Bizarrely, my own journey is almost the complete opposite.
And don’t you go wincing at 10 years, I just tabbed here from Freefall, which has been a tri-weekly staple of mine since at least 2001.
Well OK, tell a lie, I tabbed here from EGS itself (the sketchbook in fact, which made seeing Mandy again so soon, and in even more arbitrary colour, a bit weird), but it was FF immediately before that…
I can’t remember now, when exactly I started reading EGS. Sometime around the Sister arc, maybe. I think I followed a link from the ads on ClanBOB’s Life of Riley, which I started reading after an ad THEY had up on Penny Arcade.
Wow, Life of Riley. Sucks that they just sort of abandoned that one. Amazing how many of us end up reading the same stuff. EGS: yep. Penny Arcade: yep (since, like forever). Freefall: yep. As far as longevity? How about Sluggy Freelance. I’ve been reading that since I discovered webcomics and fast internet access in 2000, and it’s older than that.
I’ve been following Willis’s comics since 2000. Sluggy since ’99… it wasn’t my first webcomic, either, though I think it was the first one I read that’s still active, and definitely the first one that I still read. My first was Chris Baldwin’s Bruno, ’round about ’96-’97…
Wrong Bruno. I read Bruno the Bandit for a bit, too, but its pop culture parody schtick got really old pretty quickly, so I quit. I was not amused when it took over Sluggy weekends with basically the same schtick.
I began reading PA on October 26 2009. Since then my collection of webcomic bookmarks has grown. Second was Xkcd, then a smaller LFG, followed by TG, and after that it gets a little fuzzy. Needless to say, TvTropes had a lot to do with them all. Check their webcomics:long runners page.
Wow, I thought I was one of the few webcomic oldtimers around here. I first started with User Friendly in 1998, and some others before that, that I have forgotten and never redicovered (my computer crashed and I lost the links), also found Megatokyo in 2001, lost it, then rediscovered it years later. Been reading EGS since 2004. Strangely enough, just recently discovered Sluggy Freelance. The oldest still updating webcomic I know of is Sabrina Online, which started in 1996. My current webcomics favourites list is over 400 entries.
They’d try, but when I try to see them as murderers, all I can do is picture them putting on silly costumes to ‘hide their identity’ and then tripping over said costumes.
Where is Ethan? He was right beside Joyce in godless, but he seems to have backed a bit away from everything. I kind of expected more from him, even if their relationship is not one of boyfriend/girlfriend he should still support her as a friend.
He should, but it would be totally out of character. He has consistently and shamelessly dodged trouble in every storyline he’s been in. In fact, he’s only dating Joyce at all to try to avoid flak from his mum.
That’s incorrect. He is dating Joyce because he wants to get to have what’s deemed as a normal life. He distinctly wants to have a partner, he just feels like his search for someone like him is doomed.
Incorrect? He’s made no attempt to search for someone like himself, nor ever expressed any desire to find someone. He said he wants to be “an internet-addicted, robot-collecting geek” but why does he need a romantic partner for that?
He made Amber take most of the flak when he came out (perhaps accidentally) at home, and now he’s hiding behind Joyce because he’s expecting just as much trouble here. The contrast between Joyce’s moral bravery and honesty, and Ethan’s moral cowardice is stark.
I agree that he hasn’t tried, and I’m not saying that Ethan shirks away from trouble. I’m just saying that he isn’t doing it solely to make his mom “love him again” or anything like that (I am also not saying that this isn’t a factor at all), but you were saying he is ONLY dating Joyce because of that.
Looking back over the strips where he discusses it with Joyce, he doesn’t talk about wanting a partner, he talks about everyone else having it easy. He says he wishes he could “ignore the annoying stuff going on in his pants”, not redirect it in a more normal direction. I really think the only reason he’s dating her at all is as a beard to hide behind. His mom is (from what we have seen) the most important person to hide from.
Woah there, taekwondogirl is right. In fact, there are three different instances where he talks about the reasons he’d like to go back into the closet:
1) In the conversation with Mike, he complains about how he won’t be able to find anybody like him. Mike sarcastically points out that he wouldn’t have to be alone if he was willing to settle for a girl. (basic gist of what he’s saying, I don’t remember exactly how the scene goes)
2) In the conversation with Amber, he’s bothered by how his sexuality is basically his defining feature. Instead of being the toy geek, he’s the gay guy. If he’s straight, he can go back to being who he was in high school.
3) In the conversation with Joyce, he doesn’t actually give a reason – not one that’s consistent with his character anyway. In fact, seeing as Ethan’s not homophobic, and wouldn’t actually have a problem with being gay if not for the above reasons, the only way that particular convo makes sense is if you draw on what he’s told Amber and Mike. Far as I can tell, being able to appease his parents is kind of just a perk.
Of course, it could have affected him more than we’ve been shown. It doesn’t really seem that way to me, though.
Bullshit. I just looked up your point 1, and Ethan is complaining that finding a jewish geek is hard enough, without having to find a gay jewish geek. Mike sarcastically suggests pretending to be straight, and Ethan then starts chatting up Joyce. But she’s neither jewish nor a geek. If he’s prepared to compromise on those points, his whole problem goes away: finding other gays isn’t hard.
Your point 2 I agree with, but what does it have to do with dating Joyce? If he really wants to be an archetypal toy geek, he should be alone and unloved, not dating an attractive girl.
In your third point I think you’re making totally unjustified assumptions about Ethan’s character. He hasn’t shown any signs of homophobia towards others, but he’s showing clear signs of homophobia towards himself: he really really doesn’t want to accept this fact about himself.
I don’t think he’s thought through this at all. I don’t think his reasons are rational. He just doesn’t want it to be true: he wishes it would go away, and he hopes Joyce can make it go away.
2) He’s not trying to be an archetype*: he’s trying to be himself, and him being gay keeps getting in the way. He’s seen it happen in high school, with his parents, and with Amber. He’s determined to make sure it doesn’t happen again, so he takes it too far the other direction.
3) I’m not really making any assumptions – my conclusions are based on the evidence that has been presented in the comic. To extrapolate it further than that is speculation. I’m not saying it’s bad to do so, just that I’m not doing it.
I agree with you though, it’s not rational. I’m not actually defending Ethan’s actions here.
Note: having a defining feature does not make you an archetype.
We haven’t seen much of what Ethan’s been up to, but given that he’d been at a major university for all of a week before he abandoned orientation, religion, and nerdery to volunteer himself for a church-date with Joyce, I can’t imagine he’s been searching very hard.
A school the size of IU – 42,000 students – certainly has LGBT organizations, Jewish organizations, nerd organizations… I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a club for gay Jewish nerds specifically. Ethan has plenty of avenues for looking for a partner that fits, but we’ve seen no evidence that he has been. He’s just been hanging out with the two people he knows from high school, wangsting, and grabbing at the first girl who walks by in an effort to de-gay himself.
(It occurs to me that, other than Dorothy and Billie at the paper, we haven’t seen anyone get involved in extracurriculars. Does IU have a Club Day or the like?)
We didn’t actually see it, but one character mentioned that they had a floor meeting, he made one rule, and then said that he was going to go play League of Legends more, so have fun kthnxbye.
I kinda forgot that Ethan and his folks were here, too. I was just thinking this would be the perfect time for Joshua and Ethan to start making goo-goo eyes at each other again. I think Naomi might pick up on that a bit better than Carol did.
The Defcons actually go in reverse order. And there’s only 5, with 5 being peace time. So Defcon 7 would be like hyper-okay-with-the-situation. Sorry, but this is just something that irks me and makes me get all spergy.
In X-Men Evolution, Defcon 4 at the mansion is total lockdown. I choose to believe this is going in the correct order, and Wolverine is THAT over-the-top on security measures.
She is immediately adopted by the Walkertons, who seem to have a bedroom for a daughter set up in their house, but can’t for the life of them remember why.
