See, here’s the thing “regular” (aka unadorned plain) fedoras have become the default style of “nice guys tm” and “pompous douches”, but decorated fedoras are still great hats that show one’s inner coolness and eccentricity. Just, don’t wear either a fur coat, excessive jewelry, or a suit with it. That gives of the wrong impression.
It infuriates me when people don’t understand this distinction. It’s not like real fedoras are this niche, unknown thing. Indiana Jones wears one for shit’s sake.
I’ve seen people who wore real fedoras who acted like they were trilbys, and I’ve encountered so few people who know the difference I just gave up on trying to explain it, and just kinda went with the flow I guess.
I’m sure Yahtzee would disagree that people who wear trilbies are all douchebags.
No, wait, he would agree, and then say that this is exactly why he wears them himself (and writes novel characters who wear them).
Douchebag pride is a thing with him. Him and Simon Travaglia, who I am guessing wears a trilby (or a Bush hat, though that would be more of an Aussie thing, and he’s a Kiwi. Not that either of them are still in that part of the world anymore).
For those who don’t know who I am talking about, Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw is a game critic who makes the Zero Punctuation series, while Simon The BOFH writes the Bastard Operator From Hell series, which has been on the UK tech news site The Register since around 1998.
I expect that more people know about the former than the latter, though the BOFH stories pre-date ZP by 15 years (the earliest one is from 1992, whereas ZP began in 2007).
Please learn the difference between fedoras and trilbys. Also, please try not to prejudge people based on their choice of headgear. Please? I’ve been wearing a fedora for 35 years, and I hate the meaning people have come to associate with them (incorrectly).
I think it happened when I started wearing them, unfortunately. I also tend to exhibit many of the traits that come along with the uncoolness, sans being an overbearing mouth breather to women around me. Though mind you, I was already married to someone who didn’t mind those traits, so ymmv.
The swastika is still a positive symbol, if used properly. There are tons of ways to have one, without it immediately being a Nazi thing. Not tilting it at a 45-degree angle, for starters.
I’m Jewish and will be completely creeped out by your ancient peace symbol if it can be construed as a swastika. Even a backwards or tilt-y swastika. It’s been wrrcked. Unless it’s on a huge stone stele from India with gods n’stuff, please pick another ancient symbol.
I mean, I’m not exactly advocating for using a swastika all willy-nilly, regardless of context. All I’m saying is, there are dozens of situations in which that generic symbol can be used, without any sort of Nazi-flavored implications. It’s not like I’m trying to brush over the obviously undeniable problems attached to a specific variant of the symbol, though.
You did offer reasonable consideration for outside perspectives at the end of your post, so if the perspective I’m addressing doesn’t apply to you then, by all means, please dismiss any elements of my reply which indicate it as being directed toward you. I just see too many blind arguments on the topic, so I figured it’d be constructive to offer the following considerations- just in case. 🙂
—
It’s kinda a big difference if the symbol pops up in western culture (where the negative interpretation is intuitive), and if it pops up in Eastern religion or mysticism, where it originated. You can’t demand entire cultures across a massive region all throw out their ancient symbology just ’cause some asshole foreigners started misappropriating it. Heck, if countries started throwing out their beliefs every time something was misappropriated by foreign assholes, they’d quickly run out of culture altogether. 😛
Put another way- the other facet of people respecting what it means to you and the interpretations it’s associated with from the related perspective, is also respecting what it means to people who have no connection to that perspective at all. What you’d be claiming, otherwise, is that the perspective of Jews- within the context of the religions of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism- is more important than that of that of the followers of those religions. You’d be claiming that Jewish communities are more important than those communities influenced by other faiths.
Of course, two-way interaction means that any member of those faiths who enters a context where your perspective is dominant, and doesn’t yield in respect of your perspectives, is similarly in the wrong (and perhaps even moreso, given the far less ambiguous associations the symbol has in the west).
Criticizing the political party- even the devout censorship of the symbol which Germany engages in to prevent reformation efforts- is not just warranted, it’s necessary if humanity wants to provide any influence in preventing future declines of the species into barbarism.
But engaging in unwarranted censorship, or hating on others because their perspectives are different from your own- despite them not intending any harm or insult to you, or diminishment of you? That’s favoring the very perspectives that you’re opposing. And it’s that, more than the allowance of any symbol, which is going to provide support to the kind of agency you’re expressing concern over.
I got my best compliment in one. A woman said I looked like a hitman, so I tipped my hat and smirked.
It probably helped that I had a pinstripe shirt unbuttoned over my t-shirt, plus the hat is actual felt, not one of those flimsy things you’d find at a department store.
I mean in terms of hats in the general shape of trilby/fedora/homburg/etc.
But fezs that are not part of a costume/cosplay/uniform probably should be banned. 🙂
Man, I’m a lady who looks awesome in a trilby (and indeed I have very narrow shoulders) but the neckbeards ruined them for me. :s
I do know a lady who wears a real fedora, with a red coat. She looks like Carmen Sandiego; when asked, she says she’s here to steal the Empire State Building.
I thought women wearing trilbies were immune from the neckbeard created reputation? I know I personally think it’s a lovely hat on the right person. But if that’s not the case, I’m very sorry they were tarnished.
Remember that the fedora originally gained popularity as a hat for strong women, and it wasn’t popular with men until about the 1920s. So the gangsters totally appropriated it from women. I say it’s high time for women to re-appropriate the fedora for ourselves.
Thank you. It’s just a hat, so what if a few scumbag wear them? I wear one and I’m perfectly fine. Admittedly, I don’t wear it indoors like a tool and I pair it with my good dress shirts, maybe that helps?
C’mon, a fedora and a long overcoat and you’re in that happy place where you can go Doctor Who by adding a scarf, or Captain Mal by making the rest of the ensemble more “space western”. Come to think of it, it’s not a long jump to Dr Indiana Jones. Fedora and overcoat, can’t go wrong! 🙂
Hey! What’s wrong with fedoras?! I happen to have been wearing them for many years. WAY before they were cool, again. (They were pretty cool from the 1920’s to the 1950’s but kinda died out for a while).
Not inoffensive enough. He should have no trouble finding his next girlfriend to have a relationship that’ll end just like his last two for comparable reasons.
Codependents need to walk around in circles when it comes to how they perceive themselves and the world around them being contradicted. ‘Cause if he really learned and grew past those contradictions effectively, he wouldn’t really have codependent issues. Then how would he waste his energy pining for people who he isn’t aware of but know who he is to call him a ‘good egg?’ Someone’s gotta keep it real with all these sell-outs outgrowing desire to be the right archetype in the sitcom/movie/comic book/formula fiction that is our lives?!
I thought his first relationship ended because he was clingy and his last ended because her trauma pushed her toward black and white thinking resulting in an inability to handle being questioned or defied im the face of it?
Not really sure what the comparison point between the two you’re using is..?
They were secretly behind the shows Ultracar and Dexter & Monkey Master. Those that still show a desire for the shows will soon be picked up to become their agents.
We might see an incarnation the characters (and that would be great), but I think DoA runs parallel with the prime QC universe. Faye exists here, but her dad’s still alive and DoA has no sentient AIs.
Besides, it’s a hell of a bus ride from Bloomington up to western Massachusetts.
my best dressed coworker wears one of those, he looks good perpetually. i wear one sometimes but just look like a hooligan. now like 6 ppl in the office have them to varying effects, but it mostly works.
disclaimer, we are all engineers so maybe dont follow our lead folks?
In all fairness, I have seen multiple grown men wearing hats such as these without looking ridiculous, but they’ve all tended to be 70+ years old and in the UK.
Joe:”So, wait you’re-”
Danny:”Bisexual not gay!”
Joe: “I was going to say even better equipped to tell me if something I’m doing is atractive or not, but let’s go with that. Also, in an attempt to make things less awkward than they currently are, from now on I’m only going to hug you if we both have pants on, agreed?”
Danny: “Agreed.”
It’s been awhile since I’ve commented with any regularity (sans like a day ago). Forgot that people would forget how one of my many overly long gags is comically missing the point.
Don’t worry, I still remember.
…
Although I only just now realize that your commenter name is “Orion Fury” and not “Onion Fury” and I feel very bad about that.
As someone with 0 knowledge of how to fashion, I do this and whenever someone asks me about it, my answer is “I feel better when I’m dressed like this.”
I love this storyline so much. I want it to stay for a long time. Danny is pure and dapper. Joe is concerned and scruffy. Together, they have an ordinary college disagreement.
I live in Portland. He still needs battered flannel, sandals, socks, and a complete disregard for the rules of the road no matter his means of transportation.
Somewhere about equal, I’d guess. Probably off by a few percentage points in one way or another but margin-of-error close. They’re just not as well-KNOWN for it.
Seattle: Coffee (and grunge rock)
Portland: Beer (and feminist book stores)
San Francisco: Queers (and sourdough)
Also, Chinatown and Little Tokyo for San Francisco. There’s actually a movie theater that shows undubbed anime movies like, a week after they come out in Japan if you look hard enough. But you know what all three have in common? Tons of street artists!!!
lmao I love Danny. He is such a sweet, harmless guy, trying to be a hipster. But hey, at least he’s experimenting with his style and image, that’s a big part of what college is for, right? 😉
He needs a pony tail, 5 days worth of beard, and a reserved spot at a wire table out front of a coffee shop. (And not Starbucks. Some place where they actually give you real mugs and there’s a tray next to the trash and you bus them back to the tray yourself.)
As a bearded man who is in college, owns two of that kind of hat, just started learning ukulele, and whose favorite color is blue, these last 3 comics have been really close to home.
Whoa whoa whoa. Native Seattleite here, and I’ll have you know that up here we do… actually wear those fucking hats once in a while. Saw one on a band leader during our annual brass festival last weekend.
Also, glad to see there’s a megapost of this silliness, so we can plan on seeing something else tomorrow, ideally that one thing we all really damn want to know about.
Well Joe, that’s why Danny googled Austin, Texas aka the Seattle of the Southwest aka the city so blue in a state so red that they gerrymandered into six other districts. …Seriously, it’s like, the hipster capital of the Gulf Coast.
…
Also where did Danny buy the 1890s newspaper boy hat? I mean, if he had a scarf, a saxophone, and maybe a long coat he could pull it off, but that hat does not go with a ukulele. No hat goes with the ukulele. The ukulele is by its very nature an instrument that cannot be played while wearing a hat.
I have three somewhere, but I can’t find them. They are perfect for novelty buttons and I. LOVE. THEM. Gonna buy a new one soon, the cheaper, the better
naaaaw. I got my first one for $5 in an outdoor Hell’s Kitchen and ever since then, it’s been a tradition to only get one if I can get a really good deal on it.
That’s what she said.
*shakes head in shame at using such an old, over-used joke*
Normally I can restrain myself, but I just…couldn’t resist this time. I’m sorry.
Pooh on your friends–
Google images shows me that Seattle has scads of buildings (did you know you can see the Space Needle from any window?) but hardly any people. I had to look for ‘seattle hipster’. Dan hats are not a big thing there, Joe aside.
We were a few years ago I think? Now it’s all hoodies and man-buns. And if Danny gauges up his ears a few times and gets a dog I think we’ll be solid on the Seattle-ness.
aaaaaaand 3 days after the 3 day time jump, I’m just realizing that this time jump means we will never see the conclusion of becky/dina’s last encounter…. this makes me so sad.
