219

Last thoughts
Posted on May 4, 2020 by David M Willis
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219 thoughts on “Last thoughts”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    nah, leave ‘im

    or go back for one last punch, idk, whichever

    1. Ana Chronistic

      (srsly idk what I’d do in the same case, other than prolly be too late to matter)

    2. Lumino

      Joyce will be a Christian, and at the very least be with him out when he’s on death’s door.

      That’s the basic compassion we should show to all people. It’s who she is, and she’d never forgive herself if she let him die alone.

      1. Wizard

        Yep. It’s not about him, it’s about her living up to her own idea of what it is to be a good person.

        1. Ryan

          *holds his hand*
          “Oh Mr. Toedad, it gladdens my heart to see you here on your cold concrete death bed, bleeding out in the dark. Every time I feel down, I will remember back to this day when you died horribly in a basement, and feel heartened by the thought that you are burning in hell for all eternity because of your bigotry and abhorrent behavior.”
          “Oh, Becky, have you been standing there long?”

        2. Human Bean

          Haha, the strip punched me in the feels, but this cracked me up.

        3. auroki

          Even more amusing given your avatar

    3. Lanie

      At this point I think Toedad has burnt so many bridges with Joyce that any kindness she shows him will be, like a few people have already said, completely based on her sense of morality. She has a big heart, but he’s been absolutely monstrous. It’s interesting to see Joyce refer to seeing Toedad in his current state as a “lack of resolve” though; the emotional strength it will take her to complete any of the current courses of action she sees is tremendous.

  2. FaerwenofValenwood

    Oh, Joyce.

    1. Leorale

      Yep. She’s deeply kind.

      1. FaerwenofValenwood

        I love her. She’s my favorite for that reason among others.

  3. Ray Radlein

    Well, looks like Toedad is definitely going to be gone

  4. BBCC

    Oh, sweetie. Feelings are dicks.

    If you want to, it’s totally possible to say goodbye to him and still not pretend you agree it’s okay to torture the gay out of someone.

    1. Regalli

      Though that may require a bit more presence of mind than she really has right now.

      Gonna guess AG’s making the call (though I don’t exactly know how, even if she DID see Mike die it’s not exactly 1:1 cause of death here) that this is “yeah, ambulance won’t get here in time even if we called right the fuck now”. Or that that’s next on her plans and hedging her bets. Or that AG’s not thinking straight. Actually yeah that’s probably it.

      1. BBCC

        I mean, he got hit in the head with a hammer and probably more than once. He was bleeding a lot.

        It wouldn’t be an unreasonable guess that it won’t make it. They should definitely call 911 but I think it’s unlikely they’ll be able to help.

        1. Mra

          If he does survive it would only be realistic with permanent debilitating brain damage.

      2. Meagan

        Yeah that’s a lot more nuance than a traumatized brain can handle.

        1. BBCC

          Traumatized AND sleep deprived, always a winning combo.

      3. Shane

        I just noticed Amazigirl’s blue speech bubble turned back to Amber’s ordinary one. I guess AG noped out at the sight of Ross. Or maybe was like “OK, I beat up the ones that needed beating up, you can take the wheel again.”

        1. Yumi

          Nope, still AG, just not doing the voice.

    2. Jaime

      I 100% agree. Going to see him could be an act of kindness for Becky if she doesn’t make it in time. And I think it’s perfectly okay to not want someone, even if they are a terrible person, to die alone; that doesn’t mean you think they are a good person or that in any way forgive them. I think it makes you a much better person than they.

      PS: IMHO anger and refusing to see someone like him are totally valid and understandable reactions too.

      1. BBCC

        Agreed.

      2. Mollyscribbles

        If she goes, it’s out of respect to Joyce’s humanity more than Ross’s.

        If she doesn’t, well, he did hold them hostage.

      3. Needfuldoer

        Maximum awful: Joyce goes, Ross thinks she’s Becky, and he dies before the real Becky gets there. Then Joyce has to explain to her why she’s covered in his blood.

        I mean, in theory, with prompt medical care, he might survive at least part of the ambulance ride. It depends on how much blood he’s already lost. From the sound of it, he’s dead if the kids don’t call 911 pronto.

  5. Nono

    ‘It’s not too gruesome because THE TOE IS GONE.’

    1. Scolopendra

      Oh shit, was Joyce mangling her toe just a roundabout form of foreshadowing?

  6. Yumi

    Define “too gruesome.”

    Also, since he’s not yet dead, call an ambulance, maybe.

    1. Foxhack

      But HOW are they going to call an ambulance?

      I mean, how are they going to explain all the beat up people? How will they make sure Blaine doesn’t get out of this?

      1. Yumi

        If they never call an ambulance/etc, how will they make sure Blaine doesn’t get out of this?

        1. Norah

          Yes, they need to call. And to explain what happened. Otherwise Blaine will say Amber/Amazigirl, Becky and friends lured him and Ross there to beat them up, and that they killed Ross. Which is what I’m afraid is going to end up happening because I don’t think anyone, even Dorothy, is going to call anyone.

        2. Hilzabub

          Or they re-enact “Weekend at Bernie’s” with Toedad.

        3. Schol-R-LEA

          I doubt that how deep in the shit he is will really sink in for Blaine until after Asher shows up with a burn notice from his father.

      2. JetstreamGW

        Well given that that hammer probably has Blaine’s fingerprints all over it. And Blaine is covered in Ross’ blood.

        And it’s completely legal to kick the shit out of people who were attempting to kick the shit out of you.

        Really Amazi-Girl is the only one who has to worry about anything in this situation.

        1. NelC

          All Amazi-Girl has to do is change out of her superhero drag and she’ll look just like Amber — who was kidnapped by Blaine. There’s, like, half-a-dozen witnesses that Amber was there, even Blaine himself. So AG’s got nothing to worry about, really, except how she’s going to explain it all to Amber.

