Ch-ch-ch-changes. I only remembered three “ch”s in “changes,” but of course DYW looked it up before he put it online. (In a quick listen, I counted from 3 to 5.)
As I post this, the tag “joyce-brown” returns no hits, while “joyce” returns everything up to tonight’s strip.
The comic was taking a while to load, but the tags were there. And I realized I never knew Sarah’s last name, because I was trying to figure out who Sarah Clinton was and if she had any relation to Bill and Hillary.
It’s been awhile since we’ve visited this plot thread, but was Joyce supposed to be going to whatever church it is Jacob attends today? I presume that’s why Sarah’s chomping at the bit to go.
This is a really strange comment, but I just want to say, Willis – I really love the lighting/colors in your art that portray sunrise & sunset times! 🙂
Well that’s not fair! Sarah, at worst, might have threatened to choke Joyce for waking her. Sal’s the one that actually chokes people for looming over her while she’s waking up.
Man Joyce really does put some stock in Joe. Where does that come from? Like dang?
Also, I’m glad I read the comments, cos Jacob-based scheming makes sense but otherwise. It’s not even Sarah looking out for Joyce making sure she gets up in time for something importantto her. Sarah is INVESTED/
They seem to talk a lot off-camera, too. Presumably Joe walked with Joyce from the lobby to her dorm after packing his donut stand up, and we only saw a little bit of that.
I think it’s worth remembering that what Joe and Joyce have been talking about most (barring the recent storyline) is her situation with her parents. And it’s obvious even from what little we’re shown that Joe knows EXACTLY what to expect from Joyce’s mom — and that he’s giving Joyce good advice about it (e.g. keep interactions to public spaces where you think your dear mother will behave). To me that seems to be the basis for her comment in the final panel.
To someone who’s losing their faith in everyone they’ve respected their whole life, the cynical dude is going to sound pretty wise. And to be fair, he has demonstrated some predictive ability before*.
*see Dorothy-Danny breakup, Leslie using him as an example, Joyce’s mom being awful
Wait, it’s been half an hour and no one has yet commented on Joyce validating Joe’s powers of discernment?
(Mind you, I am not a Joyce-Joe shipper. I still think that Joyce and Jacob are perfect for each other, but in comics, as in life, “perfect for each other” and “OTP” are located on orthogonal axes.
Am I the only one who thinks Sarah has no agenda in waking Joyce so she doesn’t miss church other than really going through in her intention of being a better friend to Joyce?
Joyce not waking up early would be unusual enough, but oversleeping and missing church doesn’t seem like something Sarah would normally have ANY reason to worry about.
It’s quite possible. It’s just that the sort of person Sarah can be means that the mind automatically jumps to some hidden agenda. I’m sure it frustrates Sarah no end that her friends and associates always assume that she’s up to something!
Not necessarily. If you’re polite (and Joyce was raised to always be polite), you like to imagine everyone else will be too. It’s the polite thing to announce your homicidal intentions before beginning. 😉
I do not and will never understand how Dr. Lecter is considered such a gourmet. Mammal liver is too strong to match with fava beans and will overpower their relatively mild flavor (chicken, duck or goose liver may work being less gamy) and while Chianti is a nice wine and it’s acidity will cut the richness of liver and it’s mix of earthy and cherry elements will complement the strong umami of liver and the mild grassy flavor of fava but the Chianti’s typically high tannic acid content at least partially destroys that fava flavor due to how it affects the palate.
That’s the point. He’s not actually a gourmet, he just acts like one to be classy and show how well educated he is. But part of his ritual is following a recipe, replacing the regular meat ingredients with human flesh. At the same time, it must be remembered that the setting is the US. As a US citizen I can confirm that the vast majority of the population (about 96% I would estimate) has no experience or knowledge of fine dining. By US standards, he actually is a real gourmet, simply because he makes it sound fancy.
…
Then again, he might just have different taste buds compared to a normal individual.
To be fair, the Chianti is only in the movies. In the books it’s a big Amarone. Presumably the scriptwriter assumed Americans wouldn’t know what that meant.
“Hello and, again, welcome to the Aperture Science computer-aided enrichment center. We hope your brief detention in the relaxation vault has been a pleasant one. Your specimen has been processed and we are now ready to begin the test proper.”
I LOVE this joke. I can just imagine Sarah snickering about it as she set her alarm extra early and practiced her biggest smile in front of the mirror.
If she awakened me with that look on her face, I’d be looking for her hands to see which one is holding the large knife she intends to stab me to death with.
I’m going to make a prediction, that Joyce is sleeping in such an awkward position, and part of the reason why Sarah has such a joyful smile is that Joyce is not alone in her bed. I think that that fleshy bit with the purple near the top is Dorothy’s elbow or something. Imagine the freakout that would happen if Joyce wakes up and finds she slept with Dorothy, and even more if Walky is there too.
Of course this is probably just the intense amount of cold medicine I’ve been under for the last three days…
I feel Sarah’s frustration here: She went to all the trouble to get in Joyce’s face and wake her up early only to learn that Joyce was expecting this to happen and was expecting it to get worse! Not only is it a let-down for Sarah but it kind of makes her wonder just what sort of impression she’s given Joyce of her over the months they’ve been living together!
