The whole time
Posted on August 20, 2025 by David M Willis

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Tags: asher, ethan

238 thoughts on “The whole time”

  1. NGPZ

    pops outta nowhere like mr mxyzptlk XD

    1. Tequila Mockingbird

      Though his name is vastly easier to pronounce backwards.

      1. Nymph

        You got me. I said the first sound of it.

        1. Tequila Mockingbird

          Just spitballing, but I’m thinking REHSAR, let the “h” represent a more aspirated “e” sound… and also we’ll add a little trill. As a treat.

          So it comes out as /ˈɾɛʰˌsɑɹ/, though why anyone would want to un-summon Asher is another question entirely.

        2. Yumi

          Last name backwards is Krap.

        3. Dot

          That’s significantly easier to accidentally say backwards just in the course of casual conversation.

        4. Tequila Mockingbird

          Holy christ I completely bungled that… his name backwards is REHSA, where the hell did that second R come from. D’oh!

        5. Owlmirror

          From the fifthr dimensionr, obviously, which is hyperrhotic as well as being hyperdimensional.

        6. Owlmirror

          bar-dumr-tishr.
          tipr yer server.

        7. AbacusWizard

          British pronunciation.

        8. Disastroid

          Arsher. Arsesher.

          Arshcestershire?

        9. Effie

          it’s pronounced arshtersher

        10. Tequila Mockingbird

          For best results, put on your best Sean Connery impression.

        11. thejeff

          For better results use your best Bugs Bunny impression.

        12. Tequila Mockingbird

          I like this. This shall be my headcanon. Many thanks to thee, oh friendly wizard of the comments section!

        13. MyBlueBox

          You got bacon on the brain clearly.

        14. Whirlakitty

          I was wondering where you were going with that other ‘R’ 😛

      2. keithcurtis

        What a terrible fate it would be if you were a fifth dimensional imp and your name was Otto. Or Bob.

        1. Tequila Mockingbird

          I feel like the answer to that would be to take a leaf from the books of fairies and daemons. That is, go by a pseudonym and never reveal your “truename.”

  2. Amós Batista

    Again??

    1. Steamweed

      I’m thinking he’s got some breaking-and-entering skills. Lockpicking, maybe keycardpicking.

    2. Ian Clark

      Reading this old comic makes me kind of sad now, because it reminds me that Billifer actually did really like Asher, and she still fucked it up by being status-obsessed.

  3. JA

    Did Sal learn from Asher or did Asher learn from Sal?

    1. Thag Simmons

      Sal says she learned to go through the windows at Boarding School, which isn’t directly learned from Asher but is definitely downstream of his influence.

    2. Ophidiophile

      Nah, all the cool kids were doing it.

  4. Joe Moose

    It happens!

  5. Nono

    Arms squished to your sides? That can’t be a comfortable way to phone-browse.

    1. Needfuldoer

      The alternative would be browsing on a phone that’s out of frame.

    2. BadRoad

      Not a whole lot of room in a college dorm bed.

  6. IntangibleMatter

    This is gonna be a chicken-and-egg discussion, isn’t it?

    1. NGPZ

      Eggs were around for millions of years before chickens

      there solved it for ya XD

      1. Clif

        Yeah, I don’t know why there was ever any question.

      2. Nymph

        Not once I perfect my time machine.

  7. Sirksome

    It would be even funnier if you could trust him even slightly.

    1. Amara

      I trust Asher! He’s figured out amazi girl’s identity and called in his family favors to help her. I think he’ll genuinely do good things and be a good guy, like, 95% of the time. He won’t ever get along with Sal, but I think he’s gonna be helpful to our protagonists the next time there’s an incident.

    2. Jay

      What has Asher done that untrustworthy?

      Literally everything he’s done outside of flashbacks has either shown his desire and drive to change or him LITERALLY BEING BLACKMAILED.

      I dont understand the way people are reading asher

      1. Needfuldoer

        The worst thing we’ve seen him do on-screen is call the cops on Sal’s attempted gas station robbery, in order to get them off the trail of his gas station robberies.

        1. C.T Phipps

          I don’t think he did it for that reason.

          I think he did it for fun because he was a literal child.

        2. deliverything

          Both reasons, according to him.
          https://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-9-comic/04-vote-for-robin/trail/

      2. Thag Simmons

        Fundamentally he’s a mobster’s kid, which makes him dangerous regardless of his intentions.

        Plus, we know he’s not as out as he says he is, because he’s got a Motorcycle and Sal made it very clear that you are not allowed to have one of those unless someone is pulling strings for you.

        I don’t think he’s all bad. Trying to get out from under shitty parents and assert independence is a theme connecting most of our main characters, but I do suspect Asher might end up being the one who doesn’t make it, who ends up falling back in with his family despite sincerely wanting to get out.

        1. JBento

          Fundie’s kids have been demonstrably infinitely more dangerous than mobster’s kids, but I can’t imagine the absolute shitshow that would go on in the comments if someone had unironically gone “get away from Becky/Joyce, they’re dangerous” in here.

          Well, I guess Becky’s off the hook for that now.

      3. Sirksome

        It’s interesting to me that ya’ll seem okay with his lies. Is it because he’s kinda got smug bad boy energy and possibly feels bad about his misdeeds? I’ve never actually seen him feel guilty. Maybe Sal’s just a bad judge of character? Maybe he just wants to be Amazi-Girl’s friend? Maybe. I wish you Asher trusting folks sincere good luck. I’m sure he won’t let ya’ll down.

