461

Revenge
Posted on May 3, 2016 by David M Willis

461 thoughts on “Revenge”

  1. DarkoNeko

    It’s kinda ironical, I can sorta see Mary trying to get closer to Ruth in a very warped, roundabout way.

    1. SmilingNid

      So an even more messed up version of the Ruth/Bille dynamic, that will end in blood.
      Also welding not at all ominous.

      1. Havtorn

        Meh, in my experience your friends usually tend to end up being the people you interact the most with, not always the people you get along the best with at the start. I could see them looking back at this peroid in time in five years and cringing at how dumb their conflict really was.

        Also welding is 97% guaranteed to be skate-related. Carla seems like the person who draws and elaborate plan on a chalkboard before losing intrest and just opting for hiding some stinky fish in Mary’s room.

        1. Havtorn

          Peroid – the hormone you use for remembering specific times. Obviously.

          Sometimes I really wish there was an edit-button here.

        2. Schpoonman

          Eeehh. Mary being a MASSIVE transphobe is not something you look back at and think “Gosh, I was so silly then.” Ruth is right to be furious and appalled at Mary for that and then turning on Ruth and threatening to get her fired for trying to stop her bigotry.

        3. Havtorn

          In my mind Mary, not Ruth, was indeed doing pretty much all of the cringing. Sorry, I thought that would be obvious.

          And idunno, “Gosh, I was so silly then” sounds pretty close to how ex-white supremacists I’ve known akwardly sum up that part of their life. And I don’t have any problem seeing Mary follow a similar trajectory. Although I doubt it simply because it doesn’t have a lot of entertainment value.

        4. skaryzgik

          Ex? As in, they stop somehow? It is possible?

          My hope has now increased a hundred-fold!

          We might could go for another factor of ten if anyone knows how to bring it about?

          But even knowing only *that* it is possible is still extremely exciting!

        5. Deanatay

          OR she could be creating a concealed robotic arm… with which to throw pies!

          PIES.

    2. Commo

      *Ironic

      1. Dana

        *Ironical. It’s a more funner word.

        1. DarkoNeko

          Mock people who have english as 3rd language, why don’t you.

        2. gamtos

          Yup, all uses of bad grammar are there to mock those who aren’t English. Lolcats are a long established vile tactic of dehumanizing the non-English by reducing them to pictures of harmless kittens, similar to blackface.

          Also the government is bees.

        3. DarkoNeko

          Lolcats are pretty much unreadable, can’t those fuckers write in actual english <_<

        4. Cody B

          I freakin knew it.

        5. a snow mouse

          I suppose maybe Dana just likes to use bad English, but it could also be seen as making fun of the person who actually said “ironical” in the first place by throwing in more bad grammar.
          Still, I’m sure even if Dana was poking fun of bad grammar, they meant it playfully, and their intent was not to condemn DarkoNeko. We all make mistakes, and it is good to laugh at that sometimes, remembering our own stupid errors of the past. It just happened that DarkoNeko had a reason to have trouble with vocabulary, and (quite naturally) interpreted the comment as saying that typos were equivalent to stupidity.

        6. Dana

          I was annoyed at Commo’s jumping on the error.

        7. DarkoNeko

          don’t worry about it.

        8. Deanatay

          Don’t MAKE me have to crawl through this Internet to slap you!

    3. jepmz

      So she has a girlfriend AND a best friend? Interesting

      1. Deanatay

        Both in Canada.

    4. Idontcarenomore

      Never ever in a million years.
      Mary is a first class bongo and hasn’t got enough blood to allow her to ever consider getting close to anyone.
      I don’t think the girl can stand herself.

      1. TPman

        I actually think DarkoNeko might have a point. If you look closely at Mary’s lips she’s saying “Give into your (self)hate and Join me on the dark side”.

        1. DarkoNeko

          Mary’s remark/face in panel 4 of the previous page, and here sorta disappointed look in panel 1 of this one.

        2. DarkoNeko

          The only way she seems to be able to interact with people is throught conflict.

        3. AlexDenton

          I actually went back and looked at her lips. Man I’m tired XD

      2. NelC

        The first step to recovery from self-hatred is finding someone about whom you can say, “I may be bad but at least I’m not Mary that person.”

  2. Kindra

    Carla Rutten, Agent of ACME.

    1. Jay Eff

      ACME Little Giant Roadrunner Trap:
      Now works on Self-Righteous College Freshmen, too!

    2. Lan

      Dammit now I really hope that becomes a thing.

    3. Harvey Janus

      Why did I think her last name was Dutton?

    4. NaYa

      Carla E Coyote…… Genius.

      Wait a minute, doesn’t ACME product always fail? D:

      1. Meibolite

        Nah, ACME only fails for Wile E. Coyote. When used by anyone else they seem to work perfectly well.

  3. Stephen R. Bierce

    *plays some Bonnie Tyler on the hacked Muzak*

    1. Stephen R. Bierce

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zefaQgPqqac <- Followed by THIS cut.

      1. m-m

        Nicely done Mr DJ

    2. Mordecai

      I was playing ‘I Need a Hero’ in my head!!!

  4. AdeptArcanist

    Heck yeah, there’s nothing like a mad science revenge plot!

    1. Doctor_Who

      If there’s not thunder and lighting outside, I’ll be very surprised.

      1. Needfuldoer

        There’s a very localized thunderstorm surrounding the metal shop, it’s sunny everywhere else.

    2. This device!

      I can see Galasso saying something to that effect, making your gravatar appropriate.

  5. Mollyscribbles

    YES! I keep saying defenestration is the solution.

    1. Dellaran

      Finally, a good use for Windows.

      1. Gamaran Sepudomyn

        Badump-dump-thish.

  6. Chengrel

    Carla is my hero.

    1. miados

      for some reason I thought of her making an iron man suit in that last panel. Sadly I can’t think of a good hero name for her like that.

      1. merbrat

        I was gonna… FeMale! (Fe=Iron?) No?… yeah, I’ll just leave.

      2. WolfLann

        UltraCarla!

  7. gkheyf

    FINALLY something ceases to make sense in this world! thank you, carla!

    1. gkheyf

      kid-tested, deadpool-approved

      1. Some1

        What if Mary realized she was in a comic strip, and went mad from the revelation?

        Your not the hero…Joyce is!

        1. Shiro

          But this comic is already at capacity for masked vigilantes…

        2. Dana

          Given how it’s treating Amber, maybe over capacity.

  8. Wheelpath

    Wait, omg! Thank you so much Willis. She’s returning!

  9. Kingmabel

    She shouldn’t be handling dangerous tools in such a state.

    But Mary requires special attention

    1. Doctor_Who

      She appears to be using all the appropriate safety gear.

      Not sure about how dark the room appears to be, though.

      1. Opus the Poet

        That’s because of the glare from the welding arc. Everything else seems dark in comparison.

      2. Architex

        Welding mask with tinted visor? Check.
        Heavy gloves? Check.
        Hair tied back and away from face? Check.
        All skin covered? Check.
        Plus she’s got that apron to boot.

        1. Gigafreak

          …Sigh.

          The joke is a simple misdirection. Carla may be handling literal dangerous tools, but Ruth is handling Mary: a dangerous tool.

          “[Ruth] shouldn’t be handling dangerous tools in such a state.
          But Mary requires special attention”

    2. Aeonitus

      What’s wrong with Carla’s state?

      1. Proxy

        I think Kingmabel mistook Carla for Ruth.

        …I sure did.

        1. Shade

          Oh I thought they were calling Mary a tool.

          It’s less funny now.

        2. Cerberus

          That would also be an accurate statement.

      2. John

        It keeps giving its electoral votes to people who want her to be oppressed.

      3. Dana

        http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/indiana-is-weird/

    3. Historyman68

      What state? She’s got all her skin covered up!

    4. Cerberus

      Anger focuses her hand and steels her nerve.

  10. Senior Beans

    Kill her.
    Kill her with fire!

  11. Mandy

    I’m hoping the trampoline means that throwing Mary out a window will be a part of the plan.

    1. Some1

      Maybe Carla will make it so that Mary falls out of a window, hits a trampoline and falls into a pile of garbage or something.

      1. Mandy

        Yes! Or a beehive. Or a tiger pit. Or hell.

        1. Tacos

          Or how about a beehive in a tiger pit in Hell.

        2. EvilMidnightLurker

          Hell in a tiger pit in a beehive.

          The bees are extremely large.

        3. TheHorseCouncil

          All of those will be unsatisfactory if there does not involve a pie to the face.

        4. Deanatay

          Off a trampoline, into a tiger pit, and THEN a dozen pies to the face!

          Sorry, won’t be in Hell, Carla specifically stated her revenge would be COLD.

        5. Some1

          Its in the 9th circle, nuff said

        6. Hollis

          So it’s Hel instead of Hell.

      2. Willinwoods

        *something, something* hoverboard *something, something* manure! … Eh?!

    2. Wildlebendes

      That’s called defenestration.

  12. Ross

    Do we know Carla’s major, and does it explain how she got welding equipment?

    1. Lapin

      She likely somewhere in the bowels of the campus arts building. The theater/arts buildings always have a shop somewhere, full of all sorts of nifty stuff.

      1. Ross

        Oh, yeah, my school always has scary looking half finished projects in workrooms that either belong to the artists or the engineers.

    2. No Name

      I think her parents are engineers.

    3. nightsbridge

      She’s engineering of some kind so it makes sense. Carla has likely been trained and has access to campus facilities.

    4. tim gueguen

      Given her supposed fondness for the DoA version of Ultra Car I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s mechanical engineering.

    5. Bicycle Bill

      She got it the same place Amazi-Girl gets her grappling hooks, suction cups, and caltrops — ACME Corporation.

    6. Just Me

      I’d say it confirms Carla’s major as being Engineering.

      1. Opus the Poet

        Or Mad Science. What, it is a major…

        1. Harvey Janus

          Carla as a Spark? God save us all.

        2. Just Me

          Can’t wait to see what she is building. Hopefully it will be both effective and outrageous.

      2. Dr. T

        I doubt it is engineering since I’m not sure IU actually offers that major. The schools in the IU network that offers that major are IUPUI and Purdue. The best engineering school in Indiana is Rose Hullman, but she really would not want to go there.

        I figure better odds on her going to the business school to help run the business. I imagine her parents taught her whatever engineering she needed.

        1. Inspector Hound

          Rose-Hulman became coeducational in 1995 (yeah, way past due, but at least it happened). Granted, that doesn’t necessarily cover all facets of Carla’s life.

          As far as I can tell you are right about IU not offering engineering majors, but some of the sciences are pretty equipment-oriented.

        2. Dr. T

          I know Rose-Hulman became coed in ’95 because I knew one of the first women to get admitted there. They may have welcomed women’s tuition money, but all of the trustees still hated them for being there. I can only imagine how they would react to Carla.

    7. Cerberus

      I want to say that Willis said Engineering and possibly said Electrical Engineering, so I’m gonna guess she either raided the Engineering building or she’s using some tools her parents gave her for making shit.

    8. Tomas

      She traded it for stock options.

