunch plans with Jennifer.

        3. Thag Simmons

          No, I don’t think Dina’s higher than Jennifer. Not yet at least, that might change. I would say that Ethan definitely used to be, and frankly I’d probably plug Walky in higher than Jennifer.

        4. Thag Simmons

          In hindsight “Might change” doesn’t seem strong enough, Dina’s like a week out from overtaking Jennifer at the rate we’ve been going. It’s only a matter of time.

        5. Sirksome

          I mean let’s see. Off the top of my head it’s Definitely Dorothy or Becky. I wanna say Dorothy is #1 but that might insult Becky who has known her longer. Maybe like:
          1. Dorothy
          2. Becky
          3. Sarah
          4. Joe or Walky if Joe is in a separate boyfriend category
          5. Dina
          …….Damn Jen might be six.

        6. Chubseus

          I think Jen’s even lower. I think Liz, Sarah’s sister, is above her for sure. And maybe Sal too; she shares her clothes and I think Joyce offered her a double date. Hell, Jen might be below Carla.

        7. John Campbell

          Carla is obviously #1. Just ask her.

        8. Li

          Important for all of this though is that I do NOT think Joyce actually ranks people this way.

          Becky and Dorothy are best-friend tier, undeniably, and Sarah is big-sister tier, also undeniably, but Joyce would move mountains for any friend who needed her.

      3. DashWallkick

        Keep in mind for Jennifer, this is absolutely rock bottom. She doesn’t need help, she’s great with people, and thinks sincere and outgoing nerds are embarrassing. She now has to ask Joyce for advice. This really stings her ego.

        1. DailyBrad

          Yes, this is important context. What I am saying isn’t knocking Joyce, but that Jennifer/Billie likes her but still is reminded of her own social failings sometimes by realizing Joyce is the one she is in the debt of, so to speak, the first time when Billie was basically a social cancer in the initial couple of months of college.

          Note that Jennifer is MUCH more comfortable with the friendship in situations like when Joyce was receptive to getting help from her during the birth control saga and when Joyce was irritable with her closer friends. I think Jennifer is uncomfortable coming to people hat-in-hand and likes being seen as a dependable person, even if she’s so consistently failed at maintaining that.

        2. DashWallkick

          Which all circles back to her father’s neglect and abandonment of her! The way to show people you care is by fixing their crises then ignoring them. Sincerity and honesty don’t really make sense to her, which is why she’s spent so long of this comic pushing people at arm’s length then fixing their trouble. She does not know that this is how you create the drama hurricane of self destruction and isolation.

        3. Joy

          I think she’s just kind of annoyed right now and not really hitting rock bottom

    2. Bryy

      I highly doubt she even registers Joyce as friend.

      1. anonymsly

        Especially sad since she once admitted out loud that Joyce was her best friend.

      2. DailyBrad

        She totally considers Joyce a friend, like she loves dropping in to try to help with stuff like Joyce being pissed at the others when she was being patronized about her health.

        Doesn’t mean she’s been a consistently good friend or present friend, obviously, but what is Jennifer if not a bundle of contradictions?

        She’s the problem solver, she’s the problem. She fixes things, she breaks them. She’s the best, she’s the fucking worst. Not one of us loves her or hates her as much as she loves and hates herself.

        1. Li

          +1, particularly about the self-hatred.

          I think the key a LOT of people are missing about Jennifer, like Carla, is that the self-aggrandizing asshole affectation is… an affectation, covering for a lot of fear and insecurity.

          Jennifer CAN be kind of self-absorbed, but even that isn’t… in a conscious, deliberate mean way. She doesn’t think she’s better or more worthy than Joyce, she’s just somewhat mired in her own problems.

          Like, oh I don’t know, a lot of teenagers.

    3. Florence

      It’s so funny, she’s so highschool brained she can’t just develop her actual relationships

      1. Bryy

        It’s almost like these people have only been in college for half a year.

  20. Sporky

    “You’re asking ME a favor?”

    “Well, this is the one bridge left that I haven’t burned… so yeah.”

