186

Supercool Joyce
Posted on June 20, 2024 by David M Willis

186 thoughts on “Supercool Joyce”

  1. NGPZ

    awe damn she crankin it up to level ELEVEN now!!!!

    >:D

    *plays “Apocalypshit” by Molotov on hacked muzak*

    1. clif

      Joyce is dead. Long live the Anti-Joyce.

      1. NGPZ

        Unholy unholy unholy
        is the Parasite of Hosts
        who comes to drain her cult of glory
        them girl now woke an’
        broke the pen that tried to write her story
        her an’ homies be blushin’ and gushin’
        gone from raining to pourin’
        with hearts soaring, dino digga ROARIN’
        the joy of love takin’ em higher now SOARIN’
        tonight they gonna be explorin’
        JoyJoe and pals ain’t never borin’

        <3

        1. Laura

          Wow!

    2. someone

      Should have said “en-bee-eff-dee, en-eff-gee-eff-el.”

      1. clif

        Where eff stands for F-word.

  2. Muttski

    The look Joe is giving, seems like he’s not sure about the new Joyce. ?

    1. RassilonTDavros

      I think he feels like he’s pushed Joyce’s development too quickly, and is worried that she’s secretly uncomfortable with the idea of sex and is just saying this because she thinks it’s what Joe wants.

      1. tsa

        I think you’re right on the money. I imagine we’re gonna get a callback to this comic from 12 years ago: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2012/comic/book-2/02-choosing-my-religion/casualbang/

        1. Prince Mech

          I remember reading the comments on this strip during my first read-through and being absolutely baffled as to why the comments section was siding with Joe on Danny not feeling comfortable about sleeping with Billie.

    2. Jeremiah

      I think that face mean something very different.

      1. NGPZ

        I can’t quite read it either.

        I wanna say… horny? ?

        1. anonymsly

          I think it’s horny but scared, myself. Horny because hot girlfriend Joyce, scared because Liz and how he ‘almost ruined her’.

        2. NGPZ

          And I ask to Joe, what of Dorothy and Joyce doing laundry? And drinking?

          Joe don’t gotta worry about “ruining” her. Thanks to Dotty and company helpin Joyce break them chains, she’s pre-“ruined”

          XD

        3. Tan

          The worry is not about “ruining” Joyce. The worry is that all of this is a performative act that Joyce herself isn’t going to realize until too late, and that by the time she reverses course, if they’ve already done things that can’t be taken back, Joyce is going to FEEL ruined and it’ll implode the relationship.

        4. clif

          You mean a performative act as indicated be the last panel?

        5. Victor Riley

          I don’t know… the last time we saw him try sexytime with someone (with Liz), that’s exactly what she said, that she almost “ruined” herself… out loud with him right there. And it clearly hurt him. So that’s certainly weighing on him… so HE may not be ready for it again.

        6. Tan

          Yes, that is exactly the point. That Joyce is going to have that reversal of course like Liz, particularly if it’s after instead of before.

        7. GholaHalleck

          Since Joyce hasn’t in *any* way dealt with her sexual assault trauma… Or … ANY of her trauma… It bodes ill for their maiden voyage sexy times attempt.

        8. Big Z

          Joe is DEFINITELY scaroused.

      2. Plaaaaaa

        That’s not exactly horniness on Joe’s face, it the pain of blue balls

        1. Taffy

          Is that myth ever gonna go away? ?

        2. Victor Riley

          Sadly, probably not.

        3. HueSatLight

          I’m sorry, what?

        4. Taffy

          Blue balls. It’s not real.

        5. Roborat

          For some people, yes it is.

        6. Taffy

          Those people are experiencing testicular torsion and have more important things to worry about.

        7. Brat_t

          https://www.healthline.com/health/mens-health/blue-balls#:~:text=Blue%20balls%20occurs%20when%20an,affect%20people%20with%20male%20genitals.

        8. DaisyFM

          Blue balls is absolutely real and you don’t even need to have balls to experience it.

    3. Puppeteer Nessus

      Joe wants to wait for marriage

      1. Michael Steamweed

        He’s so traditional. Such a good boy!