  13. MM

    She’s not the hero we deserve. We’re not worthy.

  14. Guairdean

    Please tell me she’s not ordering parts from Acme.

    1. No Name

      Nope, A1.

    2. DonDueed

      Maybe Black Mesa.

      1. WolfLann

        Haha fat chance

  15. Mr. Mendo

    Oh, Mary. What’s about to happen to you… ^_^

    1. Doctor_Who

      “To shreds you say.”

      1. heyman

        Good News!, then.

  16. Nicster216

    Carla’s plan is basically just like mary’s. wait for the perfect moment (a few strips) and BOOM! payback will be a bongo

    1. DarkoNeko

      And it’s probably gonna backfire as badly

      1. Nicster216

        yep kinda of a trend in this comic?

  17. FuryOfFirestorm

    Carla’s revenge will be even more satisfying and hilarious if it actually involves rearranging furniture.

  18. DarkoNeko

    So… any idea as of what Carla’s soldering ?

    I have absolutly no clue.

    1. Shiro

      My heart is set on personal mecha armor.

      1. Doctor_Who

        Modeled after Ultra Car.

        1. DarkoNeko

          daaamn if only.

        2. Orion Fury

          That’s what came to mind as well. Then a Civil War Arc or Something.

    2. StClair

      Could be a pantograph, as in an extending arm. Suitable for mounting pie(s) on.

    3. Tom T.

      My assumption is that it’s some sort of ultramodern car, with various hidden combat capabilities. The danger I foresee is some kind of terrible accident in the manufacturing process, such that the only way to save Carla is to download her consciousness into the vehicle.

    4. Steph

      Nothing at all, because she’s welding, not soldering
      (sorry I’m usually not this pedantic but I just spend several hours soldering wires to potentiometers so I couldn’t resist!)

      1. Needfuldoer

        Resistance was beyond your capacity? That’s shocking!

        1. Gigafreak

          Ohm my gawds you guys

        2. Steph

          Sounds like you really got a charge out of these puns, in fact I’m positive you were absolutely amped! Not to sound like I have any reluctance in relaying this news; I love to run the whole circuit of puns with great frequency as well, all the way down to the wire. I find it keeps me grounded and insulates me against negativity…my magnetic personality helps as well, but I don’t want to switch topics…

    5. Opus the Poet

      It looks like the rear triangle of a tandem bike.

    6. showler

      I assumed it was a leg of the trampoline on the picture behind her. Why she would be welding that end of the leg, I don’t know.

  19. Nicster216

    bongo

  20. Jabberwocky

    It’s actually Carla’s capstone.

  21. MrInsecure

    Hilariously, Mary thinks she’s the hero, and not the villain that’s going to be defeated by a bunch of children and a hilarious talking dog.

    1. Doctor_Who

      “And I would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for you meddling liberals!”

    2. Boxilar

      I don’t think any of the three qualify as “hero” here. Ruth is in the position she’s in because she’s an asshole who up to not long ago was abusing the Hell out of her power and position. Mary is a giant flaming asshole who is fully taking advantage of Ruth’s previous assholery to get her way. Carl’s is an asshole who goes out of her way to piss people off. Out of the three, Carla is at least not quite as big an ass as the other two. Hell, she may qualify as an antihero, depending on how this plays out.

      1. Idontcarenomore

        I don’t think Ruth went so far as to abuse her power as to use it to threaten people’s and make them leave her alone so as to expend as little energy as possible on her job.
        Can’t stand up for the way she put the push on Billie, that was abusive. But, Bille and she did end up a pair.
        Carla is just a sociopath.
        Mary is a true bongo though.

        1. Charles Phipps

          Ruth is pretty much a Dumbing of Age character whose comic psychopathy is running into the problem of being a real-world environment where she’s a terrifying bully. Carla is interesting because she’s actually a really nice person from all appearances, which is an interesting contrast to Ultracar. She’s just snarky and opinionated. Which I happen to like in RL. Mary is…yeah.

        2. Cerberus

          Yeah, I think Carla might be the jerk who made out the best in the universe change, because becoming more realistic means she’s definitely earned her disillusionment and weariness towards humanity.

      2. Lapin

        Carla hasn’t actually done anything to hurt anyone though. She’s more a brat than anything else, and some of that attitude is probably her developing a tough skin because of her gender identity. (ie “If I don’t care, your opinions can’t hurt me”)

        Ruth’s issues come from a place of an abuse victim and a substance abuser who is unfortunately perpetuating the cycle of poor anger management, and even worse coping techniques.

        Meanwhile, we know very little about Mary, and so far, all her motivations seem to come from a place of genuine bigotry, hatred, and better-than-thou syndrome. She seems to really believe she is morally superior to everyone else in the dorm, despite taking every opportunity to show how smug, hateful, homophobic and transphobic she is. So for now, she really just comes across as a terrible human being.

        1. Cerberus

          I agree with all of this.

        2. 3-I

          Thank you. Oi. I am really getting sick of the “RUTH IS AWFUL AND NEEDS TO BE TAKEN DOWN A PEG” diatribe. And similar notes towards Carla. It all seems to be apologia for Mary, who is legitimately hateful.

    3. John

      Talking car, methinks.

  22. Shiro

    Ah yes, here’s the hero 😀

  23. Luzahn

    And now: The birth of ULTRA-CARLA! The campus’ greatest hero, now that Amazi-girl got all dark and brooding.

    1. DarkoNeko

      But… where is she gonna fit a 3rd hand to plaster pie on people’s face with ?

      1. Stephen R. Bierce

        Alimentary, my dear Neko.

        1. Shiro

          “of or relating to nourishment or sustenance”? …pie pun?

        2. heyman

          Pun.
          Alimentary canal, contextually the exit.
          Sherlock Holmes’ “Elementary, my dear Watson”.
          and from Diamonds Are Forever, James Bond to Felix Leiter-
          (Leiter asks where in the coffin or on Peter Franks’ body the diamonds are)
          “Alimentary, my dear Felix”.

        3. Shiro

          I believe everyone is familiar with the “elementary” version of the line. 😛 I couldn’t decide between food pun or autocorrect.

      2. Luzahn

        What did you think she had under her fancy preview-panels hat?

        1. DarkoNeko

          Hairs

  24. Dave

    Tramampoline! Trambapoline!

    1. DarkoNeko

      Dramapoline !

      1. Orion Fury

        I have no idea what just happened.

      2. Deanatay

        Trauma-poline?

        1. WolfLann

          Throwmarypoline

  25. chris73

    Marys knows the best burns always have the most truth

  26. meegan

    so did we ever find out what carla’s majoring in?

    1. Opus the Poet

      Mechanical Engineering or Mad Science, there’s a lot of overlap in the curricula for the first 2 years.

      1. Deathstalker

        Pfft. MEs and plain vanilla MS are so boring.

        Fun fact: The only other person I know with Anthropology and Math degrees saw I had a CNC machine… and plans to begin pestering me about using it. None of the many engineers who have seen it have had that reaction. Even those without access to their own.

        Another fun fact: I can tell different types of bones apart based on animal to a fair degree. I’ve probably handled more human bones than 99+% of the people on here.

        Fun Fact 3: I was laser cutting tortillas to turn into records today. The laser was being too powerful, which was frustrating. A few minutes before that I was helping someone do milling for injection molding.

        Anthropologists and math people are awesome, there need to be more of them. Name something that doesn’t require really expensive or specialized equipment/materials, and either of us can probably do it, given a little practice. I think though that the rest of the world would consider us crazy.

        1. Gigafreak

          > I’ve probably handled more human bones than 99+% of the people on here.
          Well Ruth hasn’t actually collected any femurs so you have her beat, at least

  27. Vonniesaur

    Carla is the hero

    1. Boxilar

      I’ll give her “antihero”. Hero is stretching it.

    2. Grant

      Carla Stark was able to build this in a CAVE! With a BOX OF SCRAPS!

  28. Vex Godglove

    Here’s another secret, Mary: Neither are you.

  29. Cheshrin

    If a lemon meringue doesn’t get comedically smashed into Mary’s face by the end of this subplot, I’m going to be severely disappointed.

    Channel your alternate universe robo-self, Carla. Do what must be done.

    1. Leorale

      Or sweet pickle pies, the most hilarious pie of all.

  30. Kole

    please let this mean that Carla will have some agency in her own plot lol

    I love you Willis I’m just really tired of seeing ally-centered plotlines

    1. StClair

      I saw this strip and thought of you, no lie.

      1. Kole

        LOL I didn’t realize I commented enough for someone to think of me. This probably means I complain too much lol

        I wouldn’t say anything about it though if I didn’t believe in Willis as a storyteller ok Im invested in the characters

        1. Cerberus

          Oh yeah, I think this means exactly that. I believe we’re about to see Carla start to step up to center stage and show her method of handling the type of dehumanization and awfulness she received.

          And yeah, ditto on thinking of you when I saw the preview for this one.

      2. Leorale

        Same here.
        With the ‘hero’ and the immediate cut to Carla, my first reaction was that Carla will indeed be the hero of her own story… I hope I read the implication right. Go Carla Go!

        1. Leorale

          (er, the ‘same here’ was that I also thought of you / your point, Kole.)

    2. Kole

      what I mean by that is not “how dare ally’s have their own plot”, but it’s just really aggravating to see tons of screentime dedicated to seeing “how is JOYCE going to handle THE GAY” “how is JOYCE going to handle BECKY’S DAD BEING BANANAS” “how is RUTH going to handle MARY BEING A TRANSPHOBIC JERKBUTT”

      Like, I am interested in these plotlines, it’s just, idk, it feels like you’re using lesbians and trans people as a prop to a straighter, cis-er plot. It’d feel a lot less like that if we actually saw Carla more instead of a few one shot jokes. This is good Ruth development, but at the cost of one of our few trans ladies.

      Anyway I’m not saying this to be a hater because I know plot is nuanced and you’re in the right place by including such a diverse cast. It just feels a bit like an ally trying to tell our stories for us, then getting it…………….. weird. A little uncomfortable? I guess? I know it’ll improve with time though.

      1. Shiro

        I feel like it’s worth pointing out that Ruth is very much a queer lady being attacked for her queerness, too. Like I’m happy to see more Carla too, but I feel like making Ruth into just an ally is doing her a disservice.

        1. Kole

          That is true, and I did not touch on it (I should have), is that in this sense Ruth is an ally. Not “just” an ally, but she is cis. She is acting as a cis ally to a trans peer. I really *really* hate this term, but for lack of a better phrase, I’m tired of seeing Ruth white knight over transphobia.

          Mary, here, is talking very clearly about how she talks to Carla. This plotline is centered on Mary’s special hatred for Carla. So it is nice to see Carla take the reigns and center stage for this because it affects her the most.

          I hope it makes sense why as a trans person, I’m tired of reading how difficult it is for cis people to be around transphobia lol. Ruth and her relationship with Billy seemed like a footnote in where Mary’s bigotry is focused.

