Amber’s not upset, she’s just realizing that she has a long night’s work ahead of her adding an “incest” tag to all her WalkyXSal fics, and is wondering if it’d be more efficient to write a script to do it.
Gotta keep things properly curated, y’know? I mean, one time she forgot there were two Rachels on her floor and the RachelXGalassos got mixed up with the OtherRachelXGalassos and it took days to fix.
In fairness, I don’t think she realizes that Danny was with Amber, and she definitely doesn’t recognize Amber as the one who’d stabbed her hand when they were younger.
Yeah, between what you’re pointing out and what others have below, Sal is missing a lot of the context to this situation. I still generally agree with her concerns, but *shrug*.
It kinda makes me wonder why sal doesn’t recognize Amber? Amber looks more like she did back then than Sal did back then. How did Amber even recognize her?
IIRC, she was already experiencing somewhat of a flashback to the robbery when she ran into Sal for the first time, and Sal just happened to be wearing the same outfit as on the day of the robbery on that day.
If the stabbing didn’t go to court, then it’s quite possible Sal didn’t even see Amber’s face in association with it – Sal was facing away from Amber when it happened, and may not have looked around to see her after she was stabbed (her eyes are squeezed shut iirc in the stabbing panel and all panels showing Sal immediately post-stabbing).
You also don’t generally get victim impact statements in juvenile courts, which is how that incident would have been processed. Juvenile courts are significantly different from adult criminal courts.
No, not really fair at all.
Walky and Dorothy are broken up. Walky can do what he wants with any other consenting adult. It is not Sal’s business, nor Dorothy’s, nor anyone else’s.
Sal is being a jerk by suggesting that Walky is not “choked up” about Dorothy.
I will grant that Walky’s defense of “garbage roof” was… not well thought out, but that’s mostly because Sal has no context on the level of depression and self-loathing that Walky has been dealing with. Mocking him for it is only going to reinforce his depression and do nothing to help him cope or recover.
On the other hand, make-outs with Amber might help both to feel like they are worthwhile as human beings by providing pleasure and relief to one another.
Sorry if all of my (admittedly late) comments are in the same vein, but seriously, I don’t think I have ever been more angry and disappointed with Sal. And that includes her time in It’s Walky.
I mean i get what you are saying but i disagree on them being “good” for each other. So far their relationship has kind of hinged on them meeting at a “garbage roof” where they are allowed to hate/feel sorry for themselves. Venting is important but they haven’t really talked about anything important and to be fair just because they ARE making out doesn’t mean it’s a necessarily healthy mechanism for Walky to make out with Amber right now.
Imagine how she’d feel if in the end Walky DIDN’T have feelings for her he just didn’t want to be alone. She could be more invested and walky might not be ready it could devastate how Amber feels.
Both of them are in a bad place right now in their minds so yeah it might be good for them to meet each other but it also means they can just easy help each other continue to spiral into bad behaviors as well. So far it seems Walky is using Amber specifically to ignore his feelings and what’s going on in real life (hence continuously being stuck on his phone talking to her)
In short: Walky needs to confront what’s going on and while i don’t think Sal is completely in the right here, she does have a point, this is Walky’s coping mechanism and it’s probably not very healthy
I think I mostly agree with you, actually. I do agree with Sal that Walky’s probably making a mistake, but she’s going about it all wrong if she’s trying to help him realize that. Walky has a right to try what he’s trying, and even if Sal were certain that it was a bad idea that doesn’t give her a right to be rude to him about it. And the comments she’s making aren’t really going to do anything helpful for any of them, anyway, just get them all more upset.
There’s probably something to be said about Sal and Walky’s history and how they have trouble interacting in a healthy manner, but I’m very much the wrong person to comment on that.
And, I dunno, I guess I’m not great at keeping the entirety of these situations coherent in my mind while I’m posting in this comment section. *Shrug*
I can’t tell what Sal is about in the last panel. Is she annoyed Tharja walky called Amber garbage? Or that it doesn’t matter? Or did she finally connect the dots?
Yeah, WE know what Walky means by “garbage roof”, but Sal does not. To her it just sounds like Walky is saying that kissing Amber doesn’t count and/or that Amber is trashy
Also, even if Sal were able to parse Walky’s gibberish by virtue of having known him a looonnnng time…pretty sure that the concept of garbage roof, as Walky and Amber are using it, is ALSO worth a ‘Wow, bro.’
Perhaps more of a “Wow, bro…you’re in a darker place than I thought you were and maybe need some actual help,” but a ‘Wow, bro’ nonetheless.
I don’t think it’s all that bad as they first laid it out, but it does seem like it could shade over into something nasty pretty easily. As an occasional outlet, it’s good. As a full time habit or worse the basis for a relationship, it’s a problem.
It kinda seems like it is a full-time habit for both of them (or at least Amber for sure) “Garbage Roof” is just an excuse to verbalize it without anyone confronting them over how incredibly unproductive that mentality is.
Sal doesn’t really have much of a high-ground after basically calling amber “rebound-whoever”. Acting shocked at a “It’s not serious” after that seems a bit disingenuous.
I’d say there’s a difference between calling Amber a rebound (which is true) and not knowing her name, or even just saying it wasn’t serious, is different than saying ‘Nothing we do up here matters’ right in front of Amber as the person who was just kissing her. Especially since, rebound and casual or not, it’s still an experience they’ve both had that could affect either.
Maybe the stigma of being a rebound has lessened since I was younger. Back then calling someone a rebound was a pretty nasty slur in a very “Don’t think you’re as good as the rest of us” kind of way.
I think in this situation Sal doesn’t really care about “whoever-this-is”/Amber/rebound at all. So I don’t think Sal was really insulting her purposefully. I think her whole surprise/disgust revolves around Walky’s behavior. Sal has been shown to have strong morality, even though it’s not standard morality.