        2. Foxhack

          If you check yesterday’s comic, you’ll see Amber surface for a second.

          She knows.

        3. Yumi

          If you check the tags, you’ll see otherwise, though. (At least in terms of Amber surfacing.)

        4. xmd

          Today her speech is white. Amber is the one suggesting Joyce go down.

        5. Yumi

          Again, tags.
          This was discussed yesterday, but the voice is more of a conscious thing. It’s not a definitive marker. Amber can speak in the AG voice and AG can speak without it.

        6. Needfuldoer

          Cheek blushes are the only definitive ‘tell’ for who’s driving at any given time, and that hasn’t been Amber since we saw her talking to Ruth.

        7. BigDogLittleCat

          Except the bad guys know AG was there so they won’t get away with pretending she wasn’t there. When the police have six people who can ID AG, they’ll figure it out.

        8. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          Now I am picturing the DA applying pressure to Amber to get her to testify against Amazi-Girl.

        9. Segnosaur

          Well blaine should know but he is in denial.

          Ross is dead/dying so he can’t testify.

          Some of the henchmen were told (but not necessarily all of them) but they were probably also told by blaine “amber is a coward and can’t be Amazigirl”. Plus how much weight will their claims actually have , being criminals and all?

          Remember, Ryan guessed amber=Amazigirl. I assume he would have told the police. But the cops searched Amber’s room and didn’t find anything.

      3. Jaime

        Leave, find a pay phone (yes I know they’re uncommon but not totally gone) and place an anonymous 911 call.

        1. woobie

          I haven’t seen one in EVER.

        2. Yumi

          I feel like it varies a lot by location. I don’t see them around where I live, but I’ve been on recent trips other places in the country and seen what felt like an odd amount. I don’t know how it is in that part of Indiana, though.

          If they’re not far from campus, they could reach one of those emergency button things, though I don’t know exactly how those work.

        3. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          Dial 911 on Blaine or Ross’s phone and don’t say anything.

        4. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          Or better, the house landline if there is one.

        5. Agemegos

          They don’t need a public phone to call 9-1-1: Not even to do so anonymously. They have Blaine’s phone.

          And really, trying to conceal Ross’s deaths and all the kidnapping from the police would be futile. The p9lice are definitely going to find out.

          Ross needs an ambulance. Blaine and the Bad Bros need arresting (not letting escape as Ryan was allowed to do). The Crazy Kids have done nothing illegal — just escaping unlawful confinement and self-defence.

        6. SuperZero

          Amazi-Girl assaulted Becky’s guards and then went back because she wanted to fight instead of alerting the authorities. That is several crimes.
          Nobody else did anything illegal.

        7. Agemegos

          Assaulting Becky’s guards was criminal (and pointless). A series of vigilante assaults across campus over the last few weeks, was also criminal (but there was a point to at least some of those). But calling 9-1-1 here hasn’t much to do with those.

        8. Segnosaur

          Or use Blaine’s phone that Joice got from the counter earlier.

        9. Gash

          comic is late relative to irl timeline by maybe a decade, so payphones might as well be still available.

        10. BBCC

          What are you talking about? This comic takes place (as of now) in October 2020, giving some obvious concessions about the quarantine that could in no way have been predicted. It’s not a decade behind.

        11. clif

          Agreed.

      4. Angel

        They’re in an airbnb. Someone had to book and pay for it, and I’m assuming that was either Blaine himself or one of his conspirators that can be traced back to him pretty easily.

        1. BigDogLittleCat

          Do we know it’s an AirBnB? I thought that was just Walky being silly.

          Easiest thing would have been to break into an empty house that’s for sale.

        2. Wizard

          The place shows at least some signs of being furnished (kitchen implements lying around, electricity on), which I wouldn’t expect if it were vacant. Plus, breaking into a house that’s supposed to be vacant could easily attract attention from the neighbors. Dumb as Blaine is, I don’t think he’s that dumb. An AirBnB or something similar seems least likely to attract attention.

    2. DailyBrad

      I don’t know that she’s saying he *isn’t* dead, just that he isn’t hamburger meat down there.

      1. JetstreamGW

        The only reason she’d be suggesting Joyce go down there “in case Becky doesn’t make it” is because he’s still alive and Joyce might wanna relay some last words.

        1. Chris Phoenix

          “Tell Becky she destroyed my family.”

        2. JetstreamGW

          I know everyone likes to comically loathe Ross and act like he’s the antichrist, but I would like to remind y’all that he does believe that he’s doing the right thing, and won’t say shitty hurtful things for no reason. That’s Blaine’s thing.

        3. thejeff

          He won’t say shitty hurtful things for no reason. He will say shitty hurtful things because he believes them.

          Case in point.

        4. Khyrin

          That’s the problem.
          He could RECANT that, thanks to experiencing Blaine.
          “Tell Becky… I Was wrong. >I< destroyed my family."

      2. Yumi

        If there’s a reason for saying “In case Becky doesn’t make it” that’s different from “In case Becky doesn’t make it /in time/,” there’s a lot more to be worried about.

        1. clif

          What a twist.

    3. Romanticide

      no brain matter is going out, he might die of blood loss or internal injuries. But you probably won’t see bone.

  7. Bicycle Bill

    My dad died alone, because mother and I were both away from the house when his aneurysm hit.  Twenty-five years later, my mother died alone because she was in hospice and I was at work.  And the way things are going, I’m going to probably die alone with no one finding me until the stench from my apartment becomes too obvious to ignore (or the landlord shows up to find out why my rent payment hadn’t been made).

    Yes, Joyce, go to him.

    1. clif

      Your cell phone will be there in the end to keep you company. Give it another 25 years and your cell phone will call 911 when it decides you need help.

      1. Jamie

        I kinda hope I don’t live to see that.

      2. Slartibeast Button, BIA

        Arthur C. Clarke predicted that decades ago.

      3. Segnosaur

        Or at the very least you can spend your last moments surfing the web.

