So that explains why all these ghosts are hanging out in my bathroom, they don’t have anywhere else to go. I don’t know why they can’t just chill in my kitchen instead.
I like to believe that the afterlife is just something none of hve considered due to our complete inability to quantify anything outside of our limited amount of perception.
Kind of an “explaining color to a blind man” sort of thing.
Yeah, the UI on the afterlife takes forever to learn how to use. I mean hidden unlabeled buttons on a 3d touch viewer? Who does that?
Kinoko
As both a UI/UX designer and an aetheist, I LOL’d.
Kinoko
*atheist. I can spell. I swear.
Kryss LaBryn
Have I ever told you guys about the support call I took from some poor legally blind woman whose kids went and bought her a Windows 8 tablet for Christmas? I was like, good lord, why do they hate you so much?!
Well, nothingness is something we’re entirely incapable of imagining. As John Dies at the End puts it, death will be either that or something even stranger.
I find this comforting.
Yotomoe
There is nothing I am more afraid of than “nothing”. It’s terrifying.
If the universe is infinite in time, your exact brain may completely by chance one day reform in the exact arrangement it was before death.
But it would like disperse a second later, a brief flash of space is all you would experience. And it would happen again googles of years later. And again.
Your existence nothing but brief strobbing flashs of starlight and nothing forever.
Thats my worst case scenario. But nothing is close.
The way I see it, the human mind’s ability to distort time for us will show us whatever we expect to see, and while it will feel like eternity, it will all occur in our final breath.
That is, if you see it coming. If not, you simply cease to be.
I’m not entirely sure there is an afterlife, if we reincarnate, or just degrade into a wet morass of decaying carbon, but I do have a feeling that whatever lies beyond death will make you feel very small if you go in slowly.
The universe is a fundamentally weirder place than any of us could have imagined, religious or not. 🙂 Also, Mary’s hipster plaid ensemble is awesome. Where the hell did she get that?
Is… is it weird to wear plaid flannel button up shirts where you’re from? It’s super normal where I live eep do I live in a den of secret hipsters?! ;___;
Slartibeast Button, BIA
What would be the point of being a secret hipster? How do you show off your unconcerned coolness?
Unless she’s lying she didn’t take the picture. More than likely someone else did since she’s a political figure in a public place. I don’t think it’s as damning as Roz thinks it is since you can’t see them kissing, but this will probably put Robin in a position where she’ll have to double down and sell whatever is left of her soul to keep her constituents happy.
No, it’s the best of both worlds. She gets what she wants – free of her sister’s oppressive shadow – without any blame for the outing being attached to her.
StClair
(except for the part where she set them up together, hoping that something like this would happen)
(ahem, I said WITHOUT ANY BLAME)
(let’s just say I don’t think Robin’s the only one in that family with problems re: accepting personal responsibility)
While Roz probably didn’t take the photo, she hasn’t disclaimed all involvement. She might still have tipped someone off.
thejeff
Tipped someone off to what? Was she stalking Robin or Leslie? Anything’s possible, but there’s no reason to think she knew Robin had come back after being thrown out of class.
Amber
Yo they were kind of in a public place. I mean, a bar of all places. There’s gonna be attention regardless because she’s a politician.
thejeff
There’s gonna be attention because she was miming sucking a cock in public. Not subtly, either.
Yes, but she’s mostly sad that this means women will be able to decide what they do with their bodies. Because reproductive health is “evil” and only ever involves “killing babies”.
This is actually the only time so far I’ve been able to relate to Mary. She’s disappointed that her candidate is a hypocrite, silver-lining glad the truth came to light, and disappointed that her favourite policies will be overturned. Obviously I am super against Mary’s policies, but I can relate to disappointment with a candidate, and dismay at who is going to win instead. It also shows that Mary prioritizes her candidate’s purity over her candidate’s policies, which is interesting.
Leorale
…Oh wait I was way too generous to Mary. She’s not upset that Robin is a hypocrite, she’s upset that Robin isn’t straight. She’d rather murder babies (according to her belief, not mine) than vote for a queer person. Screw you, Mary.