Right now Joshua might just as well be wearing an Invisibility Cloak. The Rockettes could be where Joshua is standing and performing in the nude but there is so much drama occurring on the far side of that fountain that no one there would even notice.
So is Joshua just seeing general drama or does he think that Joyce has outed herself and is dating the girl who she’s awkwardly hugging while looking scaredly at the parents?
They got reshuffled again late yesterday afternoon, when Willis added Roz, I think. I went from Angry Billie to old Joyce to new Dorothy and now back to Billie.
I also shifted from the old Sarah to this even cooler new Sarah (by way of the cute new Amber). I’m happy about this — but afraid to get too comfy! While I’m at it: the new Roz is adorable, too!
Everytime there’s an avatar reshuffle I always get kinda jealous that I set my gravatar. At the same time, I love my Gravatar, so the feelings kinda balance.
Josh comes out as gay to cover Joyce. Joyce, not wanting to let Josh dangle in the firing line, comes out as bi to cover Josh. Ethan comes out as gay to take the blame as her ‘corrupter’, and it almost goes according to plan except Mr. Siegel outs HIMSELF to block the shots against Ethan once and for all.
Wait, no, we still need a few more plot threads to tie together and wring out of this scene. Billie shows up and comes out as bi, prompting half the cast staring as she goes “What? Everyone else was doing it.” Amber shows up and reveals to Danny and the world that she is Amazi-Girl, causing gasps all around and Billie and Dorothy getting into a reporter fight. Danny’s parents stare at him expectantly until he says that no, really, he actually is straight. They shake their heads in disappointment and say they support him either way.
THEN the Russians invade, lead by Galasso who may or may not actually be Russian, they don’t know either, but if there’s any invading going on he demands to be in charge of it.
You forgot to mention the part where Billie, not willing to accept Amazi-Girl’s true identity, creates her own alter ego in order to become AG’s archenemy in an attempt to unmask the real Amazi-Girl (Sal).
Then the Dean calls the police on them. Sadly, the Russians have already invaded by this point.
Robin is taken prisoner by the Russians, and Sal is forced to rescue her in a stunning display of heroism that finally earns her parents’ acknowledgment. Because she’s a bad enough dude to save the Representative.
But actually, I don’t really know how to feel about this. Some people think he’s awful for not protecting Joyce (in other strips, anyway), some people obviously don’t blame him here. I don’t really know the best way to respond to this kind of thing personally, but I’m kind of outspoken when it comes to issues like this, so I’d probably jump in.
…Then again, if I was raised in the environment they were, I’d probably be a completely different person, so who knows.
I’d say him not helping his sister is a negative trait (he is clearly a passive person with his family) but I don’t think that makes him a horrible person, just…not a paragon of morality or something? IDK
Joshua doesn’t know what happened, just that everyone is in a stunned silence. He is waiting to see what is going on before he does anything, but he knows it is going to be trouble.
He can see that Joyce is clutching Dorothy to her while her parents look shocked; he doesn’t know exactly what happened, but he can make a pretty good guess.
(…although when I phrase it like that, it sounds as if Joyce shocked them in a rather different manner.)
Do you know hard it is to battle fundie parents? The only way you win is by agreeing to everything and then quietly doing what you want. If Josh stands up to them to support Joyce it will be the equivalent of a ‘normal’ person running into a burning building to rescue someone…
I don’t know, if I walked up to that, I’d probably do the same thing. The only thing I could accomplish is possibly distract both sides from their disagreement. And honestly, it needs to be resolved now rather than later.
There is only one way this situation could get worse (better?), and that is if when everyone got done fighting, the shoot back to Joshua, who is now passionately making out with Ethan and/or some random Dude Whose Name is Not Important.
It’s not GOING to happen, but it would be hilarious.
Maybe not now, but Ethan and Joshua will end up together (whether that be a short-lived fling or some kind of actual relationship) at some point. It can’t not happen.
Anyone wonder if Joyce just “decided” to get transferred off to Christian college “for her own good”? They can’t make her stay away from Dorothy but if they are paying for her school they can try to force the issue with money.
I can almost hear your comic winding up its good arm for a really bad knockout blow. I haven’t been this excited to get punched since Parents’ Day 2013 at Northeastern U.
Not to be *THAT* person, but reversing direction is a one-eighty. 360º is a full circle; you end up in the same position and orientation as you started.
Trivia question for the masses: Which strip has the most people tagged? I don’t know the answer, but I have to think this sequence must be close to the top.
3 avatars in 3 days…angry Billie for quite awhile, then forget who (its late) and today its Sarah. All good, like Billie fine and Sarah is cool.
Guess I don’t care one way or the other for the middle one ’cause I just can’t remember.
Gottawonder as this is gets better…who’s going to drown.
You have an actual registered gravatar, so it follows you around wherever you comment with the same email. Many of us don’t, so we get assigned one of the DoA default ones, selected using the result of a calculation performed on our email address. Which default grav you get is usually consistent, because the same email always gives the same result, but when the selection of gravatars the DoA site provides changes, which one that result corresponds to can change.
I’d been Angry Billie for months, but last night Willis started updating the default gravs to a new set, so all the correspondences changed several times as gravs were added or removed or changed. I was the old Joyce briefly after he added Jacob, and then the new Dorothy for a while after he got all the updated ones in, and then yesterday afternoon he added Roz too and I got Billie back, though the new one now.
(We seem to have lost Galasso and the Squad 48 girls, but gained Jacob and Roz. I don’t remember who was in the old set well enough to be sure who else has come or gone.)
I have been “Bicycle Bill” ever since I first logged onto a computer back in the days of the old AOL 3½-inch floppies. I am also a “Parrothead” (fan of trop-rock singer Jimmy Buffett) and frequently hang out at a fansite known as “BuffettNews”. One of the moderators (who incidentally also does a hit-and-miss webcomic for the site) drew me up the unique “cycling parrot” a few years ago and I’ve been using it ever since.
They seem calmer than expected. Maybe they’re in shock or maybe the decision to split with her parents yet keep her faith proves that her beliefs couldn’t be affected by her “wicked consorts”.
AND NOW FOR A MONTH LONG CATCHUP ON WHAT MIKE AND JOE ARE DOING, TURNS OUT THEY’RE HAVING A WACKY ROADTRIP ADVENTURE WITH LES, THROUGH NAME-THAT-CAMEO LAND.
The look on Joyce’s parents’ faces: a combination of “our little girl’s all grown up” and “we have a rebellious teen on our hands, what do we do?”, with a touch of “quit confusing the issue with the facts!” or “… with logic!” thrown into the mix. They know they’ve lost the battle – but since they won’t admit to firing the opening volley this round, they also won’t admit their own loss. After all, in their minds, they’re never wrong.
Dorothy grits her teeth and mutters to Joyce, “Nice knowing you.”
Mrs. Walkerton: “So, have they invited you to a threesome yet?”
Walky: “Uh…. Joyce never hinted she was interested. But I can ask.”
And let’s see if I’m still Billie (I miss being Dina….)
Pssh, don’t reach the source of the awkward and then hide, Josh. That’s a rookie mistake. A true awkward situations escape artist is always thinking of somewhere else that they suddenly need to be, well before anyone you know has a chance to lay eyes on your cowardly butt.
Huh, you’re right. Only in this case, Dorothy doesn’t have that evil look on her face, almost as if she’s been “updated” to reflect Joyce’s understanding of her a la Ruth’s eyes.
…and uh, also ‘cuz this is real life and Dorothy’s not a cartoon villain.
In the prolonged silence, one person can at last not stand the tension any more. A moustache rises to grant a voice passage. The voice is dry from disuse, but one cannot mistake the deep sadness it conveys.
“…I’m gay.”
The words hover in the air, but no one seems to notice; or if they do, they don’t understand, or don’t want to understand. A moment passes like eternity.