The colours in this are so cozy. I really reall hope Joyce is going to visit Jacob’s church, I’ve been hoping for it since he suggested it back in January.
OK, remember when someone changed the last line of all comic strips (including the ones that weren’t meant to be funny) to “Christ, what an asshole!” and ended up making quite a lot of them better?*
NEW VARIANT: From now on, imagine that in every strip, it ends with Becky popping her head in to gleefully shout “EVERYTHING IS UNRAVELING!”, the same way Tobias Boon popped in to say “Toasty” in the early Mortal Kombat games.
*My personal favourite strips to do this with is any DoA strip that ends with the post-coital afterglow of Walky and Dorothy.
The main reason I imagine it being funnier with Becky popping in with the exact same grin as is in your avatar is because it’s so very much like Becky to pop in like that in almost every situation imaginable.
Including Dina complaining to two guys how they are blocking the only sausage pizza.
Especially including Dina complaining to two guys how they are blocking the only sausage pizza.
Now that I think about it…
“The fate of the galaxy rests on your shoulders Joyce! Put some pants on! Never mind, I’ll make you some pants on the way!”
“It’s Sarah and Joyce adventure! Sarah and Joyce episode!”
Which reminds me that I really have to work on that fanfiction where Amber, who no longer can face being a costumed hero, starts training Joyce to govern her rage and become the new Amazi-Girl.
I think I’m far too trusting.
I saw this strip and thought “D’awww, they be bonding!”
And everyone else automatically assumes ulterior motives, right away.
FWIW, I don’t think that Joyce slept with Walky and Dorothy only because she’s not in her day clothes from yesterday (she was wearing a blue tee in panel 5 of yesterday’s strip and now she’s in a white tee). I could see them falling asleep together after binging on cartoons but I can’t see them actually changing into night wear and then going to sleep together.
At least not yet but who knows what Willis intends, long term? 😮
I’m pretty sure that Willis has explicitly said that we’re not gonna see Joyce (Or Becky or Dina) go that far with anyone over the course of the comic.
I’m pretty sure that is Joyce’s same shirt from yesterday; if you look closely you can see the stripe. The apparent colour change is a result of the orange tint to today’s strip.
Remember that episode of Seinfeld, where George tries to break up with a woman and she just says “No”, because she’d rather work out the conflict like adults?
Turns out, that can actually happen. It doesn’t seem to end quite the same way, though.
Comic Reactions: … No, what is happening? Up is down, left is right, the sky is full of locusts. Truly it is the end of times. What is that horrifying thing on Sarah’s face? Why would a merciful divine being allow such a thing to be?!?
But seriously, I’m loving the reversal because it shows just how important Joyce has been to Sarah recovering from her fears of caring deeply about another person, especially a roommate to the point where she’s waking up Joyce with all smiles.
And I love that it’s Sarah who is offering her church experience to Joyce, because at the moment Joyce is still a believer, but falling out of the churches she’s been attending because of how hateful they’ve been and losing her faith in the process. It might not work and Joyce may continue to lose her faith more as things progress, but it’s a sweet and important offer to make that shows just how much Sarah understands Joyce and what she’s craving right now.
That last panel: Yeeeeeeah, no, he may have had a good track record of advice to you, but I’d say his “accuracy rating” is in the solid D* category at most.
*Yes, ha ha, I’ve made the joke so you don’t have to.
This is such a wonderful sistery moment. What I love is that Sarah makes the effort to answer Joyce’s antics in kind. Joyce is unreasonably perky? Two can play that game. THAT is family.
Nope. Ulterior motives all the way down. Sarah is genuinely happy because she’s plotting and little sister Joyce is her weapon.
Weaponized Joyce is being sent to a specific church service and is aimed at Jacob. That’s why she need to get up now and not go to a later service. Or visit another church with friends. She will, unwittingly, use her naive church-girl charm on Jacob and save him from the evil clutches of Sarah’s arch-enemy. Excellent!
Except if they do hit it off, Sarah would still be miserable, seeing Jacob with Joyce. A smart, chaste man headed for law school is right in Joyce’s target zone anyway. A little older is great. And Jacob is a solid guy, a gentle man and has few visible flaws.
There might be one issue involving Joyce and Jacob having a relationship… while Joyce’s parents aren’t outwardly racist (and I suspect her dad would be pretty accepting), I could imagine her mother and/or her church group at home would object. (Their treatment of Becky suggests they may have an underlying bigotry.)
I do recognize that Joyce is strong enough to stand up to them (and she had been drifting away from her church for some time.) It would however provide some additional drama (that may actually be interesting from a story-telling perspective.)
Joyce is down with convincing Jacob to break up with Raidah, but her motivations are different. Her motivation is that she thinks Jacob and Sarah should date. Sarah’s motivation is to piss Raidah off.