        2. Cerberus

          The irony is the points you make is also why I love how parts of this have been handled so far. Especially the way that Carla just has no time for Ruth using the excuse of her “failure” to “protect” her to beat herself up on “her behalf”. Like, yeah yeah, this is clearly your first rodeo, but it ain’t mine so save me your half-hearted apologies and Ally 101 shit and definitely your victim-blaming nonsense and either shit or get off the pot cause I have my own thing in the works.

          It makes a nice contrast and subversion of the exact trope you mention… or at least that’s been my experience with it. Obviously your mileage may vary.

        3. Shiro

          I agree that it’s going to be great to see Carla take the reigns and get some totally ridiculous and imaginative revenge on Mary. 🙂 Just wanted to note that Mary’s homophobia is also a part of this and it’s having some profound effects on Ruth’s life too, it’s not a zero sum thing.

        4. Cerberus

          Yup, it was a two-fer. Transphobia against Carla (which Ruth is responding to like someone who’s known about transphobia in the abstract but has never had to wrestle with it face to face on a daily basis like trans folks do). And homophobia against Ruth.

          The irony is that Ruth is overemphasizing her “moral duty” to stand up for Carla because she simply doesn’t value herself enough to stand up for herself and protect herself.

          Like, that was a nasty blow. Just a vomit explosion of homophobia which it is seeming like might have been the first instance of homophobia directed at herself she has experienced and it cost her a really valuable relationship and made her fear for what little she had left.

          That’s some scarring shit. But it’s probably a lot easier to “stand up” for a student who’s faced that shit than for Ruth to acknowledge that she has worth and that she doesn’t deserve to experience that level of pain and dehumanization.

        5. Rutee

          This is why what Kole is saying frankly pisses me off. Ruth is clearly struggling to avoid having to deal with being a person with value. She is as much a victim as Karla, and while she has a less powerful societal urge to be smacked down, she’s still got one, and she’s dealing with her own personal shit that makes her feel she’s worthless to START with. It’s not about ‘ally-hood’.

        6. Kole

          You can be pissed off all you like, but my point still stands that transphobia is being used to further a cis plot which is going to be sketch anyway. There’s plenty of wlw on that floor to get this arc out of Ruth. Don’t use a trans person as a prop to a cis plot, it’s uncomfortable.

        7. Rutee

          1: Carla’s doing her own fucking thing, so she isn’t a prop. For fuck’s fucking sake. Cissexism is being ‘used’ to demonstrate that cissexism is fucking wrong. I’m pissed off because you’re missing the damn obvious.

          2: The primary struggle Ruth is dealing with, is you know, the heterosexism that is /her/ fucking problem. She /is/ hiding from that and trying to do so with Carla, but seeing as Carla is solving her own fucking problem, what we’re left with is just that Ruth doesn’t want to admit that she has value and ‘her’ problems (which, lol, they fuckin’ ain’t, they’re a bunch of people’s) have value.

          What you want is super obvious neon signs to show that the narrative says what you want – this makes a narrative terrible.

        8. Shiro

          @Kole: I totally understand why you feel like that, and the preview panels and word of Willis is that we’re going to start getting more Carla pretty soon. I believe by the end of the arc, we’ll be able to comfortably call it a Carla-centric storyline. All anyone is saying is that she’s not the only character hurting here, and relegating the other character being actively oppressed to ally status is doing her a disservice.

          (I hope that made sense, I woke up with a migraine and my thoughts are so much marshmallow right now)

        9. Idontcarenomore

          I agree with both of you.

      2. Lolly

        I also wonder if maybe Willis feels uncomfortable sometimes being a straight white male trying to tell these stories that aren’t actually his lived experience, and he worries that if he spends too much time with Carla that he will mess up the storytelling and hurt people. I know that might sound silly, but when getting stuff right and reaching people feels so important it can also feel like a lot of pressure to not mess up.

        1. Kole

          See, and that’s absolutely fair. I’m white and I constantly worry that I’ll mess up telling a POC’s story when writing for them.

          Then something a friend of mine told me changed the way I see it forever: don’t do it.

          That is not to say don’t have a diverse cast. It IS to say just. Stop telling people’s stories for them. Have a trans character that’s allowed to just be trans. We’re perfectly happy just being included in the story and shenanigans with everyone else. You don’t need to make every minority included get into the nuances of their oppression. Examples of this being done well is Steven Universe imo. All these gay ladies and POC just unapologetically existing.

        2. Cerberus

          Eh, while that is my frame of mind usually owing to how badly allies often fuck up stories about minorities (thinking of some of the truly cringe-worthy attempts to “reach out” to ace or trans audiences), I feel like Willis has been really solid on doing his research and bringing justice to stories that are not his.

          I’m especially thinking of some of the ones that hit me where I live recently like that whole Carla and Mary initial conflict and follow-up or just all of Becky’s arc.

          If there’s one cis straight dude I trust to get this shit right and do it justice, it’s definitely Willis.

        3. Idontcarenomore

          Willis does his homework, I agree.

        4. Kole

          See, I trust Willis to eventually get it right. I don’t expect it to be perfect the first time around. The fact that he’s willing to tell the stories in the first place is neato already.

          And really I’m being critical of a mostly solid plot, just pointing out the parts that make me (and others who don’t read anymore because of this) uncomfortable and why. The fact Carla has been a footnote in this arc that started because of her has made me frown quite a bit.

          I still think I’d rather see people tell stories that belong to them, but Im not going to harp on people who believe differently than that.

        5. Cerberus

          Given that he’s been saying on twitter lately that Carla has been earning her spot on the cover of this book in the strips he’s writing currently, I’m gonna guess that your concerns are already being addressed by future Willis.

          I get the fear. I have the same fears when cis authors take on trans works, but I think Carla will get just as much involvement in her own story as Becky did in hers and that we’ll both likely be happy with what we get.

          For now, the narrative seems to already be addressing a lot of your fears, with Carla mocking Ruth’s efforts to make the narrative the ballad of Ruth’s failure to “protect” her and openly rejecting it.

          And that’s important, because Ruth’s conflict with Mary isn’t actually about Mary’s transphobia, it’s about Mary’s homophobia and Ruth’s lack of ability to believe in her own worth and thus is clinging to this paired oppression she observed, because standing up for herself feels absurd right now.

        6. Spencer

          Yeah, I was in the same frame of mind as Kole when this storyline started, and come on; there was like two months straight with no Carla where the focus was entirely on Ruth being sad about it. The positive strides now, like seeing a deeper side to Carla outside of just being a wacky prankster and now her major, makes me feel more confident that this isn’t just going to be the Ally Story I initially dreaded it would be.

          And in hindsight, Carla not bothering to feed into Ruth’s self pity over failing her was a really good move, much like how Becky didn’t bother to praise Joyce’s sudden realization that loving Becky wasn’t something she had to add conditions to.

          As for the part about writers writing outside something that’s “theirs”, the way I see it is that everyone should be able to write about whatever they want, and everyone else should be free to criticize that work for any legitimate reason. There’s things I know Willis isn’t drawing from personal experience to write, but to deny him that opportunity because he’s too straight and too male, I feel, would be depriving readers who don’t get to see themselves in fiction with any regularity. It’s totally cool to say “hey the way you’re writing this bothers me” though, and that can be something writers who are dedicated to being representative need. We’re probably not going to get another Squadron 48, the team of hot bisexual ladies who exist so we can coo about how Joe is such a stud, for example.

          Cause, hey, if this middle aged straight white dude from Ohio who obsesses over Transformers can write a massively successful, critically acclaimed webcomic that entirely focuses on minority characters to the point where there is exactly one significant straight white dude, and get five grand in donations every month from people who give him money to read his comic a day early, what’s the next guy’s excuse for not wanting to “force” diversity?

        7. Rutee

          I mean yes, the safe response is to not do it. But they’re the ones with the societal power to be taken seriously, who have voices that go a lot further in legitimizing us than our own do. That’s not fair, but it’s how it is. Speaking personally, it hurts to see fuckups, but I’d rather have that scar over than not have the direct help, even though you’re right and there will sometimes be harmful errors – even grave ones.

          It’s a world of shitty options, unfortunately, and I don’t begrudge a preference on either end here.

        8. Kole

          Like I said above, I’d rather see people like Willis stick to stories that belong to them (like Joyce) instead of trying to tell our stories for us. I’d much rather see him showing us gay and trans artists and supporting their work than him trying to create our own content for us.

          I do completely understand why you feel the way you do, though, and admit it does have merit. Still doesn’t make me feel comfortable about it though.

        9. Cerberus

          I wouldn’t, but YMMV. I don’t like a world where cis creators feel comfortable pretending we don’t exist or making us into stock characters or stereotypes and our stories being relegated to a webcomic alley tucked away from the main street.

          And Willis is an artist who has worked hard to do the stories justice. So, to me, at least, it’s important to see him tackle shit like this in front of a more mainstream audience.

          But that’s just me. Though I would note that Willis has pretty regularly decided to tackle the stories of identities he doesn’t belong to. That’s kind of always going to be a central aspect of his comic, no matter what and he’s not likely to change that anytime soon.

        10. Kole

          I feel like it’s worth pointing out that I don’t mean make your casts less inclusive, I mean stop focusing so much on their coming of age “dealing with phobias and isms” aspects of their stories.

          Those… are our stories to tell. I dont want people reading a cis/straight author telling our gay/trans stories and coming of age stories. It’s *always* going to have a cis/straight slant, and that’s not the fault to cis and straight people. They just can’t pull it from the intimate spot it needs to be pulled from to connect with who it needs to resonate with.

          There’s having a diverse cast, then there’s telling those special stories for us. DoA ventures off into the latter way too often for my comfort, not that I don’t appreciate the sentiment of diversity. Especially all the bi people, that’s great.

      3. Leorale

        I’ve got my money on it’s the pace of the comic, and that Carla will get lots of screen-time, too. She’s in tons of preview panels. Time will tell!

      4. Cerberus

        I can see that concern and I do think there’s a lot of ally plotlines, but we’ve also been with Becky for a lot of her arc with her dad, so there’s a precedent for letting queer story arcs be helmed by the queer person, especially in the meat of things.

        And I think that’s exactly what we’re starting to enter into with this arc, the meat of things.

      5. Dana

        Not to speak for Willis, but I can’t see how he could skimp on the Joyce becoming and acting as an ally, seeing as it’s so critical to the character development of his most autobiographical character.

  31. Elf Royalty

    i didn’t think i could love carla more, but this strip proved me wrong. <3

  32. Cerberus

    Carla!!!! YAY! I’ve been waiting for Carla to start showing her response to this shit and this doesn’t disappoint.

    I’ve long theorized that Carla has had the sort of life where she’s done being the victim or showing how things bite at her. I think we’re about to see the lengths she will go to to avoid reliving those dark days and just how ridiculous her revenge plan can get.

    1. Yossarianduck

      My running reading of Carla is that, despite the bullshit transphobia she’s encountered, she’s also got an inbuilt amount of arrogance instilled from being from a considerably wealthy family. This doesn’t stop her from getting hurt, but it does mean she is perfectly comfortable in treating those who’d hurt her as inferiors who deserve nothing less than open contempt.