        1. C.T Phipps

          Asher is a murderer.

          But the person he murdered was so awful that most people consider it a net gain versus a net good.

          And that’s assuming Asher ordered it versus the cop letting him know.

        2. dralou

          I’ve always read that scene, the cop calling Asher afterwards the murder, as implying HEAVILY that Asher was the one who asked for the hit in the first place.

          Why would the cop call him rather than directly the mobster-in-chief, otherwise ?

          And that call is why I don’t trust Asher as much as I want to…

        3. deliverything

          An alternative explanation is that the cop wasn’t given direct contact with the person who actually ordered the hit, and Asher was simply a go-between.

          That said, “just relaying orders” isn’t a much better defence than “just following orders”.

        4. Freemage

          This. I doubt Asher has the pull needed to order the hit, but he pretty clearly was the guy his family used to convey/confirm the kill-order. That marks him as a bit deeper in with the family business than he has been asserting.

        5. BBCC

          Correct. If he did order the hit, it just makes me want to buy him cookies and beer.

          It, uh, would indicate ‘not as out as he might want to be’ though if he still has that authority.

        6. JBento

          Getting Blaine offed is deserving of a medal, not condemnation.

          Regardless, I’m not even sure Asher would’ve needed to ORDER a hit instead of just going, “hey, you know that dude that does all the mob accounting? Well, he just got arrested for, among other things, murder, do you think he might spill the beans in exchange for a more lenient sentencing?” and letting the good times roll.

        7. Proxiehunter

          Or, since Asher allegedly stole money from his grandfather, simply pinned the stolen money on the accountant.

        8. thejeff

          Generally, even the boss’s grandson wouldn’t be able to order a corrupt cop to kill a mob patsy without someone at least checking in. If nothing else, it’s going to be noticed and questioned.

          But, we know from the call, that Asher was involved. The most likely scenario is that he informed the family what was going on and was given authorization and orders to handle it. Which works for everyone: Blaine’s silenced, which both Asher and the mob want and Asher’s tied to mob hit, so they’ve got more of hold on him.

        9. Jay

          What lies?

        10. Li

          I mean, he’s lying right now? In this very strip.

          I consider not telling anyone about Blaine more of lie by omission, personally, but AFAWK he’s never told anyone about his involvement there, and yes: he was blackmailed into helping Blaine by pulling the fire alarm that helped him kidnap everyone, and Amber would probably thank him for whatever part he had in Blaine’s death*.

          * it’s not clear in the comic exactly what Asher did, we just see him receive a text confirming “it’s done” after Blaine was killed by that corrupt cop**.

          ** calling the cop “corrupt” because he works for the mob, Blaine was confiding in him and was surprised by the cop’s double-cross. Insert pithy commentary here about still being better than most cops or whatever, ACAB for sure, I’m just saying this guy is also on the payroll of the mob.

          …also I like Asher and I’m rooting for him; I think the comment section goes a little too hard on him generally. But fundamentally the situation is this: he’s told Jennifer and probably Ethan that he got out of his grandfather’s business, and that’s obviously not completely true. Until he admits that he’s still “in” the life, he’s putting the people around him in a type of danger they didn’t sign up for.

          Sympathetically, IMHO, but still.

        11. Sirksome

          I actually think most of the comments like and trust him fairly well. That’s my vibes anyway as a professional Asher distruster.

        12. Li

          Should’ve clarified: I think the folks who talk about Asher’s mob connection go a little too hard on him.

          But also, that’s my own intuition. We don’t yet really have a lot of reason for thinking either thing — by which I mean… we haven’t gotten a lot of introspection from Asher, so it’s entirely guessing, for example, that he had Blaine killed because he was upset the kidnapping went down the way it did.

        13. Proxiehunter

          Where’s he lying in this strip? It’s Ethan who asks if he’s been here the whole time. I believe him when he says he snuck in through the window because the door was locked. Which is an admission that he hasn’t been here the whole time.

        14. JBento

          Ethan presumes he’s (jokingly) lying, but unless Asher picked the lock to get in he’s telling the truth.

        15. Li

          I… do not think Asher did either! I think he is joking, but also avoiding actually answering Ethan’s question.

          I mean, I see a lot of other commenters taking him at his word that he scaled the building, but we haven’t yet seen him show any inclination towards Sal-or-Amazi-Girl-style acrobatics.

        16. Sirksome

          Well for one he’s lying every time he says he’s not in the mob. That will likely come into play when/if this Asher trying to discover the Amber and Amazi-Girl connection plot finally pays off.

          More important to me are his lies of omission. Mainly that he’s integrated into the main friend group without telling any of them his part in getting half of them kidnapped. He’s even dating Ethan. I know he Asher excuses, I know he was blackmailed by Blaine, but if his excuse and motives are so relatable and understandable why hasn’t he told any of his new friends or more importantly his boyfriend? I think Ethan has a right to know that. It’s very odd to me we easily criticize Joyce and Dorothy for cheating but Asher dating Ethan with this secret is totally fine.

          I think Asher overall is a decent guy, but I also just think he cares about protecting himself more than anyone else and that easily explains to me all the suspicious untrustworthy stuff he does.

      4. Nymph

        Interesting.

    3. Pocky

      yeah, he continues to be sus.

    4. Donovan

      I think asher should do more crimes

      1. Steamweed

        And be more gay?

        1. Donovan

          Always

    5. Big Z

      Honestly can’t tell if you’re back on the bit or not, and I love that for you.

