I’m really hoping you didn’t mean that to be as homophobic as it sounded. :/ Equating homosexuality and guys giving blowjobs to those guys becoming dicks/jerks is just… no.
It’s not about living how Amber demands. It’s about him living as who he is instead of trying to be something he isn’t.
Eventually Joyce is going to want to get married, have sex, etc. He is leading her on and screwing her over. And it’s bullshit. And he’s doing it because he can’t handle *himself*.
He was all over her brother (Well, sister) for a reason.
Man, glad Hostess products are back on the shelf. Do you remember all the chaos and evil winning that happened when they were off the market? It was like any given moment in a modern superhero comic.
That makes a lot of sense! I’ve sort of just felt it til now, as I suffer from anxiety and panic attacks myself, and I get the same uneasy feeling as when I can feel one sneaking on. Funny, I’ve always “seen” my attacks as more blindingly whitish, don’t know why.
Freaking out or fighting might end in arrest, expulsion, mandatory counseling, etc.
Right now who is there to help put her back together? Can’t be Ethan, that would make it worse. Dina is still learning interaction. Danny thinks he found Amazi-Girl.
Which leaves Mike, who isn’t warm and cuddly. He does have a significant part of Amber’s story though.
Interesting to see if and how she gets it all together.
Ruth? Also abusive background, perhaps good there.
Oh god… is this gonna culminate in her fighting Sal in modern times (who can probably hold her own) thus ending the day with Amber feeling she’s ruined everything forever?
No way I’ll call it twice in a row, but clearly Willis has decided we are not getting off the Amber’s bad day train just yet.
The thing that is killing me is Amber and Ethan want so badly to be friends again, but Ethan is being a closeted egghead, and Amber has her plethora of issues. This panel kills me because it’s when they were just happy being friends and things were simple :[
You know what they say. You can pick your friends. And you can pick your nose. But you can’t bang your friend at the prom and make them discover they’re gay.
glad I came out before prom cause that would have been hella awkward o-o Everytime I think about Ethan and Amber I’m so happy it never got to that point.
Based on actual statistical data that I don’t have the link for but ACTUALLY exist, somewhere. Only about ten percent of high schoolers have sex on Prom night.
Amber wanted to get over prom and summer before she would have wanted to be friends again. She never had a chance to get there before all this.
We also see (never read other Willis comics) why Ethan means so much to Amber, why prom night was extra painful, and why she took on the world for him.
He’s an abuser, they dump on the people in their lives constantly. They berate and humiliate in public and always work on breaking their family (victims) down.
Then in private they start hitting.
So it isn’t wanting kids, it’s that having a kid provided another victim.
Pfftt….I got my PSP this year…and the PS2 when the PS3 came out…and the PS1 when they stopped making games for it and finding the good games is near impossible that you had to download the game of the net and burn it on a disc.
The thing that really weirds me out about Amber and Blaine is that in this strip Blaine looks quite a bit like my father, while I looked rather like Amber at that age. The difference is that while my father has a short temper he has never been physically abusive and is otherwise nothing like Blaine and I have always had a very close relationship with him, while I… no, I was pretty much exactly like Amber personality-wise too, I just chose to vent by angrily ranting at textareas.
I see Blaine, and even before I can read anything, my reaction is just, “Hsssss.” Congratulations, I have been successfully conditioned.
In other things, Ethan and Amber are adorable when they are tiny. Well, tiny-er. I am going to guess them at about pre-teen and just-teens here? I am sure they are adorable at early-childhood levels of being tiny, too.
Oh, wait, looking back at the strip again, that is a gas station. We are totally going to see what happened at Sal’s robbery that Amber was present for, aren’t we? Oh, ack ack ack, suddenly the tension is increased by appr. one billion percent.
(This is why I usually read this comic during the day, when I am usually awake enough to make connections the first time through.)
Yah, Ambers a broken bird if ever there was one. Blaine and her mother (mostly Blaine) did a number on her. And then there was the fiasco with Ethan.
It’s going to sound cold, but from my experience, it’s best to leave people like that be to sort themselves out. Be kind to them, yes. But don’t get close to them and try to “fix them”, because that’s just asking to get hurt yourself. Keep your distance, be generally kind, and hope they can get through their own issues, preferably with the help of a solid therapist.
If it does turn out Sal is what (negatively) inspired Amber to be Amazi-gal (which seems likely), I know Amber’s gonna feel like Danny getting close to Sal is horrible, horrible irony.
But actually, it makes sense.
Maybe Amber wanted to be like Sal so she could stop people like Sal, so *of course* Sal, who is more obviously like the hero she inspired, would be mistaken for her.
Sad thing is Amber’s becoming like those she opposes, her dad *and* Sal. That’s gonna hurt, even if being like Sal isn’t nearly as bad. And it’s too bad this is setting them up to be enemies, because I feel like if the two of them talked, they’d be great friends. They both have explosive parent issues and live outside the law. Seriously, imagine if they teamed up?
For the first time, I think that I’m actually relieved to see Blaine. I came here expecting to have to see Amber have a complete meltdown after last night’s strip. But instead, Flashback-Blaine has given us a temporary delay on Amber’s imminent psychotic breakdown.
So I posted number five and refreshed and read a couple posts. Come back to read comments and I’m at 33, interesting. Jumpy feed.
I saw someone posted upstream they just may stay away for awhile and come back and see it all at once. And another answered, the feels would probably kill ya.
