It probably needs to zoom in on Dorothy’s eyes so much until you see reflection of Amber’s knife in her pupil lunging to something and then her hand comes back out but with a ukulele. And then it zooms out of the eye until we notice it’s Joe’s face sleepily blinking
Or to get into a hilarious comedy of error as they ‘Weekend at Bernie’ their way down to New-Orleans to throw Ryan to some gators so nature can take the blame!
The number one lesson to learn from that show is not to kill anybody, because otherwise you’ll have to kill even more people to stay out of prison, and might potentially end up getting murdered yourself.
Danny: “I call it the ukulDanny.”
Joe: “I kill Danny?”
Danny: “No, the ukulDa-” *hurk*
Joe: “If you play it too early in the morning, I’m going to get its name wrong.”
Whatever happened must have been hushed up somehow because both Danny and Joe are showing no signs of knowing anything. I think we were deliberately given this pairing to show that because Dorothy being friends with Joe and Amber/Dorothy being Danny’s exes if word had gotten out they’d be affected by it. So these two going along like everything’s fine and normal means no one knows anything yet.
He’s not dead. If he were dead, everyone would know and would be terrified that a murder happened on campus even if they didn’t know who died or who did it.
Honestly, if the campus was like, “That’s awful, time for class.” about a murder happening on campus that would be about par for the course at Ohio University, Athens. There’s a lot more violent crime on campuses than you’d ever know about.
I mean ever since finding out she was Amber he was stringent on trying to date her as herself, thought the whole thing was a game, and very clearly cared about her and her wellbeing so I don’t know how anyone could say he wasn’t invested in Amber.
People are able to laugh after something bad happens. Like, your brain kind of forces you to insert humor into a morbid or terrifying situation the second it detects that your environment is no longer immediately dangerous or stressful and then suddenly you’re cracking a joke and forgetting for two seconds that something terrible happened to a love one.
Angst queen Danny is either stressed and nervous because he senses something happened but doesn’t know what to do about it, or he knows very well and has been locked in his room for three days stressing out about it. Nervous energy is a great way to learn new skills like playing ukulele so HE HAS TO KEEP IT THE UKULELE JOKES NEED TO STAY
It’s like how when we don’t have coffee we can drink chicory instead.
….
Okay, so, two options. Speculation, or self-induced percussive coma so that when we wake up again enough new comments have been posted for us to get closure.
THANK YOU, I was also trying to figure out where I read this before, or if it was a retread of a roomies joke or something, because the deja vu was strong.
And, of course, we get no resolution to the Amber/Ryan slash. I (and everyone else) called it. Willis often trolls us with cliffihangers. Today, he’s stringing us along with a ukulele.
It is not obvious that Ryan was injured enough to be hospitalized. It is not obvious that Ryan is alive. It IS obvious that Amazigirl did not flee the scene, because that identity wasn’t there.
People walk by Amber and Ryan on their way to class. Amber is still hacking away. “Oh, just your regular Saturday morning slicing-of-life show…” they say, paying little heed as they stroll on by.
Not sure what the term is in US but… non-stationary students? Basically people who have jobs or for some other reasons can’t study normally and have a University-light version where they have classes on Saturday and Sunday.
I didn’t care to keep track of the date personally. Still, it made for a bittersweet surprise (and I knew we weren’t going to see the Ryan-Amber knife fight through to an immediate end).
All other things aside, I completely approve of Danny annoying Joe by any and all means, and its definitely good that he’s actually focusing on himself and his own needs, not just as Danny The Boyfriend
Willis said, “We’re here in the Dumbing of Age comments section, where I’ve secretly replaced the expected and long-desired comeuppance of a deeply-hated villain with a hot, steaming cup of ukulele. Let’s see if my fans notice.”
Okay, so Danny’s level of calm indicates that Amber hasn’t been arrested/hospitalized/gone on the run now that the police are trying to arrest her for murder or maiming? Or at least Danny’s not aware of it if she has, I guess?
I personally believe that he knows she’s okay, but given their last interaction, where she told him point blank that Danny shouldn’t want to talk to her anymore, maybe he is trying to distance himself from her?
Of course, it’s Danny, so I doubt he’d be able to distance himself from his feelings for Amber that easily.
I don’t think he’s fully out to him, Joe hasnt dealt with all the feels between them once he does. Joe was suggesting Ethan ( described anonymously ) would make a good catch ( especially as it sounded like Joe ) for someone.
But then we’ll have flashbacks to the missing three days, and talk about the three days, and by the time it’s over we’ll have spent more months on those three days than on any other three days in DoA history.
Funny thing is, this suddenly emergent passion for music is his first real development as a character that doesn’t involve a relationship with someone else.
Or, at least, it could be, depending on how seriously this strip is taken.
I actually love the ukulele for Danny, that is so on brand lmao. It’s such a milquetoast white boy thing to do. Bless you, my only mildly problematic fave.
Well, at least it’s not a banjo. Banjos make everything worse. Except that one video game that I only 50% of the title of.
…
Also, I’m willing to bet Danny would have bought an actual guitar instead if he had the money.
See, this is why no one likes the Inquisition and the only reason to play an Imperium of Man faction is because the Imperial Guard have the Baneblade and the combined WW2 strategis combined, the Skitarri are cool cyborgs, the Sisters of Battle are always the underdog, and the Salamanders are the only Space Marines who are actually nice to people, aside from occasionally the Blood Angels and Blood Ravens. Other than those, Tau is where it’s at. For the Greater Good!!!
Since three days have passed and Joe and Danny are talking about ukuleles rather than the dead (or near-dead) body found outside the dorm doors, we can safely assume that Amber did not commit murder, manslaughter, or grievous bodily harm and that Ryan was able to leave under his own power.
Half an hour after posting, 160 comments, and no one is talking about the fact that Danny has no girlfriend and just spent 3 days getting to know himself? Fine, I guess I’ll have to start that one.
Aw, so many people dislike ukuleles! But they’re so happy.
For me it’s like DoA!Danny is making up for his previous incarnation by being more likeable every strip. He’s bi, he spits on Blaine, he plays a cheerful novelty guitar, it’s darling.
This is quite the mood whiplash from the previous strip. Also, kinda surprised that the 4th panel didn’t end up being a joke about masturbation or something.
But I’ve heard there’s big money to be made making cheap, happy, upbeat stock music to use in commercials for Windex and Lysol and prepackaged family dinners and dating sites and home improvement stores!
Willis has mentioned a few times there’s a lot of Joe and Danny in this story. Also, Joe thinks of Danny as an annoying and immature / a kid for not spending his time focused on sex, which funnily enough is a wrong assessment because Danny’s been forced to mature at a breakneck pace up to keep up with the complications in his life and Joe is the actual dumb kid who needs some handholding to adulthood.
considering how chill these two are, either they have no fucking clue what went down, or what we were led to believe wasn’t anything serious. either way the author is being a troll.
A Joe-centered storyline for once? Maybe my DannyxEthan ship finally sailing? Amber guest stars in an OITNB episode? I am intrigued. And annoyed. Because honestly Will, a cliffhanger that frigging big. The hate is winning in my one-sided love-hate relationship with you.
I don’t know how it works at Indiana University, but at the University of Western Ontario, signing up for clubs happens during, like, the second or third week of the year.
I get that Amber’s a shut-in, Bilie got into journalism, and Dorothy keeps herself busy with lots of other stuff, but…did no school clubs pique the interest of Joyce? Of Walky? Ethan? Danny?
Seems weird to me that so many of these characters don’t seem to have any extracirricular interests.
In my experience there are three types of DoA commenters. The really insightful ones that occasionally throw out some really good humor and we all appreciate as a result like Cerberus, the really silly ones who can be serious when required like Reltzik or SgtWadeyWilsom, and the good humored hybrid between the two like Delicious Taffy. No idea where I fit into on that scale.
…
There’s also the ones that Willis blocks, but I don’t really count those.
Delicious Taffy made about twelve dozen thousand posts a few comics back insisting that Ryan was holding a phone, not a knife. He even went so far as to say that if it WAS a knife, he’d change his grav to something embarrassing for a week, whatever we suggested.
The overwhelming suggestion was a grav of the knife itself.
What percentage of the college student body ends up joining school clubs though? 30%?