      Coupling with that is her tendency for flights of fancy, which means operation CCSARRAMP is a go. I have popcorn on standby.

      1. Cerberus

        I dunno, the interaction with Amber and the “ha ha, bothered, me, no, don’t be silly, hey what about those cookies” interaction with Billie and Ruth has me convinced that she’s got a habit of hiding how much being shit on hurts her.

        That and all the money in the world doesn’t make it any easier to be arrogantly convinced of your superiority to others when you’re a trans girl and all the world is just waiting to drown you with infinite messages of hate and rejection and threats.

        1. Rutee

          It helps a lot to receive infinite messages of worship for your richness. Of all the privileges to have, wealth is definitely, [i]and demonstrably[/i], the most useful for mitigating the negative effects of other -isms.

          Like, it doesn’t negate the cissexism, but it’s still really fucking helpful. That money makes it easier. It just doesnt’ make it easy.

        2. fogel

          Definitely the case that LACK of money makes (just about?) everything harder in this American life.

        3. Cerberus

          True. I didn’t mean to imply that wealth doesn’t come with its fair share of privileges, merely noting that its really hard to escape the societal belief that trans people are shit.

          Hell, I despise Caitlyn Jenner, but she’s been running into this face first a lot where she believes her wealth will excuse her from societal transphobia and to a large degree it does, but there’s still enough that slams into her that it’s becoming increasingly difficult for her in public to pretend it’s not an all-encompassing thing that slams your sense of self-worth.

          And with supportive parents and money, Carla has a much rosier future than is available to too many trans folks.

  33. Tacos

    I love that last panel so much. I wonder what Carla’s welding? Maybe she’s making a sentient death machine? Or a car that throws pies/strands people in the Amazon.

    1. Orion Fury

      Or scalps Transformers on eBay?

  34. Bicycle Bill

    That last panel reminds me of the coyote designing something to catch the Road Runner.
    I hope Carla enjoys better results.

    1. fogel

      Better results than Willey Coyote? Don’t set the bar too high!

  35. Crazy Potato

    i hope she gets killed off soon that character is really piss’en me off

    1. Shiro

      Word of God says no one dies in this one, the mourning period would be too long.

      1. Warfoki

        That implies that anybody would bother to mourn her though…

        1. Opus the Poet

          I’m sure at least one character in the story would, maybe that teacher Joe has been banging?

      2. Foxhack

        He said no one dies, but he never said anything about extended vacations to Abu Dhabi.

        1. Shiro

          I’m totally on board with that one, except vacation implies she’ll eventually come back…

        2. Opus the Poet

          Theme song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3br0tDqW3r8

      3. caesaria82

        Not that I actually believe Willis is going to kill anyone off, but who would mourn Mary? Out of our main cast? I mean, ok yes, it’s very traumatic when anyone you know dies, especially a young person who you go to college with. But there could be a lot of mourning off-screen from a lot of unseen people.

        Not that I’m actually advocating for Mary to die, violence is never the answer. Do not kill Mary, Carla, you would never forgive yourself.

        All I’m saying is the ‘mouring period’ excuse isn’t really as pertinent with Mary as it was when we were all worried about Ruth and trucks.

    2. fogel

      Mary delenda est.

  36. Yossarianduck

    Coming soon: Operation CCSARRAMP.

    1. Orion Fury

      ?

      1. Dana

        See blackboard in final panel.

        1. Orion Fury

          Thanks.

  37. Kris

    She’s gonna do it!….She’s gonna kill Mary…..we-we might actually see a real removal of femurs!

  38. Rosicrucian

    So Mary only knew about the booze.

    That’s… worth filing away for later.

    1. tim gueguen

      Yeah, it does look like maybe Mary thought Ruth was “defiling” Billie by facilitating her alcoholism, and doesn’t get that they were sex partners.

      1. Jason

        I disagree. She made very loaded comments to Billie earlier about homosexuality being a sin, and she only started doing that after seeing Billie sneak into Ruth’s room.

        1. Rosicrucian

          I’m just really uncertain why Mary wouldn’t count Ruth among “the queers.”

          Granted, maybe the booze is all she feels she’s got leverage on.

        2. Shiro

          Yesterday, someone suggested that she thinks Ruth is choosing to be queer for…reasons, I guess? Liberal brownie points? Idek, it makes my brain hurt to twist up for justifications like that.

        3. Orion Fury

          I think it was something like Fundies can take Gold in Mental Gymnastics.

        4. Cerberus

          Yup, exactly that. In Fundieland, queerness is a choice to defy God not an orientation, so clearly Ruth is choosing to have a same-gender romantic partner as a means of showing her liberal values and signaling to the other liberals that she’s a cool modern woman angering God with her loose morals just like them.

          And this is an important thing for types like Mary to believe, because if queer orientations are actually really an orientation and just the way someone is, then all their bigotry would be really vile and villainous. So, nope, all just a pose to signal “liberalness”.

          Plus, it’s a nice bit of projection, because fundie types like Mary are all about signaling their virtues to each other by making big public shows of how pious they are and how hard they fight against sinners.

  39. caesaria82

    Carla, I love you. You are my favorite. Never change.

  40. Yotomoe

    Alright, Mary’s getting a bit too Bond villain for my tastes.

    1. Luzahn

      It’s a shame Mary has the whole traditional gender roles thing going, now I just want to see her in a fancy bad-guy suit. Maybe for church, or something.

      I don’t know how churches work.

      1. Orion Fury

        You’re lucky.

    2. fogel

      “Do you expect me to talk?”
      “No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!”

      Best villain line ever.

  41. DarkoNeko

    Mary looks almost disappointed in panel 1.

  42. Mkvenner

    Finally someone is doing something about Mary.

    1. Cephalo the Pod

      There’s Something [Being Done] About Mary

  43. GrayMoon77

    Adding “punch Mary in the faaaaaaaace” to the list.

    1. Killian

      *with a pie

      1. Gigafreak

        I’m told that Pillowfight League exists, and it is basically UFC with props, as you can totally punch people through your pillow since it still counts as “only hitting the opponent with the pillow”

        So now we just need to apply this concept to pies, so that Mary can receive her just deserts with just desserts

  44. Benjy

    I get the sobering up before she reports it part , but why is she trying to act all neighborly?

    1. Rosicrucian

      So the hall residents will side with her if Mary decides to go nuclear.

      1. Cerberus

        Yeah, that’s my guess too. She needs the dorm floor to see her as the lesser of two evils.

        Also, I imagine playing at being good RA is her best chance at distracting herself out of one hell of a nasty self-hatred spiral that could knock her back into her drinking habit and possibly another suicide attempt.

        1. Idontcarenomore

          That’s not my take on Ruth.
          I think she woke up (literally) saw Billies cookies on the pillow, and crawled out of bed into her shower. She brushed her hair into a ponytail like Billie did for her: put on the shirt Billie gave her, and went out into the dorm.
          I think (while there may very well be trying to make good impressions on her part) that she is simply trying to be a human being.

          I think she’s trying to climb out of her depression and alcoholism and smart enough to know that the only way to do that is stop hiding in her dark room.

        2. Cerberus

          That’s a really good point and that’s probably right. Ape being functional and human and maybe one day it’ll stop feeling unnatural and impossible.

      2. Benjy

        Is there any legitimate threat that anyone will side with Mary?

    2. Tacos

      Probably in case her superiors see her. They can then think, “Oh looks Like Ruth is doing her job competently.”

  45. thomas

    The best character returns! Chalkboard, we’ve missed you!

    1. AgentKeen

      Where is Chalkboard’s tag!?!?

      1. Yossarianduck

        Jinx!

    2. Yossarianduck

      Willis, plz tag.

  46. Some1

    Carla: “Finishes art project” Well that was fun! Now to complete my real plan against Mary! Yes, is this the main I.U office? I’d like to make a complaint.

    1. StClair

      “This? Oh, this was just an assignment for class. My true plan is MUCH more elaborate and diabolical. (Also cold, swift, etc etc.)”

    2. Cerberus

      Heh.

      Though, more seriously, Carla’s not really the “reporting to authority” type and probably has learned the hard way, like a lot of trans people have, that authorities are not your friend and reporting things is more likely to end in badness for you than any consequences for the people who fucked you over.

    3. Cephalo the Pod

      ART? Oh no no, Carla’s in engineering.

      1. Jhon

        Engineering is the art of applied ingenuity.

  47. Opus the Poet

    Is that MIG or flux-core wire feed welding? Asking for a friend.

    1. Opus the Poet

      It can’t be TIG because she’s holding the workpiece, and you need both hands to TIG weld.

    2. Plasma Mongoose

      It’s certainly not Arc, otherwise the last panel would burn your eyes out cos looking at it with eye-protection is worse than looking straight at the sun.

      1. Opus the Poet

        Not oxy-acetylene either, that’s another two-handed process. But given the rest of the room looks very dark, I would say we are seeing what a camera would show with the arc going off for some kind of arc process like MIG or flux-core wire feed or even stick. I just don’t think it’s stick because of the curve between the thing that Carla is holding and the arc. If it was stick it would be straight because that would be the electrode, plus the thing she’s holding looks a lot like the “handle” of my flux-core welder.

  48. Cerberus

    Okay, now that I’ve gotten my Carla fangirl SQUEE out of the way, (but seriously, yay Carla!), I want to analyze Mary.

    I hate Mary, cause I know far too many people like her and know the damage that they cause all while thinking they are moral crusaders for good. But I kind of unironically love her as a villain and a foil to the cast, because she is kind of the perfect avatar of the normative world and all its petty hatreds and slights.

    She is relentless in harassing her targets and for all her deliberate ignorances, she is shrewd and calculating and willing to take her time to make someone hurt. She is a truly menacing force with a reason to go after any cast member at any time for the most minor of perceived slights and that makes her a legitimate threat.

    And I kind of love that she’s pitted up against Carla and Ruth here, because Ruth needs an external enemy to kick her out of her locked pattern of being her own worst enemy and this one is clever enough to throw her out of her comfort zone of threatening acts of violence and being really scary.

    Cause Mary does not give a fuck about the bluster and is really good at recognizing when you just tried to play a bluff. Hell, that moment of pause in the first panel is the most worrying for Ruth, because for a moment it seemed like Mary might have been worried she overplayed her hand with Ruth rejecting her so outright, but Mary now knows that Ruth still has her dirty laundry for Mary to exploit for a little bit longer at least.

    And Carla? Carla doesn’t need this shit at all, but she’s also probably been through an army of this sort of attitude and so recognizes the threat as real and willing to escalate to some really bad places. But she’s also got enough of a chip on her shoulder to refuse to back off without at least making her personal mark.

    Also, more worrying, Mary now has the drinking over Ruth’s head as well and that’s going to be the harder habit for Ruth to quit once and for all and one that does not make Mary look petty and paranoid (ranting about secret gay lovers is not going to be taken as seriously as expressing a sad concern that your RA has a drinking problem and is modeling bad behavior for the impressionable freshmen *crocodile tear*).

