325

It’s cold
Posted on May 22, 2023 by David M Willis

325 thoughts on “It’s cold”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    My dad worked AT MY COLLEGE and I didn’t see him there half as often as we’ve seen the Walkerton parents ?

    (though I guess he worked at the med school, and I was… not a med student)

    1. AlexanderHammil

      to be fair to the walkerton parents (if we must), the only times they’ve actually shown up on campus were at the start of the year, during parents weekend, and after the whole kidnapping thing. this is the first time they’ve shown up out of season, as it were

    2. Angel

      well, he would’ve been there to work and not necessarily keep an eye on you lol

    3. Chasey

      I worked WITH my dad at my college. It was nice. 🙂
      Um, that’s all I wanted to say.

      But also I miss him….

      1. Nathan

        ❤

    4. Kazuma Taichi

      My mom worked at my university. I did see her a fair amount but it usually wasn’t by happenstance but because I’d go to her office or she’d invite me to lunch or something

    5. vulcanodon

      I worked at the university my kids went to, but didn’t see them that often. About the same size place.

  2. Doctor_Who

    Somewhere, Jennifer puts down her phone and turns off her Walky Voice Modulator, cackling with glee. Revenge achieved!

    1. Thag Simmons

      That is a level of cunning social manipulation I don’t know if Jennifer is capable of pulling off without it backfiring horribly.

      I guess there’s still time though

      1. Doctor_Who

        Eh, with how things usually work out for Jennifer, it’s quite possible the universe will take care of the backfiring for her.

        She’s going to go to see Asher, only to find HIS parents have showed up, continuing the Broclone cycle.

        1. OnyxIdol

          the broclone cyclone even?

      2. milu

        Your new grav is giving me uh-oh mosasaur vibes so now I’m reading your comment as implying Jennifer is harassing you and your babies

        1. eh, whatever

          Mosasaur? That’s a tyrannosaur.

        2. milu

          look up “T-Rex swimming Mosasaur Prehistoric Planet David Attenborough btw season 2 release date omg is it today it’s today isn’t it omg omg omg”

          or just hit this handy link

        3. JBento

          One episode a day for five days!

        4. milu

          Soooo pumpedddddd ?

        5. Thag Simmons

          Yeah! I’m extremely stoked. Probably going to be changing my avatar to coincide with each new episode.

        6. SeanR

          Completely off the topic, but you, in particular, Mr. Thag Simmons, should visit the far side website today.

        7. Roborat

          Is that the one where the thagomizer is discovered?

        8. Thag Simmons

          The context of the pose is a sequence in Prehistoric Planet (Season 2 Airing Now!) where a swimming T. rex and his family are stalked by a Mosasaur.

      3. Needfuldoer

        It sticks if she does a smart thing the dumb way, or a dumb thing the smart way.

    2. Carms

      idk i think Raidah might be more likely

    3. Angel

      considering they are actually fond of jennifer, i don’t think it’d be that hard to encourage/give them a slight push into a visit versus faking being walky lol

      1. SeanR

        Are they fond of Jennifer, or are they fond of her connections?

        1. Schpoonman

          Linda is fond of Jennifer as the white-passing daughter she never had.

        2. Freemage

          Charles encouraged Billie and Walky’s friendship from the moment he found out that she lived ‘in the big house’ in town.

        3. Angel

          well they did grow up together so i’m sure jen has had her share of sleepovers/knew her when she was a kid before she could’ve been ‘cunning’ enough to use any status to her advantage

    4. Archieve

      Didn’t occur to me but even if Jennifer wasnt doing revenge she could be lindas contact who updates them on everything her kids do

  3. Thag Simmons

    Well okay, this story has just taken a very sudden swerve.

    1. Clif

      I love how Sal is staring accusingly at Walky in the last panel.

      What can be more worrying than cheerful parents appearing out of nowhere.

    2. milu

      What with that mosasaur coming out of nowhere goddammit

    3. Needfuldoer

      I mean, it’s right there in the chapter title. Go look up the lyrics to Surrender by Cheap Trick.

      What we didn’t know was whose parents were going to show up. (I was expecting Hank and Carol.)

  4. TemporalShrew

    Oh, please no.

  5. not alex

    *sighs heavily* Let’s see what shitshow happens today!

  6. Rogue 7

    MotherFUCKER

    1. Reltzik

      His name is Charles. Though (presumably) he did fuck the Walkerton Walky and Sal’s mother.

      1. cbwroses

        As did Dean Anthony.

        1. Ryan

          And Mike.

          For a nickel.

        2. GholaHalleck

          Easiest nickle he ever made.

        3. Clif

          I’m sure he was worth every penny.

        4. milu

          I love how we all basically assume Mike was the cheap whore in this scenario.

          I’m not sure if that’s because we’ve never thought too hard about it but it’s funnier that way, or because we’ve thought way too hard about it and come to the conclusion that Mike is a better antagonist if he’s petty enough to peddle his ass for pennies if that means he can tell someone he fucked their mom, and furthermore wants you to know that, rather than a basic lazy whorephobe

    2. Angel

      I mean, we were due for another family drama event

      Tho it might be years down the line before Jocelyne comes out to Joyce if at all

  7. Rogue 7

    Yeah, I’ll take blowjob cat.

    1. Clif

      As long as you’re willing to share.

  8. UrsulaDavina

    And Now for Something Completely Different!

  9. Reltzik

    So…. showing up at the kids’ college with zero warning while they’re en route to class.

    Either someone didn’t think this through, or someone’s crossed a line somewhere, or both. Probably both.

    1. Kimi

      Reminds me of parents in high school that would call their kids phone while they were in class to ask for their help with something (technology related I think). Neither the kid nor the teacher was amused. (Also wasn’t the type of kid to skip class, just oblivious parent.)
      I also had teachers interrupt my geometry class in 8th grade asking the teacher to fix a problem with their laptop because he was the only tech person in the school. Would drive him crazy, since that was the only class he taught, so it was the only time he shouldn’t be interrupted. The teachers really should have known better too. The fact that they thought that he should immediately stop teaching his class to fix their problem was just so self centered.

      1. morleuca

        That seems to be a cultural standard with the less technologically ept. They always see their minor inconvenience, often generated due to a disinterest in taking 5 minutes to learn something, as far more important than anything someone else might be doing.

        1. Needfuldoer

          Story of my friggin’ life, right there.

          At least now I get paid to fix tech problems on demand.

        2. vulcanodon

          Truth. I once went to the funeral of a dear friend, and 3 feet inside the door of the church the pastor buttonholed me with a computer question.

      2. Koname

        this is why the only ones who get my help with tech without me getting annoyed are my grandparents. They’re 90 and forget stuff but will never forget how to leave a message.

    2. Ophidiophile

      How’d they manage to intercept them? Airtags?

      1. Taffy

        They launched from the nearest Skyview Tower and used their paragliders to drop nearby. It’s the only rational explanation.

      2. SeanR

        It can be done through phones, but if the Dean had anything to do with it, someone needs to remind him about a little thing called FERPA.

      3. MoreWLessG

        They’re currently standing in front of the place that they live. So… Just going to their home?

    3. Rogue 7

      I specifically put a state border between me and my folks at college so they couldn’t do this.

