180

Unpretty
Posted on March 1, 2015 by David M Willis
2015-02-patreon1previewThis month's reader-selected bonus strip is up on Patreon!  Folks voted for Leslie (again), so y'all get Leslie (again).

180 thoughts on “Unpretty”

  1. Jen Aside

    Dorothy-ese for “does this make me look fat” =p

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      and the best response to a question like that is: “Is that a distraction over there?” *points behind her* RUNS!

      1. Tualha

        Demonic duck? 🙂

        1. Khrene

          “Please Walky, you know I’m Atheist and don’t believe in such nonse- GODDAMNIT HES DRINKING MY COFFEE”

      2. Screwball

        LOOK! An obvious distraction! *Transforms & flies off tops speed…*

    2. StClair

      No, but it does make you look blue.

  2. yrsegal

    dorothy’s smile in panel 2 is so cute

    1. Bagge

      Not to mention the last panel!

    2. Lordess of Madness

      True. But in the last pannel it looks like they’ve been caught red handed! HEhe!

  3. otusasio451

    CONFRONTATION IMMINENT.

  4. Nono

    Panel 3: Those straight arms!

    1. John

      I like thinking she’s going all Mr. Fantastic to reach her glasses way off-panel there.

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        I would have thought that Elastigirl would be a better reference.

        1. Nono

          Elastigirl? You MARRIED Elastigirl? And got BUSY!

        2. otusasio451

          O-hoooooooooo, this is just TOO good! I’m still geekin’ out about it!

        3. John

          I actually had to google her. I never saw that movie.

        4. otusasio451

          FIX THIS. FIX THIS NOW.

        5. Dean

          Seriously. The Incredibles is a cultural touchstone.

        6. Nono

          Im only grateful they haven’t tried to make a sequel to it. Pixar usually does alright with their sequels but…

        7. Stifyn Baker

          The tie-in videogame begins right where the film ends, so I guess that’s a sequel of sorts…

        8. Rycan

          Sequels can’t bother me if I never bother to see them 😉

        9. No Name

          Ummm…. there’s news of a sequel in the works. You might want to run while you still can.

        10. Deanatay

          Attention, surface dwellers!
          I am the Under-Miner!
          I may be beneath you, but NOTHING is beneath ME!
          I hereby declare WAR upon PEACE and HAPPINESS!!

        11. John

          I listened to part of it from the front seat of my sister’s minivan while my nieces were watching it one time.

        12. singingdavid

          We were in the middle of nowhere and my brother only had the Incredibles on his computer.

        13. Yet_One_More_Idiot

          Everyone should’ve watched The Incredibles at least once by now.

          Then again, I do have the entire collection of Walt Disney Animated Feature Films on one of my many DVD shelves, so…

        14. gwalla

          Wow, even The Black Cauldron?

  5. timemonkey

    You’re just a little ahead of people Dorothy, they catch up eventually.

    1. Mr. Random

      Hopefully.

      1. JessWitt

        In due time.

        1. JustCheetoDust

          Barring any setbacks.

        2. Orbit Junkie

          BEAR-ing any setbacks!

          I’m sorry, that was awful, I’ll go away now.

        3. Screwball

          Potentually…

  6. Plasma Mongoose

    Careful Walky, those notebook spirals are a choking hazard.

    1. Kris

      Notebook paper really does a number on your small intestine.

      1. Yarrun

        Eh, it hasn’t caused me trouble so far.

        And no, not giving any context for that

        1. timemonkey

          How much context does it need, really?

      2. ninja_jesus

        Hopefully the number is 8.5 x 11″ or else there’s be problems.

        1. Orbit Junkie

          The human sphincter is incompatible with non-standard sheet sizes. You’re going to have to open up the tray and unjam him.

        2. neeks

          Legit giggled at this, thank you. 🙂

        3. Sailor_Arashi

          “PC LOAD LETTER”

          “Walky’s being even weirder than normal today.”

        4. DuckDuckMoose

          This wins.

        5. Screwball

          *Stretches rubber glove onto hand, before releasing it & letting it snap into place* Bend over boy. This ain’t gonna be fun…

          ..for you. I do enjoy the looks on their faces tho…

        6. vic

          93,5???

        7. Deanatay

          Correct!

      3. Plasma Mongoose

        Not the best source of roughage after all…

        1. JustCheetoDust

          This reminds me of an idea I had to make Grape Nuts breading for fried chicken. Don’t know why I didn’t follow through considering that’s the only reason why I spontaneously bought a box of Grape Nuts.