Finally, the years of frustration and regret fully awakened, with a loudness that will make his vocal cords hurt for days, Saul bellows:
Everything was a blur. Saul’s heart raced so fast that he wasn’t able to absorb all the detail of what his vision should have the purpose of doing. His conscious has a deep wanting of spacing out, and he doesn’t even care why.
All hope is not lost when a hand seems to materialize on his vision. This hand seems to reach for his cry for help. This hand surprisingly came from least likely person to understand him on situations like this. This hand, with Saul’s assurance, unmistakably came from a male blue-eyed owner, whose daughter is currently dating his son.
Saul immediately responded back with deep hug from the only Samaritan in the room. Time seems to slow down as he savors all the moment of acceptance, even if it’s just coming from one person. And whatever regret Saul has from screaming his mind, became relief, because finally someone was able to understand his “real” problem. Saul cannot help it but cry on Hank’s shoulder during the process.
Saul was not able to fathom what it seems to be an enraging human tissue that is happening inside the pants of Hank. It was only later did he realized what and how wonderfully life-changing it means when Hank gave a soft touch on his face and started to kiss him passionately.
Somewhere not far away, a picture of what most people say “history repeats itself” is likely about to happen. Almost everyone seems to frown at this picture, but not to the 2 young people involved on this fabulous depiction of beauty.
The state of speechless shock on all the parents’ faces is priceless. I wonder how the tension will be broken? Walky looks like he won’t be his usual smartmouthed self from the uncomfortable look on his face. And what will Joyce’s brother do? Stay tuned for the next exciting episode!
Love how Joyce is hiding behind Dorothy and her brother hides behind the statue. Shows how bad her parents really are when it comes to non believers that you can feel the hate rolling off them.
Joyce is not hiding behind Dorothy, she is alongside of her in a kind of quasi-embrace showing Dorothy through both word and action that she’s got her six and is standing by her.
Now, Joshua, on the other hand……. You know the old saying about discretion being the better part of valor?
Where the ass did Ethan go? This is a touching and fantastic couple of strips (reminds me of the mennonite church I used to attend with my mother–they were very strict about being all inclusive of everyone no matter who they were) but…where is Ethan?
That’s some *seriously* bad perspective then. Like, get-back-to-the-drawing-board bad perspective.
Or maybe they are looking way more up than you think.
And by that I mean, I don’t think Willis’ style is unrealistic enough to have wildly different points of perspective for different people in the same panel.
There’s such a thing as *over*exxageration.
In the last panel, Joyce and Carol are looking at each other, and they are level.
In the first panel, the viewer seems to be above Hank’s head, and Carol is looking above the viewer.
And I can’t see Joyce in panel 2 looking anywhere but up, next to Dorothy. (Hank is behind Carol, at least two steps away, and barely a head taller – that’s not high enough or close enough for Joyce to both tilt head up and scroll eyes up; she also seems to be looking a bit to the left, which is not where her parents are).
Pretty sure Willis is not changing anybody’s sexuality. Ethan’s still the only guy who likes guys in this universe (excluding Joshua, as he’s not a regular cast member, and Mike, as he’s just whatever you don’t want him to be).
He could always have Drew or Manny make a re-appearance. I doubt the latter, since we aren’t going to have the same relationships again, but nothing stopping Drew from appearing and tongue-tangoing with Ethan again. In fact, he’s bi, so nothing stopping him from shacking up with anybody.
I was thinking about Drew maybe showing up a while back, but I kinda doubt it. And even if he did, fuck Drew, he’s a jerk.
Honestly, I’m pretty sure Joshua only exists as a plot device (as in, he will not become a regularly occurring character), but it’d be nice to have another non-straight dude. Currently, we have two lesbians (Daisy and Leslie), two bisexual girls (Robin and Billie), and one undefined (but definitely into ladies) girl (Ruth). We have one gay guy (Ethan). Everyone else is straight, which is fine, but variety is fun.
Yeah, but was Josh’s sexuality established in previous worlds? It’s been a long time since I read Roomies!, It’s Walky! or Joyce and Walky, but I don’t remember him really being mentioned beyond the mentions of Joyce’s brothers.
I’m not altogether certain Joshua actually existed in the Walkyverse. Walkyverse-Joyce had five brothers, and I’m not sure any of them directly correspond to the three she has in this universe. I think we know only one of their names – Bobby – and it doesn’t match any of her Dumbiverse brothers.
We know very little else about them, except that Mrs. Brown wants grandchildren and she considers it impossible that any of Joyce’s brothers will give them to her. Which suggests to me that maybe they might all be gay. Or infertile, or possibly just clearly doomed to being forever single. But gay seems a definite possibility.
I can’t tell who that blob of hair just above Joshua is. The color suggests Naomi or Linda, but it’s not really shaped like Linda’s… but I’m pretty sure Deborah’s supposed to be the one standing behind them? And isn’t Linda supposed to be next to Walky? Did the moms just poof out of existence? Because I honestly wouldn’t blame them.
The ‘blob of hair’ has to be Linda, because she and Deborah were the only two other females on that side of the face-off. As for their original positions, I think that there has been a certain amount of (uspecified) milling around while Joyce dropped her little bombshell and that Walky and his mother have, as is normal in times of trouble, tended to close up ranks on one another. I’m just surprised that Deborah hasn’t done the same with Dorothy. Still in a mild state of shock, perhaps, or perhaps cold-bloodedly planning her next move?
Wait a sec, looking at the tags, I think that blob of hair is actually Charles. Looks like him and Jeremiah are standing off to the side together, while Linda and Deborah are nowhere to be seen (in the last panel, anyway). The Siegals are missing as well.
On that note, I don’t think Ethan has seen Joshua yet, as others have (jokingly?) suggested. I think if he does sneak off to talk to Joshua, Willis will show him noticing him there first.
After further review of the picture and matching it up with the tag cloud, you may be right. The blob of hair is Charles, and the pair of pants we see peeking out from behind the statue (behind Joshua) must be Jeremiah – mainly because there is nowhere else they could be but still be included in the tags. The three Siegals, meanwhile, are out of the frame behind Mr. and Mrs. Brown.
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But he was too eager to see Ethan again
He should tackle hug Ethan just so Joyce can add one more thing: “Oh, and by the way, mom & dad, Joshua is gay.” THAT’ll put some life in this party!
If by life, you mean that they will get LIFE for murdering everyone around them from shock-overload then yeah, this party will be full of life.
Somehow I can’t help but think that the two of them going into a murderous rage would actually make them A LOT more likable than they are right now.
It’d be a talking point!
OMG AMANDA FROM EGS!
You just made my 8 years of following that comic that much more worthwhile.
THANKS! I been following EGS ever since I read about it in TVTropes several years ago.
I actually found it from someone bringing it up in the comments of one of Willis’s comics… *wince* ten years ago now.
Bizarrely, my own journey is almost the complete opposite.
And don’t you go wincing at 10 years, I just tabbed here from Freefall, which has been a tri-weekly staple of mine since at least 2001.
Well OK, tell a lie, I tabbed here from EGS itself (the sketchbook in fact, which made seeing Mandy again so soon, and in even more arbitrary colour, a bit weird), but it was FF immediately before that…
I can’t remember now, when exactly I started reading EGS. Sometime around the Sister arc, maybe. I think I followed a link from the ads on ClanBOB’s Life of Riley, which I started reading after an ad THEY had up on Penny Arcade.
Wow, Life of Riley. Sucks that they just sort of abandoned that one. Amazing how many of us end up reading the same stuff. EGS: yep. Penny Arcade: yep (since, like forever). Freefall: yep. As far as longevity? How about Sluggy Freelance. I’ve been reading that since I discovered webcomics and fast internet access in 2000, and it’s older than that.
Oh hai, new Avatar. And I’m not even 100% who this one is. TO THE CASTLIST.
…fail.
I mean, I sort of recognise her, which is the annoying thing, but not enough to immediately apply a name.
You appear to be Mary, the oh-so-slightly self-righteous young lass who lives in the same dorm as Joyce and her lot.
