138

Year
Posted on May 21, 2012 by David M Willis
Until this strip I'd been able to avoid using narration panels in Dumbing of Age.  It was just a rule I had for myself. But now everything's ruined. Also, I will be at Phoenix Comicon this weekend!  I'll be tabling with Rob DenBleyker of Cyanide and Happiness in Artist Alley.  I've never been to Phoenix, so I'm excited for it.  I hear you guys have Fazoli's!  This pleases me.  

138 thoughts on “Year”

  1. Scoot

    I am wearing a pair currently :3

    1. Azumango

      How… How are they?

      1. Yotomoe

        I imagine it’s like sex, but instead you’re wearing comfortable pants

        1. Azumango

          I’ve heard that about sex, but instead of wearing comfortable pants, you are having sex.

        2. Jenny Creed

          I compromise by not wearing pants.

    2. Plasma Mongoose

      Did you order them yourself?

      1. Yotomoe

        Mike orders all Pajama Jeans ever.

        1. Plasma Mongoose

          That is an interesting career choice…

        2. CamelCase

          That’s what he’s majoring in.

  2. Plasma Mongoose

    Did we just skip a years worth of webcomic time?

    1. Aizat

      I lost track of the DoA time months ago.

      1. Slagathor

        It should be the end of the second week now

        1. DragoonChris

          Dorothy made out with Walky after her trip to church. Monday is the day she confest that she and Walky are canon in-universe and Danny played Mario Kart with Amazi-Girl.

    2. Tom T.

      I assumed that the last panel was just a one-off flash-forward, and tomorrow we’d be back at the same point in time.

    3. Izzy

      I think that was actually the joke in panel 3

  3. BoringRocks

    Man. It’s like the Young Justice time skip up in here. FOUR WHOLE DAYS? I wonder which characters have quit the team to go to college in that time!

    1. Yotomoe

      There have been so many couples that broke up and got new girlfriends…and some people just left college

      1. HiEv

        Yes, but now we get to find out what their clones are up to.

    2. Kaixa

      WHO DIED?! WILL IT BE SOMEONE WE CARE ABOUT?!

      Who fell?! WHO ROSE?!

      1. Aizat

        WHAT IS THE TERMINAL VELOCITY OF AN UNLADEN SWALLOW?

        1. Dave McCoy

          Wait, African or European?

        2. Aizat

          I don’t know.

        3. Plasma Mongoose

          Australian!

        4. fellixe

          AAAAAaaaaaahhhhhhhh!

        5. Icalasari

          1/4 European, 5/8 African, 1/8 Silver Haired Bat

          Just for variety

        6. N0083rP00F

          My mother was scared by a bat ……

      2. Twisted Two-face

        Mike rose and gave it to your mom. For a nickle.

  4. Wonder Wig

    Willis is your threshold layer showing?

    1. David

      No, more like I uploaded the full 8-inch 600dpi file instead of the shrunk version. Fixed!

      1. Wonder Wig

        That’s a fairly large size! But glad you were able to fix it.

        1. Pagannerd

          … The fact that I REALLY want to make a dirty joke about this conversation probably says something terrible about me as a person.

        2. Cody B

          The fact that you didn’t realize the dirty joke was self-implied however gives hope for humanity.

  5. Azumango

    In college time, 4 days is EASILY like, totally almost a friggin’ year!

    1. gangler

      ♪ We got more bounce in California than all Y’all combined♪

      1. Azumango

        ♪ We got more bounce in California, we like to party all the time ♪

  6. Aizat

    Let the hilarity ensue.

    1. N0083rP00F

      I thought it was “Hi-jinx Ensues” but that may be a something completely different …..

  7. Sensedog

    We still don’t know what that specific pair of pajama jeans will look like; knowing Mike, there could be another cruel twist.

    1. Yotomoe

      assless pajama jeans.

      1. Gundi

        Then walky would never have to take them off. That’s be a good thing. (And I’m sure Dorothy would thank Mike.)

      2. Twisted Two-face

        Excuse to have TWO butttacos.

