191

Shaping
Posted on May 6, 2015 by David M Willis
KICKSTARTER OVER!  Hooray and thanks, everyone!  I hope everyone loves their book and their magnets once they're produced and get sent out. The annual poll for who to doodle inside the book can be found on the right-hand column under the comic, or just to the right.  You might be wondering "where is so-and-so?" but the likely answer is "they are the default doodle for a previous book."  I have a lot of books.  Danny and Joe go in the two Roomies! books; Mike, Robin, Ethan, Leslie, and Amber go in the five Shortpacked! books; and Amazi-Girl, Dina, and Sal get doodled in the previous three Dumbing of Age books.  And so we have the folks remaining to choose from.  Choose someone easy to draw!  Sal was a godsend last year.  You folks who chose Dina for Book 2 remain a thorn in my side.  *shakes fist*

191 thoughts on “Shaping”

  1. Jen Aside

    Though I know I should be hidden
    Still I venture there forbidden
    Party drinking I turn loose
    Billiejuice
    Billiejuice
    BILLIEJUICE

    (Billie: “JUICE? Oh HELL no, I don’t drink anything less than 10 proof MINIMUM.”)

    1. Doctor_Who

      If you juiced Billie, I bet you could use it to light fires or clean spoons.

      1. DarkoNeko

        So, Ruth is getting drunk off Billie, litterally ?

        1. Rich

          She’s on record as saying that Billie tastes like alcohol.

      2. Dean

        Billiejuice is illegal in Tennessee. Pregnant women should not handle open containers of Billiejuice.

        1. marianne

          Definitely do not taunt Billiejuice.

        2. PunkInTransit

          DO NOT make direct eye contact with Billiejuice.

        3. AustKyzor

          If you are on antidepressants, you should not consume Billiejuice. Ask your doctor if Billiejuice is right for you

    2. Em

      billiebooze maybe?

      1. Jen Aside

        so this verse I will reuse
        Billiebooze
        Billiebooze
        BILLIEBOOZE

        1. Dibullba

          best served in a flask of tin
          billiegin
          BillieGin
          BILLIEGIN

    3. Bill

      “I think it’s the best I ever tasted.  And I’ve tasted a lot.”

    4. Robert

      “Billiejuice” makes it sound like she has a leaky spigot. And as is the case with all leaky spigots, you reeeeaaallly don’t want to discover the source of the leak.

    5. Jen Aside

      it occurred to me that saying “boobs” three times might also work

      1. Rich

        Yeah, but Joe shows up after you say it once.

        1. Marc in MN

          Either Joe or Gabe:

          http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/01/11

          (I hope it’s ok to link another comic here…if not, sorry!) 😉

  2. DarkoNeko

    Ah, she did get some clothes back.

  3. otusasio451

    Who’d Billie jack the clothes from?

    1. Captain Batson

      Mike. He got them from your mom.

    2. Jen Aside

      they were under the jersey THE WHOLE TIME

    3. madock345

      Someone explain to me what’s going on with her pants. They look way different than jeans or pajama pants or anything.

      1. DarkoNeko

        They’re tighthigh, ren’t they ? (or however you write that in english)

        1. No Name

          I think the word you’re looking for is “thigh high”.

        2. DarkoNeko

          thanks

        3. No Name

          You’re welcome

      2. caesaria82

        It’s not pants. It’s overknee socks. There are no visible pants in this outfit.

        1. LeslieBean4Shizzle

          Yeah, I was just wondering about that. Billie does appear to be wearing two tops, no bottoms, and huge socks. Not that I mind or anything but it does seem an odd outfit choice.

        2. Pantheon the Mantheon

          Maybe she has short shots on underneath the tops?

        3. Pantheon the Mantheon

          Short shorts* damn you smart phone!!

        4. John

          I’m thinking she mugged someone for the clothes after Ruth stripped her in the hallway, but couldn’t find anyone whose pants would fit her.

        5. John

          (This would also explain why she’s in desaturated blues and greens instead of her usual Drago gold-and-navy.)