        2. gwalla

          PRetty sure they used to print a recipe for just that on the box…

      4. Leorale

        (TMI below)
        Oh man, one of my many jobs was as an assistant teacher at a preschool, where one of the toddlers had pica, which caused her to eat paper, as much paper as she could get her hands on. I learned that paper doesn’t digest, it just hangs out as pulp blocking up your intestines, plus it contains bleach which made this toddler’s poops white and truly horrid. Her parents kept on giving her paper, it was the worst.

        1. Leorale

          (I don’t mean that Walky’s in danger from a single sheet. This toddler wanted to eat books of the stuff.)

        2. JustCheetoDust

          “Kids eat books all the time. If she craps out the CliffsNotes, then you can start worrying.”

        3. Leorale

          If you’da been anywhere near this kid’s noxious diapers, you would’ve longed for CliffsNotes instead.

        4. Rycan

          Thankfully I get to work with chemical fume hoods at my job. Can’t smell it when you’re venting all the fumes outside! Err, apologies to our neighbors…

        5. Orbit Junkie

          Worrying? That sounds like the best skill ever! That would be great in college! Just eat the textbook and you’ve got all the notes you’ll need for the year.

        6. Bagge

          “Sorry my homework is late. A toddler ate my boss…what do you mean bad excuse?”

        7. Bagge

          BOOK

        8. neeks

          “Alas, poor Eightfold. I knew her, Max.” – Isabel, from “Paranatural” because I’m too lazy to make italics with the kindle keyboard

        9. Rycan

          An important qualifier. But, Walky may still get blockage, since he neglected to chew his test, and his digestive tract can’t break down cellulose. And let’s hope this was some one-page quiz without a staple in it.

        10. John

          That may be true of normal people, but I think half the stuff in Walky’s typical diet is made largely of cellulose anyway.

        11. gwalla

          No, I think he’s been getting all of the five Hawaiian food groups: grease, sugar, salt, starch, and pork.

        12. Jason

          Apparently as a kid I ate sand, wax crayons and occasionally cat food. And I wouldn’t eat person-food. After your story I suddenly have a tad more sympathy for the adults around me at that age…

  7. Kris

    Walky: …maybe.

  8. Regalli

    Aww, Walky.

  9. AgentKeen

    Yeahhh, I know that feel, Walky.

  10. Knifleman

    *Five minutes later*
    Walky, kneeling over a toilet bowl holding a soggy scrap of paper: “Why did I think this’d be a good idea?”

    1. Dawwushu

      Soggies may rule!

  11. Yarrun

    Believing in people a bit too much isn’t a bad thing, per se. It’s sort of a high-risk, high-reward maneuver. You might get burned in a friendship, but you might see someone be stronger than you would have expected (as I hope Dorothy will see when she has the inevitable discussion with Joyce)

    1. No Name

      After all, if you don’t believe too much in people, you end up like Sarah: safe, but sad and alone.

  12. Leorale

    The shadow on Walky’s face in the last panel, as he ducks his head just a little, that’s really what makes this one for me.

    1. Jon Rich

      Now that you’ve pointed that out, I have to agree. That little detail is just PERFECT.

  13. GoogerGeiger

    I prefer “poop out” to “cough up”. That notebook paper goes right through you.

    1. Rycan

      Unless he induces vomiting. Useful if you eat the wrong thing. Not fun, though.

      1. StClair

        Pretty sure we’re past the point of no return, as it were.

        1. Deanatay

          He hasn’t had lunch yet, had he?

      2. Sam

        Not actually usually a good idea in most situations though.

        A lot of people try to induce vomiting when people ingest poisons for instance but you’re not supposed to do that.

  14. Totz the Plaid

    But at least Joyce knows better now, and has broken it off, or at least tried to (not sure what Ethan’s reaction meant with regards to that), and after some shenanigans, Dorothy will hopefully learn about that, and her faith in Joyce being a generally good, if flawed, person will hopefully be restored.

    1. Carriethedragon

      I interpreted Ethan’s reaction as asserting that he’s still gonna be there for her. He can’t exactly stop her from breaking off their pseudo-romantic relationship.

      1. Rycan

        Yet he may very well try to change her mind anyways.

        1. Solenoid

          It reminds me of that one episode of Scrubs where JD tries to break up with his then-girlfriend and she says “no” and refuses to be broken up with.