  8. Michael

    The text looks a little pixley to me.

    1. Aizat

      Heck, today’s strip look a little pixelly to me.

      1. Yotomoe

        DOA the video game.

        1. Michael

          Well we know Willis is a Community fan, he could have been drawing this while watching the newest episode.

  9. Dave McCoy

    It’s funny because 4 days DID take a year.
    Also because he’s black.

  10. Ter

    DON’T OPEN THE BOX WALKY. THOSE AREN’T PAJAMA JEANS.

    O_O

    1. Yotomoe

      explosion* mcnuggets everywhere.

    2. Aizat

      It’s a head……..of cabbage.

      1. Slagathor

        NO! MY CABBAGES!

    3. Plasma Mongoose

      Worse then that, it’s two sizes too small.

      1. fellixe

        They could be Romney pajama jeans – just the right size!

        1. Khrene Cleaver

          Are your nut huggers too uncomfortable? Well try the new Pajama jeans ham jammers! All the comfort of PJ’s and all the nut hugging, penis packing action of designer skinnies!

        2. Yotomoe

          It’s pretty much like wearing a speedo but over all of your legs.

      2. Zababcd

        “Villains!” Mike shrieked, “dissemble no more! I admit the deed! –tear open the box! here, here! –It is the beating of his hideous heart!”

        Except Mike doesn’t feel guilt, so I’ll have to just convey my point directly. The Grinch’s heart is two sizes too small, and I wouldn’t put it past Mike to intervene in the story before it had a chance to grow three sizes.

  11. Rachel

    I mean, is it even possible to major in jerk-faciness?

    1. Yotomoe

      only if you minor in Joyce linguistics.

    2. Plasma Mongoose

      Yes it is, I hear that in the porno industry, jerking in the face is a job in of itself. 😀

  12. DeadManSleeping

    You could have put calendars in the background.

    Sorry.

    1. David

      That wouldn’t work for a multitude of reasons!

      1. Yotomoe

        I’m just imagining a calander flipping as that “as the days turns to months…” song playing

        1. fellixe

          Like sand through an hourglass this is the Dumbing Of Age.

        2. Yotomoe

          I believe Dumbing of age has a molasses hourglass.

        3. Doctor_Who

          All we are is dust in the wind, dude.

          Dust…wind…dude.

        4. Yotomoe

          sounds like a really somber yet philosophical skater superhero

        5. Doctor_Who

          Even better, it’s a Bill and Ted reference.

          So it’s a somber yet philosophical time traveling rock band.

      2. Steven Fisher

        Granted, it’s done now. But I think if you’d just put more space between the last two panels, maybe a line between them, it would have been obvious from the “wait four days” comment that time had passed.

        I think four days later is fine, though.

  13. Wack'd

    I actually really like this. The problem with the Dumbing of Age method of time is that it relies on every day being fairly eventful. Most people’s lives don’t progress that fast. Having four days where nothing important happens is good. Maintains realism(ish).

    And, of course, Walky’s lampshading it is the cherry on top.

  14. Ancestral Hamster

    And with this time-skip we begin the “Days of Future Past” story arc. Where we will see the horrible dystopian future that will occur if our protagonists don’t prevent Ruth from becoming Chancellor of the college.

  15. Plasma Mongoose

    Andd to think I believed that we wouldn’t get to this point of time until 2014.

    1. Yotomoe

      Willis has transcended time!
      also…yuyuhakasho?

      1. Aizat

        Doesn’t look like Hiei to me.

      2. Plasma Mongoose

        No, she isn’t from Yu Yu Hakusho.

        Today’s grav is Juno from the webcomic Atomic Laundromat.

    2. gangler

      Just watch. Tomorrow’s comic will start “Four days earlier”.

      1. begbert2

        Or “six days earlier” and give us the past two days again, but from the perspectives of Mike, Ruth, and Dina.

        1. Leorale

          Dina’s perspective is always best.