I feel badly for her, she runs smack into Sal and Danny being all happy together over his DS, and she flashes back to Ethan when he was ‘protecting’ her from the world in general. She wants her friend, and she has no one. Makes me cry.
Yeah, I expect to come back and find Amber sitting on the steps below Danny and Sal, sucking her thumb.
Flash back time! Go get her some twinkies bongo! OK so how many cald the long awaited fash back? Also if she suppose be 13 then why does she look like she 8? But I’m not questioning willises drawing skill just draw just saying
Drawing kids is hard. Especially when your adults are proportioned like kids anyway. At least Willis’s don’t look like evil middle-aged gnomes, which is pretty common.
I got asked by a black dude [read: someone who’s never had hair longer than maybe 1″] why I never wore my hair down at work. It’s a fucking mess and gets everywhere, that’s why |=(
I liked having long hair. I had a pony tail through my later extended college years.
Of course, being Chinese, I had straight hair, which helped a lot. Coarse enough to be strong enough to not break.
Combing in the morning and after showering wasn’t fun, but other than that it was pretty easy to take care of. Used huge amounts of shampoo.
So opposite experience of Fuzzydaemon.
Also probably the easiest time I had getting sex. A woman once told me “everybody wants to fuck long hair”.
I agree that individually it is, but as a group things trend one way.
Traditionally, it is the single women who wear their hair long. They cut their hair or tie it in a bun when married even though it was just as in the way when single.
Every rock video babe has long hair, as do models. Most women in entertainment too, at least while establishing themselves. This is at a time when we have quality wigs and hair extensions.
Nah, it stabilizes at the length where the rate of growth is roughly equal to the rate of breakage. It’s been down about to the bottom of my shoulderblades when it’s down for twenty-plus years now.
Amber used to have long hair in Shortpacked, then got it cut, then let it grow again. Willis is having her be a “former-long-haired-gal” again here just so she can be like her alt-dimension self a little more.
I am so here for this flashback, though. After having seen it be alluded to for so long I am quite excited to find out what actually happened. I mean, I say excited. Terrified. But excited. EXCITIFIED.
That’s like saying, that’s the smartest Danny’s been. Or that’s the most mature Walky’s been. Or that the sweetest Mike’s been. Or that’s the most social Dina’s been.
PARALLEL!
Amber defended Ethan from his parents when they found out he had a trait that they didn’t like.
Ethan defends Amber from her parent when he figured out she has a trait HE doesn’t like.
I noticed this too, last night, but fell asleep before I could comment on it! Ethan and Amber really have *got* to patch it up — they’ve got too much history in their friendship to just toss it all out the window.
Error: There appears to be a problem with your graphics display card. Please restart the system if this is the first time that instead of seeing current events, you see reddish tinged flashbacks. If that does not work, the hardware or software may be damaged and may require a psychologist to repair.
Willis has already drawn the strip following the flashback. You knew that, but did you know part of it is already viewable in his deviant art? This is one of the upcoming panels following Amber’s mental breakdown.
I have feeling the Sal that’s going to be committing the robbery isn’t going to be like the tough biker chick we’ve seen, but what ever happened after the robberies is what makes her like that.
Also, anyone actually realize that Sal will be of similar age to Amber and Ethan at this point? That’s very young for a robbery if I’m guessing Amber and Ethan’s age in this flashback properly.
They could’ve been raised on different planets, like the Skywalker twins (IIRC Luke is a year older than Leia, since a Tatooine-year is different from an Alderaan-year).
It’s a little known thing, but that catholic school has a time machine, and uses it to force students to spend 20% extra time in school. So in 5 years, Sal aged an extra year.
I have to admit that this storyline is hitting pretty close to home.
I have a step-father much like Amber’s. I was sixteen when it first came to blows and spent 6 days in country lockup and a few years later ended up spending 11 months in a psych ward after I almost killed him when he pushed me a little too far. Thankfully, I don’t have any contact with either of my parents anymore.
While it’s incredibly difficult to do, sometimes cutting them out of your life entirely is the best option. Also, therapy. Amber needs therapy badly. I don’t know what kinds of options most universities have, but I do know my local one (UAF) has options for students who need therapy.
Most universities in the US have some variety of university medical coverage for staff and students that is much less than that normally available, which usually includes both psychological and psychiatric care. Schools that have dental programs, medical programs and clinical psychology programs often have a preferred pricing, or other incentives, for getting care through those programs.
One question: Why isn’t Amber crying in panel one? She had tears streaming down her face at the end of the last page. Slight time-skip forward so they’ve had time to dry?
This is her in the flashback – she’s wearing a different outfit, and the same as in the other flashback panels. Willis has made some weird artistic choices with how the panels are framed in these last couple strips.
I suspect if this were a TV show, the last panel of yesterday’s strip and the first panel of today’s would have been a slow cross-fade with that flashback music playing. Maybe some wavy-image effect.
Of course, the shortage of technology was made up for the fun fact that my Dad kept a case of dynamite in the shed. Amazing how much fun you can have with explosives.
Same here! No portable game systems when I was 12 or 13. The original gameboy (black and white one) didn’t come out until I was done highschool. The C64 and NES was where it was at in those days.
I’m also about Animal’s age and the first computer I owned was a computer-watch (The UC-2000) back in 1986, it had an amazing 2Kb of storage memory which is enough to store slightly over 7 tweets worth of text.
Born in ’61. First people in the province (and maybe the country) to have a pong game. We were really popular for a while, and ruined two tvs with burn in.