So no one told you life was gonna be this way! Your jobs a joke, you’re broke you’re love life’s D.O.A! It’s like you’re always stuck in second gear! But when it hasn’t been your day, your month, or even your year…
At the least, I can say that the flat cap Danny is sporting here is just about the least likely to be taken as a, potentially unintended, statement of some kind. The only headwear for men that has less likelihood of being taken as a statement like this is a knit cap when worn in cold winter weather (ie in it’s pure utility function).
And yes, I am indeed somewhat bitter there is no headwear I can wear normally that doesn’t have some stereotypical connotations and presumptions attached beyond as a fashion statement of else for pure utility.
While i do work in food, a toque blanc is way too pretentious and way too associated with classic French and Italian cuisine for me. I tend more to New American cuisine built from ’50s diner and classic Southern standards with Latin American, Eastern European, Levantine and East Asian flare elements.
Tell me about it. I walk barefoot, just because I like how it feels (can’t focus in sweaty feet) and everyone assumes I’m some kind of hippie weirdo. I mean, yes, I’m a weirdo, but a different kind :V
Wait, what about a plain old baseball cap? I’ve seen people of all kinds wearing those. Hell, I even have a nice brown one, myself, with a little Overwatch pin on it.
Sorry, I guess they’re called “dad hats”, now, for some fucking reason. Everywhere that sells hats for a younger crowd uses those flat-billed snapbacks that look ridiculous on just about everyone. I’m guessing it has something to do with rap culture.
One time during high school, a friend of mine was wearing lenseless black-frame glasses and browsing in a store. A couple of employees started talking about them in French (my friend and their glasses), assuming that they didn’t speak French.
They did.
I very much wish for Danny to discover tabletop gaming. One minor nitpick, though. Percentile dice are extremely situational; a d20 is much more iconic, and more likely to see frequent use. A case could be made for the d6 being used more, depending on the game, but those tend to carry more of a gambling connotation.
Gute Gott in Himmel!! I just saw the picture of hipster Danny that Willis posted on tumblr. It’s…it’s like I’m looking at Danny’s evil twin or something.
Ah no, it isn’t. Because a female god would have a female word for god in German, which is Göttin. ‘Gute Göttin’ in context. So. Like I said, it’s all German’s fault!
Depends on if your from east or west Germany. The people from the east seldom bother with putting the female ending on a job description noun. The women say ” Ich bin Ingenieur/Arzt/Architekt” even though this drives west-German feminists up the wall.
XD I went to school in Seattle for a year, and even though my stay was brief what Joe is implying is 100% true. Poor Danny, another innocent soul claimed by accidentally becoming a hipster.
And the super awkwardness continues. However, I am giving major props to Joe right now. With the way his father is, Joe is very much a product of his upbringing. And for all that he hates emotions and vulnerability, he recognizes Danny’s cry for help and is attempting, in his own way, to help Danny. Sure, Joe would probably find it embarrassing to be friends with “ukelele guy”, but this situation, despite its privacy, is also pretty embarrassing for him. So, yeah, props to Joe for trying to help Danny right now.
This Joe versus the ukulele bit has officially gone on a bit too long. If it’s still going on next strip, it could be a sign Willis has been replaced by a Family Guy writer.
This is nothing. A. It’s only been three days, relax of these strips, relax.
B. He’ll probably keep it going all throughout the week. Why? Because there’s probably a reason we’re seeing Danny turn into a Seattilite and Joe actually being a friend.
Overly-long gags may be a hallmark of Family Guy writers, but it’s not exclusive enough to be a proper warning sign.
Now, if the characters suddenly started randomly making rape jokes, being excessively violent for absolutely no reason, and vomiting everywhere, we’d be in some trouble. Luckily, even at his worst, I haven’t seen Willis stoop to that level, so everything should be fine.
Its too late. He’s too far gone. The ukulele has claimed another poor soul. Soon, it won’t just be a dapper hat, it will be a par of prescription less glasses and a scruffy beard. Face it, Danny Wilcox is gone. Ukulele guy is all that is left.
I’ve got to say, that’s what I don’t like about this jump and bit of storyline. I’m stuck in a holding pattern on how to react to it.
If this is Danny reinventing himself in response to figuring out he’s bi and his other experiences so far in college, it’s funny and kind of cool.
If it’s in response to some horrific tragedy happening to Amber and Dorothy, then it’s wildly inappropriate and probably part of some kind of breakdown – which puts an entirely different light on Joe’s response too.
I think that’s probably the case – if it didn’t blow up into some huge thing. If Ryan’s dead or mutilated and Amber’s in custody or on the run or something, that’s not something Danny would just be ignoring, IMO. He still cares enough about her that he wouldn’t be blowing her trauma off like this, if it was a known big deal.
Or a traumatized Dorothy for that matter.
Unless it’s big enough that he’s all screwed up second hand.
If they kept everything pretty much under wraps, then this can just be his thing. I hope that’s the case. I even think that’s the case.
But not knowing what Danny knows and what he’s reacting to makes this read very awkwardly to me.
We’re probably going into a more Joe-focused storyline, maybe about the way he treats ladies (considering his interactions with Rachel and Roz from the last storyline), maybe more about his friendship with Danny, as those couple of strips seem to suggest
Wow. Joe is actually being a good friend here. He’s recognising that’s Danny’s trying to channel all his issues into this ukulele and basically build a new personality on it (which is obviously not healthy) and he’s worried and genuinely wants to help.
RE: Hats
As someone mentioned above, this looks like what is called in the UK a ‘flat cap’ (call it what it is!) 🙂
Almost solely the property of older gentlemen, usually of a working class / farming background… and also from about two generations back.
However they were de rigueur about 50/100 years ago for ALL ages, but generally the poorer folks… Football games were a great place to see evidence of this: (Old and Young alike)
I have one of these myself. So does my brother-in-law. I find being middle aged and balding, I keep my hair short (my brother-in-law is bald) and these hats actually look pretty darn good on us! I also remember playing with my grandfather’s flat hats like this from the 30’s and 40’s (and his Trilby’s with the band and the feather) as a kid. I’ve got lots of pictures of my dad as a kid in the 30’s and 40’s wearing these hats too. They were pretty universal at one time.
I didn’t like the hipsters, until all concert venues were full anew, what means organizing people didn’t lost money, what means more concerts.
I didn’t like the hipsters, until they all went vegan, what meant I could find vegan and organic food much easier.
I didn’t like the hipsters, until they made beer hip again, and I’m from a wineland, where most beers taste like bud + sulfur + a bit of cereal aftertaste. Now there are IPAs everywhere, but I also find a good regular pils or belgian triple much more easily.
I didn’t like the hipsters, until they created coops for everything.
I still don’t hipsters, because most of them don’t have a well thought reason for why they are doing things like drinking beer (to get pissed), going to concerts (to get shitfaced before the first chord is struck), eating vegan (to be healthy while still vinge-drinking), making coops (to be sure they won’t be forced to do anything like the neighboor), but I’m fucking glad they exist.
Panel 1: Again, I want to give Joe his props here. This is not something that is easy for him and he’s got a lot of assorted baggage surrounding offering hugs and emotional support. So for him to recognize something is occurring that he is left outside of and to not only come to the conclusion that “this is a cry for help and Danny needs me”, but to offer a hug is a big thing and hopefully is the beginning of Joe working to clear out some of his toxic detritus.
Panel 2: I see your eye level Danny. And I imagine its partially a combination of two things.
1) That Joe is fairly attractive and shirtless and getting a near naked hug from someone you find attractive can be heavily awkward especially if you don’t have that sort of relationship.
2) The old queer overcorrection where you kind of go out of your way not to do certain things with straight folks*, because you don’t want to start that whole conversation where the straight person is interpreting their actions differently because they know they are attracted to folks of the same gender.
I don’t think Joe necessarily would and I think his offer is at the very least intended to be genuine, but I can definitely see Danny backing out of the potential of anything in their relationship becoming any more awkward as he knows it’s strained a bit at the moment.
*I’m a very huggy person when that’s safe, but I have a reputation in a lot of spaces for being more standoffish and less willing to accept or give things like hugs, because I know being very visibly queer that that will get read very differently than if it happened from a straight peer.
Panels 3-4: Aw, well if he’s going to go full queer hipster, at least he fell into the earnest bohemian variety rather than the “my racism, classism, and sexism is ironic, so it shouldn’t be interpreted as what it is” variety we tend to get in northern California.
And it’s somewhat beautiful. Not just because ukuleles are kinda becoming queer culture, so it’s a connection point between him and that part of his identity. But also because this is something he’s choosing for himself, not a romantic partner. He’s defining a style that’s just his and that makes him feel comfortable.
And it’s ironic that Joe has such a problem with it, given his own intentional attempt to reinvent himself and his style for college. Not just for the obvious reasons, but also because this is a great example of a harmless reinvention, which stands in direct contrast with Joe’s toxic reinvention and the harm its been doing to those unfortunate enough to fall inside of Joe’s performances of it.
And it really gets to the heart of a thing I find interesting. We as a society are much more willing to support toxic but normative transformations and reinventions than harmless but non-normative transformations and reinventions.
Like, society barely shrugs its shoulders when someone falls in with neo-nazis or gets really deep into PUA awfulness or “gets born again” and becomes a bible-thumping bigot. Like, sure, some old friends may drift away for their own protection or morals, but we as a system regard that very favorably and even at times encourage it.
But someone who does something harmless for themselves and their personal sense of self and society reacts with all the angry condemnation that should befall people who fall into these harmful normative reinventions. Like, for example, see queer and trans folks finding a new style after coming out or any attempt to drift out of typical dress for your gender or even something as small as being this little bit of quirky and eccentric with your ensemble.
They get such violent pushback as we see here from this flipside of Joe. Like, he’s so against this, because it’s non-normative, because it’s bohemian, because it’s the (healthy kind of) hipster, but he would have been stunned and out of sorts if Danny had expressed his same dismay at Joe’s favoring of Ed Hardy t-shirts, even though the Ed Hardy shirts project a type of douchebag.
And I think it’s a small entry point to how we normalize the extreme policing of non-normativity in favor of status quos and presentations and actions that are not as neutral as we like to pretend they are in society.
There’s a good reason people push back so hard, when someone makes a small, harmless change for their own happiness. See, people are fucking terrified of the tiniest bit of introspection, and they’ll shit their pants if it looks like someone is discovering their own identity, because if Chris can figure it out, that must mean there’s something wrong with Alex. Sure, there are a lot of people who are plenty introspective and constantly learning and discovering and improving themselves. The problem comes from the terrified little cowards who can hardly decide what to eat without worrying how it will affect another person’s perception of them.
And, yes, I am absolutely calling people cowards if they can’t introspect in the privacy of their own homes, for fear of how others will react. Others, I should clarify, who aren’t even there to begin with. Actually, I’ll go a step further and call those people lazy assholes, as well. They’re lazy cowards, because they’re so afraid of figuring themselves out, they just default to something that’s already been laid out for them by a larger group. If this seems extreme, then whatever.
Yeah, I understand the fear. Society can be cruel to both introspective and non-normative people, but it’s unfortunate that it creates this self-reinforcing cycle where people terrified of diversity and introspection and being outside the normative beat up on everyone else thus reinforcing the fear they are trapped in.
It’s very similar to the toxic remora on masculinity. This whole messed-up system of interactions but everyone in it is so terrified of being labeled “not a man” and treated with violence because of it that they just end up signing off on the culture and perpetuating it in order to protect themselves.
Honestly, if we could figure out to short-circuit infinite feedback loops like this, humanity would be a lot healthier overall.
Oh, there’s a real easy way to break a feedback loop. Just get the people who just entered the loop to not torture the next batch, and you’re already off to a stellar start. Of course, this would require people to get their heads out of their asses and stop being so fucking stupid about everything, so it’s easier said than done.
