She appears awkwardly between them as they’re reaching to hug. Like they always said at the church dances about keeping a bible’s width between you, but with Dina.
So Dorothy and Joyce hug… Dina comes in, stand looking at them awkwardly and then join the hug… Joyce seems surprised at first, but then smiles and includes Dina in the hug, happy that she is not still angry about the feather-dinos?
yeah, its like come here for dina laughs & love, and then we have stupid moments like this that remind us that story characters can have feelings too. on a more serious note, that last panel can be really dark if Joyce ends up doing something self destructive. its only been a few days since some guy tried to rape her and seems to be having an emotional breakdown now, i dont see DoA being a happy Joyce series
Well, in the other series, Joyce’s breakdown was relatively fast, and helped along with some alien technology. I think DoA is where we see how these things can work out without any aliens involved. So it’ll probably take a while.
i used to think i had sadistic tendencies, then i read these posts (not really a sadist, just a lead in), though i probably would have said katawa shoujo myself if nobody else had
Not really sure why he didn’t just write
“oh lookit me just articulating all my college-age sin-related fears directly into a comic”
in the hovertext rather than posting the url to the tweet.
And anytime you feel the pain
Hey Joyce, refrain
Don’t carry their faiths upon your shoulders
For well you know that it’s a fool who goes to school
While keeping their world as small as yours is
Nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah
Hey Joyce, don’t let me down
You have found her, so go and get her
Remember to let her into your heart
And then you can start
The lesbian makeouts
So let it out and let it in
Hey Joyce, begin
You’re looking for someone to lez out with
And don’t you know that it’s just you
Hey Joyce, she’ll do
The one that you need is in the bathroom
Nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah
Hey Joyce, don’t make it bad.
Take a sad song and make it better
The minute realize that Ethan’s gay
Then you begin to make it better…
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Why else would there even be a second coming? He was sent to Earth to die for our sins. So if he’s back doesn’t that just mean we’ve been extra sinning?
I don’t believe sin is an actual thing but Joyce said exactly how I feel right now and I’m just going to crawl into a ball and cry and hope Joyce has a happy ending in this story or I’ll just die.
As I understand, a sin is an act that’s not harmful but still is harmful because someone’s religious dogma says it’s harmful. Which is a paradox,sure, but still a thing that can exist.
You’re an angel, next to the monster that is Willis.
Bizarrely I coulda sworn I heard someone of the same name being interviewed over international corporate financial policy or something on the radio last night. It’s getting worse, he’s now invading the traditional media…
Main google hit for Yomiko is Yomiko Readman, from Read Or Die. I guess it could be a bishoujo version of her, though I wouldn’t see it easily, partly because the eyes are so much smaller.
This makes me feel sorry for Joyce. Damnyouwillis… You do this all the time. You are just too good at it.
And the face on Dorothy in the last panel…*sniff* …poor thing.
A tiny trash can and what appears to be a supply of small paper bags, for the disposal of female hygiene products. Not all bathrooms have them, though, and I’ve actually very rarely seen the paper bags, but the little trash cans are fairly common.
If a particular religion is keeping someone from being happy, then they are either placing too much emphasis on it, or the religion in question just is not for them.
I don’t know if Joyce’s fears are purely religious. I’ve often felt the same way and I’m hardly religious. I think it’s more a matter of lacking trust in one’s self. Joyc’e religion just provides a different context to think about these things in.
Well, consider what it means to be “happy”. The things you might think will make you happy often do not, nor are they guaranteed to be good even if they did.
Look at Joyce for a moment. She thinks that a relationship will make her happy, but her religion forbids her from participating in the culture the same way her friends do.
BUT even without her religious attitude, she would never pursue a relationship the way Dorothy and Walky have. Because she doesn’t really want “a relationship”, she just wants somebody to make her the WIFE she’s always dreamed of being.
If you want to see what Joyce looks like without her religious attitude, don’t look at Dorothy. Look at Billie.
Wow, she’s surprisingly self-aware in this universe! It’s refreshing. This just makes me like her even more (and I always have preferred this Joyce to the younger Joyce in the normal Walkyverse, before she grew up and all).
Wow, I feel for you, Joyce. I know *exactly* what you mean.
What makes this worse is that it’s not even just sinning that she’s afraid of. Considering what happened with the *last* boy she was interested in, I can’t blame her for being afraid of being intimate with a boy, even if “intimate” to Joyce is just kissing right now.