  21. Deanatay

    Billie-Jenn is not a lover
    She’s just a girl who
    Thinks that I am a dork
    But
    Right now she needs a friend!
    Hee hee hee huh

    Billie-Jenn is not a lover
    Billie-Jenn is not a lover

    1. Embe13

      +100 for that

    2. Aquila

      Don’t have the time to do a whole adaptation right now, but it just occurred to me that Jen’s situation with Alice matches pretty well with the beginning of Teenage Dirtbag (by Wheatus).

      (Her name is Alice
      I have a dream about her
      etc.)

  22. JessWitt

    Well, it’s a step up from asking Raidah to speak on behalf of her.

  23. Jamie

    I hope Joyce’s mittens are delicious.

  24. Charles Phipps

    Jennifer will try and get Joyce to talk to Alice and it will result in Alice falling for her.

    1. John Campbell

      The old Cyrano gambit…

    2. Thag Simmons

      Women do be falling in love with Joyce

      1. Thag Simmons

        I am really excited to see Jennifer try to mend fences with Alice, because there’s dozens of ways this could go horribly wrong and basically all of them would be compelling

        1. anon

          @ Thag (jason aside) Imagine if Ruth of all ppl ended up hooking up with alice lol, that’d be quite a reaction

        2. Charles Phipps

          Alice loves Ruth but Ruth is only doing it to make Jennifer jealous.

        3. Envy

          I think if that happened Jennifer would end up on the news

        4. Thag Simmons

          That would be hilarious. I’ve been rooting for Alice to end up with Daisy for similar reasons

    3. Tan

      Jennifer will try and get Joyce to talk to Alice and it will result in Alice falling for Dorothy. Joyce & Joe will have a double-date with Alice & Dorothy, after which Joyce will inexplicably dislike Alice for reasons she can’t put her finger on.

    4. anon

      I think she’d have her guard up, so to speak/hesitant to be flirty with joyce if she knew that she was approached b/c of billiefer versus joyce ‘happening’ to come across alice and extroverted enough to strike up a conversation/something in common

  25. BYM!

    JENNIFER IS RECRUITING THE LESBIAN LOVE SLEUTH (well, half of them anyway).

    1. anon

      imagine becky getting involved and ‘charming’ alice too and also being a polycule (tho i imagine her anxieties about her sexuality and partner potentially transitioning would take up her time)

  26. IntangibleMatter

    I know it’s just because she’s biting on her hat but chipmunk Joyce in the first few panels is absolutely adorable.

    1. Dean

      It’s her mitten. She took it off last strip to use her phone.

  27. John Campbell

    Whatever stupid thing you’re about to say, Jennifer, forget it and just go with, “It’s come to my attention that I don’t have any actual friends anymore. Will you be mine?”

    1. GholaHalleck

      Dotty and Joe teleport between them and growl like rabid yorkies at jenn…

      1. John Campbell

        “Friend”, not “valentine”, jeez.

  28. Charles Phipps

    “Joyce, I want us to become a pair of hard traveling heroes out to see America. I’ll be Green Arrow.”

    1. Deanatay

      – You can be Speedy.

      – Doesn’t he go by Red Ar-

      – SPEEDY!

  29. Bryy

    wow jennifer just when i start to feel sympathy for you, you remind me that you have utterly no self-awareness and are, in fact, a raging asshole with absolutely no shits to give about anyone except yourself.

    like
    I love how she’s trying to get back into Alice’s good graces but the way she’s doing it is an example of why she’s not.

  30. Li

    I’d feel like the transition here meant No Bi Joyce, except that I thought the same thing about Dorothy’s reaction to Joyce’s accidental photos, soooooooo.

    I’m just gonna wait for developments to continue unfolding.

    Also: poor Jennifer.

    1. Li

      Like, honestly, this reaction was a lot more questionable than I originally thought Dorothy’s facial journey over lewds was, so.

      1. Florence

        It’s tricky

        Sometimes a persons sexuality is in a locked box that needs the right key. Sometimes that key is someone telling you that you can be gay. That was my experience with being trans

        1. Li

          Yeah, I was thinking she might also need someone to ask her directly to think about it, like Dorothy did…

          Did you see your Pacific Rim joke got shared by Willis on BlueSky? ?

        2. Florence

          Oh my gosh!!!