I think the canon might be that he’s always been like this, but that he’s upped it in intensity at college, so he can get the “full college experience” as it were.
At least we know that Danny was not prepared for who Joe would turn out to be in college (or Dorothy, for that matter), but I think that says more about Danny than either of them.
But yeah, I read Joe’s constant distancing himself from Danny and all his feely feels as part of an active re-branding. He also reminds me a bit of Becky’s constant reminder to everyone within earshot of her identity. “I’m a LESBIAN”. “I’m a SEX MACHINE”, which makes it plausible to me that he took the opportunity in college to start living up to his self image.
But even at the very beginning Danny doesn’t seem at all surprised by “horndog Joe”.
If anything, I’d guess he might have not anticipated what actually living full time with his best friend was going to be like.
Joe’s likely taking advantage of the increased freedom and opportunity for his thing in college, but I don’t see it as a real change.
I know I joke above about Danny’s new direction, but I in all honesty do enjoy it, especially if he (as I’d say he appears to be) is in fact reinventing himself as a benign hipster and not a “Valley Hipster” as I like to call them, in reference to the Sacramento valley, who act as bigots “ironically”. The only real problem with benign hipsters are those lenseless blackrimmed glasses. I guess because I feel like wearing glasses you don’t need are dishonest in a way. Also a very consumerist thing to do which I feel runs against the whole eccentric counter-culture that they seem to be based on. Also, my joking hostility comes from the fact that I think the ukulele actually clashes with most outfits. Aside from that, just so long as he doesn’t act snobbish about liking things before they were popular and actually takes some lessons for the ukulele, I feel like this is a very natural and healthy evolution for him as a character. Plus that hat is very dapper, so long as he stops with the hoodies. And Joe’s just going to have to deal with the fact that his friends are changing. Because people do change. And it’s fine. But Joe seems to have kind of constructed this narrative in his head that aside from getting older and getting a career that things won’t ever change. And this could be what actually finallypromots him to break out of that narrative. Because, if he stays the same he’ll end up losing his best friend. Another reason this might shake up Joe is his family. Constantly fighting parents that finally divorced, probably very messily. If Joe and Danny are as close as they seemed or as Joe assumes, Danny’s friendship might very well have been the one real constant in his life. And it seems that Joe has assumed that Danny is someone he could always fall back on. And that’s part of the reason he’s reacting the way he has in these past two strips: he’s afraid of losing the one person he could always rely on and he realizes part of that is his own fault. Also, given the dialogue these past few strips, it seems like Joe has been comfortable with opening up to Danny emotionally in the past. At the very least he’s comfortable hugging Danny while only wearing underwear without having to say “no homo” or something stupid like that. So hopefully, hopefully, this is the final push Joe needs to actually grow and be honest with himself. So, here’s to soon to be crushed optimism.
Come to think of it, this sudden offer of hugs might be partly inspired by Dorothy snapping at him. Suddenly it dawns of Joe that he is loosing people.
It’s a neat new chapter in the story about his and Danny’s relationship. Danny came to college assuming everything would stay the same. It didn’t. Now he has been through a lot of soul searching and is in the process of reinventing himself, and suddenly Joe fears that the new Danny will not have a place for him.
Similarly, Joe came to college already in the process of changing, and when Danny got clingy he got pissy. However, he assumed that Danny would still be around… in fact, that he would man up and walk down the same path as himself, although not as far. The last few days, between Roz, Dorothy and Jacob/Joyce, he feels a lot less sure of himself. When Danny is distancing himself as well, he is freaked out enough to reach out and meet him his way.
In the end of the day, Joe and Danny have a very simple and very common situation. They were friends as children, but they are not children any more. If they are to remain friends they have to reforge their relationship as adults – much like Walky and Billy are doing. They may or may not do so, and if they don’t it’s not a great tragedy. It’s just life.
Danny is obviously responding to what happened to Amber.
Which was, obviously, her grabbing Ryan’s knife and using it to begin chopping tomatoes to make a delicious salsa. (What, what did you think that splashing tomato juice was?) Dorothy was shocked and amazed at Amber’s culinary skill (her facial expression might have been hard to interpret, I admit) but Ryan was so shocked and confused that he ran off and turned himself in to the authorities.
Amber was hired by the local police department to make delicious salsa as part of the standard interrogation of all suspected criminals. Danny’s sad that her new schedule incorporates almost no time for Mario Kart, thought conflicted, because he’s pleased that her skills have led to something positive in her life. The inner cognitive dissonance could only express itself in one way:
It’s interesting. I think fashion is one of those things that, while everyone agrees that certain fashion choices have cultural connotations, people seem to disagree about what they are specifically, or be clueless as to what those connotations might be altogether.
So, when people gravitate towards certain fashion styles and aesthetics, especially ones they didn’t have before, it’s rarely an overtly conscious effort to be seen a given way. Rather, it has more to do with subconscious “vibes” regarding what seems to feel comfortable or appealing.
I wonder what vibes particularly Danny finds helpful about this new style? He wants to be seen as “the ukulele guy.” What does that mean for him? Someone peaceful and thoughtful (like a hippie sort?) Someone creative but not so ambitious or spotlight seeking? (as a more ambitious or theatrically creative person might wear, say, eyeliner, or vibrant colors, or even a suit+tie with unique accessories and hairstyling).
And why the pushback–not from Joe, but also from commenters? Is it because a new fashion choice can be used as a shield to disguise certain vulnerabilities? That is, people will ask Danny about his ukulele and hat, not his personal life? Or is it that he is trying to signal in-group status with a group that Joe dislikes? Because hipsters can be seen not at creative, mild-mannered, and thoughtful, but rather as pretentious, self-important, and compensating for a lack of talent? And that Danny is so naieve he doesn’t realize this connotation?
Or, maybe it is that there is a level of ambiguous androgyny to the hipster look that makes Joe uncomfortable? As the hipster style seems to be similar among different genders (Googling “hipster guy” “hipster girl” and “genderqueer hipster” reveal similarly dressed people), Joe clearly prefers a distinctly masculine style for himself. While Joe has never seemed to have anything against Carla, Ethan, or any of the other LGBT characters (that I recall, I could be wrong) sometimes androgyny throws people for a loop.
And yeah, how we present, what is comfortable in presentation is so key for everyone, but I especially noted it seeing how powerful simply presenting in their real style with their real haircut and clothes is for trans folks.
It’s a shame it gets dismissed so frequently as a “girl thing” by society, because it’s definitely a big social thing.
I think part of the problem could very well be that until the 1930s most of America still had laws about what you could wear based on gender. And not just pants and suits vs dresses and skirts, but actual colors as well. The idea of being able to freely wear whatever you want on a societal level is actually still relatively new, and as a society we are still adjusting to it.
back in the medieval day types of fabrics you could wear was stratified by class, so that you knew how much money everyone was in possession of and what their position in society was
also one that relied on little upward/downward movement between classes in order to keep social order intact
which come to think of it might be half the problem for the upset at crossdressing. like, if men and women are basically the same, we might all be people
……………..i just finished reading the handmaid’s tale, I Have Emotions About Clothing
I think the purpose of sumptuary laws was often to conceal how much money people had. The problem is that merchants often had more money that the nobility, and without the laws they would look better than the nobles, and that wouldn’t do, would it?
I don’t necessarily understand hipster styles, and they get a lot of ridicule, but it feels awful when I hear it.
In my childhood, I learned to hate masculinity, while I was abusively conditioned never to present any other way. Decades later, I’m stuck. I present not just as male but as masculine and I don’t have the first idea how to change it.
So hipsters? Wear whatever the hell you want. Present however you want. I don’t understand your styles; I don’t need to. Don’t get to be my age and not have the freedom inside yourself to feel comfortable and confident.
For me, the initial push back was because I associate the hipster style (or at least, the hipster glasses) with being pretentious, snobbish, and unauthentic. And when I examine it closer, it’s mostly the lenseless glasses that give off that feel. It feels as if one is putting on airs and pretending to be better than everyone else who’s part of the “mainstream”. And that struck me as something I really didn’t want Danny to end up becoming, because it feels like a complete reversal of his character growth.
I agree with you, I wear glasses because I have to but I’d rather not (I tried eye surgery but my eyesight reverted back after a couple of years) and contacts are something I only use if playing sports as they get quite uncomfortable for me so when I see people wearing lenseless glasses I just think “you tosser”
I’m betting Joe is worried about Danny getting more action then him by appealing to a niche demographic and lowering Joe’s own man-quotient by comparison. XD
I joked above that it looks like his evil twin, but the more I look at “Dapper Danny” the only thing that really throws me off is the glasses. Which is probably just a personal hang up on my part.
Yeah, it seems like Danny’s done leaving himself on the back burner and has decided to start taking care of himself and trying things out for himself rather than just being Someone’s Boyfriend.
It’s a good look. I hope he ditches the hoodies and stays like this from now on.
I wore a fedora in college. These days I’m a Dapper Hat Man (if I could find a nice wide brim fedora at a reasonable price I might switch back, but all I ever see are those silly narrow brim ones…or really expensive proper fedoras).
Fuck man buns. Like, when did people collectively decide that this was a thing? I only ever started hearing about them in 2015, maybe late 2014, and only ever as a subject of ridicule.
My friend thinks that guys with man buns are super hot. I don’t get the appeal, but she’s a few years younger than me, so maybe it’s a generational thing.
Seattle is a small town in the fictional land of Oregon, I believe. I’ve only heard rumors, but apparently the sewing scene is pretty hot over there, since they have some sort of gigantic needle.
seattle is the home of the much maligned hipster crowd, who basically are known for being fake authentic, enjoying fake retro aesthetics, and gentrification. so like – authentic, but stylized authentic, where you put more work into making stuff look like it just happened naturally than you would have if you had just let it happen naturally. stuff like lenseless black square glasses so you can have the glasses look without the eye problems. going into historic poor neighborhoods known for being poor and just, y’know, “improving” everything until the people who originally lived there can’t afford to live there and all is hipster. stuff like that.
i mean there are good parts of it too – aesthetic for aesthetic’s sake is mostly fine, and like there’s nothing wrong with, like, adopting stuff you think looks cool until it gets appropriative. and the ukulele is pretty harmless (if potentially annoying). and im personally amused that danny is turning out to be That Guy, it’s hilarious and fitting. and he’s such a sweetheart that i don’t think he’ll do anything too harmful with it, and if he does he’ll apologize and stop
it’s just horrifying Joe b/c it’s so different from his playah aesthetic
If you’d like some unsolicited advice (Do I give any other kind?), I’ll tell you the secret to getting people to like you. Just dress up as a Power Ranger at all times. Trust me, it just works.
Like . . . One thing that’s both sad and that Joe has had coming to him for a long time, is like . . . He is opening up to Danny as an opportunity to offer emotional support. And what Danny is BASICALLY saying is, ‘I don’t trust you with that.’
And like, considering how many times he’s brushed off Danny, pushed his concerns and worries to the side . . . He decides he’s open to input now. Now that Danny’s doing something that bothers him. And Danny, on the other hand, is like . . . You weren’t there when I actually WANTED help. Nah, man.
Y’know, I’m thinking about it after initially seeing the strip, and it occurs to me that this “good egg, bad egg” shit is Danny trying to be disassociated with men like Ryan. He’s insecure about others feeling threatened by him, and any fears they might believe he’s capable of something awful if he actually blends in, so he wants to become this dude that everybody is aware of because it absolves him of fear and distrust just for being a man.
His take on how to do that is a little bonkers, but it’s a little bit adorkable.