  8. Icalasari

    That college is gay and I love it

    1. Icalasari

      …Me getting Walky for that is kinda hilariously dark, all things considered

      1. bwooom

        He’s an ally don’t worry about it.

        1. Effie

          I think the part that’s dark there is that Joyrothy’s gayness is about to break up Walky’s relationship.

          While I’m thinking of it, here’s a prediction I haven’t seen anywhere in comments: the four of them decide to try being polyamorous, and it fails spectacularly with much drama, because Polyamory Is Hard. I will have such respect for Willis if he can make that story both believable and entertaining.

        2. Icalasari

          Yep, spot on

        3. John Campbell

          Ally, hell. I’m about 98% certain that Walky is bi.

        4. deliverything

          100% if there’s pizza on offer.
          https://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/04-walking-with-dina/jim/

        5. Li

          This. He’s made a few too many jokey comments, from the above pizza offer to asking Ethan to feel up his ass to confirm its suppleness, he seems especially attracted to Asher…

          “He’s just very secure in his masculinity!” He’s not! He’s extremely not. Walky was the point to Joe’s counterpoint about fragile masculinity back when he was insisting that owning multiple pairs of shoes is something only girls do, and VERY RECENTLY he panicked when told his longer hair was making him sexy in a less than hypermasculine way. Walky is just Not the “hetero dude so secure in his masculinity that he’ll joke about it” type.

          So if that was what Willis meant to signal, oops.

          (By this point, I’m sure it’s not what they mean to signal, but you could’ve made that argument once upon a time.)

        6. Proxiehunter

          Let’s not forget the time his reaction to Jacob was “We’d all hit that.” Now, the question with Walky is bi-male, straight trans woman, or bi trans woman? What he ain’t is a straight male.

        7. Proxiehunter

          And I think his worries about appearing masculine point a very eggy direction.

        8. John Campbell

          Walky is absolutely not a straight woman. He might be a bi woman. He might be a bi man. He might be a pansexual enby. He might be a lesbian. He might, just possibly, even be a straight man. But he’s been way too into Dorothy, Amber, and, in the other universe, Joyce to not actually be into girls.

        9. Li

          I agree with this. He might eventually, someday, turn out to be male-leaning, as a funny backfill for his early jokes that he’d never found a girl attractive prior to Dorothy (which was definitely supposed to be “late-bloomer”, not “gay”, at the time), but that’s as far as that would go, I think.

        10. John Campbell

          Yeah, I always read that as “Walky went through all of puberty in three seconds when Dorothy walked into the room”.

        11. John Campbell

          And he has an extensive history, across both universes, of joking as a defense mechanism to avoid having to deal seriously with things.

        12. Li

          Yep. Joking repeatedly about being bi is basically exactly how I’d expect Walky to deal with having bi feelings he wasn’t completely ready to face yet.

  9. BBCC

    This will be super funny at some point when Ethan is remembering oh right, he got kidnapped a few months ago.

    1. Tequila Mockingbird

      Don’t you dare break up my beautiful gay babies. Don’t you dare! ?

      1. BBCC

        I don’t want them to break up! Might make Ethan lock his window at night, though.

  10. Bittersweet

    Aww scrawny Ethan is turning into average but slim Ethan, he looks so cute. I hope he’s recovering some and actually going to classes now.

  11. Bobcat

    Windows? Revolving doors, more like.

    1. True Survivor

      Asher is a master of B&E (banging and entering).

      1. morleuca

        Wouldn’t that be the other way round?

  12. Dara

    NOW KISS

    1. Steamweed

      Excellent gravatar for that comment.

  13. C.T Phipps

    Man, Asher is taking his sweet time begging Jennifer to take him back.

    1. SillyGoose

      Incredible how he’s playing games with her, the nerve!

      1. C.T Phipps

        Yes, clearly he’s hooking up with Ethan to make her jealous.

        1. Proxiehunter

          I thought she was under the impression he was hooking up with Ethan to make her horny.

        2. SillyGoose

          Its certainly working on the commenters

  14. darkoneko

    ….so you don’t only ressemble Walky huh 😀

  15. alex

    i love ethan’s face in the last panel, it’s so cute to me. the stray strand of hair is very charming.

  16. Tequila Mockingbird

    I thought for a second that Ethan was Walky and was hella confused thinking “OH SNAP, DOROTHY AND JOYCE AIN’T THE ONLY ONES CHEATING” for like, a solid half-second before I realized “oh wait, false alarm, it was Ethan. Divert power from drama receptors, redirect it to d’awwwww“

  17. L!ghtn!ng

    Important question: Does Ethan watch Game Changer?

    1. Tawnee

      That was the first thing I thought of too. The second was Ethan’s looking nice, I hope he’s doing well.

    2. Proxiehunter

      Does Asher watch Game Changer? Or is it just a coincidence.

      1. Proxiehunter

        I’m high. I got who said what mixed up and thought Asher said he’d been there the whole time.

  18. ReFlex76

    “Yup, here this whole time. Totally not with a mob doctor helping a friend who got maimed at a protest.”

    1. Tequila Mockingbird

      I mean, to be fair… who hasn’t?

      1. Clif

        Actually it would be with a mob doctor helping a friend whose friend got maimed at a protest. And now she owes him one.

    2. John Campbell

      I initially read that as “married”, and had a few seconds of, “What, no, that was Joyce and Dorothy. Amazi-Girl was just there as a witness…”

  19. SunflowerBanjo

    So, do we think Asher mentions the Amazi-Girl mob doc shenanigans and that’s how Ethan learns Amber got fucked up by cops (and possibly accidentally Confirms™️ her identity)? Or is this setting up a, “You didn’t tell me my best friend was mortally injured” conflict for these two?