If she connects the dots, I’d call bullshit. She really doesn’t have a valid reason to think it’d be Amazi-Girl other than her happening to be on top of a roof that people apparently go up on to smoke weed, anyway, etc.
Assuming she’s able to. Before this, Walky’s face only mildly triggered her anxieties. Now that she’s fully associated Walky with her NEMESIS, kissing him is going to feel a LOT different.
I dunno. Going from Dorothy to Amber it’s VERY clear that Walky has a type.
Also that lewd of Amber and Walky banging on garbage roof is closer to being canon than ever before.
I don’t know. Two out of three of those stabbing connections (that were actually the same stabbing) were actually pretty well justified. Girlfriend who stabs would-be rapists and knife-wielding assailants isn’t really something I’d consider a problem.
On the other hand “Girlfriend who stabs disarmed and detained preteens” is something I would. Plus, the whole “Batman minus 90% of the compassion” thing.
At least technically: Sal was 13. There was only the one time.
And Amber was 13 herself, traumatized and goaded by her abusive father. It makes a difference.
If she was currently making a habit of doing so, as your phrase applies, that would be a completely different story.
I mean does it really make a meaningful difference when it comes to assault with a deadly weapon against someone who poses no threat? I kinda need more than that especially considering she’s just kept on assaulting people to combat her feelings of powerlessness.
Even if that were true, that still doesn’t give Sal an obligation to Walky and especially not an obligation to automatically side with him over anyone else.
It’s not entirely true though. We know Walky tuned out Sal when she was upset and wanted to talk, we know he ignored what was going on when her parents were being shitheads (which also means he never stood up for her) and we know he either made light of or got defensive about it when she brought up that her parents treat her well (including saying it was because of her robbing convenience stores).
I was a child when my grandma treated my brother differently. I was about 15 when I noticed. I still feel bad for overlooking it for so long (granted, we didn’t visit often and it was way more subtle) Walky is, what, 17? 18? He just now found out. And he never bothered to keep contact with his sister after she was sent away.
Don’t really see a reason for her to consider him family.
From the experience of someone whose family dynamics growing up had similarities to the Walkertons: There is now way his parents didn’t manipulate him into being an arm of their abuse. Triangulation is what abusive parents do. And we have already seen Walky justify the abuse and favoritism to Sal on screen (I think his exact words were something like, “Well, I never held up a store. Of course they’ll like me better.”)
Do I think Walky did that internationally? No. But all families that exhibit toxic favoritism have a kid that I have seen rope their Golden Child into doling out abuse and the parents themselves do their best to ensure no healthy relationship can form between the kids.
Now, do I as a 30YO grownass aduly blame him for it? No. He was doint the best he could with thesocial/ emotional tools his parents gave him. It wasn’t his fault, he had no way of knowing better.
That said, as my family’s Sal, did I have the perspective and maturity to realize my family’s Golden Child was as much of a victim as me? Hell no. That only happened after I made friends with folks who were their family’s Golden Child and saw the toll it took on them.
Neither Walky nor Sal are wrong based on what their parents gave them to work with. Blame the Walkertons. Cuz they’re shit.
Yeah, I know. I can get not standing up for her, but doing things like tuning her out when she’s upset and wants to talk is shitty and Sal’s got good reason other than him being the favourite to resent him.
If she wants to cut him out of her life, then fine. You don’t get to then judge him and harass him about his girlfriends. You have it one way or the other.
First, she isn’t harassing him. She said commented on the fact he’s gone from being upset about Dorothy to making out with a girl she’s never seen him with before and then said ‘ah well, I guess we all cope differently’. Then she explained what she was doing up here and Walky shot off his mouth about how nothing matters on garbage roof and, not knowing what he’s talking about, she said ‘WOW, bro.’ because, out of context, garbage roof sounds incredible self destructive and kinda rude considering Amber’s right there and he just said nothing they do matters.
Second of all, I said she has reason to resent him and no obligation to him based on the fact they’re family. Especially not an obligation to side with him on everything because they’re family. That’s ridiculous. It’d be ridiculous even if we weren’t talking about the Walkertons but since we are, and since we’re talking about Sal in particular, it’s moreso.
Walky and Dorothy have broken up for reasons that have nothing to do with Amber. I don’t think Walky is in the wrong here.
That being said automatically siding with your relative over their girlfriend/boyfriend is really shitty behavior. Keep in mind Amber is Blain’s relative what if Yuri broke up with him. I think Amber siding with him in that case would be grounds for Yuri to cut Amber out of her half brother’s life. What about Joe is he just supposed to be cool with his dad cheating on his girlfriends. What about middle name Ryan’s parents were they doing the right thing trying to punish Amber for defending herself and her friends.
There’s no indication of Sal ever even being in a serious relationship, let alone hooking up with a random person less than a day after said serious relationship ended.
I took it less as Sal being worried about Dorothy and more Sal being worried about Walky’s behavior. Though I can’t quite explain why I read “Walky is rebounding” as behavior Sal would be worried about.
Before the semester started, the two of them hadn’t talked since she got sent to boarding school. Sal had ONE person she trusted and could be at all vulnerable with, and that was Marcie
Her and Walky have had to rebuild their relationship almost from scratch
I know this is about Walky, but I’m still floored that the Walkertons were just…totally cool apparently with just letting a 13 year old stay in Tennessee year round even when school was out. Like, where was she staying during summer? Were kids sent there as an alternative to juvie allowed (or required) to stay? Did the school run a summer program? Did she stay with Marcie? Or did she crash with some of the less reliable ‘friends-for-lack-of-a-better-word’ she apparently had (since she says she and Marcie both had a habit of picking ‘the worst damn people’ aside from each other, I’m wondering if she stayed with a not so great ex or two when she got older). Just…where the hell were the Walkertons letting Sal live during summer and easter and other Catholic school’s out days?