Whatever the number, I’d expect it to be lower for freshman since some of them are likely to want to find out what their academic load is like before making non-academic commitments.
Well in my case it was more like ‘sign up for like five different clubs and then never go to any of them, then proceed to get super involved in an activity that wasn’t even on your radar when picking clubs was a thing’.
You know, after some thought, the time skip makes sense.
We saw the how ordeal with Becky’s dad because we didn’t know how that was going to pan out.
We don’t need to spend weeks watching Amber curb stomp Ryan and the very immediate aftermath. We saw what we needed to see which was 1) what Amber is like when it’s her being violent instead of Amazi-Girl and 2) Ryan lost the fight super hard. Instead of entire comics consisting entirely of Amber and Dorothy panicking and going “oh no, what now” we can skip to the what now part.
I know in stories you’re supposed to show, don’t tell but sometimes summing up is OK. I don’t want to see the entirety of Wooden Rod’s drive to work.
Also, as someone’s already pointed out, getting a break from the glum is nice.
Yep! It’s hard because we’re in a serial webcomic but the story would be worse if we’d just stayed on Ryan and Amber / Dorothy to just drag on the horror and psychological wringing instead of being allowed to infer the details of it later at a safer distance
Listen to someone like Peter Ostroushko play a mandolin. Mandolins were not meant to be ‘strummed’, and anyone who does so and still claims to be a mandolin player is not to be trusted.
Three days later?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? THREE. DAY. LATER???!!!!
Ahem. Well if this is just three days later either these boys have not heard about what happened (doubtful? word travels fast on campus) or things aren’t that bad? probably? hopefully?
Also tbh Danny’s “quite the opposite” made me think “ah yes instead of a girlfriend it’s a boyfriend this time” and, like, I knew that wasn’t gonna be it, but I was still lowkey disappointed.
Ukuleles are for the lazy. Now accordions and bagpipes are for those who want to commit to finding themselves while tormenting everyone around them. Unless Danny is completely disconnected I’m going to assume nothing catastrophic happened to Amber.
Well, there’s a good reason they’re used for military funerals. A skilled bagpipe player can make some of the most somber music around. Or some of the most exciting marching music. Highland Regiments exist for a reason.
Jesus, I am WAY to familiar with this. I bought one after I graduated high school, because “Hmmm, I can’t afford a tuba, but I wanna sing the deep, soulful lyrics I can’t come up with while I play, and everyone already plays guitar.”
$50 and sever people in my dorm shouting varying forms of “SHUT THE FUCK UP, NOBODY LIKES YOUR MUSIC” later, I left my cheapulele in the under my bed til the end of the year.
Dammit Willis you’ve made me even more invested to know if ryan is dead now that you’ve pulled the “3 days later” thing and goddammit it worked amazingly(pun unintended)
That could be a nicely artistic way of saying ‘screw you’ to everyone. Do stuff everyone hates then pass it off as ‘fine art’ and force everyone to think that they like it. I’m pretty sure that a lot of modern artists use this basic battle plan.
I have a theory that Modernism happened when a group of representatives from all the Serious Arts had a meeting. “In this new century, improvements in education and an increase in disposable income means that our audience is larger than ever! Now…. how can we get rid of all these frightful oiks?”
Probably the only person here who’s relieved to get a break from the drama. (Although I’m hoping the fact Danny doesn’t seem upset is a good sign nothing TOO terrible happened with Amber)
Anyway, I love Danny. He just whapped that ukele out from nowhere. He’s the best.
I feel it would be appropriate to link to “The Most Unwanted Song” by Komar & Malamid, but I don’t know how to do links on this site so just google it.
Don’t worry, Joe – soon, Danny is going to play the ukulele on the Steps of Break-Up (TM), and the ukulele is going to dump him.
Also: Willis made a megapost of the last few strips in one of his tumblers, and Ryan is tagged as “druggo mcstabbed,” which made me genuinely chuckle (I’m easily amused. Sue me).
This is intriguing. Is he really interested in the ukulele, or is he secretly getting a head start on Nintendo’s upcoming release of “Ukulele Hero, Nirvana Edition”?
Previous comic: That was what I ended up needing to self-care over. I’m so nervous and anxious for Amber and seeing Amber possibly very likely doing the thing that I spent my whole young DID life terrified I would do with exactly the same look from onlookers as Dorothy gives still haunts a lot.
It’s an amazing piece of storytelling, though, just… intense and breaking my little DID heart. Like, I don’t even blame her fighting back or taking Ryan to the cleaners, just the psychic and legal fallout for Amber is likely to be so high as it’ll feel like yet another confirmation that the Amber alter is dangerous and needs to be constrained and locked up for everyone’s safety.
This comic: On that note, damn you Willis, you are history’s greatest monster for leaving that on a long cliffhanger.
Panels 1-2: Okay, I’ve been super hard on Joe, so I want to extra highlight how awesome and important a growth moment this is. Like, all this comic in total, he’s done everything he can to avoid emotionally checking in with Danny and create a wall of “don’t talk to me about life stuff”.
But he’s recognizing how alienating that was and how it was pushing away his best friend and so he’s taking the opportunity to check in, even though it was highly likely that he’d be dealing with lots of feelings from Danny.
Like, it’s an important growth moment and may be a sign that he’s starting to loosen some of the trappings he thinks are necessary to be a man.
Panel 3: Good on you, Danny. That’s really really important and will help your next relationship (because you are very very alloromantic and will be in one eventually) be a lot lot healthier.
Panel 4: Oh my Bob, Danny is every queer HS freshman at my school (they take turns passing around a ukulele and trying to play Steven Universe songs). So I guess intentionally or unintentionally, he’s fully embracing his newly discovered queerness. Next step is obsessing about Overwatch.
Welcome back Cerberus. *gesture of support* How are things going with the job and the fiancé? I know you were annoyed about the other teachers who didn’t actually stand up to your scumbag school head coming out of the woodworks all of a sudden, so I hope these past few weeks have been good for you and your students. I also hope you’re new job goes well. Also, about reaction 4: Gabe and Jack totally wanted to be a thing but Jack wouldn’t because of command reasons right? And Tracer is awesome as a possible role model for young lesbian women. Also, am I a bad person for feeling like Sombra and D.Va would make a nice couple based on their shared interests of electronics and tgeir similar joking attitude? And despite being a white cis-male I really relate to Symmetra because we’re both on the spectrum, and I have a lot of the same problems with crowds and properly communicating. Also, I now need to check if Steven Universe is still on hiatus. I must know if Peridot and Lapis become canon!!
‘All joke aside Joe, my ex-girlfriend killed a guy a couple days ago. Cut his balls off and let him bleed to death. It was really fucking gruesome. I have no idea why I thought learning the ukulele would help, but I need to do something other than picture the event over and over again in my mind.’
“I heard my ex-girlfriend took up the machete, and I thought that might make for a good shared interest. But you don’t see many Portuguese instruments around here, so this ukulele was the closest thing I could find.”
Headcanon: when Joe says “”Mornin’ little buddy” he’s referring to his penis when Dan-o so Ridley assumes everything is about him and his instrument of Satan.
Damn, the cliffhanger. I knew this was coming, since this is the ‘strip from the FUTURE’ that was promised people on the kickstarter, but still: what happened to Amber!?
also, with a chapter-name like ‘The DO-list’, I wonder if Joe will get development?
Given the nature of the comic she was presumably stopped from killing Ryan by either the police or campus security and had to give a statement along with Dorothy. Maybe afterwards she was taken to the hospital.
She has a character model for this chapter so she’s gonna show up.
You know I have to say I’m pleasantly surprised by the total lack of “god look how much better Danny is without that psycho harpy Amber” going on in the comments today. I thought for sure that’d be the gist of things and I’d have to avoid it, but so far so good.
Having a room mate who plays the ukulele would not be such a bad thing.
.
.
.
Having a room mate who was just learning to play the ukulele would be a living hell, a waking nightmare, and any number of other combinations of two words which describe a completely unbearable situation.
Options include “justifiable homicide,” “broken ukulele,” and and any number of other combinations of two words which describe the means to end such a situation.