    1. Clif

      How could he mention AmaziGirl when he was with Ethan the entire time.

  20. Erica

    I really want Asher to be a good guy because I love these two together

    1. Tequila Mockingbird

      ☝️

      1. Acher4

        Seconded, they are just cute af.

        Also, I do really want them to “heal” each other or sth.

  21. Derek

    if they didn’t have sex did Asher take off his shirt to sneak into bed? in the middle of winter? dang

    1. Taffy

      He’s just that hot.

  22. Kyulen

    I’m starting to wonder how many of the people Sal used to hang around with before college know how to climb buildings and get in through the windows.

    1. Proxiehunter

      Most of them from her home town. That was her parents excuse for sending her to bording school.

    2. Ray Radlein

      Hey, during prank wars in my dorm, I’d lock my bedroom door and climb in and out through the window to stop my roommates from locking me out

      1. John Campbell

        I have a friend from college who was convinced that I could walk through walls after several incidents where I appeared in places where I was not supposed to be able to be. The most fun of those was the time he’d left his card in his room, and so we couldn’t get into his dorm after hours. He went around to the back entrance and banged on the door to get someone to let him in, and while he was waiting, I slipped away, scaled the front of the building, went in through the open window of the third-floor lounge, then went downstairs and opened the door for him.

  23. NGPZ

    please excuse me if i have a lengthy absence from the comments section

    on top of the insensitive whitebred takes I keep seeing around here

    … my Time Of The Month is here and it’s been

    rough T^T

    (almost threw up and spent all day in bed, my whole body aches)

    1. Pappenheimer

      As I recall being advised about my own wife’s periods, sometimes it’s best to just stand back and throw chocolate. And never ask how bad it is in case she grabs a ball-peen hammer to demonstrate.
      (I kid, I think she had a rubber mallet available from somewhere.)

      Regarding Asher, an anagram of his name = Share

      1. JoeCovenant

        … also…

        “Arshe”

        (But best said in an over exaggerated Sean Connery voice)

    2. a/snow/mous/e

      oof, sorry to hear 🙁

    3. Li

      That sucks, and I hope you feel better soon 🙁

    4. BBCC

      Blechhhhh, that’s the worst feeling. Feel better soon! Sending you well wishes and symptom relief!

    5. deliverything

      Be good to yourself and take whatever time you need. Besides, other people can handle the bafflingly stupid takes, so don’t feel obliged to address them.

      1. NGPZ

        yeah like

        our allies here really shouldn’t be too proud to just hit the report button for the sake of containing bigotry and deliberate ignorance, no attention or argument is owed to those, period

        1. deliverything

          For all that I tend to try to argue with them in good faith, my intention’s usually more to present a dissenting viewpoint for others who are reading along, to show that their claims aren’t going unchallenged. Admittedly, I don’t tend to have to do that very much in this comment section, because someone else usually beats me to it. We’ve got a good community here, despite the occasional troll.

          But yes, I really should try to remember that report button exists.

        2. deliverything

          Oops… I should add: as you said, there’s no obligation to provide counterarguments. Some of us enjoy doing so at times, but if it’s not something you want to spend any spoons on, just report and move on.

          Also, there’s that whole “don’t feed the trolls” thing. I’ve never been good at that, so usually compromise by trying to sidestep whatever hatred they may be spewing and simply pointing out the flaws in their arguments.

        3. Proxiehunter

          My position has always been report bullshit I see, but when I have the time, energy, and coherance also refute the bullshit or at least call it out as absolute bullshit in case it doesn’t get enough reports to vanish into the ether.

          I’d rather feed the trolls than let them think they can get away with what they’re saying and letting the people targeted think the rest of us will stand for the shit some folks have said or done.

  24. darkoneko

    …it’s the middle of winter, no way the window would have been opened

    1. Nymph

      It might have been unlocked though, and openable from the outside.

      More importantly, the comic says it was, so I guess there’s at least one way.

      1. Li

        I don’t think he came in through the window, I think he’s joking that the door was locked.

        I mean, for one thing, Jacob also lives here, and I just kinda assume he’s an early riser.

      2. Zero

        He’s implying that he was there the whole time, by suggesting that it is aburd he could have done otherwise.

        1. Zero

          Though quite possibly by stating what he actually did in a sarcastic tone.

  25. Meagan

    Is it just me or does it seem like losing Mike/the time skip restructured Ethan’s whole face? He just literally never makes the same expressions he used to I guess.

    1. not someone else

      It seems to have restructured the rest of him psychologically, so maybe, yeah.

  26. C.T Phipps

    I maintain that Asher did his favor for Amazi-Girl because he wants Sal to forgive him for what he did to her decades ago.

    Which isn’t happening.

    1. anonymsly

      They’re not even 20 yet, there’s no ‘decades ago’ since they haven’t even been alive for decades.

      Also, she did forgive him, she just doesn’t trust him and rightly so.

      1. Proxiehunter

        Unless they were eight it hasn’t even been *a single* decade.

        1. Rimwalker55

          One lustrum ago

  27. not someone else

    Oh. Ohhhhhhh. Is this what the girl-likers see in Ruth/Billie?

    …Well, no, because they have yet to abuse each other, but…

    …I’m gonna just sit here and enjoy my ship.

    1. Taffy

      Ruth and Billie beating each other up is one of my favorite parts of the comic.