        6. Rich

          If she’s like some dorm-dwellers I’ve known, she went to a different wing and looted someone’s unattended laundry from a dryer. You tend to take whatever you can get when grabbing “emergency clothes” that way.

        7. Tacos

          I figure she bolted back to Ruth’s room and grabbed whatever was the first things she could find before getting the hell out of there, hoping nobody saw her.

        8. fogel

          If that were the case would she not be wearing Ruths Leafs jersey again?

  4. Dreadhawk177

    Anyone else notice Joyce’s right eye twitch thing?

    1. LiaHansen

      I think her eyes and her smile are just too big not to encroach on each others territory once in a while

    2. DarkoNeko

      Haha. “this is my 「this won’t end well」look, Becky.”

    3. Historyman68

      And left eye, depending on which panel.

  5. The Kojie

    Billie has the propensity to appear out of nowhere.

    1. Rich

      Trained by Dina, perhaps?

      1. The Kojie

        Who was previously trained by Batman. So it makes sense.

        1. fairwinds42

          as if dina would need the help of some hybrid MAMMAL…

        2. AustKyzor

          Batman: “Well excuse ME for having a bat fly through my window! Maybe next time the universe explodes and resets itself I’ll have a budgie fly through my window instead!”

        3. Rich

          If he’s training Dina, you’d want it to be an archaeopteryx. Admittedly, a pterosaur of some kind would be better at instilling fear in the hearts of criminals, but if we’re sticking with true dinosaurs they’re sadly ineligible.

        4. StClair

          The scenes with the bird (apparently some sort of finch) in A Bug’s Life do an IMO excellent job of reminding us that the dinosaurs never entirely went away, they just got very small. And when you are even smaller than that, they can still be terrifying.

        5. Doctor_Who

          Budgieman kinda sounds awesome. But if he really wants to terrify criminals, he should be Gooseman. I swear geese still think they are giant theropods, and are total assholes about it.

          Also, criminals don’t like being goosed.

        6. Rycan

          Or being bombed by geese. Those things crap everywhere.

        7. Rich

          Criminals are a cowardly and superstitious lot, and prone to anatidaephobia.

  6. Plasma Mongoose

    Candyman, candyman, candyman…

    1. Doctor_Who

      No, with Candyman you need to say it five times. It’s not just “Candyman, Candyman, Candyman”, you need two more. A lot of people forget that about Candyman. Ohshit.

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        BWHAHAHAHA!

      2. nothri

        Very well. I shall summon the Candyman.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ScjucUV8v0

        1. Rich

          Worth noting that she gets slightly farther in her version of that before the supernatural evil arrives than Sammy Davis Junior does in his.

      3. SonicBlueRanger

        I think they forgot that in the second movie (The only one I’ve seen) because it was Candyman three times there.

    2. dmaxx

      Can just hear the words coming singing from your current avatar, also, i would <3 to want a BF as cute and happy-go-lucky as him^^

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        You need to have fur as soft as a pink wombat for the best results. ^_^

        1. dmaxx

          Din’t get to reply back before now as i was out getting some pink wombat fur to clothe me in;)

    3. boomwolf

      Oddly enough, I never heard about the Candyman growin up. Most of the time it was Bloody Marry. Never stuck around long enough to see that dame, or ask why she was so bloody. I was too busy running.

      1. Doctor_Who

        Candyman is a horror movie inspired by the whole Bloody Mary thing.

        1. boomwolf

          Huh, you learn somethin new everyday.

        2. Rich

          It’s a whole trilogy of movies, actually. And boy, do the later ones suck. Think number three was straight to DVD.

        3. boomwolf

          Yeesh. In my experience, straight to dvd is not a good sign.

        4. DarkoNeko

          Uh.
          But then, is the Bloody Mary drink inspired from the movie, or the other way round ?

        5. Agemegos

          Or were they both inspired separately by Queen Mary I of England?