That’s… iffy. Traditionally in Catholic confession you were expected to anonymous, even if in practice in a small parish you realistically couldn’t be. Some shifts in post Vatican II law and practice do allow for one not to be, though confession is still private. My understanding is that in Lutheran and the Anglican churches that still hold to the practice it’s still the norm to expect anonymity. I can’t speak of Orthodox Christian practice regarding confession outside being aware they also practice it, as what I know of their religious practices is severely limited and incomplete, and, of course, most Calvinist strains of Christianity don’t hold with this format of penance at all.
Man, this one was a sweet comic, Willis. Jeph’s alternate comic was great, too, and I was thinking the same thing as I read this one. =) But awesome character development, here.
And a man who truly understands how he wishes to express himself. Started out with fart jokes, continues to make fart jokes, will keep on making fart jokes through the many long years ahead, right until his funeral service, at which time a giant “BRRAAPPP” will somehow erupt from his corpse at a particularly inappropriate moment.
I always thought if you were taught something, and you became that, but your body urges you to be or do differently, than you’re not so much losing yourself as much as your losing whatever was put in your head and letting your true colors shine through. Like…taking off clothes. You are no less yourself without a shirt than you are with a shirt, but we’d prefer to keep a shirt on, even if we’d REALLY want to take it off. But if we DO take off that shirt, we’re not someone else. We’re just the same guy without a shirt on.
People tend to identify with their beliefs and see them as a part of themselves. In Western culture (probably many others, I don’t know) desires are seen as transient while beliefs are the very core of your person, perhaps even more so than personality traits.
Honestly I never even really considered an alternative to this system before.
Writers have been using “jealous” and “envious” synonymously for centuries, bro. I think it’s safe to say the prescriptivists have lost this particular battle.
Not to mention people will confuse the two in common conversation. The difference between the two is so fine, it’s nigh impossible to know when to use which. Besides, people always use proper grammar in the conversations they participate in.
That you consider antidisestablishmentarianism something reflecting on your English degree amuses me, since it’s a poly-sci kind of thing with sociological, historical and philosophy of religion significance.
Well… since a few comments have been ‘I know how Joyce feels’, let me just say that I don’t get where Joyce is coming from at all. I honestly do not understand how such thoughts can exist in anyone’s mind.
Have you ever had the urge to, say, commit a crime, even though you know it’s wrong? Or had a craving to do something that you’ve been told is bad but isn’t directly harmful? It might help put things in perspective.
While we’re at it, I have not felt as Joyce have. In fact, as a kid, I never went through the phase where I hated girls. Kinda made me confused when in Grade 1, boys and girls entered into separate camps.
I haven’t even felt that about crimes. For me to want to do something ‘bad’, I have to first have lost respect for the rule that forbids it. This prevents me from feeling guilt over it, either at the thought of doing it or the actual deed.
The only times I’ve felt guilt have been when I misinterpreted the situation, and later found out that I was doing bad things that I was unaware of at the time. Then I feel bad over my past actions.
When the idea that something is wrong has been drilled into your head from a very young age, and yet that something is a natural urge, and you see other people obtaining it effortlessly, that creates a horrible internal conflict. It feels impossible to even think about the matter logically, because the crushing guilt and self-loathing is a deep visceral reaction.
I can’t think of anything to compare it to if you haven’t experienced it yourself. Let’s just say I do not recommend it.
Replace sin with irresponsibility and you’ve got my #1 fear: I’m terrified that I’ll one day turn into what Ethan did when he got fired from Shortpacked!, except nobody would come and get me.
There needs to be an alt-verse where a non-gay version of Ethan takes Joyce into his arms and shows her there’s nothing at all sinful about being intimate with someone you care about before marriage. 😀
Ethan’s homosexuality is a fundamental law of universal structure, such that no universe can exist without a gay Ethan in it without instantly collapsing due to critically flawed internal structure. There is a gay Ethan in every comic universe, in every movie universe, in every book universe, and in our real universe too.
This fact is the cornerstone for the well-known proof that empty universes are impossible.
