258

Chester
Posted on February 3, 2025 by David M Willis

258 thoughts on “Chester”

  1. NGPZ

    aaaaaaah here it goooooooes :0

    *plays “Hydrogen” by M.O.O.N. on dance floor speakers*

  2. Animedingo

    Ok but why tho

    1. Alongcameaspider

      A few options I can think of

      1: he was stealing attention she felt was hers

      2: she subconsciously had a crush on Alice and was acting on jealousy

      3: she just felt like punching someone

      4: all of the above

      1. Doctor_Who

        5) This is just how she dances.

        No wonder she and Ruth got along.

        1. Proxiehunter

          6: She’s aware of him doing something that he deserves it for.

        2. Thag Simmons

          That’d make sense

        3. Blackdrazon

          This one’s my bet.

        4. Adept

          I assume he’s an abusive arsehole, possibly a rapist.

        5. Banana Slamma

          Wow, that’s a hell of an assumption based on literally nothing. Kind of sad when you think about it.

        6. Liliet

          It’s not based on litearlly nothing, it’s based on Billie’s reaction. We know she used to protect her cheerleaders from stuff like that.

        7. Chrissy

          This comment really rubs me the wrong way.

          “Kind of sad when you think about it.” What?

          Are you trying to “not all men” this? Did it hurt your feelings that someone was able to use context clues?

        8. Roe

          it’s based on this being Dumbing of Age and the last 12 years of storylines

        9. ElderlyMarxist

          honestly my assumption was that he’d done something shitty to her that pre-empted her issues w/ substances & ‘downfall’

        10. captainrex7675

          Winner Winner

        11. captainrex7675

          Winner, winner, good call

      2. Rose by Any other Name

        Option 1 and 3 are out – her fist is already balled in panel 4. This was a premeditated punch, not spontaneous.

        Plus that look – I’m guessing there’s some preexisting beef here. Possibly to do with Alice, possibly not.

        1. Devin

          1 isn’t out based on that timing. He first started grabbing significant attention in Panel 2, which leaves stolen attention very much on the table.

          I’d also like to add that I’m guessing she’s a li’l drunk right now, lowering the work any reason would have to do to get the fist in motion.

        2. TerribleTransit

          No boozles around her head, which makes being drunk unlikely (though not impossible)

        3. Devin

          That’s a good point. I was going on the flushed cheeks, but I forgot about the boozies.

        4. Needfuldoer

          We all know Beef exists, but he’s presumably at IU already at this point.

      3. Aura

        Can we add the white tux? 😛

        1. BarerMender

          Can we add “Football rules”? I already strongly dislike him.

        2. Mark

          Yeah, in Indiana? Basketball or nothing!

        3. Shadowsnail

          The only football that’s allowed to rule is San Dimas High School football.

      4. Axel

        (slightly) more charitable options

        6. he grabbed her ass

        7. taking the opportunity to publicly humiliate him for cheating on Alice or something (terrible idea and timing but that’s who she is)

        1. Rose by Any other Name

          Given his hand position in panel 6, your option number 6 might be spot on.

        2. Axel

          idk if it fits the previous panel where she balls her fist, but on the other hand, if we combine 6 and 7, she could have known it was coming and been waiting for him to try something

        3. Axel

          (and that’s a real ‘idk’, I can’t tell from their position/the angle)

        4. Rose by Any other Name

          Right now, given only this, I feel like your ass grab theory is the best one based on the evidence.

          MINE was based on her expression, and my mind went some much darker places. So I’m kinda hoping it’s only a sleezy assgrab and not something way more fucky.

        5. Axel

          yeah I had similar thoughts (as did my partner), but Alice’s attitude threw me off. my brain got stuck on the Heathers quote; “Football season is over, Veronica. Kurt and Ram had nothing left to offer the school except date rapes and AIDS jokes.”

        6. Axel

          more charitable to Billie than “he was stealing her attention” or “felt like punching” I mean

        7. HueSatLight

          8. There’s a scorpion on his abdomen, she’s saving him.

        8. BarerMender

          The position of his hand is suggestive, but Billie is looking the wrong way. It isn’t him she’s mad at.

        9. JBento

          It’s not an assgrab, or at least, not here. He has the hand on her side raised in panel 2, and in panel 4 he’s substantially AHEAD of her.

        10. Arianod

          Panel 2, his right arm is raised. Panel 4 shows he’s one or two steps ahead of Billie, an ass grab would be incredibly awkward and impossible to hide from everyone. I think we can rule it out.

      5. Laura

        Well it looks from flashbacks like Billie and Alice had a past sexual relationship that ended with Billie’s car crash at prom. So straight-up jealousy, could be.

        Billie also previously mentioned that the head cheerleader’s job was to help take teammates for secret abortions when necessary. So maybe Alice was quicker to forgive Chester than Billie was.

        1. NGPZ

          oh god I forgot that, Jennifer literally said she “sneaked friends into abortion clinics” ?

        2. Bryy

          WELP.

        3. Adept

          That fits. I think she loathes him for a reason.

        4. thejeff

          But this is a weird time and place to act on something like that, since she would have known it all along.
          Unless it was the ass grab suggested above, the only possibly new piece of info would be Alice calling him her boyfriend.