Why are you wincing at 10 years of Willis’ comics? I’ve been following Sluggy Freelance since 2000!
I’ve been following Willis’s comics since 2000. Sluggy since ’99… it wasn’t my first webcomic, either, though I think it was the first one I read that’s still active, and definitely the first one that I still read. My first was Chris Baldwin’s Bruno, ’round about ’96-’97…
Ah! I loved the adventures of Bruno! I have a T-shirt with him and Fiona on it. I was also a big fan of Dr. Lobster back then.
Wrong Bruno. I read Bruno the Bandit for a bit, too, but its pop culture parody schtick got really old pretty quickly, so I quit. I was not amused when it took over Sluggy weekends with basically the same schtick.
I began reading PA on October 26 2009. Since then my collection of webcomic bookmarks has grown. Second was Xkcd, then a smaller LFG, followed by TG, and after that it gets a little fuzzy. Needless to say, TvTropes had a lot to do with them all. Check their webcomics:long runners page.
Wow, I thought I was one of the few webcomic oldtimers around here. I first started with User Friendly in 1998, and some others before that, that I have forgotten and never redicovered (my computer crashed and I lost the links), also found Megatokyo in 2001, lost it, then rediscovered it years later. Been reading EGS since 2004. Strangely enough, just recently discovered Sluggy Freelance. The oldest still updating webcomic I know of is Sabrina Online, which started in 1996. My current webcomics favourites list is over 400 entries.
They’d try, but when I try to see them as murderers, all I can do is picture them putting on silly costumes to ‘hide their identity’ and then tripping over said costumes.
huh, new avatar
He’s also an anti-theist stalinist!
Fantasy restored 🙂
http://www.picfront.org/d/91tc
OH MY OH MY!
+1
(side note: you’re ruth! meaning everything you say is going to come out as sarcastic now)
I just did. Scroll down 🙂
What the good and giving hell is that?
Just made the best out of Zedd’s Clarity music video message, 2 cute people forcing themselves to be close would mean disaster.
And since I’m Ruth now, it’s always been my best interest on submitting myself to answer your question. /s
Does this mean one of them’s made out of antimatter?
I didn’t over thought it that deep though. I’m just after the irony of balls.
that is AWESOME and NUTS!
I wish I understood.
BTW, that would probably be about a quarter the size as an actual video yknow.
Please, PLEASE, be dragged by Ethan and hide somewhere.
I can see the 34 art that would spawn from that now…
Where is Ethan? He was right beside Joyce in godless, but he seems to have backed a bit away from everything. I kind of expected more from him, even if their relationship is not one of boyfriend/girlfriend he should still support her as a friend.
He should, but it would be totally out of character. He has consistently and shamelessly dodged trouble in every storyline he’s been in. In fact, he’s only dating Joyce at all to try to avoid flak from his mum.
That’s incorrect. He is dating Joyce because he wants to get to have what’s deemed as a normal life. He distinctly wants to have a partner, he just feels like his search for someone like him is doomed.
Incorrect? He’s made no attempt to search for someone like himself, nor ever expressed any desire to find someone. He said he wants to be “an internet-addicted, robot-collecting geek” but why does he need a romantic partner for that?
He made Amber take most of the flak when he came out (perhaps accidentally) at home, and now he’s hiding behind Joyce because he’s expecting just as much trouble here. The contrast between Joyce’s moral bravery and honesty, and Ethan’s moral cowardice is stark.
I agree that he hasn’t tried, and I’m not saying that Ethan shirks away from trouble. I’m just saying that he isn’t doing it solely to make his mom “love him again” or anything like that (I am also not saying that this isn’t a factor at all), but you were saying he is ONLY dating Joyce because of that.
Looking back over the strips where he discusses it with Joyce, he doesn’t talk about wanting a partner, he talks about everyone else having it easy. He says he wishes he could “ignore the annoying stuff going on in his pants”, not redirect it in a more normal direction. I really think the only reason he’s dating her at all is as a beard to hide behind. His mom is (from what we have seen) the most important person to hide from.
Woah there, taekwondogirl is right. In fact, there are three different instances where he talks about the reasons he’d like to go back into the closet:
1) In the conversation with Mike, he complains about how he won’t be able to find anybody like him. Mike sarcastically points out that he wouldn’t have to be alone if he was willing to settle for a girl. (basic gist of what he’s saying, I don’t remember exactly how the scene goes)
2) In the conversation with Amber, he’s bothered by how his sexuality is basically his defining feature. Instead of being the toy geek, he’s the gay guy. If he’s straight, he can go back to being who he was in high school.
3) In the conversation with Joyce, he doesn’t actually give a reason – not one that’s consistent with his character anyway. In fact, seeing as Ethan’s not homophobic, and wouldn’t actually have a problem with being gay if not for the above reasons, the only way that particular convo makes sense is if you draw on what he’s told Amber and Mike. Far as I can tell, being able to appease his parents is kind of just a perk.
Of course, it could have affected him more than we’ve been shown. It doesn’t really seem that way to me, though.
Bullshit. I just looked up your point 1, and Ethan is complaining that finding a jewish geek is hard enough, without having to find a gay jewish geek. Mike sarcastically suggests pretending to be straight, and Ethan then starts chatting up Joyce. But she’s neither jewish nor a geek. If he’s prepared to compromise on those points, his whole problem goes away: finding other gays isn’t hard.
Your point 2 I agree with, but what does it have to do with dating Joyce? If he really wants to be an archetypal toy geek, he should be alone and unloved, not dating an attractive girl.
In your third point I think you’re making totally unjustified assumptions about Ethan’s character. He hasn’t shown any signs of homophobia towards others, but he’s showing clear signs of homophobia towards himself: he really really doesn’t want to accept this fact about himself.
I don’t think he’s thought through this at all. I don’t think his reasons are rational. He just doesn’t want it to be true: he wishes it would go away, and he hopes Joyce can make it go away.
1) Finding girls is even easier.
2) He’s not trying to be an archetype*: he’s trying to be himself, and him being gay keeps getting in the way. He’s seen it happen in high school, with his parents, and with Amber. He’s determined to make sure it doesn’t happen again, so he takes it too far the other direction.
3) I’m not really making any assumptions – my conclusions are based on the evidence that has been presented in the comic. To extrapolate it further than that is speculation. I’m not saying it’s bad to do so, just that I’m not doing it.
I agree with you though, it’s not rational. I’m not actually defending Ethan’s actions here.
Note: having a defining feature does not make you an archetype.
We haven’t seen much of what Ethan’s been up to, but given that he’d been at a major university for all of a week before he abandoned orientation, religion, and nerdery to volunteer himself for a church-date with Joyce, I can’t imagine he’s been searching very hard.
A school the size of IU – 42,000 students – certainly has LGBT organizations, Jewish organizations, nerd organizations… I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a club for gay Jewish nerds specifically. Ethan has plenty of avenues for looking for a partner that fits, but we’ve seen no evidence that he has been. He’s just been hanging out with the two people he knows from high school, wangsting, and grabbing at the first girl who walks by in an effort to de-gay himself.
(It occurs to me that, other than Dorothy and Billie at the paper, we haven’t seen anyone get involved in extracurriculars. Does IU have a Club Day or the like?)
It was probably Ruth’s responsibility to persuade everyone to go to the club fair, but she was too drunk to bother.
Have we even seen the men’s side RA?
Not in this universe, though Ethan dropped some hints that it might be the Trekkie RA from Roomies!
We didn’t actually see it, but one character mentioned that they had a floor meeting, he made one rule, and then said that he was going to go play League of Legends more, so have fun kthnxbye.
It was, “Drunkenness is not consent, yadda yadda yadda, Trek marathon’s on, lates.” With the theory that it’s Howard shot down, the Roomies! Trekkie RA theory seems pretty likely.
I kinda forgot that Ethan and his folks were here, too. I was just thinking this would be the perfect time for Joshua and Ethan to start making goo-goo eyes at each other again. I think Naomi might pick up on that a bit better than Carol did.