  8. OtterBoy1

    This is… sad.

  9. Regalli

    Can I just say the art on this strip’s gorgeous? Like, on every level? The expressions, the lighting, the color, it’s all lovely.

  10. Madock345

    And Everyone in this comic *already* needed therapy

    1. Doctor_Who

      Except for Dina. Her mental state is flawless.

    2. Wolfbeckett

      Eh… Sarah, Dorothy, Walky, Ethan, Dina just to go with primary characters are all pretty stable. They have their problems but none of them are therapy cases.

      1. Agemegos

        Dorothy is taking therapy to help process her reaction to seeing Amber knifing Ryan.

        1. Captain Oblivious

          True, but she’s doing from a position of solid mental health. Her rationale wasn’t “oh this traumatized me.” It was, “I’m going to see a mental health professional to help deal with seeing violence, because that is what you do to maintain your mental health.”

          Didn’t she previously say she was seeing a therapist as a part of being a healthy person anyways? You don’t need to be sick to do an annual checkup with your Dr (remember those?) or to get your teeth cleaned and checked at the dentist.

      2. jufreire

        I mean, therapy isn’t just for trauma cases. Ethan, Danny, Sarah, Dorothy, _specially_ Walky, could benefit from therapy just from getting better at expressing themselves, gauging and processing emotions, analysing their relationships with other people, what they need to change or get better at… etc. Dina could use it as a venting place for her frustrations with ezclusion; Ethan… he went through having no self confidence to Very Much So and just experienced (maybe?) the loss of Mike and witnessed Toedead, so… a LOT changed for him, talking things out with a professional and figuring out where he stands rn would be cool. Sarah could figure out how to open up to people, Danny… Is on a good path right now but it wouldn’t hurt to have some additional help and support, Dorothy -jesus Christ – that girl is handling more stress than the amount someone could gather up in a lifetime, and Walky… Walky’s got a lot of stuff to figure out

  11. Kyrik Michalowski

    I wonder what is going to happen, Becky making it there before her dad dies or afterwards? Neither one will be easy to deal with but I wonder which is worse?

    1. G97

      I’d say it would be *slightly* easier for Becky if she arrived after he died. Whatever Ross is like down there it won’t be pretty and as awful as this will be for Becky I’d think it would be easier for her to remember who he was in death than his last moments being a dying man with brain damage. My only hope is she’ll turn her justified rage towards Blaine and not against herself by blaming herself for not being faster…

      1. BigDogLittleCat

        And if he’s already dead when Becky arrives, she doesn’t have to go through what Joyce is going through now.
        And she doesn’t risk his blaming her for everything. She can tell herself whatever she wants about his state of mind, maybe that he had a last minute change of heart

    2. SuperZero

      Ross will likely do something evil if he sees Becky. It’s probably best that doesn’t happen, but it’s also best she doesn’t have to choose whether to avoid it.

  12. G97

    I hope Carol is happy. She’s officially traumatized her daughter for life just on the preconceived notion that she and the rest of of her church group “want to raise their kids right”. It’s ALMOST like she didn’t actually care for what was best for Joyce and Becky.

    1. Regalli

      It’s almost like none of them did.

      Yeah, I expect the Brown Family Drama that’s about to ensue to be, um. Nuclear.

      1. HyeHye

        The part of me that’s lived through Nuclear Family Matters ™ bears mild dread over the potential fallout.

        The part of me that reads webcomics for The Drama ™ and has been anticipating this for a while is sitting here with a bucket of popcorn.

        1. Doctor_Who

          Considering how time moves in this comic, that popcorn is probably stale by now.

          We’re definitely approaching the time for a fresh batch, though.

        2. Regalli

          Oh, yeah. Like I’ve said, I think THIS is the breaking point for Hank and Jocelyne to cut ties with Carol (there is NO coming back from ‘I helped bail out the man who pointed a gun at my daughter and he predictably went right back to The Violence and putting bystanders in harm’s way,’) and it’s not impossible Jocelyne gets so angry she weaponizes her coming out. Not ideal, not the way she wants to, I’m sure, but the lines way back with ‘The last thing I want is to dive into a heated argument with my parents. Might say some stuff I can’t ever take back’ make me suspect she’s at least considered it before the comic started. (We’ve been seeing signs she’s been prepping for coming out and being disowned already, as well.)

          And Carol… I cannot imagine Carol reacting to any of it well. I strongly suspect John will side with Carol, obvious predictability of Toedad doing something about this dangerous and all.

          It’s gonna be GOOD.

    2. Reltzik

      The worst part is, she did care what was best. But her notions of what “best” meant got hijacked by stupid, evil religious doctrine.

    3. Wizard

      The worst part is, it’s entirely possible she sincerely wants what’s best for them. She just has a pretty twisted idea of “best”, mixed with a certain selective blindness to consequences.

  13. NinjaNick

    Joyce, don’t blame yourself for the death of Toedad. You did all you could. Blaine’s short fuse have taken all the blame.

    1. clif

      It was Dorothy’s plan to turn the evil dads against each other. Blame her.

      I’ve always noticed that finding someone else to blame almost always makes one feel better.

      1. James

        Dorothy’s plan was to wait for the inevitable in-fighting and use it as a chance for escape, she didn’t turn anyone against anyone. The idiot squad did that all on their own.

        1. Rabid Rabbit

          She pointed out to Ross that his accomplice was a mobster.

          Sure, it didn’t work, because his skull is (was) just that thick, but she tried.

    2. Wizard

      I think there’s some blame left over for Ross himself. He could have accepted his daughter. If that was impossible, he could have at least acknowledged that she was now a legal adult, responsible for her own decisions, no matter how little he approved. Instead, he engaged in an escalating series of criminal actions and allied himself with a guy who was pretty transparently an evil asshole. Blaine swung the hammer, so he’s definitely to blame, but Ross put himself into this situation, so my sympathy for him doesn’t go very far at all.