    4. Bittersweet

      There are two wolves in his head, one which thinks this is hot af and the other one which is worried this will lead to a Liz Part II and it’s only a matter of time before Joyce realizes he’d be the worst mistake of her life too.

      These two wolves fight ferociously and then a third wolf comes in seriously confused and concerned about why nobody knows what a keg is.

      1. Dante

        DING DING DING! You’ve nailed it. He’s actually been worried about Not Being Enough for Joyce for a long time – and fearing he’s Dad Rosenthal, The Sequel, for even longer. Being an ethical slut didn’t even work: The Do List is proof.

        And he does want it. He wants her so much it’s insane. Like he’s hoping SHE will rail him in a frenzy of passion, no prisoners taken, just so he can absolve himself from the guilt. It’s delicious. Becky and him should exchange pointers.

        1. Bash

          For a long time Joe thought his dad’s only sin was cheating. When Mr Rosenthal hits on Sarah at freshman family weekend, the only problem he sees is that his dad was like this while married to his mother. He figured if he never entered a relationship, no one could get hurt. When Joyce opens up to him about almost being raped, and when Liz regrets her decision to have sex with him, he started to realize it was more complicated.

    5. Proto

      I think he’s concerned now that Joyce isn’t interested in him for him, but because she’s so devoted to being “New Joyce” (or perhaps an Anti-Joyce, if you will!) that she’s just with him because it’s something “Old Joyce” would never do. He’s been concerned for a long time about wanting to take things slow with her and not just be the horndog and to be a better person for her, and now from his POV, she’s just trying to be a worse person for him.

      He wants to be an actual boyfriend, not part of a delayed teenage rebellion.

      1. Carla's #2 Fan

        If he is worried about that, I really wish he would look into the enemies-to-lovers trope. He’s been solidly in it since she started texting him about his being angry. The potential for things to turn that way has been there since the second he spotted her in hopes of asking her out. And likely the chemistry was there since roomies, but Joe is not aware of the multiverse (and I’m glad he doesn’t know Roomies Joyce).

    6. Mark

      I think maybe he’s wondering if there’s any of the old Joyce left, the Joyce he unexpectedly fell for.

    7. Opinion

      I think it’s an internal conflict. On one hand: hot gf wants sex and that is a pretty obvious appeal. On the other hand: he genuinely cares about her and even Joe can see Joyce’s current “let’s speed run from sheltered Christian to drinking, swearing, sex having adult” is probably going to be too much change too fast and end poorly

  3. StClair

    yes, Joyce, you’re so very cool and grown-up now. :eyeroll:

    1. Doctor_Who

      I remember me and my friends watching South Park for the first time in the 7th grade, and then using swear words three times a sentence minimum for like two weeks before we settled down.

      Joyce tends not to do things by halves. She’ll level off eventually, but she’s 100% going to be what the youngsters call “cringe” for a while first.

      1. Nono

        Yep, remember only a month or two ago she was all in ‘yeah atheism is awesome, samesie-knucks!’

      2. Chaucer59

        I thought cringe was Joyce’s natural habitat.

    2. Grimey

      It takes her a bit but she’s got the spirit.

      1. Michael Steamweed

        What are you talking about? Becky is the one who clearly has the spirits.

        😀

    3. Jeremiah

      She is! Thanks you for noticing!

    4. zee

      Bro she didn’t get to go through this phase in 8th grade like the rest of us, let her have this

    5. Taffy

      Pee your pants about it some more, that’ll help.

  4. Corronchilejano

    It’s not going to get up for Joe, is it?

  5. BSD

    He’s having flashbacks to the incident with Sarah’s sister.

    1. ian livs

      Oh shit

    2. Tan

      Exactly what I was gonna comment other than to note that her name is Liz

  6. ian livs

    I, like Joe seems to be, am worried she’s trying too hard. For understandable reasons (both the trying and the worrying) but still

    1. anonymsly

      I think Joe is also afraid of doing sex things with Joyce, given what happened with Liz. He adores Joyce, things are going well, he doesn’t want to hurt or ‘ruin’ her.