Thing to remember here is that all the Ethans we, the readers, have become aware of are in universes that are variations of the main Walkyverse. DoA is thw Walkyverse with some variations regarding aliens and various related elements, and a few other variations to allow author and fan favorite characters to be of similar age. The universe that Ultra Car and Leslie visited was one where Robin was removed from the universe, allowing the Drama Tag to have a stronger effect. In the end, though, they are all still just permutations on the main Walkyverse and not indicative of universes that fall outside that range, and moreso are too small a data set to even suggest anything concrete about the universes within that range.
You know what would inject some levity into this situation? If there’s a poop-based sound effect, and then Dorothy goes “Yikes, Joyce” and Joyce is all “What? This is the bathroom.” That would inject some levity.
Joyce’s attitude here reminds me a lot of Ayaan Hirsi Ali writing in Infidel. Guess it doesn’t really matter too much what kind of fundamentalism you’re brought up in; they’re all based on fear. (Though at least the xtians don’t generally do FGM, and forced marriages are less common.)
So first, Joyce gets attacked and Billie forces a blow job on Danny (who most likely put up the weakest most token resistance in the history of manhood). And now Billie is being attacked and Joyce is forcing her mouth magic on an unsuspecting Ethan? When did theses two become two sides of the same coin?
Joyce’s line in the third panel is one of those rare instances wherein somebody manages to put words on something I didn’t realize I’d been feeling or thinking all along until someone put words on it. And I see from the comments so far that I’m not the only reader who appreciates today’s strip. Well done, David Willis, and thank you.
As always, David Willis, I am awed by your comic. I have been exactly there. I love Joyce. I love that she’s not a stereotype and that she’s actually likable and rational. I had this same conversation over and over and over inside my head in high school. And now I’m someone else than I was then. I’m very happy. But I think I also would have been happy if I had become the person I thought I wanted to be. I wasn’t unhappy being religious. I was unhappy not knowing who i was.
At first I wondered why Joyce was sitting down facing the toilet. Then I wondered why I wondered that. Then I realized it’s because the camera flips around while you’re in the stall so that both characters are facing right in the comic. One of them should probably be facing left. Maybe just flip the last panel.
Joyce can’t be sitting sideways on the toilet? I mean, it’s not like she’s USING it. It’s just acting as a seat. Seriously, in my brain, the camera doesn’t flip around at all. Both Dorothy and Joyce are facing the same direction.
Hmm. Generally there would not be enough room. Also, the TP and other items mounted behind her are usually located on the wall off to one side of the toilet, not behind it. Of coure, that’s only based on experience with Men’s rooms.
I should also say that I did not see any problem with the angles, 180deg. line or no. Those same items in the wall provided the needed orientation, for me.
I can relate, albeit I was never strongly religious like Joyce I did have an inordinate focus on the romance and making every step slowly and deliberately. I’m still like that largely, I just know now to discuss it with my S.O. and if I slip up not guilt myself over little imperfections. Granted SINCE I learned that my relationships have only been imaginary so lots of good its doing me.
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She needs to open up the stall so she can get a hug. And then Dina appears to make it a group hug.
You said exactly what I was about to post. Group hugs for everyone!
She appears awkwardly between them as they’re reaching to hug. Like they always said at the church dances about keeping a bible’s width between you, but with Dina.
Yeah, I forgot that Dina was going in too. She’ll totally be standing behind Dorothy right now, suportively.
Something Something about Dinosaurs
Leave some room for the Holy Dina!
I second this.
So Dorothy and Joyce hug… Dina comes in, stand looking at them awkwardly and then join the hug… Joyce seems surprised at first, but then smiles and includes Dina in the hug, happy that she is not still angry about the feather-dinos?
…and then they all make out?
… I thought that was already implicit.
Yay for honesty! Maybe she’ll break up with Ethan and then blame herself when she finds out he’s gay?
Also, while I like her expression who is my gravitar?
Grace. Of Squad 48 in IW! She hasn’t been seen much in DoA, but I think she was at the floor meeting.
Thank you.
John, your avatar makes it look like you’re angry for timemonkey not knowing this.
Nah, my grav is just angry at timemonkey’s grav.
Probably for kissing her.
Or not kissing her.
Hey, now. I didn’t sign up for character development today!
Would it be better if we replaced the middle two panels with them kissing and the last panel in an embrace?
You wouldn’t even need to change the dialog in the last panel.
XD
It’s relevant to -my- ship, I don’t know about anybody else.