Looking back on it, Walky says they haven’t talked ‘much’ in five years, not at all, so she may at least have come back for holidays occasionally… but his first question is ‘How was Tennessee?’ and she clearly therefore wasn’t living with him the summer after graduation. I mean, maybe that was a choice of hers. Maybe she stayed with Marcie.
But that still paints a pretty bleak picture, so I reiterate: what the FUCK, Walkertons Senior.
I don’t think she came home – Walky’s also said on the in-character twitters Willis made that he hasn’t seen her at all and that he’s ‘kept tabs’ on her as much as Billie has. I don’t think she came home, though there were probably things like phone calls occasionally (which went probably about as far as ‘hi, smalltalk, bye’).
Yeah, it’s hard to blame 13 year old Walky much for that though if their parents cut her off so thoroughly. If she’s not brought back for holidays, I can’t really expect them to even let him know how to contact her.
I don’t blame Walky for it but I can also see how Sal might be resentful, especially since Walky apparently did know how to contact her (at the very least, he knew her school’s address and he knows how to write – although him making a crack about ‘the rising cost of postage’ being why he didn’t contact her makes me think it was less ‘I couldn’t’ and more ‘I didn’t care too’).
Having grown up in a family with the Golden Child/Scapegoat dichotomy – I think it’s less “didn’t care to” and more “was discouraged from it subtly or explicitly on the grounds that Sal is a bad influence.”
Most probably definitely terrible ones, because I think if Sal had a positive authority figure in her life she wouldn’t be so down on all of them. (Which also doesn’t fill me with hope for Marcie’s parents – so far my guess is ‘well meaning but unhelpful’).
Just…who the FUCK lets a thirteen year old girl live, quite possibly in a different state, with someone else all summer while not speaking to her unless its for a lecture of the ‘you’re a failure’ variety and not seeing her for FIVE YEARS?
Seriously, in my world, it is ALWAYS Fuck the Walkerton Parents O’Clock. They are just…such shit.
They never had a relationship. It wasn’t even a friends with benefits thing, because they weren’t friends. Actually, she literally said she hates him once.
Not exactly comparable to a breakup..
On the other hand, consider how broken up Walky was before the texting. When Sal saw him last, earlier today. She has reason to think Walky jumping into a new relationship the day after a breakup may not be the best idea and that he’s not over Dorothy.
Even now I’m pretty sure he’s not over Dorothy yet. Feelings don’t just go away immediately like that, and he was feeling conflicted about dating right after the breakup immediately pre-kiss.
Eh Walky would be far from the first fictional character to move from a broken relationship to a friend of the appropriate gender to their sexuality. It sometimes works out well.
Doesn’t make it a good idea when we the readers know he still has reservations. I would be a lot more willing to judge Sal if we didn’t already know she had a point.
I’m not saying I can’t see it working out, I just think it needed a little time before it did. Especially with as many outside complications as are present here.
Sure, Sal can think that and has plenty of reason to, but the way she’s voicing her thoughts doesn’t really seem as though she’s concerned but more.. judgmental? I mean, it is a tricky situation, walking in on your brother macking on some girl right after he was dumped, but that’s still not really any of her business to comment on, at least the way she’s doing it.
At the very least, it’d be something she should’ve taken Walky to the side to talk about, not right in front of Amber.
Funny. I always can rely on my family being honest with me when I’m about to do something dumb. It’s how they help me to avoid mistakes.
Guess they define support differently than you. And I’m glad they do.
“Your enemies will give you information your friends are keeping from you.”
I may not have that quote quite 100% correct (and I don’t remember where I got it from, so); but it’s true. Enemies will happily point out all your flaws that everyone (except you, often) is aware of, but your friends won’t tell you about so as to spare your feelings, etc.
Don’t listen to your enemies when they tell you how useless they are. But when they say things like, “Jesus, are you ever on time?!” that propensity for lateness is a helpful thing to know about yourself. Hard to factor for it if you aren’t consciously aware of it, eh.
I feel like siblings close in age have special judgement rights. And if i was sal id be judging the hell outta walky rn.
Then again my only sibling is 14 years my senior so whst do i know
I disagree with that, but that’s because my own siblings have fairly intolerant and shitty opinions, which reflects in what they’re judgmental towards. So no, they don’t get shit.
And considering that Sal and Walky aren’t even close but more.. they just happen to be related, I’d say even more so.
I wonder why Sal reacts so badly here. Though there might be a note of concern in the seconds panel, Sal’s angry about something from the start and i wonder what it is. Even if she liked and respected Dorothy immensely and thought she was good for Walky (and we didn’t get any indication she did while they were together) it wouldn’t make going for him this way reasonable and it’s totally out of style for Sal.
So what is going on in her head?
I’m wondering if it is about Jason, his getting fired, and Walky’s unknowing dig (that same day I think) about how she shoulda slept with him for better grades instead of studying.
Thank you, Czigot.
I didn’t have time to post last night, but Sal’s attitude here really pisses me off. Walky and Amber are adults. There is no moral time limit after a breakup – if the relationship is over, it’s over. One can argue about the health of rebounds, but that is entirely different and not at all what Sal is doing. She isn’t showing concern for Walky’s state of mind, which might be justified, but instead is mocking his level of investment in Dorothy. We’ve seen him mope and mourn his time with Dorothy – if he needs to make out (or more) with another consenting adult as part of moving on, then fine. Sal can piss off, and I hope Walky tells her so.