PTSD like symptoms are very common in abused children. Comes with being hyper vigilant trying to avoid danger and failing. So, yes, therapy. It does not need to include a single traumatic event, but in the nature of both situations, it often does.
Also, Ethan is being a good and brave friend here. Most kids would stay miles away from Blaine. Naomi’s no prize, but Ethan could be riding the bus with the other kids and chose this.
I bet we will find out that Marcie was the mastermind or the person holding up the store and that Sal was there to voice Marcie’s demands.
If it turns out that Sal was something of an unwilling participant it could explain some of her distrust of the police.
Sal never robbed that convenience store. Amber’s father did. Sal tried to stop him, disarmed him, but then was blamed for the robbery as the police burst in, while father browbeat Amber into keeping quiet about it.
So Amber knows that her silence is the reason Sal got punished, and that’s why she was reacting the way she did upon seeing her again.
Damn. I just realized seeing a past bad guy in a diffused (albeit hurtful for reasons Sal can’t possibly understand or be held responsible for) setting means Amber will have to confront the fact bad guys are people too – people who make stupid decisions, but people nonetheless. Making them a convenient outlet for your anger is how bad cops are made, after all.
DS lite was launched in 2006. If they’re 19 now (I’m not actually sure how old they are, but let’s say 19), that would make them 12 in the flashback. Which, without checking if any of that’s true, seems about right to me. It is weird, though. In a couple years, I’m going to be surpassing in age characters that have been older than me since before I was born. o_O
THIS. I came back to post this. My band road trips were lucky to be accompanied by the original green-screen Game Boy. We also had a cassette boombox and read aloud from Dave Barry columns. I AM OLD
What I appreciate most right now are the drawings on Willis’ tumblrs showing Sal and Amber as they appear in strips weeks from now. Neither appear to be scarred, to be missing an eye, or to have their jaws wired shut. No major bones appear broken, nor are there signs of bruising or swelling on either of their faces.
I’m having a flashback myself.
Flashback of seeing what would episode 6 of Attack on Titan be about.
Dropped that immediately, but I still sometimes wake up shuddering.
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Wow, Ethan looks weird as a kid.
Kinda cute. I kinda love seeing them as childhood friends.
Too bad he grows up to be a giant dick.
You are what you eat.
YOU WIN THE INTERNET!!!
*throws all the browser logos at face*
Nice one
All the thumbs up have been granted to you.
Come to think of it, has Ethan even tried dating a guy yet in this universe?
No :I
Wouldn’t that fix his problem though?
I’m really hoping you didn’t mean that to be as homophobic as it sounded. :/ Equating homosexuality and guys giving blowjobs to those guys becoming dicks/jerks is just… no.
Pretty sure it was just a play on words. I’ve not observed any correlation between assholitude and sexual orientation.
Yeah, too bad he doesn’t grow up to live his life exactly however Amber demands.
It’s not about living how Amber demands. It’s about him living as who he is instead of trying to be something he isn’t.
Eventually Joyce is going to want to get married, have sex, etc. He is leading her on and screwing her over. And it’s bullshit. And he’s doing it because he can’t handle *himself*.
He was all over her brother (Well, sister) for a reason.
It might be cuse he has an adult head on a child’s body…?
He just hasn’t grown into his nose yet!
I think I remember Amber saying that he got attractive in High School?
It’s middle school. Everyone looks weird in middle school.
he’s one of those kids who had to “grow into their nose”
Moment of truth. Is Sal in fact the one that scarred Amber way back when?
Either that or Willis picked an oddly specific time to do a flashback.
SPOILER
it was MR. WALKERTON
“Sal, why did you rob that convenience store?”
“I learned it from you, dad! I learned it from you!”
man, no one ever quotes it accurately
[/peeve]
So it’s a distortion of a quote, a bit like “Beam me up, Scotty” which was also never said in the show.
Yeah, but at least “Beam me up, Scotty” kinda stabilized. I NEVER hear “I learned it from you” the same way twice.
I think this is more due to the parallel of seeing Danny with Sal and the (3?)DS and remembering her being in the car with her DS and Ethan.
Yup, it was a 3DS. He was playing Amazi-girl in Mario Kart 7.
Well, didn’t Sal hold up some convenience store or something?
This. This is it.
Agree with ThatGuy. Now (hopefully) we find out what went down at The Great Filling Station Holdup.
Two. I went back and checked.
Now the real question is, is this her first time, or second?
My internets are on first. Because you get bonus superhero origin points if the cops are not effective in stopping the villain, and they strike again.
That’s what I’m betting on myself!
EPIC FLASHBACK!
Your avatar and comment combo just makes me think of when Joyce bugged Sarah for storytime
Nah, Epic Flashbacks require some sort of war going on the background.
This wont be SUCH a terrible flashback, right? … Right?
Yes, you just keep wishing that…
Sure, Blaine is always good news.
Father of the year.
A prize only won by fathers such as Gendo Ikari.
And Shou Tucker. And Peter Griffin.
And the dad from Happy wheels, Anakin Skywalker, Hiroshi Sato, and Hercules. The original mythology version, not the Disney version
And the dad from Squee!.
And Fire Lord Ozai.
And Ken Titus.
What about Zues? He had so many chances to enter into the drawing, too.
I’m pretty sure he’s the one giving it out. Well, him and Cronos…
Don’t forget about Lot from the Bible. Townsfolk want to gangrape my visitors? Offer my daughters instead.
Who cares about father of the year when we have mothers like Belle Gunness to choose from?
You’ll see! They’ll get Twinkies and everything will be fine!