  28. Scruffy looking nerfherder

    I enjoy this ship immensely and DEMAND no mob drama takes it away from me, if you’re reading Willis know I shall cast the spell of sock keeps rolling down your foot in shoe if you dare TRIFLE with me.

    You are warned.

    1. Jay

      This is good ship, no drama needed for this.

      This is 2 hurt people trying to heal with each other, good ahip

      1. Josh

        I mean, Joyce and Joe was a good ship too by that logic.

        1. Big Z

          Correct: Joe and Joyce WAS a good ship, by that logic.

        2. Jay

          It was.

          Then Joyce cheated.

    2. Jerach

      It would be funny if mob drama happens with Asher but he does his absolute damnedest to never let it interfere with his relationship with Ethan.

      1. Donovan

        Finally, something for ME

        1. Donovan

          This was supposed to be a top level comment but you know what? Sure. Put this here.

      2. deliverything

        Asher gets dragged into a shootout with the cops and his main concern is keeping Ethan waiting.
        He’d send a text, but his boss (being a strong believer in nominative determinism) has insisted he take the flamethrower, so he doesn’t have a free hand.

  29. Jay

    Aaand we continue to drag

    1. Taffy

      Spoiled.

      1. Nymph

        lmao literally.

        Dramatic tension? I don’t know her. Give me the climax of every plot point WITHIN TWO DAYS or I will riot.

        1. Tequila Mockingbird

          I have a relative who is like this. Can’t show him a movie without him asking “omg, what’s gonna happen next? omg, do they make it?”

          My response is usually some variation of “that’s the mystery, isn’t it?” or “I don’t know, I guess we just need to keep watching if we wanna find out.”

    2. Proxiehunter

      Damn right we do. Slay, queens!

      1. Tequila Mockingbird

        This. This is the perfect response. This is the way.

    3. Big Z

      Meh, it’s not a “drag” if it’s a separate plotline advancing, IMHO.

    4. John Campbell

      Truly, everything is filler until we get to the strip where Joyce and Dorothy get their heads shaved and are branded with scarlet ‘C’s so that everyone will know that they’re filthy cheaters and must be shunned from society.

      1. Tequila Mockingbird

        Seeing as you’re combining two literary references, this implies that this ends with one of them pregnant or exploding a temple. Possibly both.

        1. JBento

          It’s gonna be Dorothy, and she’ll be pregnant with a bomb. For efficiency.

  30. JessWitt

    Looking forward to the Slipshine for these two, whenever that may be.

  31. mel

    can u imagine how these kids would feel having sex in a bed that isnt absolutely tiny like these dorm room bunks

  32. GholaHalleck

    Does Asher know Ethan and Amber are friends? Either way this is gonna go into clusterfuck directions, but one way is worse for them then the other.

    1. BorkBorkBork

      They know their connections. That being, Asher knows that Ethan is the kid that Sal threatened, who Amber stabbed, and Ethan knows of Asher’s connection to the incident and his role in Sal being there.

      IIRC, their opinion is that it makes this all the hotter.

      1. GholaHalleck

        Right, I’m just trying to remember if Ethan intro’ed Amber to him.

        I know Ethan was/is in his emo sadness phase and was having his antisocial darkness era, so it’s plausible Asher is unaware of Ethan and Amber’s close friendship.

        I’m just wondering if Asher has figured out Amber was the one who stabbed Sal, and is platonic life partners with Ethan. Because if he IS aware, Ethan might take it badly if Asher doesn’t let him know about Amber.

        Of course, lots of plausible reasons for Asher to NOT tell him either.

      2. Donovan

        They’re right

      3. deliverything

        Evidence: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2024/comic/book-14/03-trystin-in-the-wind/anyfurther/

        1. deliverything

          That “evidence” link ending up under Donovan’s comment makes it read differently.
          This may not be a bad thing.

        2. Donovan

          >:)

    2. Rimwalker55

      Certainly since the ‘dranks’ party in Dina/Amber’s room. Ethan & Asher slept in Amber’s bed, Amber slept in Dorothy’s bed, & Dorothy with Walky. That was also time when Asher noticed super suit with A on it. So he knows Amber/Ethan connection and Amber/Amazing Girl connection.

      1. deliverything

        The only strips from the party containing both Amber and Asher were https://www.dumbingofage.com/2024/comic/book-14/04-for-me-it-was-tuesday/nopenope/ (at the end of a private conversation with Ethan, who had found her hiding from the party; Asher’s distracted by a separate conversation with Sal, far enough that Danny (also with Ethan and Amber) can excuse himself by saying “Gotta get back to my girlfriend”; even if Asher spotted them together, it’s likely not enough to know they’re friends rather than just introverts making awkward conversation at a party because they both hid in the same spot) and the end-of-book strip https://www.dumbingofage.com/2024/comic/book-14/04-for-me-it-was-tuesday/partypartypartyhard/ (six mostly unrelated panels; Amber’s falling over drunk in the second, and Asher’s playing Settlers of Catan in the fourth).

        So… yes, he knows the Amber/Amazi-Girl connection, but the Amber/Ethan connection’s less certain.

        Hope it didn’t seem like I was going out of my way to debunk you; I initially assumed you were right and went back to look for supporting evidence.

        1. Rimwalker55

          Well sourced. Asher knowing Ethan/Amber is probably presumptive

    3. Rimwalker55

      Also, Sal may not know what Asher knows since she made sure to mention no names and made sure Amber woke up as AG

      1. GholaHalleck

        Yup, all Asher would have to say is “It’s not my place to tell Lois Lane that Clark Kent is Superman” and any emotions Ethan has about it being kept from him will wither into lust.