        2. DuckDuckMoose

          Nah, after Joyce poured her heart out to him about the matter of Becky, he will most likely respect that she’s done being a fake girlfriend. Whether he comes out now or tries to find himself another beard is a more open question.

        3. Solenoid

          Ethan’s closet door is looking pretty busted up at this point. It’s probably unfeasible for him to try to keep it in place.

        4. The E-man

          That has never stopped people from trying in the past

  15. dailybrad

    Dorothy’s look she gives Walky here is just adorable. It’s kind of funny how Walky and Joyce’s antagonism comes with both now having admitted an attraction to the other around an amused Dorothy, between this and Joyce’s mentioning of the cute boys in her church videos, one of whom turned out to be Walky.

    1. Stifyn Baker

      Walky claiming that Joyce is attractive is not the same as admitting he’s attracted to her. My brother’s wife is a very attractive woman, and I freely admit to thinking so. I don’t fancy her at all, though. Not my type.

      1. dailybrad

        Coming from Walky, though, I dunno, especially when it comes to someone he doesn’t exactly overflow with compliments towards.

    2. hof1991

      Walky prefers bony poindexters. Which is kinda what he is himself.

    3. J42

      It sounds crazy, but maybe Joyce and Walky could be a… Nah, that’s absurd

      1. Hoboturtle

        Yah, good luck of that and then right afterwards they can fight aliens…..

  16. Cattleprod

    I tried to find reference for where Walky’s bed was specifically located to see if there was a shelf in that direction, then I realized I have no idea if that’s even Walky’s room and not Dorothy’s. And then I decided that she just telekinetically summoned the glasses and that sort of thing is so unremarkable in this world it’s never even been brought up before. It seems neater than way.

    1. John

      I think it’s Dorothy’s room. Walky’s got his bed set up with the wall on the other side, and a D&MM poster that I think would have been visible yesterday.

      Also, Sierra is easier and safer to sexile than Mike.

      1. Bagge

        Sierra had to go.

        1. John

          That sounds a lot more ominous than “Sierra needed to leave”.

        2. Bagge

          Oh dear, I didn’t mean to do that to her. It’s bad enough to be thrown out of your room by the future president on regular basis.

        3. John

          Yeah, that’s not really fair. They should just let her stay. I figure she’d probably be cool with that if they were. Sierra’s pretty mellow in general, and it’s not like she hasn’t seen Walky’s weenus before.

    2. Nono

      It’s Dorothy’s room. Walky’s bed has the pillows on the opposite end: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/01-when-somebody-loved-me/sleepyhead/

  17. JessWitt

    Paper’s awfully dry, Walky. Drink some water for heavens sake.

    1. Rabid Rabbit

      Especially since you just sweated all your moisture out.

      1. JessWitt

        An after-coital snack is key!

  18. Bagge

    Aaaaand third strip going without Walky making stupid jokes. Even after that meaningful smile all he has is a sullen “she’s not” instead of a 12-year-old-level cooties outburst. Walky, now is an excellent time to bring up your test result (if you are prepared to be Dorothy’s new project that is).

    No, Dorothy, people are just as awesome as you believe them to be. Sometimes they take a few extra turns to get there though. Oh, and you are awesome too but that goes without saying.

    1. Orbit Junkie

      Hehe. “Bring up.”

  19. DarkoNeko

    Oh, so he didn’t just fantasied of doing that. Bad walky ^^;

  20. timemonkey

    Now, will one of them figure out the Joyce wanting a bodyguard angle?

    1. Bagge

      She already has a bodyguard angel

      http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/01-when-somebody-loved-me/angel/

      1. John

        Also, Amazi-Girl.

        She needs an Amazi-Signal or something. An Amazi-Twitter, maybe.

        1. timemonkey

          Neither of them can follow Joyce around like she needed. Which was the point.

        2. Bagge

          Joyce’s friends could schedule time to guard her just as well as her boyfriend, if they understood the severity of the problem. I Really hope this will lead to Dorothy (and Becky) learning just how bad things are for Joyce and help her.

        3. John

          @amazi_girl Ran out of Gender Studies because of b-word. Need escort through Gashface gantlet.

        4. Solenoid

          Incidentally, this word substitution and the evasion of it is proof that you can block a word, but you can’t block a mentality.

  21. Intie

    Oh wait, she didn’t know? I forgot who knows what.