In the comics, bad guys like Blaine are powerless against Hostess products. Well documented fact.
I like the way you thnk.
Man, glad Hostess products are back on the shelf. Do you remember all the chaos and evil winning that happened when they were off the market? It was like any given moment in a modern superhero comic.
If the gas station doesn’t explode then I think it could have gone worse.
If there was an Outsider present, the explosion would be an improvement.
Guess she was there when Sal robbed a store.
+1 theorists.
It was Walky in drag.
Sal was set up! That’s why she’s so angry at Walky!
inb4 it was Sal
Too late. Sorry.
And two people said it before you posted that. XD
I never heard this theory and it TERRIFIES ME.
I only heard it yesterday, but it seems to be going that way
And that’s not counting everyone who said it before today
I’ve been sayin’ it for monthes.
You’re at least a month too late for that. At least.
Rose-coloured glasses these are not =p
More like blood-coloured glasses in this case.
Rage-coloured glasses, you’d say.
Wee-oo wee-oo wee-oo wee-oo dun DUN dun dun dun DUN!
cyclops vision, perhaps?
Wait, why is this flashback in red, I thought that blue was this comic’s Official Flashback Color (TM).
Really bad memories are in red.
Amber is seeing red…what is not shown is her slaughtering everyone in a fit of rage..
Amber’s flashbacks now come in the new Redrum Red (c) – enjoy your traumatic memories in bold badass bordeaux!
Red is the color of panic attack flashbacks.
Red™! The Official Color of the Bloomington Panic Attack Flashbacks®!
RED has an official monopoly on panic attack flashbacks. It’s a niche market.
I’m hoping red skies means multiverse crossover potential with walkyverse vers. 1.0.
That makes a lot of sense! I’ve sort of just felt it til now, as I suffer from anxiety and panic attacks myself, and I get the same uneasy feeling as when I can feel one sneaking on. Funny, I’ve always “seen” my attacks as more blindingly whitish, don’t know why.
Oh Lord, more red panels. Here we go…
Wow, they have wide eyes when they were kids.
Wide-eyed kids.
More eyes to see TRAUMA INDUCING THINGS WITH!
Amber is the Cyclops of Dumbing of Age. the floating butt will be here soon. mark my words.
I think Blaine, metaphorically, IS the floating butt in this case.
As long as it’s not literally.
Well he is literally an ass.
Congrats, you’ve just made this comment section’s 1 millionth clever pun! here’s your prize: The internet!!! [cheesy game show music]
Dude, Cyclops is my favorite X-Men…and Amber is my favorite character…so…
Should we suppose then that the floating butt is also your favorite butt?
No see people still care for her.
If she doesn’t kill herself, there is always catatonia.
But that’s out in the South Pacific ocean, way too far to get to from Indiana.
Freaking out or fighting might end in arrest, expulsion, mandatory counseling, etc.
Right now who is there to help put her back together? Can’t be Ethan, that would make it worse. Dina is still learning interaction. Danny thinks he found Amazi-Girl.
Which leaves Mike, who isn’t warm and cuddly. He does have a significant part of Amber’s story though.
Interesting to see if and how she gets it all together.
Ruth? Also abusive background, perhaps good there.
Are you shipping Amber and Ruth?
We all are
No she is taken already, she is dating Rhoda.
Oh god… is this gonna culminate in her fighting Sal in modern times (who can probably hold her own) thus ending the day with Amber feeling she’s ruined everything forever?
No way I’ll call it twice in a row, but clearly Willis has decided we are not getting off the Amber’s bad day train just yet.
And then Danny makes it worse by being Danny.
Because Danny.
She just went off on Joyce for a whole lot less.
Amber will realize her hate-crush on Sal.
Then Joyce will realise the pointlessness of being with Ethan and run to her true love, Sal’s motorcycle.
Willis promised, 1 day ago, on tumblr, some ups and downs for Amber. Also that there will be more downs.
The thing that is killing me is Amber and Ethan want so badly to be friends again, but Ethan is being a closeted egghead, and Amber has her plethora of issues. This panel kills me because it’s when they were just happy being friends and things were simple :[
I don’t think things were ever simple for Amber with a dad like that.
True…but You know I meant between her and Ethan ;p
You know what they say. You can pick your friends. And you can pick your nose. But you can’t bang your friend at the prom and make them discover they’re gay.
glad I came out before prom cause that would have been hella awkward o-o Everytime I think about Ethan and Amber I’m so happy it never got to that point.
I didn’t bang anyone after prom. Was I supposed to?
side quests are always optional
Based on actual statistical data that I don’t have the link for but ACTUALLY exist, somewhere. Only about ten percent of high schoolers have sex on Prom night.
That many!? I never would have guessed. But I was a late bloomer, and also pretty unaware of such things. And it was the ’70s. In New Hampshire.
Like, he’s in the closet for being smart?
Amber wanted to get over prom and summer before she would have wanted to be friends again. She never had a chance to get there before all this.
We also see (never read other Willis comics) why Ethan means so much to Amber, why prom night was extra painful, and why she took on the world for him.
ojeez. Defending a friend from their parent. That’s no fun.
Yeah, it’s not like Amber’s had to do that for Ethan. Oh wait… 😉
Go Extended Flashback!
Use Origin of Anger!
“She says she wants twinkies”, I never thought I’d get this attached to a fictional character not from one of John Green’s novels.
I’m particularly intrigued to see some backstory for Amber (and Ethan, too). The anticipation’s killing me.