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NO MORE PROFESSOR LAYTON FOR YOU
Not Enough Layton!
actually, with a beard, he might look a little https://www.flickr.com/photos/42339166@N00/3982700464
This video was all he needed to start his free-fall into… Uke Madness!
Does that mean Joe will go into SEM
ME madness?I still don’t think Joe swings that way.
well hey at least it’s not a fedora
That’s very true. I’ll take a cabbie hat over a fedora any day.
Maybe Danny could wear a bowler, and grow a curled mustache?
I’m not sure why but I get the feeling that Danny can’t really grow facial hair. Or at least not enough for a handlebar.
What about a Dali? Length over thickness.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with fedoras.
It’s the people living under them that are the problem.
One of my best freinds wears a fedora 😐
Also, Red Mages wear a fedora with a feather. I want a red fedora with a feather.
That’s definitely one way to pimp out a fedora.
See, here’s the thing “regular” (aka unadorned plain) fedoras have become the default style of “nice guys tm” and “pompous douches”, but decorated fedoras are still great hats that show one’s inner coolness and eccentricity. Just, don’t wear either a fur coat, excessive jewelry, or a suit with it. That gives of the wrong impression.
actually those are trilbys but the douches call them fedoras. You can tell by the brim size.
It infuriates me when people don’t understand this distinction. It’s not like real fedoras are this niche, unknown thing. Indiana Jones wears one for shit’s sake.
I’ve seen people who wore real fedoras who acted like they were trilbys, and I’ve encountered so few people who know the difference I just gave up on trying to explain it, and just kinda went with the flow I guess.
*wikipedias*
…. huh. I guess I wear trilbys, not fedoras.
There have gotta be some decent “The Trouble with Trilbies” jokes in there somewhere.
They do seem to multiply, but I’ve never asked a Klingon their opinion on trilbies, but I doubt it would be favorable.
Now I wish I had the photoshop skills to alter that classic frame so Kirk would be up to his chest in trilbies.
Here.
I don’t know that I’ve ever laughed so explosively at something on the internet as with that image.
Fine work!
Oh thank god! Other people who know the difference!
I’m sure Yahtzee would disagree that people who wear trilbies are all douchebags.
No, wait, he would agree, and then say that this is exactly why he wears them himself (and writes novel characters who wear them).
Douchebag pride is a thing with him. Him and Simon Travaglia, who I am guessing wears a trilby (or a Bush hat, though that would be more of an Aussie thing, and he’s a Kiwi. Not that either of them are still in that part of the world anymore).
For those who don’t know who I am talking about, Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw is a game critic who makes the Zero Punctuation series, while Simon The BOFH writes the Bastard Operator From Hell series, which has been on the UK tech news site The Register since around 1998.
I expect that more people know about the former than the latter, though the BOFH stories pre-date ZP by 15 years (the earliest one is from 1992, whereas ZP began in 2007).
Just, don’t wear either a fur coat, excessive jewelry, or a suit with it. That gives of the wrong impression.
*points to pun just above*
…How the hell did I miss that?
Hey, not all hipster bongoes have goatees and wear trilbies. Some have full beards and shaved heads, and wear wifebeaters, instead.
(Someone snarking that still others are fat Brits who wear black suits and red shades, and collect Boglins, three… two… one…)
That’s where you’re wrong friend
Please learn the difference between fedoras and trilbys. Also, please try not to prejudge people based on their choice of headgear. Please? I’ve been wearing a fedora for 35 years, and I hate the meaning people have come to associate with them (incorrectly).
Agreed. Though not quite 35 years on my part.
…you’ve been wearing fedoras since before they were uncool?
I think it happened when I started wearing them, unfortunately. I also tend to exhibit many of the traits that come along with the uncoolness, sans being an overbearing mouth breather to women around me. Though mind you, I was already married to someone who didn’t mind those traits, so ymmv.
I too have been wearing fedoras since before they were uncool. Protip: they’re still cool, but only if you wear them with a nice suit.
The swastika is still a positive symbol, if used properly. There are tons of ways to have one, without it immediately being a Nazi thing. Not tilting it at a 45-degree angle, for starters.
I’m Jewish and will be completely creeped out by your ancient peace symbol if it can be construed as a swastika. Even a backwards or tilt-y swastika. It’s been wrrcked. Unless it’s on a huge stone stele from India with gods n’stuff, please pick another ancient symbol.
I mean, I’m not exactly advocating for using a swastika all willy-nilly, regardless of context. All I’m saying is, there are dozens of situations in which that generic symbol can be used, without any sort of Nazi-flavored implications. It’s not like I’m trying to brush over the obviously undeniable problems attached to a specific variant of the symbol, though.
@Leorale
You did offer reasonable consideration for outside perspectives at the end of your post, so if the perspective I’m addressing doesn’t apply to you then, by all means, please dismiss any elements of my reply which indicate it as being directed toward you. I just see too many blind arguments on the topic, so I figured it’d be constructive to offer the following considerations- just in case. 🙂
—
It’s kinda a big difference if the symbol pops up in western culture (where the negative interpretation is intuitive), and if it pops up in Eastern religion or mysticism, where it originated. You can’t demand entire cultures across a massive region all throw out their ancient symbology just ’cause some asshole foreigners started misappropriating it. Heck, if countries started throwing out their beliefs every time something was misappropriated by foreign assholes, they’d quickly run out of culture altogether. 😛
Put another way- the other facet of people respecting what it means to you and the interpretations it’s associated with from the related perspective, is also respecting what it means to people who have no connection to that perspective at all. What you’d be claiming, otherwise, is that the perspective of Jews- within the context of the religions of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism- is more important than that of that of the followers of those religions. You’d be claiming that Jewish communities are more important than those communities influenced by other faiths.
Of course, two-way interaction means that any member of those faiths who enters a context where your perspective is dominant, and doesn’t yield in respect of your perspectives, is similarly in the wrong (and perhaps even moreso, given the far less ambiguous associations the symbol has in the west).
Criticizing the political party- even the devout censorship of the symbol which Germany engages in to prevent reformation efforts- is not just warranted, it’s necessary if humanity wants to provide any influence in preventing future declines of the species into barbarism.
But engaging in unwarranted censorship, or hating on others because their perspectives are different from your own- despite them not intending any harm or insult to you, or diminishment of you? That’s favoring the very perspectives that you’re opposing. And it’s that, more than the allowance of any symbol, which is going to provide support to the kind of agency you’re expressing concern over.
i mean like…just because it’s a trilby doesn’t mean they don’t call them fedoras anyways
Correct. Now trilbies, those are the problem.
I’m pretty sure anyone saying they dislike fedoras actually mean trilbies.
What’s the trouble with trilbies?
I got my best compliment in one. A woman said I looked like a hitman, so I tipped my hat and smirked.
It probably helped that I had a pinstripe shirt unbuttoned over my t-shirt, plus the hat is actual felt, not one of those flimsy things you’d find at a department store.
The bigger your shoulders the bigger your hat brim should be. Trilbys have tiny brims and should be worn only by really skinny people.
By that logic, the fez would be banned.
I mean in terms of hats in the general shape of trilby/fedora/homburg/etc.
But fezs that are not part of a costume/cosplay/uniform probably should be banned. 🙂
Ah, but they did once, so I guess some people couldn’t quit cold-Turkey.
Man, I’m a lady who looks awesome in a trilby (and indeed I have very narrow shoulders) but the neckbeards ruined them for me. :s
I do know a lady who wears a real fedora, with a red coat. She looks like Carmen Sandiego; when asked, she says she’s here to steal the Empire State Building.
I thought women wearing trilbies were immune from the neckbeard created reputation? I know I personally think it’s a lovely hat on the right person. But if that’s not the case, I’m very sorry they were tarnished.
Remember that the fedora originally gained popularity as a hat for strong women, and it wasn’t popular with men until about the 1920s. So the gangsters totally appropriated it from women. I say it’s high time for women to re-appropriate the fedora for ourselves.
That lady has excellent taste.
“She looks like Carmen Sandiego; when asked, she says she’s here to steal the Empire State Building.”
Well, that’s certainly one approach to seducing me..
I mean, this guy gets it: https://youtu.be/PkO-XYoQ1xU?t=387
Sorry, here’s a no-commentary link: https://youtu.be/vq_I7WSNaPs?t=1609
Sinatra wore a trilby, but he was a little guy so he made it work. On bigger guys, it looks like the tip of a condom.
They’re full of trouble. Filled right up to the brim.
Thank you. It’s just a hat, so what if a few scumbag wear them? I wear one and I’m perfectly fine. Admittedly, I don’t wear it indoors like a tool and I pair it with my good dress shirts, maybe that helps?
Ugh. It reminds me of a really annoying contestant on a recent season of The Amazing Race.
yes. absolutely. thank you.
Who can figure out the true reason why butts said “fedora” instead of trilby ??? Enjoy!*
*it was definitely to start this whole ridiculous debate**
**definitely not because i forgot the difference in my hurry to post right as the strip came out
To me y’all sporting tyrolean hats…
C’mon, a fedora and a long overcoat and you’re in that happy place where you can go Doctor Who by adding a scarf, or Captain Mal by making the rest of the ensemble more “space western”. Come to think of it, it’s not a long jump to Dr Indiana Jones. Fedora and overcoat, can’t go wrong! 🙂
Hey! What’s wrong with fedoras?! I happen to have been wearing them for many years. WAY before they were cool, again. (They were pretty cool from the 1920’s to the 1950’s but kinda died out for a while).
Not inoffensive enough. He should have no trouble finding his next girlfriend to have a relationship that’ll end just like his last two for comparable reasons.
Codependents need to walk around in circles when it comes to how they perceive themselves and the world around them being contradicted. ‘Cause if he really learned and grew past those contradictions effectively, he wouldn’t really have codependent issues. Then how would he waste his energy pining for people who he isn’t aware of but know who he is to call him a ‘good egg?’ Someone’s gotta keep it real with all these sell-outs outgrowing desire to be the right archetype in the sitcom/movie/comic book/formula fiction that is our lives?!
I thought his first relationship ended because he was clingy and his last ended because her trauma pushed her toward black and white thinking resulting in an inability to handle being questioned or defied im the face of it?
Not really sure what the comparison point between the two you’re using is..?
Joe may have succeeded if he has just been wearing a shirt
I feel like that would have made the offer less tempting 😛
I dunno, I think Danny probably sees him more as Joyce sees Becky. Half-naked cuddling would be awkward, not a reward.
(apart for as a reward to slipshine subscribers?)
Aw, not more of this stuff.
He’s gone right round the bend back to Roomies. Should make the introduction of SEMME interesting though.
Uke…
SEMME…
Why does that ring a bell? *Scratches head.* Hmm…
They were secretly behind the shows Ultracar and Dexter & Monkey Master. Those that still show a desire for the shows will soon be picked up to become their agents.
This is the best stuff
Apparently he’s known as “the guy that hung around that girl that tore the everloving shit out of that accused rapist”.
Literally. Cut his everloving shit a new egress.
He introduced her to his parents as his girlfriend.
Oh my god Danny
THIS IS TOO PURE
I was totally a more aspi dannny in highschool the cringe is too real
Perfect cinnamom roll.
(I meant to type “cinnamon”, but this typo amuses me.))
I knowwwww. I LOVE.
Damn you Willis, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
First the ukelele, now a hat and beard! What’s next, an indie band!?Skinny jeans!? A CROSSOVER WITH QC!?
Gauge earrings. That’s what’s next.
(To be clear: I have no problem with them, but it bugs me when EVERY CHARACTER has them or is slowly getting them.)