You would have thought that Joshua’s gay orgy (or whatever he was doing with his friends) would have taken his mind off of Ethan.
Just walk away, Joshua. Just walk. Away.
“Dangit, now that Joyce is out of the closet, ME coming out will be like a one-two punch!”
=B
And now we wait for the reaction again…
Uuuuh, RESTARTE the clock!
Does this mean that there will be a doubling event soon?
Or ran faster. One of the two.
He should’ve crawled there.
Don’t hide Joshua we haven’t outed you yet.
He can detect drama and chooses to avoid it!
Smart Boy.
True. On the other hand, it’s faintly possible if he came out now, it’d actually be sort of anticlimactic.
Or at least entertaining for us, which is, of course, even more important.
Dramadar!
This was not the satisfying follow-up I wanted.
Are they ever
They have pills for that now, I think.
If you can’t find any, I’ve seen lots of pop-ups that advertise such.
Never enter a war zone. Especially if religion and family are mixed in.
Cuz family and Religion are like baking soda and vinager.
Yeah the only thing that could make this fight worse is an argument over politics and land ownership
What? Who would fight over something so stupid as land?
*Ahem* You’re standing in my spot KingMabel.
She’s got large tracts of land!
In Asia.
(or with a Sicillian).
+1 for the obvious reference, and another +1 for beating me to it!
Joshua is my new favorite character.
Goddammit Joshua…get over there and help your sister!
He’s helping her….fight her own battles.
I’m a lousy big brother, so I’ve done this. “Swirlies build character.”
Nah, just kidding. I always chased off the bullies who tormented my siblings. That’s MY job.
I never help out my siblings. You could argue that it’s because I’m an only child, but I think it’s just cuz I’m a dick.
come ON yotomoe why don’t you help your [REDACTED] already???
He’s just waiting until his parents initiate defcon 7 rage so he can swoop in like Tuxedo Mask.
The Defcons actually go in reverse order. And there’s only 5, with 5 being peace time. So Defcon 7 would be like hyper-okay-with-the-situation. Sorry, but this is just something that irks me and makes me get all spergy.
What you want is Defcon 0.
Or Defcon -1, technically.
Maybe there should have been a minus sign before the seven!
…Scary thought.
Not really. Once you’re off the scale, how far you’re off the scale becomes kinda meaningless. ;p
In X-Men Evolution, Defcon 4 at the mansion is total lockdown. I choose to believe this is going in the correct order, and Wolverine is THAT over-the-top on security measures.
And tomorrow, Joyce gets disowned.
She is immediately adopted by the Walkertons, who seem to have a bedroom for a daughter set up in their house, but can’t for the life of them remember why.
Oh, that’s just Walky’s room.
Maybe they thought Walky was a girl for a year.
Okay, this made me laugh.
…
Poor Sal.
Who?
…Her?
Joyce has difficulty getting out of the door cuz the lock is sticky. She looks over to an open window. SUDDENLY IT ALL ADDS UP.
painful +1
They think it’s for Billie, but they’re not entirely sure.
And then the Fire Nation attacked!
If Walky and Sal got their hair done right, they could pass for Sokka and Katara.
Mike would make a pretty good Zuko, he’s got the scowl down.
Who would be Aang, maybe Ethan
I would suggest Danny, but Aang’s far too likable.
Aang is cheerful, pacifistic, and just a little eccentric…
I think Aang might be Sierra.
I could see what you mean about Walky, but really, Sal’s way too busty to pass for Sokka.
(rimshot)
Mike is Zuko and Azula mixed together.
I was really tempted to make this joke last night.
Joshua should totally hide behind the fountain mimicking the pose!
Yes.
With his shirt off because…. Reasons.
Joshua you poor, unfortunately fast fool.
That’s better than being a poor unfortunate soul, right?
(Sorry, I may have bought a Disney movie last week.)
You’re joking? You’re joking! I can’t believe my ears! Will someone shut this feller up? I’m drownin’ in my tears!
What he only watched a disney movie
You need to watch better films.
Good movie, but not even Disney. :p
Actually it is. Disney owns Touchstone.
Funny, my copy says “Disney Presents” on it 😉
In my head, the first four panels make the Ace Attorney dramatic reaction sound.
got there at juuuust the right time…
…for the shit to hit the fan…
And like I would he cowered behind a corner.
You could cut through that tension with a knife!
Bet Joyce’s mom wishes she had one.
oh no your Gravatar gave that…a weird connotation
Can’t have a picture of Mike and mention “mom” without giving it that connotation.
For a nickel? That’d be a cheap knife!
What? No, I was Billie yesterday! Dangit…
Damn you, Willis! I’m betting this was scheduled to run on a Friday.
Linda and Walky made this comic for me
Walky and Dorothy have matching grimaces! That’s the other sweet part…
3rd panel how Walky not know what is going on??
He doesn’t pay attention to those chick things.
No Joshua you’re supposed to mimic the statue when you’re hiding from people!
Right now Joshua might just as well be wearing an Invisibility Cloak. The Rockettes could be where Joshua is standing and performing in the nude but there is so much drama occurring on the far side of that fountain that no one there would even notice.
Far Side of the Fountain sounds like a very touching Sundance movie original.
And right in front of the naked chick, too. Huh. Not symbolic at all, is it?
Not at all. In fact looking away from the statue’s cooch doesn’t say a lot about Joshua. /s 😀
Mrs. Walkington does not wish to intrude upon true love. 😛
Bah, Walkerton.
So is Joshua just seeing general drama or does he think that Joyce has outed herself and is dating the girl who she’s awkwardly hugging while looking scaredly at the parents?
OMG I hadn’t thought of that XDXDXD I must be dense today.
I think he should just walk up right now and announce his (implied) sexuality to his parents. hit them when they are already off balance.
Then Dina can step out from behind the fountain and explain how evolution is a proven fact.
Then Mike can Mike at them. It’s a verb now. They’re gonna get Miked.
So who gets the nickel?
He tosses it in the fountain as he leaves for added style points.
Then after that they can all get Joed. Joed in the ass.
No this has much less yelling. So far, at least.
Oh come on Josh, your true love is…somewhere in the background…
Is anyone disturbed by the fact Naomi Siegal is somewhere around here in the middle of a family war?
I’m disturbed that we haven’t seen any of their family. Who knows what they’re up to, or who she plans to knife.
Disturbed, we eagerly await her reaction.
Ethan, Naomi, Walky, et al are milling around in the background going “AWK-WARD…..”
Poor Josh.
Yay, Amanda!
Make a steath check just roll that D20 man just roll it
Rolled a 1… bugger…
Rolled a -3…
how did that even happen?
No skill points in stealth and 4 dexterity
Actually a 2 Dex sorry
Hopefully has it as a class skill and a decent Dex check!
I GOT A FOUR! DID YOU HEAR ME? I SAID I GOT A FOUR!
I got an 8! You know, because of the +4!
Translation: +1 internets
This is what happens when you try to be punctual. You encounter the drama llama!
Poor Walky, he just doesn’t know what is happening here
Third panel is best panel XD
Holy crap! Carol sure has got a bad case of Jay Leno’s chin.
Is your avatar Amanda?
Yes, yes she is, at least for now.
Can’t wait to hear more about Joshua. Oh and avatar upgrade! Although since I was Danny, anyone can be considered an upgrade.
Angry Mike is the third-best avatar one can receive.
Huh that’s weird, didn’t I go from Danny to Walky yesterday? No complaints about Mike though, he’s cool.
They got reshuffled again late yesterday afternoon, when Willis added Roz, I think. I went from Angry Billie to old Joyce to new Dorothy and now back to Billie.
Thanks for the tip-off, John.
I have to post to see what I got.
I also shifted from the old Sarah to this even cooler new Sarah (by way of the cute new Amber). I’m happy about this — but afraid to get too comfy! While I’m at it: the new Roz is adorable, too!