EEee! Amber’s old hairstyle!
Someone else liked that! I like how he combined the old style of drawing her with making her a kid.
Wow…Blaine seriously doesn’t want kids, does he?
To be fair kids don’t want Blaine.
To be fair, kids are jerks. Blaines are jerks too.
Some nights he just sits around watching Amber’s birth on rewind.
looks just like me eating a burrito
Thank you for THAT image. And also THAT image!!
Not really. You eating a burrito is far messier, and just a little frightening.
He’s an abuser, they dump on the people in their lives constantly. They berate and humiliate in public and always work on breaking their family (victims) down.
Then in private they start hitting.
So it isn’t wanting kids, it’s that having a kid provided another victim.
Man, now I want Twinkies.
Man, now I want a burrito… thanks, Willis
24 hour gas station.
Incidentally, Wonder Bread and Twinkie were to have been Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan’s Secret Service code names, had they won.
Extended flashback un-go. This is going to make me sad, I know it, especially since Blaine is involved.
How many comics will this take? I’ll stay away and take it all in at once.
Don’t it has to be taken slowly, like a drip feed. If you take it all at once the feels may be too strong for you.
Does anyone else feel old seeing Amber holding what looks like a DSlite while being in middle school?
I had a Gameboy Advance in high school. So YES.
Maybe it’s a Game Boy Advance??
I had a DS lite in high school so HAH! And I’m talkin’ freshman year.
And I got it LATE!
Pfftt….I got my PSP this year…and the PS2 when the PS3 came out…and the PS1 when they stopped making games for it and finding the good games is near impossible that you had to download the game of the net and burn it on a disc.
Kinda felt myself withering in quick time Indiana Jones style when I saw that.
I had just finished undergrad when I got my DSLite AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH
I bought my first GameBoy(Color) when I was in my 30s.
Now get off my damn lawn!
But give me your friend code first.
I had a Gameboy (no, not a Colour or an Advance, just an original Gameboy) when I was in secondary school. xD
So HELL YEAH.
Then again, my family’s first desktop computer was by Amstrad. And bragged in its model number about being a Colour Personal Computer. 😛
Man I forgot how old the DS is. They go back to 2004.
Like…a decade ago almost.
no! Lies! STOP MAKING ME FEEL OLDDDDDDD.
If Willis had really wanted to make you feel old, he would have shown the gas prices.
The thing that really weirds me out about Amber and Blaine is that in this strip Blaine looks quite a bit like my father, while I looked rather like Amber at that age. The difference is that while my father has a short temper he has never been physically abusive and is otherwise nothing like Blaine and I have always had a very close relationship with him, while I… no, I was pretty much exactly like Amber personality-wise too, I just chose to vent by angrily ranting at textareas.
I see Blaine, and even before I can read anything, my reaction is just, “Hsssss.” Congratulations, I have been successfully conditioned.
In other things, Ethan and Amber are adorable when they are tiny. Well, tiny-er. I am going to guess them at about pre-teen and just-teens here? I am sure they are adorable at early-childhood levels of being tiny, too.
Oh, wait, looking back at the strip again, that is a gas station. We are totally going to see what happened at Sal’s robbery that Amber was present for, aren’t we? Oh, ack ack ack, suddenly the tension is increased by appr. one billion percent.
(This is why I usually read this comic during the day, when I am usually awake enough to make connections the first time through.)
oh gods now i want to see the whole cast as teens/kids. Willis do the thing.
Dumbing of Babies coming to Nick jr
ENTIRE CAST IS BABIES
Oh my god, tiny bb Amber and tiny bb Ethan. My feels. All those feels.
Yah, Ambers a broken bird if ever there was one. Blaine and her mother (mostly Blaine) did a number on her. And then there was the fiasco with Ethan.
It’s going to sound cold, but from my experience, it’s best to leave people like that be to sort themselves out. Be kind to them, yes. But don’t get close to them and try to “fix them”, because that’s just asking to get hurt yourself. Keep your distance, be generally kind, and hope they can get through their own issues, preferably with the help of a solid therapist.
PS, doesn’t seem to be many healthy relationships in DoA atm, eh? Walky and Dorothy works, but time will tell if it Walky matures into it.
And… I think that’s about it. Any others?
Roz and Joe seemed fairly happy. Granted they’re not quite a couple, but they’ve banged a few times.
Well healthy relationship and growth are different things.
Joe and Roz have their mutual love of sex.
But being young is the best time for screwed up relationships. You learn much about yourself and have time to work out the consequences.
There is little drama in healthy relationships though, other than going through obstacles to get together.
I think the take away from this strip is that Danny is like a twinky. Sweet but about as smart.
Does that mean he’s going to go away for a while and we think he’s dead but then he’ll be back within the same year?
I doubt it, since people actually LIKE Twinkies and wanted them back.
God knows why.
Squishy, but of little nutritional value to mind flayers.
Hey! Where’s the cream filling?!
If it does turn out Sal is what (negatively) inspired Amber to be Amazi-gal (which seems likely), I know Amber’s gonna feel like Danny getting close to Sal is horrible, horrible irony.
But actually, it makes sense.
Maybe Amber wanted to be like Sal so she could stop people like Sal, so *of course* Sal, who is more obviously like the hero she inspired, would be mistaken for her.