Wait, which characters have gauges?
We might see an incarnation the characters (and that would be great), but I think DoA runs parallel with the prime QC universe. Faye exists here, but her dad’s still alive and DoA has no sentient AIs.
Besides, it’s a hell of a bus ride from Bloomington up to western Massachusetts.
Maybe it is just that Indiana has a robot ban, unlike Massachusetts.
Also if Faye is a freshman in that strip I think her dad might have still been alive anyways?
He is right there with her on family weekend.
(Only she gets a tag, though>)
Hey Joe! There’s a lot of gorgeous women in Seattle (or so Bobby Sherman told me, anyway).
No, Danny. Just no. I have only once seen a grown man wear such a hat and not look ridiculous, and I honestly thought he was someone’s chauffeur.
my best dressed coworker wears one of those, he looks good perpetually. i wear one sometimes but just look like a hooligan. now like 6 ppl in the office have them to varying effects, but it mostly works.
disclaimer, we are all engineers so maybe dont follow our lead folks?
Hey, you’re the people in charge of designing things that work efficiently, so if you all approve then it must be a good hat.
Engineers can design a hat that is very efficient, but not necessarily one that is dapper.
In all fairness, I have seen multiple grown men wearing hats such as these without looking ridiculous, but they’ve all tended to be 70+ years old and in the UK.
Old people can wear whatever. It’s one of the major advantages.
To wit I wear a tie-dyed army sun hat, and I look “fahbyulous”. 😀
I support your tie-dye!
Not even Brian Johnson?]
My grandfather wore that style of hat all the time, always looked good on him.
Panel 2 Danny is considering the hug, but is scared he’ll get a crazy boner and it will make things super awkward with his long-time friend.
Ding ding ding!
Don’t you mean Ding Ding Dong?
beat my meat to it
Joe:”So, wait you’re-”
Danny:”Bisexual not gay!”
Joe: “I was going to say even better equipped to tell me if something I’m doing is atractive or not, but let’s go with that. Also, in an attempt to make things less awkward than they currently are, from now on I’m only going to hug you if we both have pants on, agreed?”
Danny: “Agreed.”
Once again, the Pacific Northwest has laid eggs in a young person’s sanity and turned them into a cocoon of “oh-no-you-didn’t”!
New York did it first, IIRC.
Did what, the Pacific Northwest? That’s pretty impressive.
Did that particular subculture.
It’s been awhile since I’ve commented with any regularity (sans like a day ago). Forgot that people would forget how one of my many overly long gags is comically missing the point.
Don’t worry, I still remember.
…
Although I only just now realize that your commenter name is “Orion Fury” and not “Onion Fury” and I feel very bad about that.
you could call him the Onion Furry?
Hmm. I like that name. It has a peel.
@Reltzik, don’t peel furries, that’s rude.
Some of them probably like being peeled.
People normally think it’s Orion Furry, what with the werewolf avatar I always use.
To me, you will always be Onion Fury.
Not Enough Onions?
@Orion Fury Not furry enough!
This comic HAS been lacking a hipster element.
It’s STILL lacking a hipster element, no matter how many posing props Danny adopts.
If Joe grabs him in a bear hug and swings him around, would he be one then?
Hipster were using props way before Danny ever was. He’s going to need something way less mainstream.
A hipster can have props, that’s fine.
But props don’t make you a hipster.
Nah. At this point he needs to go ultra mainstream and wrap around.
*always wears shirt, tie, slacks, and dress shoes to the college he attends*
…. I have no idea what you mean….
As someone with 0 knowledge of how to fashion, I do this and whenever someone asks me about it, my answer is “I feel better when I’m dressed like this.”
I got nothing against the hat but Joe’s right Danny is starting to scare me.
Looks more like a cheese cutter cap to me
Oh gods I’m from Seattle and I just laughed so loud it woke up my wife. I’m now in trouble. Thanks Willis! Lol
Willis could keep trolling us forever with the adventures of ukelele man, and I’m pretty okay with this, because that dapper hat, bro.
I love this storyline so much. I want it to stay for a long time. Danny is pure and dapper. Joe is concerned and scruffy. Together, they have an ordinary college disagreement.
It cannot be denied.
I honestly think this is positive growth for Joe, he’s offering genuine friendly affection without his usual stupid “no homo” caveats
Until he finds out that Danny’s totally thinking the “homo” in “no homo” and trying to find a way to tell Joe without actually saying it. :p
Seattle, nothing. He’s on the verge of full Portland.
I was gonna say, “you misspelled Portland.”
Never go full Portland.
What’s wrong with Maine?…Oh wait, you mean the “other” Portland don’t you?
I live in Portland. He still needs battered flannel, sandals, socks, and a complete disregard for the rules of the road no matter his means of transportation.
This sounds suspiciously like San Francisco, except without the pride tattoo.
Nah, here you need a ratty pride flag badge poorly-ironed onto an even rattier knapsack.
…So are Portland and Seattle just like, slightly less LGBT+ versions of San Francisco when it comes to percentage of the population?
Somewhere about equal, I’d guess. Probably off by a few percentage points in one way or another but margin-of-error close. They’re just not as well-KNOWN for it.
Seattle: Coffee (and grunge rock)
Portland: Beer (and feminist book stores)
San Francisco: Queers (and sourdough)
Also, Chinatown and Little Tokyo for San Francisco. There’s actually a movie theater that shows undubbed anime movies like, a week after they come out in Japan if you look hard enough. But you know what all three have in common? Tons of street artists!!!
Dapper Danny.
Has a nice ring to it.
But I read it as “diaper hat” at first and assumed he was trolling Joe.
STEP BACK FROM THAT LEDGE MY FRIEND
Danny: “Oh! Hang on! I think I know the chords for that!”
He’s just trying to put the past away.
I would understand.
You could
Cut ties
With all the lies
That you been living in
And if you do not want
to see me again
I would understa-ah-and
I would understa-ah-and
lmao I love Danny. He is such a sweet, harmless guy, trying to be a hipster. But hey, at least he’s experimenting with his style and image, that’s a big part of what college is for, right? 😉
Well Danny has lost it, its almost like something horrible happened to someone close to him….which reminds me WTF happened with amber and scar face!!!
Now that entire half of his body is covered with scars, in order to make him a proper supervillian.
goddamnit, stop giving my three exclamation marks to an asshole!!!
Danny is adorable.
You misspelled “adorkable”.
HE CAN BE BOTH! 😀
He should have chosen a crocheted shark hat. It would look so ridiculous that it would loop all the way back around to awesome.
(Source: Actually was The Guy with the Crocheted Shark Hat)
Think Dina’s cornered the market on adorable animal caps.
bullshit, newsboy cap is best hat
Danny, no dapper cap with a hoodie. Polo or a button/dress shirt.
I actually rather like it with the hoodie. Makes the hat informal, and prevents him from adding a fashion scarf.
If he really is going for Seattle, nothing prevents the fashion scarf.
yeah, me too. Soon as I replace all my lost hats, I’m trying that combo. Summer weather be damned
He needs a pony tail, 5 days worth of beard, and a reserved spot at a wire table out front of a coffee shop. (And not Starbucks. Some place where they actually give you real mugs and there’s a tray next to the trash and you bus them back to the tray yourself.)
I’m getting Roomies flash backs
Danny’s beady eyes mean I can’t tell whether he’s looking down at his ukulele or over at Joe’s shirtlessness.
Danny, NO!
I read that in Dexter’s voice (the lab, not the serial killer).
DANNY, YES!
I like Danny’s dapper hat. Play us a song, Danny!
Play us a song, Ukulele Man!
It’s nine o’clock* on any day
The regular crowd browsers in
There’s Ana posting under some name
Making us feeling slower than sin
*Pacific time
La dideda dideda…
BEST HAT IS ALSO DAPPEREST HAT
He him go. He’s too far gone Joe. Too far gone.
Slow your roll Danny. You’re scaring people.
As a bearded man who is in college, owns two of that kind of hat, just started learning ukulele, and whose favorite color is blue, these last 3 comics have been really close to home.
Whatever you do, don’t look outside right now.
Could be worse. Your teenage self could have looked like Mary.
Damnit Joe, he’s a lost cause!
Have to get a buzz-cut and grow a two foot beard.
Whoa whoa whoa. Native Seattleite here, and I’ll have you know that up here we do… actually wear those fucking hats once in a while. Saw one on a band leader during our annual brass festival last weekend.
Also, glad to see there’s a megapost of this silliness, so we can plan on seeing something else tomorrow, ideally that one thing we all really damn want to know about.
ha ha ha ha ha ha
So you’re saying a PreDamn is in order?
damn you willis
damn you Willis part deux
Yeah, we’re definitely switching perspective tomorrow. This installment was a clear way to cap the scene.
Haha “cap” the scene, badum-tsshh.
… I’ll see myself out.
The one thing we all really damn want to know about?
So… JocelyneNoir, right?
“I don’t want Fop, goddammit–I’m a Dapper Dan man!”
Yes! I love that movie, best sound track ever! (though Brokeback Mountain is pretty good)
You’re going to have to be more affectionate than that if you want to make any headway, Joe.
Well Joe, that’s why Danny googled Austin, Texas aka the Seattle of the Southwest aka the city so blue in a state so red that they gerrymandered into six other districts. …Seriously, it’s like, the hipster capital of the Gulf Coast.
…
Also where did Danny buy the 1890s newspaper boy hat? I mean, if he had a scarf, a saxophone, and maybe a long coat he could pull it off, but that hat does not go with a ukulele. No hat goes with the ukulele. The ukulele is by its very nature an instrument that cannot be played while wearing a hat.
No clothes go with the ukulele. It can only be properly played while naked, maybe with a pom-pom hat.
Straw hat, but you also need a Hawaiian shirt.
…What type of straw hat? Because if it’s a barbershop quartet strawhat, you are sadly mistaken.
Something with a raggedy brim. Like this.
…Hmm. Well played Reltzik. Well played indeed. I will acknowledge that hat as being able to be worn while playing the ukulele.
I find those in street markets largely. Got my first one for $5 and never looked back
He stole it from Brian Johnson.
….So a student getting into a knife fight with an alleged rapist gets NO reaction from the campus whatsoever, huh?
Looks like nobody knows about it.
Well except Amber, Dorothy, and not-Ryan. He’s very sure, assuming he’s alive n’stuff.
Awww Dorothy’s first cover up.
So presidential! They grow up so quickly.
3 days have passed, and we’ve seen, like, one conversation. Maybe it’s a bit premature to say that there’s been no reaction from the campus.
I… I have one of those hats.
I have two cheese cutter caps, a heavier woollen version for colder weather and a lighter linen for warmer
They’re stylish and practical so best of both worlds
is that what cabby caps are called outside of NYC?
Its what flat caps are called in NZ but I’m guessing they have various different names depending on location
i heard them called newsboy caps most often, but they’re definitely stereotypical cabby wear
I have three somewhere, but I can’t find them. They are perfect for novelty buttons and I. LOVE. THEM. Gonna buy a new one soon, the cheaper, the better
At least buy one decent, good quality hat though, this is the one of the caps I bought
http://www.hillshats.co.nz/collections/bristol-herringbone-traditional-wool-cheesecutter/
naaaaw. I got my first one for $5 in an outdoor Hell’s Kitchen and ever since then, it’s been a tradition to only get one if I can get a really good deal on it.
*Hell’s Kitchen Market
Looks like Danny has taken a leaf from Dina’s book.
It’s a nice hat.
IT IS MY FAVORITE HAT AND SINCE I ALREADY IDENTIFY WITH DANNY, I WANT IT TO BE A PERMANENT PART OF HIS DESIGN!!!!