AHAHAHAHAHA. So what is that supposed to mean – that they’re old enough to know what they’re doing and make smart, informed, responsible choices?
This entire comic is an extended disproof of that assertion.
And not just the 18-year-old “adults” ; as we’ve seen in many cases, even much older people, including their parents, can be utter shit.
Maybe not, but these are supposed to be *people*, and if you, as a *person* come across this after hearing someone you care about has just gone through a breakup, your first reaction is probably not going to be an elaborate and well-thought-out one, it’s going to be more of a “what the hell happened???”
… I also don’t think Sal is the one who needs to be called out here, if either of them do?
I think Sal can be concerned and judgemental, TBH- Sal’s the hero Walky deserves, but really, really not the one he Needs right now. (Everyone else on this roof is basically batman and somehow he’s still in danger)
I’d call out Sal for doing something potentially embarrassing and kinda rude; but I wouldn’t go after her for sharing her opinion in general, either. In Smarting of Age, she probs should’ve just talked to the dude later when he wasn’t in the middle of something
Yeah, Sal’s judgment is also clearly mixed (especially in the last panel) with some ‘what the fuck is going on here’ thing. She has no idea this was a regular hangout thing, or that Walky’s been looking up this afternoon since they started texting. As far as she knows, this is WEIRD.
Coping mechanisms allow you to function while you are not ready to deal with the result of something.
They only start to be unhealthy if you stay there instead of using them as a band-aid.
Not for nothing, but the thing about “common knowledge” is that it isn’t always right. Most recent studies have found that rebounds can, in fact, be healthy, because they improve your self-esteem, a lack of which is often the biggest danger of a major breakup.
Additionally, their success rate is about on par with relationships started without that excess baggage. Most relationships fail, of course, so it’s easy for confirmation bias to assert itself with any “this is bad” notion about them, but they aren’t really any worse.
That isn’t to say that a relationship started on the notion that “we are bad people so who gives a shit” is starting on very solid ground, just saying that it’s proximity to Walky’s previous relationship isn’t likely to make it better or worse and may well be better for Walky regardless.
I mean yeah rebounds are fine but ~24 hours after getting dumped by the first person you were ever in love with, without even giving yourself a chance to process what happened? Thats just not healthy
No, Sal is not concerned – nothing about her demeanor suggests that. She is mocking him and implying that he was not invested in his relationship with Dorothy.
Sal is being a complete jerk here. Personally, I hope Walky gives her a piece of his mind and then goes off somewhere private with Amber (assuming she’s still interested after all this).
Wow, bro……that’s a really weak excuse for rebounding so soon after a recent breakup. Now if you and this random girl who don’t matter could leave I got Amazi-Girl searchin ta do!”
I don’t see any problem with his rebounding. What is the proper time to find a new girlfriend after you get dumped by the old one because she said you’re impediment to her studies? I have no problem with the answer, “immediately.”
It wasn’t really a critique on Walky’s behavior as much as I was trying to be funny. Mostly based on Sal not knowing Amber or “whoever” is the Amazi-Girl she’s looking for. Honestly Walky rebounding so quickly is maybe slightly scummy but it’s in no way a sin or wrong. Sal’s probably the last person who should be judging him, but they are siblings and that’s what siblings do. It more calls into question how much Walky actually valued his relationship with Dorothy to have moved on so soon, especially (and keep in mind I’m only assuming this based on the context of his reaction) he seems a bit defensive by validating his actions under the pretense of being on “garbage roof” instead of just owning up to it.
Eh, as a somewhat familiar person with emotional baggage from being dumped, immediate hookups after are not uncommon–including with 1. Exes 2. Friends. There’s a strong pressure to feel like it wasn’t because you belong on garbage roof but because your dumper sucks.
Now that’s not usually a good reason but self-esteem is funny that way.
Facing pain is sometimes doubling down on powering through it. Facing pain is sometimes also, “It’s not me, it’s her.” Raidah should have followed her adcice that if Jacob is the kind of girl to dump her for Joyce she needs a better boyfriend.
“It more calls into question how much Walky actually valued his relationship with Dorothy to have moved on so soon”
No, it doesn’t. He still clearly values Dorothy and his (former) relationship with her, but that doesn’t mean he can’t still seek comfort from someone else and even try. And just kissing someone else doesn’t mean diddly shit about moving on lmao There’s also absolutely nothing scummy about it, considering he was the one that was dumpedtwice. Unless Dorothy’s also scummy for dating Walky so quickly after Danny. (She’s not, before anyone says anything.)
Sal is being judgmental and shame-y, without full knowledge of the situation. And if she was concerned about Walky’s emotional state and any poor decisions he’s making, she could voice them to him privately instead of right in front of Amber, who she’s not even pretending to have any kind of consideration for.
This is a lot quicker than Dorothy moving on after Danny. That was a full week, this is the next day. And in terms of “moving on”, Dorothy had actually started that process well before breaking up with Danny – which has its own issues, I’ll admit.
My point was that it’s not scummy for Walky to have done this. Walky was dumped twice, the first time being at least a week if not more ago, and while showing consideration for Dorothy’s feelings is nice, he also doesn’t have an obligation to do so. Especially given all the context leading up to this. If Walky had just kissed Amber as the first girl he’s seen after he was dumped? Sure, that’s a little skeevy. But in comic, there was build up to it, as Walky and Amber met on the roof for a bit at that point.
And since you missed it: And just kissing someone else doesn’t mean diddly shit about moving on lmao
Walky’s not moved on yet, but is seeking a quick comfort.
When was Walky dumped a week ago?
They went on pause 2 days ago. Broke the pause the next day by sleeping together, then broke up for good a little after that. This is the evening of the next day.