        5. Yumi

          I don’t think it has to be “new” information– it could be that information combined with anger at seeing him be celebrated like this. That could go for if he had done something bad before or she was jealous of his official status with Alice. Emotions are heightened overall, she hates the guy under normal circumstances, now here he is getting his name cheered along with hers? Yeah, I can see Billie snapping a bit.

        6. Michael Steamweed

          Plus she’s been drinking.

        7. thejeff

          I mean, this is Billie, so it’s likely, but Billie’s also good at handling her booze. There are no real signs she’s drunk now. We know she will be later for the DUI, but it’s early yet. That could even follow an after-prom party.

      6. Callid13

        I think #2 is correct, though likely a lot more than a “subconscious crush”. Others have already pointed out that in panel #8 in https://www.dumbingofage.com/2022/comic/book-12/04-dont-stop-billie-ving/billie/, Alice seems to be touching Billie’s naked shoulder.

        Even more telling is IMO the scene when Alice first showed up, Billie was quite focused on re-establishing contact to her, and Alice rebuked her. In particular, the wording Alice used here https://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/04-the-whiteboard-dong-bandit/dramahurricane/ – “For the longest time, I thought I loved you”. It could be platonic, sure, but in retrospect, I suspect it was indeed romantic.

        1. thejeff

          And in that same strip Walky says being a drama hurricane can be sexually transmitted, making it pretty clear they had a sexual relationship.

          My long term theory was that Jennifer didn’t acknowledge a romantic relationship with Alice in her “straight but has sex with girls sometimes like everyone does” stage. They basically had one, especially on Alice’s part, but not officially, and both dated boys (or just had drunken sex at parties) because that fit the popular cheerleader image.

          We’ll see how that holds up. 🙂

      7. anon

        well i didn’t expect that, but yeah unless she was secretly/unconsciously crushing on alice (in the strip with her saying ‘i loved you but you’re a danger to yourself/others’ or so), i would’ve also expected him to either secretly be a scumbag or alice shit talking him the same way you would with when you’er annoyed with a partner but maybe exaggerated some things?

      8. Bajja

        He sexually assaulted someone is my guess. We never really have seen why Billy said in the beginning of the comic a million years ago that she went after bad men and protected other girls. I think we are about to humanize Billy.

    2. Yumi

      Jealousy, maybe. Or that’s really an eldritch creature that has temporarily taken on the appearance of Chester Phillips, and Jennifer clocked it instantly.

      1. Clif

        I’m not completely discounting your theory, but for now I’m assuming she had sex with him in recent days and just now found out he was cheating on Alice with her.

    3. Dana

      She’s just bad at following instructions.

    4. Queen Anthai

      Maybe Chester did something shitty and she just took the opportunity? Who knows. We’ll probably find out soon enough.

    5. Frelance

      she maybe knows about him not being a fine upstanding citizen, in the contexts that she developed her addiction

    6. segnosaur

      She thought he was infected with one of those parasites from the movie Alien, and wanted to punch it before it burst out of his stomach and started attacking people.

    7. Mark

      She very consciously developed a thing for Chester and made a play for him, but he refused her (perhaps rather cruelly). Maybe she thinks Alice knows about this and is feeling publically humiliated.

      But I’m usually wrong….

    8. Furie

      Can’t swear to it as I can’t see the future, but that right there? That’s the punch of a girl who knows something about a guy and can’t hold it in any longer.

      So my call is the idea of her leaving him unused is a joke that ties into rumours about her, which themselves were spread by him and his team because she turned him down when he came to her behind his girlfriend’s back.

    9. GUIGUI

      She probably know he cheated on his girlfriend. Maybe with her. while telling her he didn’t have a girlfriend.

  3. Charles Phipps

    Jennifer is an improvement over Billie in every possible way but I will miss these sudden displays of violence.

    1. aeromechanicalace

      You’re going to have to elaborate on what makes Jennifer better. From my perspective, she’s been pretty much constantly awful.

      1. DailyBrad

        She’s sober, and that’s good, but she’s also so emotionally constipated in a way that’s rapidly breaking down, she’s passive aggressive as fuck, and she’s keeping really toxic company. Yes, more toxic than Billie/Jennifer on her worst days.

        1. Charles Phipps

          Raidah is an ass but I think people overstate things. After all, she didn’t send someone to break up her relationship like Sarah did. Sadly, she needed to get away from her past to recover as she whatever Walky’s personal merits, he brought about the worst in her.

        2. Decidedly Orthogonal

          Yeah naw bruh. Unless we get a more directly linking explantion, then laying her behaviour at Walky’s feet is a WWII scale bridge too far.

        3. Charles Phipps

          I’m not saying it’s Walky’s fault. I’m saying that Billy’s issues get triggered by them and whatever behavior she’s trying to get past. We don’t know why in-universe. He is seemingly blameless of anything in their relationship.

        4. Sirksome

          I understand what you meant. For whatever reason when it comes to Jennifer people choose to see her in the worst light. You’re not saying Walky is at fault just that interacting with him upsets Jen and she needed space from that. I was saying the same when they had that group date. For whatever reason people don’t like hearing that because Walky cares about Jennifer. But he annoys her, sometimes even on purpose. It’s not on Jen to just tolerate that. But everyone interprets her needing space from him as her shunning him and by extension the rest of her friends even though she still spends time with everyone pretty regularly.