Well, depending on whether or not Willis is trolling his fans, I may have good news for you, Scar Man!!!
https://dumbingofage.tumblr.com/image/161534383337
he’s def trolling. But who knows, he might wear it for the rest of the chapter, since each chapter is a day
I hope not, sans the glasses, that’s the best Danny ever… of all time.
He looks good.
Oh, good God he’s Dan-ing it up SO HARD RIGHT NOW!
That’s what she said.
*shakes head in shame at using such an old, over-used joke*
Normally I can restrain myself, but I just…couldn’t resist this time. I’m sorry.
Don’t worry. We understand how hard it is to resist an opening like that and we know that you’re not really a dick.
Friends don’t let friends google Seattle
Pooh on your friends–
Google images shows me that Seattle has scads of buildings (did you know you can see the Space Needle from any window?) but hardly any people. I had to look for ‘seattle hipster’. Dan hats are not a big thing there, Joe aside.
We were a few years ago I think? Now it’s all hoodies and man-buns. And if Danny gauges up his ears a few times and gets a dog I think we’ll be solid on the Seattle-ness.
Next thing you know, Danny’s going to wear glasses without any lens.
https://dumbingofage.tumblr.com/image/161534383337
You were saying?
If nobody’s gonna hug almost-naked Joe, I volunteer.
aaaaaaand 3 days after the 3 day time jump, I’m just realizing that this time jump means we will never see the conclusion of becky/dina’s last encounter…. this makes me so sad.
There’s always Slipshine. 🙂
Good to see I’m not the only one who wanted to know how that would turn out.
Sure you will, because they haven’t stopped yet.
Great, now I got the Frasier song in my head.
Tossed salad and scrambled eggs!
…wait, that doesn’t sound like a ritzy enough meal for Dr. Frazier Crane.
That’s why the blues is a callin’.
Frittata en Insalata is a fairly “ritzy” dish from a US perspective ;). That said, the song isn’t about food except as a metaphor (cf here).
Ahh. Makes sense. Thanks for that bit of trivia.
So no one told you life was gonna be this way! Your jobs a joke, you’re broke you’re love life’s D.O.A! It’s like you’re always stuck in second gear! But when it hasn’t been your day, your month, or even your year…
Autobiographical, Willis?
Look what you’ve done by neglecting him, Joe. LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE!
Only you could make him a bro.
Now neglect has turned him into a hipster.
For shame, Joe.
The hat’s actually a good look, but he needs to ditch that ukulele…
I’m just saying, the saxophone is where it’s at.
Huh, I thought Where It’s At was two turn tables and a microphone…
Well it doesn’t matter where THOSE are at, because they’ll come to you. They’re always at your Beck and call.
Most things don’t come to me so easily, I’m a bit of a Loser.
*kicks in door* DID SOMEONE SAY SAXOPHONES?!
Noo, I love ukuDanny. They’re just so happy.
At the least, I can say that the flat cap Danny is sporting here is just about the least likely to be taken as a, potentially unintended, statement of some kind. The only headwear for men that has less likelihood of being taken as a statement like this is a knit cap when worn in cold winter weather (ie in it’s pure utility function).
And yes, I am indeed somewhat bitter there is no headwear I can wear normally that doesn’t have some stereotypical connotations and presumptions attached beyond as a fashion statement of else for pure utility.
Women have zero clothes that can be worn without stereotypical connotations and presumptions etc.
Unfortunately true of our society yes.
Ironically, a woman wearing zero clothes ALSO runs afoul of connotations and presumptions.
That is indeed true, and my feeling on that BS go well beyond ‘somewhat bitter’.
What about a tuque?
While i do work in food, a toque blanc is way too pretentious and way too associated with classic French and Italian cuisine for me. I tend more to New American cuisine built from ’50s diner and classic Southern standards with Latin American, Eastern European, Levantine and East Asian flare elements.
Or do you mean the Canadian term for a knit cap?
If so, they spelled it wrong. It’s spelled ‘touque’.
You are correct.
Tell me about it. I walk barefoot, just because I like how it feels (can’t focus in sweaty feet) and everyone assumes I’m some kind of hippie weirdo. I mean, yes, I’m a weirdo, but a different kind :V
No hippie!
Wait, what about a plain old baseball cap? I’ve seen people of all kinds wearing those. Hell, I even have a nice brown one, myself, with a little Overwatch pin on it.
Sorry, I guess they’re called “dad hats”, now, for some fucking reason. Everywhere that sells hats for a younger crowd uses those flat-billed snapbacks that look ridiculous on just about everyone. I’m guessing it has something to do with rap culture.
What next, is Danny gonna start wearing plaid button-up shirts and grow a beard? Maybe get some black-framed glasses with no lenses in them as well?
Anything but the lenseless black-frame glasses! Anything but them!! They’re the one thing of hipster culture that I actively hate with a passion!!
One time during high school, a friend of mine was wearing lenseless black-frame glasses and browsing in a store. A couple of employees started talking about them in French (my friend and their glasses), assuming that they didn’t speak French.
They did.
Tous les deux?!
As long as he doesn’t go full hipster. Never go full hipster.
He went full hipster https://dumbingofage.tumblr.com/image/161534383337
NOOOO! DAMN YOU WILLIS!
He’s lost.
While this Danterlude (TM) was much-needed… god damn cruel Willis.
The wait kills.
I can’t tell if Danny is joking. I’m honestly worried that he isn’t.
I don’t think he’s joking.
Unreasonable levels of sincerity seem to be Danny’s thing
Does this https://dumbingofage.tumblr.com/image/161534383337 answer your question
Go back in time, Joe, and stop Danny before he Googles ‘ukulele hipster’.
wtf…
the hard left turn the past few strips is rather jarring
Well at least it’s not canning
I just realized.
Maybe Danny’s NOT a hipster.
Maybe he’s a gamer at his core, and he had access to tables, percentile dice, and a bit too much free time.
*roll* Ukulele…. *roll* Newsboy cap…. *roll*
I very much wish for Danny to discover tabletop gaming. One minor nitpick, though. Percentile dice are extremely situational; a d20 is much more iconic, and more likely to see frequent use. A case could be made for the d6 being used more, depending on the game, but those tend to carry more of a gambling connotation.
But, a big ol’ table is the perfect situation to pull out that wacky spherical die. A hundred possibilities, let’s go!
Danny is now One of Them.
Gute Gott in Himmel!! I just saw the picture of hipster Danny that Willis posted on tumblr. It’s…it’s like I’m looking at Danny’s evil twin or something.
So… it’s probably bad that it’s the first time I’ve kinda liked Danny’s style?
Share in my shame.
Is the concept art for real or akin to Becky’s porn fanfic?
Becky does porn fanfic?
Well not exactly that. Fanfic that became a Slipshine.
Heh, ‘Guter Gott’ actually, because of stupid German and its stupid gendering of words 😉
It’s just you assumption Gott is male.
Appropriate avatar 😂
On both counts, sadly. (by which I mean any form of Mary being “appropriate is sad, FYI.)
Ah no, it isn’t. Because a female god would have a female word for god in German, which is Göttin. ‘Gute Göttin’ in context. So. Like I said, it’s all German’s fault!
Depends on if your from east or west Germany. The people from the east seldom bother with putting the female ending on a job description noun. The women say ” Ich bin Ingenieur/Arzt/Architekt” even though this drives west-German feminists up the wall.
https://dumbingofage.tumblr.com/post/161534383337/oh-danny-boy
link for reference
It’s good. He’s trying out new things! He may change … he may not.
JOE, YOU HAVE TO SAVE HIM FROM HIMSELF!!!
It’s to late.
He’s more hipster than man, now.
Joe’s trying to save his own little world … which is beginning to collapse. Joe should stop being so selfish.
That hat will look good, when he’s cleaning windows.
Now it’s a job that just suits me
A window cleaner you would be
If you can see what I can see
When I’m cleanin’ windows
Allll ter gevver now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfmAeijj5cM
Good God this was almost me…
XD I went to school in Seattle for a year, and even though my stay was brief what Joe is implying is 100% true. Poor Danny, another innocent soul claimed by accidentally becoming a hipster.
My grandpa wore hats like that.
And the super awkwardness continues. However, I am giving major props to Joe right now. With the way his father is, Joe is very much a product of his upbringing. And for all that he hates emotions and vulnerability, he recognizes Danny’s cry for help and is attempting, in his own way, to help Danny. Sure, Joe would probably find it embarrassing to be friends with “ukelele guy”, but this situation, despite its privacy, is also pretty embarrassing for him. So, yeah, props to Joe for trying to help Danny right now.
We’re losing him! We need 50 cc’s of girlfriend, stat!
Sorry, all out, but we do have this tall glass of possible future boyfriend is this container marked with a bat…
Danny, put down the hat, we can talk about this
let danny wear the hat!
Let the hat float on you!
Danny/Hat/Ukulele 4 Ever!
This Joe versus the ukulele bit has officially gone on a bit too long. If it’s still going on next strip, it could be a sign Willis has been replaced by a Family Guy writer.
This is nothing. A. It’s only been three days, relax of these strips, relax.
B. He’ll probably keep it going all throughout the week. Why? Because there’s probably a reason we’re seeing Danny turn into a Seattilite and Joe actually being a friend.
Overly-long gags may be a hallmark of Family Guy writers, but it’s not exclusive enough to be a proper warning sign.
Now, if the characters suddenly started randomly making rape jokes, being excessively violent for absolutely no reason, and vomiting everywhere, we’d be in some trouble. Luckily, even at his worst, I haven’t seen Willis stoop to that level, so everything should be fine.
DANNY NO.
i have the same kind of hat!
Its too late. He’s too far gone. The ukulele has claimed another poor soul. Soon, it won’t just be a dapper hat, it will be a par of prescription less glasses and a scruffy beard. Face it, Danny Wilcox is gone. Ukulele guy is all that is left.
And I just saw this: https://dumbingofage.tumblr.com/image/161534383337
Damn it Willis I was joking! He really has fallen pray to the Ukulele! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
hes figuring himself out!
He looks great!
Little did Danny know, that little blue ukulele was in fact the ancient soul-eating artifact known as STRUMBRINGER.
“the giant black rune-carved stratocaster, Soulsinger”
The chordophone has claimed him.
He is part of the Seattle, now!
Is…is this Danny having a mental breakdown after what happened with Amber?
Would Joe offer a hug over anything else?
If Danny found him twin-sisters to sleep with and….err yeah I think that’s it. 😛
Maybe.
If so, the details of what when down with Amber are being held back so we can laugh at Danny’s attempt to adapt, before it becomes sad in context.
I’ve got to say, that’s what I don’t like about this jump and bit of storyline. I’m stuck in a holding pattern on how to react to it.
If this is Danny reinventing himself in response to figuring out he’s bi and his other experiences so far in college, it’s funny and kind of cool.
If it’s in response to some horrific tragedy happening to Amber and Dorothy, then it’s wildly inappropriate and probably part of some kind of breakdown – which puts an entirely different light on Joe’s response too.
It’s most likely the former because Amber and Danny have stopped talking and he doesn’t know what happened to her.
This is Danny taking charge and trying out new things for himself. It has nothing to do with Amber.
Did this come off as aggressive?
Nah.
I think that’s probably the case – if it didn’t blow up into some huge thing. If Ryan’s dead or mutilated and Amber’s in custody or on the run or something, that’s not something Danny would just be ignoring, IMO. He still cares enough about her that he wouldn’t be blowing her trauma off like this, if it was a known big deal.
Or a traumatized Dorothy for that matter.