      1. Regalli

        Oh, yeah. Toedad had many, MANY points to back out of what he was doing, not the least of them when, yesterday, he went along with Blaine’s suggestion to murder a random eighteen-year-old who Blaine clearly knew, got in a fight that ended with both Blaine and Mike critically injured, and still said ‘yeah let’s kidnap half a dozen people, I totally want to put innocents anywhere near this man.’

        He was so set on the idea that God was on his side, therefore this path was righteous and things would work out that he ignored a goddamn parade with a marching band and floats full of red flags, just about Blaine alone. He ignored that his wife was depressed enough to try to end her own life, and he either hadn’t noticed or hadn’t done anything to help (or at least didn’t change his approach when the inevitable prayer didn’t have the right effect.) He ignored that Becky was a human being with agency.

        Blaine is responsible for Toedad’s death, 110%. But Toedad’s lines when they discussed how obviously bad news Blaine was puts me in mind of that story of the man who drowns because he figures God will take care of him, and sends away a raft and a boat and a helicopter that all offered help.

  14. meanderling

    Man that toenail falling off was Some Symbolism amiright

    1. Bagge

      SYMBOLISM

      1. clif

        Who knew that getting hit in the head could give you a Symbolism.

  15. Bagge

    Toedad really has no right to take up all this mental bandwitdh. He could have stayed in jail. He could have went home to repair his window. He could have gone to church to reflect on the error of his ways. He had no right to show up and threaten Becky’s life again and then die on her doorstep.

    Fucking Toe

    1. SuperFroakie82

      Alright, we can blame him for a lot of things, but I don’t really think we can blame him for dying, or for other people having an emotional attachment to him.

      1. Bagge

        We can most certainly blame him for putting himself in a situation where he was attacked by his co-kidnapper in the middle of a kidnapping situation.

        Step one for not being attacked by a co-kidnapper in the middle of a kidnapping situation: Don’t kidnap people.

    2. Reltzik

      I don’t disagree with any of this, but perhaps a more important question right now than whether Toedad has deserves the mental bandwidth or whether (and how much) he did wrong could be what options leave Joyce (and Becky) with the least trauma moving forward.

      1. Bagge

        That’s very true. My lashing out at Toedad does not move the situation forward. Joyce and Becky will have to do that.

  16. synnerman

    Well, this trauma is going to blow up in the faces of Joyce’s parents. I wonder if Dorothy is okay with a “sister” for a bit.

    1. Reltzik

      It’s going to blow up in Carol’s face. Hank actively took steps to sound the warning.

      ….

      This is going to end in divorce, isn’t it?

      1. Dr T

        Absolutely it will. Willis has always said that Joyce is a semi-autobiographical avatar of his in this universe. His parents divorced due to his mother’s blind devotion to her religious doctrine.

  17. Wraithy2773

    ……..so, yeah.

    Here’s the thing: I can’t bring myself to hate Toedad.

    Don’t get me wrong: He’s an asshole, he deserves several thwacks in the balls with golf clubs, and I totally get why people are giving zero shits about him dying right now.

    But one thing that I’ve kinda forced myself to acknowledge is that… well, its that who “Banality of Evil” thing. If it wasn’t so, so easy to be a complete ass, few would be.

    I honestly believe that, at his core, Toedad sincerely believes that he’s trying to do right by Becky. He’s *wrong*, of course, horrifically and massively and incredibly wrong…

    …but he’s not Blaine. Blaine wasn’t trying to be good, he didn’t give a shit about that, he was just a sociopathic asshole trying to control things he had no business being involved in.

    To me… Toedad’s situation feels tragic, because he so sincerely does want to do the “right thing”, but he was so utterly, completely mistaken on what that thing was, and he just kept chasing that sunk cost until it smacked him in the face how out of place he was.

    It’s just… he was save-able. If just someone had gotten to him and gotten through. And yeah, it could well be naive as fuck of me to think that could work, and I’ll cop to that.

    But I think that’s what makes that story so damn strong: He wasn’t a sinister villain, he wasn’t a horrific monster. He was human, so, so human, and like humans are wont to do, he fucked something up so badly when he could have just made it all good so easily…

    1. Madock345

      +1

    2. William Leonard Reese Jr.

      If it helps at all you are not alone in these thoughts. I feel roughly the same way.

    3. Jamie

      Agree.

    4. Norah

      I agree, Wraithy. He even seemed to care about what happens to Joyce. He was just so, so wrong about what was the the right thing to do.

      Now I feel differently about Carol. While she has the same beliefs, she seems to like to hold them over people’s heads so she can feel superior. Her treatment of Becky was one example. And her gloating over Joyce having a black roommate (she said she could tell people her daughter wasn’t racist.)

    5. Jaime

      I agree.

    6. ktbear

      You write that as if you have definitive proof the Christian God does not exist. Care to share? You see, Ross would claim that he has proof, in the bible, that God does indeed exist. And if God exists then hell exists. And if hell exists and God is inclined to send gay and lesbian people to hell, then Becky is going to hell and Ross has already alluded to the fact he would be prepared to die to prevent that from happening. In my opinion, Ross wasn’t save-able, as you put it. He didn’t WANT to be saved because there was nothing to be saved FROM. Becky on the other hand…

      1. Jess

        Honestly, if god exists I doubt that he’d give two shits about gay/lesbian stuff. There are far bigger fish to fry in the world. And even then forgiveness is a bit of a big thing in Christianity. So it should stand to reason that he’d forgive it if it was really that big of a deal, anyway.

        Just be good people and try to leave the world a little better than you entered it.

        1. Alan In DC

          Wikipedia says there are as many as 2 trillion galaxies in the observable universe, each with possibly billions of stars in each.

          How arrogant can the human race be to think that our little chunk of mud flying through space is the most important one out there? That any kind of supreme being would care where (and in who) somebody would want to park their junk?

          And if there is a heaven and a hell, they better be pretty damn big — cuz all those populated planets are going to need somewhere to send their dearly departed.