      I love my parents, and if Linda is a 10 on the “controlling parents” scale, my mom’s a 2.

      1. thejeff

        Yeah, I was just thinking along those lines. I love my parents, even back then, and they’re not at all controlling, but damn would I have been freaking out if they showed outside my dorm unannounced.

        Of course, they left the country after my first year, so that made it less likely. OTOH, would have been even more of a freak out.

  10. Doopyboop

    OH NO

    LUCY I KNOW I WAS UPSET WITH YOU FOR THE STRIP YESTERDAY BUT RUN AWAY

    LINDA IS NOT GOING TO BE NORMAL ABOUT YOU DATING HER GOLDEN BOY

    1. hatman

      Plot twist! It’s going to be dad that’s not normal in her stead, somehow!

      1. Doopyboop

        Now that WOULD be a plot twist. “Walky, she likes Teen Titans Go. I raised you better than that.”

        1. GholaHalleck

          “I…Ironically.. right?”

    2. Viktoria

      …crap. Lucy’s black. This is not going to go well.

      1. Kyrik Michalowski

        Hadn’t thought about that, but that is another concern to add to the pile.

      2. Rectilinear Propagation

        Lord, there’s no way they get out of this without at least one parent commenting on the fact that she’s darker and I’m already mad at it.

      3. BBCC

        Two out of three of the girls they’re hanging out with right now are Black. For their sake, I hope they can all promptly escape to class.

    3. Kyrik Michalowski

      Here I was worried about Sal and Danny; it didn’t even occur to me that there might be problems with Lucy and Walky’s parents.

      1. Proxiehunter

        She’ll be fine with Sal and Danny. The grand kids will probably be lighter than Sal.

        1. SeanR

          I want to upvote this, but can’t. You’ll have to settle for this lame comment lamenting that fact.

        2. RassilonTDavros

          Though if the Walkyverse-Dumbiverse sexuality constant also extends to alternate Walkyverse timelines, then I’m pretty sure at least one of said kids would be gay and I have no idea where Linda stands on that.

    4. Proxiehunter

      Her golden (but not too golden that might imply his skin is too dark) boy.

    5. Angel

      it’d def kill walky’s libido at least. though we don’t know if walky’s mom is necessarily harsher to random black girls versus her being stricter on her own mixed child than she was with walky

      1. Doopyboop

        She was also pretty racist towards Marcie (called her, like, a hoodlum or something, actively destroyed Sal’s attempts to raise money for Marcie’s surgery, repeated victim blaming when something happened to Marcie) so it’s definitely not just something directed at her daughter. I do unfortunately think she’s going to look at Lucy, who is honestly just a sweet young lady, and would think “hmmm for SOME reason I feel like she’s not GOOD ENOUGH for my David”.

      2. Thag Simmons

        My read so far has been that Linda doesn’t seem like the openly hateful sort of racist, but rather the more insidious liberal kind where she perceives herself as a good progressive but still has a lot of racist prejudices and behaviours.

        She would have voted for Obama a third time if she could, that sort of thing.

        1. Freemage

          In Chicago, we call that sort “Lakefront Liberals”–the upper-middle-class (or higher) types who will advocate tirelessly for the rights of African-Americans to do anything they want–other than move in next door.

          My biggest concern is not directly how they’re going to treat Lucy, though I’m sure it will be badly. My worry is that Walky, having already come to understand Sal’s take on their folks, will lean into that and ‘rebel’ by sleeping with Lucy for very wrong reasons, thereby further locking in her dreams of being Mrs Walkerton.

        2. Thag Simmons

          I’m pretty curious to see how she treats Lucy, because I suspect it’s going to be a different sort of bad to how she treated Marcie and Sal.

        3. milu

          She might show you some begrudging respect but will totally snap up your babies if given half a chance sort of thing, yeah i see what you’re saying

        4. KM

          I’m sorry I don’t understand what “totally snap up your babies if given half a chance” means, can you elaborate?

        5. Taffy

          Like a gator by a river that leaves a batch of ducklings alone, right up until mama duck turns her back, at which point the gator starts voting for legislation that subtly punishes the duck for laying eggs to begin with, in ways that can be easily denied to the rest of the river. Common nature interactions.

        6. Needfuldoer

          Steal the grandkids to “raise them properly” (read: without perceived cultural influence from the parent whose race or nationality she finds distasteful).

        7. Taffy

          (But don’t point out to her that she willingly and purposely had kids within wedlock with someone from the race she finds so distasteful, especially not in mixed company, or she might lose some of her paper-thin credibility.)

        8. BBCC

          She can’t be racist! She married a half black man!

          Because, y’know, misogynists never have wives and homophobes never have gay best friends. Racism means marriage is totally impossible.

        9. Needfuldoer

          You see, those individuals get special treatment. They’re “different” because they’re secondary characters to their own Main Character Syndrome.

        10. Leorale

          Maybe Linda thinks of Charles as “One Of The Good Ones”. Such a harmful stance, and it still lets her marry him (without examining exactly who she thinks are the Bad Ones, or who got to set the standards, or why Linda gets to be the judge, etc).

          Bonus if she tries to categorize Lucy.

          OTOH, is Charles’s internalized racism so bad that he’d put up with being pitted against every Black person for Linda’s approval? I’d like to learn more about his deal.

          And does Lucy’s sweetly people-pleasing nature extend to direct racism? I hope it does not, I’d love her to get a limit and stand up for herself.

        11. milu

          i was doing a silly bit about Thag Simmons’ gravotar

          don’t worry about it =P

        12. Opus the Poet

          Be the super doting grandmother type. And the obnoxiously huggy kissy grandmother.

  11. Slartibeast Button, BIA

    Lucy and Sarah no longer have to worry about being the worst person in this scene…

    1. Bryy

      Yeah, when the scene involves a parent that is racist against THEIR OWN CHILD…. yeah, they win by a mile.

  12. pixiekhatt

    Right up there with such classics as, “What’s the worst that could happen?” and “This can’t get any worse!”

  13. Amara

    Sarah immediately apologized to Joyce. Just wanted to point that out to everybody who was saying Sarah is irredeemable yesterday.

    1. Kyrik Michalowski

      ^ This.

    2. Alongcameaspider

      Honestly I was confused by the amount of “Sarah bad” comments, she hasn’t gone past “friends giving each other grief” and Joyce knows her well enough to know it doesn’t come from a hostile place

      1. Vanessa

        Yes, look at that sunny smile Joyce is giving Sarah here, and she’s giving Sarah some friendly ribbing right back. They are friends and Joyce knows Sarah will be there for her with bells on when it counts.

        1. Vanessa

          The thing is Sarah, is not sneaky or underhanded or backstabbing. What Unlike Raidah.

        2. Amara

          Exactly! They rib back and forth, Sarah checked to make sure she didn’t overboard (because it’s healthy to examine and verify the boundaries), and Joyce has very much spoken up about her boundaries before and what is or isn’t cool. Lucy didn’t do wrong either, she was just concerned cuz radish put the idea in her head that Sarah is evil incarnate.

        3. aelfwine

          So, Joyce is magically no longer mortified.