      1. Vanessa

        Or even worse, have her run away, never to speak to him again.

  7. Shitbird

    What is en-bee-dee en-gee-el??

    1. RassilonTDavros

      “No Big Deal” and “Not Gonna Lie”.

      1. Shitbird

        Oh, I was reading it as like words, not letters and was like wtf is an en-bee-dee? Is that an American thing?

        1. Vanessa

          It’s a Joyce thing I think. Like Grandma saying “El oh el, dub tea eff!” To look cool for the grandkids.

        2. Needfuldoer

          “How do you do, fellow kids?”

        3. Schpoonman

          My oldest brother, as a college-aged person used to phonetically say “jklol” as “jik-lawl”. I texted him when Ayo in QC showed up.

        4. Mark

          It’s a bank that was bought by another bank that was then bought by another bank, after it had bought the bank that bought my bank. Welcome to America.

        5. Taffy

          I think it’s just a normal human behavior thing, not exclusive to or emblematic of Americans.

    2. Ghostforge

      No Big Deal; Not Gonna Lie, is what that means, that’s her speaking two different acronyms *as* acronyms. Just instead of the letters only, it was written how it sounds.

    3. Daibhid C

      It’s a mispronounciation of “Ein Bidet Engels”, the nickname Friedrich Engels got after he said it was really bourgioise to have more than one bidet.

      1. clif

        And here I thought it was because he invented the Bidet app for the Eye-phone.

        They had to recall it because the icon was confusingly similar to the camera app and people kept using the wrong one.

  8. Nono

    That is not the face of someone looking forward to sex.

    1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      Does she want to have sex with him because of her feelings (romantic or erotic) for him, or does she want to have sex with him to prove how non-longer-old-repressed-Joyce she is?

      1. Dark_T_Zeratul

        Honestly, I suspect it’s a bit of both, but it’s an open question as to which one will win out over the other. It’ll either be, “I don’t need to prove anything, I’m doing it because I want to” or “I want to do this, and when I do it will prove I’m New Joyce.”

        1. Rabid Rabbit

          It could also be “I’m doing this because I’M FUCKING HORNY!!! Oh, hi, Joe, yes, you’re the broad-chested type I like, you’ll do.”

          Or possibly that would be Joe’s worst nightmare: that they have sex and then Joyce discovers that 1) she likes it and 2) other guys seem like even more fun, so thanks, Joe, but I’m gonna go bone Ethan Jacob — hmm, you’re actually the only one left I know, aren’t you? Oh, fine, I guess I’ll settle for you for now.

        2. Daibhid C

          Yep, that absolutely sounds like something Joyce would do, or that Joe would think Joyce would do.

          You know they started dating before New Joyce decided she was almost maybe ready to have sex with someone, right?

  9. Jeremiah

    I don’t agree with the comments that Joe look worried or concerned in panel 3. He honestly looks pretty into the idea to me.

    1. Nono

      He’s got sad eyebrows.

    2. Nymph

      I agree, that is the horniest expression I’ve ever seen him make. I’m getting used to the fact that some people in the comments section here is just determined to read unhappiness into every situation no matter how blatant the signs are that it will go well.

      It’s exhausting to see it every day, but the other (less anxious) comments make it worth combing through.

      1. Nymph

        this is why I shouldn’t edit after I write:

        “some people in the comments section here are just determined…”

      2. Taffy

        Every single character could be grinning directly into the camera and explicitly detailing their positive emotions in very unambiguous terms, and some of these people would still find a way to make it a bad thing.

        1. Nymph

          h o n e s t l y tho

      3. thejeff

        I think it’s quite possible that Joyce saying he’s going to be doing sex things to her very soon is both turning him on and making him concerned at the same time.

    3. Daibhid C

      I mean, I’m autistic, so I’m probably wrong, but I read that expression as “slightly embarassed and maybe a bit concerned”. But as far as the concern goes, I don’t agree with the interpretation that it’s “Oh, no, it turns out Joyce only loves me for my body after all!” as much as “I don’t know if Joyce is actually ready for this or if she just thinks she should be, and I can’t bring that up right now because I don’t want to step on her New Joyce thing, but hopefully we can have a proper discussion about it later and sort everything out.”