          Should Ross survive his attack, I hope during that little dance between life and death he actually sees Jesus who tells him, “Buddy, you seem like a good guy, but you got all that stuff wrong. Come with me for a few minutes…”

      2. TemporalShrew

        It’s not *literal* salvation they’re talking, though. It’s not about him being “saved” and self-perceiving his “salvation,” it’s a matter of his worldview being incredibly distorted, but not totally broken. Your argument implies that no extreme fundamentalist Christian can possibly be persuaded down to a more moderate Christian position, which would be a perfectly acceptable niche for Ross to inhabit.

        He wants to do the right thing, but his perception of what the “right” thing is is remarkably warped and needs to change – that’s a very difficult feat to accomplish with someone in his position, and yes, there are many ways for a fundamentalist to hand-wave away sound arguments against their positions, but it’s not literally *impossible,* and it doesn’t require the complete invalidation of every single component of his worldview.

        Blaine, on the other hand, cares for pretty much nothing but himself, and he has no clear sense of right and wrong beyond self-benefit. You can’t talk someone down from that worldview, because they don’t *care* what’s good or evil.

        The problem, I guess, is that what change could theoretically be effected for Ross would require a much greater time-scale than this comic was inclined to give him.

    7. marcus erronius

      Same. I can despise him, but the vast majority of what I would hate him for is due to religious indoctrination. And I know first, second, and third hand what a doozy that can be.

    8. Meagan

      Good on you for saying so, though I disagree about it being easy for him to have gone down a different path. His story strikes me more as a tastament to the durability of thought forms/beliefs.

    9. Insanenoodlyguy

      Nah, not unreasonable at all. It’s the other end of the “Everybody’s the hero of their own story.” There’s always a portion of the human race that’s the exception, but the vast majority of people in the world, including those with opinions you despise who despise you back, earnestly believe they are making the right choices, or at least trying to. Toedad, for all his reprehensible actions, sincerely believed that his only daughter was on the path to hell and that anything would be worth saving her. Which makes it all the sadder.

      1. bemisawa

        Yeah, as much as his actions are obviously reprehensible, I definitely view this whole chain of events as a tragedy as far as Ross and Becky are concerned – even if Becky wouldn’t (and frankly, it’s probably healthy for her not to view it as such). But as other people have observed, there’s the what-could-have-been if circumstances had been different, if he’d grown up being taught something else, perhaps, or if he had just responded differently to his life events… but for whatever reason, this is the path he went down, going all-in and believing it was the right thing to do. His actions have been terrible, and the fact he sincerely believed in all of this does *not* make him blameless (either for doing this or believing it), but he was trapped in a hateful worldview that had him be terrified of losing his daughter as he almost certainly (also toxically) believed he already had lost his late wife. World views are in kind of a weird middle ground, where on the one hand they’re changeable, but on the other hand, someone might not realize that, and people usually don’t change them unless something happens to change it. He bought in to one of the very toxic strains of Christrianity, which probably played off of his ingrained prejudices and tendency towards authoritarianism, but the reasons why someone ends up there are… complex, I think? In his case, I really do think his pre-existing conservative attitudes became radicalized and more extreme after his wife died. He turned into a full-blown monster in his fear, but at least part of that monstrousness arose from his pain.

        And, again, Joyce and her dad both went to that same church bailing Ross out, and until the church reacted to Becky and Joyce’s return to their hometown, neither Joyce nor her dad apparently recognized it as a really toxic environment. But underneath the apparently warm and welcoming environment that church cultivated, it was an environment that probably contributed to radicalizing Ross further, and for whatever reasons known only to themselves, they believed it was right and just to bail Ross out after his first attempt to kidnap Becky.

        Ross is comically easily manipulated and a bastard, but I absolutely agree that his story is a very sad one.

    10. Rabid Rabbit

      Ross was not deliberately cruel.

      Everything he did was abysmally cruel, but he wasn’t cruel — in that he didn’t do the things he did to be mean. He wasn’t trying to hurt people.

      Hence why he wasn’t sure about killing Mike. Hence why he needed the Lord’s strength to pull out his gun.

      It was just his duty.

      It’s not his fault he’s so goddamn stupid.

      And we might never have figured this out if he hadn’t been paired with Blaine, so we could see the difference between appallingly deluded and just plain evil.

      (I mean, seriously. Back when he showed up, Blaine insisted that he’d stopped paying for Amber’s education even if they sent him to jail. Instead, he came up with this ludicrous plan to make her quit. The man really can’t follow through.)

    11. BarerMender

      I disagree. Ross may have told himself he was helping her, but what he wanted was to restore his power over her. I give you dialog such as, “I will have my daughter again, not whatever this is.” and “I have been slack in my role but no longer. I will restore my household.” It wasn’t about what she needed, but what he wanted.

    12. Reltzik

      I can definitely condemn and hate Toedad.

      In my view, he had a moral duty to actually evaluate his faith for accuracy and atrociousness rather than turn himself into its unthinking slave. Not only did he fail in this duty, he brazenly and proudly rejected it entire.

      Because of this, he stopped loving the daughter he had and was prepared to harm her in order to force her to be someone else. Because of this, he committed several felonies which endangered and traumatized a half dozen kids, and maybe killed or seriously injured one. And that was AFTER he did basically the same thing on a smaller scale and refused to learn from it or even notice the warning flags it should have raised.

      He wasn’t a victim of what his faith did to him. He was a willing and intentional practitioner and enabler of what his faith did to him. The most charitable I am prepared to be on this subject is that he might have had a diminished capacity to make the right call, depending on his childhood indoctrination. And yet he is a long way into being an adult, so maybe that free pass has expired.

      1. BBCC

        For real. Ross made his own choices. Those choices were not just cruel, they were fuck off evil. He made his own bed.

      2. Regalli

        Absolutely. Ross had MANY chances to reevaluate his life before he ended up in that basement, and chose to take precisely none of them.