Sorry, Danny, but no. NO. That’s a nerd instrument. Billie will back me up on this. And I’m not talking cool late-90s/2000s dignified nerd chic. I’m talking 80s/early-90s sitcom nerd laughingstock. It’s a tiny, high-pitched, annoying, unwelcome tool.
I’m laughing at this strip and Danny’s stupid face, but it’s with a tic in my eye and a tiny voice in my brain screaming “WHAT HAPPENED WITH AMBER AND RYAN.” The laughter hinges on hysterical. Still it does not stop.
I find it extremely hard to believe that three entire days passed without anyone finding out that a student murdered another student. Amber’s hopeless, sure, but Dorothy would have told someone.
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Look, bro, ACCORDION is where it’s at!
(tho tbh I legit have both)
Danny’s not weird enough to handle the accordion.
Who needs to be weird?
(that was the wrong way around, should be a link to TMBG)
al does~!
Weirdness is only required for playing the discordion.
Hail Eris.
Fnord!
Bless you!
How did you manage to make a blank post?
That’s not a blank post! How did you miss that exclamation point?
Q: An accordion, a viola, and a banjo all fall off of the roof of a 12-story building. Which one hits the ground first?
A: Who cares?
What’s perfect pitch?
When the accordion you threw lands on the banjo without touching the trashcan’s rim.
The heavies gains the greatest velocity, duh.
Um.
It would actually depend on which one fell off the roof first. The problem statement never said they fell off at the same time, after all.
Also air resistance!
Thank Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw and Eddie Daniels the alto clarinet wasn’t a part of that joke!
Jeeves and Wooster playing Ladies on Spain in a Banjo Orchestra.
https://youtu.be/_eEIIB5hVy4
I was driving cross-country with my accordion in the back seat. At one rest area, I got out to use the restroom and left the windows down.
Realizing my mistake, I ran back to my car, but it was too late…
… someone had left another accordion.
Saw that coming, but still funny.
I heard a variation of that joke years ago, but with bagpipes. Still a classic.
Take “Weird Al” Yankovic. Does he play a ukulele? I didn’t think so!
The Broccordion.
The Banjolele! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEymZ3rXOmc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFM8IfTVpz0
ACCORDION? No, no. Everyone should have a Ryanskinned Ukulele from their ex. Play it proudly.
He’d probably make a better set of drums.
Put his skeleton up as an aeolian harp.
GIVE US THE DRAMA, WILLIS
Jesus man, that’s evil.
Could this be even considered . . . an unknown evil?
It’s a known unknown.
Whiplash like nobody’s business.
(And yes, I saw the “storyline over” comment in the previous strip.)
Mood neckbrace for everyone!
What if I lost my head?
We’ll try to reattach it pointing in the right direction, then you get your mood neck brace.
Webcomic Tonal Whiplash?
BETTER CALL SAUL!
God damn it Willis, you’re gonna time skip after that?
Pretty sure it’s not so much of a time skip, as a time [falsetto]tiptoe through the tulips…[/falsetto]
In Wilis time it’s a time skip. This three days should’ve taken months!
*Watches joke tiptoe past Gerard, through the window, into the garden*
Past the willow tree?
That’s where I’ll be . . .
Three days are a customary time to prepare for a funeral.
I don’t think it would take that long for them to flush the ashes, even being extra careful not to clog the plumbing
It probably took Amber a while to cut him into small enough pieces to flush.
Also the traditional time for coming back from the dead.
Now he’s gonna be a vampire? Great.
Or, you know, a zombie.
Or a diety, I suppose. Given the ‘traditional time’ in question, and all.
At least it’s not “Three and a half years later” and they’re all in gowns and mortarboards.
Goddamn it.
A FUCKING TIME JUMP? What is this, BSG?
At least it’s not 25 years later…
I dunno, in the Dumbiverse 3 days takes like a year and a half, so…
It probably needs to zoom in on Dorothy’s eyes so much until you see reflection of Amber’s knife in her pupil lunging to something and then her hand comes back out but with a ukulele. And then it zooms out of the eye until we notice it’s Joe’s face sleepily blinking
danny, learn to play somewhere over the rainbow with that.
No! He should learn to play ‘We Are the Crystal Gems’!
somewhere over the rainbow!
The Rainbow Connection?
that works
Somewhere over the rainbow connection we are the Crystal Gems.
And we’ll always live in a riptide submarine
That’s more of a banjo song. Hey, Danny, there’s an idea…
I know how to play ‘We Are the Crystal Gems’ on the ukulele
Child’s play. I can play Love Like You.
I tried to learn Is There Anything That’s Worth More Than Peace And Love On The Planet Earth but that shit is IN MOTHER FUCKING ⛺️
That was actually my first thought when I saw him with it.
We always save the day!
And if you think we can’t
We’ll always find a way!
How about the Bob’s Burgers theme?
That ones hard
Dueling banjos!
(Needs to be double-necked, though.)
Or maybe Danny’s more of a ‘Giant Woman’ kind of guy?
how about ‘be wherever you are’ for steven universe song?
Could work, could work!
What about Here Comes a Thought? That one feels a little closer to the overall mood of thIs webcomic.
i was thinking the Jam Song.
the sun is bright
our shirts are clean
we’re sitting near a murder scene
come on and share this jam with me
“I’ll do my best to give this corpse the treatment he deserved.”
“And I’ll keep it fresh, the coroner will see it’s preserved.”
No, he’s into Amazi-Girl, not Giant Woman.
Split the difference? http://www.giantgirladventures.com/
I teach guitar, and recently branched out into ukulele. Bought a blue ukulele, and the first thing I learned to play was Over The Rainbow.
I had one, seem to have lost it. This has regenerated my yearnings.
Nah: Devil Went Down To Georgia.
“An Open Letter to Stephen Fry.”
Huh, Joe doesn’t have the abs I’d have expected him to have for some reason.
Freshman Fifteen.
And he doesn’t lift like Jacob does.
you can totes be buff (read: actually strong) and have no definition, it’s healthy fat
Just like Maui
That was a sight I never want to forget anyway XD
DAMN YOU WILLIS!!!
And I repeat: DAMN YOU WILLIS!!!
Willis…you magnificent bastard I READ YOUR BOOK!
fave comment
Well, that de-escalated quickly…
Which was odd, because I didn’t think Ryan was the sort of person who could be staired down.
*flees for dear punning life*
It’s a good thing Amber was there to cut him down to size.
The moment he lost the knife, he lost his only edge.
If he’d brought a firearm, Amber would’ve soon had him fleeing for his dear gunning life.
Nothing like a weapon to give a coward a shot of courage.
Without it, he didn’t even have a stab in the dark at winning.
So the point is that he’s a loser either way.
I think it was the phone that had the point.
Like I said, I’m pretty sure it was a RAZR.
The phone’s audio quality is pretty sharply defined.
I saw what you did there.
I think this comment thread is unravelling now.
At least we’re not mindless hacks?
That’s called “falling.”
More like plummeting!
Well this feels warranted.
DAMN YOU, WILLIS!
Three days later, are you shitting me????
“I am not shitting on you”
Who then?
3 days is enough time to marathon all of the ABC hit show “How to Get Away with Murder” and… take notes
Or to get into a hilarious comedy of error as they ‘Weekend at Bernie’ their way down to New-Orleans to throw Ryan to some gators so nature can take the blame!
The number one lesson to learn from that show is not to kill anybody, because otherwise you’ll have to kill even more people to stay out of prison, and might potentially end up getting murdered yourself.
I guess you could now call him . . . “Danukelele”?
No.
Danny: “I call it the ukulDanny.”
Joe: “I kill Danny?”
Danny: “No, the ukulDa-” *hurk*
Joe: “If you play it too early in the morning, I’m going to get its name wrong.”
I believe it’s time for a ‘Damn You-Kelele!’
Well…..at least he’s getting over Amber well
If by “well”, you mean “spiraling down into a well of despair and nihilsim to the point where he will take up the ukulele.”
It was either that or cocaine, but the ukulele is way cheaper.
Only the crap-quality ukulele like that blue plastic piece of crap he’s holding.
Damnit I’m a ukulele hipster now.
….. also, Danny and cocaine.
financially maybe but the emotional cost is thru the roof
I’m sure he’ll play a touching song on that mini guitar at Ryan’s funeral
Not the worst I have seen Willis troll us… but X_X….