        5. Jeremiah

          I think the issue might be that you stubbornly refuses to see all the ways on which Jennifer has demonstrably gotten worse. Also making some kind of distinction between “Billie” and “Jennifer” doesn’t really work because again, they are not different people, they are the same trying pretend otherwise.

        6. Sirksome

          @Jeremiah. I’m not trying to argue. You don’t like Jennifer, a lot of readers don’t. That’s fine. I don’t want to change anyone’s mind or ruin their interpretation of the comic. I just like to converse about it and offer my own perspective and interpretation.

          I also don’t designate between “Jennifer” and “Billie” I just choose to respect the name the admittedly fictional character chooses to be called.

          https://www.dumbingofage.com/2020/comic/book-11/02-look-straight-ahead/soundlike/

          Like I would never intentionally dead name Jocelyne or call Booster by the pronouns they don’t like. It doesn’t really mean anything because they’re not real. I just find it good practice.

        7. Jeremiah

          And I don’t dislike Jennifer, she is actually one of my favorites characters specifically because of all the things about her I mentioned, because it make her interesting, which is why it annoys me when those things get dismissed. And also when I redder to the name thing I don’t mean the act of calling her what she wants to be called, I mean acting like the two names actually represent a change in personality and she should “ho back” to being Billie, when she is already that. Also, also I think considering how we been told and seen how she treats Walky I think she can actually take being annoyed by him occasionally.

      2. Yumi

        Oh, you’re not going to get an elaboration that makes sense.

      3. Charles Phipps

        Jennifer isn’t engaged in domestic violence, not part of a suicide pact, not drinking alcohol (I may be biased here because I’ve had close relatives die of alcoholism related incidents), and was seemingly happy until she tried to create some fun drama that destroyed her relationship with Asher.

        1. Thag Simmons

          That she self-destructed her relationship with Asher for petty reasons is maybe a sign that she wasn’t actually doing better

        2. Charles Phipps

          I mean, compared to the nonstop violence and insults of her previous relationships?

        3. Thag Simmons

          Considering that the relationship disintegrated in part because Jennifer missed the violence and insults, yeah, I don’t think it’s a sign that she had actually fixed the underlying problems

        4. Jeremiah

          They actually didn’t engaged in much violence after they started their relationship? Like at all. They did insult each other but like, not with any actual bite or malice.

        5. thejeff

          They did fight. At first to keep up the pretense for the rest of the floor, but also because it turned them on.

        6. jmsr7

          I’m not sure she actually knows her relationship with Asher is over.

        7. Charles Phipps

          I mean she didn’t want to break up with him. She was trying to drive him to do something romantic.

          Sadly, negging only works if you’re a scummy pick up artist or Bugs Bunny.

        8. Bryy

          I’m pretty sure she thinks it is over in the context that it’s “over”.

        9. Amelie Wikström

          I remarked back when Billie and Ruth were trying to have a healthy relationship (right before it ended), how they seemed to think that worked was taking whatever course of action came intuitive to them and then either doing the exact opposite or doing the thing but ironically, determined at random.

          Now, Jennifer seems determined to applying this absolute cluelessness to every part of her life, while she’s also giving herself massive cognitive dissonance in trying to reinvent herself as a loathsome cool person with cool friends and abandoning her old friends who she kind of desperately need in her life. Note her haranguing Walky all through their fancy meal with Raidah’s gang. Happier? No, I think she’s just much lonelier, and cut off from everything that used to give her joy. (Drinking, Ruth and Kit Fisto fanfiction.) Healthier now that she’s not drunk all day every day, sure, though I think her toxic relationships are not much better for her.

        10. Adept

          ”fu drama”? Whoof.

        11. Adept

          *fun

    2. Animedingo

      Bruh

      1. Charles Phipps

        All I’m saying is that Superman 3 had Clark Kent kill Evil Superman in a junkyard.

        Jennifer can do the same and finally free herself from her dead self.

    3. Sam

      You have forgotten her literally throwing Walky for the crime of being liked by Raidah more than her and also kicking Ruth’s door and using her arm on her so Ruth slammed her into the floor. She absolutely still does random acts of violence when she is in the mood to.

      1. Nymph

        Yeppp! It’s super weird to me that people think a name change came with a whole-cloth personality change. Jennifer still loves with her fists, she’s just talking about it like she’s all better while she does it.

        And “hey she’s only verbally abusing her partners early in the relationship” is a wild take. *From Charles a little further down from his original comment.

        1. Yumi

          Also, a lot of the positives one might attribute to Jennifer were things she worked on when she was still Billie. Getting sober, no longer being in a suicide pact, having a relationship no longer based on violence (though still with some for-fun rough housing, it seemed)… those were things Billie was doing.

          The name change is one way to discuss the differences before and after the timeskip, but Billie and Jennifer aren’t actually different people. She’s one person who has a lot of ups and downs, progress and regress.

        2. Charles Phipps

          Billie taking the Jennifer name is a decision to get better and reclaim her identity that she feels was one she’s leaving behind. She wants to get better and its a promise to be.

          She’s just really bad at it.

          And relapses are to be expected.

        3. Jeremiah

          You can’t really relapse if you never stopped doing it. She didn’t “reclaim” anything, she was never forced to use that name, she came up with, she just decided that “Billie” was the bad part of her, and by changing her name and distancing herself from that identity she be a new person, without actually trying to change at all.

        4. thejeff

          The name change also seems to have been prompted by Raidah, which suggests not great things.