Like, I wouldn’t say Joyce’s motivation is *good*, but at least her goal isn’t explicitly to hurt someone. I mean, even her strategy isn’t awful. (Be someone the person you want to date would want to date, and maybe they’ll decide to date you) Like obviously it still involves Raidah getting hurt, but that isn’t her goal. (And statistically unlikely that a relationship from the first few weeks of uni would last forever anyhow)
I love how briefly the smile stays on Sarah’s face. No, really. Because that first panel is her trying really, really hard to wake Joyce up with a cheerful bright smile, as Joyce has done for her. But it’s already a strain by panel 3 and gone completely as the comment about strangling sinks in.
Keep working hard on that making things better promise, Sarah. It’s wonderful to see.
It also says quite a lot about Willis’ drawing skills that he can make a genuine Joyce-is-eternal-sunshine-smile when she wakes up Sarah and make us all go “Yep, that’s eternal sunshine and happiness, all right”; and then make Sara try the same on Joyce, and we’re all “Yep, Sarah is trying really hard to be sunshine but not quite succeeding at it.”
I mean, not that I have any skills drawing whatsoever, but to figure out that second type of smile is, I imagine, something that you’ll have to be very experienced at to do properly.
I agree, Willis’ facial expressions and body language skills are really impressive to me overall.
I do have drawing skills (sort-of) and I know how to draw expressive people in a scene or in a portrait, but only if I’m using a realistic style and use either live models (ideal) or photo-references. The vast majority of cartoonists don’t use real human references for every scene; there just isn’t time if you want to put out a strip every day. So their style requires honing a sort of intuitive knowledge of the human face and translating it into a symbology that works well. Generally there is a lot of expressive nuance that is “lost in translation,” even in comics I really love–instead of being able to express a broad emotional range, most artists seem to stick to about eight faces (happy face, sad face, surprised face, angry face, disgusted face, smirky face, terrified face, VERY angry face), which is usually fine enough to tell the story.
So for Willis to manage to convey the breadth of emotional expression he does here AND differentiate how similar emotions come across differently on different characters, that’s high quality. That takes a lot of effort and practice. It’s something I’d like to learn at some point, although I’m not nearly there yet.
Sorry in advance but when my favorite musician is mentioned…
[Verse 1]
I still don’t know what I was waiting for
And my time was running wild
A million dead-end streets
Every time I thought I’d got it made
It seemed the taste was not so sweet
So I turned myself to face me
But I’ve never caught a glimpse
Of how the others must see the faker
I’m much too fast to take that test
[Chorus]
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strange)
Ch-ch-Changes
Don’t want to be a richer man
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strange)
Ch-ch-Changes
Just gonna have to be a different man
Time may change me
But I can’t trace time
[Verse 2]
I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence and
So the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They’re quite aware of what they’re going through
[Chorus]
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strange)
Ch-ch-Changes
Don’t tell them to grow up and out of it
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
(Turn and face the strange)
Ch-ch-changes
Where’s your shame
You’ve left us up to our necks in it
Time may change me
But you can’t trace time
[Bridge]
Strange fascination, fascinating me
Changes are taking the pace I’m going through
[Chorus]
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strange)
Ch-ch-changes
Oh, look out you rock ‘n rollers
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
(Turn and face the strange)
Ch-ch-changes
Pretty soon now you’re gonna get older
Time may change me
But I can’t trace time
I said that time may change me
But I can’t trace time
Loading ...
Role reversal???
I’d say Freaky Friday but
Spooky Sunday?
Joyce Brown stars in Reverse Get Out.
‘Get It’?
*’Get In’! Ahrg! Why can’t I edit or delete posts?
Is the “reverse” part that it’s competently written?
But today IS Friday…
FREAKY META-FRIDAY
From the chapter title, it’s Strange Sunday.
Revenge is a dish best served standing over your “enemy”‘s prone body with a big smile on your face?
In that case, I’ve been doing it wrong.
Socially Awkward Sarah face is awfully close to Sociopathic Murderous Sarah face.
We fell into the mirror universe.
Where dads are the world’s greatest heroes.
Well, now that you’ve given her the idea…
She was planning to use a claw hammer when the time comes, but this sounds a lot less messy.
Well, this is backwards.
She wants Joyce out of the room for some reason.
Oh other Jacob?
Maybe other-other Jacob?
I don’t think there is necessarily an ulterior motive in this case.
so she isn’t the only person who assumes that will happen to her.
wait sara wants to go to church?
huh my gravitar changed……. that wasn’t expected.
Perhaps Sarah intends to spend time with Other Jacob while Joyce is gone.
Behold the power of Jacob’s hotness!
She’s hoping Joyce gets Jacob away from Ridah. He invited Joyce to his church back in April (our time).
Ding ding ding!
I think she wants to be more suportive, waking Joyce up so she doesn’t mean church is another good start.
miss church not mean.
Clearly you didn’t mean “mean.” I must conclude therefore that you missed “miss,” Miss. Know what I miss—er, I mean mean? (Sorry. Missed.)
Meandering quite a bit there.
Whoa, Joyce being woken up by Sarah? What is going on here?