    1. Leorale

      People who know that Ethan’s gay:
      – Amber and Mike (because they were Ethan’s friends in high school)
      – Ethan’s parents (and they are jerks about it)
      – Sarah (figured it out through stellar gaydar)
      – Joyce (because Ethan told her)
      – Joycelyne (because Ethan was hitting on her while she was presenting as male)
      – AmaziGirl/Amber also talked to Ethan and learned he’s doing it to control his image, and she talked to Joyce and learned that she’s doing this for the bodyguard aspect.
      – Dorothy (figured out Ethan’s sexuality from Joyce’s question)
      – Walky (figured it out from Ethan’s total lack of PDA)
      ….am I missing anyone?

      People who know that Ethan and Joyce broke up:
      – Joyce
      – Ethan, arguably.

      1. Suitora

        Dina possibly knows, since she sat with Amber when she flipped the table on Ethan.

        1. Suitora

          Scratch that. Dina knows, based on this comic.

          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-4/01-the-only-dope-for-me-is-you/support/

        2. Rabid Rabbit

          I’m still going with “possibly”. In that Dina heard, but it doesn’t mean she understood.

        3. neeks

          Yeah I mean she habitually hangs out behind doors. It’s completely possible she’d take “shove yourself back in the closet” literally.

        4. Stifyn Baker

          No, she doesn’t. Dina’s not actually capable of interpreting the social cues, and the strip you quote is exactly proof of that.
          Dina is my favourite character in this strip. She’s a spot-on depiction of autism, and none of the autistic students I teach will likely ever get to college. Even the savant-level genius one, who can do PhD level maths, but can’t cook toast without instructions (not even kidding).

        5. No Name

          I think Dina canonically has Asperger’s.

        6. timemonkey

          Dina canonically is undiagnosed with anything.

        7. No Name

          “Undiagnosed” does not mean “doesn’t have”.
          Yes, she’s undiagnosed, and it makes sense for her to be undiagnosed, and since she seems to be one of the few characters to actually have her stuff together she doesn’t need to be diagnosed, but I doubt Willis (today at least) would just make up a character that acts as abnormally (whatever that means) as Dina with some unidentifiable disorder that cannot possibly fit on any continuum. That would be infringing on Big Bang Theory’s copyright.

        8. Solenoid

          Shots fired!

        9. Aletheia

          Except for the fact that he’s said at least a few times in the past that Dina is based on a friend of his who acts like Dina, but hasn’t been diagnosed. He’s not saying that she CAN’T fit on any continuum, but he hasn’t come out and said she has any specific thing. So, yeah, she doesn’t “canonically [have] Asperger’s,” she’s canonically undiagnosed by Word of God.

        10. timemonkey

          Dina acts pretty much like she did in It’s Walky, just younger and with someone to actually talk to and no aliens or britjas to deal with.

          If you watch Willis’ characters closely he tends to repeat personality types with each one. And eahcv of these types tend to represent something about him. Dina is Amber version 1 but updated to differentiate between the two.

        11. No Name

          You have a very good point. I guess it will depend on how quickly Dina “grows up”. After all, everyone’s a little abnormal, some dangerously so.

        12. Stifyn Baker

          Yes, I agree. She seems quite a textbook depiction. Willis has either done his research thoroughly, or knows someone with the condition really well. I hope it’s the latter. It’s hard work knowing (and dealing with) someone with Aspergers, but rewarding. I changed my job this year to work with Aspergers students; best thing I ever did with my professional life.

  22. Chris

    I love how Willis draws Dorothy without her glasses. She looks exactly like I feel when I’m not wearing mine.

  23. Rodimiss

    I am so afraid that Dorothy is going to go and blow up at Joyce, and only when she’s done pushing Joyce away is Joyce going to be able to tell her that yeah, she already broke it off.

    I mean, I hope it will end well, without them losing each other, but… c’mon. There is no precedent for that.

    1. timemonkey

      The above is not the behaviour of someone who is angry enough to explode at someone. This is disappointed behaviour.

  24. Idon'tcarenomore

    Amber found out Ethan was gay when he told her while the two of them were in bed on their prom night. She was a virgin and he just couldn’t bring himself to do it, so he confessed.

    Dorothy doesn’t blow up at people usually (at Danny when he refused to take ‘go away’ as a real statement). She won’t come down on Joyce unless it’s like ‘you could’ve trusted me…” type thing.