      1. anon

        well joyce also had to ‘change pants’ once in i think one of their makeout sessions? or something earlier so i imagine they might just build up to it instead of joyce like maybe making a move on joe if they get drunk again (tho if becky and dina are drunk i’d hope they’d also try to slow down/have her stop rather than egg her on)

        but i think yeah the expressino is him more worried/hesitant about being intimate together versus “oh no i’m just being used/objectified” like how jacob would feel during sarah’s convo with them during the gym day

        1. thejeff

          I’d hope Joe would stop them if she was drunk, even if she was the one making the moves.

    4. Pseudowolf

      I don’t think Joe has ever had a serious relationship before, or at least not someone that he actually had feelings for on a deeper level than just sexual attraction. I can see him being worried about Joyce swinging wildly into this “New Joyce” mode & their relationship devolving into just being about sex.

    5. zee

      Oh thank God it’s not just me. And as for everyone saying Joyce is trying too hard or wants to prove something, to me this feels like an extension of topless boob holding cuddles. Something she wants to do because shes an adult and she can, and she’s not letting herself be shackled by shame from two decades of brainwashing for something she doesn’t even believe in anymore. Like I only read this whole thing as a positive

      1. thejeff

        Weren’t a lot of people saying that about Liz before she panicked in the middle?
        This definitely feels performative and over the top on Joyce’s part. She definitely wants to, but that doesn’t mean years of brainwashing vanish overnight, even when you don’t believe anymore.

  10. Dean

    Joyce, that browser tab thing might be a step too far.

    1. Needfuldoer

      Did you know that the mobile versions of Chrome turn the open tab counter into a smiley face after you pass 100 open tabs?

      M record is somewhere around 240. It’s easy to do when you fall down a Wikipedia rabbit hole and read everything in Incognito tabs.

      I’ve usually got at least three windows open in my desktop browser, each with a dozen or two tabs open. It’s fine.

      *Goes back to writing “tabs are not bookmarks” on the chalkboard over and over*

      1. LiamKav

        But I might want to get back to reading that thing article about public transport in LA that I started reading in 2023!

        Also what about all these guide pages for a game I finished 3 months ago?

      2. Michael Steamweed

        Huh? “Tabs are not bookmarks.” What foreign language is this? Or is that some kind of cryptography? I’m sorry, but English’s grammar doesn’t work that way.

        1. Schpoonman

          Using a web browser tab to leave a website open as opposed to bookmarking the page and revisiting later.

        2. thejeff

          I use bookmarks for things I’ll want to find again regularly or after a significant time. Semi-permanent records.
          Tabs are for things I’m going to work my way through once in the near future.

        3. Taffy

          It’s plain fucking English, you melt.

      3. Kazuma Taichi

        Bookmarks are where tabs go to die

    2. zee

      No having only one tab open at a time is psychopathic. I need at least 34 spread across 3 different opera gx work spaces

  11. Jesse

    Weirdly more adorable.

  12. Amós Batista

    This strip have some chaotic energy I adore

  13. Animedingo

    Joe if you play your cards right you can make this orgy happen

    1. NGPZ

      Yeah! Believe in the Heart of the Cards!!!!

    2. Dante

      – Dina would do it For Science.

      – Becky would do it because she gets Dina AND Joyce? Hell, as long as Joe doesn’t touch her…

      – Joyce would do it because she’s bisexual. She just hasn’t gotten the “Oh? Oh” of canonization… Yet.

    3. Nymph

      Joyce isn’t interested in Becky like that, Becky isn’t interested in men like that, Dina and Becky appear to be monogamous…

      I think an orgy is unlikely no matter how Joe plays his cards, but I’m sure there’s fanfic somewhere that makes your dreams come true.

      1. SailorCakes

        You are now my favorite commenter in the comment section. You really are a voice of reason ? Here’s a cookie ?