    13. SuperFroakie82

      I also agree

  18. ktbear

    Ummm… feel free to hate me cause I prolly deserve it but it’s too good an opportunity to miss out on. DoA Book #10 “It’s not too gruesome if you want to come on down.”

    1. clif

      No, no, no. We’re going for longer titles now.

      Dumbing of Age Book 10: Will His Last Thoughts Be that I, In the End, Gave In To His Reason, and Would It Be So Wrong if I Gave Him that Final False Comfort, or Will I Later Curse Myself for My Weakness, My Lack of Resolve?

      1. clif

        But yes, we all hate you and wish we had thought of it first.

      2. Johnny Austin

        DOA book 10 “Renounce magical thinking and embrace empirical evidence.”

        Short, sweet, and it would have solved all of these problems, had it been heeded.

    2. Reltzik

      I think I’d go with Walky’s “I refuse to be traumatized by this” line as a book title.

      You know, for irony.

  19. BigDogLittleCat

    AG’s lack of urgency makes me think he’s Toedead already. Mind you, there’s already a disconcerting lack of urgency in all of them. I’d be Get Me The Feqq Out of Here! I assume someone is going to call the police sooner or later? I keep expecting Becky to show up with the police in tow.

    This is why Joyce is my favorite. She is kind and she wants to do right by other people. That and her sense of humor about her quirks and neuroses.

    1. Yumi

      If he is already dead, what do you think AG means by her last line? I interpret it as “In case Becky doesn’t make it [here before he dies].”

      1. SuperZero

        There’s also no reason for Joyce to go down if he’s already dead.

        1. Yumi

          Eh, different people could have different sentimentality around that.

    2. Shane

      She’s not my favorite. Sane people would be like “Well, if he’s not a corpse, we could call an ambulance to try and prevent that. If he IS a corpse, we need to call an ambulance to pronounce time of death since we’re now witnesses to a murder scene.”

      Cutting her a small amount of slack for it being confusing to be kidnapped, to me it feels like Joyce is “This is an important time for me to think about me and what I believe about religion. And deciding if I want to give other people the satisfaction of possibly agreeing with their worldview or not. That’s priority one for me right now.” A MAN IS BLEEDING OUT OR DEAD JOYCE.

      Gosh diggity dang it. You’re in the middle of an active felony crime scene. “The scene is not safe”. Unknown mooks could still be threatening you on site. A man is presumably seriously injured and dying, maybe dead. IT IS NOT PHILOSOPHY TIME. There is a moral imperative to get law enforcement and and medical assistance to this scene as fast as humanly possible. (And has been for a while now).

      Does anyone want to take this seriously? Sarah the law student? Dorothy Future President?

      1. Insanenoodlyguy

        This. Perhaps it happened off screen (or after all the notes on this Willis is about to retcon that very fact in), but otherwise, Joyce is not a horrible person for going down there, or not going down there. She is wracking up horrible person points along with everybody else for not calling the goddamn emergency line already.

        1. ischemgeek

          Speaking from experience, most people don’t clearly in traumatic situations. It’s entirely possible it has yet to occur to anyone to call it in.

          When there was an explosion & fire at my work, I was the only none of a half dozen people to show up to think to tell someone to pull the fire alarm and to remember how to operate a fire extinguisher & get the fire out. The others just panicked & froze. They weren’t terrible people, they were just traumatized.

          And all but one of us had received special training for what to do in that exact situation, lowering the chance we’d panic. Panic is a common reaction & most people are incapable of clear thinking & appropriate action.

          Even me. I wasn’t thinking clearly. I was lucky that the first thing that occurred to me was the right course of action. I wasn’t thinking, I was reacting.

          I can’t judge Joyce & the others for not thinking clearly: panic-brain doesn’t think, it reacts.

        2. Vulcanodon

          Let’s see; superhero with an identity problem running on zero sleep and fighting her alter-ego’s father, college students awakened in the middle of the night and forced into survival mode and traumatized by witnessing a brutal assault – not a recipe for total rationality.

          This tracks with my experience when a professor is facing a technology problem in front of a class; their analytical ability drops to zero. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve been called to a classroom and ended up turning on the computer.

      2. Agemegos

        Joyce (and probably Amazi-Girl) have the known and probable mobile phones.

        1. Shane

          The play here is to go outside and go door to door asking for help to call 911.

          Is it in a neighborhood or what? Well, some people know. Amazigirl even knows where it is because she _left and came back_. (Via car or what? Running? App-unlocked scooter? Uber?) Dina magically knows where it is and magically got there via magic. Becky knows where it is because her dad texted her where it is.

        2. Agemegos

          What’s wrong with dialling 9-1-1 on Blaine’s or Ross’s phone, or even Amber’s. I’d think that that would be quicker.

        3. Shane

          Nothing! I agree with phones. I’m all for that course of action at the earliest opportunities. My complaint is with any character who didn’t do so at the very first available opportunity.

      3. Rabid Rabbit

        It is possible that Amazi-Girl is assuming that Dorothy’s taken care of the whole “Call a fucking ambulance!!!” side of things.

        1. Agemegos

          I suppose that Dorothy might have taken a phone from one of the Bad Bros and used that.

        2. BBCC

          There may also be a landline. Lots of houses still have them.

        3. Strangeshapes

          Or maybe even Ruth? Because I really can’t see Ruth letting her mentally ill, sleep deprived dorm student drop a kidnapping bomb and then just say she would handle it.

      4. Mark

        Thank you for putting this so well

        1. Shane

          Thank you for appreciating it!

      5. BBCC

        Joyce was just so traumatized she couldn’t even SAY what happened to Toedad. I really don’t think she’s in the right mind to call 911. There’s been a small time jump – someone’s had time to explain to AG what happened and she’s gone downstairs to check out the scene and come back up and everyone else had time to leave the room/house. I’m guessing calling 911 has been or will be taken care of shortly, probably by either Sarah, Dorothy or AG. Leaving Joyce with the choice or whether to se him or not isn’t unreasonable since if he’s not dead, he’s likely dying and if Becky doesn’t make it, Joyce is the only one who might WANT to see him if she doesn’t want him to die alone.