Ch-ch-ch-changes.
TURN AND FACE THE STRANGE CH-CH-CHANGES!
Rod Serling steps out of the closet and says “Picture if you will…”
The consensus seems to be plotting of some sort, that requires Joyce out of the room.
I agree, it’s really the only thing that makes sense.
Panel 1 smile is forced and scary. Sarah’s obviously been taking lessons from Dinah.
I think her face is just not used to smiling.
Nah! Not Galasso!
Galasso will be back when you least expect him!
Full-name tags?
This page is the only one in those tags, so it doesn’t look like they’ve been added to others.
Ch-ch-ch-changes. I only remembered three “ch”s in “changes,” but of course DYW looked it up before he put it online. (In a quick listen, I counted from 3 to 5.)
As I post this, the tag “joyce-brown” returns no hits, while “joyce” returns everything up to tonight’s strip.
And now the full name tags are gone.
It’s inevitable that Sarah will do it, or just in general someone’s going to?
death has come for you, joyce
AND SARAH IS ITS SHROUD!
“Morning, Dr. Meacham!”
“Good morning, voice.”
“I hope you slept well…”
“…’cause it’s time to die.”
Wha-? Did they hit their heads and switch roles or something?
Also Joyce looks adorable in that last panel.
What is this cornswaggling nonsense
……
….
..
…. CORN. SWAGGLING. ???
Cornswaggling.
Your comment with that gravatar is pretty much perfect.
Joe’s never wrong. It WILL happen.
Played out this way, a self-fulfilling prophecy
Oh! Oh no! Oh no-oh!
Turn And Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace The Strange
ch-ch-ch-changes
Since I first saw a clip of this performance on the Rolling Stone 20th Anniversary Show it’s been my favorite version.
Nothing wrong with the studio version, it just had gotten cliche by the time it got to me.
The line “where’s you’re shame you’ve left us up to our necks in it” never seems to get any less relevant 🙁
*your shame.
blaaaaaa
“Time may change me, but I can’t trace time.”
Sounds about right for Joyce.
I just…I like this strip. I just…like it. This is the ideal pander-to-Rosie Dumbing of Age strip. Thank you.
I hope one April Fool’s Day Sarah does strangle Joyce to death
Gotta say that’s probably taking the joke a step to far
It’s just a prank bro!
Sarah just wouldn’t have it in her to carry it through.
I mean maybe she’d TRY, but when things came down to it, she’d choke.
You have my full throated approval for this pun …
Handshakes of respect!
Of course, this is actually at 3 AM. Revenge is a dish best served too early in the morning. 😛
I prefer my revenge to be served with a side of pinto beans and muffins. Ooh and maybe some coffee.
I thought it went with some fava beans and a nice chianti.
Depends on the person.
And if you’re a night owl, bonus points for it being late at night before you have to go to sleep.
The comic was taking a while to load, but the tags were there. And I realized I never knew Sarah’s last name, because I was trying to figure out who Sarah Clinton was and if she had any relation to Bill and Hillary.
I guess Operation “Have Joyce steal Jacob away from Raidah” is finally commencing.
It hadn’t already?
Wait, Joyce is going to church with Jacob today, right? Maybe Sarah’s trying to get in on that…
She’s given up on Jacob. But she hasn’t given up on making him dump Raidah. This reeks of sitcom scheming.
Isn’t she going to church because Jacob is or something?
Nice new gravatar, and i got ninja’d twice
It’s been awhile since we’ve visited this plot thread, but was Joyce supposed to be going to whatever church it is Jacob attends today? I presume that’s why Sarah’s chomping at the bit to go.
…. wait, is SARAH going to go, or is she just telling Joyce that it’s time for JOYCE to go?
Hmm, isn’t getting a bat to the face more likely when Sarah is involved?
When Joy goes to church Sarah gets the room to herself
This is a really strange comment, but I just want to say, Willis – I really love the lighting/colors in your art that portray sunrise & sunset times! 🙂
Joyce looks adorable in this strip.
I thought this was revenge for waking Joyce all the time, but then I remembered Sarah wants Jacob to end up ditching Raidah for Joyce.
Two birds with one stone. Clever, Sarah.
I really don’t want you to be right but I think you are right.
I WANT this to just be Sara doing a cute sisterly joke, but noooooooo.
Well that’s not fair! Sarah, at worst, might have threatened to choke Joyce for waking her. Sal’s the one that actually chokes people for looming over her while she’s waking up.
Interesting. Wonder how this is going to play out.
Honestly, Sarah, that smile that went with “It’s Time” isn’t exactly reassuring. That’s a “gotta hide the bodies” smile if I’ve ever seen one.
they gonna hide Raidah’s body
And what’s not reassuring about hiding the bodies?
Better than leaving them out.
Exactly.
Plus, remember all those memes that says “A good friend will lend you a shovel. A true friend will help you hide the bodies”?
Sarah considers Joyce a true friend now. If that’s not beautiful, I don’t know what is.
In fairness to Sarah, that may be the only smile in her repertoire.