Mary stops hanging out with Joyce’s friends because they’re not Christian, seems unhappy to be losing friends even though it’s her choice to do so (this is probably the most sympathetic Mary’s ever been, and a good indication of why she’d be the perfect similar-but-different archnemesis to Amazi-girl, who similar suffers in the name of her own code. She similarly works as a foil to Becky, as Mary has Becky’s “I’m assuming people will hurt me so I’ll be a jerk to them pre-emptively” gimmick times a thousand)
And 3 is today. Unfortunately for Mary, every time she starts getting even a tiny bit sympathetic, assholes use it as an excuse to talk about how she’s the misunderstood hero or whatever, and then Willis makes her jerkier again in response and the cycle continues. It’s a shame, because Mary’s the most fleshed out and interesting villain in the comic by a pretty huge margin;, and I enjoy her as a character since I can relate to the “I’m a jerk because people don’t like me because I’m a jerk” self-fueling cycle she’s kind of stuck in.
I don’t think that Willis had to make Mary jerkier in response to comments. She was already a completely hateful person.
IMO, Mary isn’t a jerk because people hate her, she’s a jerk because she believes she’s obviously and intrinsically Right while everyone else is wrong. She judges everyone as immoral and inferior, and she’s consistently surprised that people don’t respect her status as the only moral person around. She basically thinks that she’s bringing light to dark places, and the fact that nobody is grateful for it only further proves how immoral they are.
Interestingly, Sarah is also hella judgmental, but she judges herself just about as harshly as everyone else, and she doesn’t expect anyone to agree with her, let alone kowtow to her natural superiority. I think she might better fit the pattern of “I’m a jerk because people don’t like me because I’m a jerk” that you describe.
I don’t think that Willis makes her jerkier because of such a big buffer. A few days ago his caption was that he wrote the strip in October, two months is a big lead time to incorporate in responses to comments.
Mary is a jerk because she’s a crusader. She genuinely believes that it’s her duty to do Gods work and punish sinners. I don’t think she actually believes she can change them, or she’d try a little less vinegar and a lil more empathy. At least to their face.
455 thoughts on “Courting”
Ana Chronistic
one fine day when Mary gets up there, God’s gonna laugh in her face before booting her down to Hell
HAHA just kidding there’s no goddamned afterlife
Ana Chronistic
so now we should be looking for Nathan, too?
wheelpath
There is…. IN HELL
But honestly who gives a fuck, they aren’t alive to bother anyone
I for one hope to be one with the allspark some day
Gigafreak
“There is no Arby’s in Heaven because there is no Heaven.
However, there is Arby’s in Hell because this is Hell.
Arby’s. Welcome to Hell.”
Slartibeast Button, BIA
But only one Arby’s, and you have already passed it.
http://www.shortpacked.com/2011/comic/book-13/02-the-new-girl/hell/
Orion Fury
But there may be a second one, but you’ll need to keep driving to see if it’s there.
Some1
“The wicked do not die in that way: God seems to take them under his protection to use them as the instruments of his vengeance.”
Rukduk
So that explains why all these ghosts are hanging out in my bathroom, they don’t have anywhere else to go. I don’t know why they can’t just chill in my kitchen instead.
Historyman68
And Moaning Myrtle is trying to catch you in the bath.
Yotomoe
I like to believe that the afterlife is just something none of hve considered due to our complete inability to quantify anything outside of our limited amount of perception.
Kind of an “explaining color to a blind man” sort of thing.
Opus the Poet
Yeah, the UI on the afterlife takes forever to learn how to use. I mean hidden unlabeled buttons on a 3d touch viewer? Who does that?
Kinoko
As both a UI/UX designer and an aetheist, I LOL’d.
Kinoko
*atheist. I can spell. I swear.
Kryss LaBryn
Have I ever told you guys about the support call I took from some poor legally blind woman whose kids went and bought her a Windows 8 tablet for Christmas? I was like, good lord, why do they hate you so much?!
AM
Well, nothingness is something we’re entirely incapable of imagining. As John Dies at the End puts it, death will be either that or something even stranger.
I find this comforting.
Yotomoe
There is nothing I am more afraid of than “nothing”. It’s terrifying.
thomas wrobel
If the universe is infinite in time, your exact brain may completely by chance one day reform in the exact arrangement it was before death.
But it would like disperse a second later, a brief flash of space is all you would experience. And it would happen again googles of years later. And again.
Your existence nothing but brief strobbing flashs of starlight and nothing forever.
Thats my worst case scenario. But nothing is close.