        5. Yumi

          Yeah, Billie was a name she took for herself, Jennifer seems to be what she went with after Raidah’s insistence on using it. She’s free to change her name as she wants, of course, but from an “analyzing the story” perspective, it doesn’t seem like it represents a good thing.

    4. DiktatrSquid

      Howww, exactly? Jennifer is a horribly awful and infuriating person. Treats her (former) boyfriend like utter garbage and pettiness, like he’s an asset, a trophy to wave around, and is constantly passive aggressive, when she’s not active aggressively insulting and putting people down simply for doing something that conflicts with her preconcieved notion of that person (Walky during his meeting with Raidah’s gang). She is so full of himself that she thinks she’s a mastermind at reading people while she’s actually ass at it, and anyone who *dares* to call her out on any of this she looks down upon, unable to withstand any sort of criticism. I remember a few times when Billie at least showed she was capable of empathy. It happened once (with Joyce) as Jennifer, and even then she ruined it with a show of arrogance.

      I can’t think of a single redeeming quality left in his hellhound.

      1. Charles Phipps

        Really? Because I think of most of her worst elements as having relapses to her Billie persona like when she freaked out over Walky in the group. But if you want a good example of Jennifer being good, she helped Dorothy with her boob pics!

        What better friend can you ask for?

        1. Proxiehunter

          Taking a picture of her own boobs and telling Dorothy to use that wasn’t helping her with her boob pics.

        2. Charles Phipps

          Isn’t it? It certainly got Joyce’s attention!

        3. Big Z

          Well, if nothing else, this definitely tells me that I’m right to not really trust your judgement on what might or might not be healthy or a sign of improvement for these characters.

        4. Jeremiah

          Again, the fact that you think of “relapsing” is just kind of wrong? Maybe the fact that she keep acting this way is a sign that she didn’t actually change at all, she just regressed in all her real positive qualities? And the name thing is completely performative in order to pretend she matures somehow?

        5. Charles Phipps

          I liken it to relapsing because of the connection to her giving up alcohol. She’s trying to change her behavior and that is a major thing when you’re getting clean of bad behaviors that come with drinking. I absolutely believe Jennifer is sincere in her desire to get better.

          It’s why I’m anti-Ruth.

          Because I’ve been here watching all these kind of horrible slow recovery points with my alcoholic family members. Ones who didn’t make changes and died include siblings.

        6. Sirksome

          The spin on Jennifer making her the worst person ever needs to be studied. I know she’s obnoxious and narcissistic but she’s still a decent person. She was the one to warn Lucy of the Walkerton parent’s racism. Before Walky her boyfriend at the time did. That’s despite her being pissy at him. She also is really good at reading people. Maybe even better than Booster our designated psychoanalyst. She’s just not self aware, that’s her blind spot.

          She’s been objectively mean and mistreated Asher and Ruth and Walky. That’s all it takes I guess. Personally I think Asher at least deserves it, but that’s a conversation for another time.

          Anyway Jen does actually care about her friends and still treats them well.

        7. Yumi

          I think when a conversation opens with throwing nuance out the window, people often approach it that way from all sides.
          I think Jennifer has decent qualities; those things just aren’t new to her post-timeskip, and she’s fighting some things that might help her develop more of them.

        8. Jeremiah

          The point isn’t that Jennifer doesn’t have good qualities in her, is that she actively diminish them by feeding her more self destructive and egotistical ones.

        9. Yumi

          Legitimately, are we agreeing? It seems like it, but it’s often hard to tell with you.

        10. Jeremiah

          Yeah I am agreeing, sorry for that I realized it sounded weird after I sended it.

        11. Charles Phipps

          Basically, I’m anti-Ruth because she’s back to drinking and as far as I’m concerned that makes her irredeemable. For Jennifer, as long as she’s sticking away from alcohol, she’s already given herself a massive lead.

          Especially since Ruth is stalking Jennifer and on meds.

          Jennifer may not hang out with her old friends anymore but that doesn’t mean she’s a bad person.

        12. Sirksome

          I don’t really like Ruth either and agree that Jennifer holding firm on her sobriety is a legitimate win over Ruth who went back to drinking almost immediately after she found a good mix of meds and turned 21.

          That being said this feels a little unfairly skewed against her. Ruth doesn’t have the same baggage with alcohol Jennifer does. Some would call it “functional alcoholism”. We also haven’t seen her fall into a huge bender like she would pre-time skip.

          She’s also not stalking Jennifer. It’s actually quite the opposite. Jennifer very often visits her hall despite living in Forest hall and claiming she’s distancing herself. Ruth just very obnoxiously calls her out on that, and they share a class together

          Ruth is just kind of a jerk who broke up with Jennifer but also wants to be mad at her about it, and also wants her back. Which is a huge amount a mixed signals and angst to put on someone.

        13. Jeremiah

          God damn man, any other thing I could just disagree with but that is just a really shitty thing to say about someone with an addiction. Go fuck yourself.

        14. Charles Phipps

          My brother died in an alcohol related accident and so did my 1st cousin. I’d rather Ruth not try to kill Jennifer that way. You’d think she of all people would know what driving her back to alcohol would do.