It is determined: EVerything that happened in the last strip is all Danny’s fault, because that Ukelele causes murderous rage.
Retroactively in time.
his best song is “love cuts like a knife”
But, it feels alright.
Isn’t the correct title “love cuts like a phone”
savage
cuts like a willis comic
this is a very roomies-esque strip
It really does feel like something from a gag-a-day strip, which helps maximize the whiplash.
It’s a palate cleanser.
I think that is the point!
Angst queen Danny is making jokes. Amber murdered a dude, and he’s making jokes?
This tells me Danny doesn’t know Amber (maybe) murdered a dude. How doesn’t Danny know? Has he been this far under a rock, or was it hushed up?
Even if e didn’t know Amber did it a murder on campus would be a big deal!
unless amber didnt murder the bastard and only left him in massive pain.
Close enough. She only killed him a little bit.
Still, the conversation implies that Amber is no longer around.
They broke up like a week ago. The conversation implies that Amber is fine, or else Danny would be angsting about it.
Agreed. So incident not reported.
Whatever happened must have been hushed up somehow because both Danny and Joe are showing no signs of knowing anything. I think we were deliberately given this pairing to show that because Dorothy being friends with Joe and Amber/Dorothy being Danny’s exes if word had gotten out they’d be affected by it. So these two going along like everything’s fine and normal means no one knows anything yet.
It’s also possible that it’ll come up later in the conversation.
Murder? Unnecessary.
Castration with a knife? Necessary and sufficient.
He’s not dead. If he were dead, everyone would know and would be terrified that a murder happened on campus even if they didn’t know who died or who did it.
Honestly, if the campus was like, “That’s awful, time for class.” about a murder happening on campus that would be about par for the course at Ohio University, Athens. There’s a lot more violent crime on campuses than you’d ever know about.
I agree, but more because Danny would know if Amber had killed somebody.
Danny’s not invested in Amber but Amazi-Girl.
No, Danny was invested in both. Even if he was only officially dating Amazi-Girl. He showed that again and again.
I mean ever since finding out she was Amber he was stringent on trying to date her as herself, thought the whole thing was a game, and very clearly cared about her and her wellbeing so I don’t know how anyone could say he wasn’t invested in Amber.
Amber self-defensed a dude.
People are able to laugh after something bad happens. Like, your brain kind of forces you to insert humor into a morbid or terrifying situation the second it detects that your environment is no longer immediately dangerous or stressful and then suddenly you’re cracking a joke and forgetting for two seconds that something terrible happened to a love one.
Angst queen Danny is either stressed and nervous because he senses something happened but doesn’t know what to do about it, or he knows very well and has been locked in his room for three days stressing out about it. Nervous energy is a great way to learn new skills like playing ukulele so HE HAS TO KEEP IT THE UKULELE JOKES NEED TO STAY
YES.
NO Willis! Bad Willis! Back to the other thing!
Gah, this is like most other fiction cutting to ‘five years later’. THREE DAYS?
SOMEBODY CHECK THE MOON D:
Prepare your ocarina!
Joe’s met with a terrible fate, hasn’t he?
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
*SOBS*
It’s storitus interruptus!
OMG… I can’t… I just can’t… I don’t know what I can’t anymore I so can’t, can’t.
There’s only one thing we can do.
We speculate.
It’s like how when we don’t have coffee we can drink chicory instead.
….
Okay, so, two options. Speculation, or self-induced percussive coma so that when we wake up again enough new comments have been posted for us to get closure.
Three options. Speculation. Self-induced coma to reach the future faster. Shaking your fist at the sky and yelling “DAMN YOU WILLIS!!”
These options are not mutually exclusive.
And an almost fanartical devotion to the fanon.
YES!
This comic needs more Arnold. (And Ken. And Lucy.)
Triggered (Or should I say…hilted?)
Idk but you definitely shouldn’t be making tasteless jokes about triggers.
…that’s a joke?
Where’s the part that’s a joke?
Apparently saying “Triggered!” randomly is all that’s needed to complete the joke. Because nothing says humor like mocking trauma.
After getting bloodlust, Amber knifed everyone, and this is Joe in hell.
No, this is the ukulele’s hell.
Joe’s Hell, Danny has an endless supply of ukuleles. And kazoos. “Who the gods would destroy they must first drive insane.”
*plays Jeff Beck’s “Ambitious” on the hacked Muzak*
DOES NO ONE HERE LIKE MOLLY LEWIS?
deja vu? have we seen this panel in previews or something?
This was the preview strip for Kickstarter.
THANK YOU, I was also trying to figure out where I read this before, or if it was a retread of a roomies joke or something, because the deja vu was strong.
I refreshed like crazy for this??
And, of course, we get no resolution to the Amber/Ryan slash. I (and everyone else) called it. Willis often trolls us with cliffihangers. Today, he’s stringing us along with a ukulele.
….
….
*flees for dear punning life*
He really played us with that one.
I think he’s trying to make us fret.
I treble with anticipation for a resolution of yesterday’s cliffhanger.
Sorry, that storyline’s overture.
All orchestrated by Willis, of course.
He’s cleffed us in twain.
That’s how he likes to conduct his comic empire.
We should all be taking notation.
No resolution? How is it not obvious that Ryan is hospitalized and Amazi-Girl fled the scene, leaving behind a terified Dorothy?
Boo, you’re no pun.
It is not obvious that Ryan was injured enough to be hospitalized. It is not obvious that Ryan is alive. It IS obvious that Amazigirl did not flee the scene, because that identity wasn’t there.
And as Billie would point out, neither was Sal.
I feel like this strip should’ve been Joe peering through the window or keyhole in horror as Danny picked up the ukelele and began strumming.
And then Ethan peering through a second window/keyhole at Joe :3
Ethan would be more likely paying attention to Danny.
I wonder how Ethan, or for that matter Amber, feels about the banjo.
VETO’D
Three days later: Amber is still beating the hell out of him.
People walk by Amber and Ryan on their way to class. Amber is still hacking away. “Oh, just your regular Saturday morning slicing-of-life show…” they say, paying little heed as they stroll on by.
People just keep tissing change her way, thinking it’s a brilliant piece of performance art.
Or because they know Ryan, and not in a good way.
*tossing dangit ><
Why do these people have class on Saturday
That’s another of the great mysteries, behind “How do they get the snow into snowglobes”.
It’s clearly the work of dark wizards.
Not sure what the term is in US but… non-stationary students? Basically people who have jobs or for some other reasons can’t study normally and have a University-light version where they have classes on Saturday and Sunday.
Dear God Emperor on his Golden Throne O_o I have entered some kind of cult of Chaos God of Puns. Need to go and tell the Inquisition!
Nobody expects the Punnish Inquisition!
This is a job for Ordo Punnus!
The concept of Danny soul-searching scares the crap out of me. Let’s hope he doesn’t become a self-righteous wiseass. 😛
Nah, you gotta hit Ruth with a non-metaphorical truck for that to happen.
hopefully Ruth won’t need to step outside for a week or two, just to be safe. :p
Maybe he could do a semester abroad, in someplace so different and full of philosophy.
Like Winnipeg.
Send him to Gravity Falls. After That kind of adventurer he’ll be immune to everything the world can throw at him.
Also, I just realized there is a tiny smily face on the bottom left of this page. Having *clearly* discovered it, I name it Chad. bow down to chad.
(this is the most roomies! strip in doa I’ve seen, except Danny isn’t sulking/upset. I like it.)
I don’t know. He went searching for his soul and found a ukulele instead. I think it’s safe to say he’s off-course.
….
Soul typically uses bass or a conventional guitar instead.
Are youkelele sure about that?
Well it’s hardly a bassless assertion.
I hope no-one sympathizes with Ryan for “being a victim of senseless violins”.
Unfortunately, I’m sure he’ll be able to drum up some support. People will think he’s cymbalic of some oppressed priveleged group or another.
Yeah, that situation’s often a bongo to play. If only people would stop acting accordion to their preconceptions.
Yeah, but everyone feels they have to chime in.
Does this ring a bell?
Let’s hope no vital organs were sounded.
Depends how badly Ryan got scored.
I’m just glad he had to face the music.