    And Mary realizes that every gasp of power like this is just more of a free reign to be all the her she can be and to feel free antagonizing the queer students for Jesus.

    Also, I love that line about Ruth not being the hero, because of course Carla is the real hero of this story in that it’s the thing that happened to her and it’s her tale to tell and Mary is undeniably the villain here. But also because of course Mary thinks she’s the hero of the story, standing against an evil queer-infested secular society, outsmarting her evil RA who is selling out her principles to promote unhealthy lifestyles, being a hero to the silent majority who will surely cheer her once she has set things right.

    It’s that delusional arrogance that truly makes Mary insufferable and also ensures that for all her pettiness and awfulness, she is still prone to overreach and can be taken down at least in the short-term.

    1. StClair

      *marks this one ‘A’ and circles it in red pen*

    2. Rukduk

      This is an amazing analysis. I am deeply impressed.

    3. Cephalo the Pod

      Yeah, Mary’s a great A-tier villain. She’s not just a family member hurting a particular student; she’s out to screw over everyone.

    4. Orion Fury

      I’m going to come back and read this ‘tomorrow’. That’s a long analysis.

    5. Jhon

      tl,dr:
      Mary is the nemesis Ruth needs.

    6. Orion Fury

      I was thrown off by the first line of the analysis. At first I thought you said that you hated MAry because so many people liked her, then I wondered “Wait, who likes Mary?” Then I realized you know people who ARE like Mary, then it all made sense.

      9/10 Would read analyses again.

  49. AgentKeen

    CARLA
    CARLA
    CARLA

  50. Catapostrophe

    YES. You go, Carla.

    I am now okay with the high concentration of Mary in this storyline, because it means that cold, swift, and ridiculous revenge is forthcoming.

  51. Mr. Random

    So… I wonder if Mary’s prejudices blind her to the fact that Carla will retaliate?

    1. Cerberus

      I could see that. She certainly doesn’t value her as a complete person. To the point where Mary is far more concerned with attacking at the person who dared try to stand up for her than Carla herself.

      So, I can definitely see her feeling that Carla has been “dealt with” and thus won’t be expecting Carla to retaliate.

      1. StClair

        Presumably she thinks that Ruth is the one with the power, which she is attempting to nullify and/or usurp for herself.
        Carla? pfft. that ‘freak’ is just another resident. what can ‘it’ do?

        (we will see, and it will be glorious.)

        1. Cerberus

          Yeah, Carla is powerless. Just a “delusional (slur for trans woman)”. Not even worth noticing other than to disparage how by existing she is “making a mockery” of “moral values”.

          But as you note, Ruth is someone with power. And one whom Mary has gotten over on at least once before. And if she can take that power she can remake the hall into one of her chosen values, where “freaks” like Carla no longer feel free to exist in her general location.

          And so, she enjoys the power struggle with her, because the worst part of her bigotry with Carla is that that was just the swatting of a fly for Mary, just her way of saying “hello” and that she wasn’t even emotionally invested in what was truly an awful pile of out of the blue bigotry.

        2. Rosicrucian

          I have a feeling that Mary’s undoing will be her tendency to write off people she thinks she’s figured out already.

        3. Deanatay

          Mary may simply see Carla as a tool with which to press her crusade against Ruth, and not really as a person at all. It will make Carla’s upcoming revenge all the more satisfying.

        4. Sovnyavitch

          How exactly was it truly awful? All Mary did was say, “…where you belong”, which is definitely rude, but it’s not as though she outed Carla before the entire school.

        5. Cerberus

          Well, where she said Carla “belongs” was the boy’s side of the dorm. It was an act of intentional misgendering, which is definitely an act of transphobic abuse and certainly was intended that way considering the next act by Mary is to act smug that that type of emotional violence was enough to knock the wind out of Carla’s sails and render her momentarily speechless.

          The point was to cause emotional harm, to deny Carla’s womanness and call attention to societal power dynamics and passive threats. And that’s no joke, because misgendering frequently occurs as a precursor to most physical and verbally abusive encounters trans people and especially trans women encounter and many have stories of where someone actively misgendering us where the ones who shortly after nearly killed us or threatened to kill us.

          Overall, it’s a truly hateful action that does lasting harm. Here’s an article that goes a bit more into detail:
          http://www.entirelyamelia.com/2014/01/02/misgendering-okay-justifiable-yes-big-deal/

        6. Sovnyavitch

          But Carla, to Mary, utterly lacks woman-ness. And what’s this about power dynamics? There was, to Mary’s knowledge, no other person around, and she wasn’t threatening Mary. She was almost certainly saying, “If you’re going to be rowdy and annoying, which are traits I associate with boys, why bother to pretend to be one of us?”

        7. nightsbridge

          . . . That’s . . . not a justification. It doesn’t make it better. It’s like saying that ‘But Amber, to Blaine, is using the money he must provide to her for purposes he does not approve of.’ You’re highlighting their reasons but that doesn’t make the things they do any less heinous.

    2. BenRG

      I suspect that Mary is the sort of personality who would take retaliation as validation. She would welcome it and, make no mistake, go to the authorities to complain in the serene assurance that she has always been in the right and done nothing of which she should be ashamed.

      I have suspected for a while that a number of characters will transfer out before the end of DoA’s promised end at the end of Freshman Year. Mary is one of them. I can see her going to Anderson because no other college will accept someone with such a thick wedge of complaints of provocations listed therein.

      1. Cerberus

        Oh definitely. Carla is the personality to rise to shit like this and go along with the escalating “prank” war with increasing bad blood and Mary is the type who when she’s exhausted her methods for trying to exploit a situation and harm people will calmly just go down to the authorities and whine about how unfairly she has been treated with a severely edited timeline of events.

        Cause for her it’s all about “winning”.

        And yeah, whenever the strip ends, I hope we get a short coda showing some of what happens to the characters in the remainder of their lives.

        1. Commodore Jeep-Eep

          Assuming we don’t get a sequel strip.

  52. AY

    Assuming that’s just oxy/acetylene, the full welding mask seems a bit much. I’d prefer the tinted goggles, personally, every mask I’ve used is too dark.

    1. pyrpyr

      BUT IT’S NOT RIDICULOUS ENOUGH OTHERWISE

    2. Plasma Mongoose

      If I recall correctly, oxy/acetylene is more like concentrated high-speed rusting.

      1. Dellaran

        An oxy-acetylene cutting torch is “high-speed rusting”, yes, but oxy-acetylene can also be used to weld. It’s generally inferior to other welding techniques, but it still has its place.

        1. AY

          That place being my sculpture studio in college, lol. Maybe IU has more than O/A available to undergrads, though

  53. doubleW

    Carla’s revenge: installing a skateboard inside a carpeted hamster wheel + motor that will hang outside Mary’s window and make skating noises day and night.

    1. Cerberus

      I could honestly see that as a possibility. At least half of my wild speculations about her plan involve some sort of noise machine or automated skate.

      1. Deanatay

        Mine are all about pies. Many involve some sort of concealed robotic arm.

  54. Linkara

    And since the Walkyverse chalkboard is now here, I fully expect us to pan over and reveal that it says “TIME IS BROKEN!” in huge letters and pictures of Robin taped to it, with little arrows pointing at her and the words “ALL HER FAULT” written in.

    1. Cerberus

      Hmm, who would be the version of Skeets there… I know, Robin’s been hiding in Puppy Dorothy the whole time.

  55. Bagge

    Looks like Mary is on top of this.

    Would be a shame if something cold, swift and UTTERLY RIDICULOUS were to happen, wouldn’t it.

  56. Plasma Mongoose

    Needs moar A-Team music in the final panel.

    1. inqntrol

      I got it covered.

    2. Deanatay

      OLD A-Team, not new A-Team.

      1. Opus the Poet

        There’s a new A-team?

        1. Bicycle Bill

          Yeah, they put a new group together (Liam Neeson as Hayes, Bradley Cooper as ‘Face’, Quinton Jackson as ‘B.A.’, and Sharlto Copley as Murdoch) for an eminently-forgettable 2010 movie.  Only made back about three-quarters of its $110 million budget, so you may be excused for not being aware of it.  Apparently there are a lot of other people, including yours truly, who didn’t see it either.

        2. Bicycle Bill

          Sorry — Neeson played Hannibal SMITH, not Hannibal Hayes.  I had a momentary flashback to an old 1970s Western, “Alias Smith and Jones”.

  57. trlkly

    Wow, Ruth’s depression and wasting her energy acting nice has really taken its toil. There’s no way Mary should have come out completely unscathed in that conversation. Where’s the “It’s the fucking weekend, asshole.” or “My plans are not as simple as that,” or stuff like that?

    1. Cerberus

      Withdrawal symptoms mixed with depression are a hell of a thing to push through and remain mentally sharp against someone as focused and nasty as Mary.

      Plus, I suspect Ruth is used to being the blunt instrument that smashes through things or at least threatens to and so doesn’t have the tools to handle someone as underhanded and passive-aggressive as Mary.

      1. StClair

        Oh hey, I just realized someone else Mary reminds me of:
        Frank “ferret face” Burns.

        1. Cerberus

          I could see that.

        2. Tan

          Really the person Mary’s reminding me of since last strip is Kellen from the webcomic Rain (the title character is a transgirl in high school just starting to present as a girl; Kellen is her estranged older sister).

        3. Cerberus

          I could also see that.

        4. Kamino Neko

          Big difference is Frank was right once in a blue moon.

      2. trlkly

        Yeah, I know. But I hope she’s mentally preparing some stuff for later now, like “I may not be the hero, but you are definitely the villain.” Or, after seeing what Carla does “You were right. I’m not the hero. She is.” With the biggest accent on “she.”

  58. Kater

    There’s nothing quite so exhilerating as a women welding for revenge

  59. Bagge

    “Rearranged furniture” OUCH! I doubt Mary knows exactly how much it hurt for Ruth to throw out Billie, but it was not lost on Ruth.

    1. Cerberus

      Yup, it’s a nice little cold dig at her. Oh, did you throw away a powerful relationship that was your literal lifeline because of my threats? Well, that’s just like you moved some beds around.

      Intentional devaluing of a queer relationship. It’s a tried and true method for fuckheads and it never fails to serve as just a dagger in the side especially when the fuckhead is all or partially responsible for the end of said relationships (spewing bitter thoughts from my head of how my family after pushing my relationship with my ex to its breaking point then tried to act like it was the end of a short summer fling and not a divorce after nearly a decade together).

  60. Kamenhero25

    Carla occasionally annoys me. Mary makes me want to strangle the nearest person. I swear I’ll never be annoyed by Carla again if she makes Mary miserable forever.

  61. Zatar

    As has become increasingly common with Mary comics I spent a lot of this one mad. That is until I saw the last panel.

  62. Rukduk

    Hmm, Carla is welding and there is an elaborate chalk schematic behind her. Oh, but I’m getting happy tingly feelings all over. Soon there will be much joy and rejoicing.

  63. Taz

    I don’t remember if Joe has decided on a major yet (mechanical engineering). Or if Carla has yet either (more mechanical engineering).

    Which is cool because in the original verse Joe’s mechanical engineering created Carla.