          This has gone from Sarah being an asshole, to the last few strips sucking instrad. Willis just decided that he didn’t want Sarah to be expelled, so she sorta half-ass apologized and everything’s perfect now, Joyce is no longer mortified and her privacy wasn’t violated to other people without her consent.

        4. Shade of Blue

          Sarah was definitely an asshole. Publicly revealing Joyce’s sexual behavior for a laugh, when Joyce has spent her whole life being propagandized against sex for pleasure, is definitely crossing the line. But one of Joyce’s stated characteristics is that she is very forgiving. She specifically says this to Sarah, at one point and I think for a good reason. These past couple strips show their dynamic playing out.

          These are all very young, short-sighted characters. They’re all fucking up in their own ways and hurting each other as the move along. I have a feeling Sarah’s decisions will catch up to her. We definitely don’t have to assume everything’s fine and dandy.

        5. Taffy

          Is it possible you’ve misread the severity of the situation and it was never that big a problem to begin with? None of the characters in the story seemed to care all that much, aside from Joyce being taken off her guard for a moment, which she has historically always bounced back from very quickly. This is a consistent dynamic and you’re treating the latest instance as if it’s some new behavior. People are friends in ways you don’t prefer, get over it.

        6. Aelfwine

          What I’m now worried about is that the comic is teaching readers that people having their privacy violated in such a manner, or some friendships being “like that” (a person basically bullying and abusing their “friend”) is an okay thing that can be forgotten with a half-ass apology in the background, that’s not even significant enough to warrant its own panel, let alone its own strip.

          Some people are abusive friends, and that’s not ok. Perhaps the comic thinks it is.

        7. Taffy

          This is a dead end. You’re convinced that real serious abuse has happened, that’s fine and being wrong isn’t illegal, but now you’re insinuating so many shitty things about real people that it’s become exhausting and borderline offensive.

          We’re not just these impressionable sheeple who’ll see an interaction in fiction, come to the worst possible conclusion we can, and then not only decide that the fiction is telling us it’s okay to [insert overwrought social atrocity], but then also decide that’s how we’re gonna live our lives.

        8. Aslan

          I’m sorry, but do you genuinely think anybody is going to take this comic and use it as a basis for how real life should work? It is a work of fiction. Also, what age demographic do you think this comic is aimed at? Anyone who’s impressionable enough to take Sarah and Joyce’s interaction in the last two strips and say “this is how friendship works” is going to have a rough time with the rest of the comic.
          It seems like you’re just grasping at straws for reasons to be mad at the last two strips and, frankly, it’s just getting a little ridiculous.

        9. The Oracle

          No no, let them cook. I wanna see how irretrievably bleak their opinion of real people truly is.

        10. aelfwine

          I’m amused about how half of the objections to me are “it’s just a comic, it’s not how friendships work, nobody will possibly think that’s how friiendships work”, and the other half of the objections to me go: “this is totally how friendships works, the comic is doing a good job of showing an accurate depiction of how friendships work.”

          Put these two viewpoints together and you arrive at *my* viewpoint, that the comic is portraying a toxic friendship as normal, and some readers are totally on board with excusing and downplaying the toxicity of said ‘friendship’.

        11. Taffy

          Other people disagreeing with you about whether or not the funny cartoon friendship is toxic does not mean anyone is “excusing and downplaying” this perceived toxicity. You’re snidely implying we’re a pack of morons who’ll see two characters behaving a certain way and use that as our only and sole basis for our own personal behavior. And this “Oh, the two viewpoints I’ve assigned to people are actually two halves of MY viewpoint, so secretly you all agree with me” shit is ridiculous. It’s fucking condescending and you’re out of line.

          The things that happen in the comic are fake, asshole. The people posting these comments you can’t handle are real, and you need to fucking check yourself.

        12. Taffy

          Actually, fuck it. I look like the asshole for saying anything, now. There was no point in engaging with this bottomless hole of nonesense. Caring about dumb shit too much, that’s my problem. Have a whatever day.

        13. TerribleTransit

          Some friendships ARE ‘like that’ and it IS okay. It’s not okay to do this to everyone without warning or precedent, and some people aren’t going to be comfortable with this kind of interaction. But when it’s an established rapport between two people there’s no problem with it. Sarah is doing the right thing here by checking she didn’t go too far, because this is definitely more intense than their usual back and forth — if Joyce says it’s not cool and Sarah apologizes and refrains from going that far again, there’s no issues here. People make mistakes sometimes.

        14. Nicoleandmaggie

          I’m with TT. If you make a mistake and own up and stop doing it … she didn’t double down with the this is what friendship is but instead checked in with Joyce and apologized.

        15. Daibhid C

          I strongly recommend you never read Questionable Content or Something Positive, because I think they would literally kill you.

        16. smolgrlboi

          Willis, and many comic artists & writers (I’d venture to say most), don’t write their comics day by day. They often have the stories scripted and planned out long in advance. I highly doubt anything the comment section has ever said has once influenced the story or characters (other than maybe some fan service or an easter egg reference to one of his earlier works). Willis is not looking at the comments for approval, hell I doubt he looks at them all that regularly if at all. Which is fine! He’s not our servant we commissioned, we’re the ones making the effort to see his art.

      2. Nik

        Sometimes the comments like harping on the comedy comic strip characters for making jokes at each others’ expense.

        I kid I kid. However I have noticed that sometimes there seems to be a tendency for some readers to hyperfocus on text over subtext and isolated moments over a character’s overall history of behavior.

        Sarah’s entire thing is that she’s coarse and antisocial, but also fiercely protective and caring when the chips are down. One of the big defining moments of her and Joyce’s friendship was her beating the shit out of the guy who roofied Joyce. Joyce knows without a doubt that Sarah cares about her, which is why she’s been so unflappable in the face of Sarah’s constant cynicism and snark. Raidah’s crew, meanwhile, are antagonists, but they come off as measured and socially accepting. Lucy doesn’t know any of this context, so of course she thinks Raidah has a point when she sees someone Sarah – whom she doesn’t really know – getting on the case of Joyce – whom she also doesn’t really know. Lucy has made the classic error of mistaking nice behavior for genuine kindness, and I think the same thing is going on with a few readers as well. The only difference is that Lucy can’t go archive-diving and get the whole context she’s missing out on that has led to her misjudgment.

        1. Freemage

          This, with a bonus helping of Lucy believing that ‘popular’ means ‘good’ (and by implication, unpopular = bad). She doesn’t say this out loud, but it’s evident in how she interacted first with Billie, and then with Raidah and Co.

        2. thejeff

          This basically sums it up. I’d just add that Sarah is screwing up here. She’s not good at being a friend, outside of the big dramatic moments. It’s a character flaw and something she’ll have to work on, but it doesn’t make her a monster.

        3. Ed Callahan

          Agreed. Also, there’s quite a few fans of this strip who don’t have much of a sense of humor.

        4. adam Black

          Yes Lucy mistakes nice behavior for kindness.
          Not just in others but in herself.

          She’s kind of a passive aggressive manipulative B. But she excuses all that as long as she is nice. Walky is too good for her and doesn’t know it. She will sadly probably end up on Raidhahs crew.

    3. butting

      Yup. And also the sibling energy (from both of them) is right up there with that look that Sal is serving her brother.