It’s Friday, stuff like this always happen on Fridays. It’s tradition.
I’d sing the relevant song title, but I don’t want my ears to bleed and I don’t want to ruin the mood of this comic. In that order of importance.
yeah, its like come here for dina laughs & love, and then we have stupid moments like this that remind us that story characters can have feelings too. on a more serious note, that last panel can be really dark if Joyce ends up doing something self destructive. its only been a few days since some guy tried to rape her and seems to be having an emotional breakdown now, i dont see DoA being a happy Joyce series
Well, in the other series, Joyce’s breakdown was relatively fast, and helped along with some alien technology. I think DoA is where we see how these things can work out without any aliens involved. So it’ll probably take a while.
Nothing like DoA on a Friday to cheer me up…
*goes to DoA site*
…dammit!
You always have Shortpacked!
SP! was a lot happier today.
Which is ironic because people got mauled to death by a bear.
Since the people who got mauled wasn’t anyone I give a shit about, it counts as happy to me.
I was cheering for the bear, so I was happy. Plus I hated that movie.
Now if only your gravatar was zoidberg when you said that
I recommend Katawa Shoujo instead.
With a Neo Genesis Evangelion chaser.
And Madoka Magica for dessert.
And then a nice chaser of Dangan Ronpa.
Followed by a light snack of Berserk.
i used to think i had sadistic tendencies, then i read these posts (not really a sadist, just a lead in), though i probably would have said katawa shoujo myself if nobody else had
I wonder if this is autobiographical.
The Hovertext confirms it is
The HOVERTEXT in question.
THANK YOU on behalf of all the iOS-based viewers.
You’re welcome. ^_^ The irony is that I don’t even have a smart phone, just a shock/water resistant mobile phone.
Not really sure why he didn’t just write
“oh lookit me just articulating all my college-age sin-related fears directly into a comic”
in the hovertext rather than posting the url to the tweet.
Love that background wallpaper.
Hey Joyce, don’t make it bad.
Take a sad song and make it better.
Remember to let him into your heart,
Then you can start to make it better.
Hey Joyce! Don’t be afraid!
You were made to…reproduce and ensure your species’ survival
That being said, maybe all this is not the best advice exactly for this specific situation…
Hey Joyce, don’t be afraid.
You were made to go out and get him.
The minute you let him under your skin
Then you begin to make it better…
So, let it out and let it in
Hey Joce, begin…
Shit, wait, I jumped ahead in the song.
And anytime you feel the pain
Hey Joyce, refrain
Don’t carry their faiths upon your shoulders
For well you know that it’s a fool who goes to school
While keeping their world as small as yours is
Nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah
Hey Joyce, don’t let me down
You have found her, so go and get her
Remember to let her into your heart
And then you can start
The lesbian makeouts
So let it out and let it in
Hey Joyce, begin
You’re looking for someone to lez out with
And don’t you know that it’s just you
Hey Joyce, she’ll do
The one that you need is in the bathroom
Nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah
Hey Joyce, don’t make it bad.
Take a sad song and make it better
The minute realize that Ethan’s gay
Then you begin to make it better…
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah, hey Joyce
Hey Jude Soundtrack
JOYCEY! JOYCEY! JOYCEY! JOYCEY! JOYCEY!
Some days I’m sad that we can’t upvote posts here.
Naaaa naa naa nanana naaaaaa…
In this life you may have some trouble, but when you worry you make it double.
Burma Shave.
Meowth, that’s right!
Empty beer cans on the road/ are ugly some may say/ but at night reflecting bright/ they safely guide the way
Burma Shave
Don’t worry Joyce, Jesus died for your sins!
That means that if you don’t sin, you’re wasting his gift! O_O
And then we’ll run out and have to kill him all over again.
And that’ll just make the second coming awkward.
Why else would there even be a second coming? He was sent to Earth to die for our sins. So if he’s back doesn’t that just mean we’ve been extra sinning?
Our cup sinneth over.
Yup, you got it. We are tied in the game of life, and we are into extra sinnings.
Eh, we already saw THAT over in Shortpacked!. Kinda awkward, but mostly just inconvenient if you own a table.
She… she just wants tacos.
In her butt?
Or butt tacos… for her mouth?
Even I don’t know where I was going with that one.
Oh good, I am not the only one then.