    1. Cephalo the Pod

      Carla is in Engineering.

  64. dailybrad

    In case I was worried Carla couldn’t get hotter, she welds.

  65. Fwip

    … Who the hell gave her acetylene?

    1. Bagge

      EXACTLY that question will be asked by Mary in a day or two in universe.

      (probably uses a school workshop)

    2. BenRG

      In all probability her engineering tutor. Sometimes, pre-grad practical projects need a lot closer supervision!

      1. Opus the Poet

        My freshman tech project was a transonic model rocket. The exhaust plume from the motor does funny things at Mach 1. Funny interesting, not funny ha-ha.

  66. kkiten

    Carla’s got to do it herself because Ruth can’t help her.

    1. Cerberus

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FBxnAP7Ox8

  67. Thebatman22

    *mission impossible theme plays*

    1. StClair

      followed by “The A-Team”.

  68. pjeseb

    Funny, when I think “ridiculous revenge,” welding doesn’t really come to mind.

    Btw, does this mean that Carla is also a genius billionaire playgirl philanthropist?

    1. Spencer

      She is rich, actually. IIRC her parents own a tech firm and would mail her a functional replica of Johnny 5 in a few weeks if she asked.

  69. Some1

    Is anyone here a psychologist? and if so, is there any mental illnesses that Mary could possibly subscribe to? Like delusions of grander or something?

    1. cmd1095

      I think it’s just extreme “holier than thou” syndrome. She’s a religious fanatic who subscribes to the idea that everyone is a sinner and deserves to be hated, and that because she acts in the name of god she can be as nasty to them as she likes.

    2. cmd1095

      Though I am a psychology minor and if it weren’t 1AM I probably could diagnose her with something or another. Not delusions of grandeur because that is a symptom rather than a illness itself. Maybe antisocial personality disorder, or maybe she’s a high functioning sociopath… Idk I’m too tired to psychoanalyze atm

      1. Some1

        A-Mary-can Psycho

        1. cmd1095

          *gives you a medal and cookie*

      2. Gamaran Sepudomyn

        Seems less like sociopathy and more like just being an idiot asshole. I mean, aren’t both sociopathy and psychopathy both defined by lack of empathy, rather than lack of sympathy?

      3. Jess

        I’m thinking probably a psych minor ought to know better than to use a term like ‘high-functioning sociopath’.

        1. trlkly

          Or maybe you don’t know as much about it as you think. It is definitely an actual diagnosis, even if it’s not in the DSM-V.

          And, yeah, despite everyone else making excuses, it fits. Mary is missing the part that Carol or John have, where they show empathy at least for their own. Mary is just purely misanthropic.

        2. Jess

          It’s an outdated and offensive diagnosis is what it is. A simple Google search will inform anyone of that.

          Also, I’d say it’s impossible to diagnose Mary with anything related, since we haven’t seen her interacting with ‘her own.’

    3. WingedBeast

      If there is, it’s something her entire subculture suffers from.

      Really. Look at the Christian movies she’s likely watched her whole life. With some uniformity, they paint Christians as the only people who can do any good and everything done in the name of Jesus (Jesus being that particular version that prefers their subculture and their practices regardless of all other things) is good.

      There are exceptions, like Saved, but they’re rare and rarely listened to.

      So, in a way, Mary is just the victim of her upbringing. But, it’s kind of hard to feel sorry for her.

      1. Cerberus

        Yeah, she’s a sane member of her tribe and is merely reflecting the “best” aspects of said tribe and its worldviews towards teh queers and teh fornicators.

        She’s a “good Christian girl” of that worldview. A worldview that Joyce shares and serves as the illustration and reminder that Joyce, for all we’re proud of her, is actually seen as a “troubled teen” rejecting “obviously clear morals” in order to act unChristianly to “moral degenerates” by the Church she was raised in.

        The other irony in this is that this same worldview tends to view things like being trans as a mental disorder. Which might also be why Mary isn’t piling on on Carla as much as Ruth, because while Carla may be a “diseased degenerate mocking God’s plan and invading her womanly spaces” in her eyes, she’s also seen as just a delusional and troubled teen with a mental illness.

        1. WingedBeast

          And, I’ll note that Mary is acting in a way that is explicitly applauded in many of those same movies. In the movie God’s Not Dead, Josh Wheadon, the main character arguing for the existence of God, after having found out that his professor’s atheism comes from having lost his mother to cancer at an early age (I’m not defending the movie, I’m just reporting it), uses that as an arguing tactic in front of the whole class later on.

          In most movies, that would be either a bit of dark comedy or Josh would be painted as having done wrong in that case, perhaps both. In this movie that Mary’s subculture loved and praised and advocates as an ideal way to turn nonChristians into Christians, finding out about someone’s painful loss and playing it as a card in some kind of (Christian alternative to) Magic: The Gathering game is goodness itself.

          What we’re seeing in Mary is where Joyce could easily go if not for a bit of education and a readiness to learn things that require recontextualizing her understanding of the world.

          Unless Mary does the same, herself, she’ll be praised for acting like this. She’ll be loved for acting like this. She may even reap monetary rewards for acting like this, in the form of public speaking gigs and writing a book in order to be purchased and read by people who will use that to tell their children “see this, this is how you should be”.

          Meanwhile, Joyce has a difficult task in front of her. She has to give up a lot of the connections and the support that Mary will be able to take for granted.

          I guess, what I’m saying is that, by the time Joyce graduates, don’t be surprised to find books with Mary’s beaming face on the cover.

          Carla’s best revenge isn’t in physical pain, but it will be in subjecting Mary to what Joyce has had to go through. Being defeated by someone you think is the bad guy is one thing. Being forced to acknowledge that you are the bad guy is Hell in itself.

    4. zoelogical

      not a psychologist, but i sincerely doubt that mary has any mental disorders that would explain away her behavior. mostly because most of the mental disorders out there that were made to explain away people’s behavior are kinda BS.

      like, after a point, you have to engage with people’s behavior as the behavior is. what Mary is doing is malicious and she knows exactly what she’s doing and she’s doing it to have this specific effect. she’s not…disorganized. she’s planned this all out. it’s not something you can label and put in a box. she’s b eing homophobic and transphobic for the sole purpose of being homophobic and transphobic.

      like, maybe you could argue depression, but if there was a drug out there that could make Mary feel better about her life and her choices it would do just about nothing because she already feels great about her life and her choices. she already thinks she’s a good person. she thinks she has a right to do the things she’s doing. she’s this person, and she’d be this person whether she was neurotypical or not, is what i’m saying.

      1. zoelogical

        by “mental disorders made to explain away people’s behavior” i mean like. okay. this is sort of something i’m working through and trying to turn into a real opinion, but like. shit like hysteria used to be a real diagnosis. stuff like Relationship Attachment Disorder diagnoses gets used on foster care kids so that their terrible foster parents can justify not letting them go to a better home until they’ve learned to “bond” with people who are terrible to them. oppositional defiant disorder is a thing, and the cure is basically just psychotherapy for the kid and learning better parenting techniques for the parents.

        there are legit, medically diagnosed disorders out there that just describe behavior we don’t like because the field of psychology is very much a realm of doctors from the outside describing stuff that effects patients on the inside, and the patients don’t often get to speak for themselves on a professional basis. even though they’re the people who get to experience having the disorder.

        and that’s the sort of shit i’m talking about – you can’t always explain away antisocial behavior with a mental disorder diagnosis because it doesn’t deal with the person where they are. and with people like Mary, they gotta want to change. if she was autistic she’d still be this terrible person. if she was bipolar she’d still be this terrible person. if she had ADD she’d still be this terrible person.

        to go back around to what you were actually talking about, Mary could totally have delusions of grandeur, but like she’s totally responsible for her own understanding of what makes somebody grand. which she thinks is making people fall into her image of what she thinks people ought to be. which comes back around to what she thinks people ought to be. you got Emperor Norton I in the late 1800s going around claiming to be the ruler of the United States but he’s not pulling this nonsense

        1. Cerberus

          Yup, I mostly teach students who’ve got some flavor of mental disability, mental disorder, or social disorder. Many of them are wonderfully empathetic kids despite some having the worst of luck when it comes to brains to have been born into.

          What makes Mary awful isn’t a disease of the mind. It’s a disease of society.

        2. zoelogical

          -EMPHATIC NOD-

        3. Jess

          THANK you.

  70. cmd1095

    I’d say I almost feel sorry for Mary right now… but that’d be a lie, give her hell Carla.

    1. cmd1095

      pay no mind to my double comment, I used the wrong login…

  71. Saaaam

    Really Carla just needs to show Mary Yotomoe’s fanart of them.

  72. cmd1095

    I’d say I almost feel sorry for Mary right now… but that’d be a lie, give her hell Carla.

    1. Some1

      Eh, I doubt Carla is gonna do anything that would really hurt Mary, embarrass yes, physically harm though…no. Carla simply isn’t that kind of person.

      1. Cerberus

        Yeah, Carla is not really a physically harm person. But I think we’re about to see her version of a “sweet prank” to show her dominance.

        1. BenRG

          Or, she might just be brainstorming on a blackboard whilst focussing on some shop work for her BEng in mechanical engineering.

      2. cmd1095

        Harm, embarass, it’s all the same, so long as Mary is delivered some well deserved retribution. Personally, I’m more than ok with harm, or serious harm… or accidental death, but I have a family full of Mary-like people so my tolerance for people like her that I don’t need to put up with because of family ties is in the negative zone. My reaction may be a bit more… volatile… than is actually appropriate

        1. Some1

          No, Mary cannot die or even get seriously injured! Carla would never forgive herself!

        2. cmd1095

          Aside from my hatred of Mary, it might be interesting to see her get harmed and have Carla feel guilty. Carla is usually an unapologetic ass to everyone because that’s just who she is as a character. From a story perspective, having her face fallout from her actions that she feels legitimate guilt about? That might make for an interesting development opportunity

        3. Gigafreak

          We cannot let Mary die or even suffer a knockout.

          If Mary dies or loses consciousness, her suffering would be over, you see.

      3. Cybersnark

        It occurs to me that Joyce (who, significantly, is basically the mirror-Mary) is.

        So, Carla’s “sweet prank” will happen at the end of the weekend, just as Joyce and Becky are returning from the emotional roller-coaster of their weekend heist.

        Carla’s prank does no permanent damage, but triggers a loud flood of enraged trans- and homophobia –which is enough to set Joyce off, at which point she punches Mary into next week like God’s Fist of Righteous Justice.

        1. Commodore Jeep-Eep

          I suspect Dina might end up joining in on a curbstomping, given that preview panel we saw.

  73. EvergreenFir

    Goddamn it Willis… You’ve gotten me to the point of saying that Ruth is my waifu. And I hate you for it.

  74. ESM

    I can’t think of anything Carla can be making with that blowtorch that wouldn’t be more effective at shutting Ruth up than the blowtorch itself.

    1. ESM

      ….That may have come out a little more violent than I intended it to

      1. Some1

        Pretty sure you meant Mary, also I like how your one of the few people here who isn’t advocating the murder of an 18 year old girl.