    4. Taffy

      Yes but to need to apologise, you normally have to have done something wrong first. It’s the doing of wrong that matters, definitely much more than context (teasing around friends), audience (those friends), reception (largely unfazed), or any of the other factors that could make the difference between A Problem®️ and Something Less Severe Than A Problem®️.

      1. Regret

        I’d argue that doing wrong is a good sign, it means you’re getting to know each other better by testing the limits. Just like you need to be willing to risk making mistakes to develop a skill, you also need to be willing to risk it when developing relationships.

        1. Taffy

          I don’t like to test people’s limits. It’s historically ended with me being alone again. I more or less go along with whatever people toss at me, and if my own limits are violated, I just ghost people and never explain what they did wrong, because I don’t trust them to understand or care about it even with an explanation. Testing limits is probably fine for people in less volatile situations, though.

        2. milu

          I can’t speak for Regret’s intent here but i agree with them to the extent that you don’t so much want to go out of your way to test people’s limits as necessarily bump against them in the course of Being Yourself around friends?

        3. Taffy

          Seems fair, tbh. I’m just used to Being Myself being seen as an offense in and of itself, treated as performative quirkiness and an excuse to discount anything I say or do as invalid, so I suppose I’m a bit jaded in that way. Like I tacked on halfheartedly though, it’s probably fine for others. Can’t expect everyone to have lived my experience and all, right?

        4. BBCC

          Well, if you being yourself is anything like your comments here, I like you.

      2. Shade of Blue

        I’m of the mind that while this feels like a genuine interaction between friends who regularly tease each other, suddenly revealing that your friend who has been raised to be terrified of sex their whole life is now masturbating a lot is a Certified Dick Move (R).

    5. cain

      Yes, I’m thrilled to see it! I wasn’t in the “irredeemable” camp, more in the “this crosses a line and should be acknowledged” camp. And here she is acknowledging it, yay!

      1. Taffy

        She potentially crossed a line, immediately checked herself, and her apology was relegated to a background half-gag. I think this has overall been a successful human interaction. So, yay twice.

    6. Acher4

      I adore this background event.
      Sarah is good. :)))

    7. Amós Batista

      it’s about time

    8. Big Z

      Sarah: pain in the ass, sometimes clueless, but not actually evil! (in all seriousness, girl needs to tone it down, not change entirely)

      1. thejeff

        Yeah, the problem here is that she doesn’t really know how to friend properly on the small, casual scale, not that she’s some abusive monster.

        1. BBCC

          I wouldn’t say that necessarily. She’s got plenty of good ‘small scale’ moments too. She can definitely go too far with her jokes though and so I appreciate her checking in on Joyce to see if that’s the case here.

        2. thejeff

          She’s definitely had her good moments, but it’s not really a strong part of her skill set. 🙂

  14. NGPZ

    This is gonna get UGLY. ?

    *plays “Tension” from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure OST on nearby passing car TV*

    1. RassilonTDavros

      I was thinking SQUID personally but yours works too

    2. Dana

      Now we find out if Walky’s right about bringing home a Black girl.

  15. Viktoria

    Everyone yesterday: Is Sarah or Lucy a worse person?
    Everyone last week: Is Walky or Danny a worse person?
    Everyone today: Oh look, it’s the worst people.

    1. cbwroses

      Worst couple.
      Joyce’s mom isn’t here (I hope that doesn’t summon her into tomorrow’s strip).

      1. DailyBrad

        Honestly, Ethan’s mom might actually be even worse than Joyce’s.

        1. cbwroses

          Ethan’s mom doesn’t want Ethan to be gay.
          Joyce’s mom doesn’t want anyone to be gay and will help free an abusive father in support of that belief, as well as express no regret for the part she played when everything went to hell.
          Even if Ethan’s mom also doesn’t want anyone to be gay, she still falls short of Joyce’s mom.

        2. Taffy

          One disgusting thought about Carol that I can’t shake is, if Ross or Blaine had actually killed Joyce during that whole Incident, Carol probably would have had the audacity to cry.

        3. SeanR

          I think she would.
          But, somehow it’d be all Becky’s fault.
          Because she can’t be at fault. It has to be someone outside, and preferably someone she already doesn’t like.

        4. Aslan

          Nah, I think she probably would have blamed Joyce for not listening to the adults

        5. Taffy

          I’m torn between agreeing outright and wanting to think she might keep up a façade until the funeral is almost over. On one hand, Those People have this thin film of pretend niceness and smiles they often keep up when people are looking. On the other hand, they’re also often basically rabid animals with no self-control who can’t keep themselves from saying the nastiest things possible the moment anything displeases them a tiny bit. On the secret third hand, Joyce’s whole community was absolute fucking dogshit for her first 18 years, so there’s a non-zero chance of Carol inviting the neighborhood children to default dance on Joyce’s coffin as it’s being lowered.

        6. Mr D

          I think she would have had the audacity to cry. And also blame herself for freeing Blaine, and blame Joyce for not listening, and blame Becky for being Gay, and blame Blaine for being a murderer.
          People are complex, Carol can love her daughter while still being a bad person.

        7. Taffy

          The only one I doubt is blaming herself. It can’t be her fault, ever. None of them can ever admit when something of consequence is their fault.

        8. thejeff

          Not publicly, but I’ll bet her nights are painful now.

          And I’m fine with that.

        9. Taffy

          Oh shit, that’s right, she’s alone now. That IS a comforting thought.

          Actually, on second thought, a proper Christian woman being divorced and living alone (does she even have a job) would be viewed as unseemly, and she’s likely to hop on the nearest available dick that totally wasn’t lusting after her all along he swears, the second the papers are signed and finalised.

        10. Mark

          The Devil Made Me Do It.

    2. Cattleprod

      Linda’s probably going to get a lot of mileage out of her ‘not an accessory to murder’ card.

      1. PirateTawnee

        Well people will keep asking questions about the card that the card already answers.

    3. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      Worst non-criminal parents?

      1. drs

        Worst non-(violent criminal) parents?

        1. BadRoad

          Worst surviving parents?

        2. Leorale

          Clint is still even worse than Linda and Charles.

          (Clint isn’t Ruth’s and Howie’s parent, but a custodial grandparent is close enough.)

    4. Kimi

      Unless we start to summon the souls of the dead, or cause the author to make a new worse person.

    5. Proxiehunter

      Not the worst people, Joyce’s mom is still alive.

    6. Keulen

      They’re definitely in the running for worst parents, especially since Ross and Blaine are dead. But they still have some strong competition, like Joyce’s mom and probably some other parents I’m forgetting.

      1. SeanR

        Jason’s dad, who is apparently so bad that he probably should apply for asylum.
        Ruth’s grandfather, who is openly abusive, and uses her brother as a hostage.
        Jennifer’s dad. Sorry, “Seniòr Billingsworth”

        1. JBento

          Everyone keeps forgetting the Wilcoxes, who jump at the opportunity to shred any bit of self-esteem Danny might somehow be able to develop in spite of them.

        2. BBCC

          Naomi, who really really wants Ethan to stop being gay. I’m hoping that ends up like Shortpacked, where she got over it.

  16. Suet

    Hm, must be the weather. Or someone’s pulling a… cheap trick.