Okay, so I miscounted and thought that it had been at least four or five days in comic since they broke up and not three. Walky and Dorothy originally hooked up within four days of knowing each other. But I’m going to be honest, I really don’t find that much difference between 2 or 3 days and 4 or 5 days if we’re talking about a short recovery time.
My whole point this entire time is that Walky is not ‘moving on’ and kissing someone else doesn’t mean shit towards ‘moving on’, and the timing of it being so tight to him being dumped doesn’t say anything about how Walky valued Dorothy and his relationship, but more about his emotional state as he is clearly going for comfort more than starting a whole brand new relationship. I’m not saying anything about whether it’s healthy, or if Walky and Amber are good for each other, literally all I’ve been saying from the start is just because Walky kissed Amber back, it doesn’t diminish his past relationship with Dorothy in any way.
Oh, definitely. And Sal’s hearing it without the context of the Garbage Roof concept he and Amber have been talking about, so it likely sounds even worse.
You’re aware that emotions exist, right? Even after a breakup? They are messy and inconvenient and Walky was clearly miserable and hurting and not ready to be around Dorothy this morning. Walky was talking about feeling bad about dating so soon after the breakup like, one minute ago in-striptime. (Even if you think he shouldn’t have that hang up, clearly he DOES, and that’s not going to go away immediately either.) Sal has every reason to question whether or not Walky’s kissing a new person as a coping mechanism. The last time she saw him, he was clearly hurting, and that was maybe twelve hours ago, tops. Twelve hours ago is not enough time to purge all feelings of connection to a human being you cared about from your body. Twelve hours ago is not enough time to get over the sadness of your first major relationship ending and jump straight into a new one with no reservations. Relationship mourning periods exist because, whether you like their existence or not, no matter how the relationship ended you probably need a little time to process the feelings. And especially in a case where the breakup was in spite of the fact they both clearly still had feelings for each other. Dorothy’s move was short-sighted and probably a terrible idea, but that doesn’t make all the feelings Walky had for her go away.
I am actually stating that such hookups are a healthy and common coping mechanism because if you feel like you’ve had your heart ripped out, the comfort of a friend or lover can be quite healthy. Mourning a relationship with someone who has stomped on you isn’t actually the best way to do it and frankly could very well be worse.
Take note that Walky and Amber were friends before too. There will be bumps because of it (as we see) but Sal should be supporting her brother and not his brutal ex.
Some people really hate Dorothy, and will rate everything she does wrong as 11/10 and everything she does right as non-existent. But aside from some awkward not knowing how to interact, I think it is fair to say having sex after breaking up was not good for either of them.
I’ve seen emotionally devastating breakups. As breakups go that was pretty damn mild. It hurt because he still loved her. Still loves her. (And she still loves him, for that matter.)
Other than that, I’m not sure what was bad about the breakup method.
That was one of the gentlest breakups I’ve ever seen or heard; it can hardly get less “brutal” than that one. If your problem was that she broke up with him because she didn’t have time for him *and* her studies, note that she tried to remove other activities before even considering taking a pause from Walky (see distancing herself from the Amazi-Girl case), and only ultimately did so-with Walky’s encouragement, no less- in the midst of an obvious mental breakdown. Considering they clearly still have strong feelings for each other, they could still very plausibly unpause their relationship in the nearish future.
I’ll also note that Walky himself thought kissing/dating Amber happened too soon, that it would make him a terrible person, but quickly chose to ignore it. He chose to ignore his grades for weeks, too, even though it clearly bothered him. This is *not* him confronting his pain; this is him *running* from it at a sprint, while risking hurting several others along with him.
This seems to have gone down a Dorothy-centric cul de sac. The point is that Walky is feeling very hurt right now due the breakup (no matter how it rates on a scale). Dorothy is likely feeling it too. However, Sal is Walky’s brother. She should be supporting him, not attacking him.
Also, I completely agree that hookups like this can be an important part of the coping mechanism. I had a few of those myself when I was Walky’s age, and they helped.
Garbage Roof is about two people in pain helping to soothe one another’s pain. I’m not expecting anything long term out of this other than two humans soothing one another’s wounds and helping one another to heal (and maybe to stop thinking that they are garbage).
First Problem, he’s making up some dumb “what happens in Vegas”-excuse. Second, it could be really unfair to Amber because the rebound often gets hurt if he or she cares to much about the relationship. It’s based on the other one not wanting to confront the own pain, that’s not really a stable basis.
And it could make the breakup a whole lot less amicable. Which could get ugly, since they have classes together.
so, I might not be an intelligent font of breakup knowledge (I am in fact, a font of Comic Sans), but I still have some thoughts:
1. Walky isn’t responsible for Dorothy’s emotions anymore; and modifying his own behavior to make her happy (outside of certain boundaries, of course) isn’t really morally compulsory. It’s admirable to take other’s comfort into account, but sometimes to create space and be your own person, you need to do that second thing.
2. Rebounding with Amber isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Amb’s aware of Walky’s situation with the breakup and such (although Sal might presume otherwise) and she’s clearly attracted to and willing to make out with him, regardless of this, so no false expectations are in play as in the usual rebound tropes. She’s a consenting adult, and isn’t- unless there are factors we don’t know about like Walky being an Agent of Galasso here to destroy her- she’s not being wronged; she’s not *doing* wrong either.
3. as Sal pointed out, everyone has coping mechanisms. Sometimes, even a one-night stand is fine. Walky did not explain his coping mechanism… articulately…. but still. This is really a situation where, TBH, everyone in the room is (mostly) an adult, and frankly Sal’s in a position to judge but shouldn’t. the worst parts of the Walky-Amber dynamic aren’t really present, here, per say. Just, um, their tongues.
Not that this matters, anyways, because Amber is about to explode.