        1. Idontcarenomore

          “Sometimes Death is better.”
          Stephen King’s Pet Cemetary.

  75. Rick Robin P. Cagnaan

    Not gonna happen, Mary.

  76. Cephalo the Pod

    Oooohhh, that’s what the preview panels are about.

    I thought Carla was, like, in fencing or something.

  77. Tomas

    Two Gravatar-worthy close-ups in this one.

  78. Greylurker

    …oooh, Mary is going to learn what happens when you poke the badger.

    Never
    ever
    poke the Badger

    It’ll rip your arms clean off

    1. Lizzie

      I’m looking forward to the idea that when Mary does try to get Ruth in trouble, everyone calls BS because they thought Billie had a boyfriend and they all point out that they know Mary is an ignorant cow, so the higher ups disregard anything she says since everyone can attest to being victims or witnesses of her bigotry.

  79. Charles Phipps

    I do agree Ruth isn’t a hero. She’s not a person who protects people but a person who threatens them. However, there’s a long way to being the villain and well maybe she could be an ANTI-HERO.

    Femurs away!

  80. Darwin

    I foresee mischief, and I foresee wicked pranks that would be abuse if it was not in a comic.

  81. JessWitt

    Well this explains why Carla looked like she was dressed as a dock worker in previews.

  82. Heather

    Mary, in her own head, is the ‘hero this damned university needs etc etc, continue to quote overused batman line’

    I think the most frustrating thing about people like Mary is the fact they’ll never be proved wrong and can’t be argued or reasoned with. Like if she ‘wins’ here then the Lord clearly approves. If she loses, well, perhaps it is a test as it were: she’ll /really/ ‘win’ when she dies and goes to heaven and all those rotten sinners will burn in hell as they deserve anyway. You can never get that feeling of satisfaction as a result where they’ll realise they’re wrong afterwards because well… they’ll probably just be dead. No-one will know they’re right or wrong.

    Frustration city.

    Like with people like Joyce- she at least feels uncomfortable with the whole hell concept or condemning people, so that’s a way in to reason with her eventually. But Mary seems to utterly relish in punishing so called sinners so there is no way to do so.

    1. Cerberus

      Yup, if she wins and ruins someone’s life or drives someone to suicide, well then, oh well, clearly it just shows that she’s been right to stand up against “degeneracy” and there was the one random point where she didn’t get literally everything she wanted so it’s still not good enough and blah blah blah.

      And if she loses, then it’s proof the world is indeed fallen and she’s been absolutely right to fight against the degenerate hordes and their sexualities. Look how they defile God’s pure law and all that nonsense.

      So yeah, all of what you said.

      And yeah, totally agree. Mary’s totally one of the types of Christians for whom the best part of Heaven is the ability to look down on the sinners below in Hell suffering.

      1. Heather

        Honestly since beliefs aren’t always a fully conscious choice (and are especially unlikely to be if you’re raised to have them as is often the case) I often think that how you react to said beliefs says more about you as a person then actually having them, (depending on the beliefs in question).

        For some of these people hell is as real as the sky is blue on a sunny day- what they /want/ to be real doesn’t affect what is actually real after all.

        If their reaction to hell/eternal torment for something as simple as disbelief is discomfort they either are or have the potential to be a good person at least. Unlike the person who adores or relishes the idea of people suffering forever.

  83. Yossarianduck

    I feel like the first panel here is relevant:
    http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/03-up-all-night-to-get-vengeance/curbstompings/

    1. Cerberus

      Yup, and we’re about to see that in action. 😀

  84. Jacques Cornelius Parrot III

    Okay, so as best as I can figure, Carla’s plan involves a trampoline, a balloon, and a battery affixed to a pole. I guess she’s making this?

    1. Gamaran Sepudomyn

      Is she trying to attach Mary to a large balloon that’ll slowly deflate and strand her in the amazon?

  85. Alice Macher

    Now I’m imagining Carla slowly approaching Mary, then pausing, looking at the fourth wall, and saying in Droopy’s voice, “Hello. I’m the hero.”

  86. Thomas

    In which we establish that all that Mary ever suspected about Ruth & Billie was them secretly binge-drinking together. Which is sad & hilarious.

    1. trlkly

      Interesting idea. By using the word “defiled,” Willis could have been setting us up. We may think of sexuality, but there are many other uses of that word for someone like Mary.

      Has Willis ever pulled something like that before?

    2. Cerberus

      I dunno, she used the defiled bit in a long rant about queer women on the floor, so I’m pretty sure it was the queer thing rather than the drinking thing that prompted the “defiled” comment.

      I think she’s just got a twisted worldview surrounding queer issues and thus believes it’s a temporary “lifestyle” that people cynically choose out of defiance to God rather than inherent sexuality and so is part of a general culture of liberals doing things to defy God in order to look “cool” to other liberals.

      Hell, it’s something I encounter a lot surrounding some of my students (I’ve got several non-binary students, including two who have identified as genderfluid for a time). A lot of adults who should otherwise know better and who are otherwise very liberal feel absolutely comfortable going down a path of trying to argue that non-binary or genderfluid identities getting more attention in society is actually proof that said kids are just being trendy and latching on to the Miley Cyruses rather than expressing their actual identities.

      And I’ve heard a lot of the same surrounding bi people, where that’s been seen as something that’s not a “real” orientation, but rather something trendy the kids are doing.

      So yeah, for someone who’s even more conservative than the folks that spout off that crap, I can definitely see Mary being convinced that this queer shit is all a pose to suck up to the degenerate liberals and inveterate sinners that plague her floor.

      1. JBento

        If you well recall (and I’m sure you do), that’s the exact same view Jonathan has with his “LGBQXYZ” thing. To them and their ilk, not being heterosexual isn’t something you ARE, it’s something you happened to choose at the moment. It’s not the equivalent of people being born with legs, it’s the equivalent of people choosing what pants they’re wearing that day.

        1. Cerberus

          Yup, definitely!

  87. TheLurkerAbove

    Carla, if it works, it’s not ridiculous!

    1. Liliet

      If it works against all probability, it still is

      1. Deanatay

        ‘ridiculous’ – deserving of ridicule. Just because it is silly, doesn’t mean it doesn’t work.

        1. Opus the Poet

          Or makes the target of the revenge a target of ridicule.

    2. Nemirthel

      “Ridiculous and works” is pretty much the definition of a Rube Goldberg machine.

  88. Crumplepunch

    “by proof we feel
    Our power sufficient to disturb his heaven,
    And with perpetual inroads to alarm,
    Though inaccessible, his fatal throne:
    Which if not victory is yet revenge.”

  89. BenRG

    You know what the sad thing is, Mary? You aren’t the hero either! The sad thing is that this is a story without heroes, only villains and victims. Do you know what makes this worse for you? You’re one of the villains!

    Of course, it is in the nature of this particular type of villain to consider themselves a hero.

  90. Willoughby Chase

    Nothing more satisfying than a wildly over-engineered A-team solution to any problem.

  91. Amake

    I think Carla has the right idea. Talking to Mary seems pointless if she’s so completely detached from reality she can somehow get the idea that Ruth thinks she has “won”. I could get if Mary thinks she has won since it’s taken this long for anyone to begin to figure out how to fight her, and really, I’m looking forward to the day she doesn’t get everything she wants and isn’t mentally prepared to handle that possibility at all, but Ruth? How does anything that’s happened between them in any way constitute a victory for Ruth?

    Although the constant stream of nonsensical gloating is very heroic. I wonder how badly deep down Mary wants someone to punch her in the mouth and tell her she doesn’t have to be as horrible as her parents.

    1. Cerberus

      Mary didn’t get her way once even though she blackmailed her to be her meat puppet, and her blackmail target is trying to scrub away the blackmailable material to regain her life, so clearly Ruth must think she’s won, because nothing short of Ruth meekly surrendering to Mary in every sense and saying she was absolutely right about all her delusions will be enough to convince Mary she’s actually won this exchange.

      And that’s part of what makes Mary so dangerous and frightening. She will ruin your life and spit nasty bigotry at you, but really only accepts complete surrender to her way of looking at the world as a victory and even then it probably wouldn’t be enough.

      She’s eternally unsatisfied and that just drives her to continue to try and harm because nothing will make her stop feeling slighted and like the “real victim”.

      1. Amake

        Of course, for Ruth to have any possibility of getting out of the trap Mary so charitably put her in is a victory. I maintain she’s completely delusional.

        Any attitude problem that can be fixed by putting a person on a deserted island until they learn to appreciate what the existence of other people add to their life is not frightening to me, though. For Mary, what’s waiting in the future is only the 2X combo reality check of getting thrown out of college when the administration learns of her campaign of discrimination and getting thrown out of a window by Carla.

  92. LWS

    Why do I look at the last panel and envision Wil E. Coyote at work?

    1. Scar Man!!!

      the mask?

  93. Ragnarok101

    With Mary, it is best to follow the creeds of Khorne.

  94. L!ghtn!ng

    Awwww, yaaaas, I cannot wait!!

  95. Abel Undercity

    COLD, SWIFT AND ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS REVENGE IS ENTIRELY THE BEST KIND!

  96. CianM1301

    So, Carla’s plan involves a trampoline and a balloon which I can only imagine will be filled with some sort of ridiculous fluid. I cannot wait to see it finally unfold.

  97. Falling Star

    Oh, I didn’t realize Carla went into welding!

    1. Scar Man!!!

      she probably makes her own skates

  98. Davethedavedave

    Wow, in my dorm I couldn’t even have a hotplate.

    1. Scar Man!!!

      I think the last panel is in one of the Engineering School’s workshops

  99. Arkzus

    That last panel is exactly why Carla is the best.

  100. BenRG

    Prediction: This whole thing will turn out to be a human-sized version of the Rube-Goldberg contraption in the board game Mousetrap.

  101. QWERTY

    Hey Willis, can you do me a favor and have someone strangle Mary?

    1. Scar Man!!!

      wait till Carla’s plan unfolds. She deserves the first shot at revenge

  102. JBento

    Hmm, part of the device seems to include a popping balloon, so whatever effects it has are probably one-shot. Considering Ultra-Car’s proclivities, my guess is on some sort of automated pie-thrower.

    All bigots shall be defeated through the power of SCIENCE!!!!!

    1. JBento

      Wait, where will Carla set up the device? Mary’s rooming with Roz, so if Carla doesn’t talk with her first there’s a chance the device victimises the wrong person. On the upside, Roz will probably be game for anything that humiliates Mary, so I can totally see the League of Extraordinary Not-Gentle Women…

      1. SgtWadeyWilson

        She doesn’t have to set it up there, just post a set of flyers up for an aggressively Mary themed prayer circle in a secluded location.

        Next, set up the pie throwing contraption behind a door, and wait outside.

        Two types of people are likely to come: those like Mary, and those who wish to admonish those who are like Mary.

        Invite the second type of people to watch.

  103. Josh Spicer

    I fucking hate you.