        1. Miri

          Also she’s the only person other than Joyce there who he might want to see?

        2. thejeff

          No time jump, I think. AG was with Joyce at the end of the last strip. I think she went downstairs and checked while Joyce was monologing here. The others could still be here or not.

        3. BBCC

          I don’t think it was a big one. Even five minutes for AG to be filled in and go down to check would be enough for someone else (my money says Sarah or Dorothy) to call 911. I also think it’s possible AG will while Joyce is down there. My point is it’s not like Joyce is the only person who can call.

      6. C.T Phipps

        I’d argue that Joyce’s reaction is perfectly sane as a “sane” reaction as described above comes with the caveat, “The terrorist who held you at gunpoint and tried to kidnap your friend then DID IT AGAIN WITH MOBSTERS” is lying dead on the ground. That will cause some mixed feelings.

        1. Regalli

          Yeah, none of these kids are operating on ‘behave perfectly the way they -should- after being kidnapped’ because, you know, THEY WERE KIDNAPPED. Logical brain is not on, because this is traumatic and shocking and that doesn’t leave you behaving rationally.

    3. Strangeshapes

      I’m so with you on the lack of urgency here. I wouldn’t have checked on Toedad, I wouldn’t have done *anything* before getting everyone out of the house, calling the police and standing in a safe place to intercept Becky.

      1. C.T Phipps

        The lack of calling the police and anyone other than Amber has really thrown this comic arc for a loop.

        1. Agemegos

          It started with Mike’s low-speed scooter shenanigans. The blend of horror, action, and wacky hijinks isn’t coming together, at least for me.

        2. Mark

          Yes agreed, the wacky hijinks makes it hard to take seriously any of the drama currently happening.

  20. Mr D

    Joyce. No matter what you do, you will regret it. But, personally? I think if you don’t go, you will regret it more. Because you are a good person, and that usually will mean feeling guilty for shit that is is no way your fault because the human brain is made of evil feelworms.

    1. abysswatcher1993

      She also has the right to not god. There’s no right or wrong here since this is just for her own interpretation of life and death. The only wrong was done by Toedad, and he deserved what he got because of what he did.

      1. abysswatcher1993

        go*

      2. Mr D

        I’m not arguin any right to do or not do it, I’m saying no matter what she does she is gonna regret it, but I personally think not going would be a bigger regret.

      3. Queezle

        I don’t think anybody does deseve what happend to Ross, ever. Just because he did awul things does not mean he deserves to suffer. His suffering does not change any of the bad things he did to others. It is just another bad thing.

    2. Agemegos

      Joyce, I think that it you put off calling 9-1-1 you will regret it most of all.

  21. Valerie

    Ugh. Having been in a somewhat similar situation before, this hurts.

  22. jeffepp

    I remember…

    I remember when I lost my my mind
    There was something…

    No, that’s not it. I remember you posted this strip, some time back.

  23. abysswatcher1993

    Joyce, no matter how he once was part of your life as a human, he is still a psychotic assholes that paved his own doom. Feel sad that he died, but don’t accept his reason. Reject his reason and the reason of people like him. You can see the painful memories of a criminal and feel bad about them, but still condemn them for their unforgivable crimes.

  24. Sofiya

    Sometimes, even when a parent is really shitty, we can’t help but love them a little bit regardless. Becky didn’t get to say goodbye to her mom. I hope she gets to say goodbye to her dad.

  25. Agemegos

    I feel that there were issues raised in the set-up for this which have not been resolved. Mike’s disappearance. Panels emphasising Asher’s pensive moments. Becky’s announced decision to come to the secondary location. Amazi-Girl’s attacks on Becky’s bodyguards. Amazi-Girl’s meeting with Ruth.

    Chekhov’s armoury? Or is there more coming?

    If there is more coming, are we going to get to it by Joyce and Amazing-Girl repeating the mistake they made with Ryan, last time Sarah swung the bat?

    1. Yumi

      Again, gonna say that the situation with Ryan was pretty different.

      1. Agemegos

        Yeah, the criminally violent misogynists targetted Joyce that time, not Becky, Amber, and Amazi-Girl. And the threat that Ryan presented to others was not so blatantly apparent at the time.

    2. BBCC

      We still have until June 23rd for the storyline to end. I have a feeling we’re in for a lot more.

      1. Agemegos

        I’m pretty sure you’re right about that. I just hope that the continuation is not made possible because the Crazy Kids let these villains crawl away like Ryan did. Choosing not to report serious crimes worked badly for them last time, and it would be irritating for the plot to turn on their making the same mistake again.

        1. thejeff

          I don’t think not reporting the crimes did much harm last time. Once he’d gotten away, I don’t know how much would have changed. Other than Joyce potentially being pulled out of school.

        2. Regalli

          And I’m not sure that they’d have been able to keep Ryan anyway, because a lot of focus was naturally on Joyce, who’d been roofied and also needed constant attention. I’m pretty sure they all assumed Ryan was completely down for the count.

  26. Tiami

    The writing of this strip is generally compelling and well-crafted, which is why I was surprised to find that some of the buildup of this story felt kind of rushed and tin-eared. Today I understand why that set-up had to happen: to provide us with this moment. We use art to process trauma. This moment is devastating and real.

  27. Rikunda

    I… think that giving comfort in the final moments is ok for him.

  28. Amelie Wikström

    Let him be alone with his God, it’s what he always wanted.

  29. Axel

    I’m okay with them doing this but I don’t want everyone (Blaine/his lackeys) upstairs unsupervised

    1. Segnosaur

      I doubt they would all go down there. Walky/Ethan/Sarah have no emotional connection to Ross so would have no need to “say good-bye”. And although Joyce might need comforting they do not all need to be down there.