  33. Holly

    Asher browsing photos of bi-lesbian makeouts at of the protest on his phone? Texting the mob to tip off the police to search Sal’s room for AmaziGirl outfits? Watching cute kitten videos on TikTok?

    1. Taffy

      He’s reading the TV Tropes page for Dumbing of Age.

      1. Ray Radlein

        Well, that’s the next seventeen years of comics sorted, then

        1. Tequila Mockingbird

          He’s like “wait, the future storyline has me doing what?! Damn you, Willis… shit, I gotta call my agent.”

  34. eskimolos

    Finally, a reprieve from “stop stalling and break up with your boyfriend Dorothy”, if only momentarily. Because arriving back in the late evening > discussing the situation and what to do about this > going to sleep because nobody should go through a relationship talk just before bed > waking up > getting chewed out for starting something when Joyce had a perfectly good boyfriend right there > heading to the shower and on the way checking in on the person who saved you from police brutality and arrest the day before, and finding out she was wounded > arriving at the shower are all completely avoidant behaviour and rather than the max 16 hours that have passed in comic between the kids and the shower, clearly these girls are hiding a week’s/months/years long affair, while somehow simultaneously twirling their moustaches and rubbing their hands together gleefully at the idea of wrecking their friend group with the most obvious turn of events possible to have happened in this comic.

    Ahem. Go Asher and Ethan! Smooth work Asher, great alibi.

    1. Big Z

      You missed “going to your boyfriend and engaging in sex acts instead of telling him” in there, probably because it blows a gigantic hole in this entire concept.

      1. Tequila Mockingbird

        That’s not the only thing that blows. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

        (Yes, I know. That was so low-hanging it ceases to be a fruit and instead qualifies as a root vegetable.)

        1. Big Z

          We thought the bar couldn’t be any lower, but here you are limbo-dancing with the devil in hell.

        2. Tequila Mockingbird

          Ah yes, one of my favorite tirn of phrases I’ve ever encountered on the web. It is good to see it out in the wild. ?

        3. Tequila Mockingbird

          *turn

    2. Astariel

      Yeah, more than a little ridiculous when you write it all out like that, isn’t it?

      1. Big Z

        It is ridiculous to leave out the specific event that pushed a lot of people over on to the “okay, you two are DELIBERATELY stalling this in a meaningfully hurtful way”, yes.

    3. Annaphylaxis

      yeah IMO people are fully emotionally reacting to how long it’s been since this storyline began IRL, and how long they’ve been angry about the existence of cheating, not how long it’s actually been happening in canon.

      frankly, as somebody who’s been cheated on a couple of times, if the partner who made out with somebody else came and told me the next day and broke up with me right away, it would have been WAY better than the way that actually *did* go down, which was behind my back and hidden for months and only revealed after the eventual breakup.

      like, to me, having a queer awakening, having makeouts as part of that queer awakening, and realizing you need to terminate your straight relationships barely even counts. this is the tamest, most kiddy-pool version of cheating i think i have ever encountered in fiction.

  35. Odo

    From this we learn that Ethan is a deep sleeper, considering Asher fully climbed into a tiny twin and got settled without waking Ethan up.

  36. Dot

    And now we go from the goofus to the gallant of shaky relationships founded on cheating

    1. Big Z

      Truly we have jumped from the frying pan to the slightly-better-maintained frying pan.

      1. Tequila Mockingbird

        Think we could daisy-chain such a thing? Going from that first frying pan into a succession of nearby pans like skipping a rock across water? See how big a combo we can rack up before ending up in the fire?

        1. Big Z

          Gotta do a nosegrind on the handle to keep your combo multiplier up.

        2. deliverything

          Depiction of the rock-skipping in question:
          https://youtu.be/5UsRiPOFLjk?t=11
          Although this might be in reverse?

    2. Nymph

      Founded on cheating? Asher got kissed, kissed back a little and immediately went to tell Jennifer and found out she didn’t even consider them to be in a committed relationship. There’s no fucking way that counts as cheating.

      1. PedanticJerkass

        Yeah, compared to Joyce and Dorothy, Asher was a paragon of virtue.

        Really, stop and think about that for a moment.

        1. Tequila Mockingbird

          If Asher is on his Paragon route, does that imply Joyce and Dorothy are currently doing a Renegade playthrough?

      2. Tequila Mockingbird

        Yeah, the words “I think we should see other people” may not have been spoken, but Jennifer’s response was about as clear as one could get without saying it verbatim with a glowing neon sign.

        When Asher threw out the “someone who thought he was your boyfriend” line way back, even I winced a little.

        1. Odo

          There’s also the aspect of how Jennifer was treating Asher like shit before anything happened with Ethan. She wasn’t treating him like a partner so why should he act like one?

          Being mean to your partner doesn’t excuse cheating, but when you are actively acting like you don’t care about them at all it makes it a heck of a lot more sympathetic.

        2. deliverything

          https://www.dumbingofage.com/2023/comic/book-14/02-its-the-love-i-havent-got/stockmarket/ — if you effectively say you’ve broken up with your partner, don’t be surprised if they believe it.

        3. Nadamás

          I do actually think that excuse cheating.

      3. Big Z

        Yeah, Asher did the “kissed someone else” thing in the most “right” way (from the paladin perspective) that he could have short of, y’know, NOT kissing someone else, and IMHO Jennifer’s response made it crystal clear that he’s in the (crystal) clear.

      4. Dot

        I know, I’m not being serious.