That third panel looks like the lead-up to a human sacrifice.
Man Joyce really does put some stock in Joe. Where does that come from? Like dang?
Also, I’m glad I read the comments, cos Jacob-based scheming makes sense but otherwise. It’s not even Sarah looking out for Joyce making sure she gets up in time for something importantto her. Sarah is INVESTED/
The fact that they talk a lot?
no but EXACTLY?
It’s weird, we the audience have a pretty comprehensive view of the characters, but Joe is still a pretty closed book.
They seem to talk a lot off-camera, too. Presumably Joe walked with Joyce from the lobby to her dorm after packing his donut stand up, and we only saw a little bit of that.
I think it’s worth remembering that what Joe and Joyce have been talking about most (barring the recent storyline) is her situation with her parents. And it’s obvious even from what little we’re shown that Joe knows EXACTLY what to expect from Joyce’s mom — and that he’s giving Joyce good advice about it (e.g. keep interactions to public spaces where you think your dear mother will behave). To me that seems to be the basis for her comment in the final panel.
Is he, Joyce? Is he?
To someone who’s losing their faith in everyone they’ve respected their whole life, the cynical dude is going to sound pretty wise. And to be fair, he has demonstrated some predictive ability before*.
*see Dorothy-Danny breakup, Leslie using him as an example, Joyce’s mom being awful
1: It appears that this is Sarah’s idea of making things better.
2: This is obviously why Sarah was smiling so much last night. She was already planning for this to happen.
3: I like Sarah’s particular brand of evil.
Ah, every so often we need a good reminder of why we love Joyce so gosh-darn much. This strip does that job.
Wait, it’s been half an hour and no one has yet commented on Joyce validating Joe’s powers of discernment?
(Mind you, I am not a Joyce-Joe shipper. I still think that Joyce and Jacob are perfect for each other, but in comics, as in life, “perfect for each other” and “OTP” are located on orthogonal axes.
Independent axes. Not necessarily orthogonal. This is your brain on age and/or tiredness.
Any two independent axes are orthogonal with the right linear transformation.
Yeah, but if you’re bringing linear transformations into this, then how much real meaning does “orthogonal” retain?
It means they’re still independent?
I just did (albeit jokingly) two comments up. I sense Foreshadowing TM.
OH GOD WE’RE DOING THIS STORYLINE NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
this will not end well…
That makes it different from the other storylines how? 🙂
Strangler Sarah may be real but it doesn’t have a ring to it
Am I the only one who thinks Sarah has no agenda in waking Joyce so she doesn’t miss church other than really going through in her intention of being a better friend to Joyce?
Well, she has been scheming about Joyce & Jacob, and Sarah is the late sleeper here.
Joyce not waking up early would be unusual enough, but oversleeping and missing church doesn’t seem like something Sarah would normally have ANY reason to worry about.
It’s quite possible. It’s just that the sort of person Sarah can be means that the mind automatically jumps to some hidden agenda. I’m sure it frustrates Sarah no end that her friends and associates always assume that she’s up to something!
Weaponizing Joyce to save Jacob from her arch-enemy. Joyce needs to be at the right service to distract Jacob with her church girl charms.
Joyce, when someone decides that it’s time to strangle you to death, they don’t stop to tell you about it. They just proceed.
Unless you live in a comic boo- wait…
Not necessarily. If you’re polite (and Joyce was raised to always be polite), you like to imagine everyone else will be too. It’s the polite thing to announce your homicidal intentions before beginning. 😉
Panel 1: Wake up sleepy head.
Panel 3: Kali ma! Kali ma!
…
Seriously Sarah. You look ready to start eating Joyce’s liver paired with chiante.
I do not and will never understand how Dr. Lecter is considered such a gourmet. Mammal liver is too strong to match with fava beans and will overpower their relatively mild flavor (chicken, duck or goose liver may work being less gamy) and while Chianti is a nice wine and it’s acidity will cut the richness of liver and it’s mix of earthy and cherry elements will complement the strong umami of liver and the mild grassy flavor of fava but the Chianti’s typically high tannic acid content at least partially destroys that fava flavor due to how it affects the palate.
That’s the point. He’s not actually a gourmet, he just acts like one to be classy and show how well educated he is. But part of his ritual is following a recipe, replacing the regular meat ingredients with human flesh. At the same time, it must be remembered that the setting is the US. As a US citizen I can confirm that the vast majority of the population (about 96% I would estimate) has no experience or knowledge of fine dining. By US standards, he actually is a real gourmet, simply because he makes it sound fancy.
…
Then again, he might just have different taste buds compared to a normal individual.
I thought the point was those were all things you can’t eat while on certain psychiatric medications?
Precisely. It’s meant to display to the watcher that Lecter hasn’t, or has never taken his medicines.
To be fair, the Chianti is only in the movies. In the books it’s a big Amarone. Presumably the scriptwriter assumed Americans wouldn’t know what that meant.
“The right woman in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world. So, wake up, Miss Brown. Wake up… and smell the… ashes.”