No, she seems to prefer hot dogs. Daisy is the one who really wants some tacos.
Daisy needs a taco BADLY.
Joyce wants tacos, is curious about the box, and wants to borrow Dorothy. I have real trouble reading that strip as anything but subtext.
Now that I’ve read it that way, I can’t unread it.
I don’t believe sin is an actual thing but Joyce said exactly how I feel right now and I’m just going to crawl into a ball and cry and hope Joyce has a happy ending in this story or I’ll just die.
I’ve been reading Willis for a long time now, so…
She will almost certainly get a happy ending.
But the way will be long, and the journey will be painful, and there will be tears along the way.
I most certainly ruined this comic by reading it the first time through with “out of the loop” playing in the background.
Same. I am completely nonreligious but Joyce just described me so much there.
As I understand, a sin is an act that’s not harmful but still is harmful because someone’s religious dogma says it’s harmful. Which is a paradox,sure, but still a thing that can exist.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Joyce is getting CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT?!? I am shocked, SHOCKED, I tell you!
And then her evil, slutty doppelganger splits off and… oh, wait. Wrong universe. NEVER mind… 😉
https://twitter.com/damnyouwillis/status/301902004899426306
For anyone who doesn’t feel like typing in the hovertext
You’re an angel, next to the monster that is Willis.
Bizarrely I coulda sworn I heard someone of the same name being interviewed over international corporate financial policy or something on the radio last night. It’s getting worse, he’s now invading the traditional media…
You could also right click and look at the page source, line 183. #easymode #ohgodImusinghashtagssomewhereotherthantwitter
Original Sin is why I cannot pilot an EVA.
You’re lookin classy today. Who’s the grav?
I no longer recall where I got the original file I based my grav on, all I can say was its file name was yomiko-bishoujo.jpg
welp, google’s got nothing. you sure about that one plas?
I know it’s a fanart I edited a few computers ago, but I forgotten the details.
…is it some alt-universe contacts-wearing version of Yomiko Readman from “Read or Die”? The clothes look about right for it…
Oh, wait, drs already said that. Um… *smokescreen and flee*
You might be onto something, it has been quite a while since I collected any ROD fanart and now you mentioned it, it does fit.
Main google hit for Yomiko is Yomiko Readman, from Read Or Die. I guess it could be a bishoujo version of her, though I wouldn’t see it easily, partly because the eyes are so much smaller.
Original Sin is why I cannot ride on the Nimbus Cloud.
Original sin is why I’m not allowed to have spoons around a badger.
Original sin is why I’ve grown accustom to your faaaaaaace~
Original sin is way better than Sour Cream & Onion Sin.
But have you tried Sweet Potato Sin with whipped cream?
That sounds both horrible and intriguing at the same time. I may try to con someone into trying it for me.
Have you tried the All-Dressed Sin? It’s a toss up for my favorite. The clothes really make it harder to sin though.
We couldn’t afford original sin when I was growing up. We had to make do with cheap knock-off sin.
Original sin is what I did to your mom last night. Then I paid her a nickel to make it Second Sin.
I’m sorry, did you say your name was Mike?
I will do anything for alt-text, even if it means memorizing an 18-digit long number in a URL.
Here’s that URL in a Ctrl-V friendly format.
https://twitter.com/damnyouwillis/status/301902004899426306
Yikes! I just copied it from the page’s source code.
I just waited for someone to put a link down here. Thanks, guys. Most efficient comments section or most efficient comments section?
*facepalm* XD Also, may the source code be with you.
This makes me feel sorry for Joyce. Damnyouwillis… You do this all the time. You are just too good at it.
And the face on Dorothy in the last panel…*sniff* …poor thing.
I already felt sorry for Joyce. Saw this moment coming several strips back. I’d no idea she’d arrive at it so quickly, though.
Admitting you have a problem is the first step.
…to becoming aware of how truly fucked up you are.
Some of us only get that far, though/
Now break up with Ethan, Joyce. You can do it!
Also what is that above the toilet paper? Paper towls? A trash can? BOTH?
Have you ever been in a girl’s bathroom?
And also have you ever cleaned one?
I have!
So have I and boy are teenage girls messy.
Teenagers in general.
Also true.
Sanitary napkin bags. Ladies’ restrooms are fancy.