        1. Nymph

          Okay phew. I have a VERY far-away bar for what I personally count as “cheating” so sometimes I can get very blindsided by other people’s interpretations of that, but I was so sure there was no way that counted lmao.

          Thank you for clearing it up.

        2. Tequila Mockingbird

          What do you mean by a “far away bar?” I have genuinely never read this phrase (or is it an idiom?)

        3. GholaHalleck

          I’m guessing its a version of “A really high bar” as in “the things they consider cheating are very few”

        4. Nymph

          Yeah Ghola is right. I was trying not to say “high bar” because I worried that implied that I had a LOT of things I considered cheating, so I kinda futzed it and hoped it worked lol.

          But yes: there are few things which I personally count as cheating in my relationships.

        5. Dot

          IMO it is technically cheating but the fact that he immediately came clean about it and tried to seek resolution mitigates that to the point of irrelevance.

          Wasn’t kidding about the “shaky relationship” part, these two are a powder keg waiting to go off.

        6. Nymph

          So this confuses me still, but ty for fully explaining.

          For you, someone can cheat on a person who they are not in a committed relationship with, specifically one that the person they “cheated” on wasn’t committed to at all? And specifically: by someone else initiating a kiss they almost immediately broke off?

          No judgment, I’m just surprised that counts for you.

          I definitely agree they’re drama waiting to happen AND I AM SO READY FOR IT.

        7. Big Z

          I’m not Dot, but I am a subscriber to “in the absence of an explicit discussion on what constitutes cheating and how committed the relationship is, one is best served by going with the cultural norms of your partner.”

          As far as I can tell in the modern US college life, that’s “calling someone a boyfriend/girlfriend implies commitment or exclusivity” and “any form of romantic physical contact may be construed as cheating”.

          As usual, I also like to tag on that my actual definition of “cheating” from a moral standpoint is “whatever the the people in that relationship individually believe to be cheating”.

        8. Nymph

          Right, but Asher and Jennifer had a conversation beforehand where she explicitly corrected him when he called himself her boyfriend. So I actually feel like commitment was not only not implied, it was actively discouraged.

          That’s kind of where my disconnect is, I think.

        9. Nymph

          I’ve gone back and re-read, and apparently that convo happens AFTER the kiss lmao. However, the kiss (and his confession) really just reads like Ethan kissed him and he stopped it. It also isn’t reacted to by either Asher or Jennifer like it’s cheating, Asher just says he thought it was important to tell her and she… denies they’re serious and then doesn’t let him call himself her boyfriend.

          I think it’s BS to call “getting kissed” cheating under any definition, but certainly in a relationship with that little commitment or concern for Asher’s feelings. Personally, that’s just never going to be cheating imo.

        10. Big Z

          Yeah, Asher and Ethan and Jennifer is the most favorable edge case imaginable — you’d have to be of a particularly jealous frame of mind to imagine Asher was being emotionally unfaithful enough to have “invited” the kiss, and he really reacts exactly the right way — goes back to Jennifer immediately, finds out where the boundaries are as far as she’s concerned, and fucks off to color within the lines make out with Ethan as much as he damn well wants.

        11. GholaHalleck

          I think Asher was making sure to get in front of any potential miscommunication, and assure Billie that what happened was a mistake, and one he would not make again. Because making out is cheating to *him,* even more so if you try and hide that it happened.

          Billie brushed off his concern because smooching isn’t cheating to *her.* Or at least “same sex smooching doesn’t count as cheating” to Billie.

          They probably never had the boundaries talk at all.

        12. deliverything

          Just to emphasise: that thing about “if you try and hide that it happened”? That’s a major warning that you’re doing something wrong. If you feel the need to keep it secret from your partner, you almost certainly either shouldn’t be doing it or shouldn’t be with that partner (the latter being a response to people who excuse hiding it because their partner’s “insanely jealous”; if that’s true, it’s not a healthy relationship anyway).

          And no, superheroes, that whole secret identity thing generally isn’t a good excuse either. You’re putting your partner at risk in ways they don’t know about if they don’t know about (and so can’t take precautions against) your other identity.

  37. Whirlakitty

    Yay, more Ethan!
    I’m sure all the cute lesbians go over better with a lot of the male readership, but I’d really like to see a cute gay guy relationship here. It got off to such a promising start with Ethan and Danny, and then crashed pretty badly. Ethan and Asher just kinda jumped to them together.

    1. Donovan

      Its going over well with this guy >:)

    2. JBento

      I can’t speak for anyone but myself, but I’m a straight male reader and I’d rather have these two on panel than Joyce and Dorothy.

    3. Kyulen

      The cheating kinda ruined any liking I would normally have for Joyce and Dorothy being a cute lesbian couple for me. I’m fine with seeing more of Ethan and Asher, and other happy couples that aren’t cheating.

    4. Big Z

      Cis-but-not-het guy here, these two are just fine. In a couple of senses of the term.

  38. Jarawara

    Asher operates in the darkness, handles details in secret, and climbs through 3rd story windows….

    OMG! Asher is Amazi-Girl!!!

    Quick, somebody contact Billie with this scoop!

    1. Tequila Mockingbird

      I am now imagining some kind of wild finale to the series, one akin to the end of V for Vendetta, wherein the entire cast shows up for one big showdown, all of them dressed as Amazi-Girl so as to watch the fireworks. Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture,” of course, roaring in the background.

      1. Steamweed

        EPIC. I would watch that!

        1. Tequila Mockingbird

          “Amazi-Squad… assemble.“

  39. BorkBorkBork

    Asher is an enigma to me.