Half-life 3; the dumbing of the combine
Damn it, I JUST played that a few days ago, and now G-Man’s voice haunts my thoughts.
You say that like it’s a Bad Thing™.
“Hello and, again, welcome to the Aperture Science computer-aided enrichment center. We hope your brief detention in the relaxation vault has been a pleasant one. Your specimen has been processed and we are now ready to begin the test proper.”
“Are you still there?”
Damn, now I’m itching to play Portal 1 again!
OK, I’m not gonna lie.
I LOVE this joke. I can just imagine Sarah snickering about it as she set her alarm extra early and practiced her biggest smile in front of the mirror.
I pressed the random button instead of the previous button and wondered if Willis made a whole new chapter about everyone looking for Billie.
And tonight, after my repeated requests for someone OTHER than a bit part, Grav Roulette has given me….
….
… Mandy.
…..
… screw it, I’ll take it, just for tonight. At least I know who she IS.
If she awakened me with that look on her face, I’d be looking for her hands to see which one is holding the large knife she intends to stab me to death with.
I can’t… really put into words why this page just feels so incredibly warm and affectionate? but it does.
I’m going to make a prediction, that Joyce is sleeping in such an awkward position, and part of the reason why Sarah has such a joyful smile is that Joyce is not alone in her bed. I think that that fleshy bit with the purple near the top is Dorothy’s elbow or something. Imagine the freakout that would happen if Joyce wakes up and finds she slept with Dorothy, and even more if Walky is there too.
Of course this is probably just the intense amount of cold medicine I’ve been under for the last three days…
I feel Sarah’s frustration here: She went to all the trouble to get in Joyce’s face and wake her up early only to learn that Joyce was expecting this to happen and was expecting it to get worse! Not only is it a let-down for Sarah but it kind of makes her wonder just what sort of impression she’s given Joyce of her over the months they’ve been living together!
Off panel : Dorothy & Wally still cuddling g with her
That might explain Sarah’s evil smile. She’s waiting until Joyce wakes up enough to realise what’s going on and freak out.
Sarah’s smile! but gosh i really love the colors here and joyce’s pose and yeah this is just a really sweet strip,,, it made me smile
Sarah does a great Joyce. It’s not the triangle grin, but it’s close enough.
We should applaud that, her muscles must have put a lot of work into it considering she usually doesn’t use them.
Unseasonal heat wave + me not having to work tomorrow => me being awake two hours after I am normally in bed + me pushing the “Random” button =>
Joyce: It’ll be almost like you have friends!
Sarah: You joke, but almost having friends is basically the perfect quantity of having friends.
Also this:
The strip after this involves Danny and hats.
Ch-ch-changes!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Faxx7RN9SrY
CALL BACK
The colours in this are so cozy. I really reall hope Joyce is going to visit Jacob’s church, I’ve been hoping for it since he suggested it back in January.
i kind of love joyce waking up in a tangle of bodies
Who are you and what have you done with Sarah?
AND WHAT THE FUCK happened to my gravatar?
EVERYTHING IS UNRAVELING!!!
(There was a recent gravatar shuffle. Everyone who don’t have a custom gravatar got a new one.)
OK, remember when someone changed the last line of all comic strips (including the ones that weren’t meant to be funny) to “Christ, what an asshole!” and ended up making quite a lot of them better?*
NEW VARIANT: From now on, imagine that in every strip, it ends with Becky popping her head in to gleefully shout “EVERYTHING IS UNRAVELING!”, the same way Tobias Boon popped in to say “Toasty” in the early Mortal Kombat games.
*My personal favourite strips to do this with is any DoA strip that ends with the post-coital afterglow of Walky and Dorothy.
Wow. That was educational. My favorit is the elfquest one because of the sheer understatement.
I think it would work even better with Joyce, with the exact expression she used when Sierra told her about multiple hanky pankies.
“I need FACTS. I need EVIDENCE. I need CONTROVERSY. I need TITILATION. I need…”
“A girlfriend.”
“EVERYTHING IS UNRAVELING”
The main reason I imagine it being funnier with Becky popping in with the exact same grin as is in your avatar is because it’s so very much like Becky to pop in like that in almost every situation imaginable.
Including Dina complaining to two guys how they are blocking the only sausage pizza.
Especially including Dina complaining to two guys how they are blocking the only sausage pizza.
Okay… who are you and what did you do with our Sarah?
Now that I think about it…
“The fate of the galaxy rests on your shoulders Joyce! Put some pants on! Never mind, I’ll make you some pants on the way!”
“It’s Sarah and Joyce adventure! Sarah and Joyce episode!”
Which reminds me that I really have to work on that fanfiction where Amber, who no longer can face being a costumed hero, starts training Joyce to govern her rage and become the new Amazi-Girl.
“Make a bad face and Punch Joyce!”
Wouldn’t that make Joyce Jerry, though?
Considering the amount of stuff the world dropped on her she does feel a bit like Jerry… a stronger, tougher Jerry.
Considering that smile in panel 3, joyce isn’t too unjustified in her first guess.
God, those college sunday mornings were glorious. Hmm…heh.