        1. clif

          Wait. I thought Taffy was the voice of reason.

        2. SailorCakes

          I don’t think I ever agreed with Taffy before or if so not very often ?

    4. anon

      i get the feeling there’s gonna be a scene later where joyce is Peak(TM) horny and joe turns her down or if not “im not sure about this/not ready” despite prolly never doing so before in his life lol

  14. Amós Batista

    2nd panel: Bad idea Joe’s giving his jacket to Joyce: he’s freezing.

  15. Bittersweet

    Joyce don’t go down this road, it’s a hard habit to break and it begins chipping away at your life faster than you would ever expect it to.

    You gotta close those browser tabs, Joyce. Don’t be like me who recently found out that the max amount of browser tabs on my iPhone is 500. Be better.

    1. pygmypenguin

      I start shaking when i have more than 4

    2. Needfuldoer

      I pruned mine down to about 22 last time I had to update iOS. (I was still running 14, and a version of Chrome from 2022, and things were starting to break.)

    3. Wren

      This comic strip prompted me to start trying to cut down my browser tabs- at least on my PC. Through a combination of actually bookmarking things and being realistic about what I’d look at again I managed to get it from around 450 to 222 before losing steam (literally every tab I looked at before I stopped ended up closed).

      I feel better! Sort of. I do want to cut the rest down to just the ones I’m actively using right now… ADHD caused the problem and ADHD stops me from sorting it out, though.

  16. Dave Van Domelen

    The first recognized “infix” in English.

    1. Mark

      See e.g. Lord Peter Wimsey for numerous examples of prior art.

  17. DaWombat

    I am made of cringe. 100% of my being is curling up into a ball of cringe

  18. Kelli

    Joyce might be overcompensating for her past.

  19. JA

    Betting old Joe is also dead. As in, he’s going to tell Joyce that as much as he likes her, he wants to wait until the time is right to have sex with her.

    Either that or he’s afraid of being taken for a wild ride once he and Joyce get in bed sans undies.

    1. BorkBorkBork

      I almost feel like that’s a given, considering Liz. Not that he thinks he’s going to “ruin” Joyce, at least not that way.

      But I think that moment made him realize that there’s -more- to sex than just a fun thing you do with someone else. Joyce is the first time Joe has had an actual relationship with a girlfriend, and not just someone he hooked up with. He’s always kept himself unconnected to women, mostly for fear of becoming like his father, who hurt his mother from constant cheating.

      I think that Joe wants to wait, because he’s seen how he’s hurt people before, and knows how easily he could fall into old habits.

      I also feel like he’s experiencing a little bit of relationshipl vertigo by how quickly Joyce is rushing ahead.

      1. Mark

        Or is he perhaps worrying that he is feeling connected this time and Joyce isn’t?

        Sometimes I wish I could step into the comic and just ask the characters what’s eating them.

        1. JA

          Eh, Joyce is reveling in her newfound freedom. Speaking from experience, it’s kind of intoxicating, especially if you’ve known nothing but repressed feelings and urges before. You want to do everything, swear every other word, drink all the not-kegs, and get all sexed up (maybe). I think Joyce does want something with Joe, but she’s still working through her freedom high.

  20. NGPZ

    oooooh yeah!

    Happy Summer Solstice!!!!! <3

  21. Hazel

    She’s fitting years’ worth of rebellious adolescence into mere minutes.

  22. Dante

    Heh. You know what this reminds me of?

    When Becky went “GUESS WHAT? I’M A LESBIAN” and made it her calling card, as us queers are won’t to do, for… Ok, she still does it but at the beginning it was literally the second thing she said after her name.

    It’s the adorable “trying hard” of someone who’s repressed a thing for too long and has discovered they won’t be smitten on the spot by some higher power. I’m glad she’s finding such joy in it. I hope that when she inevitably goes “am I trying too hard??” at some point it’s followed by a “hell no, I’m finding out who I am, THE TRIP IS THE WHOLE POINT BABEY!” and carries on.