        15. Jeremiah

          Yeah man, she is an alcoholic specifically to deal with the trauma of her parents dead. I am sorry that happened but it’s not an excuse to talk that way about people who suffer from something like that, it is the same logic Ruth used to justify bullying Jennifer at the start of comic, and you supposedly don’t like her for that. And that aside, she never put Jennifer or anyone else for that matter, in danger just by being drunk, she never drives after drinking or gotten into fights for it, she mostly went into suicidal depression.

        16. Charles Phipps

          Fair enough, I apologize for using the word irredeemable and not extending more sympathy to Ruth as a victim rather than viewing her as someone trying to lure back Jennifer to alcohol abuse. Which is undoubtedly massively projecting a good guy (Jennifer)/Bad Guy (Ruth) that isn’t there due to my past.

        17. Jeremiah

          Alright, just try to cool it with that type stuff in the future okay? Go fuck yourself recinded.

      2. Adept

        She’s a genuinely awful person. She gets away with a lot by virtue of being hot and having rich parents.

  4. Lingo

    This may not bode well for Jason.

    1. Thag Simmons

      Chester does kind of look like a beefier ginger Jason

    2. Rolf of Many Doors

      This could affect the trout population

    3. Bryy

      oh fuck this adds so much context to her upset Ruth is dating a guy.

  5. Icalasari

    Thank you Walky for breaking the tension

    1. Needfuldoer

      The punchline at the punch line.

  6. Raven

    Am I missing something? Why did she punch him?

    1. Taffy

      You’ve got as much info as the rest of us

    2. Rose by Any other Name

      Dunno, but that look in panel 4 with the already-balled fists does imply that this was not spontaneous but some long-standing issue.

      1. Rose by Any other Name

        Actually, look at Chester’s hand position in panel 6, just after the punch. He might have just given her ass a non-consensual fondle.

        1. Yumi

          His hand wouldn’t have been in position at panel 4, since she was standing a half step back from him, and it seems like the motion between panels was hers.

        2. Freemage

          I don’t think so. Her hand is balled up for the punch in Panel 4, and their position at that point has him in front of her slightly; in Panel 3, his hand is up in the air.
          I’m more inclined to go with ‘Jealous over Alice’–look here: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2022/comic/book-12/04-dont-stop-billie-ving/billie/ Pretty sure that’s Alice in Panel 8, saying Billie’s name while caressing a bare shoulder.
          What I suspect, therefore, is that after this, she and Alice got into an argument, and then Billie left, got drunk, and went for a drive, bringing us to her status at the start of the comic.

        3. thejeff

          Alice was in the car, so Jennifer didn’t leave her.

          I don’t think “Jealous over Alice” fits what little we know of high-school Jennifer, but if Chester had done something else and Billie just learned he was (still?) Alice’s boyfriend, that might.

    3. Thag Simmons

      We can make some guesses (Alice says she loved Billie, Walky strongly implied they had sex) but this is one of those Medias Res dealies where we’re thrown into the deep end and not given all the context immediately

      1. Michael Steamweed

        It’s a new TS gravatar!

    4. Needfuldoer

      Because

  7. DailyBrad

    Interesting. Is she being jealous about Alice having a boyfriend? Like surely she knew this already, right?

  8. RacingTurtle

    I get the feeling Billie knows something I don’t about Chester

  9. Thag Simmons

    Well, that’s an interesting reaction

  10. Taffy

    So this is the murder that got her driver’s license taken away.

  11. Newlland(Henryvolt)

    “Unused” but not “Undamaged”

    1. Dana

      I’d hate to see what she would have done if she hadn’t been cautioned to be gentle.

  12. IntangibleMatter

    Does fighting count as “use”? I just hope she doesn’t betray her friend’s request 🙁

    1. Clif

      Used as a punching bag maybe, but I don’t think that’s what Alice had in mind.

    2. Nymph

      Meh, ignoring a request isn’t betrayal unless you agreed to it first.

  13. Aura

    Oh, goody! 😀

  14. Charles Phipps

    Maybe Jennifer is using Necromonger rules to claim Alice for herself.

    1. Drew Hargrave

      I did not expect a Riddick reference here

  15. Vanessa Pinter

    Well! There is something going on here and probably Billie is extremely drunk already.

  16. Suet

    For sale: Chester Phillips, never used.

    I see that Walky’s more of a merchant, but why only one nugget more than Billie’s sash for Chester’s sash?

    1. KM

      I guess it’s longer

  17. SarahTerra

    She’s been trying and failing to prove all year that he’s secretly Amazo-Dragon to her humiliation, and finally has a chance at testing his reflexes while he’s distracted.

    1. SarahTerra

      NO ONE TOLD ME BLOWJOB CAT WAS A POSSIBILITY

      1. Rose by Any other Name

        Blowjob cat was always a possibility.
        Always.
        You just didn’t know it.
        And now it has found you.
        Ah, wretched soul, lament, for it has found you.

      2. Thag Simmons

        Embrace your glorious destiny

  18. CriticalQuit

    No one’s said it yet: love the Archer reference in the alt text

    1. Rectilinear Propagation

      Well, if Chester was involved in stealing drugs to treat cancer, then he definitely deserved that punch!

      1. morleuca

        Just like the old fortune teller said!

    2. Byron Orpheus

      Came here for this. If this forum had upvotes you’d have mine.

  19. RassilonTDavros

    At first I was gonna say “fuck yeah Billie, punch that asshole!” but then I thought better of it.