    Just wonder how long Walky’s going to stay in a relationship that has no future according to Dorothy. (Unless he goes to Yale that is) Then again, he admits he doesn’t want commitment, so we will see what transpires.

    1. RachelEvil

      He wouldn’t even have to go to Yale. There’s plenty other things to do in New Haven (even other schools).

    2. Garrett

      I hope Walky steps up and goes to Yale. Option 2 is Dorothy doesn’t achieve her dream of Yale (Still becomes Legislator). Option 3 is they make it work anyway. Option 4 is the break up. Please not option 4.

      1. AriBerri

        Am I the only one who thinks Wally took his test score so badly because part of him was hoping he could follow Dorothy to Yale???? And he feels like he’s failed her big time now and that’s why he’s responding like this to her “do I believe in people too much?” question.

  25. Impartialbystander

    Was that a reference to Namesake?

    1. neeks

      Yes, David walkerton is actually a skeleton key created by the Browns and Walkertons in an attempt to…something something. Dorothy is his Writer and Mike is the Ripper assigned to keep him from getting too much self esteem.

  26. 6Qubed

    Dorothy/Walky/Joyce.

    Confirmed.

    1. J42

      Confirmed subject of next slipshine comic.

  27. SDGlyph

    Walky – cough up because it’s making you feel unwell, or cough up (synonym for ‘confess’) because you want to tell Dorothy what the problem is? C’mon, choose #2.

    1. SDGlyph

      … (and I failed to mention the ‘you believe in me too much’ angle)

  28. Marvelman

    Ok, so we now know that both Walky and Joyce both find each other superficially attractive.

    1. Solenoid

      Something about multiversal constants…

  29. shadowcell

    yeesh, better do something about that if you wanna go into politics, dorothy

  30. Spencer

    Plot twist: Joyce & Walky ends with them getting a divorce and Walky shacks up with Other Rachel. Joyce/Walky becomes the new OTP of the Dumbiverse.

  31. Lordess of Madness

    Wait… Did he eat his test score? Nice one! wonder how it tasted

    1. Bagge

      Bitter. Like defeat

  32. Charles Phipps

    This seems like a subject Dorothy should bother to get all the facts regarding before approaching. Not something she should assume anything about.

    1. Bagge

      Dunno… wouldn’t step one be “talk to Joyce” regardless of how much or how little she knows?

  33. hof1991

    Walky needs to cough it up and tell dorothy what is bothering him, but he doesn’t need to produce the test. That would be gross and waste a strip or two.

  34. Solenoid

    See, when I get a bad grade, I just stuff the thing in my backpack before anyone sees it. That way, I get to take my frustrations out on the test without destroying any helpful corrective notes on it. Y’know. Instead of eating it like a doof and destroying all the red ink.

    1. Gamaran Sepudomyn

      And you avoid having the taste of papercuts in your mouth for the rest of the day, too.

  35. DuckDuckMoose

    Depends on what you mean, Dorothy. You don’t believe too much in people’s goodness, because everyone in your world is basically a good egg, give or take a few people’s parents. You do believe (or assume) too much in their good judgement, and that has fed into basically every argument you and Walky have had so far. Unfortunately, you will have to lower your expectations of your friends’ capacity to make sane choices. More fortunately, we in the audience get the extra benefit of knowing that Joyce is further along than you think.

    Meanwhile, Walky is gonna need at least a day to process (heh heh) the 26, and I’m not sure it’s Dorothy he’ll confide in once he’s ready to talk about it at all. It would be really neat, though a little unlikely, if he tried to casually ask Sal about math tutoring. Just as long as she steered him toward Danny and not frickin’ Jason. In fact, Walky-Danny interactions could be incredibly entertaining right now.

    1. Tom T.

      It’s not that she believes in people, but rather that she believes that people all think and react like her. It’s a normal teenager viewpoint, and she’ll grow. For all the grief she gets in the comments here, Joyce is farther along in figuring this out and more flexible of mind than Dorothy.

      1. DuckDuckMoose

        It’s true that Joyce has had to change and grow considerably more than Dorothy so far, but I wouldn’t say Dorothy’s faith in people is rooted entirely in the assumption (which I agree she holds) that most people think the way she does. After all, she’s seldom stopped trying to empathize with Joyce since Joyce first reached out to her; she’s stuck by her all the way through the lustwolves, the career-versus-marriage talk, and Hymmel the Humming Hymnal, and she’ll stick with her through this current weirdness, too.