        2. Yotomoe

          I can’t help but imagine dina and her dinosaur stuff being people and everyone else is dinosaurs which explains how she acts around them

        3. Leorale

          I suppose I would feel very shy, too, were I constantly surrounded by dinosaurs.

  16. Robert

    if you drew some squiggly lines over that box in the 4th panel, those pajama jeans could also double as a pizza box.

    1. Khrene Cleaver

      Hmmm… Sell them pizza with the pajama jeans, then they’ll get to big for the PJ Jeans and have to buy more, only to repeat the cycle!! Brilliant!

      1. Yotomoe

        plus I’m pretty sure the kinds of people that buy pajama jeans, are the kinds of people that would not object to free pizza.

        1. Robert

          Plus it adds a layer of plausible deniability because if people buy the
          pajama jeans they can just say “Oh I just bought them for the free pizza…”

        2. Originalslugboy

          Wait, what kinds of people *would* object to free pizza?

        3. Yotomoe

          vegans

  17. DudeMyDadOwnsADealership

    Code Blue!!! Code Blue!!! David “Walky” Walkerton has acquired the pajama jeans! I repeat, he has the pajama jeans! We’re estimating he’ll start ROCKING those pajama jeans in less than 2 minutes! This is your one and only obligatory warning!! Ignore it at your own peril!

    1. Aizat

      Roger that, command. Readying the canned cheese.

  18. Uniqueantique

    Good Grief…all of whats happened has happened on the day Mike ordered the PJ’s..which took…I lost track of how long in real time. And now we see four days go by in one panel. Interesting. Confusing but interesting.

    1. Yotomoe

      no it didn’t…it’s been a day or so since then.

  19. Atcote

    Well, it took four days, but Walky’s eye brows finally stopped mating with his eyes and returned to their natural environment… Several inches above his head.
    I imagine in the intervening time, as opposed to them jumping up in joy, they’ve been verrrrry slooooowly working their way up to their current position from the panel before-hand.

  20. Ridureyu

    ALL FORGIVEN

  21. MR C

    i wouldn’t put those on if i were walky, knowing mike they’re probably made of fiberglass, or asbestos, or laced with some kind of skin absorbed laxative

    and knowing walky he wouldn’t mind that so long as he has pajama pants

  22. Futabakun

    Caption Comment: I have no problem with any comic creator using captions (or thought balloons) in their stories. The medium of comics supports this kind of information better than movies or TV shows, and I for one don’t want to surrender an advantage like that for the sake of being more like film!

    You have no idea what it took to boil my rant down to just those few lines!

    1. David

      It’s not a being-like film thing. My characters talk to themselves out loud a bunch in lieu of thought balloons, for example, which is something film doesn’t really do. It was just a personal stylistic choice. One that was less important than conveying what was happening clearly.

      1. Futabakun

        A stylistic choice is fine. It’s my ‘rant’ that was wrong. It was aimed at comic books, but a few-paneled comic strip is really a different medium with different rules. I took a momentary frustration out on you when it never applied to you. Thanks for the response.

  23. Yotomoe

    how hot of a damn are we talking here?

    1. Khrene Cleaver

      Ye we talkin Marilyn Monroe hot, Alicia Keys hot, or Meagan fox hot, cause yah know your mileage may vary with Meagan.

      1. Blur

        No! Why? Why did you link it?

        I needed to go to bed. Bed, y’hear!?

        1. Khrene Cleaver

          Cause I felt like doing an evil deed and there were no small animals around to punt.

        2. Plasma Mongoose

          Nice to know that I’m not the only TVTropes linker here.

  24. Peruhain

    How long will it be before Joe tries his pick-up mojo with the Muslim girl working the mail room?

    1. Tom T.

      She’s not Muslim. Four days in the future, everyone dresses like that. With pajama jeans underneath.

    2. Khrene Cleaver

      Last night I was gonna post Joe’s pick up lines for the muslim chick, but I didn’t.

      *delete delete*

      1. David

        You did post them last night. I deleted them.

        Post them once more and you will not post here ever again.