      1. Agemegos

        I think they left the building. I hope the future C-in-C took a moment to appropriate a phone.

    2. bemisawa

      Yeah, that’s what I’m worried about. Him and anyone who would possibly be keeping an eye on him being out of frame is… worrisome. Plus, Amaze-Girl / Amber are so sleep-deprived, there’s a much higher chance they’d miss something obvious that lets Blaine and/or the minions untie each other.

  30. Bob

    I wonder where “not too gruesome” means on a scale from alive to Glenn Rhee.

  31. Keulen

    I despise Ross, but I was hoping he’d end up in jail for a long time, not dead or dying.

  32. DarkoNeko

    I expect Blaine to ruin the moment anytime now

  33. Needfuldoer

    Tomorrow’s comic:
    Panel 1 – Becky bursts through the door.
    Panel 2 – Becky talks to Dorothy, who just silently points the direction she needs to go.
    Panel 3 – Becky talks to a somber Amazi-Girl.
    Panel 4 – Becky stands over her father, lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood.

    May 6th: Back to the wacky hijinks, we never discuss this great loss again.

    1. StClair

      damn you.

    2. King Daniel

      Is this

    3. Segnosaur

      Panel 5 – with his last breath Ross tells Becky “It is your fault this happened to .me”.

      Hey if you are going to be dark and depressing why not go all the way?

      1. King Daniel

        psst – you missed the joke

        (or am I being obtuse and you’re just ignoring the reference?)

      2. Johan

        Because they were memeing

    4. Savail

      That took me a moment, dammit.

  34. Felian

    ooof… am i a horrible person for hoping he’ll just die and not be rescued? just so Becky is safe?

  35. Ray Radlein

    Well, Becky and Joyce wanted Ross to be more open-minded, and Blaine opened his mind.

    With a hammer.

  36. ValdVin

    You could just take out all the dialogue and run through the plethora of Joyce faces here. It’s that good.

  37. Miri

    Nobody has made a Toejam joke? Is it just me who’s grown up with phrases like “be careful when you cross the road; if a car runs you over you’ll become strawberry jam”?

  38. WikiDreamer

    “When do I turn off my kindness to be fair to myself and others”
    …Just…just fuck man.

    1. thejeff

      Yeah.
      Hard thing to do, but sometimes you have to. Do it too often, it gets hard to turn it back on again.

  39. Vulcanodon

    Everybody dies alone, Joyce.

  40. hof1991

    Don’t fret about calling 9-1-1 since Dorothy will have done so. Everyone else got out of the building to safety. The police and an ambulance are on their way. Everyone else in the kidnapped group has agency too, not just the ones in view here.

    As for Ross, he could have turned out very differently. He just was drawn this way. But Blaine was always going to be a B Hole.

  41. temperaryobsessor

    Normally I would say do whatever you want, but considering the situation no don’t put yourself and others at risk run leave the building and call Becky and the police.

  42. Rabisch

    He’s a bad person. But making him die alone is too horrible.

  43. zellgato

    Sool…. is the SuperVillain dad just tied up?
    or is there a big ass brawl with the others off panel this whole time?

    …police? hello cops? ambulance?
    Sarah what are you doing? you’re the responsible one!

    1. King Daniel

      Last we saw Blaine, he had Amazi-Girl’s cape tightly duct-taped around his head, and Dina and Sarah were conversing in rather blasé fashion on whether or not he was still breathing.

  44. Eldritchy

    With a bit of luck that supremely thick head of his saved him…

    1. Jhon

      Scalp wounds bleed very freely. Blaine’s injuries may have kept him from getting a proper swing in. We’ve seen he doesn’t know how to hold a hammer for best effect.

      1. Needfuldoer

        Yeah, the big threats here are blood loss and brain swelling. A skull fracture might actually help in this particular instance.

        His best chance for survival here is if he’s sprawled out on the stairs, head uphill, and if the kids call the friggin paramedics.

    2. Agemegos

      Robert Lawrence was a British officer who got shot through the head at with a 7:62mm battle rifle at the Battle of Tumbledown Mountain (in 1982). Over 40% of his brain was destroyed. Then he got triaged to last-priority, and was left on the ground outside the operating tent of a field hospital for six hours in near-freezing conditions. He is still alive, works in the film industry, and even wrote a book about his rehab.

      Moral: people can survive horrific, looking head injuries; amateurs should not pronounce deaths; call 9-1-1.

  45. BenRG

    I’ve just got this feeling that this is Joyce’s Crime Alley moment. As insane as it is, I can’t shake the feeling that this is the point where she becomes determined to take up the mantle that I think Amber and Mazie now want to set down.

    Amber and Mazie’s next great test will be to stop Joyce from becoming the next Amazi-Girl.

    1. Eldritchy

      Oh dear, Joyce really will become One Punch Girl

  46. HMH

    that alt-text just punched me directly in the soul and i did not ask for this

  47. ElderCat

    ^^^

  48. Rayrayravona

    I’m so confused. Where is Amber’s dad during all this?

    1. Rotunda

      Tied up with his cape over his head on the floor of the kitchen.

  49. Sombrero

    AG: Listen, Joyce, it’s better if Ruth gives Becky the bad news. She’s our RA and she’s trained for that.

    Joyce: O…OK.

    Ruth: Hey Becky, what you should know if that your dad acted with integrity and expressed no regrets.

    Becky: Why the hell are you telling me this? Is this what they told you at the RA trainings?

    Ruth: Not really. This is something my dad always repeated. But Chloe says my dad was a crazy Canadian, I dunno.

  50. Justin Thakar

    I would love, love, love, to see Willis do a writeup of what experiences and thoughts this monologue is derived from. I would pay for that shit more than I would a Slipshine story.

  51. timetravelingkayak

    DAMN I am glad I failed to read this one on the day it came out, aka my birthday. The alt-text just murdered me.

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