Everytime there’s an avatar reshuffle I always get kinda jealous that I set my gravatar. At the same time, I love my Gravatar, so the feelings kinda balance.
Who are the first two, apart from Dina I assume?
Dina and Joyce for the general adorableness.
Josh comes out as gay to distract his parents from being mad at Joyce.
Josh comes out as gay to cover Joyce. Joyce, not wanting to let Josh dangle in the firing line, comes out as bi to cover Josh. Ethan comes out as gay to take the blame as her ‘corrupter’, and it almost goes according to plan except Mr. Siegel outs HIMSELF to block the shots against Ethan once and for all.
Then the Russians invade.
“Then the aliens invade.” FIXED!
And then everyone gets jetpacks and fights them. Joyce is the only one whose jetpack will work.
“That’s when Monkey Master decided enough was enough.”
AUGMENTED
OHH
I just realized what you were getting at.
: )
Wait, no, we still need a few more plot threads to tie together and wring out of this scene. Billie shows up and comes out as bi, prompting half the cast staring as she goes “What? Everyone else was doing it.” Amber shows up and reveals to Danny and the world that she is Amazi-Girl, causing gasps all around and Billie and Dorothy getting into a reporter fight. Danny’s parents stare at him expectantly until he says that no, really, he actually is straight. They shake their heads in disappointment and say they support him either way.
THEN the Russians invade, lead by Galasso who may or may not actually be Russian, they don’t know either, but if there’s any invading going on he demands to be in charge of it.
Galasso’s the Head Alien, this ends up being a stealth reimagining of Where’s Walky, and I rob a bank.
You forgot to mention the part where Billie, not willing to accept Amazi-Girl’s true identity, creates her own alter ego in order to become AG’s archenemy in an attempt to unmask the real Amazi-Girl (Sal).
Then the Dean calls the police on them. Sadly, the Russians have already invaded by this point.
Robin is taken prisoner by the Russians, and Sal is forced to rescue her in a stunning display of heroism that finally earns her parents’ acknowledgment. Because she’s a bad enough dude to save the Representative.
Em-air-gency, Em-air-gency, everybody to get from street (sorry. Obscure old film reference)
The Russians are coming, the russians are coming!
Dear God, poor Billie, surrounded by no less than six Mikes.
Well that put an unusual image in my head.
She had a lot of nickels.
It’s Real (Canadian) Thanksgiving this weekend
Or faster. Get over there, you putz!
Linda: So…your girlfriend has a lesbian lover?
Walky: Off and on!
Up and down!
Back and forth.
In and out.
To and fro?
Up and Down and All Around!
Over and out.
Upside down
Boy, you turn me
Swish and flick!
What’s to understand about swish swish stab?
Right round like a record.
bend and snap
Side to side.
Walky: We’re more like her personal harem really.
My drama sense is tingling!
By the way, I am adoring how you are using the colors to portray dusk.
I’m still not sure if he’s gay. I’m cool if he is, but I don’t like to jump to conclusions.
I personally want him to be bi, kind of just for the sake of variety.
Or how bout pan? Don’t think we’ve had one of those yet.
Ooh, I’m Roz now. XD
Oh, that would be pretty cool too.
Have there been any ace characters?
UC.
Well, UC is interested in romantic relationships, at least. Unless it’s been leading Malaya on all this time.
I understood that reference.
Cool.
Oh yeah, I forgot about her.
Hmm… I wonder if Willis is ever gonna do a trans character? Or just some form of genderqueer.
Now all we need is Walky to blurt out something about the skywizard as a distraction for comic relief
Walky entering the picture at all would be like watching someone try to put out a brushfire with napalm.
>BOOoossshhhhhhhh<
That's the sound of my mind being completely blown as I try to visualize that.
BLOOD!
…and tomorrow we cut away to check on Galasso and Robin
descriptive title
Just walk away slowly, Joshua.
Just building more for the reaction now huh?
So, we get reaction shot of everyone but Ethan’s family. I guess they already have so much issues this isn’t a surprise to them :/
I really want a panel with Ethan’s dad just standing there with a blank expression mixed in with all the reactions.
Also Dina and her family standing with him for no reason other than to blankly stare.
Damn You Willis!!! I now have to wait another day for a PROPER continuation of the scene…. *Rages*
Caught this a few minutes ago. Was playing a game, and browser was on the page, glanced over and noticed.
http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/95/smnr.png
Just realized, I should have pointed out what I noticed. Check the total number of comments.
Unfortunately it’s now 668 comments.
The Neighbor of the Beast!
+1!
Nice. No matter how awesome this universe is, I will never be satisfied knowing that somewhere there is one where that sequel got made.
I took a picture of it with my snipping tool myself. Glad to know I wasn’t the only one!
Alt + Print Screen. Very useful tool.
So the prophesy was true…
DAMNIT WILLIS WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO US?!
Drama is our drug and Willis is our dealer.
more like our pusher
I think a lot of us come for humor and maybe a dash of fanservice, but he keeps cutting the goods with drama.
Drama: the baking soda of webcomics.
It amuses my tiny mind that each comic is right around 666 replies by the time the next one posts.
WOW RUDE JOSHUA
But actually, I don’t really know how to feel about this. Some people think he’s awful for not protecting Joyce (in other strips, anyway), some people obviously don’t blame him here. I don’t really know the best way to respond to this kind of thing personally, but I’m kind of outspoken when it comes to issues like this, so I’d probably jump in.
…Then again, if I was raised in the environment they were, I’d probably be a completely different person, so who knows.
I’d say him not helping his sister is a negative trait (he is clearly a passive person with his family) but I don’t think that makes him a horrible person, just…not a paragon of morality or something? IDK
Joshua doesn’t know what happened, just that everyone is in a stunned silence. He is waiting to see what is going on before he does anything, but he knows it is going to be trouble.
He can see that Joyce is clutching Dorothy to her while her parents look shocked; he doesn’t know exactly what happened, but he can make a pretty good guess.
(…although when I phrase it like that, it sounds as if Joyce shocked them in a rather different manner.)
Do you know hard it is to battle fundie parents? The only way you win is by agreeing to everything and then quietly doing what you want. If Josh stands up to them to support Joyce it will be the equivalent of a ‘normal’ person running into a burning building to rescue someone…
I don’t know, if I walked up to that, I’d probably do the same thing. The only thing I could accomplish is possibly distract both sides from their disagreement. And honestly, it needs to be resolved now rather than later.
YES I’VE GOT RUTH NOW!
I feel like everyone (minus the people who directly responded to it) skipped over my qualifying comment.
idk, I’m actually fairly indifferent about what he’s doing here.
I’m pretty sure Ethan’s dad was saying the same thing earlier.
There is only one way this situation could get worse (better?), and that is if when everyone got done fighting, the shoot back to Joshua, who is now passionately making out with Ethan and/or some random Dude Whose Name is Not Important.
It’s not GOING to happen, but it would be hilarious.
Maybe not now, but Ethan and Joshua will end up together (whether that be a short-lived fling or some kind of actual relationship) at some point. It can’t not happen.
I vote Mike.
Oh god, yes. That would be utter perfection.
In every universe Ethan is gay.
In every universe Mike is an asshole.
In every universe Ethan and Mike have sex.
Except here it’s going to be a threesome.
There already was a universe where Ethan and Mike were in a threesome.
…Unless Dina really did join in, in which case, it was a foursome.
I picture a threesome and one of three look up and Dina is just THERE.
Love the hovertext. Baba Ram Dass said “If you think you’ve attained enlightenment go home for thanksgiving”
Also, Joshua, that’s some first rate “Drama-dar”.
His parent’s “facade complex” (dissing someone’s individuality for the sake of the ‘best family’ facade) attitude is a drama-dar magnet.
Anyone wonder if Joyce just “decided” to get transferred off to Christian college “for her own good”? They can’t make her stay away from Dorothy but if they are paying for her school they can try to force the issue with money.