    *between gritteed teeth* Hi Linda

    1. HueSatLight

      she’s alright

      1. Suet

        she just seems a little weird

  17. Kyrik Michalowski

    Well fuck, this won’t end well. Walky should distract them and let Sal make her escape. I have no doubt that Sal has no interest in see their folks, and even less interest in introducing them to Danny.

    If they approve of Danny, then Sal will worry about that.
    If they don’t approve of Danny, then it will be another thing for them to hold against her.

    1. Vanessa

      And let Lucy make her escape too! She is far too fragile to withstand Linda’s racism and snobbery.

      1. BarerMender

        Where has Lucy ever acted fragile? Not when Jennifer was riding her ass. Not when Mary was being a jerk to her. Not when Carla blasted past her on skates. Not when Joyce yelled at her. Not when Danny refused to call their meeting a double date. Not when Walky refused to catch on. I don’t think Lucy is fragile at all.

        1. Freemage

          I’ve got issues with Lucy, especially lately, but I agree with you, there–she’s not ‘fragile’.

        2. morleuca

          But those were all people her own age. But these are adults more to the point, they are parents. Specifically the parents of the boy she has convinced herself she wants/has a deep relationship with. Linda has the power to destroy her entire world, Lucy will walk right into it, because she has no idea what this woman is like, and a very fantastical view of relationships, courtship, and the like.

      2. Thomas

        I think you misunderestimate Lucy’s resilience and willingness to speak truth to power, which she has just demonstrated. That said, I think Linda will undermine Lucy’s confidence in her relationship with Walky, which Walky will save by stepping up for her.

  18. cbwroses

    That’s funny, because, while Walky has espoused that he believes in genre tropes like this, this is the first time (that I recall in the moment) where Sal has acted like she believes in some as well.
    At the very least, she seems to be glaring at Walky for speaking them into existence.

    1. AKP

      Kind of hard to be a modern teenager or young adult without some amount of comparing yourself to story tropes nowadays. In that one particular way, I’m not sure media literacy has ever been higher.

      1. Kimi

        Sometimes tropes help with sharing how you feel about situations or explain how you feel something occurred IRL. Other times tropes just mimic real life (more so that superstitions since tropes have more variety to them and relate to storytelling, and what are our memories but stories?).

        1. Clif

          Which trope best fits your current life?

        2. Taffy

          Noodle Incident

        3. Schpoonman

          I don’t know if directly linking TVTropes is Chaotic Good, Neutral, or Evil.

        4. Francoinblanco

          Depends on how you rate the start of the discussion on the alignment 😉

        5. Taffy

          True Neutral. I’ve only pointed to a building on the horizon, it’s not my fault if somebody flies their plane into it.

        6. Shade of Blue

          I’d say it’s on the Lawful side actually, since it implies a strong belief in systematicizing peoples’ behavior.

        7. Taffy

          Does it? I’m not sure I understand, could you elaborate? I’m kinda interested.

        8. Shade of Blue

          “Strong belief” is a bit much. I really meant “an interest.”

          Cus what TVtropes is about, right? Transcribing all repeatable behaviors into what’s basically a dictionary of character writing. It contributes to a system used in creative writing, which creates an orderly story world based on previously defined behaviors. Seems very lawful to me.

          The chaos happens when the tropes are subverted or defied in some way.

        9. Schpoonman

          You know what TVTropes is, that’s nothing less than Chaotic.

        10. Shade of Blue

          Hopefully that makes sense. I’m always jumping in here throwing haymakers after drinking exactly one Monster Energy Zero Sugar (TM)

        11. milu

          oh no, you mean that thing that totally happened?
          jesus Taffy, we’ve definitely had this conversation before.
          if this were a generic retcon device i would feel moved to do some crude exposition here but as i have good trope-savvy manners i’m just doing a weary eyeroll instead.

          we know what you’re talking about for sure, though, and boy howdy, well well well.

        12. Taffy

          Sometimes, ya just gotta make a music video with a giant singing head in a weird laboratory.

        13. milu

          oh you meant that thing. i thought you meant the other thing. with the… thing? you know

        14. Pergola

          Singing the songs of angry men!

        15. Taffy

          Do you hear the people sing?
          Singing a song of angry men?
          Jump back and forth
          And feel like you were there yourself
          To work it out

  19. Slartibeast Button, BIA

    Assuming Linda finds out about Sal and Danny, how will she feel about that?

    1. Doopyboop

      She might find Danny to be a bit bland, but seeing how he’s white, and honestly pretty unassuming, she’d probably like him on account of some shit like “maybe now you can help reign in Sal’s negative impulses” or some other such shit that tastes bad.

    2. Shorduie

      I fully believe she will somehow try to advise danny against dating her own daughter. Failing that, its blackmailing him/emailing his parents Sal’s police records

      1. BarerMender

        How would she get hold of Sal’s sealed juvenile records?

        1. Freemage

          As the parental guardian, she likely has copies from when Sal was arrested. She probably brings them out occasionally when trying to make a point against Sal.

        2. BBCC

          They’re not sealed. They don’t do that automatically in Indiana unless something changed since I checked last.

    3. DailyBrad

      She’s probably going to approve of Danny more than she approves of Lucy, putting Sal and Walky in a very awkward and unfamiliar position.

      Jennifer also might get roped into this, too.

    4. cbwroses

      That Danny’s a good egg?
      Well.
      That Danny dated Dorothy before Walky dated Dorothy and is now dating Sal?
      Probably less well.
      Should it matter?
      No.
      Will it matter to Linda?
      For some reason, I think it might.

    5. Alongcameaspider

      She will approve of him fully

      Related she will disapprove of Lucy for reasons she will refuse to elaborate on for some reason

  20. RassilonTDavros

    OH FUCK

    1. RassilonTDavros

      I was not emotionally prepared for this AAAAAAGH

  21. Yotomoe

    I should also stop saying BeetleJuice 3 times.

    1. drs

      Hastur Hastur Hast-

    2. jeffepp

      Betelgeuse Betelgeuse Betelgeuse

      1. Clif

        Totally unrelated, Betelgeuse is acting funny right now (where right now refers to the light just now reaching us). It could be because it’s about to go supernova, but probably isn’t. Though of course it’s going to go one of these centuries.

        1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          I question Betelgeuse’s sincerity. I think it is just screwing with us.

    3. Liquid Len

      Biggie Smalls Biggie Smalls Biggie Sm-

  22. Shorduie

    Jesus goddamn christ what fresh fuckery is this

    1. Angel

      esp if they’ve been to this college before, odd that they’d show up before a class as opposed to a weekend. tho even as parents, texting ahead would’ve been good than a surprise visit

      1. thejeff

        Particularly good if you actually want to see your kids rather than wandering around campus hoping to run into them.

  23. BBCC

    And now you all know why you heard horrified screaming coming from my direction last night. Mercifully this isn’t a weekend, I’m pretty sure, so I’m hoping they can make their escape to class.

    1. Kyrik Michalowski

      That will just have them waiting to ambush them until after class. This is like removing a bandage, you have to be quick or it will just hurt for longer. That being said, getting rid of them with little to no interaction would be ideal.

      1. BBCC

        My thinking is if they can duck away now, then Sal can do her thing and not be around when they want to meet up next. Not to mention Lucy and Sarah won’t be around them.