I don’t do rebounds as a principle. I think they are a dumb idea. They are a way to find an easy way out of the pain. Which kind of works, but you never really deal with it. that can cause a whole lot of difficulties. And it’s unfair for the rebound, unless you tell him from the start what he is. A diversion from the one you really care about.
I never really understood that self-esteem thing. I mean, there’s always someone who’d date you but that doesn’t change the fact that the one you care about has chosen to go on without you.
It was. They both still cared for another. No hatred, no big bang. It got a bit bad later, but no breakup without feeling bad, so that’s kind of part of any breakup. It was amicable as breakups can be.
Well, my last “rebound” has lasted over a decade. My then-partner and I had ongoing problems that kept getting worse. I finally told him he had until the end of the semester to find another place to live. I couldn’t afford the rent on my own, so I asked a friend of mine if he wanted to move in for a little while (he lived in a dorm and hated it – I had an off-campus apartment.)
A few days after my friend moved in we hooked up. We’re still together today, having gone through three moves and (to date) four cats.
Granted, the break-up with my ex had been coming for a long time. And my friend and I pretty obviously had the potential to be more than platonic. My ex was seriously angry that I was moving someone else in so soon after he left. I wrote him an *incredibly* self-righteous note (thinking about it now makes me cringe) saying that I don’t do rebounds and wouldn’t be ready to be with anyone else for a long time.
Then, a few days later… *blush*
Of course that is a slightly longer timeline than Walky and Amber and I wouldn’t indiscriminately recommend rebound relationships. But they aren’t always a bad thing or wrong.
@Bathymetheus: I think I explained it badly. We’ve had four cats, three of which are still alive and healthy. As follows:
1.) Lenore-Kitteh. She was my current partner’s cat before he met me and he brought her to “visit” when it became clear that he wasn’t moving back into the dorms. Lenore was a tiny black cat with green eyes and died not too long ago of kidney failure. We did what we could for her, but the vet said it was basically hospice care. She was somewhere between 17 and 20 years old. (She was adopted – my partner’s neighbours owned a show-quality blue-point Siamese and a tomcat jumped the fence one night. They gave the litter away to people in the neighbourhood.)
2.) Annabel Lee-Kitteh. My mom gave her to us when we moved to NYC years ago. Since she came from a shelter, we don’t know exactly how old she is, but she has to be at least about 13. Since she is getting older, she has bad teeth, and was losing weight until we FINALLY realized the problem was that she couldn’t chew the dry food anymore. Now we’re feeding her wet food and she is gaining weight. She is in fine health otherwise. Annabel is a black kitteh with green/yellow eyes and probably has apple-head Siamese somewhere in her family tree. (Siamese cats, when mixed with other breeds, are likely to produce black cats.)
3.) Ligeia-Kitteh. (At this point you may notice a theme with the names). She was a rescue cat that I picked up off the street in front of our apartment building. She is a friendly tuxedo cat; she was in danger of being run over by a car and when I called to her, she came running over and tried to climb up my leg. I was positive that she belonged to someone and had gotten out since she was so affectionate and so clean, but when I asked around everyone said she was a stray. So of COURSE I couldn’t just dump her back in the street…again, we’re not totally sure how old she is, but she has to be pushing 10. She unfortunately has cataracts and has trouble seeing (we’ve taken her to the vet and there isn’t much to be done), but she’s in good shape otherwise. We call her the “ice cream kitteh” because she has the SOFTEST creamy white fur on her tummy and feets. 🙂
4.) Berenice-Kitteh. She is a black Maine Coon cat with yellow eyes and can’t be more than 3 or 4 years old. My mom got her for us as a holiday present when she found out that my partner always wanted a huge fluffy Maine Coon cat. However, Berenice is TINY for a Maine Coon – Ligeia is larger than she is! However, Berenice is quite fluffy and still very kitteny. She is a hunter and can catch flies out of the air, of which I strongly approve.
For the record – I am actually pretty sure we had eagles around my old apartment where I lived with my ex. The apartment building was on the banks of the Merrimac River (this was in Massachusetts) and all kinds of wildlife used to come down the river. (We also had HORRIBLE SCARY RIVER SPIDERS that used to infest our windows and the apartment porch – we had to keep a can of Raid outside so as not to be attacked by spiders on the way in and could never open our windows during the summer.) But I saw all kinds of birds – including what I still think was an enormous gray goose – near the river. One day I almost ran my car off the road on the way to work because I was hanging out the window watching what I’m almost positive was a golden eagle, following the river downstream. 🙂
No ones saying its not common dude. Yea it happens a lot, and it can cause more pain. I know ive broken a couple hearts because of my rebounds in my attempts to move on after my first big breakup. And with the context we have for these two, we know it wont be healthy
Ooooh, mention of coping mechanisms right here and now, ow.
Yep, Amber definitely did not know. This is gonna hurt.
At least Sal is worried about Garbage Roof’s self-destructive and self-loathing implications, it seems? Or Walky was genuinely gonna be in on ‘yeah we can kiss on Garbage Roof but not date for real yet’, and the last thing Amber needs is more compartmentalization. Plus an Amber is AG reveal seems potentially imminent, and Amber’s obvious impending breakdown might just prompt her opening up after they wonder why she’s freaking out so badly? I can hope?
Dammit, I want SOMETHING good to come of this and not just Amber losing a positive relationship and getting her and Walky in huge trouble if a secret ever comes out!
As one not (yet) on Patreon, my gut response is: don’t.
What’s in the public sphere (i.e., Dumblr of Age and Willis’s twitter) is essentially non-spoilery.
What’s on the non-public parts of Patreon is pretty much by-definition spoilery. And if it’s something that Willis himself posted there and not anywhere else, one has to assume that was intentional.