He might still come back, though. His defeat might be tempo-rary.
If he’s still out there, odds that he’ll come back balalaika-n annoying thing that just won’t go away?
But this time it won’t be with a blade. He’ll be playing spoons instead.
Now this pun thread isn’t toying around.
It’s all fun and games until someone reveals he’s Lute’s father.
Things that bother you never bother me. I feel happy and fine, aha!
Living in the sunlight, loving in the moonlight, having a wonderful time!
Aww it’s blue! I support you in this Danny.
….So I’m guessing everything that went down has somehow not gotten around campus?
I swear to God I had to stop and check if it was April Fool’s Day.
DAMN YOU, WILLIS
EXCUSE ME.
‘Three days later. I’ve got a Ukelele’!?
There are no words that can truly convey how this has killed my soul.
In a week, EVERYONE will have them!
i dont have a ukulele
Please report to the nearest indoctrination center for your ukulele.
If you do not have a ukulele by end of week, please report to the department of music corrections.
That is all.
Huh, it says here that you’re bad at dealing with Home Economics. We weren’t even testing for that.
I think the word “ukulele” conveys the concept of soul-killing-ness pretty darn well.
I’m surprised that so many people are surprised. This is the kickstarter poll strip. We’ve alreadyvseen it. It even had the date on it.
Well good for you, but I hadn’t seen it.
I didn’t care to keep track of the date personally. Still, it made for a bittersweet surprise (and I knew we weren’t going to see the Ryan-Amber knife fight through to an immediate end).
Ah, so the unspoken evil mentioned on Kickstarter WAS the time-skip.
Are you sure it’s not the ukulele?
ukuleles bring goodness! dont blaspheme ukuleles!
Only when you smash them…
It’s a ukulele that sounds like a skipping CD.
…..
…. I just dated myself, didn’t I? DAMMIT TECHNOLOGY, STOP INCREMENTING!
If you play it really slowly, it sounds like a skipping record.
…See, I’m more dateable than you!
….. I think this makes us LESS dateable.
Well, that was the obvious choice, but now that we’ve seen the time-skip in context, yeah. It’s definitely the most evil part of this strip.
Dang. I was hoping for Dina/Becky banter.
But this will do.
I am liking this new Dan-rection.
Us: “Nothing could be more horrific than the Amber-Ryan fight.”
Willis: “Hold my beer.”
Never in our darkest nightmares, did we imagine a uke.
His first name isn’t Damnyou for nothing.
All we need is a SEMME.
This joke would be funnier if that’s how ukulele was spelled.
Wait until you witness the backstory of the UKULELF!
This is English. We can agree to spell it however we want.
Wouldn’t it be something else if Willis created a filter to turn SEMMe into ukulele?
Jesus Christ.
I think it’d be ‘wine’ and not ‘beer’ then.
All other things aside, I completely approve of Danny annoying Joe by any and all means, and its definitely good that he’s actually focusing on himself and his own needs, not just as Danny The Boyfriend
I want to say “damn you, Willis”, but really, I welcome a bit of chill.
yeah. It’s a relief to just have a silly fun comic. the last few strips felt like an eternity of dooooooom.
Funny you should mention… Dooooooom is the punchline of today’s GWS Chaser.
http://www.girlswithslingshots.com/comic/gws-chaser-585
I’m suddenly reminded that you still haven’t revealed what’s up with the shadow monster thing lurking in Susan’s room and grabbing hapless immortals.
I thought that was Box.
What happened?? >,<
Willis said, “We’re here in the Dumbing of Age comments section, where I’ve secretly replaced the expected and long-desired comeuppance of a deeply-hated villain with a hot, steaming cup of ukulele. Let’s see if my fans notice.”
Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark!
Blah, blah, blah, but for me it was just Wednesday.
Loophole!
Wait, I thought someone said it was now Saturday.
Therefore the butchery was Wednesday.
So three days after two of Danny’s exes are involved in some sort of appallingly brutal incident involving a knife and a known rapist…
Danny’s doing this?
I…did…did the shock addle his brain and that’s why Joe’s concerned?
You’re assuming either Amber or Dorothy has told anyone.
Or that Danny didn’t already spend a couple of days fretting over them and being reassured that they’re both okay.
You’re also assuming that Danny has a brain.
I wonder if it’s possible anyone else is privy. Goodness me.
Or, in another possiblity, maybe Danny had finally given up about telling Joe about his Issues
I’M WITH YOU JOE
College has induced a thorough hatred of ukeleles in my very being.
You better know how to play the Steven Universe theme on that Danny or else I’ll be disappointed.
I bet a lot of people know how to play the Steven Universe theme on a Danny.
Okay, so Danny’s level of calm indicates that Amber hasn’t been arrested/hospitalized/gone on the run now that the police are trying to arrest her for murder or maiming? Or at least Danny’s not aware of it if she has, I guess?
I dunno, man. He took up the ukelele. That’s a cry for help if I ever heard one.
It’s clearly a cover story for helping Amber and Dorothy dissolve Ryan’s body Breaking Bad style.
I’M LAUGHING
Also Danny’s happy ukulele face makes me happy, which I needed.
I personally believe that he knows she’s okay, but given their last interaction, where she told him point blank that Danny shouldn’t want to talk to her anymore, maybe he is trying to distance himself from her?
Of course, it’s Danny, so I doubt he’d be able to distance himself from his feelings for Amber that easily.
Danny: “That, and I’m Bisexual.”
( Joe raises one eyebrow )
Danny: “Maybe my next girlfriend should… Be a Boyfriend”
Joe: “Why do you do this to me? Why can’t you just say ‘I like knockers?’ .
Danny: ( looks at Joe’s Chest ) “Nice Knockers, Joe”
Joe: “Too late! Go Play your Ukulele!” ( Joe storms off to showers. )
Joe didn’t seem to mind Danny’s bisexuality and encouraged Danny to go get himself some dick as I recall.
I don’t think he’s fully out to him, Joe hasnt dealt with all the feels between them once he does. Joe was suggesting Ethan ( described anonymously ) would make a good catch ( especially as it sounded like Joe ) for someone.
lol. That’s great.
Thx
I read this last night, and it’s so completely DoA that I forgot it wasn’t the actual strip until now.
/ Takes A Bow.
Thx
….. I just realized.
Willis is a genius.
Pure, friggin’ GENIUS.
….
If we kill him, we won’t get to see what happened with Amber and Ryan.
DAMN UKULELE WILLIS!
Lmao that was a good one
there’s a pretty big buffer built up, so we’d still have a pretty good chance.
Damn you Willis
A 3 day skip is months worth of content
But then we’ll have flashbacks to the missing three days, and talk about the three days, and by the time it’s over we’ll have spent more months on those three days than on any other three days in DoA history.
Very clever, Mr. Willis.
Funny thing is, this suddenly emergent passion for music is his first real development as a character that doesn’t involve a relationship with someone else.
Or, at least, it could be, depending on how seriously this strip is taken.
(o u o` what the fuck, willis
(okay, to be perfectly honest, I think this is my new fav page)
3 day timeskip? Thats like 2 months of comics right there.
I don’t agree with Joe often, but this one time we are in perfect alignment.
NO!
A TIME SKIP?!!?!?!?
3 days is like 3 years in Real Time. It’s almost time for President Robin’s term to end.
Wait, wait… can we do this the other way around? Have Willis post a whole mess of DoA strips all at once and skip the next 3.5 years of real time?
What and miss Trump and the rest getting offed in a mass firing squad?
Thank you for these snark idiots, Willis.
I misquote the DIXIE CHICKS song “Goodbye Earl.”
“It turns out Ryan was a missing person that nobody missed at all.”
Learn play a real fucking instrument, like a saxophone or a guitar.
Or the triangle! Danny seems like a triangle player.
Needs more cowbell.
Somebody learning how to play can make far more horrible sounds with a Stratocaster than a ukelele.
Who would have thought that we were going to jump from a knife fight into something TRULY TERRIFYING?
I actually love the ukulele for Danny, that is so on brand lmao. It’s such a milquetoast white boy thing to do. Bless you, my only mildly problematic fave.
I really was hoping Danny could not get lamer–but it seems there is no end to his infinite lameness.
Well, at least it’s not a banjo. Banjos make everything worse. Except that one video game that I only 50% of the title of.