        3. Li

          ❤️

    2. John Campbell

      She grabbed onto the flimsy excuse Billie offered for not deleting it awfully quickly, and is now doing a lot of mental justification for why it isn’t weird that Dorothy sent a picture of her tits while staring directly at them.

      1. Li

        Pff, all true.

    3. HueSatLight

      I think Bi Joyce, but that’s not necessarily, or at least not entirely behind her reaction. I think she wants to know how to be sexy, and Dorothy is who she’s modelling herself on.
      I read this strip as Joyce accurately describing her current feelings, but the ‘impossible’ bit is wrong.

      1. Li

        I mean, not only is the impossible bit wrong, Willis intended it to be wrong at the time, and has since basically said on their tumblr that Dorothy’s similar statement of admiration for Amazi-Girl back in the day was intended to be bi feelings for her, hah.

        I can imagine Joyce at least trying to frame her feelings that way, whether to herself in her own head or to someone else who noticed.

  31. DJTsurugi

    Joyce has moved into the acceptance phase of lesbian relationship. ~<3

  32. Ophidiophile

    How is Joyce able to speak legibly while holding a glove in her mouth?

    1. clif

      It’s a talent.

      1. Heavensrun

        Is it, though?

    2. Doopyboop

      She learned from Sal, the champion of talking while holding a cig in her mouth.

    3. Yumi

      These characters just do that. Sarah is fluent in brushing-her-teeth.

      1. John Campbell

        Or fluent while brushing her teeth.

    4. Nymph

      I’m really surprised at the number of people who apparently can’t talk while biting something.

      1. eh, whatever

        British people move their jaws when they speak. Anything they’d be biting would fall out.

        Also, it seems not everyone has figured out you can say “th” behind your teeth instead of between them.

      2. Yumi

        For me it depends on what I’m biting, could be pretty clear or extremely muddled… and also what words I’m saying, which is more a speech impediment thing.

    5. Steamweed

      Little bit of practice. Just like talking while gritting your teeth. Speak slowly and enunciate.

  33. Needfuldoer

    Reason #7126394 that mittens suck.

    1. John Campbell

      No, no, it’s Joyce<em. sucking the mitten.

      1. John Campbell

        Bah, broke my tags.

  34. Da Boy

    The Queen Bee needing social help from the sheltered ex-fundie girl, oh how the mighty have fallen

  35. AnonGrouch

    Just imagine Joyce explaining the alcohol fueled suicide pact down to Alice. Can’t imagine it going better than when Jennifer did. Either that or Joyce somehow pops her bubble for her. About how rough and dire straits Jennifer is in and then Jennifer in anger and rage pops Joyce’s bubble about how nonstandard her reaction to Dorothy pics is. Rock(a Billie) me like a (drama) hurricane.

    Also Jennifer looks like she is drowning in a river and roughed up by the debris.

    1. thejeff

      It’s not hard at this point. You can just explain it as her hitting bottom in response to the crash and that leading her to therapy and giving up alcohol. Joyce’d be good at it. It’s the same kind of “I was a wretched sinner until I found God” narrative a lot of fundie churches use, just with therapy/sobriety instead of God.

      1. Thag Simmons

        I still feel like there’s a ton of pitfalls she could fall into, and Joyce probably isn’t going to know Alice well enough to avoid them.

  36. ValdVin

    Panel three goes on the list of Cute Joyce Things along with “scrunchee in her mouth while pulling her hair back”.

  37. Astariel

    Hmm, a surprisingly muted reaction by Joyce to the Dorothy pic. Could Joyce actually be straight? I worry.

    Love the return of the Joyce smile in the last panel.

    1. John Campbell

      Compare and contrast her response to Billie boobs, which was just “… Why did Dorothy send me a photo of Jennifer’s breasts?” And then she apparently forgot about it until just now, when Jennifer needed reassurance that the photo didn’t go to Walky. She didn’t even ask Dorothy about it when she saw her later. Though granted there was a subvillain attack in between, which was kind of distracting.

      Dorothy tits, on the other hand, have had her staring at them in a daze for two days now, while embracing flimsy excuses for why she shouldn’t delete it and it’s totally normal and okay for her to have a picture of her girl/strike>best friend’s tits on her phone.

      1. John Campbell

        Bah, I’m screwing up all my tags today. At least I got the link right.