    Then I saw the various comments pointing out that his hand was right behind Billie’s ass and no okay fuck yeah Billie, punch that asshole!

    1. Yumi

      I’m ready seeing the portrayal of his hand behind her ass like that. In panel 4, she’s positioned a bit behind him, and he’s not reaching back or anything. Then she moves because she’s putting her body into the punch… before that, she *wasn’t* standing right where his hand is in panel 6.

      1. Yumi

        …okay, I don’t remember exactly what I tried to start this comment with, but it was not “I’m ready.” Like, best guess is “I’m not,” but how “not” got changed to “ready”… but then, sometimes my phone changes correctly typed words to things that aren’t even words. So.

        1. Axel

          ‘I’m not really’ maybe??

    2. Byron Orpheus

      To be fair, I think he deserves to be punched in the asshole. Note: that’s not a euphemism for rape. It just really really hurts and you can’t tell anyone because your friends will make the obvious jokes until you go off to college. And then… I’m sorry, I’m not ready to talk about this.

  20. Charles Phipps

    Quiet, Ruth, I’m rampaging.

  21. HueSatLight

    Go Golden Dragons!

  22. Thomas

    Funny how y’all think Billie has a »good« reason for assaulting Chester. This is Billie on her worst night. She’s already drunk. The reason is right there in the third panel. It’s jealousy over Alice.

    1. Nymph

      I mean, everyone’s making educated guesses at this point, no one knows for sure.

    2. Needfuldoer

      Prom night was a night of soaring highs and crashing lows for Jennifer.

      1. Byron Orpheus

        Which one was this?

    3. Byron Orpheus

      With respect, this comment has aged like milk that’s been left in the car during a Texas summer. The reveal came just 24 hours later.. It’s OK though. You had no way to know.

  23. Josh Spicer

    Billie, I do not think that constitutes as gentle.

    1. Needfuldoer

      She could’ve slugged him a lot harder than that.

      1. Freemage

        Lower, too.

  24. apricot

    I’m still kind of surprised Walky bothered going to prom, though I guess his mom probably made him

    1. Clif

      He’s here for the train wreck, same as us.

    2. JBento

      Free food.

  25. Laserbeaks Fury

    I choose to read panel 2 as a Bill and Ted reference and I’m here for it.

  26. DinaJoyce

    People keep saying she’s already drunk, but I don’t see the boozle bubbles around her. Do those show up consistently, or just sometimes?

    1. segnosaur

      I think the booze bubbles are a mostly thing. But, I have seen a few strips where the character was suggested to be drinking but there were no bubbles.

      For example, this one, which took place during the dorm party. Jennifer/Billie brought in alcohol and was probably drinking it before that point. (Its also possible that she had been drinking but not yet drunk, as they did show bubbles in a later strip.)

      https://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/03-the-butterflies-fly-away/foresight/

    2. Thomas

      Maybe it’s more of an assumption based on reputation. The blushes on her cheeks are also present when she’s sober. But her inhibitions are certainly lowered. The swearing on stage seemed to imply that.

    3. Yumi

      Just sometimes. Here’s a strip where they only appeared at the end, for dramatic effect: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-9-comic/04-vote-for-robin/sentence/

      1. Marrow

        I’ve read Dumbing of Age twice, I can safely say I “know” Dumbing of Age… yet every time someone in the comments is able to recollect some specific moment like you Yumi just did… it just makes my brain implode.

        Fantastic memory Yumi, fantastic memory.

    4. thejeff

      It wouldn’t be surprising if she had snuck a drink or two, but there’s little reason to think she’s more than baseline drunk here.

      There’s plenty of time to get herself properly trashed before it’s time to drive home.

  27. Shogo

    It seems pretty clear to me that she’s just salty that Alice called Chester her boyfriend. I don’t know why so many people are twisting themselves into knots so they can say it’s somehow his fault he’s being assaulted.

    1. Laserbeaks Fury

      And honestly it all tracks if this is going where we assume it is. If Billie is lashing out physically about whatever she’s dealing with, drinking super heavy afterwards to escape makes sense.

    2. Mano308gts

      There’s already known backstory about Billie’s high school life, this likely plays around/off those.

  28. BBCC

    Well, I’m sure this won’t turn into anything.

    1. NGPZ

      too late XD

    2. Needfuldoer

      It might turn into a tree later.

  29. staszu13

    Ok we’re going to need more backstory here

    1. Nymph

      I would wager a guess we’re going to get more. On account of the flashback and all.

  30. AK

    Tie fighter sighted in panel 4

    1. Thomas

      Tiara fighter in panel 6. Tie fighter going down.

      1. Thomas

        Tie fighter clocked at six.

  31. Rectilinear Propagation

    It’s interesting that when Alice told Jennifer why she was avoiding her now, she doesn’t bring up this moment when Jennifer punches her boyfriend.

    Does Jennifer actually apologize for that part later, but not the DUI? Or maybe it’s just that the DUI was the bigger red flag for her?

    1. Bryy

      Oh yeah shoe TOTES doesn’t bring this up.

    2. darkoneko

      Well that or it’s all a dream and not exactly what actually happened back then

    3. Rectilinear Propagation

      thejeff’s comment answers my question. She focuses on the car crash because she was in the car when it happened: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2022/comic/book-12/04-dont-stop-billie-ving/billie/

      1. thejeff

        We also don’t know yet why Jennifer punched the boyfriend.