…
Also, I’m willing to bet Danny would have bought an actual guitar instead if he had the money.
Banjos make everything worse? Say that to THE GOD OF PUPPETS WHY DON’T YOU
OK, danny worship giggles now
Steve Martin. Your argument is invalid. Good day, sir.
Man, imagine if it were a bongo. Think of all the stupid comments.
“Bongos” is the name of the instrument. They only come in pairs.
“Except that one video game that I only 50% of the title of.”
For some reason I immediately thought of The Last of Us and I’m pretty sure my brain is very wrong on this.
I ALSO play the ukulele.
I’m perfect at it, just like I am at everything.
Except picking musical instruments. 😛
….. okay, THAT pun was unintentional.
ARE you implying The Ukulele, Guitar and Trombone are bad choices?
I’m not implying that the guitar and trombone are bad choices, no.
Besides, how would you pick a trombone? There’s no strings!
Technically, you’re right, but I’m willing to let it slide.
*clap clap*
We have a request for an Exterminatus because of a time skip, My Lady.
Time skips are Heretical. Request GRANTED!
See, this is why no one likes the Inquisition and the only reason to play an Imperium of Man faction is because the Imperial Guard have the Baneblade and the combined WW2 strategis combined, the Skitarri are cool cyborgs, the Sisters of Battle are always the underdog, and the Salamanders are the only Space Marines who are actually nice to people, aside from occasionally the Blood Angels and Blood Ravens. Other than those, Tau is where it’s at. For the Greater Good!!!
A time skip! Willis’s stand is far more powerful than I could’ve ever imagined…
The next thing you’ll say is: “Damn you, Willis!”
By what sorcery do you read my mind and predict my actions so accurately?!?
Meanwhile outside the dorm, Amber is still stabbing away at not-Ryan’s long dead corpse.
His name is still Ryan, it’s just his middle name. Which is why Dorothy wasn’t able to find it by searching in the directory.
this feels like a dream. i can’t remember danny ever smiling like that, or being that emotionally grounded
Dorothy was really upset about something.
But she’s OK now.
I now have the weird idea for an R-rated black comedy about Dorothy helping Amber dispose of the body in Galasso’s pizza ovens.
“HOW TO GET AWAY WITH SELF-DEFENSE.”
Okay, enough of bashing on the ukulele. (From me. You folks feel free to continue on.)
Also, enough from you, Joe. You don’t get to veto Danny’s likes and dislikes. At best, ask him to not practice while you’re in the room together.
While you’re at it, shitcan that joke you’re planning about Danny having the smallest phallic instrument ever.
Nah, he should make that joke, that way we’d get to watch as Danny replies, “Well, ya see Joe, I don’t have anything to compensate for.”
Danny doesn’t really do snappy comebacks.
I want to laugh, but spending my newfound free time learning to play the ukulele is exactly what I did following my breakup lol
Since three days have passed and Joe and Danny are talking about ukuleles rather than the dead (or near-dead) body found outside the dorm doors, we can safely assume that Amber did not commit murder, manslaughter, or grievous bodily harm and that Ryan was able to leave under his own power.
Would they be talking about that first thing in the morning, three days after it happened, though?
Half an hour after posting, 160 comments, and no one is talking about the fact that Danny has no girlfriend and just spent 3 days getting to know himself? Fine, I guess I’ll have to start that one.
…so why isn’t his arm super bulked up?
It looks like he’s been focused on necking.
*slow clap*
Hey, I DID make a post about how this is Danny’s first development as a character that doesn’t involve a relationship.
I want a ukulele.
Me too. So many people are hating on it. There’s nothing wrong with ukuleles.
I can only picture Joe saying this after saying No!
“None of that! Shame on you!”
Tee hee. Now the only question is which other character ends up saying that exact line to him again later.
NOOOOOOOOOOO!!! TIME SKIP!!!
DARN IT, WILLLLIIIIIIIIIIIS!!!
Aw, so many people dislike ukuleles! But they’re so happy.
For me it’s like DoA!Danny is making up for his previous incarnation by being more likeable every strip. He’s bi, he spits on Blaine, he plays a cheerful novelty guitar, it’s darling.
This is quite the mood whiplash from the previous strip. Also, kinda surprised that the 4th panel didn’t end up being a joke about masturbation or something.
From Willis’s twitter feed:
“look it’s not tonal whiplash if it’s the first strip of a new storyline”
If this were a TV/web series, this could totally be the beginning of a new episode, even after the dramatic end we just had
How is “I’m about (…) playing the ukulele” not a joke about masturbation?
People freaking out over a time skip as if moving on to just the next morning would have been any better.
No! We can’t skip even one second! We must stay frozen in that moment forever!
“How does a moment last forever?”
Well, you need time to apply a force to divert it, and you can’t have that time if the moment lasts forever.
In short, it just needs to have momentum.
In fact, I’m pretty sure this time skip is simply a means to give everyone the day off so that big plot developments can happen.
Damn you, Willis!!
So, Amber and Dorothy hid the body. Awesome.
road trip!!!!
“He was a self-centered, self-entitled prick with no real core. So he gets a shallow grave without any depth.”
I feel wrong, but I REALLY LIKE THIS COMMENT.
I’m as wrong as you, then.
Good for Danny!
But I’ve heard there’s big money to be made making cheap, happy, upbeat stock music to use in commercials for Windex and Lysol and prepackaged family dinners and dating sites and home improvement stores!
I’m not even coordinated enough to play a normal-sized guitar. Props to Danny. Also, Joe, kindly stfu.
Hmm I just noticed the name of this storyline. Might we have a story more focused on Joe for once?
Also, Joe calls Danny “Li’l Buddy”? Now I can’t help thinking they’re based off of Gilligan and the Skipper.
Willis has mentioned a few times there’s a lot of Joe and Danny in this story. Also, Joe thinks of Danny as an annoying and immature / a kid for not spending his time focused on sex, which funnily enough is a wrong assessment because Danny’s been forced to mature at a breakneck pace up to keep up with the complications in his life and Joe is the actual dumb kid who needs some handholding to adulthood.
I know there’s a lot of Joe in this story, but where did he say there’d be a lot of Danny?
I honestly don’t remember, coulda been twitter or tumblr but probably twitter
I legitimately can’t tell if Danny is deliberately annoying Joe or not.
Me neither. I’m intrigued and confused.
Nothing wrong with ukulele when utilized properly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxEuq32tI5s
How can they possibly be utilized properly when they’re not on fire?
considering how chill these two are, either they have no fucking clue what went down, or what we were led to believe wasn’t anything serious. either way the author is being a troll.
A Joe-centered storyline for once? Maybe my DannyxEthan ship finally sailing? Amber guest stars in an OITNB episode? I am intrigued. And annoyed. Because honestly Will, a cliffhanger that frigging big. The hate is winning in my one-sided love-hate relationship with you.
Wait…Do any of these characters go to clubs?!
I don’t know how it works at Indiana University, but at the University of Western Ontario, signing up for clubs happens during, like, the second or third week of the year.
I get that Amber’s a shut-in, Bilie got into journalism, and Dorothy keeps herself busy with lots of other stuff, but…did no school clubs pique the interest of Joyce? Of Walky? Ethan? Danny?
Seems weird to me that so many of these characters don’t seem to have any extracirricular interests.
Sarah’s got a club.
….. *checks*
… no, wait, that’s a bat.
She can say it’s a bat all she wants. I’ve read the Player’s Handbook, and that’s definitely just a re-flavored club.
Are we sure it wasn’t a phone though
Don’t be ridiculous.
Phones don’t have the Versatile keyword.
I mean, I know a phone when I see one.
But do you know a phone when you see something else?
I love that you’re so good humored. A lot of people would probably be all mad, but you’re here making jokes and shit. It’s awesome. A+.
In my experience there are three types of DoA commenters. The really insightful ones that occasionally throw out some really good humor and we all appreciate as a result like Cerberus, the really silly ones who can be serious when required like Reltzik or SgtWadeyWilsom, and the good humored hybrid between the two like Delicious Taffy. No idea where I fit into on that scale.
…
There’s also the ones that Willis blocks, but I don’t really count those.
Um, sorry, little lost here. Phones? New filter, or inside joke?