Over time — I am specifically thinking of Willis’s Patreon-only comments about Faz and Amber’s possible kinship — over time, if they leak, no big deal. But for recent events, perhaps it would be best to respect the reason that the patron-only part of Patreon exists.
I agree that it should probably be kept to Patreon, but in this case it’s not spoiler-y; the strip in question is one that would have been in the storyline months ago, had Willis chosen to use it. Instead, he decided against it for various reasons he detailed.
But I do think it’s best to let Patreon content be Patreon content, as that’s a way to motivate people to pay for it and support Willis.
If those are the Patreon-only comments I think they were, they mostly leaked because there was old public commentary that they contradicted – that he’d apparently forgotten he’d made and that we were relying on.
yeah, we know what he means, but what he actually *said*… yeah, I guess from sal’s POV a “wow” is quite appropriate. it sounds like he’s either saying amber doesn’t matter, or that anything bad can be excused by “it’s garbage roof”.
I’m still annoyed that she’s shaming him for a rebound kiss.
Not only was he the dumpee, but he was dumped in an almost damningly impersonal way. Like “you’re a distraction” is plausible but that’s still pretty harsh. It can make you feel pretty worthless.
Just clarifying, this is cruel in this instance. This is not cruel when, say, one of your friends is like ‘I think we need to take our friendship to the next level,’ because you being friendly with him made him think he had a chance and blame you for his wanting you. (rearrange/change genders as necessary)
She was actually criticizing herself there. Not “I was fooling you into thinking this could be real”, but setting limits “just-for-fun” and then breaking them by falling in love with him and expecting him to keep up. Or declaring the pause then dragging him into bed.
I’m pretty sure Walky didn’t react to this the way you are.
It never was. The rules forbid to support each other, which is the definition of unhealthy.
Not to mention the manipulate-grades-thing which could get them both thrown out.
It’s like the seen in Starship Troopers with Casper Van Dyne getting dumped by Denise Richards so he hooks up with Dinah Meyers instead. Only with less Bugs and the better match for the hero dying.
Yes, that would be the better match. I admit that’s because I love Dinah Meyer in Johnny Mnemonic, Birds of Prey, and yes Starship Troopers. 🙂 Also, adoring grunt Marine is better than starship girl who doesn’t really care about you.
OH NO OHNOOHNONONONO I DIDN’T WANT IT BUT SOMEHOW THIS IS WORSE THAN AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
I wonder how much of Amber’s face in panels 3 and 4 is her trying to process that Sal is Walky’s sister, and how much of it is related to thinking about Walky being the second guy she has kissed after they broke up with Dorothy. Neither one is particularly pleasant, but I can’t tell which is worse or what those expressions say.
I find it funny that Amber probably doesn’t even acknowledge Dorothy’s existence despite their many shared issues. She’s just some random girl to her, unlike Becky’s seething hate of her future political rival.
You know Amber and Dorothy have talked before right? And Dorothy was there when Amber cut up Ryan that night? I sincerely doubt that Amber suddenly stopped acknowledging Dotty’s existence. It is more likely she is worried about Sal, as Axel pointed out but she has spoken with Dorothy about a great deal. Or rather Amazi-Girl and she both have.
Since the stabbing, it has been Dorothy who has avoided meeting Amber because Dorothy couldn’t process the Rage she saw (and she had put AG on a rather high pedestal before).
Dorothy is the half-bath roommate who knows Amber is AG (though I’m not sure where this knowledge ended up given Amber/AGs increased compartmentalizations).
I mean, walky just mentioned that he had only just broken up with Dorothy like, three strips ago? So I don’t she’s suddenly concerned by that now that Sal’s there.
Either one works, and fair enough I forgot that Walky told her about Dorothy. And I didn’t connect whether she even thought it was Dotty. Granted she may have known that Walky was dating Dotty, they did talk before Dorothy went near full shut in to focus on school.
Not to themselves, they aren’t. The strip thus far, while not calling it a DID situation in so many words, has very much been pointing to Amber and AG as separate individuals (even down to the tagging)
To be fair we have one single instance where Amber was under a lot of pressure and didn’t recall patrolling as Amazigirl which was something she was doing every night and could pretty much do on automatic. Since then, as far as we know, Amber has pretty much given up the costume, at least temporarily and we haven’t seen Amazigirl at all. None of this talk about alters not sharing memories is actually supported. It is a popular theory in the comment section.
And could be right.
We’ve also seen AG and Amber arguing the day Ryan got stabbed, so it looked like they were splitting further before that too. So regardless of if that was a one time thing, their split is very much getting worse (they never used to argue before).
I consider it mostly emotional compartmentalization. She has been processing her relationship with Sal as Amazi-Girl, hiding behind the mask, but not really as Amber. Amber’s emotions are always a lot more raw. As witness what Amber wound up doing to Ryan.
Well, we’ve actually seen the costume since then – Amber went out wearing it with the intent of smearing Amazi-Girl’s name. Though she wasn’t actually successful.
It’s pretty clear, given the emphasis that scene was given that Amber discovering Amazi-Girl had been out wasn’t just “Oh yeah, the dognapper last night. I’m more tired than I thought. Didn’t remember that for a moment.”
I’m assuming Amazi-Girl has been out and about and that we just haven’t seen it since Amber doesn’t know about it.
Friendly reminder, high tension moments like these are worth a next page early look on Patreon…..look I think I joined some sort of cult and they’re telling me to bring more people in okay?