Sad thing is Amber’s becoming like those she opposes, her dad *and* Sal. That’s gonna hurt, even if being like Sal isn’t nearly as bad. And it’s too bad this is setting them up to be enemies, because I feel like if the two of them talked, they’d be great friends. They both have explosive parent issues and live outside the law. Seriously, imagine if they teamed up?
super-sal and amazi-girl
“Amazi-girl” and “Wonderin’ if you lost a bet”, cause obviously Sal is super implied.
A raptor needs to appear and bite Blaine’s face off. Christ what a shitty person/father.
I’ve met a few people like him. Thankfully very few. But I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a raptor that could tolerate the taste.
Maybe in future panels Dina will chase him down with a fleet of raptors?? :3
This needs to happen.
Only if someone buys the Raptor a apology/thank you Steak afterward, as compensation for having to taste something so slimy.
And not a crappy el’cheapo Steak, either. We’re talking prime cut, marinated, and medium-rare seared to perfection….
Dammit, now I’m hungry.
See, Shortpacked flashbacks be all blue
And Dumbing of Age flashbacks be all red
DOAs are Red
Shortpackes are Blue
Amber wishes Blaine was dead.
And Robin wishes her parents were too.
For the first time, I think that I’m actually relieved to see Blaine. I came here expecting to have to see Amber have a complete meltdown after last night’s strip. But instead, Flashback-Blaine has given us a temporary delay on Amber’s imminent psychotic breakdown.
(waiting patiently)… “Stay on target… stay on target.”
So I posted number five and refreshed and read a couple posts. Come back to read comments and I’m at 33, interesting. Jumpy feed.
I saw someone posted upstream they just may stay away for awhile and come back and see it all at once. And another answered, the feels would probably kill ya.
I feel badly for her, she runs smack into Sal and Danny being all happy together over his DS, and she flashes back to Ethan when he was ‘protecting’ her from the world in general. She wants her friend, and she has no one. Makes me cry.
Yeah, I expect to come back and find Amber sitting on the steps below Danny and Sal, sucking her thumb.
Flash back time! Go get her some twinkies bongo! OK so how many cald the long awaited fash back? Also if she suppose be 13 then why does she look like she 8? But I’m not questioning willises drawing skill just draw just saying
Drawing kids is hard. Especially when your adults are proportioned like kids anyway. At least Willis’s don’t look like evil middle-aged gnomes, which is pretty common.
Amber has long hair as a kid. Why did she cut it?
Long hair ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. Trust me.
Ya I bet you used to have a flowing main that maid you look like Fabio
I got asked by a black dude [read: someone who’s never had hair longer than maybe 1″] why I never wore my hair down at work. It’s a fucking mess and gets everywhere, that’s why |=(
This. Fine, thick, curly hair breaks. Never looks smooth. Humidity and rain are disastrous. At best my long hair looked like Alice in Dilbert.
I liked having long hair. I had a pony tail through my later extended college years.
Of course, being Chinese, I had straight hair, which helped a lot. Coarse enough to be strong enough to not break.
Combing in the morning and after showering wasn’t fun, but other than that it was pretty easy to take care of. Used huge amounts of shampoo.
So opposite experience of Fuzzydaemon.
Also probably the easiest time I had getting sex. A woman once told me “everybody wants to fuck long hair”.
Eh. It’s a prefference. I’m more of a short hair, kind of guy.
I agree that individually it is, but as a group things trend one way.
Traditionally, it is the single women who wear their hair long. They cut their hair or tie it in a bun when married even though it was just as in the way when single.
Every rock video babe has long hair, as do models. Most women in entertainment too, at least while establishing themselves. This is at a time when we have quality wigs and hair extensions.
There is a definite kernel of truth to that.
Because people cut their hair…? That is not. Like. Weird? That is a thing that happens.
It’s weird to me. Last time I got my hair cut, Reagan was President.
So it just… grows? Are you Rapunzel?
Nah, it stabilizes at the length where the rate of growth is roughly equal to the rate of breakage. It’s been down about to the bottom of my shoulderblades when it’s down for twenty-plus years now.
Amber used to have long hair in Shortpacked, then got it cut, then let it grow again. Willis is having her be a “former-long-haired-gal” again here just so she can be like her alt-dimension self a little more.
There are not enough fists in the human population for that guy’s face.
FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE
I think I like Blaine more in shortpacked… where he’s dead
Ya it was easier for amber to have a conversation with him and he was kind of nicer, but not that mutch
I wonder if this is one of the places Sal robbed?
The place. There was only, to the best of our knowledge, one robbery.
Sal held up 2 convenience stores.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2010/comic/book-1/02-uphill-from-here/news/
Maybe the fact that the flashback is red means that Amber is having an aneurysm. The blood has stained her memories.
That or Thrax has worked his way into her brain. Either way, she probably doesn’t have too long left before she has to go to the hospital.
Ethan was a cute twink, when he was younger.
This is going bad places. I’m so excited. I feel bad for being so excited. I’m sorry, Amber.
this arc is gonna give me a heart attack i s2g
Ah Blaine. Never change. By which I mean he’s an awful person who apparently only gets worse over time.
ARGHH
NEED MORE STORY ARC
HOW DO I HACKED BUFFER
Get a time machine.
Frashbark tiem!
It’s happening!
I am so here for this flashback, though. After having seen it be alluded to for so long I am quite excited to find out what actually happened. I mean, I say excited. Terrified. But excited. EXCITIFIED.
That still sounds like just regular excited with no terrified at all.
I know. Those two words do not lend themselves to compunding. It saddens me. Scarecited? Ehhh. I get so upset when I can’t make words mesh lol.
Terrifxcited?