I think I’m far too trusting.
I saw this strip and thought “D’awww, they be bonding!”
And everyone else automatically assumes ulterior motives, right away.
Who is that grav? Should I know this… guy?
I swear, 70% of the gravs I get are Galasso.
Huh. Walky is cool.
Yeah, I might stick with Walky.
ur loss
Carla is a rad goddess
it’s uhhhhhh god what’s her name. “IT’S ME!” it’s her
wait no uh. “IT’S OVER!” god what’s her name
SYDNEY YUS and the line i was thinking of was “ISN’T IT?!”
FOOL!
FWIW, I don’t think that Joyce slept with Walky and Dorothy only because she’s not in her day clothes from yesterday (she was wearing a blue tee in panel 5 of yesterday’s strip and now she’s in a white tee). I could see them falling asleep together after binging on cartoons but I can’t see them actually changing into night wear and then going to sleep together.
At least not yet but who knows what Willis intends, long term? 😮
I’m pretty sure that Willis has explicitly said that we’re not gonna see Joyce (Or Becky or Dina) go that far with anyone over the course of the comic.
Unless I’m imagining the innuendo in here. People can be surprisingly rowdy in the comments, sometimes . . .
I think Ben literally meant sleep. Joyce has lterally napped with Ethan before, which was not mentioned as such but I’d bet was a first for her.
I’m pretty sure that is Joyce’s same shirt from yesterday; if you look closely you can see the stripe. The apparent colour change is a result of the orange tint to today’s strip.
I think Joyce is in the same shirt, she just took off the vest at some point.
Remember that episode of Seinfeld, where George tries to break up with a woman and she just says “No”, because she’d rather work out the conflict like adults?
Turns out, that can actually happen. It doesn’t seem to end quite the same way, though.
Wut. Dafuq?
Well, George ended up dating two people. That part didn’t happen in this situation.
If I woke up to see Sarah hovering over me with a big smile, I’d probably assume some sort of violent death was in the offing too.
Then I might think that it had already happened, because how else would I be in a webcomic?
Huh. Good Twilight Zone episode in the making there…
Maybe you pulled a Gwenpool?
Well that’s certainly different.
Joyce seems remarkably at peace with the idea either way.
Was “strangle me to death” already taken as a strip title?
“It’s time, Joyce.”
… To invade Molossia?
Comic Reactions: … No, what is happening? Up is down, left is right, the sky is full of locusts. Truly it is the end of times. What is that horrifying thing on Sarah’s face? Why would a merciful divine being allow such a thing to be?!?
But seriously, I’m loving the reversal because it shows just how important Joyce has been to Sarah recovering from her fears of caring deeply about another person, especially a roommate to the point where she’s waking up Joyce with all smiles.
And I love that it’s Sarah who is offering her church experience to Joyce, because at the moment Joyce is still a believer, but falling out of the churches she’s been attending because of how hateful they’ve been and losing her faith in the process. It might not work and Joyce may continue to lose her faith more as things progress, but it’s a sweet and important offer to make that shows just how much Sarah understands Joyce and what she’s craving right now.
That last panel: Yeeeeeeah, no, he may have had a good track record of advice to you, but I’d say his “accuracy rating” is in the solid D* category at most.
*Yes, ha ha, I’ve made the joke so you don’t have to.
But one constant remains:
When Joyce wakes Sarah up like that, Sarah wants to kill Joyce.
When Sarah wakes Joyce up like that, Joyce assumes she’ll get killed.
So no matter what the roles are, Joyce will end up strangled to death by Sarah.
And on her gravestone, it will read: “I wish I’d have been the one doing that. -Sal”
This is such a wonderful sistery moment. What I love is that Sarah makes the effort to answer Joyce’s antics in kind. Joyce is unreasonably perky? Two can play that game. THAT is family.
So is big sister wanting to strangle little sister to death.
Definitely.
I thought smothering with a pillow was traditional.
i adore sarah
sleepy boobs tucked up top cause sleepy
Sexy
Very sexy.
Nope. Ulterior motives all the way down. Sarah is genuinely happy because she’s plotting and little sister Joyce is her weapon.
Weaponized Joyce is being sent to a specific church service and is aimed at Jacob. That’s why she need to get up now and not go to a later service. Or visit another church with friends. She will, unwittingly, use her naive church-girl charm on Jacob and save him from the evil clutches of Sarah’s arch-enemy. Excellent!
Except if they do hit it off, Sarah would still be miserable, seeing Jacob with Joyce. A smart, chaste man headed for law school is right in Joyce’s target zone anyway. A little older is great. And Jacob is a solid guy, a gentle man and has few visible flaws.
There might be one issue involving Joyce and Jacob having a relationship… while Joyce’s parents aren’t outwardly racist (and I suspect her dad would be pretty accepting), I could imagine her mother and/or her church group at home would object. (Their treatment of Becky suggests they may have an underlying bigotry.)
I do recognize that Joyce is strong enough to stand up to them (and she had been drifting away from her church for some time.) It would however provide some additional drama (that may actually be interesting from a story-telling perspective.)