      2. Li

        Also, the way she is surprised to see Jennifer still standing there, because she got lost in Thought about the Photo.

      3. Leon

        Pretty sure Joyce is seeing the Dorothy pic for the first time right now.

    2. Charles Phipps

      Well she found an excuse to keep it.

  38. TGS

    I should have posted this few days ago when I first had the thought, but I don’t think Joyce and Dotty are actually a good pairing right now. I was actually thinking that Dotty and Alice might be a good pairing for Dotty to remove her bi training wheels. That poor girl needs something different without as much ourorbourian baggage.

  39. SailorCakes

    That first panel confirms Joyce is the farthest thing away from being bi.

  40. DashWallkick

    That first panel might as well be taken directly out of My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness, where she’s staring at someone she’s supposed to find sexy and goes “yeah, okay, they sure are naked.” Bi Joyce might indeed be dead.

    1. Li

      We’ll see. ?

      1. Li

        Like, you could well be right!

        But on the other hand, the wibbly speech balloon trail, the tiny text, and the fact that what she’s saying is in the context of… making an excuse for not deleting the photo.

  41. Li

    And now for something completely different: Jennifer.

    I really want to see Jennifer reintegrate into Joyce’s circle, and I don’t think it would require all that much humble-pie-eating from her — Sarah will snipe a little and Walky will rag on her, but all she has to do is say “I don’t have anyone else to eat lunch with today,” and Joyce will bend over backwards to welcome her back into the fold. She’s compassionate (to a fault), and would never let Jennifer be lonely, if she knew there Jennifer was feeling that way.

    And I really do hope that her conversation with Raidah was a wake-up call — that her immediate reaction of “maybe I should get back together with Asher” was because she recognizes that he actually liked her, and not because she hoped that doing as she was told would get her back into Raidah’s good graces.

    But.

    I mean, it’s ENTIRELY possible that following Joyce & co. around for the last little bit has been very eye-opening for Jennifer Scrooge. That she’s been trailing silently after them feeling shaken by their clear illustration of what actual friendship looks like. Because she’s spent a few months now in a group that was friendly on the surface, but full of people who secretly hated her, and also big on policing each other’s behavior.

    (Not that all of Raidah’s rules are bad, some of them are even admirable; it’s just that the way she went about enforcing “no gossip”, for example, was noticeably guilt-trippy and passive-aggressive.)

    So, totally possible that Jennifer has had a realization, even if she isn’t rushing to articulate it.

    But.

    We also know that Jennifer has always cared a lot about appearances. And Raidah’s clique is usually very good at appearing cool, popular, mature, classy… etc. Whereas Joyce’s friend group… has very different vibes. The people in it are happier, and at least some of them definitely like Jennifer and would be happy to have her back (Joyce, Walky, somehow Lucy) — and the ones who DON’T like her (Sarah, Dorothy to an extent) won’t be backhanded about it…

    But the group as a whole is full of unapologetically nerdy goofballs.

    And I kind of feel like Jennifer will really need to embrace her own inner nerd before she can actually be happy with them. She’s gotta kill the part of her that cringes, essentially. Loneliness alone might not be quite enough to get her to bite that bullet.

    It would be really neat to see her dress up at Kit Fisto next Halloween without any denial or excuses, though.

    1. Bryy

      oh my sweet summer child

      we’re never getting to next Halloween.

      1. Li

        I would have said we were never getting to the second semester back when the comic started. And we would not be here right now if not for a several-month timeskip!

        Anyway, it doesn’t actually have to be Halloween, it could be like, “the one where the gang goes to Indiana Comic-Con”.

        1. John Campbell

          Just getting her to Comic-Con would be a big step. We can work on cosplay later.

        2. Li

          Hee, fair. 🙂

          You know what I mean though! I just wanna see her let herself be a nerd without disclaimers or angry denial. I feel like it would be a nice cap to an arc where she comes to actually like who she actually is.