A tiny trash can and what appears to be a supply of small paper bags, for the disposal of female hygiene products. Not all bathrooms have them, though, and I’ve actually very rarely seen the paper bags, but the little trash cans are fairly common.
It’s where bloody pads and tampons go 😀
I just wish they could teach all women to do that. Those items are not designed to be flushed, and are a major problem in sewage treatment plants.
In fairness, some tampons actually say they ARE flushable, and you can’t blame us for believing the label. 🙂
If a particular religion is keeping someone from being happy, then they are either placing too much emphasis on it, or the religion in question just is not for them.
Or their parents have fucked them up by making them too repressed.
Some may argue that happiness on earth is irrelevant for they shall be forever content afterward. I wouldn’t, though.
I don’t know if Joyce’s fears are purely religious. I’ve often felt the same way and I’m hardly religious. I think it’s more a matter of lacking trust in one’s self. Joyc’e religion just provides a different context to think about these things in.
Well, consider what it means to be “happy”. The things you might think will make you happy often do not, nor are they guaranteed to be good even if they did.
Look at Joyce for a moment. She thinks that a relationship will make her happy, but her religion forbids her from participating in the culture the same way her friends do.
BUT even without her religious attitude, she would never pursue a relationship the way Dorothy and Walky have. Because she doesn’t really want “a relationship”, she just wants somebody to make her the WIFE she’s always dreamed of being.
If you want to see what Joyce looks like without her religious attitude, don’t look at Dorothy. Look at Billie.
O-oh, ok Willis, yeah it’s cool, I didn’t to feel good today anyways. Damn onion ninjas, trying to make me cry.
Wow, she’s surprisingly self-aware in this universe! It’s refreshing. This just makes me like her even more (and I always have preferred this Joyce to the younger Joyce in the normal Walkyverse, before she grew up and all).
Wow, I feel for you, Joyce. I know *exactly* what you mean.
What makes this worse is that it’s not even just sinning that she’s afraid of. Considering what happened with the *last* boy she was interested in, I can’t blame her for being afraid of being intimate with a boy, even if “intimate” to Joyce is just kissing right now.
Confessions in a booth. I thought she was Protestant, not Catholic.
I thought anyone could confess in a booth. Especially if you’re on trial.
You’re also supposed to be anonymous in the booth. At least, that’s how I understand it from the outside. (Raised protestant here.)
That’s… iffy. Traditionally in Catholic confession you were expected to anonymous, even if in practice in a small parish you realistically couldn’t be. Some shifts in post Vatican II law and practice do allow for one not to be, though confession is still private. My understanding is that in Lutheran and the Anglican churches that still hold to the practice it’s still the norm to expect anonymity. I can’t speak of Orthodox Christian practice regarding confession outside being aware they also practice it, as what I know of their religious practices is severely limited and incomplete, and, of course, most Calvinist strains of Christianity don’t hold with this format of penance at all.
Man, this one was a sweet comic, Willis. Jeph’s alternate comic was great, too, and I was thinking the same thing as I read this one. =) But awesome character development, here.
That Jacques is a real artist.
And a man who truly understands how he wishes to express himself. Started out with fart jokes, continues to make fart jokes, will keep on making fart jokes through the many long years ahead, right until his funeral service, at which time a giant “BRRAAPPP” will somehow erupt from his corpse at a particularly inappropriate moment.
Somehow, when I saw the link, I just knew when I clicked on it what the improvements were going to be. And I was correct.
I always thought if you were taught something, and you became that, but your body urges you to be or do differently, than you’re not so much losing yourself as much as your losing whatever was put in your head and letting your true colors shine through. Like…taking off clothes. You are no less yourself without a shirt than you are with a shirt, but we’d prefer to keep a shirt on, even if we’d REALLY want to take it off. But if we DO take off that shirt, we’re not someone else. We’re just the same guy without a shirt on.
People tend to identify with their beliefs and see them as a part of themselves. In Western culture (probably many others, I don’t know) desires are seen as transient while beliefs are the very core of your person, perhaps even more so than personality traits.
Honestly I never even really considered an alternative to this system before.
God, Dorothy, how could you not see something so obvi- oh, wait, you’ve known her for like two weeks not the 2.5 years we’ve been reading this comic.
Man, I hope I live long enough to see their first midterms.
When they graduate my grandkids will have already gotten out of college.
Oh, no. They’re never gonna graduate. Perpetual university for the win!