        This could be a good thing that Alice’s grateful for.

  32. Bryy

    While I want to say she’s punching him for something REAL, the panel where you see her commit to hitting him is surrounded by chants of BILLIE.

    So I’m assuming that whatever she’s hitting Chester FOR, she blows it with Alice by letting slip that HER EGO was more important.

    1. thejeff

      It’s not clear she blows it with Alice.
      Alice was in the car when she wrapped it around a tree probably later tonight.

      1. Rectilinear Propagation

        Wait, she was?

        searches tag…Oh crap!
        https://www.dumbingofage.com/2022/comic/book-12/04-dont-stop-billie-ving/billie/

        Yeah, she’s bleeding in that skinny little panel. I remembered that she told Billie she was avoiding her because she wrecked a car but I didn’t think she was in it.

      2. Bryy

        Huh.

        Well. Honestly? Two things can be true at once. I don’t see her being drunk as the sole reason she quits Billie.

        1. thejeff

          That’s what she said and almost killing her in a DUI and thinking that was fine is plenty of reason.

  33. zims

    “Look, Ruth, I’m an ALPHA bongo. I scope parties for roofies. I sneak friends into abortion clinics. I take down abusive boyfriends.” –Billie

    1. zims

      Why did it censor bongo in my comment when the strip doesn’t even censor bongo.

      1. morleuca

        You’re not in the strip

        1. Yarrr

          Wonder what it says if I try to say fuck, or shit.

        2. Taffy

          Only the C-word (conga) and B-word (bongo). We don’t need ’em anyway.

      2. Nymph

        Thanks to a number of shitty people who couldn’t be trusted not to use that word for misogynistic purposes and at great length in the comments section.

        Bongo works just as well, we know what you mean and it loses the fun for jerks.

    2. thejeff

      Percussion instruments aside, that “abusive boyfriends” might well be a key. If she somehow just found out that Alice had taken him back after something she already knew about?

      1. JBento

        Come on, this is prom, and they’re already calling king and queen. Even if Alice and Chester didn’t arrive together, there’s no way they haven’t be couple-dancing for a while now.

  34. Kyulen

    Oh, so this guy is Chester. And I’m really curious why Jennifer just punched him, though I have a couple guesses.

    1. Bryy

      Given that this literally just happened a year ago, I’m assuming all the Big Talk she gives the cast about being an Alpha Bongo is legit all about Alice. So Chester probably knocked her up in both senses of the word.

  35. Amós Batista

    I’m liking this flashback of Jeniffer, when she is 10 years old.

    1. Nymph

      She’s probably actually 17/18 just so you know.

  36. ADLegend21

    right in the solarplexus

  37. Bogeywoman

    Shout out to walky for being consistent and apparently super accepting of whatever this is

  38. darkoneko

    depend, do you want to get punched too ?

  39. Adept

    Ouch. Looks like Billie hurt her wrist. Very common unless one has been taught how to punch.

  40. Francoinblanco

    Oh I saw that one, next strip she will pour some red paint on him

  41. Charles Phipps

    Alice is one of the two characters I most want to come back.

    The other is Frieda.

    Hopefully as a reborn Democrat who is running on all of Robin’s tweeted platforms by Becky.

    1. Thomas

      You realize they’re both not very nice, right? Alice shares Raidah’s contempt for nerds. Frieda is as bad as any Republican who campaigned for the orange man. Her conversion to the Democrats would only prove her a hypocrite. She’d be as glib about it as she was about not paying interns and worse.

      …but yeah, I’d like to see more of Alice, too!

      1. thejeff

        We don’t know much about Alice, but the “contempt for nerds” bit seems to come down to not remembering Walky’s name when she was probably freaking out about seeing Billie again. Or basically, having been friends with Billie in high school.

        1. Thomas

          Naw. a) Walky is not enthusiastic about meeting her. He knows how she will react. b) She mispronounces Walky’s name »again« right after Joyce corrected her. And she doesn’t bother to use Joyce’s name. c) She doesn’t want Walky & Joyce to come sit with her, even if she’s willing to talk to Jennifer.

        2. Thomas

          Sure, there’s the awkwardness of the moment. Also in real life, you don’t always catch people’s names when they introduce themselves. But I think we are meant to infer that like Jennifer, Alice is a popular girl who doesn’t want to be seen with nerds. Which Jennifer was remarkably better about, at the time.

          What goes unsaid is how »everyone« in that scene never bothers to address the friend Alice is having lunch with. I know this comes down to Willis streamlining the scene, but it’s rude as hell. It really irks me when that happens in real life.

  42. Rabisch

    If this is how Billie/Jennifer react to jealousy, I’m really worried for Ethan and Asher.

    1. Michael Steamweed

      I think there’s more to this than jealousy. I’m suspecting abuse, irresponsibility, and/or rape in the backstory.

      1. thejeff

        “I take down abusive boyfriends”

  43. Nicoleandmaggie

    I like the alphabet names.

    1. ZerglingOne

      Alice, Billie, Chester, David?

  44. thumb

    Whyever she punching you know it’s gotta be serious. She’s risking tanking her entire cheerleader popularity by going psycho on a stage. Something to do with that time in her life. When she was drinking a lot. And pulling her cheerleader friends out of trouble. But which Alice doesn’t seem to know about. Regarding Alice’s boyfriend…

    There’s a bunch of possibilities and I’m afraid to make (more of) a guess.