    1. Dark_T_Zeratul

      I feel like there’s a little bit of a difference there, though. Becky dove headfirst into “I’M A LESBIAN!” because she was finally accepting who she was and refusing to hide anymore. Joyce, on the other hand, is mostly just rebelling against her upbringing. She isn’t fundamentally someone who drinks and does sex things and says fuck a lot, she’s just going full-on into “not Old Joyce.”

      1. Rabid Rabbit

        Well, she’s doesn’t know yet whether she’s those things. Apparently she could be someone who casually says “fuck”, but now that it’s been brought to her attention that she did so, it will be deliberate rather than casual, which… isn’t helping. If the others hadn’t reacted quite so strongly, it could have been a much more natural progression for her. Shades of “I can’t wear anything other than sweatervests without people gasping”. Or, for that matter, of Dina kissing Becky that first time to tell everyone to stop thinking of her as a child.

        So yes, she’s probably plunging a bit too far into being… well, Anti-Joyce. When the whole point is that the two should be integrated. But saying she isn’t “fundamentally” that sort of person seems like it’s falling into the same trap she may be. And just just because of the irresistible pun that she’s always been a fundamental(ist) sort of person. Sure, to date she’s not been someone who does sex things, but she’S fundamentally been someone who wants to do them (see, e.g., the rub-your-thing-on-my-belly dream, the fantasizing about Ethan in the shower and not daring to touch herself even though Sarah just mocked her for not doing so).

        TL;DR: It’s too early in Joyce’s life to say what she fundamentally is in those respects, because her upbringing was so twisted that she’s only just starting to figure it out. Maybe she is someone who drinks and does sex things and says fuck a lot, maybe she isn’t; but she won’t know until she’s tried. (And if her upbringing hadn’t been so fucked up, she wouldn’t have to figure it out so so … all-at-once-ly, for lack of a better term.)

        1. Francoinblanco

          Funny we have this discussion after strip with class about being only proteins. Becky knew she didn’t like the road and knew which exit to take.Joyce also knows that she doesn’t like the road but she doesn’t know her exit, trying to turn around isn’t that bad at the beginning

        2. NGPZ

          The faster we’re falling,
          why are we stalling?
          We’re driving in circles again…

      2. Dante

        It’s fun because, yeah, Becky got off that road because YAY SHE’S FREE NOW AND SHE KNOWS WHO SHE IS!!

        Meanwhile Joyce is like YAY SHE’S FREE NOW AND SHE… HAS TO DISCOVER?? WHO SHE IS??? and she’s got a right to be loud about it too. And make mistakes and maybe lean in too hard about things. Joyce is a good kid! May she discover things about herself with the minimum amount of guilt.

  23. Ray

    Joe’s face suggests he wants to do sex things WITH her, not TO her!

    1. Needfuldoer

      That’s an important distinction!

    2. Mark

      A point I had not considered.

    3. Michael Steamweed

      Prepositions are important! Always check with your partner(s) about their preferred prepositions before you start prepositioning them.

      1. Ray

        Because prepositioning your partner correctly can lead to better stimulation and less joint stress/pain !

  24. IntangibleMatter

    Honestly should’ve just stopped this comic at panel 3. Just repeat it for the rest of the strip.

    1. IntangibleMatter

      Made three versions

      1. clif

        Nice, but the final two panels in the middle version should have CENSORED in red letters across the diagonal.

  25. Jamie

    Weirdly, I am distracted from the Cool Joyceness by worrying about Dina’s feelings, tbh.

    1. Nymph

      I have to ask what you could possibly think Dina has worrying feelings about in this strip?

  26. DashWallkick

    Oh yeah, we never did get a resolution to the whole “Joe is terrified of ruining Joyce with sex before she’s ready” thing did we? I imagine the end of the arc is going to bring this up again. Possibly with a sweet little note where Joe’s like “I don’t…want you to do this yet” and she’s climbing on his lap, smiling, going, “But I do.”

    1. Francoinblanco

      I wonder if we get scene like from Danny and Billie, when Danny refuse quick sex because “respect women” and get “if you respect women respect they decision”

    2. Daibhid C

      Gosh, out of all the possible outcomes of this, “Joyce sexually assaults Joe” is not one that occured to me.