Delicious Taffy made about twelve dozen thousand posts a few comics back insisting that Ryan was holding a phone, not a knife. He even went so far as to say that if it WAS a knife, he’d change his grav to something embarrassing for a week, whatever we suggested.
The overwhelming suggestion was a grav of the knife itself.
He’s been a good sport of it.
What percentage of the college student body ends up joining school clubs though? 30%?
Whatever the number, I’d expect it to be lower for freshman since some of them are likely to want to find out what their academic load is like before making non-academic commitments.
Well in my case it was more like ‘sign up for like five different clubs and then never go to any of them, then proceed to get super involved in an activity that wasn’t even on your radar when picking clubs was a thing’.
Feh. I didn’t join any clubs until my senior year. Being asocial will do that to you. What their excuse is, I don’t know, but that’s mine.
I’d be shocked if Joe is NOT a member of some fraternity.
You know, after some thought, the time skip makes sense.
We saw the how ordeal with Becky’s dad because we didn’t know how that was going to pan out.
We don’t need to spend weeks watching Amber curb stomp Ryan and the very immediate aftermath. We saw what we needed to see which was 1) what Amber is like when it’s her being violent instead of Amazi-Girl and 2) Ryan lost the fight super hard. Instead of entire comics consisting entirely of Amber and Dorothy panicking and going “oh no, what now” we can skip to the what now part.
I know in stories you’re supposed to show, don’t tell but sometimes summing up is OK. I don’t want to see the entirety of Wooden Rod’s drive to work.
Also, as someone’s already pointed out, getting a break from the glum is nice.
Yep! It’s hard because we’re in a serial webcomic but the story would be worse if we’d just stayed on Ryan and Amber / Dorothy to just drag on the horror and psychological wringing instead of being allowed to infer the details of it later at a safer distance
But think of the spectacle! The gory, cathartic spectacle!
You can construct it in your mind.
Don’t knock it ’til you try it, Joe! Mine was my best Christmas present last year (its name is Tiny Tim).
this is the best strip of all time and anybody that’s upset this strip is Joe and Danny talking about the ukulele is OBJECTIVELY WRONG.
Ooh, a cut to a different scene º3º Who’d have guessed?
Joe might change his mind if Danny started playing this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho1LgF8ys-c
[‘Babe’ mouse chorus’]: Three Days Later🎵
OMG, you just reminded me of that “Make a Day for You” song!
🙂
The ukulele is an euphimism for his penis.
I was thinking more of his testicles.
That’s usually the pink trombone!
SON. GET A MANDOLIN.
THANK YOU.
I love the Mandolin! Seriously, such a good instrument.
Strumming of Age, in which we find Danny is actually Chris Thile.
Wait, no, that’s a mandolin. Never mind.
Listen to someone like Peter Ostroushko play a mandolin. Mandolins were not meant to be ‘strummed’, and anyone who does so and still claims to be a mandolin player is not to be trusted.
Unless Danny gets pretty good at the uke, pretty fast, we might have Shunning of Age.
Three days later?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? THREE. DAY. LATER???!!!!
Ahem. Well if this is just three days later either these boys have not heard about what happened (doubtful? word travels fast on campus) or things aren’t that bad? probably? hopefully?
Also tbh Danny’s “quite the opposite” made me think “ah yes instead of a girlfriend it’s a boyfriend this time” and, like, I knew that wasn’t gonna be it, but I was still lowkey disappointed.
(okay but for serious the change to something ligther is actually very welcome, the last few strips had me really tense)
Sometimes, I genuinely empathise with Joe. They’re rare occasions but they happen. This is one of those occasions!
Damn it, Three days!? That’s like, at least 5 years of content you’ve left out.
I’m older than Willis, and I guess most of the readers.
Without timeskips like this, some fans may not live to see these kids graduate!
Graduate? You hope for graduation?
It’s unlikely that we ever see them completing first year!
and 3 years of flashbacks.
Ukuleles are for the lazy. Now accordions and bagpipes are for those who want to commit to finding themselves while tormenting everyone around them. Unless Danny is completely disconnected I’m going to assume nothing catastrophic happened to Amber.
Trombone is also good for that.
One of our neighbor’s kids plays the bagpipes, and he’s pretty good at it. The sweet, sweet sound of nonconformity…
Well, there’s a good reason they’re used for military funerals. A skilled bagpipe player can make some of the most somber music around. Or some of the most exciting marching music. Highland Regiments exist for a reason.
+1
I love the sound of bagpipes.
After a tension-filled previous story arc, an ukelele sounds like a peaceful instrument. Danny needs to find some bandmates.
You’ll find some suggestions here!
Ohhhh ffffffor crying out loud!
That’s so mean Willis!
Meaaaaaannnnnnnn!
😛
I don’t know whether to love or hate Willis for this.
Just… wow.
Next thing you know he’ll be wearing a fedora.
And he won’t pull it off. Well, not with that hoodie I mean.
Jesus, I am WAY to familiar with this. I bought one after I graduated high school, because “Hmmm, I can’t afford a tuba, but I wanna sing the deep, soulful lyrics I can’t come up with while I play, and everyone already plays guitar.”
$50 and sever people in my dorm shouting varying forms of “SHUT THE FUCK UP, NOBODY LIKES YOUR MUSIC” later, I left my cheapulele in the under my bed til the end of the year.
Dammit Willis you’ve made me even more invested to know if ryan is dead now that you’ve pulled the “3 days later” thing and goddammit it worked amazingly(pun unintended)
“The ‘Do List”? Will we be seeing a Joe-centred storyline? I hope so.
He could use a bit more dimensionality.
Woah, it’s an OC Emerl.
I’m glad someone else remembers Emerl, because Sonic Team sure as hell doesn’t.
According to Willis’ twitter he shows up in 30 strips of this storyline, approximately a third.
“Where’s the lil’ body lil’ buddy?”
What a twist
Next strip: Amber is still busy mutilating Ryan’s body.
I’m totally down with Amber torturing a rapist for three days straight.
Oh come on man, what the hell dude?
My guess, is that Ryan aint dead, but Amber marked him so that all can read the kind of person he is.
Inglorious Bastards style.
Or, took away his weapon.
BOTH of them.
Im good with either, really.
or girl with the dragon tattoo style?
“Sin City” reference!
Suckered by Willis we got I see…
[Amanda Palmer’s Ukulele Anthem plays now]
Mornin’ Willis.
Damn you.
No court would convict you, Joe.
“Anyway, here’s Wonderwall.”
Writing an atonal piece for accordion, viola and ukulele might just about piss every off;-j
That could be a nicely artistic way of saying ‘screw you’ to everyone. Do stuff everyone hates then pass it off as ‘fine art’ and force everyone to think that they like it. I’m pretty sure that a lot of modern artists use this basic battle plan.
I have a theory that Modernism happened when a group of representatives from all the Serious Arts had a meeting. “In this new century, improvements in education and an increase in disposable income means that our audience is larger than ever! Now…. how can we get rid of all these frightful oiks?”
Just arseholes like you. Have fun!
You can make beautiful things with an ukulele.
Well, other people can. not Danny.
NO
Probably the only person here who’s relieved to get a break from the drama. (Although I’m hoping the fact Danny doesn’t seem upset is a good sign nothing TOO terrible happened with Amber)
Anyway, I love Danny. He just whapped that ukele out from nowhere. He’s the best.
For once no one is yelling at Joe.
I feel it would be appropriate to link to “The Most Unwanted Song” by Komar & Malamid, but I don’t know how to do links on this site so just google it.
And tomorrow, we jump back with a “three days earlier”. Right? RIGHT?
Danny happy with a ukulele = good, happy, pure
Dat tone shift tho
*Ukulele plays, Danny imitates Kermit T Frog*
“Why are there so many
songs about rainbows?
And what’s on the oooother side?…”
LEARN A NEW SONG!
but’s it’s the best song ever!
Judge“This is the second knife murder is less than a week on campus! What is going on over there? How do you explain yourself, young man?”
Joe “Well, you see, your Honor, Danny started playing the ukulele…”
Judge“Ah, say no more. Case dismissed!”
Willis, you are an evil cuss!