Joyce keeps using the word “jealous” when she means “envious”. It’s extremely petty, but I feel this urge to correct her!
Writers have been using “jealous” and “envious” synonymously for centuries, bro. I think it’s safe to say the prescriptivists have lost this particular battle.
AAAARRRGREED, me hearties.
Ye God o’ prescription be jealous tar.
Bugger ‘im!!
Not to mention people will confuse the two in common conversation. The difference between the two is so fine, it’s nigh impossible to know when to use which. Besides, people always use proper grammar in the conversations they participate in.
I feel like a fraud with my English degree for never realizing when to use jealous versus envious.
Or who and whom.
Or antidissestablishmentarianism.
That you consider antidisestablishmentarianism something reflecting on your English degree amuses me, since it’s a poly-sci kind of thing with sociological, historical and philosophy of religion significance.
Given how Joyce reacts to Dorothy spending time with Walky, I’m not sure but what “jealous” is more accurate than she’d be willing to admit.
Bingo.
Hooray for Jeph Jacques!
*poooot*
Well… since a few comments have been ‘I know how Joyce feels’, let me just say that I don’t get where Joyce is coming from at all. I honestly do not understand how such thoughts can exist in anyone’s mind.
Have you ever had the urge to, say, commit a crime, even though you know it’s wrong? Or had a craving to do something that you’ve been told is bad but isn’t directly harmful? It might help put things in perspective.
While we’re at it, I have not felt as Joyce have. In fact, as a kid, I never went through the phase where I hated girls. Kinda made me confused when in Grade 1, boys and girls entered into separate camps.
I haven’t even felt that about crimes. For me to want to do something ‘bad’, I have to first have lost respect for the rule that forbids it. This prevents me from feeling guilt over it, either at the thought of doing it or the actual deed.
The only times I’ve felt guilt have been when I misinterpreted the situation, and later found out that I was doing bad things that I was unaware of at the time. Then I feel bad over my past actions.
When the idea that something is wrong has been drilled into your head from a very young age, and yet that something is a natural urge, and you see other people obtaining it effortlessly, that creates a horrible internal conflict. It feels impossible to even think about the matter logically, because the crushing guilt and self-loathing is a deep visceral reaction.
I can’t think of anything to compare it to if you haven’t experienced it yourself. Let’s just say I do not recommend it.
Replace sin with irresponsibility and you’ve got my #1 fear: I’m terrified that I’ll one day turn into what Ethan did when he got fired from Shortpacked!, except nobody would come and get me.
Jeph’s version is better.
There needs to be an alt-verse where a non-gay version of Ethan takes Joyce into his arms and shows her there’s nothing at all sinful about being intimate with someone you care about before marriage. 😀
I believe that Ethan’s homosexuality has been established to be a multiversal constant, making your scenario a metaphysical impossibility.
Which is strange given the other things that have been changed between the Walkyverse and here. What makes Ethan’s homosexuality so important?
Ethan is the M’Kraan Crystal of the Walkyverse.
Ethan’s homosexuality is a fundamental law of universal structure, such that no universe can exist without a gay Ethan in it without instantly collapsing due to critically flawed internal structure. There is a gay Ethan in every comic universe, in every movie universe, in every book universe, and in our real universe too.
This fact is the cornerstone for the well-known proof that empty universes are impossible.
Thing to remember here is that all the Ethans we, the readers, have become aware of are in universes that are variations of the main Walkyverse. DoA is thw Walkyverse with some variations regarding aliens and various related elements, and a few other variations to allow author and fan favorite characters to be of similar age. The universe that Ultra Car and Leslie visited was one where Robin was removed from the universe, allowing the Drama Tag to have a stronger effect. In the end, though, they are all still just permutations on the main Walkyverse and not indicative of universes that fall outside that range, and moreso are too small a data set to even suggest anything concrete about the universes within that range.
It’s like how every universe has an evil guy named Mike in it.
You and Jeph are a bad influence on each other.
A bad influence, or the BEST influence?
Bronfluence…. true story…
You know what would inject some levity into this situation? If there’s a poop-based sound effect, and then Dorothy goes “Yikes, Joyce” and Joyce is all “What? This is the bathroom.” That would inject some levity.
I now has a sad. 🙁
Wow….this is hitting me right in the feels. I can very easily relate to Joyce in many ways. Well done Willis.