        6. Rich

          Neither, really. The 2006 movie’s based (very, very) loosely off the character from folklore. *dons mixologist hat* The cocktail predates the film by decades (it first appears somewhere around 1921) and has a confused origin story with several competing claims on who first came up with it and where, at least two of which involve Ernest Hemingway. The name’s origins are similarly muddled. I favor the one that credits it as being named after actress Mary Pickford, but that’s mostly because she’s one of my favorite silent film stars – and also Canadian. Go, Leafs.

        7. DarkoNeko

          Oh, the movie’s much more recent than I assumed.

        8. Rich

          Hmmm, imdb tells me there was a vampire flick called “Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary” made back in 1975. Maybe that’s what you’re thinking of? I don’t see anything else close to the name earlier than that.

        9. DarkoNeko

          Honestly, i’m just that ignorant when it comes to horror flicks ^^;

        10. Rich

          Be thankful. My sister was a horror movie junkie in her youth, and my brain cells are jammed full of terrible slasher flicks from the Seventies and Eighties as a side effect.

        11. Bill

          *dons mixologist hat*  Even better than the Bloody Mary is the Bloody Charlie:
          2 oz. vodka, tomato juice, Tabasco, worcestershire sauce, horseradish, and black pepper.  Shake well, pour into tall glass over ice.  Garnish with two olives (mandatory) and pickle spear (optional).

          It’s a Bloody Mary with balls.

        12. Rich

          I wouldn’t dream of arguing. Then again, I’ve never liked tomato juice, so anything that helps cover the taste is an improvement in my book.

  7. madock345

    They were allowed to watch Beetlejuice? Impressive.

    1. Jen Aside

      maybe the cartoon

      1. Doctor_Who

        I can’t see either of those being allowed in a really conservative household. Even disregarding the grossout humor, there’s the whole afterlife thing.

        1. Captain Batson

          That actually seems like a selling point.

        2. timemonkey

          The afterlife where people who commit suicide are punished , indicating there’s rules froma higher source?

        3. Kryss LaBryn

          And ghosts are real? I’m not sure about the rest of them, but Catholics–for all their demons and angels and things–don’t believe in ghosts.

          I suspect they may be more or less alone on that one, though.

        4. Gigafreak

          So if Protestants are sort of anti-Catholics, does that mean Joyce and Becky believe super hard in ghosts?

          Twist ending: the real reason they weren’t allowed to watch Scooby-Doo was that the ghosts were always fake.

        5. Jen Aside

          so what’s the Holy Ghost then

          I still don’t have a good answer for that =x

        6. Doctor_Who

          But everyone goes to the same place, there’s no mention of God or Satan, and even naughty souls can have a good time and do what they like.

        7. timemonkey

          All the ghosts went to the same place. Ghosts linger, they don’t move on. People must move on otherwise the world would be filled with ghosts.

    2. LiaHansen

      Except for the alt text, it could also be a reference to the Bloody Mary kids story. Or even Wizard of Oz maybe. Then again, maybe she just saw beetlejuice somewhere

      1. JessWitt

        “Just clink your mugs together and say three times, ‘There’s no drink like beer.’ “

    3. Lord Stoneheart

      It wouldn’t be impossible for Becky to have seen it. She did manage to catch an episode of Seinfeld, so I would guess she would be more willing to watch forbidden TV and movies than Joyce. (Though judging from the phone thing, Becky probably had even stricter TV access than Joyce)

    4. Halloween Jack

      Maybe they just watched this video.

  8. Murdock

    Good thing billie got her clothes back before Becky walked into her. Though I’d be interested to see what would go down between them will billy sans hockey shirt

    1. Murdock

      *with billie. That was a major mind hiccup there

    2. John

      I think you mean “who”, not “what”.

  9. Kris

    She’ll also appear if you clack your heels together three times.

    1. nothri

      “There’s no drink like booze, there’s no drink like booze, there’s no drink like booze…”

    2. AgentKeen

      Quick! Try dousing her in water!

      1. Rich

        That’s a terrible mixer. At least use club soda or something.