    2. Joy

      Thank you for this comment. I really really hate how content creators try to humble characters in Jennifer’s archetype, mostly because it usually comes across as misogynistic…

      I mean a lot of awful 80s teen movies had characters like her getting raped or something as a way to humble (e.g. humiliate) the character. I hate those movies! They’re often told from the perspective of those creepy nerd boys who’s lack of self confidence is the only thing stopping them from being rapists. The tropes I’m talking about came from back in the day when there was more of an emphasis on bad girl vs good girl and stuff. I’m glad that my generation isn’t like that but when my parents showed me the movies they grew up with I’m like hey what the fuck. And they’re like “yeah that actually sucked but I didn’t realize it yet at your age”

  42. Li

    Honestly, the desire to “humble” hot cheerleaders is definitely alive and well, but I will at least agree that it’s gotten subtler! It was for sure worse in the 1980s specifically. Lots of discourse to be had on the cultural backlash to women’s lib in the 70s, and how, like, Black Christmas wasn’t pushing the narrative when it started the slasher genre? And Halloween only sort of does. And neither Alien nor Terminator felt the need to traumatize their female protagonists in order to justify their power…

    But a lot of what came after in the horror genre definitely did. A lot of the comic book heroines got the same treatment. It’s frustrating.

    1. Li

      slowly slaps face

      @Joy this was a reply to you.

    2. Joy

      Yeah!!! I agree!!!! I wasn’t thinking about the 70s women’s lib stuff but that makes a lot of sense! The trope itself is a reactionary narrative: not only is it such in the meta context as you have described, but it is also such that the stories are the narrative itself reacting the presence of such a cheerleader or cheerleader-adjacent character. This character is often described as the prettiest and or most popular character in the school, but wait! She has an attitude! She rejects creepy nerd boys! She must be punished for this! She’s assertive– as a girl!!!! She must be stopped! /S …etcetera

      1. Li

        Honestly, it was pointed out by Siskel and Ebert, if you can believe it — that we sure did suddenly get a bunch of movies where women were first sexualized and then graphically murdered, right as women were gaining more and more independence, like the right to their own bank accounts, no-fault divorce, etc.

        But yeah. 🙁

    3. Charles Phipps

      I mean Black Christmas, Halloween, and Terminator are arguably good examples of feminism in horror.

      1. Li

        Yes, that is part of my point. They started the trend of female protagonists in horror, which wound UP being kind of a mixed bag, especially in slashers, but did not themselves have any of the weird, anti-feminist subtext that the genres kind of came to be known for.

        Neither Halloween nor Alien nor Terminator disproportionately punish women for having sex or reward them for purity, etc.

  43. clif

    Well, I believe I had a post go to moderation, probably because it contained a phrase in another language (and indeed in another alphabet). The translation is something like Good wishes on Holi. I don’t think anyone is going to object to you celebrating it unless you do it as a devote of Hiranyakashipu, the demon lord whose defeat is being celebrated, or something.

    1. clif

      This was a reply to Amos way up there.

  44. Felian

    Surprisingly, having “all the same parts“ does not stop it from being incredibly sexy when it’s a love/lust interests’s parts!

  45. Li

    NO SPOILERS as I add a new comment days later, I just want to observe:

    Another really clever bit of setup here is that not only did the cascade of recent events result in Jennifer being present here so that she could “realize” who her own lewd had been sent to (Walky) and be upset enough by that to prompt Joyce to re-open the thread and see Dorothy’s photo…

    …but she’s ALSO entirely too mired in her own problems right now to actually hear what Joyce is saying.

    I mean, must as we like to rag on her around these parts, Jennifer can be perceptive, and I think if she were firing on all cylinders right now, she would probably be having some kind of reaction to Joyce’s reaction to the photos. (I bet Dorothy angrily yelling “Joyce isn’t MINE” is a vivid memory). And her reaction would give the readers extra information here: information Willis obviously doesn’t want us to have just yet.

    So it sure is handy that Jennifer is only picking up on every fifth word Joyce is saying because it’s hard to hear much of anything over the roaring in her ears about Alice and Raidah and her imploding social status. ?

  46. Foxtastic

    Meanwhile, my brand of autism, very intrusively, every moment that I see Joyce with a mitten in her mouth: bad texture BAD TEXTURE BAD TEXTURE

    gross SCRAPey winter mitten material!!! in MOUTH. NO GOOD

    fr though i can viscerally feel the texture of that mitten between my teeth/lips and it’s super unpleasant LOL.

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