    1. Shiro

      …I’m genuinely curious, why do you keep reading a comic that is clearly never going to be written the way you want it to be? I think the only time I’ve ever seen you comment is to complain about the bigoted Christian characters existing.

      1. JBento

        Because then he’d have to find some other source of persecution fantasy. I mean, if the poor christian bigot can’t imagine being persecuted, what is he going to fap to? THINK OF THE CHRISTIAN BIGOTS!

        1. Josh Spicer

          Pretty presumptuous there. Like, to the point of personally attacking me.

          No, unless days go by where Mary never gets come-uppance for being such a dislikable antagonist, than I will stop reading.

      2. Josh Spicer

        Considering i AM a Christian myself, I hate the fact that Mary’s type of Christian exists since I know that isn’t how a Christian should act. Plus Mary has never gotten come-uppance for being a piece of shit.

        And I keep reading because I enjoy the comic. As the days go by, that’s changing as the story changes though.

        1. Shiro

          You’ve mentioned. But the simple fact is that there ARE Christians who act like that. The bullshit North Carolina is pulling right now is proof positive, as if we needed any more. You can’t disown her or anyone like her from being Christian.

          She will get her comeuppance, but that’s the hazard of being a daily reader instead of an archive reader–sometimes that gratification is delayed quite a bit.

        2. Cerberus

          It doesn’t seem like he is disavowing her from Christianity here, more lamenting that she’s doing this harm in comic in the name of Christianity like her real-world counterparts do.

        3. JBento

          That, I suppose, depends on how many days you’re willing to wait and exactly what degree of comeuppance you’re expecting.

          At one strip a day, and following multiple storylines as we are, it’s entirely possible this particular arc isn’t resolved for quite a bit. Real-time, nothing happens quickly in DoA. Though Carla’s workshop panel might indicate that we’re closer to payback than not.

          As for comeuppance, if you’re expecting Mary to be expelled or face repercussions from the university administration, I wouldn’t bet on it. If you want her to be actually harmed, I wouldn’t expect it either. Carla’s Cold, Swift, and Absolutely Ridiculous Revenge plan is likely to be more humiliating than actually harmful, and I have a feeling it’ll just aggravate Mary more.

          TL;DR: Mary’s comeuppance might take a couple of weeks more, and it’s liable to be neither as satisfying nor as long-lasting as you want it to be.

        4. Cerberus

          Yeah, it’s also a sad reality that marginalized groups don’t typically get justice from reporting bigotry and harm. And that is especially true of trans women.

          And I’m going to bet that Carla has learned that lesson the hard way and that’s why she’s turning to her CCSARR.

        5. Cerberus

          That’s understandable. It’s definitely frustrating to see the amount of undue power that the Mary types have in society to do harm in the name of their particular brands of Christianity.

          And I may not be religious, but I can definitely see how being Christian it would be even more annoying and angering to see these types do it in the name of a faith that is very close to you. While obviously not even remotely in the same level of identity, I feel very similar in that way with regards to the cultural identity of gamer given the explosion of bigotry and harassment that a large number of very loud videogame players have done in the name of “gaming”.

          You have my sympathy and *hugs* if you want them.

    2. Roborat

      I can’t figure out who he is responding to.

  104. jaimehlers

    It looks like all Mary knows how to do is try to manipulate people so she can get her own way. The really sad thing is that this ultimately means her machinations are doomed to failure, since nobody is clever enough to manipulate everyone around them indefinitely, and that’s what Mary is going to have to do if she wants to keep getting away with this.

    All it takes is one whistleblower who doesn’t care if Ruth goes down too, and Mary is toast.

  105. Leila

    Go get ‘er, Carla.

  106. smooti

    Here’s the thing, Mary. Ruth is aware that she’s not the hero of this story. You’re the one who seems to think they are when they aren’t, though.

    Go get ’em Carla, whatever it is you’re doing there. …What’s Carla’s major again?

    1. ShawnL

      Yes. That was Mary’s big fail. Carla’s not the hero, but the superior villain.

      In a conflict with no true hero, sometimes not being the bigger asshole is close enough.

      And a villain propelled by righteous fury? Get your popcorn ready.

      1. Scar Man!!!

        I got the butter!

    2. JBento

      Carla’s in Engineering.

  107. StarRose3

    YOUR NOT THE HERO EITHER MARY!

  108. hof1991

    Mary busy monologing, the sure sign of a villain. And while she talks away without further action, the real hero is busy setting he up for a fall. One that involves a trampoline, a popped balloon and hopefully a window that God will open, since He seems to have closed the doors.

  109. GhostWriterL

    Hmm….

    Cons of this strip: Mary getting to be the smug rapturephile that she is

    Pros of this strip: Hints of a glorious tar and feathering and hopeful suspension and/or expulsion of the smug rapturephile

  110. Jen

    Oh! Panel Five fills me with so much glee! 😀

  111. DudeMyDadOwnsADealership

    Well, I suppose it beats actually making a friend or two. I mean, if you’re Mary anyway….

  112. Aquatus

    For someone who believes herself to be the hero, Mary’s dialogue sounds awfully villanesque.

  113. Makkabee

    *puts gentle finger to Carla’s lips*

    You had me at “acetylene torch.”

  114. Vorkon

    Whatever Carla’s plan may be, it should probably involve Amazon.com in some way.

  115. What Was The Question Again?

    Holy shit, Carla’s become The Dog Welder!

  116. MTheM

    I’m… actually starting to really enjoy Mary. Maybe it’s because she’s one of the more proactive rather than reactive characters, and maybe it’s because i’m getting a bit burned out by the other characters’ plots, but I really want to see more of her. Heck, I even want to see her take a greater role.

    1. Cerberus

      She’s an absolutely fantastic villain.

      I hate her, but she makes an excellent foil for the other characters.

  117. calvsie

    Having finally got all the way through roomies Ruth now disturbs me to no end in DoA. This is a prime example. I keep expecting Willis to do something crueler to her.

  118. PSadlon

    Mary you aren’t getting some things. Ruth never claimed to be a hero, rather she’s the first to admit a raging witch (spelled with a b).And that the last sort of person you screw with. Next you are not the hero either, at best you are a pest whom few if anyone likes. It’s highly unlikely anyone will come to your rescue if Ruth or anyone else decides to take you down, no matter what their motivation may be.

  119. extremesalsaing

    2 thoughts. 1: I really enjoy Carla becoming involved in teh story a bit more, and 2: I hope Carla and Ruth bond over a mutual venomous hatred of Mary.

  120. Regalli

    GO, CARLA.

  121. rectilinearpropagation

    Oh man, I can’t wait to see what this plan is!

    Also, I can’t help but think Mary’s taunting is going to backfire in the form of encouraging Ruth to stick with this and remain sober.

    1. Scar Man!!!

      rage and spite are powerful motivations

  122. Beachfox

    Pie-throwing robot arm, Pie-Throwing Robot Arm, PIE-THROWING ROBOT ARM!

    1. JBento

      I thought of it, but I can’t see where the trampoline and the balloon would come in…

  123. NinjaNick

    RAM = Redheads Against Mary. 😀

  124. Jacques Cornelius Parrot III

    WAIT – Faye from QC (known partly for her metalworking prowess) has been shown in this comic, and is assumably a student here. Is she involved in helping Carla weld?!

    1. trlkly

      When?

      It would probbaly be out of continuity with the main comic–Faye lived in Georgia before she moved to Northhampton. Unless she just skipped a year of going to college in Indiana…

      1. Jacques Cornelius Parrot III

        Freshman family weekend! It was her only appearance, but she does actually exist within the Dumbiverse. I think her appearance in this comic is sort of “alternate-universe-ish” to Questionable Content.

  125. MagicalDemiGirlTWK

    I just finished reading the whole comic in the last couple of days and i just wanna say that I am sooo sorry for brushing it off this whole time. Seriously this is such a good comic! It’s got everything I like short of high fantasy stuff and worldbuilding. The characters are multifaceted and deep and just not 2 dimensional. Especially the lgbtq and poc ones. It’s so hard to find stuff like that. I feel bad i never gave the comic a chance in the past. I guess i judged it too much on the covers of all its advertisements. Joyce neing the primary main and therefore the face of the comic made disregard it as just another really white and cishet cliche trainwreck. Plus i figured it would be just that when i found the creator was male. That sounds rly bad but honestly ive had experience with media created be men with female leads being a weird almost fetish-y fantasy type deal. I’m glad i gave it a chance. It’s really good and it feels pretty real…. Minus the whole superhero thing. (poor amber. She rly needs to talk to someone about her DID[disassociative identity disorder].)

    1. Cerberus

      Welcome and I definitely agree with all of that.

      1. Spencer

        Why does everyone I agree with have Roz gravs?

        1. Cerberus

          The mighty Roz Avatar Empire will consume all!

  126. MagicalDemiGirlTWK

    On a side note. Please for the love of every higher power in this universe, have mary expelled or turned into an utter social pariah. And let Jocelyn wear a cute dress. Neither of these things have to happen soon but pls let it jappen.

  127. Scar Man!!!

    And so she became Iron Lady, taker of femurs

    1. Scar Man!!!

      thought that was Ruth at first.

  128. ladychalk

    I am rooting for karma so fucking bad.

  129. Spencer

    Outta the way, Ruth, the true heroine has arrived.

    1. Shiro

      Battle music intensifies

      1. zoelogical

        yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees i was hoping that was it!!

      2. PSadlon

        I was thinking more this.
        https://youtu.be/AphxyjrH4SE

  130. Joy Baker

    Mary is the kidn of person that plays Dark Souls for fun.

    1. Russ

      Is it not meant to be fun..?

  131. LooksLikeDaniel

    One of these days, Mary is going to display a single shred of human decency and we are all going to feint. I’m on to you, Willis!

  132. trlkly

    Carol and John are more a product of their Fundamentalist beliefs, sure. But Mary goes beyond that. As I’ve said before, I know plenty of Fundamentalists that would be appalled by the way Mary acts.

    I’m not saying it doesn’t play a part, of course. But I am saying that there’s something more. It’s closer to Russ, who apparently used Fundamentalism as a tool for his abusiveness. I think Mary would just use some other excuse to hate everyone and treat them poorly.

    She revels too much in being mean, instead of just being angry.

  133. NF

    Am I the only one who thought that the last panel was Ruth taking Mary’s comment about not being a hero to heart, and in reaction constructing a metal robotic suit a la John Henry Irons aka Steel?

    1. Pedantic Peanut

      Bad choice of heroes. Nothing against Steel but his movie was awful.

  134. Henry

    She is probably right. Ruth isn’t the hero.

    Carla is. Carla is the hero we need. And possibly deserve.

  135. Lordess of madness

    Ruth isn’t the hero. Neither is Carla. They’re the anti-heroes. The badass nasties who might decide to do something good every now and then.
    And mary, if those two team up, you’re done for, and ruth might finally begin that femur collection she’s always talked about.
    As it is, you’re still doomed with only Carla in on the revenge plan

  136. CommentSpawn

    So I’m not really all that invested in Carla as a character, but I look forward to her cold, swift, and absolutely ridiculous revenge against Mary.

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