  10. Cattleprod

    Took me a moment to realize those were impact lines and not that there’s noodles flying around for some reason. Unless the cup of ramen Billie dropped landed off panel.

    1. DarkoNeko

      Have some coffee.

    2. Rycan

      Ramen? In a college dorm? Naah…

  11. HMRC4EVR

    Someone’s who’s more clever than I needs to rework Lydia’s ‘Thought I know I should be wary’ narration from the opening of the Beetlejuice cartoon to something involving Billie.

    1. Jen Aside

      e:fb?

    2. HMRC4EVR

      wow. in the time I took to write that, Jen got first posting and did that very thing.

      Forget Nature! Damm Girl-YOU scary!

  12. GoogerGeiger

    I just hope nobody invites Candlejack. Things start to get weird when that he sho

    1. Kris

      Well you already typed his name so your days are numbered. I just hope Candlejack doesn’t stay aro

      1. Dr. Smart

        aw come on don’t you guys know your not supposed to say Candlejack your only aski

        1. Roborat

          Who is this Kindlejak person you keep talking about? What, you think I am stupid enough to say Candlejack . . . oh shi

  13. Regina Phalange

    When did Becky hang around long enough to learn the things that everyone jokes about? This is something I’d expect from Walky, who grew up with Billie

    1. ChocolateRat

      Maybe she heard about it on the phone talking to Joyce before she arrived?

      1. David M Willis

        maybe she heard about it from joyce earlier in the comic
        http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/01-when-somebody-loved-me/laundry/
        http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/01-when-somebody-loved-me/mistakes/

        1. ChocolateRat

          Sorry, didn’t mean to spread misinformation, it’s hard to remember everything that happens in the comic though, even reading it daily.

        2. David M Willis

          INTO THE CORNER WITH YOU, TIME OUT FOR THIRTY MINUTES

        3. ChocolateRat

          Haha, okay. I will have to spend that time rereading the comic.

        4. Roborat

          No comic for you, 30 minutes!

        5. fogel

          Chocolate, Robo — are you related?

        6. Architex

          You know you screwed up when the artist puts you into a time-out.

  14. Regalli

    What about Candlejack, is he standi

    1. Someone

      hey wait a sec…Candlejack…oh fuck no *grabs scissors and stabs him* Guys its finally over! Its finally over! I killed him!

      1. Rich

        Someone’s playing a little rough there. Thinking Kids WB is going to have issues with the whole “scissors stabbing bloody death” thing.

        1. Charles Phipps

          He’s a Warner Brother’s cartoon. The scissors aren’t going to do a thing! We’ve tried anvils, dynamite, ACME products, and worse.

        2. Rich

          With Candlejack I find pie usually wor

        3. Someone

          Dammit CandleJack why won’t you die!

        4. Someone

          in hindsight trying to stab a ghost might not have been the best idea. Hey has anyone tried opening a portal to hell and shoving him through, or at least the beetlejuice underworld?

        5. Rich

          Hell no longer admits WB characters. Been that way ever since that one Animaniacs episode.

        6. timemonkey

          Ghost problem? You know who to call.

        7. Rich

          Carnacki the Ghost Finder, right?

        8. HMRC4EVR

          Stick him in a show with Elymra.

  15. ChocolateRat

    Billies outfit is cute.

  16. Architex

    #Billie4Book4 2015

  17. Opus the Poet

    Becky is just trying so hard to make Joyce happy-ish.

  18. Bagge

    Go Leafs

  19. leadsynth

    “Amazi-Girl, Dina, and Sal get doodled”

    This sounds like the name of the next Slipshine.

    1. Architex

      …in the caboodle.

      Sounds like how Becky would describe it.

      1. Someone

        what about the capoodle?

        1. Gigafreak

          Why not both!

        2. Captain Batson

          That’s on the other side.

    2. boomwolf

      A Slipshine inspired by a dream Becky had? I dunno why, “doodled” just sounds like a Becky word to me now.

  20. JessWitt

    Beetlebooze: For the bug eaters who don’t mind weevils in their rice wine.