Is it Damn You Willis Day again already? Where does the time go?
Every day is Damn You Willis Day!
I hate awkward silences. Nobody ever knows when or how to break them, and that just makes the silence go on longer.
Though in this case, the silence is probably less awkward than actually talking.
“Welp…think I’ll be hittin that ol…dusty trail….”
good comic
/I just want to see my new avatar
I swear, that woman’s chin gets bigger and bigger with each comic.
That seemed anticlimactic.
That’s because it’s *not the climax yet*.
Am I getting it wrong if I understand this as “expect Ethan and Joshua to be climaxing together”?
You may, in fact, be history’s worst monster for that joke. That was painful.
That Ruth for ya. Man, I’m starting to like this avatar now.
hm. Well played, Random Chance and the Mysterious Workings of the Universe. Well played.
I can almost hear your comic winding up its good arm for a really bad knockout blow. I haven’t been this excited to get punched since Parents’ Day 2013 at Northeastern U.
Well the meteor’s got to come flying in first, then they all ascen…….. no, wait, that’s something else isn’t it.
Turn 360 degrees and walk away
Like this?
Not to be *THAT* person, but reversing direction is a one-eighty. 360º is a full circle; you end up in the same position and orientation as you started.
hehe orientation
Trivia question for the masses: Which strip has the most people tagged? I don’t know the answer, but I have to think this sequence must be close to the top.
The strip that started this throwdown (http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/04-just-hangin-out-with-my-family/godless/) had twelve people tagged – which I believe was the high to date — and with Joshua finally arriving on the scene today that makes 13 (so far) in this little drama.
One strip from the floor meeting after the fire alarm had fifteen people tagged – and all of them in one panel, no less! – which I think is the record.
So he should have walked there slower, and then what?
They would have all been gone?
But that’s not what he planned, is it.
3 avatars in 3 days…angry Billie for quite awhile, then forget who (its late) and today its Sarah. All good, like Billie fine and Sarah is cool.
Guess I don’t care one way or the other for the middle one ’cause I just can’t remember.
Gottawonder as this is gets better…who’s going to drown.
But why do the gravatars keep changing? Mine’s been staying the same; it just carried over from somewhere else.
You have an actual registered gravatar, so it follows you around wherever you comment with the same email. Many of us don’t, so we get assigned one of the DoA default ones, selected using the result of a calculation performed on our email address. Which default grav you get is usually consistent, because the same email always gives the same result, but when the selection of gravatars the DoA site provides changes, which one that result corresponds to can change.
I’d been Angry Billie for months, but last night Willis started updating the default gravs to a new set, so all the correspondences changed several times as gravs were added or removed or changed. I was the old Joyce briefly after he added Jacob, and then the new Dorothy for a while after he got all the updated ones in, and then yesterday afternoon he added Roz too and I got Billie back, though the new one now.
(We seem to have lost Galasso and the Squad 48 girls, but gained Jacob and Roz. I don’t remember who was in the old set well enough to be sure who else has come or gone.)
I think I might be Mary. Perhaps. It took a bit of trawling to figure out but still not sure. Can you confirm?
If so it would be just a touch weird as that’s my mother’s name.
Also, seriously, what the heck is with the bicycling parrot?
I have been “Bicycle Bill” ever since I first logged onto a computer back in the days of the old AOL 3½-inch floppies. I am also a “Parrothead” (fan of trop-rock singer Jimmy Buffett) and frequently hang out at a fansite known as “BuffettNews”. One of the moderators (who incidentally also does a hit-and-miss webcomic for the site) drew me up the unique “cycling parrot” a few years ago and I’ve been using it ever since.
It’s definitely Mary. (The new gravs are taken from the character art Willis has been posting.)
We also got Ethan.
wait I’m dumb we already had ethan
They seem calmer than expected. Maybe they’re in shock or maybe the decision to split with her parents yet keep her faith proves that her beliefs couldn’t be affected by her “wicked consorts”.
Checking my gravatar. I really hope we don’t switch scenes tomorrow I’ll also just say.
AND NOW FOR A MONTH LONG CATCHUP ON WHAT MIKE AND JOE ARE DOING, TURNS OUT THEY’RE HAVING A WACKY ROADTRIP ADVENTURE WITH LES, THROUGH NAME-THAT-CAMEO LAND.
Throw in Dina, and this would be the best thing ever.
You heard that? It was the sound of a needle dropping.
Goooooooooooo Joyce!
See, when I pull what Joshua is doing, my family always notices me and makes me get involved. I think I need to up my ninja stat.
Oh my word. The awkward. So much awkward.
It is delicious
Is my Dina gone?
Oh okay, that’s fine too.
wait one gol darned second… where’s Ethan?
Circling around the fountain.
As soon as he saw Johsua, he discretely escaped to join him.
That sounds incredibly painful. I suppose it would make sense to leave a couple of his body parts behind to use as a decoy though.
=O
The way Josh is sitting is proven to be very comfortable, though, so…
*Attaches two steel blocks to Joshua’s feet* There we go, boyo.
Oh no, I am now Joyce! NOOO!
The look on Joyce’s parents’ faces: a combination of “our little girl’s all grown up” and “we have a rebellious teen on our hands, what do we do?”, with a touch of “quit confusing the issue with the facts!” or “… with logic!” thrown into the mix. They know they’ve lost the battle – but since they won’t admit to firing the opening volley this round, they also won’t admit their own loss. After all, in their minds, they’re never wrong.
Dorothy grits her teeth and mutters to Joyce, “Nice knowing you.”
Mrs. Walkerton: “So, have they invited you to a threesome yet?”
Walky: “Uh…. Joyce never hinted she was interested. But I can ask.”
And let’s see if I’m still Billie (I miss being Dina….)
Yep, still Billie. I need a beer.
Pssh, don’t reach the source of the awkward and then hide, Josh. That’s a rookie mistake. A true awkward situations escape artist is always thinking of somewhere else that they suddenly need to be, well before anyone you know has a chance to lay eyes on your cowardly butt.
Hopefully they’re Ethan’s eyes.
+1 perfect setup
That last panel is the cutest thing ever. Also jesus christ, he’s skinny.
Does anyone else notice that Carol, Hank, and Dorothy look very similar to how they looked in Joyce’s nightmare?
Huh, you’re right. Only in this case, Dorothy doesn’t have that evil look on her face, almost as if she’s been “updated” to reflect Joyce’s understanding of her a la Ruth’s eyes.
…and uh, also ‘cuz this is real life and Dorothy’s not a cartoon villain.
Hey, don’t Linda and Carol look like sisters? I mean they have the same features if you look at it.
In the prolonged silence, one person can at last not stand the tension any more. A moustache rises to grant a voice passage. The voice is dry from disuse, but one cannot mistake the deep sadness it conveys.
“…I’m gay.”
The words hover in the air, but no one seems to notice; or if they do, they don’t understand, or don’t want to understand. A moment passes like eternity.
Finally, the years of frustration and regret fully awakened, with a loudness that will make his vocal cords hurt for days, Saul bellows:
“I’M GAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!”
The rest…
…is fabulous.
Everything was a blur. Saul’s heart raced so fast that he wasn’t able to absorb all the detail of what his vision should have the purpose of doing. His conscious has a deep wanting of spacing out, and he doesn’t even care why.
All hope is not lost when a hand seems to materialize on his vision. This hand seems to reach for his cry for help. This hand surprisingly came from least likely person to understand him on situations like this. This hand, with Saul’s assurance, unmistakably came from a male blue-eyed owner, whose daughter is currently dating his son.
Saul immediately responded back with deep hug from the only Samaritan in the room. Time seems to slow down as he savors all the moment of acceptance, even if it’s just coming from one person. And whatever regret Saul has from screaming his mind, became relief, because finally someone was able to understand his “real” problem. Saul cannot help it but cry on Hank’s shoulder during the process.