Sadly, I think you are right. I had hoped this was only a cute, sisterly joke, but Sarah is priming her weapon.
Yeah, unwittingly…
That was supposed to have a link to http://www.dumbingofage.comhttp://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/03-the-thing-i-was-before/alternative/ where Sarah and Joyce explicitly plan this out between them.
Joyce is down with convincing Jacob to break up with Raidah, but her motivations are different. Her motivation is that she thinks Jacob and Sarah should date. Sarah’s motivation is to piss Raidah off.
Like, I wouldn’t say Joyce’s motivation is *good*, but at least her goal isn’t explicitly to hurt someone. I mean, even her strategy isn’t awful. (Be someone the person you want to date would want to date, and maybe they’ll decide to date you) Like obviously it still involves Raidah getting hurt, but that isn’t her goal. (And statistically unlikely that a relationship from the first few weeks of uni would last forever anyhow)
weirdly cute to me today
I love how briefly the smile stays on Sarah’s face. No, really. Because that first panel is her trying really, really hard to wake Joyce up with a cheerful bright smile, as Joyce has done for her. But it’s already a strain by panel 3 and gone completely as the comment about strangling sinks in.
Keep working hard on that making things better promise, Sarah. It’s wonderful to see.
It also says quite a lot about Willis’ drawing skills that he can make a genuine Joyce-is-eternal-sunshine-smile when she wakes up Sarah and make us all go “Yep, that’s eternal sunshine and happiness, all right”; and then make Sara try the same on Joyce, and we’re all “Yep, Sarah is trying really hard to be sunshine but not quite succeeding at it.”
I mean, not that I have any skills drawing whatsoever, but to figure out that second type of smile is, I imagine, something that you’ll have to be very experienced at to do properly.
I agree, Willis’ facial expressions and body language skills are really impressive to me overall.
I do have drawing skills (sort-of) and I know how to draw expressive people in a scene or in a portrait, but only if I’m using a realistic style and use either live models (ideal) or photo-references. The vast majority of cartoonists don’t use real human references for every scene; there just isn’t time if you want to put out a strip every day. So their style requires honing a sort of intuitive knowledge of the human face and translating it into a symbology that works well. Generally there is a lot of expressive nuance that is “lost in translation,” even in comics I really love–instead of being able to express a broad emotional range, most artists seem to stick to about eight faces (happy face, sad face, surprised face, angry face, disgusted face, smirky face, terrified face, VERY angry face), which is usually fine enough to tell the story.
So for Willis to manage to convey the breadth of emotional expression he does here AND differentiate how similar emotions come across differently on different characters, that’s high quality. That takes a lot of effort and practice. It’s something I’d like to learn at some point, although I’m not nearly there yet.
He has been doing it for ~20 years (more I’m sure before Roomies started.)
There’s been a lot of improvement since then.
I HEARD A GRAVATAR SHUFFLE IS HAPPENING
Maybe finally I’ll get Joyce o w o
Three times’ a charm!^-^
Yeah I am happy with changing contemplative Ruth:3
Hey that is pretty good Sarah, but you need to be hovering closer when Joyce opens her eyes, and have a slightly bigger triangle smile.
Joe is pretty often on the ball, but more often still someone else is on Joe’s b-
::sounds of Sarah strangulation::
AAHH Sarah is waking up Joyce for church AAHH The walls are closing in AAHH What are these things before me AAHH They’re My Own Buttocks
Is that a set of glasses next to Joyce’s head? Is Dorothy in bed next to her?
Congrats, you retrospectively won the internet.
Do unto others…
I have now unlocked 24 of the potential 56 gravatars!
Sorry in advance but when my favorite musician is mentioned…
[Verse 1]
I still don’t know what I was waiting for
And my time was running wild
A million dead-end streets
Every time I thought I’d got it made
It seemed the taste was not so sweet
So I turned myself to face me
But I’ve never caught a glimpse
Of how the others must see the faker
I’m much too fast to take that test
[Chorus]
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strange)
Ch-ch-Changes
Don’t want to be a richer man
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strange)
Ch-ch-Changes
Just gonna have to be a different man
Time may change me
But I can’t trace time
[Verse 2]
I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence and
So the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They’re quite aware of what they’re going through
[Chorus]
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strange)
Ch-ch-Changes
Don’t tell them to grow up and out of it
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
(Turn and face the strange)
Ch-ch-changes
Where’s your shame
You’ve left us up to our necks in it
Time may change me
But you can’t trace time
[Bridge]
Strange fascination, fascinating me
Changes are taking the pace I’m going through
[Chorus]
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strange)
Ch-ch-changes
Oh, look out you rock ‘n rollers
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
(Turn and face the strange)
Ch-ch-changes
Pretty soon now you’re gonna get older
Time may change me
But I can’t trace time
I said that time may change me
But I can’t trace time
this book better be about bowie
… sounds like Joyce needs a win
The Joyce/Sarah dynamic just keeps getting better.
…THE UNIVERSE IS GOING BACKWARDS! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!