    1. GholaHalleck

      Alice making a point of “Unused” probably means the bulk of the cheer squad was railing him.

  45. Mike Conner

    No, it’s ” San Dimas High School Football Rules!”

    1. Lawzlo

      In the future, things will be bigger… but also smaller. I think it’s computers.

  46. Shakes

    I’m going to guess this is Billie doing the wrong stuff in the wrong place at the wrong time for the right reasons.

    Also if this is the catalyst for her “decline” into the Billie at the start of the comic it makes a lot of sense! Going out at the top!

    1. Chubseus

      I think so too. How did Joyce put it…that Billie would always try to help but botch it up somehow in a way that made you feel better about your own mistakes.

  47. Alan in DC

    As the DJ cues up Carl Douglas’ 70s hit, “Kung Fu Fighting “…

    1. Bryy

      No, no.

      “It’s Raining Men”.

  48. Furie

    At some point, years in the future, we’re going to see a sash in Walkie’s closet and someone is going to remember this and kink directly to this comic because y’all keep a database of events on this place.

    1. Taffy

      The database is located at the top of the page, labeled “Archive”.

      1. HueSatLight

        Yes. How crazy would it be to have a folder full of significant strips, and a couple of files keeping track of seemingly insignificant details, and a shreadsheet of all the bonus strip character appearances because patreon’s searching isn’t great and keeps changing.

        1. Taffy

          It’d be wild, for sure. Some really bizarre behavior, in line with that of John Wayne Gacy, probably even more dangerous.

    2. Nymph

      You can also click Walky’s name and add “+chester” (or alice or jennifer) and look through those comics to find it super easy.

      1. Michael Steamweed

        Ahh, but “sash” is not tagged. That’s why the database (serving as both backup and complement) is necessary.

  49. Disastroid

    And the boy in the back had nuggets as a snack and it turned into a ballroom blitz

    1. Bryy

      Y – yes.

      Yes.

      I approve of this bullshit.

    2. Brendan of 6

      Eff Yeah

  50. Sirksome

    No one else is saying it so I will. Chester needed to be knocked down a peg. Dude was too arrogant for too long!

  51. Yumi

    Oh hey, I know yesterday some people were wondering if it was confirmed that her drunk driving crash was on prom night, and while looking for something else, I came across this strip confirming that it was: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2023/comic/book-14/02-its-the-love-i-havent-got/taughthimself/

    1. Taffy

      Oh shit, Billie’s gonna die in this flashback.

      1. Nymph

        But if you die in the flashback, you die in real life!!

        1. Taffy

          The retcon to end all retcons. Not only does her death in this flashback kill her off early, it erases her from all previously-portrayed events. She never got together with Ruth, she never introduced Walky to Dorothy (this kick-starting their relationship), she never unmasked Amazi-Girl by fucking Danny until he revealed Sal’s secret, she never took Joyce to the mall (which means Raidah didn’t meet Joyce there), and she never uh…. Actually, Billie hasn’t done a whole lot else that I can remember. But now she didn’t do any of it, because she dies in a prom night car crash in this chapter.

        2. Yumi

          Suddenly, for reasons unknown, Lucy is the only one who remembers her. She makes it her mission to figure out how to fix this. For some reason, the biology professor is heavily involved. Lucy discovers how to time travel and goes back to save Billie on prom night. She returns to the present and sees Jennifer there, and runs to hig her. Jennifer pushes her away and calls her a nerd.

    2. Michael Steamweed

      Billie fought the Tree Law, and the Tree Law won.

  52. Sibre

    Whoa, Billie! You’re supposed to wait for the bell!

  53. Michael Steamweed

    Billie, you’re a mean drunk, aren’t you.

    1. Taffy

      I like the layers to this. Is she mean when she’s drunk, or is she a drunk who’s mean? The answer is “yes” to both.

      1. Michael Steamweed

        +1 thumbs up

  54. Dev

    If you look up the Alice tag, it might make a little bit more sense. Alice confessed at one point in the past that she loved Billie, I believe even more so than just friends.

    This is probably the prom where Billie crashes the car with Alice in it (another past strip showed Alice bleeding and Billie’s face in an airbag).

    At least that’s my thoughts.

    1. Yumi

      Yeah, we basically know that Alice is the girl Jennifer was Totally Hetero Gal Pals with back in high school. And then yes, she crashed her car while driving drunk (with Alice in the car) on prom night.

  55. RockstarRaccoon

    I guess we will have to wait another page or two to get the context on this one…

  56. CianM1301

    There is only one ruler of the prom, Chester, and she does not share power!

  57. Yak

    TIL about jocelynjbrown.com

    1. Yak

      *jocylynejbrown.com

  58. crow

    Billie that is the opposite of what she asked you to do

  59. John

    Wonder what Chester did to deserve that.

  60. Twirls

    don’t know what it says about me that yesterday I was assuming it was a dream-sequence instead of a straight-up flashback (based mostly on me not thinking that Walky would go to prom) but now I’m like “oh yo, this is real then.”

    1. Yeet

      I bet his mom would make him.
      …this thought makes me realise she might be almost a single issue parent when it comes to him, at least once he and his sister got past being old enough to put in shitty acting jobs for kids.

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