        Walky is screwed I’m afraid. No way they’re letting him go without seeing him this visit.

    2. JBento

      I was just thinking “man, I bet BBCC LOVED this strip”.

  24. DailyBrad

    Oh no. Them smiling is… menacing.

    Also, god, is this why we didn’t get the double date before? Because now Danny and Lucy are going to have to meet the parents?

  25. Erica

    Everyone shitting on Sarah yesterday, in your face

    1. Taffy

      C’mon, you know they’re not gonna budge still.

      1. milu

        if all else fails, curse willis! ᕕ( ᐛ ) ᕗ

        1. JBento

          When that fails as well, cursive Willis:

          ??????

        2. milu

          ??????? ???? ??? ??????,
          ?? ???? ??????.
          ????? ?????,
          ??????????? ??????

      2. thejeff

        She’s so mean. She told Joyce to shut up today. That’s practically abusive.

        And by saying “I didn’t say anything” when Joyce clearly heard her, she’s gaslighting her.

        1. Shade of Blue

          You guys crack me up.

          I’m not on the Sarah hate train but maybe, just maybe, publicly joking about your friend’s masturbation habits is kind of a weird shitty move? Especially when you know they have been brainwashed to think sex for pleasure is evil and have only recently been deprogrammed?

          I’m actually cool with Sarah’s apology and think it’s a good moment in general, but I also think people reaching for the Abuse button are not entirely unjustified here. Some of the reactions are very intense to be sure but that doesn’t mean nothing bad happened.

        2. Taffy

          Reaching for the button and mashing it like there’s a QTE prompt on-screen are very different things.

          As far as Sarah’s joke being weird and shitty, I guess legally it’s that since we have to say shitty and asshole and dick about everything regardless of severtity now? But the way I read it and based on Joyce’s very mild reaction, it honestly doesn’t seem any worse than if Sarah noticed a puddle of Diet Coke on the sidewalk and didn’t tell Joyce about it, and then Joyce had to walk a few steps with sticky soda on her shoe until she scuffed it off in some damp grass, and Sarah said “Haha, your shoe was sticky for a second there”. Exceptionally low-stakes misbehavior, being treated with exactly the same severity as an employer watching his employee use the bathroom.

        3. Shade of Blue

          Yeah, I guess it’s a difference of boundaries thing, for both the characters in the strip and the readers.

          Personally, if someone I was close to cracked a joke in public about my sexual experiences with full knowledge of how I feel about these things, I might not have an immediate reaction but it would certainly affect me.

          I think it’s good that Lucy was here to point out that it sucked and it’s great that Sarah apologized.

        4. Taffy

          With that last sentence, it seems like we more or less agree. Lucy questioning the jab makes sense for her character and it’s always good to question that sort of thing, and Sarah’s apology was written with the exact level of seriousness needed, so I’m pretty happy with the result.

          Far as personal boundaries goes, I do think we shove a little too much of ourselves and our own limits onto these characters that very seldom share those limits and lived experiences, sometimes. It’s one thing to say “I’d have done X in this situation” and quite another to decide that should be the universal standard.

        5. StClair

          Keep in mind that Joyce’s idea of appropriate things for close female friends to say to her is still largely informed by Becky.
          Yeah. Becky. 😐

        6. Taffy

          Oh yeah, that’s true. And she’s like, sorta close to Becky or something, I think? From the look of it, they do seem to like each other a decent amount. But that’s just my own perception, based on my admittedly-narrow lived experience (Did you know they got holes in the ground in Kentucky that’re full of cool rocks? Most exotic thing I’ve seen IRL.), and I don’t pretend to fully know the motivations or relationships of these characters.

    2. Blue

      In my opinion the fact that she actually apologized is proof that she WAS going too far and people weren’t wrong to call her out. People are allowed to feel differently if she changes her tune.

      1. thejeff

        I do think she went to far and I don’t think it was wrong to call her out. I think some of the commenters here went way too far without how bad it was.

    3. Wereg

      In their faces because… she apologised after being called out?

      1. Taffy

        I’m not Erica, so take this with a heap of salt, but…yes? Yes. As long as an apology is sincere, I don’t see any problem with it coming after a callout. In fact, that’s sorta the perfect time for one. It felt like there was an expectation that Sarah wouldn’t do even this half-assed side apology, alongside calls for ridiculously severe punishment for her perceived moral depravity. And so, yeah, kinda directly in the faces of anyone who didn’t think she had even this little bit of decency in her. Haha, neener neener, and all that jazz. Expect/demand the worst, and anything less is gonna be disappointing.

        1. Wereg

          I mean yeah, I’m with you on that. Sarah apologising is a good thing and a sign of her getting better at respecting healthy, friendly boundaries.

          It just seems like a weirdly hostile rebuke.

  26. Carms

    The Willis Is Good

    1. butting

      The Willis giveth and the Willis taketh away
      Blessed be the name of the Willis

      1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

        Blood and Souls for my Lord Willis!

      2. thejeff

        Heretic!
        The ritual here calls for damning the name of the Willis.

  27. HueSatLight

    At least if they meet Danny, he won’t say anything awkward, he’s really good at never putting his foot in his mouth.

    1. Angel

      i mean, when you have a daughter that gets arrested at 13 and had to be sent off to a catholic boarding school, anything awkward danny might say would not be that bad in comparison

      …Though, it would be interesting if he blurted out, “hi, i actually dated the girl who stabbed your daughter’s hand before dating her”

      1. Rectilinear Propagation

        What’s the over/under on that somehow coming up (even if not through Danny)?

        1. Taffy

          Oh gods, Linda already wanted to get Amber expelled for the crime of having a father (understandable tbh). I can’t imagine she’d be remotely pleasant about that info.

    2. DailyBrad

      I feel like Danny’s likely to tell them off, but that Linda will initially probably just not be too upset about Danny because, frankly, she does not have expectations of Sal. David, on the other hand….

  28. Kyrik Michalowski

    It is times like this that I’m glad I get along with my parents. I might not care about or hate a large chunk of my family, but at least I get along with my parents, grandparents, 1 uncle, and my siblings.

    I wish everyone in the world got along with their family, but sometimes life just doesn’t work that way.

    1. Kyrik Michalowski

      Well, I don’t get along with all of my grandparents. 2 are dead, 2 I get along with. Then there are 2 that if they were dying of thirst and I had a pitcher of water I would either drink the water myself, or pour it out; they deserve nothing better.

      1. Clif

        I feel certain that there is a reason you have six grandparents.

        1. Taffy

          Some people get divorced and then remarry. Some couples find out one of them’s gay and they make it work. Some people pack extras, just in case the winter is long.

        2. Kyrik Michalowski

          My mother remarried after my bio dad died, so I have 6 grandparents. It is just that 4 of them are not a part of my life anymore.

  29. Cmasta1992

    Hey Lucy’s little push made Sarah come to her senses a bit. All was well that ended well but unfortunately now we gotta deal with the Walkertons

    1. Vanessa

      These friends look so cute and wholesome by comparison. And Walky is being so supportive and sensible. Maybe we don’t have to worry about Walky-Lucy joining the mean kids and turning to the dark side.

  30. DarkoNeko

    Well crap, both that and their exagerrated greetings, this is VERY suspiscious.