Well, guess I’ll just have to wait PATIENTLY for what happens with Amber, Dorothy and the late Ryan….
Soon, the ukulele will dump Danny and we will right back where we started.
Don’t worry, Joe – soon, Danny is going to play the ukulele on the Steps of Break-Up (TM), and the ukulele is going to dump him.
Also: Willis made a megapost of the last few strips in one of his tumblers, and Ryan is tagged as “druggo mcstabbed,” which made me genuinely chuckle (I’m easily amused. Sue me).
Danny is found dead the next day, smothered in his own blue bedsheets, with a ukelele sticking out of his butt.
In the wake of the Ryan Massacre, the newspapers don’t even notice.
If something had happened to Amber Danny would probably be a nervous wreck, so maybe that’s a good sign?
We know Amber got “Ryan”‘s blood on that knifeblade, but we don’t know where she cut him, nor how deeply, nor whether it was a stab or a slice.
I’m waiting for either Amber, Amazi-Girl, or someone completely new to that body to show up with his scalp tied to her belt.
Why do I get the feeling that Dumbiverse Joe is going to end up with AIDS?
I dunno, he does seem pretty dedicated to using condoms. They’re a good safeguard.
Danny is evolving!!!
Danny has evolved into Ukulelemon!
Aw yeah now the plot is finally moving. 😀
So it hasn’t been moving for the last few days?
This is intriguing. Is he really interested in the ukulele, or is he secretly getting a head start on Nintendo’s upcoming release of “Ukulele Hero, Nirvana Edition”?
Obviously, the Amber / notRyan Incident has driven Danny totally insane.
Fucking hell, Willis!
Comic Reactions:
Previous comic: That was what I ended up needing to self-care over. I’m so nervous and anxious for Amber and seeing Amber possibly very likely doing the thing that I spent my whole young DID life terrified I would do with exactly the same look from onlookers as Dorothy gives still haunts a lot.
It’s an amazing piece of storytelling, though, just… intense and breaking my little DID heart. Like, I don’t even blame her fighting back or taking Ryan to the cleaners, just the psychic and legal fallout for Amber is likely to be so high as it’ll feel like yet another confirmation that the Amber alter is dangerous and needs to be constrained and locked up for everyone’s safety.
This comic: On that note, damn you Willis, you are history’s greatest monster for leaving that on a long cliffhanger.
Panels 1-2: Okay, I’ve been super hard on Joe, so I want to extra highlight how awesome and important a growth moment this is. Like, all this comic in total, he’s done everything he can to avoid emotionally checking in with Danny and create a wall of “don’t talk to me about life stuff”.
But he’s recognizing how alienating that was and how it was pushing away his best friend and so he’s taking the opportunity to check in, even though it was highly likely that he’d be dealing with lots of feelings from Danny.
Like, it’s an important growth moment and may be a sign that he’s starting to loosen some of the trappings he thinks are necessary to be a man.
Panel 3: Good on you, Danny. That’s really really important and will help your next relationship (because you are very very alloromantic and will be in one eventually) be a lot lot healthier.
Panel 4: Oh my Bob, Danny is every queer HS freshman at my school (they take turns passing around a ukulele and trying to play Steven Universe songs). So I guess intentionally or unintentionally, he’s fully embracing his newly discovered queerness. Next step is obsessing about Overwatch.
Welcome back.
Welcome back Cerberus. *gesture of support* How are things going with the job and the fiancé? I know you were annoyed about the other teachers who didn’t actually stand up to your scumbag school head coming out of the woodworks all of a sudden, so I hope these past few weeks have been good for you and your students. I also hope you’re new job goes well. Also, about reaction 4: Gabe and Jack totally wanted to be a thing but Jack wouldn’t because of command reasons right? And Tracer is awesome as a possible role model for young lesbian women. Also, am I a bad person for feeling like Sombra and D.Va would make a nice couple based on their shared interests of electronics and tgeir similar joking attitude? And despite being a white cis-male I really relate to Symmetra because we’re both on the spectrum, and I have a lot of the same problems with crowds and properly communicating. Also, I now need to check if Steven Universe is still on hiatus. I must know if Peridot and Lapis become canon!!
Steven Universe is back and Lapis and Peridot have become Lesbian Farmers.
Last episode I remember was the one with that one ruby stealing back the ruby ship to fly back to homeworld. So I get what you’re sayin.
I wasn’t aware Overwatch was a thing queers obsessed over.
Well, that explains my sister. LOL
*All the hugs*
Your Panel 4 analysis describes me perfectly. I don’t even play Overwatch, I just read other people’s McHanzo.
So glad to be back with Danny and Joe.
Said no one ever.
‘All joke aside Joe, my ex-girlfriend killed a guy a couple days ago. Cut his balls off and let him bleed to death. It was really fucking gruesome. I have no idea why I thought learning the ukulele would help, but I need to do something other than picture the event over and over again in my mind.’
“I heard my ex-girlfriend took up the machete, and I thought that might make for a good shared interest. But you don’t see many Portuguese instruments around here, so this ukulele was the closest thing I could find.”
What t’fk happened to Amber?????
DAMN YOU WILLIS!!!!!!!
Headcanon: when Joe says “”Mornin’ little buddy” he’s referring to his penis when Dan-o so Ridley assumes everything is about him and his instrument of Satan.
Of course Joe talks to his member; it’s good to be on speaking terms with the decisionmaker in a relationship.
(I’ll show myself out.)
*chokes on drink*
How in the hell did it take over 13 hours for this comment to be made? I was 10 top level comments away from asking if Willis was deleting them.
Guys holy crap Ryan isn’t dead. We’re not suddenly in for Amber as a murderer. That would be awful.
As the bird said, you’d be amazed at what you can live through.
Not being murdered doesn’t guarantee that he’s alive. He totally could have been hit by a truck on his way to the hospital
Damn, the cliffhanger. I knew this was coming, since this is the ‘strip from the FUTURE’ that was promised people on the kickstarter, but still: what happened to Amber!?
also, with a chapter-name like ‘The DO-list’, I wonder if Joe will get development?
Given the nature of the comic she was presumably stopped from killing Ryan by either the police or campus security and had to give a statement along with Dorothy. Maybe afterwards she was taken to the hospital.
She has a character model for this chapter so she’s gonna show up.
Has the color of Joe’s bedsheets changed and the last panel is a dream? Or are the blue sheets Danny’s?
You know I have to say I’m pleasantly surprised by the total lack of “god look how much better Danny is without that psycho harpy Amber” going on in the comments today. I thought for sure that’d be the gist of things and I’d have to avoid it, but so far so good.
This is honest-to-god one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time, especially Danny’s face in the last panel.
Having a room mate who plays the ukulele would not be such a bad thing.
.
.
.
Having a room mate who was just learning to play the ukulele would be a living hell, a waking nightmare, and any number of other combinations of two words which describe a completely unbearable situation.
Options include “justifiable homicide,” “broken ukulele,” and and any number of other combinations of two words which describe the means to end such a situation.
Having a roomie learning to play any instrument is much the same. (Don’t ask me how I know.)
Sorry, Danny, but no. NO. That’s a nerd instrument. Billie will back me up on this. And I’m not talking cool late-90s/2000s dignified nerd chic. I’m talking 80s/early-90s sitcom nerd laughingstock. It’s a tiny, high-pitched, annoying, unwelcome tool.
It’s an Urkelele.
*claps* Just so.
Ahahaha — that alt-text made me laugh out loud. 🙂 I’m a sucker for corny jokes.
Don’t rate musical instruments, Joe.
I’m laughing at this strip and Danny’s stupid face, but it’s with a tic in my eye and a tiny voice in my brain screaming “WHAT HAPPENED WITH AMBER AND RYAN.” The laughter hinges on hysterical. Still it does not stop.
I find it extremely hard to believe that three entire days passed without anyone finding out that a student murdered another student. Amber’s hopeless, sure, but Dorothy would have told someone.
I would also find that extremely hard to believe!
Note to self: go back in time, tell self to NOT write strip that says Ryan is murdered and that also nobody found out about it somehow.
*looks at strip*
whoa, time travel works
“but how could three days pass without everyone knowing that ryan was murdered????”
maybe because
he wasn’t murdered you dingueses.
or maybe danny and joe know and are indifferent idk