Terrorcited, it’s all in playing with the syllables until they mesh and make sense.
Oh, wow. Flashback time… This can’t be good.
And Blaine has clearly ALWAYS been horrible… good to know some things never change.
Wow. Everyone was right about Sal. Goodness.
On a side note, Ethan looks WAY MORE JEWISH when the rest of him is tiny.
That… is a very weird thing to say. I would. Errr. Reconsider this comment.
Effin Blaine.
Kill the bastard.
My god, between this and Shortpacked I don’t even know. Too many flashback feels.
Apparently Willis didn’t plan the back to back flashbacks? I guess it’s just a coincidence. An evil, evil coincidence.
yay do we finally get to see the epic convenience store flashback?
Dammit, the panel cuts off the back of Ethan’s head so I can’t see if he’s got that flip in his hair!
Huh. This is probably the least douchey that Blaine’s been since his introduction.
That’s like saying, that’s the smartest Danny’s been. Or that’s the most mature Walky’s been. Or that the sweetest Mike’s been. Or that’s the most social Dina’s been.
I know, it’s just that I believe every character deserves to have their highest level of human decency highlighted.
A valid observation . . . and a perfect gravitar for it.
OH SHIT
that one flashback where she’s huddling in terror? She’s sitting behind a rack of chips. D: D: D:
ABORT ABORT ABANDON SHIP
And now… The Origin of Amazi-Girl
i think.
SO RED
PARALLEL!
Amber defended Ethan from his parents when they found out he had a trait that they didn’t like.
Ethan defends Amber from her parent when he figured out she has a trait HE doesn’t like.
I noticed this too, last night, but fell asleep before I could comment on it! Ethan and Amber really have *got* to patch it up — they’ve got too much history in their friendship to just toss it all out the window.
Just realized that Amber is going to be in a middle of a mental breakdown after this flashback….
I think she is way over the middle right now.
Heroic Blue Screen of Death
Error. Error. Please reboot after viewing traumatic memories.
Error: There appears to be a problem with your graphics display card. Please restart the system if this is the first time that instead of seeing current events, you see reddish tinged flashbacks. If that does not work, the hardware or software may be damaged and may require a psychologist to repair.
Willis has already drawn the strip following the flashback. You knew that, but did you know part of it is already viewable in his deviant art? This is one of the upcoming panels following Amber’s mental breakdown.
http://www.deviantart.com/art/It-s-Walky-Reunion-Limited-Print-317648501
Ha ha. (That really is a devastating print — but thank god it’s not what you say it is . . . )
Amber’s damn dad. Guy always hits way too close to home.
Thats a lot of red.
I have feeling the Sal that’s going to be committing the robbery isn’t going to be like the tough biker chick we’ve seen, but what ever happened after the robberies is what makes her like that.
Also, anyone actually realize that Sal will be of similar age to Amber and Ethan at this point? That’s very young for a robbery if I’m guessing Amber and Ethan’s age in this flashback properly.
Sal was 13-ish at the time of the robberies. It’s hard to judge ages in Willis’s style, but 13 seems plausible for Ethan and Amber here, too.
Amber and Walky are a year younger than Sal so 11-12 here depending on how the birthdays work out.
Walky and Sal are twins, dude!
Man, that was some hellacious labor. Their poor, poor mother…
The record for delayed interval births for twins is 95 days…
They could’ve been raised on different planets, like the Skywalker twins (IIRC Luke is a year older than Leia, since a Tatooine-year is different from an Alderaan-year).
And, actually, the first time that flashback panel appeared, Amber explicitly said she was 13 when it happened.
It was like five years ago that Sal was sent away, and the main cast is 18ish now, so, yeah, timing fits.
It’s a little known thing, but that catholic school has a time machine, and uses it to force students to spend 20% extra time in school. So in 5 years, Sal aged an extra year.
Sal, Ethan, and Amber are the same age.
I have no idea where the “they are younger” thing came from.
I don’t either, but I like taking it and running with it against the wall, and then to the ground.
Judging by the uniform, I’d find the reverse more plausible: That in five years, Sal aged only a year. And then stopped aging entirely.
*pours out a Barq’s for Avalon*
I have a feeling Amber is traumatized because Sal got the last Twinkie
This is so totally babies
Literally
Oh God, it’s a flashback!
A flashback of pain, and anguish!
Those are the WORST kinds of flashbacks!
You, uh … misspelled ‘BEST’ there, buddy.
I have to admit that this storyline is hitting pretty close to home.
I have a step-father much like Amber’s. I was sixteen when it first came to blows and spent 6 days in country lockup and a few years later ended up spending 11 months in a psych ward after I almost killed him when he pushed me a little too far. Thankfully, I don’t have any contact with either of my parents anymore.
While it’s incredibly difficult to do, sometimes cutting them out of your life entirely is the best option. Also, therapy. Amber needs therapy badly. I don’t know what kinds of options most universities have, but I do know my local one (UAF) has options for students who need therapy.
Most universities in the US have some variety of university medical coverage for staff and students that is much less than that normally available, which usually includes both psychological and psychiatric care. Schools that have dental programs, medical programs and clinical psychology programs often have a preferred pricing, or other incentives, for getting care through those programs.
Young Amber looks like Daria.
Thats awesome
Everyone’s talking about Ethan….Am I the only one that thinks Amber looks super cute? I just wanna give her a big hug!
One question: Why isn’t Amber crying in panel one? She had tears streaming down her face at the end of the last page. Slight time-skip forward so they’ve had time to dry?