Saul was not able to fathom what it seems to be an enraging human tissue that is happening inside the pants of Hank. It was only later did he realized what and how wonderfully life-changing it means when Hank gave a soft touch on his face and started to kiss him passionately.
Somewhere not far away, a picture of what most people say “history repeats itself” is likely about to happen. Almost everyone seems to frown at this picture, but not to the 2 young people involved on this fabulous depiction of beauty.
Please pass the brain bleach. I know it won’t help, but I’ve got to try.
When I first read the names Saul and Hank I assumed this was your Breaking Bad fanfic.
“I’ve seen better acting in an epileptic whorehouse”
“Oh stop it you’re terrible ;)”
WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS
ARE YOU YOTOMOE IN DISGUISE
Haha. Sadly no. I only make up things that requires your imagination some brain bleaching. He, on the other hand, makes it real. 😛
Queue in, Yotomoe? 🙂
I started a fanfic! 🙂
(I have seen the internet, I know what shipping means!)
“I knew I should have stayed in bed today.”
Damn you Willis…..DON’T YOU DO THIS TO US FOR A WHOLE DAY!!! >.</
Your emoticon is so your avatar.
perfect grav, nice
The state of speechless shock on all the parents’ faces is priceless. I wonder how the tension will be broken? Walky looks like he won’t be his usual smartmouthed self from the uncomfortable look on his face. And what will Joyce’s brother do? Stay tuned for the next exciting episode!
sorry, should have said the look of speechless shock.
Love how Joyce is hiding behind Dorothy and her brother hides behind the statue. Shows how bad her parents really are when it comes to non believers that you can feel the hate rolling off them.
Joyce is not hiding behind Dorothy, she is alongside of her in a kind of quasi-embrace showing Dorothy through both word and action that she’s got her six and is standing by her.
Now, Joshua, on the other hand……. You know the old saying about discretion being the better part of valor?
Yeah that never worked for me. I’m alway blow it up, made me popular with the boyz untill Gorgutz stole my war and and turned me human
Where the ass did Ethan go? This is a touching and fantastic couple of strips (reminds me of the mennonite church I used to attend with my mother–they were very strict about being all inclusive of everyone no matter who they were) but…where is Ethan?
He smelt Joshua coming and went all predator mode.
Ethan stands up:
“You know why. You want me to have sex with you.
..No one can know.”
Nightmare reference for those who don’t get it.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2012/comic/book-2/06-strange-beerfellows/know-2/
joshua is the cutest thing
that last panel I
I really want to screw that guy
is it just mne or do walky’sw and dorthies mom look ALOT alike
Damn, I missed the workflow.
Anyways, yes, Joshua. You should have indeed walked slower. Or faked an accident.
What’s above them that they are looking at in panels 1/2? Or is that just symbolic “look up to heaven(s)”?
I think she’s looking up at her dad.
Carol’s dad’s in the clouds?
First of all, they’re looking down in panel 1, not up. And they’re looking at Joyce. In panel 2, Joyce is looking up at her parents.
The perspective is admittedly a little wonky with the way Carol’s head is drawn.
That’s some *seriously* bad perspective then. Like, get-back-to-the-drawing-board bad perspective.
Or maybe they are looking way more up than you think.
And by that I mean, I don’t think Willis’ style is unrealistic enough to have wildly different points of perspective for different people in the same panel.
Exaggerated for effect?
There’s such a thing as *over*exxageration.
In the last panel, Joyce and Carol are looking at each other, and they are level.
In the first panel, the viewer seems to be above Hank’s head, and Carol is looking above the viewer.
And I can’t see Joyce in panel 2 looking anywhere but up, next to Dorothy. (Hank is behind Carol, at least two steps away, and barely a head taller – that’s not high enough or close enough for Joyce to both tilt head up and scroll eyes up; she also seems to be looking a bit to the left, which is not where her parents are).
Quick, someone give Mike a nickel!
I hope Jacob is Bi in this world, because I support Jacob/Ethan.
Great set of strips Willis.
Pretty sure Willis is not changing anybody’s sexuality. Ethan’s still the only guy who likes guys in this universe (excluding Joshua, as he’s not a regular cast member, and Mike, as he’s just whatever you don’t want him to be).
He could always have Drew or Manny make a re-appearance. I doubt the latter, since we aren’t going to have the same relationships again, but nothing stopping Drew from appearing and tongue-tangoing with Ethan again. In fact, he’s bi, so nothing stopping him from shacking up with anybody.
I was thinking about Drew maybe showing up a while back, but I kinda doubt it. And even if he did, fuck Drew, he’s a jerk.
Honestly, I’m pretty sure Joshua only exists as a plot device (as in, he will not become a regularly occurring character), but it’d be nice to have another non-straight dude. Currently, we have two lesbians (Daisy and Leslie), two bisexual girls (Robin and Billie), and one undefined (but definitely into ladies) girl (Ruth). We have one gay guy (Ethan). Everyone else is straight, which is fine, but variety is fun.
Yeah, but was Josh’s sexuality established in previous worlds? It’s been a long time since I read Roomies!, It’s Walky! or Joyce and Walky, but I don’t remember him really being mentioned beyond the mentions of Joyce’s brothers.
It wasn’t but him being gay/bi is pretty much text at this point.
I’m not altogether certain Joshua actually existed in the Walkyverse. Walkyverse-Joyce had five brothers, and I’m not sure any of them directly correspond to the three she has in this universe. I think we know only one of their names – Bobby – and it doesn’t match any of her Dumbiverse brothers.
We know very little else about them, except that Mrs. Brown wants grandchildren and she considers it impossible that any of Joyce’s brothers will give them to her. Which suggests to me that maybe they might all be gay. Or infertile, or possibly just clearly doomed to being forever single. But gay seems a definite possibility.
Holy ship, that would be gaymazing.
I can’t tell who that blob of hair just above Joshua is. The color suggests Naomi or Linda, but it’s not really shaped like Linda’s… but I’m pretty sure Deborah’s supposed to be the one standing behind them? And isn’t Linda supposed to be next to Walky? Did the moms just poof out of existence? Because I honestly wouldn’t blame them.
The ‘blob of hair’ has to be Linda, because she and Deborah were the only two other females on that side of the face-off. As for their original positions, I think that there has been a certain amount of (uspecified) milling around while Joyce dropped her little bombshell and that Walky and his mother have, as is normal in times of trouble, tended to close up ranks on one another. I’m just surprised that Deborah hasn’t done the same with Dorothy. Still in a mild state of shock, perhaps, or perhaps cold-bloodedly planning her next move?
Wait a sec, looking at the tags, I think that blob of hair is actually Charles. Looks like him and Jeremiah are standing off to the side together, while Linda and Deborah are nowhere to be seen (in the last panel, anyway). The Siegals are missing as well.
On that note, I don’t think Ethan has seen Joshua yet, as others have (jokingly?) suggested. I think if he does sneak off to talk to Joshua, Willis will show him noticing him there first.
After further review of the picture and matching it up with the tag cloud, you may be right. The blob of hair is Charles, and the pair of pants we see peeking out from behind the statue (behind Joshua) must be Jeremiah – mainly because there is nowhere else they could be but still be included in the tags. The three Siegals, meanwhile, are out of the frame behind Mr. and Mrs. Brown.
Deborah might be hidden behind Walky.
Linda might just be emerging from behind the statue – that just might be her pantscolor.
I’m pretty convinced that that’s the mermaids armpit hair.
Still waiting for Mrs. Siegal… “I hope all that Jesus talk doesn’t keep you from $&*#ing some SENSE into my son!”
Concerning the new Gravatars: I’m sexy and I know it.
I lost my Joe and got Joyce. 🙁
I’m surprised at the fact that all the other characters have fled in that last panel
the debris of the bomb will be that big
My thanksgivings have always been pretty tame, thankfully
For me, it’s Christmas you gotta worry about. Oh, and 4th of July.
…Every holiday, really.
So
Joshua is secretly the Cheese, right?