    1. jeffepp

      And, happening to be at just the right place and time.

      1. DarkoNeko

        It’s before first class in the morning, on a school day. Even to have a chat with the principal that’s way too early

        1. Bryy

          Yeah, something is UP.

        2. HueSatLight

          9:45 isn’t unreasonable. I mean in general it’s fine, that’s a no-people-please time for me. But for the chancellor or a dean, not unreasonable.

        3. Liquid Len

          About a 2-ish hour drive from Evansville, so doable even if hey decided first thing in the morning

      2. Archieve

        Right? Was there a death in the family? or did Linda have people spying on their activities “for their own good” and think both kids dating was a great time to be overbearing?

  31. Sporky

    Well, this can’t be good.

    1. Clif

      Technically, it could be neutral. They could be there because the Dean invited them to a fund-raising event or something.

  32. Nono

    Well, that’s one narrative way to speed up the process of the Walky/Lucy relationship…

    … all I gotta say is, Dorothy, watch out. Considering how you were yesterday, this cannot possibly end well.

  33. JessWitt

    Oh that’s just dandy.

  34. Jamie

    BACK IN THE BOX. Put them BACK IN THE BOX.

  35. newlland(Henryvolt)

    I was not expecting the Walkerton parents, I wonder if this is another parents weekend….I hope this doesn’t Carol turns up, Also Linda plays nice with Linda, but maybe I’m asking to much.

    1. cain

      Frankly I hope Joyce had Carol removed from the “allowed visitors” list

      1. TerribleTransit

        As of her last appearance Carol had been moved from the “allowed visitors” list to the “suplex on sight” list and I doubt she’s been moved back.

    2. Angel

      Maybe it’s time for some family therapy sessions

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQrGrElZs9s

    3. Angel

      and i feel liek if this was another parents weekend ppl would’ve been expecting it versus an impromptu visit

    4. JBento

      Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition Walkerton parents.

  36. Taffy

    Oh hey Linda, you’re looking rapidly aging to your natural death today.

  37. Shogo

    Well, this is going to be an interesting reversal. Usually they’ve favored Walky because of little things like him having naturally straight hair making him “whiter” than Sal in their eyes.

    But now Sal is dating Danny and Walky is dating Lucy, and you just know their weird racial hang ups are going to make the upcoming interactions “special”.

    It’ll certainly be a thing to behold once everyone figures out why Sal is the new favorite.

    1. BBCC

      I don’t think anything Sal does can make her the favourite – she’s ‘made them look like bad parents’ too many times.

      Suddenly there’re VERY concerned about Walky’s girlfriend and how for Some reason, she’s just not good enough for Walky.

      Sal has a nice boyfriend? “That’s nice, sweetie, good for you.”

      1. thejeff

        With an undertone of “He seems a nice boy, maybe he can help straighten you out.”
        Not really sure they’d phrase that, since it couldn’t imply they’d failed to do it in any way or even be that openly harsh.

  38. RassilonTDavros

    …so. I have a couple of hypotheses: one on why these two are here now, and one on why they’re being so conspicuously cheerful. In the grand tradition of my hypotheses, they are both quite likely to be wrong.

    As for why they’re here, I have a hunch that there’s some sort of alumni event going on. A, It’s the sort of thing that a parent might show up at that their kid wouldn’t necessarily expect, since it has nothing to do with them. B, it’s the sort of narrative conceit that would allow a lot of seldom-seen family characters to show up at at once, much like the Freshman Family Weekend was. I highly doubt that they’re actually here just to see Walky and Sal, in any case. (Not sure it’s ever actually been established that Charles and Linda went to IU, but their connections to the Dean make it quite plausible.)

    As for why they’re greeting both of them so… like this when Linda previously couldn’t be bothered to say so much as a single word to Sal, I’m guessing that Walky’s comment about them never giving Sal a reason to stay may have actually sunk in… but their approach to “fixing” the years of neglect and abuse has just been to put on a veneer of niceness and positivity rather than to actually address any of the actual grievances re: Linda constantly sabotaging any and all of Sal’s attempts to get some agency in her life.

    1. Angel

      It would be interesting if they also met Raidah with Walky’s ‘connection’

      or walky making it awkward on purpose. “So are you on good terms or do you need to seduce/flirt with him a little before asking him for a favor” tho i’d imagine that’d be more uncomfortable for walky to say lol

    2. Rectilinear Propagation

      Ah, that’s probably why she’s visibly blaming him for this now. She also figures this has to do with what he said when he stood up for her (we know he said at least that much to her).

  39. Chronos

    Whatever they’re selling, I’m not buying.

    1. Proxiehunter

      It’s probably Amway.

  40. Angel

    …Well, at least they’re acknolwedging both of them instead of just saying “David!” and ignoring sal lol

  41. Bryy

    *coming out of a double feature of Succession/Barry*

    “Let’s see what tonight’s strip is.”

    1. Taffy

      Thought this said “Succession of Barry” for a moment. That’d be a good parody title for a JRPG mashup album.

      1. Bryy

        Look. I’ll do it. Don’t tempt me.

        1. Taffy

          Bee Movie meets Final Fantasy 8, that’s all I’m sayin’.

  42. Derek

    It’s honestly more baffling that Sarah would say “sorry, was that too much?” than for her to say Joyce is masturbating like crazy with the full knowledge that that is an extreme asshole thing to do and being comfortable with being said asshole.
    Since when does Sarah NOT know that saying something like that is inappropriate?? was she not doing that on purpose??

    1. Taffy

      I think she’s written to know it’s inappropriate, but sometimes inappropriate is fine and sometimes it isn’t, so I think her dialogue here is a sort of check-in. Like “Hey I know I take things too far as a gag a lot of the time, but did this one actually-actually bother you?” sorta thing.

      1. Daibhid C

        Yep. See also (you knew it was coming) the entire Dorothy/Becky relationship.

        Now personally I don’t tease my friends at all unless they start it, because I have absolutely no sense of when it’s appropriate and when it isn’t, but that’s just me. And by the same token, since I don’t have any sense of these things, I assume these friendships are operating under normal perameters for the people involved until we get evidence they aren’t.

    2. HueSatLight

      Sometimes people have friends where they rib each other, and some people do not have any friendships like that. And sometimes people who don’t like having friendships like that think nobody should rib their friends ever.
      Joyce has teased Sarah about her masturbating before, so it feels like “extreme asshole” should be dialed back to “kind of an asshole”.

  43. AGV

    Ah hell no

  44. Acher4

    OH NOOooooooooo!

  45. EpochFlame

    why are they even here

  46. Dara

    aaaAAAAAAAAa! Ambush parents!

  47. Schpoonman

    I’d find the strip/comment where I absolutely lost my shit on Linda and what a monster she is, but I don’t want to revisit that place in my brain. It was the one where she stole the $700 Sal had saved up for Marcie.

    If I’m remembering correctly, on Patreon the only comment I could muster was a wall of “fuck you” but if you want to know what sets me off, there’s your information.

    At that moment in time at 13, Sal’s hair was roughly where it is now, not straightened but not full-tilt curly. Obligatory “Fuck you, Linda.”

    1. Needfuldoer

      Don’t worry, I got you. I’m not recommending you click on it yourself, but here it is for context:

      https://www.dumbingofage.com/losses/

      Content warning: Linda being Linda.