    1. Solenoid

      As long as it’s a lesser weevil.

      1. Roborat

        Always take the lesser of two weevils.

        1. fogel

          You should curtail that sort of think.

      2. Kryss LaBryn

        Well, the lesser of two weevils, at least.

  21. najaru

    The contrast between Billie’s and Becky’s outfits is impressive.

  22. caesaria82

    This could be such a cute rom-com opening. Two people bumping into each other in a college hallway, where one is an alcoholic and the other is homeless, first they don’t like each other but then they fall in love and make each other better. It’ll be called something like…. Fall For Love. You see? Because Becky fell down!?

    ….. someone hire me in Hollywood.

    1. Rich

      Still better than the Underdog movie.

      1. Opus the Poet

        Yeah the cartoon was semi-cute, but I was like 7 or 8 when it came out. And the anti-Semitism in it I didn’t catch until 20 years later.

  23. Random832

    I can’t figure out what Billie is wearing. Or, for that matter, Joyce – is that a hooded sweater-vest?

    1. caesaria82

      Billie is wearing what looks like a long white shirt (men’s style shirt) and a long striped sweater-jacket over it and those overknee scrunchy sock things, idk what they’re called. Either no visible pants or the shirt is actually a short dress.

      Joyce’s is a hooded sweater in a sweater-vest pattern with some sort of intricate collar design.

      At least I *think* that’s what they are.

      1. Rycan

        That’s definitely a shirt, not a dress. Not odd for shirttails to be that long.

        Could be short shorts under there, or Billie may be completely pantsless (she’s too rich to be sans culottes, though).

        1. fogel

          Well, strictly/technically she is sans cullottes in the original sendr, even if she isnt a sans-cullotte. On the other hand she could be sans cullotte in the contemporary sense of ‘commando’

    2. nothri

      It looks like….one, possibly two shirts, what I can only assume are sport pads for her feet, and seemingly no pants. Odds that Becky will zero in on the last part= safe bet.

    3. caesaria82

      See it clearer here: http://itswalky.tumblr.com/post/109042828812/animamationizations

    4. ThatGuy

      yea its so weird!

  24. FuryOfFirestorm

    “Booze Juice, Booze Juice, BOOZE JUICE!”

    *Billie appears*

    “IT’S DRINKIN’ TIME!”

    1. DarkoNeko

      hehehehehehe

  25. licoricepencil

    I wonder if Willis keeps having Billie and Becky run into each other because he wants to have something to go off of when Billie and Ruth inevitably go south…

    1. caesaria82

      DO NOT EVEN SAY THAT HUSH BILLIE AND RUTH ARE FOREVER YOU GO AWAY AND THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU’VE JUST DONE.

      1. Rich

        Agreed. The sexy lesbian suicide pact must endure.

        Well, bisexual, really, but I certainly wouldn’t want to be the one to correct Ruth on that.

      2. Rycan

        Now we have two people in time-out already, and it’s been less than two hours since posting.

    2. timemonkey

      One can but hope. And hopefully it’ll be soon.

      1. Nono

        Can we flash forward past the Ruth-depression stage of the fallout though?

        1. Rycan

          *flashed forward to end of Dumbing of Age*

          Dammit! And now the IRS wants 20 years of back taxes, too!

  26. nothri

    What about it, Billie? Just because you were already there doesn’t mean she didn’t summon you. You can’t prove otherwise.

  27. TheHorseCouncil

    Speaking of books how far into Shortpacked do the current five books go? Will there be more coming?

    1. Opus the Poet

      You are currently reading Book 5 as it happens.

    2. Eliot

      Assuming you were talking about Shortpacked! and not DoA (in which case your question has been answered), this is the last strip in SP! 5: http://www.shortpacked.com/index.php?id=693

      That’s from July 2008, so there’s approximately 6 and a half more years left to cover. A very (very) rough back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests we’d need 7 to 8 more books to get to the end, assuming they are approximately the same size as before. Willis has said he may do a dedicated Kickstarter for SP! books some time in the future.