Unless it’s big enough that he’s all screwed up second hand.
If they kept everything pretty much under wraps, then this can just be his thing. I hope that’s the case. I even think that’s the case.
But not knowing what Danny knows and what he’s reacting to makes this read very awkwardly to me.
It’s Joe having the breakdown, if anyone.
Next he’s going to do something terrible from Sleepless in Seattle.
Go, Danny! Go! Get some tattoos and earrings!
I just realized the title for this chapter : The do-list.
Isn’t that specifically a Joe thing ?
… People probably pointed it out like a million strips ago. Nevertheless, mark me curious about where this is going.
We only started on it a couple days ago, so you’re not that behind on wondering about it.
We’re probably going into a more Joe-focused storyline, maybe about the way he treats ladies (considering his interactions with Rachel and Roz from the last storyline), maybe more about his friendship with Danny, as those couple of strips seem to suggest
As a guy from Seattle I’m offended. But also… yeah, that’s us.
I actually like it
But you better learn a bunch of songs before you go brandishing that instrument all arround
Well… it is pretty dapper.
Wow. Joe is actually being a good friend here. He’s recognising that’s Danny’s trying to channel all his issues into this ukulele and basically build a new personality on it (which is obviously not healthy) and he’s worried and genuinely wants to help.
Joe’s world depends on his image of Danny which Danny is breaking.
Danny refusing to hug a big, sexy, muscular, half naked man ?
He’s definitly sick (oh wait, it’s because it’s Joe)
RE: Hats
As someone mentioned above, this looks like what is called in the UK a ‘flat cap’ (call it what it is!) 🙂
Almost solely the property of older gentlemen, usually of a working class / farming background… and also from about two generations back.
However they were de rigueur about 50/100 years ago for ALL ages, but generally the poorer folks… Football games were a great place to see evidence of this: (Old and Young alike)
Okay.. so I can’t use the HTML tags properly it seems…
Pic here:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/58/8c/36/588c36582e3d38422641afeaff2c2945.jpg
And a surprising number of casually worn bowlers. Most dapper gent with the homburg in the front though.
In Germany they’re called “Schlägermütze” 😉 And yeah, mostly old men wear them or people who then look old by virtue of this cap.
I have one of these myself. So does my brother-in-law. I find being middle aged and balding, I keep my hair short (my brother-in-law is bald) and these hats actually look pretty darn good on us! I also remember playing with my grandfather’s flat hats like this from the 30’s and 40’s (and his Trilby’s with the band and the feather) as a kid. I’ve got lots of pictures of my dad as a kid in the 30’s and 40’s wearing these hats too. They were pretty universal at one time.
Over here, mainly seen with guys in their 50s or 60s who own British roadsters. (I do own a British roadster, but not the flat cap!)
“Ukulele Man” – Danny is Alto Clef.
My dad has been wearing this kind of cap for as long as I can remember, which for me makes them firmly a staple of old guys. Just like pipes.
(Although my dad doesn’t smoke pipes.)
it is best hat!
and for wearing that, your dad is best guy
My comment from yesterday: “Best possible way for this to resolve: Danny is never again pictured in DOA without a ukulele in frame.”
My face from today: 8D
HIPSTER DANNY!
please danny dont go down this road
I didn’t like the hipsters, until all concert venues were full anew, what means organizing people didn’t lost money, what means more concerts.
I didn’t like the hipsters, until they all went vegan, what meant I could find vegan and organic food much easier.
I didn’t like the hipsters, until they made beer hip again, and I’m from a wineland, where most beers taste like bud + sulfur + a bit of cereal aftertaste. Now there are IPAs everywhere, but I also find a good regular pils or belgian triple much more easily.
I didn’t like the hipsters, until they created coops for everything.
I still don’t hipsters, because most of them don’t have a well thought reason for why they are doing things like drinking beer (to get pissed), going to concerts (to get shitfaced before the first chord is struck), eating vegan (to be healthy while still vinge-drinking), making coops (to be sure they won’t be forced to do anything like the neighboor), but I’m fucking glad they exist.
You make a convincing argument. If it means easier access to what’s good in life, who cares if a bunch of weirdos are the ones leading the movement?
Comic Reactions:
Panel 1: Again, I want to give Joe his props here. This is not something that is easy for him and he’s got a lot of assorted baggage surrounding offering hugs and emotional support. So for him to recognize something is occurring that he is left outside of and to not only come to the conclusion that “this is a cry for help and Danny needs me”, but to offer a hug is a big thing and hopefully is the beginning of Joe working to clear out some of his toxic detritus.
Panel 2: I see your eye level Danny. And I imagine its partially a combination of two things.
1) That Joe is fairly attractive and shirtless and getting a near naked hug from someone you find attractive can be heavily awkward especially if you don’t have that sort of relationship.
2) The old queer overcorrection where you kind of go out of your way not to do certain things with straight folks*, because you don’t want to start that whole conversation where the straight person is interpreting their actions differently because they know they are attracted to folks of the same gender.
I don’t think Joe necessarily would and I think his offer is at the very least intended to be genuine, but I can definitely see Danny backing out of the potential of anything in their relationship becoming any more awkward as he knows it’s strained a bit at the moment.
*I’m a very huggy person when that’s safe, but I have a reputation in a lot of spaces for being more standoffish and less willing to accept or give things like hugs, because I know being very visibly queer that that will get read very differently than if it happened from a straight peer.
Panels 3-4: Aw, well if he’s going to go full queer hipster, at least he fell into the earnest bohemian variety rather than the “my racism, classism, and sexism is ironic, so it shouldn’t be interpreted as what it is” variety we tend to get in northern California.
And it’s somewhat beautiful. Not just because ukuleles are kinda becoming queer culture, so it’s a connection point between him and that part of his identity. But also because this is something he’s choosing for himself, not a romantic partner. He’s defining a style that’s just his and that makes him feel comfortable.
And it’s ironic that Joe has such a problem with it, given his own intentional attempt to reinvent himself and his style for college. Not just for the obvious reasons, but also because this is a great example of a harmless reinvention, which stands in direct contrast with Joe’s toxic reinvention and the harm its been doing to those unfortunate enough to fall inside of Joe’s performances of it.
And it really gets to the heart of a thing I find interesting. We as a society are much more willing to support toxic but normative transformations and reinventions than harmless but non-normative transformations and reinventions.
Like, society barely shrugs its shoulders when someone falls in with neo-nazis or gets really deep into PUA awfulness or “gets born again” and becomes a bible-thumping bigot. Like, sure, some old friends may drift away for their own protection or morals, but we as a system regard that very favorably and even at times encourage it.
But someone who does something harmless for themselves and their personal sense of self and society reacts with all the angry condemnation that should befall people who fall into these harmful normative reinventions. Like, for example, see queer and trans folks finding a new style after coming out or any attempt to drift out of typical dress for your gender or even something as small as being this little bit of quirky and eccentric with your ensemble.
They get such violent pushback as we see here from this flipside of Joe. Like, he’s so against this, because it’s non-normative, because it’s bohemian, because it’s the (healthy kind of) hipster, but he would have been stunned and out of sorts if Danny had expressed his same dismay at Joe’s favoring of Ed Hardy t-shirts, even though the Ed Hardy shirts project a type of douchebag.
And I think it’s a small entry point to how we normalize the extreme policing of non-normativity in favor of status quos and presentations and actions that are not as neutral as we like to pretend they are in society.
There’s a good reason people push back so hard, when someone makes a small, harmless change for their own happiness. See, people are fucking terrified of the tiniest bit of introspection, and they’ll shit their pants if it looks like someone is discovering their own identity, because if Chris can figure it out, that must mean there’s something wrong with Alex. Sure, there are a lot of people who are plenty introspective and constantly learning and discovering and improving themselves. The problem comes from the terrified little cowards who can hardly decide what to eat without worrying how it will affect another person’s perception of them.
And, yes, I am absolutely calling people cowards if they can’t introspect in the privacy of their own homes, for fear of how others will react. Others, I should clarify, who aren’t even there to begin with. Actually, I’ll go a step further and call those people lazy assholes, as well. They’re lazy cowards, because they’re so afraid of figuring themselves out, they just default to something that’s already been laid out for them by a larger group. If this seems extreme, then whatever.
Panel 4 of this strip sums it up nicely.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2012/comic/book-2/06-strange-beerfellows/cereal/
Yeah, I understand the fear. Society can be cruel to both introspective and non-normative people, but it’s unfortunate that it creates this self-reinforcing cycle where people terrified of diversity and introspection and being outside the normative beat up on everyone else thus reinforcing the fear they are trapped in.
It’s very similar to the toxic remora on masculinity. This whole messed-up system of interactions but everyone in it is so terrified of being labeled “not a man” and treated with violence because of it that they just end up signing off on the culture and perpetuating it in order to protect themselves.
Honestly, if we could figure out to short-circuit infinite feedback loops like this, humanity would be a lot healthier overall.
Oh, there’s a real easy way to break a feedback loop. Just get the people who just entered the loop to not torture the next batch, and you’re already off to a stellar start. Of course, this would require people to get their heads out of their asses and stop being so fucking stupid about everything, so it’s easier said than done.
Do we actually know that Joe’s reinvented himself in college? I’d kind of assumed he’d been pretty much the same in high school. At least by the end.
I think the canon might be that he’s always been like this, but that he’s upped it in intensity at college, so he can get the “full college experience” as it were.
At least we know that Danny was not prepared for who Joe would turn out to be in college (or Dorothy, for that matter), but I think that says more about Danny than either of them.
But yeah, I read Joe’s constant distancing himself from Danny and all his feely feels as part of an active re-branding. He also reminds me a bit of Becky’s constant reminder to everyone within earshot of her identity. “I’m a LESBIAN”. “I’m a SEX MACHINE”, which makes it plausible to me that he took the opportunity in college to start living up to his self image.
But even at the very beginning Danny doesn’t seem at all surprised by “horndog Joe”.
If anything, I’d guess he might have not anticipated what actually living full time with his best friend was going to be like.
Joe’s likely taking advantage of the increased freedom and opportunity for his thing in college, but I don’t see it as a real change.
I know I joke above about Danny’s new direction, but I in all honesty do enjoy it, especially if he (as I’d say he appears to be) is in fact reinventing himself as a benign hipster and not a “Valley Hipster” as I like to call them, in reference to the Sacramento valley, who act as bigots “ironically”. The only real problem with benign hipsters are those lenseless blackrimmed glasses. I guess because I feel like wearing glasses you don’t need are dishonest in a way. Also a very consumerist thing to do which I feel runs against the whole eccentric counter-culture that they seem to be based on. Also, my joking hostility comes from the fact that I think the ukulele actually clashes with most outfits. Aside from that, just so long as he doesn’t act snobbish about liking things before they were popular and actually takes some lessons for the ukulele, I feel like this is a very natural and healthy evolution for him as a character. Plus that hat is very dapper, so long as he stops with the hoodies. And Joe’s just going to have to deal with the fact that his friends are changing. Because people do change. And it’s fine. But Joe seems to have kind of constructed this narrative in his head that aside from getting older and getting a career that things won’t ever change. And this could be what actually finallypromots him to break out of that narrative. Because, if he stays the same he’ll end up losing his best friend. Another reason this might shake up Joe is his family. Constantly fighting parents that finally divorced, probably very messily. If Joe and Danny are as close as they seemed or as Joe assumes, Danny’s friendship might very well have been the one real constant in his life. And it seems that Joe has assumed that Danny is someone he could always fall back on. And that’s part of the reason he’s reacting the way he has in these past two strips: he’s afraid of losing the one person he could always rely on and he realizes part of that is his own fault. Also, given the dialogue these past few strips, it seems like Joe has been comfortable with opening up to Danny emotionally in the past. At the very least he’s comfortable hugging Danny while only wearing underwear without having to say “no homo” or something stupid like that. So hopefully, hopefully, this is the final push Joe needs to actually grow and be honest with himself. So, here’s to soon to be crushed optimism.