The feels indeed. : (
*HUG*
Joyce’s attitude here reminds me a lot of Ayaan Hirsi Ali writing in Infidel. Guess it doesn’t really matter too much what kind of fundamentalism you’re brought up in; they’re all based on fear. (Though at least the xtians don’t generally do FGM, and forced marriages are less common.)
oh dear god jeph’s alternate comic was particularly appropriate, because it made me shit myself laughing
Is Joyce in a confession booth? I must have missed a few strips.
It’s a multi-purpose booth. She can also distribute informative pamphlets if she wants.
Or a banking booth. (She can make deposits.)
I want to be able to bring myself to feel sorry for Joyce, but I simply can’t do it.
Just do what I do, substitute that for a righteous anger at an institution that would screw people up like that in the name of “good”.
If you can’t express the feelings you have with someone you like without feeling shame or guilt, then someone/something has messed you up pretty bad.
So first, Joyce gets attacked and Billie forces a blow job on Danny (who most likely put up the weakest most token resistance in the history of manhood). And now Billie is being attacked and Joyce is forcing her mouth magic on an unsuspecting Ethan? When did theses two become two sides of the same coin?
Probably when Billie bought her those damn boots.
Billie didn’t force anything on Danny. She jumped him with intent to have sex and he said no so she left.
Joyce’s line in the third panel is one of those rare instances wherein somebody manages to put words on something I didn’t realize I’d been feeling or thinking all along until someone put words on it. And I see from the comments so far that I’m not the only reader who appreciates today’s strip. Well done, David Willis, and thank you.
Hrm, OK, Mike is totally not the Gravatar I’d have chosen for that comment….
Charles Lavoie was right!
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8510/8539084105_c0f692dd55_b.jpg
Angsty cliffhanger? On a Friday? OF COURSE. IT IS APE LAW.
Ah, fear and guilt. The bricks and mortar upon which religions are built.
Hey Dorothy, don’t you catch it too! You don’t have to feel guilty. It’s not your fault she’s Christian.
As always, David Willis, I am awed by your comic. I have been exactly there. I love Joyce. I love that she’s not a stereotype and that she’s actually likable and rational. I had this same conversation over and over and over inside my head in high school. And now I’m someone else than I was then. I’m very happy. But I think I also would have been happy if I had become the person I thought I wanted to be. I wasn’t unhappy being religious. I was unhappy not knowing who i was.
Joyce rember this:
Evil is Good.
At first I wondered why Joyce was sitting down facing the toilet. Then I wondered why I wondered that. Then I realized it’s because the camera flips around while you’re in the stall so that both characters are facing right in the comic. One of them should probably be facing left. Maybe just flip the last panel.
Yeah, way to cross the 180° line, Willis.
Joyce can’t be sitting sideways on the toilet? I mean, it’s not like she’s USING it. It’s just acting as a seat. Seriously, in my brain, the camera doesn’t flip around at all. Both Dorothy and Joyce are facing the same direction.
Hmm. Generally there would not be enough room. Also, the TP and other items mounted behind her are usually located on the wall off to one side of the toilet, not behind it. Of coure, that’s only based on experience with Men’s rooms.
I should also say that I did not see any problem with the angles, 180deg. line or no. Those same items in the wall provided the needed orientation, for me.
Maybe she’s in the handicapped stall. There’d be plenty of room in there.
I once had a very similar fear based conversation with a roommate in college. Although it was more about masterbation than sin
I like how you framed the stall to look like a confessional. That was a nice touch.
Unless that just happened by accident in my brain because Catholic school.
…putting an URL into alt text is a really, really evil thing to do.
I can relate, albeit I was never strongly religious like Joyce I did have an inordinate focus on the romance and making every step slowly and deliberately. I’m still like that largely, I just know now to discuss it with my S.O. and if I slip up not guilt myself over little imperfections. Granted SINCE I learned that my relationships have only been imaginary so lots of good its doing me.
I know exactly how Joyce feels. I spent many years being afraid of everything because religion pounded the bible instead of reading it. >.>
this is why i hate these repressive ideas
i mean fuck, i was a less bible crazed joyce
sex was always so eevvvviiiillllll, i had never even been in a relationship until i was 19
19!!! and even then i still had problems with all that because of how i viewed it
Solution: become less religious.