        On the other hand, she might not ever have made the first move in their friendship if Joyce hadn’t spoke up, and she was clueless about the degree of Walky’s low self-confidence until Mike dragged it out into the open for her, so… yeah, in many ways she’s a little stuck. At any rate, she changes in much smaller, less frequent increments than Joyce. But who doesn’t, right?

  36. Kennerly

    Poor Walky. Letting your girlfriend hear you complimenting another woman will land you in the dog house every time.

    1. DuckDuckMoose

      It didn’t, though. It just got him an adorable raised eyebrow. Dorothy has her insecurities about Walky and other girls (as shown when Billie slept in his bed that one time), but that’s not one of them.

    2. John

      I dunno, Dorothy seems to think it’s cute that Walky finds Joyce attractive, and vice versa. Maybe she’s thinking about setting them up for after she goes to Yale.

      1. Sailor_Arashi

        Now that you’ve said that, I am 100% sure that’s where it’s going, and nothing good will come of it.

        1. Solenoid

          Woah. Now there’s a thought. Walky would probably want nothing to do with that plan, though.

    3. Northcutt

      If complimenting other people you probably have a sexual attraction too made Dorothy jealous, she wouldn’t have lasted 2 weeks with Danny.

  37. Ali

    No one’s going to point out Walky’s casual sexism in this strip?

    I dunno, it weirds me out how there’s this assumption that a woman’s religious beliefs or personal preferences (“Joyce being Joyce”) isn’t enough of a reason for a guy to respect her boundaries if he really found her attractive (“not unpretty”) — so if Ethan never touched her (in public), the only possible reason is that he must be gay. I mean, he is, but it’s the logic Walky uses to justify his conclusion that bothers me. It’s not far off from saying, “It’s expected that a guy would totally have ignored ‘Joyce being Joyce’ if she were attractive enough”… The fact that “Joyce being Joyce” isn’t enough of a reason to explain the lack of public displays of intimacy, the fact that Walky uses Joyce’s attractiveness (rather than, f’ex, her own mixed feelings) to highlight why he thinks something else is going on, the fact that he assumes lack of public displays of intimacy/affection automatically translates into complete lack of any intimacy whatsoever (i.e. the assumption that (attractive) women are, to a certain extent, there for public display and enjoyment)….

    There are just so many things that ick me out about Walky’s attitude in this strip. Considering I’ve seen folks in the comments freak out at characters for using “the wrong tone”… I’m kind of surprised no one is calling out the objectification and sexism going on here.

    1. Spencer

      Walky acting like a total butthole is just kind of to be expected at this point.

      Not to mention he’s wrong. He’s seen them kiss, hold hands, hug. I think what we’re supposed to take is that Walky is objectively right for all the wrong reasons.

    2. Leorale

      I think Walky is getting a pass because he’s seen that Joyce is very fond of chaste PDA — Joyce definitely would like Ethan to hold her hand or put his arm around her: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2012/comic/book-2/06-strange-beerfellows/arm/ Ethan just never chooses to do so despite Joyce’s clear permission/request. So Joyce’s boundaries are not in issue.

      Walky is being close-minded by instantly assuming that Ethan’s gay and not shy, that Ethan’s not the one who has PDA boundaries. But since this assumption is correct, whatchagonnado.

      1. Leorale

        Also what Spencer said: Walky being casually an ass is kind of a given.

    3. John

      Walky was sitting right there for Joyce and Ethan’s first kiss, which was totally Joyce-driven, with Ethan obviously reluctant. He’s witnessed other Joyce-driven (but never Ethan-driven) escalations of their physical intimacy level, and he notices more than he usually lets on. Joyce will hug Ethan, kiss him, pull his arm around her, and Ethan goes along with it, but never initiates any of those things, even things that they’ve done before. He doesn’t even just casually touch her shoulder; he mostly just stands there like a brick wall while Joyce arranges him to her tastes. It is apparent to anyone who’s watched them together that it isn’t Joyce’s boundaries that are acting as the limiter, and Walky, despite his obfuscating stupidity façade, has noticed.

      Walky was also there for the Showdown at Showalter Fountain, and witnessed Ethan bailing out of being there for his alleged girlfriend facing down her parents over Dorothy in order to go flirt with Joyce’s “brother”.