This is her in the flashback – she’s wearing a different outfit, and the same as in the other flashback panels. Willis has made some weird artistic choices with how the panels are framed in these last couple strips.
I suspect if this were a TV show, the last panel of yesterday’s strip and the first panel of today’s would have been a slow cross-fade with that flashback music playing. Maybe some wavy-image effect.
I feel old – they have a DS lite, at that age I had a gameboy color.
When I was that age, I had rocks and sticks.
Of course, the shortage of technology was made up for the fun fact that my Dad kept a case of dynamite in the shed. Amazing how much fun you can have with explosives.
Same here! No portable game systems when I was 12 or 13. The original gameboy (black and white one) didn’t come out until I was done highschool. The C64 and NES was where it was at in those days.
12 or 13? I was 13 in 1974, so…
Thank you for making me feel a little less ancient around all these college kids, Animal. I was born in 1974.
We didn’t get our first computer until 1977. An Exidy Sorcerer, 4MHz and 48kB of screaming Z-80 power…
We got electricity in 1977.
And I was born exactly 20 years before you were, John. Seems to be a fair amount of old-timers following this comic.
I’m also about Animal’s age and the first computer I owned was a computer-watch (The UC-2000) back in 1986, it had an amazing 2Kb of storage memory which is enough to store slightly over 7 tweets worth of text.
Born in 73 and I felt incredibly lucky when we got an atari 2600
Born in ’61. First people in the province (and maybe the country) to have a pong game. We were really popular for a while, and ruined two tvs with burn in.
PTSD like symptoms are very common in abused children. Comes with being hyper vigilant trying to avoid danger and failing. So, yes, therapy. It does not need to include a single traumatic event, but in the nature of both situations, it often does.
Also, Ethan is being a good and brave friend here. Most kids would stay miles away from Blaine. Naomi’s no prize, but Ethan could be riding the bus with the other kids and chose this.
So Blaine will order Amber to steal the twinkie, Sal sees it and stops it, gets accused instead of Amber.
That’d be a clever twist, but shoplifting and robbery are not the same thing, and I’m having trouble figuring out how that leads to Amazi-girl.
Impressed by Sal and driven by guilt Amber becomes Amazigirl.
Is Amber’s clothing change in first panel symbolic of her mental state returning to red-washed flashback Amber?
Dumbing of Age and kids? Oh boy this can only go well.
I bet we will find out that Marcie was the mastermind or the person holding up the store and that Sal was there to voice Marcie’s demands.
If it turns out that Sal was something of an unwilling participant it could explain some of her distrust of the police.
I had a dad like that. I know how it can warp everything in your life when you are young and just off to college.
Aha! I see where this is leading.
Sal never robbed that convenience store. Amber’s father did. Sal tried to stop him, disarmed him, but then was blamed for the robbery as the police burst in, while father browbeat Amber into keeping quiet about it.
So Amber knows that her silence is the reason Sal got punished, and that’s why she was reacting the way she did upon seeing her again.
That’s actually what I thought, too. Or at least something along those lines.
Damn. I just realized seeing a past bad guy in a diffused (albeit hurtful for reasons Sal can’t possibly understand or be held responsible for) setting means Amber will have to confront the fact bad guys are people too – people who make stupid decisions, but people nonetheless. Making them a convenient outlet for your anger is how bad cops are made, after all.
When the flashback ends, Amber will be on pile of bodies. She’ll be sent to prison, and Malaya will be her roommate.
Between this and Shortpacked, there’s no respite – we’re all going to Hell together.
Congratulations, Blaine. You officially win another punch in the face. By Optimus Prime. FUCK YOU, ASSHOLE.
They already had DS Lites when they were kids?
I feel so old now.
How many years ago is this flashback? Shouldn’t they be the old regular DS maybe?
DS lite was launched in 2006. If they’re 19 now (I’m not actually sure how old they are, but let’s say 19), that would make them 12 in the flashback. Which, without checking if any of that’s true, seems about right to me. It is weird, though. In a couple years, I’m going to be surpassing in age characters that have been older than me since before I was born. o_O
THIS. I came back to post this. My band road trips were lucky to be accompanied by the original green-screen Game Boy. We also had a cassette boombox and read aloud from Dave Barry columns. I AM OLD
I WANT TO GET OUT!
What I appreciate most right now are the drawings on Willis’ tumblrs showing Sal and Amber as they appear in strips weeks from now. Neither appear to be scarred, to be missing an eye, or to have their jaws wired shut. No major bones appear broken, nor are there signs of bruising or swelling on either of their faces.
Amazi-Girl Begins has started! Following this will be The Campus Crusader, and the trilogy will end with The Campus Crusader Rises.
And campus security will chase her. Because she can take it. Because she’s the hero this school deserves, but not the one it needs right now.
So im guess thing David Willis does these things daily?
Sweet.
I’m having a flashback myself.
Flashback of seeing what would episode 6 of Attack on Titan be about.
Dropped that immediately, but I still sometimes wake up shuddering.
You’re breaking my heart, Willis!
Hopefully Ethan can get back to that part of himself (standing up for Amber) and quit being the douche he is at the moment
Great page
WHAT?! How??
Damn you willis. Damn you to hell.
Nice use of red for the flashback, though I can’t help but hear this little tune while I’m reading.
Is that the same DS that she has now? And why isn’t Ethan wearing a seat belt?
Its a DS lite, you can tell by the square pattern on it.
Because they’re parked at a gas station. I’m assuming he took it off as soon as he could.