      1. TheHorseCouncil

        Ah, yes I did mean Shortpacked!, thank you. Was telling myself I’d buy all the books at once after the series was completed in book form, but seeing as that does look a ways off I’d probably be better off buying whatever’s there now and waiting on the rest….

        1. Eliot

          That’s a good plan – as stated in the latest DoA Kickstarter, one of the things putting off the production of more Shortpacked! books is the lack of storage space for them. So the more that go, the sooner new ones can arrive.

  28. anonymsly

    This is the Becky I love, right here. Telling Joyce in no uncertain terms ‘I am doing this FOR YOU, so all you’re going to do is let me!’ Double-sold for me with what I read as an ‘I am almost crying-happy’ look for Joyce in panel 2. Yay friendship!

  29. Jake

    I’m almost positive that Becky HAS said “booze” two times before this. Community did a Beetlejuice joke like this once and I know that Willis loves that show, so I can’t see him passing up an opportunity to make an homage to it.

  30. DarkoNeko

    You know, it’s all good intentions, but leaving Joyce stuck in a tiny room while you go have fun and meet people isn’t particulry nice, now that I think about it 🙁

    1. Norah

      Sarah’s there. And it’s her dorm room–it’s not like she hasn’t spent time there before–it’s not solitary confinement!

      1. DarkoNeko

        Yes, she is stuck there with *Sarah*
        The horror !

    2. Agemegos

      On the other hand Joyce has been anxious about going out, and Becky has just learned about it.

      1. Rycan

        Yeah, meeting new people isn’t very fun for Joyce anymore, to say the least.

        1. DarkoNeko

          It’s just inviting people from her own floor here, tho.

  31. AcoraZ

    Is Billie wearing thigh-high legwarmers?

    Who did Billie steal thigh-high legwarmers from?

    1. tim gueguen

      They were a present from one of her high school cheerleading coaches, Alex Owens.

  32. m2iCodeJockey

    Billie.
    Pumps iron, can be summoned and your M x V doesn’t mean a thing with her…

  33. Charles Phipps

    You know, I’d be interested in how Becky would react to a monogamous lesbian relationship. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s unaware they exist given her upbringing.

    1. Charles Phipps

      Oooh, we need to expose Becky and Joyce to Willow and Tara! *pause* and maybe stop before the 6th season finale.

      1. DarkoNeko

        They’re WITCHES !!! Those burns at the stake. The stake, I says !

        1. No Name

          Not if you’re in America. A simple hanging will suffice in the States.

        2. Rycan

          Hey, we weren’t ‘the States’ back when that was going on.

  34. Boo

    I like that she’s wearing Beetlejuice stripes and colours. I kniw that’s the joke but kudos

  35. Daibhid C

    If you say Bloody Mary three times into a mirror, Billie complains that she hates tomato juice.

  36. Lasenna

    So far it looks like Carla is going to win the poll for Kickstarter book doodle, which is really too bad. Considering the storyline the book covers I figured Billie or Ruth would make sense, and I would always welcome Joyce, Walky, or even Dorothy.

  37. Matt Beardface

    “Choose someone easy to draw!”

    I notice Becky isn’t on the list….

    1. Someone

      We’ll she isn’t in book 4, that may have some thing to do with it.

      1. David M Willis

        Yeah, Becky would be a book 5 face.

        (though it is why marcie isn’t on there)

  38. Alexx

    Goddamnit, that was a beautiful gag.

  39. Airyu

    Can the next book title be “When I get desperate I’ll just say “booze” three times”?

  40. Tenn

    Booztur, the Drunk in Yellow.

  41. Deanatay

    Internal monologue:
    Huh, Walky’s never been doodled? Seems an injustice, he’s one of the main OMG CARLA’S ON THE LIST *selects Carla*

    Because, Carla.

  42. Rycan

    Always check your blind spot, Becky. You never know what’s hiding behind that hair.

    1. fogel

      Objects may be closer that they appear.

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