    3. thejeff

      I think we’re going to get a bit of it. Hopefully an actual discussion, not short-circuited by her climbing into his lap.

      I don’t think it’s going to be a big fight or anything. More of an “are you sure? Not just overcorrecting from your past ideas?”

      1. DashWallkick

        Honestly if we’re talking about personal wishes, I think a 2-3 comic stretch of her climbing into bed with him showing every drop (lol) of enthusiastic consent she can muster is a great way to button it off. Sometimes you don’t need a big conversation — you just need Joyce to look him in the eye and say, “I’m ready.”

        Plus we can have it be like Dina and Becky — after sex, they talk about it, and she’s got zero regrets but a little bit of nerves. Which he can help her through.

        1. superglucose

          A conversation about her nerves where Joe is very concerned and Joyce is very introspective but at the end Joe is like “do you regret it” and Joyce is like “no I wanna do it again” and Joe is like “when” and Joyce is like “right now”

  27. GUIGUI

    NBD, NGL?
    Should I know what that stands for?

    1. Reltzik

      If you have enough time and interest to type the question into a comment field, and also have access to Google? Then, not going to lie, yes you should. But if you prefer to ask here for the social engagement, that’s fine, no big deal.

      1. Needfuldoer

        It’s no big deal if they want to come here and ask, not gonna lie.

    2. Jennifer Bak

      Guessing it’s No Big Deal, Not Gonna Lie. 🙂

      1. GUIGUI

        Thanks.

    3. zee

      I mean assuming you read the comments above you yes you should

    4. superglucose

      “NBD” stands for “Not BD Wong” who is, of course, a big deal, thus the youths say “NBD” as a shorthand for indicating that something is *not* a big deal.

      1. GUIGUI

        Thanks.

  28. C.T. Phipps

    Joe should point out that a XX bottle of moonshine is SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT in alcohol content from beer.

    1. Reltzik

      … maybe Dos Equis comes in jugs now?

      1. CrazyJ

        “I don’t always go to keg parties, but when I do I drink jugs of Dos Equis”

  29. Mr D phone posting

    Ah the delightful part of our lives where we learn we can drop f bombs everywhere and we turn into the AVGN for a few weeks/months until we fuck up in a formal situation.

  30. Da Boy

    Joe is being like “Oh you innocent little baby drinkers.”

  31. darkoneko

    …don’t catch a cold, Joe 😐

  32. Michael Steamweed

    Leaving browser tabs open?!
    1. In this economy??
    2. Is that Firefox or Chrome? (Chrome wastes so much memory, it’s just scandalous! Firefox is erotica; Chrome is flat-out porn. Yeah, I know it when I see it.)
    3. Poor Joe! His girlfriend is outrageously flirting with him about open browser tabs!

  33. Schpoonman

    Return of the hoodie-dress-only-this-time-it’s-an-oversized-jacket?

    Or maybe someone is going to tie the jacket arms together like in that one comic.

  34. JepMZ

    I abso-fucking-lutely have no idea what Joyce is saying. What the heck are those abbreviations/spelling?

    1. Schpoonman

      “No big deal/not gonna lie”

  35. Amós Batista

    I don’t know if Joyce is exagerating, but I prefer she is doing all of these things right now, with her loved ones, than being too afraid to get rid your fears and to get in yours 40’s with regret. Like me.

    1. SailorCakes

      Thank you! Everyone in here all worried about Joyce when this is like one of the healthiest ways she can find herself and also do normal young adult rebelling ??

      1. Da Boy

        She is high on that “I did something forbidden and Nothing bad happened!” it’s a temporary emotional high and she will level out soon.

      2. Dante

        DUDE YEAH, I’m here like. Girlie is 18. Do y’all remember being 18? I’m pretty certain she’ll be way more ok I was, she has friends who love her and will take of her, in a pretty damn safe environment, and really low self-destructive tendencies all things considered.