AM
Nothing you can imagine you’re more afraid of, yeah, me neither.
Mr. Bulbmin
The way I see it, the human mind’s ability to distort time for us will show us whatever we expect to see, and while it will feel like eternity, it will all occur in our final breath.
That is, if you see it coming. If not, you simply cease to be.
I’m not entirely sure there is an afterlife, if we reincarnate, or just degrade into a wet morass of decaying carbon, but I do have a feeling that whatever lies beyond death will make you feel very small if you go in slowly.
Charles Phipps
The universe is a fundamentally weirder place than any of us could have imagined, religious or not. 🙂 Also, Mary’s hipster plaid ensemble is awesome. Where the hell did she get that?
Thursday Violist
Hipsters “Я” Us, probably.
Nate
Is… is it weird to wear plaid flannel button up shirts where you’re from? It’s super normal where I live eep do I live in a den of secret hipsters?! ;___;
Slartibeast Button, BIA
What would be the point of being a secret hipster? How do you show off your unconcerned coolness?
Slartibeast Button, BIA
In the afterlife, you could be headed for the serious strife.
TsunamiJane
Yaaaassss love this song!
Rowen Morland
Sithrak doesn’t bother with the laughing. (Stay alive as long as you can).
Ana Chronistic
Hell is bullshit. (Nobody said it was good.)
wanderso
Good work, Roz.
brasca1
Unless she’s lying she didn’t take the picture. More than likely someone else did since she’s a political figure in a public place. I don’t think it’s as damning as Roz thinks it is since you can’t see them kissing, but this will probably put Robin in a position where she’ll have to double down and sell whatever is left of her soul to keep her constituents happy.
StClair
No, it’s the best of both worlds. She gets what she wants – free of her sister’s oppressive shadow – without any blame for the outing being attached to her.
StClair
(except for the part where she set them up together, hoping that something like this would happen)
(ahem, I said WITHOUT ANY BLAME)
(let’s just say I don’t think Robin’s the only one in that family with problems re: accepting personal responsibility)
a4lbi
But they’re holding hands!!
*mutters to self* Pause for effect.
Dean
While Roz probably didn’t take the photo, she hasn’t disclaimed all involvement. She might still have tipped someone off.
thejeff
Tipped someone off to what? Was she stalking Robin or Leslie? Anything’s possible, but there’s no reason to think she knew Robin had come back after being thrown out of class.
Amber
Yo they were kind of in a public place. I mean, a bar of all places. There’s gonna be attention regardless because she’s a politician.
thejeff
There’s gonna be attention because she was miming sucking a cock in public. Not subtly, either.
AnvilPro
Aw. That’s real sadness from Mary, not cartoon-villain anger over her schemes failing.
Foxhack
… yeah, what the hell?
Brian K. Pittman
Yes, but she’s mostly sad that this means women will be able to decide what they do with their bodies. Because reproductive health is “evil” and only ever involves “killing babies”.
Leorale
This is actually the only time so far I’ve been able to relate to Mary. She’s disappointed that her candidate is a hypocrite, silver-lining glad the truth came to light, and disappointed that her favourite policies will be overturned. Obviously I am super against Mary’s policies, but I can relate to disappointment with a candidate, and dismay at who is going to win instead. It also shows that Mary prioritizes her candidate’s purity over her candidate’s policies, which is interesting.
Leorale
…Oh wait I was way too generous to Mary. She’s not upset that Robin is a hypocrite, she’s upset that Robin isn’t straight. She’d rather murder babies (according to her belief, not mine) than vote for a queer person. Screw you, Mary.
Ana Chronistic
yeah, I was confused by your initial post
Mary totes hates teh gays
Needfuldoer
Mary won a gold medal in mental gymnastics.
Godfather
Yeah, it’s because Robin isn’t straight. Mary makes me sick.
Leorale
Yeah. My sleepy mind filled in Mary’s comment as “I knew it. I knew she was a hypocrite” but, uh, that’s definitely not what she was gonna say.
Fart Captor
She’s probably just said she can’t say something homophobic and awful about Robin because Billie owns her now.
<3 Billie
Fart Captor
* just sad
AM
The violin playing for Mary is sixth- or eight-dimensional, possessing negative physical size.
ESM
This is, by my count, the third time Mary’s been genuinely sad about something in this strip.