  48. Allison Branford

    Poor Sal can’t catch a break.

  49. Sombrero

    Oh shit.

  50. milu

    Sal: *glares at Walky in “is this your doing somehow”*
    Walky: *instantly shoulders the blame for an utterly random reason*

    1. milu

      wait i was just trying to be funny, was i accidentally insightful

      1. milu

        …nah probably not

  51. milu

    another day, another string of extremely witty comments from me that will go largely ignored as people here don’t care terribly about this one annoying commenter’s cryptic buffoonery they only care about stuff happening literally in the comic strip they come to this very page specifically to read about

    FML

    1. JBento

      But I LIKE cryptic buffoonery. ☹

      1. milu

        Oh okay cool then :3

    2. Shade of Blue

      Wouldn’t be the comments section of a webcomic without it!

  52. Amós Batista

    I’ll be real mad if they make Lucy break-up with Walkie.

  53. WizardPantaloon

    Love the fact that people were shrieking about Sarah being “abusive” yesterday only for her to not only apologize instantly, and have Walky defend her from Lucy, but have an ACTUAL ABUSER show up out of the blue.

    The timing is genius.

    1. Taffy

      Shrieking and honking and yawping and kickin’ over buckets of water, all just to be handed a mop and some Tylenol.

  54. Needfuldoer

    oh no

  55. The Oracle

    Hey, it’s Racist Lady and her pet token. I was just wondering when they’d show up. I haven’t been readingthw comments long enough to get a handle on people’s reactions to them, so I hope I’m at least not the only one who reads their dynamic that way. Charles seems to be there as more of a prop for Linda than an actual loving romantic partner, is all I’m saying.

  56. Doopyboop

    Another thought I have, it’ll be interesting to see how Sal will take it if her mom does in fact approve of Danny. If I had a toxic parent and they approved of my partner… I’d start feeling kinda nervous. Plus, I think Sal will be readying herself for rejection that getting a positive response is going to be so foreign.

  57. Yeet

    were they just waiting for their kids to ambush them??? good lord fuck off

  58. Shade of Blue

    Was lingering in the comments mulling things over when I realized that Sal just said she’s cold when the Walkertons are famously very resilient to cold IIRC. I wonder if that was deliberately done to show that she’s changing.

    1. Taffy

      I used to hang out with a guy who wore shorts and a hoodie year-round, and while he was fine if we were doing things or only waiting short periods, even he wanted to get moving if we were just standing around waiting on nothing. Maybe Sal’s the same way.

    2. Needfuldoer

      She’s also wearing half a light jacket in a snowstorm.

      1. Taffy

        Snowstorm? Looks like a light dusting to me.

        1. Needfuldoer

          Pig Pen managed to kick up a cloud of dust in this amount of snow, and Charlie Brown called it a snowstorm, so it’s a snowstorm.

        2. Taffy

          Yeah, but we have to keep in mind that Charlie Brown is like 8/9 years old, tops. To him, 3 inches of snow is like 30% of his height. Well, I assume so, anyway. I don’t really see very many kids (or humans in general), so I figure he’s what, 10 inches tall? Is that how big children are now?

    3. HueSatLight

      I think it’s just that it’s cold, they have class soon, and the conversation was annoying her. I don’t think tolerating cold better than average would change any of that.

    4. BBCC

      Sal just came up from the south this year, her tolerance for cold needs adjusting! XD

      Yeah, no, it’s probably the block of ice her mother has instead of a heart.

  59. vulcanodon

    The background conversation in panel 2 is so wholesome

    1. Taffy

      It is, I love those two and how they play off each other. Incidentally, this little check-in Sarah’s doing is right in line with Joyce’s request to show she cares in more than just huge ways. Sometimes care looks like a quick apology that doesn’t need fanfare, and we love to see it.

    2. Ragnarok101

      I’m glad to see it as well.

  60. Hof1991

    Danny will not be acceptable because Sal likes him and her judgement is questionable.

  61. Taffy

    As a complete aside, devoid of all other things, I’ve noticed this tic in the comic of characters partially raising their arms when they greet each other. It’s like the start of a hug maybe, or an invitation for one? I’ve never noticed anyone doing it IRL, but then I’m not especially observant of other people’s indecipherable body language most of the time. Should I be doing this? I feel like if I did this near my guy friends they’d maybe square up instead?

  62. Dot

    Some great stuff in this strip, from Sarah checking in with Joyce to see if her teasing crossed a boundary to Walky continuing to stand up for Sarah.

    And then it all goes to hell

  63. Vanessa

    “How do you do fellow kids!” The Walkertons have been replaced by aliens.

  64. Megan Rivera

    I hope one day in the future Sal stops smoking. Even though she’s a fictional character, smoking killed my aunt and my dad and I’m still a bit shook by it. I’d love to see her quit. I really like her and don’t want her to get cancer ;_;

  65. Nicoleandmaggie

    There’s so much going on here but for me the big “oof” is that Walky thinks all parents are older meaner people.

    Most (Many?) of us have seen Dorothy as the mom friend (well meaning, tries to be helpful and caring even if she doesn’t always get it right). Really underscores how much his parents suck, even with him as the golden child, though we knew that already.

  66. HueSatLight

    Sal and Walky both forgot it was their own birthday.

  67. Username Taken

    I’ll predict that Linda is here to taint both of her kids’ moods regarding their relationships by:

    1) Telling Sal that Danny is a perfect boyfriend since he’s mild enough to keep her out off trouble like she’d get into with some hoodlum

    2) Disapproving of Lucy for thinly-veiled racist reasons

    And Charles is here because if we stop looking at him for too long, he’ll fade away entirely.

  68. Taffy

    They* say you die twice: Once when you actually die and once when the last appearance-obsessed controlling suburban white woman uses you as a prop for brownie points.

  69. HueSatLight

    I’m presuming Linda and Charles are who decided Sal should room with Jennifer, because I really don’t think that’s something they’d have requested on their own. So I wonder if they know Jennifer’s moved, and why, and if they know if Asher was the bad influence Sal had been hanging out with, or who Asher’s grandfather is.

    I know they’ve been more friendly to Jennifer than their own daughter, but she’s still not family, I don’t think they’re calling in favors for her. They could become disinterested in her real fast. At least until final ship Walky + Billie.

  70. ADLegend21

    Holy shit. I thought we’d be on friendship dynamics for at least 3 strips but the Walkertons have entered the fucking chat hahaha.

  71. Silver Eddy

    Welp, after discovering this comic in late December last year I have finally caught up. Now I’m just like the rest of yall

  72. Nevermaker

    I assume “Kiddos” translates to “Hi, we’re here to ruin everything” in Walkerton-ese.

  73. Dday

    Hey um, speaking as the scion of a mixed race relationship, I’m getting pretty uncomfortable with the discourse here. Two people of different colors can just fall in love normally, even if one or both of them has some problematic attitudes or biases regarding race. Linda can be wrong about stuff and still have a normal relationship with Charles, it’s really inappropriate to speculate that she married him to serve as a “token” or “prop”, or considers him “one of the good ones” without anything in particular to back that up. People fall in love all the time, even when they are wrong about things.

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