      And, seriously, the conversation is about whether Ethan finds Joyce (or any girls) attractive. Noting that Joyce is an attractive girl by conventional standards (and obviously by Walky’s personal standards, given that he married her in the other universe and all) does not strike me as being wildly out of line.

      1. Solenoid

        Just going to go and agree here. That’s exactly how I read and interpreted it.

    4. Kathleen

      I didn’t get the sense he meant “sure she has boundaries, but she’s too pretty for them to be upheld” what I got is “sure she’s a weirdo, and why would anyone want to date her, but i guess she’s pretty so someone would want to date her” that kind of thing. So still arguably sexist, but not in a sexual-assault way.

    5. zach

      AREN’T boyfriends and girlfriends there for just those purposes? Itherwise, youd just be great friends.

  38. Rabid Rabbit

    The thing is that Walky has seen Joyce force Ethan into physical contact:

    http://www.dumbingofage.com/2012/comic/book-2/06-strange-beerfellows/arm/
    http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/02-guess-whos-coming-to-galassos/pepsi/

    which seem to suggest she’s be open to some form of contact. He hasn’t heard about the hand-holding in church, but he’s apparently never seen the two of them hold hands in public.

    I acknowledge that Walky’s forgetting http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/02-guess-whos-coming-to-galassos/resetbutton/, which is the chastest boyfriend kiss of all time, but where, again, Joyce seems pretty happy.

    The arm strip in particular is the sort of thing that suggests she’s be fine with or even rather enjoy having an arm around her shoulders from now on — and he never follows up on that. Reasonable grounds for suspicion.

    1. Rabid Rabbit

      That was a reply to Ali.

  39. Bilal Kalyal

    ‘WATSON- ERM, I MEAN WALKY! WILL WE NEED TO STAGE AN INTERVENTION FOR ALL OF US?’
    ‘You know Holmes, I think that might solve more problems than you think.’

  40. David

    So according to the alt text, Dorothy’s “hammerspace” is always just offpanel. Is that where the banging commences? And/or is that where she pulls blunt objects from? Is Walky too blunt?

    Good that Joyce isn’t listening.

    1. David

      Oh no. No no no. My default avatar was Sarah. Sarah! Dorothy is so not me it isn’t funny.

      1. Sailor_Arashi

        I finally had to upload a custom Gravatar because I got stuck with Joe and it was REALLY weirding me out every time I posted.

    2. Sailor_Arashi

      “Hammerspace”, by the way, is a fandom term for “The place where people pull things from when they clearly didn’t have them before”. Hammerspace can be anywhere and contain anything. Inside the trenchcoat of an immortal highlander, Hammerspace might contain a katana, for instance. In this example, Hammerspace exists just offscreen and contains Dorothy’s glasses.

      I’ll spare you the link to TVTropes for this, and note that the term ‘Hammerspace’ was coined to describe the theoretical extra-dimensional storage from which Akane Tendo retrieved the gigantic wooden mallets she used to crush Ranma Saotome into the ground for being a jerk.

      1. kurodansei

        I love that I went to the comments to find out what a Hammerspace was and then there it was. First thing I saw. thanks Sailor.

        1. Sailor_Arashi

          A pleasure to be of service. And if I may say, your name and your current Gravatar make for a particularly amusing dichotomy 😀

      2. John

        In It’s Walky!, Joyce carries a plasma cannon about the size of her torso, which conveniently vanishes into hammerspace when it’s not relevant. One of the redrawn strips for the rerun lampshades this pretty hard.

  41. Bagge

    I start to recontextualize some of Walky’s jokes.
    http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/02-guess-whos-coming-to-galassos/freshstart/

    1. DuckDuckMoose

      Heh! There are things the boy knows not to blurt out.

  42. Bagge

    I find it adorable that Dorothy’s and Walky’s relationship is not only for fun anymore but they also give emotional support

    1. DuckDuckMoose

      It’s really, really sweet. They’re getting used to each other.

  43. AeroQC

    Everyone has some form of hammerspace, a location where they seem to have everything they need at all times.
    Unfortunately for me, my hammerspace doesn’t like me and swallows up a bunch of stuff for no reason.
    A hammerspace could also be your dryer, because missing socks.

    1. Fugacity

      Nah – dryers are “reverse-hammerspace”. “The place where people lose things inexplicably when they clearly had them just a moment before and there is no place for them to have gone.” I think I have an especially voracious reverse-hammerspace. It certainly couldn’t be just that I’m extremely absent minded…….

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