    Willis is often very formulaic (sorry) with their villains. True villains – the Marys, Carols, Blaines, Gashfaces, Toedads, aren’t ever seen as sympathetic. It doesn’t matter, for example, Toedad’s motivations; those motivations are twisted and wrong. Same in that it doesn’t matter how Blaine got tied up with the mob or how he got in that situation; he’s an evil bastard. Whatever momming Carol did, whatever care and love she gave before, well, now she’s the kind of person who drops the family dog off at an animal shelter.

    Characters who are redeemable, though, are seen sympathetically. Like. Mike was an absolute bastard; at *best* you could say the same as Ross – he loved his friends, in a strange, twisted way – but we were allowed to see enough to make him, at the end, sympathetic, and his sacrifice meaningful. At *most* we could feel a sort of pity-by-proxy for Ross, and what he meant for Joyce and Becky.

    But it’s not like Ross died putting himself between Blaine and the kids. He died by being stupid while still trying to do evil shit.

    Asher… well, it sure sounds like he called in that hit on Blaine, doesn’t it? He claims to be out of the family business, but that doesn’t really mean a thing because what would he say if he was actually still in it? And we’ve seen his relationship with Jennifer, with Ethan, and he sure seems vaguely sympathetic… but he’s an accessory to their stories. We never really see what’s going on behind those black eyes; we just see him being more mature than Jennifer, or more grounded than Ethan.

    Asher seems to be portrayed as a non-villain. He seems completely, utterly normal aside from these one or two moments where you can tell that someone else has their hooks in him. I guess, the closest character he reminds me of, is Faz – and Faz, despite everything else, and despite growing up where he did and with the parents he had, was just a kid who didn’t want to hurt people. He was still sympathetic… assuming those moments of humanity weren’t just a lie.

    So I guess, the TLDR, is I don’t know if Asher’s a good guy or not. He’s not portrayed like a normal Willis villain (as in, irredeemable monster), except that it’s *very* possible that he’s very good at compartimentalizing and that much of his act is a lie.

    … by the by, where the heck is Sidney Yuus at? We get like one strip with the true arch villain and mastermind and then never again.

    1. Tequila Mockingbird

      As if anything of us could even begin to comprehend the terribly majest and complexity of Sidney Yus’s master plan to return to the story… when we finally learn it is Sydney who has been pulling the strings from the beginning, it will be too late to stop or even slow the unfolding of the grand design that befalls our plucky cast.

      1. Tequila Mockingbird

        *any of us

        Damn autocorrect. That’s what I get for making comments on my phone.

      2. Nymph

        ?It was Sydney Yuus all along!?

        1. JBento

          FOOLS!

    2. HueSatLight

      unknown-motivation Asher and designated-antagonist Raidah are a different type of Willis “villain”. The parents Rutten probably too, but they’ve been mostly offscreen so far.

    3. thejeff

      Part of it that most of those are parents and seeing abusive parents from a teenage kid’s perspective, motivation and and humanization don’t matter. Not until much later in life. They’re just these overwhelming forces that you have to respond to and survive.

      We should also probably note that a lot of Carol stuff is autobiographical. Drawn directly from Willis’s mother. Hopefully not the family dog part.

      1. BorkBorkBork

        I mean, I hate to say it, but there just are some people out there who ARE unredeemable monsters. It doesn’t happen very often (or so I hope) but they’re there. Not “You’ve done something so terrible it’s unforgivable,” but “You will never, ever change your mind; never choose a different path.”

        Folks like Carol and Mary – they have an answer for everything. People who are opposed to them, are evil or lost. Harsh consequences of their actions are God testing us. Direct confrontation is the Devil trying to trick us. Or you have Blaine, or Clint, who are just saddled with decades of anger at being “wronged” and taking it out on everyone else.

        Not sure why the hell Linda is the way she is. I’m sure there’s a reason, but I don’t think it’ll make me sympathetic to her. I think she’s just a walking sunk cost fallacy – her prejudices before might not have been noticeable, and might felt like they could be explained away – but the longer she goes, the harder it would be to acknowledge you’ve been a turd to your children and husband.

        The other side of the coin is this: that, despite some of the really shitty things that other antagonists do, for the MOST part, *they are capable of change and growth.*. Hank is capable of being humble and accepting when he’s wrong. Naiomi is able to reach out to her son and tell him that she’s *trying* to be OK with him being gay (baby steps here.) Robin is a hot mess that has zero self awareness, but she really does care about others, if she can just get her ADHD aligned for five minutes.

        You know what I am worried about with this current storyline? Tony. Considering his connection to everything that has happened.

    4. Zero

      “Some characters are more sympathetic and others are not,” is a funny definition of “formulaic.”

  40. Lilith Rose

    Amazi-Girl just sneezed.

  41. HueSatLight

    Alibisexual

    1. Tequila Mockingbird

      That just sounds like a fancy word for someone who keeps getting caught smooching dudes, but always seems to have an excuse, insisting that he’s like “totally straight, really.”

  42. Da Boy

    If I didn’t know better I’d assume that Asher was Sal’s twin brother, not Walky xD

    1. Steamweed

      They’re all triplets. He’s their long-lost sib.

  43. Suet

    be glad the window isn’t locked, or else you’d need more keys

    besides the key to his heart

  44. Yeet

    considering that two people are known to do that already it wouldn’t really be too much of a stretch for there to be another

  45. Nadamás

    Anyone here watching the summer hikaru died? It’s real creppy and real gay.

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