1. http://www.dumbingofage.com/2012/comic/book-2/02-choosing-my-religion/avoid/
Mary stops hanging out with Joyce’s friends because they’re not Christian, seems unhappy to be losing friends even though it’s her choice to do so (this is probably the most sympathetic Mary’s ever been, and a good indication of why she’d be the perfect similar-but-different archnemesis to Amazi-girl, who similar suffers in the name of her own code. She similarly works as a foil to Becky, as Mary has Becky’s “I’m assuming people will hurt me so I’ll be a jerk to them pre-emptively” gimmick times a thousand)
2. http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-7/01-glower-vacuum/rat/
It’s a bit more arguable that Mary’s “sad” here, but it does seem to be the moment she realizes no one likes her.
And 3 is today. Unfortunately for Mary, every time she starts getting even a tiny bit sympathetic, assholes use it as an excuse to talk about how she’s the misunderstood hero or whatever, and then Willis makes her jerkier again in response and the cycle continues. It’s a shame, because Mary’s the most fleshed out and interesting villain in the comic by a pretty huge margin;, and I enjoy her as a character since I can relate to the “I’m a jerk because people don’t like me because I’m a jerk” self-fueling cycle she’s kind of stuck in.
Leorale
I don’t think that Willis had to make Mary jerkier in response to comments. She was already a completely hateful person.
IMO, Mary isn’t a jerk because people hate her, she’s a jerk because she believes she’s obviously and intrinsically Right while everyone else is wrong. She judges everyone as immoral and inferior, and she’s consistently surprised that people don’t respect her status as the only moral person around. She basically thinks that she’s bringing light to dark places, and the fact that nobody is grateful for it only further proves how immoral they are.
Interestingly, Sarah is also hella judgmental, but she judges herself just about as harshly as everyone else, and she doesn’t expect anyone to agree with her, let alone kowtow to her natural superiority. I think she might better fit the pattern of “I’m a jerk because people don’t like me because I’m a jerk” that you describe.
BabbleGirl
I don’t think that Willis makes her jerkier because of such a big buffer. A few days ago his caption was that he wrote the strip in October, two months is a big lead time to incorporate in responses to comments.
Mary is a jerk because she’s a crusader. She genuinely believes that it’s her duty to do Gods work and punish sinners. I don’t think she actually believes she can change them, or she’d try a little less vinegar and a lil more empathy. At least to their face.
Mr. Mendo
I’ll say this, though: Mary is rocking that flannel shirt!
lia47
pff, she wishes she could rock flannel, that’s just plaid
Plasma Mongoose
Isn’t flannel just the material?
Mollyscribbles
I bet it’s polyester or something. Hah, knowing her it’s a blend and she doesn’t recognize the irony.
Rukduk
Nice. Funny how people like Mary forget about the rest of Deuteronomy isn’t it?
BBCC
Pffft, that’s OLD testament stuff, doesn’t count!
(The new testament also mentions LGBT+ stuff – 1 Timothy and Romans iirc).
Dean
Except the stuff forbidding homosexuality, that’s still super relevant.
BBCC
Anti-LGBT+ stuff is in the New Testament too.
Slartibeast Button, BIA
As you know, BBCC, Joyce has researched that: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/02-threes-a-crowd/wiggle/
And two strips following.
BBCC
Well, sure, but Mary doesn’t care about disputed meanings. It says gay folks are evil, so they are. End of story. Point blank.
I do not like that woman.
lia47
yeah but nobody who wasn’t openly attracted to girls ever wore a short sleeved flannel shirt, come on
Mr. Mendo
Yeah, I’m kinda holding out for that one! 😉
butting
That’s an intriguing admission about the accuracy of her gaydar in panel 3, isn’t it?
Dana
It’s not exactly gaydar. She suspected because Robin is thirty and unmarried.
butting
Aw heck how did I forget that one?
The creepy view of Women’s Rightful Place goes deep with the lunatics, doesn’t it?
Leorale
On the bright side, Mary’s wall of Reagan-and-anime is amazing.
Nate
according to this school of thought I’m secretly a lesbian!!! 😮
Shen Hibiki
So am I! And I’m male! XD
Deanatay
true, but perhaps someone who was not openly attracted to girls one wore a LONG-sleeved flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up?
Needfuldoer
Mary is physically attractive, but the garbage she keeps between her ears more than counteracts that.
Orion Fury