        Let her rebel. Let her get drunk for fun and not because she’s sad, and have sex with the dude she’s very in love with, and all the things she’s been forbidden to do and feared for so long. And if she messes up, well, that’s part of the journey and not the end of the world.

    2. thejeff

      There’s a middle ground though. And there definitely seems to be some level of the “I need to do this to prove I’m not the old Joyce”, even if it’s only proving it too herself.

      Which is a parallel to what we saw from Liz earlier.

      1. SailorCakes

        So what? What’s so bad about proving that to herself? She is finally embracing all these new changes and she also wants to change. Let the new Joyce be born in this very loving and safe environment!

  36. raultsi

    NBD? NGL? what?

    1. Da Boy

      No idea what NBD is but NGL is Not Gonna Lie probably

    2. hausu

      No Big Deal

  37. Falcon

    Joyce, character development is not spectrum development. Lol.

  38. Kaiyalai

    Anti-Joyce arc incoming?

  39. Makkabee

    Joyce has unlocked the infix tab in English grammar!

    A linguistics professor told the class that English doesn’t have infixes and I replied that it absofuckinglutely does. I lived dangerously as an undergrad.

    1. CrazyJ

      Not a very good linguistic professor then, the one linguistic class I took the professor specifically pointed out the one example of infixes in English

  40. HueSatLight

    Joe’s panel 3 expression is because he is dressed for 60s + and it’s below 30 F.

    1. Juanoku

      Holy shit you’re right I just noticed that. How is he not freezing to death

  41. BBCC

    Well that’s one use for it!

  42. Amós Batista

    Do people* worries that much when they are going to having sex, first time, with someone that are romantically attracted?

    *people that used to having sex, but not having romantic attraction, and here I don’t know if I can just call Joe aromantic, or he’s just used to slept around, so I don’t know exactly how people could name it.

    1. anon

      given joyce’s upbringing, joe being a good bf after all his growth is more ideal, but i imagine he’d prolly be a bit more hesitant after knowing all of joyce’s issues , but i don’t think joe ever rly ‘dated’ anyone for longer than a week

      as opposed to what Ruth said about joyce having her first orgasming and then proceeding to run off and ‘bang half the town’

      https://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-8/04-of-mike-and-men/need-2/

    2. Nymph

      Joe isn’t likely to be aromantic given his current romantic relationship and feelings about that relationship, but I do think it would be nice to get some good explicit aromantic rep in the comic if possible.

  43. Kazuma Taichi

    it seems she was successfully keeping those tabs open because she had managed to forget about them

    and now that she has remembered…

  44. seeprybyrun

    Supercool = anti?

  45. Corey C.

    So one end of the pendulum to (apparently) the other? While hyper-religious Joyce was bad, given that the morality she valued led to the deaths of at least two people (Mike and Toedad, the latter who held the extreme version of her morality) becoming a “godless hedonist” also has some practical dangers, and Joe seems to realize that swinging from one end of the spectrum to the other is a very bad idea. If only Joyce could find a “middle path” where she believes in SOMETHING and seduces Joe not because she believes that’s what every college girl does but because she actually WANTS to.

    I think Joyce might cause Joe to become a Buddhist.

    1. thejeff

      It’s pretty clear that she actually does want to, but that doesn’t mean she’s actually as ready as she’s pretending to be or that she’s not performatively playing it up like she’s doing with the swearing or drinking or the tabs.

  46. Laura

    …Just in case anyone is, unlike Joyce and Becky, trying to focus on academics or work rather than getting drunk midmorning on a Tuesday, Laura is playing some ADHD Relief Music on the hacked brainwave frequencies…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG2IK8oRZNA

    Sending encouragement to all who could use it!!!

  47. Icalasari

    NBD, NGL?

    1. Nymph

      Scroll up

  48. Daniel M Ball

    Ah, Joyce, studying teen rebellion as if it were an academic, graded, subject.

  49. Proxiehunter

    Is it still yesterday’s strip for everyone else checking? Maybe my time stamp will tell me what time the server THINKS it is.

    1. Proxiehunter

      14 minutes off but still telling me that the strip should have been up six minutes ago.

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