I think that’s all the case.
And yeah, I think Joe is getting real nervous at this point that he actually is losing Dorothy and Danny and his old real support network.
Come to think of it, this sudden offer of hugs might be partly inspired by Dorothy snapping at him. Suddenly it dawns of Joe that he is loosing people.
It’s a neat new chapter in the story about his and Danny’s relationship. Danny came to college assuming everything would stay the same. It didn’t. Now he has been through a lot of soul searching and is in the process of reinventing himself, and suddenly Joe fears that the new Danny will not have a place for him.
Similarly, Joe came to college already in the process of changing, and when Danny got clingy he got pissy. However, he assumed that Danny would still be around… in fact, that he would man up and walk down the same path as himself, although not as far. The last few days, between Roz, Dorothy and Jacob/Joyce, he feels a lot less sure of himself. When Danny is distancing himself as well, he is freaked out enough to reach out and meet him his way.
In the end of the day, Joe and Danny have a very simple and very common situation. They were friends as children, but they are not children any more. If they are to remain friends they have to reforge their relationship as adults – much like Walky and Billy are doing. They may or may not do so, and if they don’t it’s not a great tragedy. It’s just life.
Yup. Joe is doing good, especially because none of this is easy for him.
And Danny is never anything else than 100% honest – even as a hipster.
Danny is obviously responding to what happened to Amber.
Which was, obviously, her grabbing Ryan’s knife and using it to begin chopping tomatoes to make a delicious salsa. (What, what did you think that splashing tomato juice was?) Dorothy was shocked and amazed at Amber’s culinary skill (her facial expression might have been hard to interpret, I admit) but Ryan was so shocked and confused that he ran off and turned himself in to the authorities.
Amber was hired by the local police department to make delicious salsa as part of the standard interrogation of all suspected criminals. Danny’s sad that her new schedule incorporates almost no time for Mario Kart, thought conflicted, because he’s pleased that her skills have led to something positive in her life. The inner cognitive dissonance could only express itself in one way:
Ukulele!
It’s interesting. I think fashion is one of those things that, while everyone agrees that certain fashion choices have cultural connotations, people seem to disagree about what they are specifically, or be clueless as to what those connotations might be altogether.
So, when people gravitate towards certain fashion styles and aesthetics, especially ones they didn’t have before, it’s rarely an overtly conscious effort to be seen a given way. Rather, it has more to do with subconscious “vibes” regarding what seems to feel comfortable or appealing.
I wonder what vibes particularly Danny finds helpful about this new style? He wants to be seen as “the ukulele guy.” What does that mean for him? Someone peaceful and thoughtful (like a hippie sort?) Someone creative but not so ambitious or spotlight seeking? (as a more ambitious or theatrically creative person might wear, say, eyeliner, or vibrant colors, or even a suit+tie with unique accessories and hairstyling).
And why the pushback–not from Joe, but also from commenters? Is it because a new fashion choice can be used as a shield to disguise certain vulnerabilities? That is, people will ask Danny about his ukulele and hat, not his personal life? Or is it that he is trying to signal in-group status with a group that Joe dislikes? Because hipsters can be seen not at creative, mild-mannered, and thoughtful, but rather as pretentious, self-important, and compensating for a lack of talent? And that Danny is so naieve he doesn’t realize this connotation?
Or, maybe it is that there is a level of ambiguous androgyny to the hipster look that makes Joe uncomfortable? As the hipster style seems to be similar among different genders (Googling “hipster guy” “hipster girl” and “genderqueer hipster” reveal similarly dressed people), Joe clearly prefers a distinctly masculine style for himself. While Joe has never seemed to have anything against Carla, Ethan, or any of the other LGBT characters (that I recall, I could be wrong) sometimes androgyny throws people for a loop.
I love all of this.
And yeah, how we present, what is comfortable in presentation is so key for everyone, but I especially noted it seeing how powerful simply presenting in their real style with their real haircut and clothes is for trans folks.
It’s a shame it gets dismissed so frequently as a “girl thing” by society, because it’s definitely a big social thing.
I think part of the problem could very well be that until the 1930s most of America still had laws about what you could wear based on gender. And not just pants and suits vs dresses and skirts, but actual colors as well. The idea of being able to freely wear whatever you want on a societal level is actually still relatively new, and as a society we are still adjusting to it.
Hold on, laws? About what you could wear. And this was real? What the fuck was wrong with people?
back in the medieval day types of fabrics you could wear was stratified by class, so that you knew how much money everyone was in possession of and what their position in society was
That makes sense for a society without easy access to pretty much every fabric on Earth, I guess. But as recently as the 1930s?
Nope, there were laws on the books and enforced in good ol’ New York City as recently as 2011.
Not a great article but here:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/arresting-dress-timeline-anti-cross-dressing-laws-u-s/
also one that relied on little upward/downward movement between classes in order to keep social order intact
which come to think of it might be half the problem for the upset at crossdressing. like, if men and women are basically the same, we might all be people
……………..i just finished reading the handmaid’s tale, I Have Emotions About Clothing
I think the purpose of sumptuary laws was often to conceal how much money people had. The problem is that merchants often had more money that the nobility, and without the laws they would look better than the nobles, and that wouldn’t do, would it?
I don’t necessarily understand hipster styles, and they get a lot of ridicule, but it feels awful when I hear it.
In my childhood, I learned to hate masculinity, while I was abusively conditioned never to present any other way. Decades later, I’m stuck. I present not just as male but as masculine and I don’t have the first idea how to change it.
So hipsters? Wear whatever the hell you want. Present however you want. I don’t understand your styles; I don’t need to. Don’t get to be my age and not have the freedom inside yourself to feel comfortable and confident.
And of course that applies to everyone and hipsters, not the other way ’round.
For me, the initial push back was because I associate the hipster style (or at least, the hipster glasses) with being pretentious, snobbish, and unauthentic. And when I examine it closer, it’s mostly the lenseless glasses that give off that feel. It feels as if one is putting on airs and pretending to be better than everyone else who’s part of the “mainstream”. And that struck me as something I really didn’t want Danny to end up becoming, because it feels like a complete reversal of his character growth.
I agree with you, I wear glasses because I have to but I’d rather not (I tried eye surgery but my eyesight reverted back after a couple of years) and contacts are something I only use if playing sports as they get quite uncomfortable for me so when I see people wearing lenseless glasses I just think “you tosser”
I’m betting Joe is worried about Danny getting more action then him by appealing to a niche demographic and lowering Joe’s own man-quotient by comparison. XD
https://dumbingofage.tumblr.com/post/161534383337/oh-danny-boy
I like new Dapper Danny.
Dapper Danny looks so confident in that picture. I’m excited that this might be what he’s going to use to really build up some self-esteem.
HE’S WEARING BEST HAT!
I joked above that it looks like his evil twin, but the more I look at “Dapper Danny” the only thing that really throws me off is the glasses. Which is probably just a personal hang up on my part.
You know what? I completely agree. 🙂 He looks so comfortable with himself.
Yeah, it seems like Danny’s done leaving himself on the back burner and has decided to start taking care of himself and trying things out for himself rather than just being Someone’s Boyfriend.
It’s a good look. I hope he ditches the hoodies and stays like this from now on.
I wore a fedora in college. These days I’m a Dapper Hat Man (if I could find a nice wide brim fedora at a reasonable price I might switch back, but all I ever see are those silly narrow brim ones…or really expensive proper fedoras).
Danny no.
Danny you don’t want to be the X Guy. It doesn’t matter what the X is.
DAAAAANNNNNYYYYYYYY!
Okay, step 1: physical distance from super hot muscles. Step 2: Interject distance with non-sexual object. Step 3: remain firmly ensconced in closer.
OH. MY. GOD. SQUEEEEEEE!!! HE’S WEARING BEST HAT! BEST HAT! BEST HAT! BEST HAT! BEST HAT!
BEST HAAAAAAAAT!!!
What, no man bun? Probably should have gone with a trilby, too.
Fuck man buns. Like, when did people collectively decide that this was a thing? I only ever started hearing about them in 2015, maybe late 2014, and only ever as a subject of ridicule.
My friend thinks that guys with man buns are super hot. I don’t get the appeal, but she’s a few years younger than me, so maybe it’s a generational thing.
it takes time to grow out a man bun
I’m french and I don’t get the Seattle thing.
Seattle is a small town in the fictional land of Oregon, I believe. I’ve only heard rumors, but apparently the sewing scene is pretty hot over there, since they have some sort of gigantic needle.
seattle is the home of the much maligned hipster crowd, who basically are known for being fake authentic, enjoying fake retro aesthetics, and gentrification. so like – authentic, but stylized authentic, where you put more work into making stuff look like it just happened naturally than you would have if you had just let it happen naturally. stuff like lenseless black square glasses so you can have the glasses look without the eye problems. going into historic poor neighborhoods known for being poor and just, y’know, “improving” everything until the people who originally lived there can’t afford to live there and all is hipster. stuff like that.
i mean there are good parts of it too – aesthetic for aesthetic’s sake is mostly fine, and like there’s nothing wrong with, like, adopting stuff you think looks cool until it gets appropriative. and the ukulele is pretty harmless (if potentially annoying). and im personally amused that danny is turning out to be That Guy, it’s hilarious and fitting. and he’s such a sweetheart that i don’t think he’ll do anything too harmful with it, and if he does he’ll apologize and stop
it’s just horrifying Joe b/c it’s so different from his playah aesthetic
A hipster would enjoy this comment, but do so ironically.
listen. i know what i am and i don’t take pride in it
it’s the hipster city
As someone with BPD, I totally get spontaneously reinventing your personality in an attempt to get people to generally like you…
If you’d like some unsolicited advice (Do I give any other kind?), I’ll tell you the secret to getting people to like you. Just dress up as a Power Ranger at all times. Trust me, it just works.
If my current persona of trashy anarchist punk rock hedonist fails, I’ll make that next on my list
That hat is my hat. I love my hat. I have worn that hat since the fourth grade.
Dunno about since the fourth grade, but same!
Oooh, he could make music for weird kickstarter products and infomercials!
Tomorrow’s the UK election – go out and vote if you’re there, and good luck!
Whatever my beard is awesome.
Like . . . One thing that’s both sad and that Joe has had coming to him for a long time, is like . . . He is opening up to Danny as an opportunity to offer emotional support. And what Danny is BASICALLY saying is, ‘I don’t trust you with that.’
And like, considering how many times he’s brushed off Danny, pushed his concerns and worries to the side . . . He decides he’s open to input now. Now that Danny’s doing something that bothers him. And Danny, on the other hand, is like . . . You weren’t there when I actually WANTED help. Nah, man.
Okay he is almost definitely going through a small identity crisis but I still find this new look adorable.
Y’know, I’m thinking about it after initially seeing the strip, and it occurs to me that this “good egg, bad egg” shit is Danny trying to be disassociated with men like Ryan. He’s insecure about others feeling threatened by him, and any fears they might believe he’s capable of something awful if he actually blends in, so he wants to become this dude that everybody is aware of because it absolves him of fear and distrust just for being a man.
His take on how to do that is a little bonkers, but it’s a little bit adorkable.
somehow i missed this entire strip and i’m not sure how