    3. Usayasha

      Reminds me of a pick-up line I used today, and Joe could totally use it on someone at some point, should the situation arise.
      “I’ve got a little Jew in me…”
      “Would you like a lot of Jew in you?”

  25. Raine

    Congrats on the SP1 reprint yaaaay!

    Also… WHAT THE HELL. Crazy things happen EVERYDAY here. What the bloody hell happened in the span of FOUR days!?

    My brain is meeeeelting.

    1. begbert2

      The next comic will (regretfully) start with another caption, to bring us up to speed.

      That caption will be “Everyone else is dead.”

      1. vlademir1

        Hmmm….. so does that make Dorothy Kochanski?

        1. fogel

          Who would be Rimmer, Cat, Kryton, & Holly?

  26. Brasca1

    With the way time moves in this strip it might as well be a year.

  27. Dany

    Am I the only one who thinks that Mike wants something with Dorothy? And that’s why he tries to sabotage Walky?

  28. Acher4

    Wow!
    I never thought this could happen.
    A DoA Time Jump!
    Sci-Fi.
    We are now at February 2013… 😀

  29. GenericScreenName101

    I wouldn’t mind a time jump for me ’cause that means that it is friday again. Or is it, is it, I can’t tell anymore!! Damn you 3rd shift and working every night!

    1. GenericScreenName101

      Also somebody get some crazy glue, Walky’s eyebrows are hovering and it is unnerving the mail girl.

  30. Random Guy

    Good luck stopping the exposition now that it has started.

  31. turkishproverb

    You know, you could have just used calender shots.

    1. Khrene Cleaver

      It woulda been awkard if calanders were in the background all the time and space consuming if made into panels. He could said something in the comments or separated the days with strips that give a date or something?

      1. gangler

        Also, would the calendars just have the current date circled or what?

        1. tahrey

          Three, or possibly six words: Tear-off Day-per-page Calendars

        2. David

          In a universe where the current year is not a specific year, attaching a date to a day of the week Does Not Work.

        3. turkishproverb

          Fair Point.

  32. Yotomoe

    he should have just have had Walky expositionaly saying “It’s Four days later”

  33. bintswayd

    Thank you Mr Willis! ^^

  34. ryan

    i humbly request that we never see the three days that this comic skipped.

    i also humbly request that there be constant narration panels referring to those three days.

  35. Stephen

    I wonder if Sal went to her math help with Jason on Tuesday

  36. Blob Marley

    WHAT WARP SORCERY IS THIS?

    Okay, so Walky is clearly at the center of an unstable chrono-field. First, we skip straight from his smoochies to him in class the next day. Then we skip from his talking to mike straight to him getting pajama jeans.

    1. Blob Marley

      Shit, wait, it could be Mike at the center of the field… he’s also been present for both big jumps.

      1. vlademir1

        Well, it could also just be the combo of the two.

  37. nothri

    You know, given how long it took to get to the weekend in this strip, I consider Walky fully justified in his fear that it would take a whole year to get his pajama bottoms. Sure, in this case it was misplaced, but still…

  38. AJBulldis

    *sees narration*
    *ragequits DOA*

  39. Rob

    All is forgiven.

  40. Joe

    Ah, and so the comic starts to mirror my own college experiences.
    In that I’ve lost track of what day of the week it is.
    Friday?

  41. Stevarious

    Watch out! His eyebrows have achieved escape velocity!

  42. Elmo

    Hey, is it possible just to settle on “Time is Relative”

    Just maybe, there are occasional spontaneous gravity wells forming, slowing time in some places. 😛

  43. Pat

    After reading this for so long I want to try pants so much

  44. Maycroft

    Mike’s plan must be going well… whatever it is

  45. milk experiment

    Antigravity eyebrows are the best kind. 🙂

  46. Otaku Sandwich

    Pajama jeans are for girls…why does Mike let him get them? heehee

  47. Verielle

    Nope, Willis. You’ve used narration panels before, found here:
    http://www.dumbingofage.com/2011/comic/book-1/06-yesterday-was-thursday/idea/

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