There are interesting points being made here, yet it still seems to me that Sal is being a judgemental buzzkill rather than a concerned sibling. (Walky doesn’t even get a “Garbage roof? What the eff are you talking about bro?”) I know Sal has a sympathetic backstory, but I’d like to point out she doesn’t show any better judgement than any of the other characters in this strip. She was the one who convinced everyone that Joyce shouldn’t go to the police after Ryan attacked her and that they should all just go to the beach instead. She was the one who seduced Jason (eventually costing him his job) and then expected to be given better grades afterwards. (Please note I am not excusing Jason’s behavior. I am simply saying that (1) the hookup was originally Sal’s idea and (2) there is evidence she did it for reasons other than a quick hatefuck.)
Her choices reflect her beliefs: that ‘the system’ is corrupt. She doesn’t believe in the police being helpful, and she thinks she can exploit her banging Jason for better grades.
I think she believes in surviving on your own and helping yourself.
That’s an explanation, even if it’s not an excuse. Her actions make sense for her.
And Joyce decided to not report Ryan, because she didn’t want to be take out of school, and because she didn’t want to deal with the situation. She had both opinions, Sal’s and Sarah’s…? I think? Someone who said that they should report this to prevent Ryan from targeting other girls.
Didn’t Sal explicitly state that she did it to get a better grade? And Jason slept with her anyway, knowing he wasn’t going to adjust her grade for her.
So I know it’s only been less than a couple days comic time since the breakup but like that judgemental tone from Sal is super unnecessary IMO. Him kissing another person after his girlfriend broke up with him doesn’t mean he’s not hurt or upset or sad about the breakup anymore. People are complicated and allowed to feel more than one thing in short succession after all. Plus he’s not professing his undying love and affection for Amber, they kissed. Mayhaps not the healthiest coping mechanism but like nobody can really blame or judge him for it.
Hey, so it’s time for me to give what nobody asked for: my two-bit psych evaluation, with all the authority that occasional telenovelas, a long-forgotten Psych 101 course, and the video game Xenogears can give!
So, we’ve all figured out by now that Amber suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder, as can be evidenced by the specific tags identifying her as two different people, as well as Amber’s not remembering of Amazi-Girl’s actions. Until very recently, I thought she only had two personalities; Amber and Amazi-Girl – however, thanks to the flashbacks with Mike, I think that there’s really four.
Amber -> What the public sees; nerdy girl who plays way too many video games and can code in her sleep. Essentially, the person she is who acts as if nothing terrible had essentially happened to her.
Potato -> The beaten-down, abused, tearful, meek self she had before the hold-up. The person who couldn’t bear to speak loudly or stand up for herself, and only ever had one friend.
O’Malley -> The red-background rage-demon who takes every ounce of anger and frustration and uses it to lash out at everything that it can touch. Created when stresses got way too much for ‘Potato’ and every repressed emotion was too much to hold down.
Amazi-Girl -> Likely created significantly after O’Malley, using the model of the superhero comics that she reads regularly, and possibly with Mike and Ethan’s help. Most likely, Amber had severe anger issues following the attack and needed some way to channel the rage she could no longer contain into a more healthy outlet.
The reason I bring this up is because this strip seems really important due to the re-emergence of the ‘potato’ persona. Yes, this has typically happened every time that Amber sees Sal – these feelings seem to be successfully repressed otherwise – but this is significant because this is the first time after the attack with Ryan, where she not only attacked someone to within an inch of his life, but did so in compromising the Amber persona. Amber’s actions since have been pretty strongly set towards trying to destroy Amazi-Girl and instead just meld the Amber/O’Malley persona into a single, chaotic, destructive, devil-may-care persona.
But Potato is still there. That little kid who was so scared all through her childhood, who sees Sal and can only think about how absolutely terrified she is. And so Amber’s attempts at just trying to accept herself for what she is just isn’t going to work, because not only is Amazi-Girl less artificial than she thinks, she also has this fear and vulnerability within her that isn’t going to go away
I think you’re over thinking this. Dissociative disorders don’t work like in comics, where a character gets split into separate people, each representing one aspect of a single personality. A single alter can be just as complex and multifaceted as anyone else’s personality.
“Potato” isn’t a separate alter. It’s just that Amber’s social anxiety has gotten more manageable as she’s gotten older. This also isn’t the first time since the rally that Sal being nearby has triggered Amber’s panic attacks. There was also the time in the lobby when she was in her privacy chair fort and Sal came to take one of the chairs, and then again after they’d been playing Mario Kart, and Amber had to use ventriloquism to lure Sal away.
“O’Malley” also isn’t an alter. Those red panels happen when Amber loses control of her rage to the point where remembering that loss of control will be scary for her.
There’s also the fact that to my knowledge, alters don’t just appear from nothing. I’m far from an expert, but my understanding is that there usually is some traumatic event that causes the initial dissociation, which for Amber, was the robbery.
Amazi-Girl doesn’t have Amber’s anxiety or her rage (at least not to the same degree) because that’s the entire point of her. Her brain tried to just break off those parts of her so she could escape her feelings of being weak and helpless, as well as scary and uncontrollable
I mean, it’s not IMPOSSIBLE that she has more alters, but I don’t think it’s likely.
You know, FC, you’re probably right- after all, it’s only Amazi-Girl who Amber recognizes as an alter- but I have a hard time with that, as Amazi-Girl seems to be someone who appeared far later than the robbery. I’ll just keep in mind that I don’t know too much about these things and just see what Willis writes next.
She actually has 24 alters, but only 4 of them get real screen time, and 4 get shown in suspiciously-cinematic Webcam diaries. The other 16 are never mentioned outside of saying they exist once, which makes the audience wonder why they were ever included in the first place.
It looks me that Sal still not sure if she’s appalled or impressed!
Meanwhile, Amber is experiencing the very essence of cognitive dissonance as she realises that, yes, Walky is cute and, yes, she should have seen the family resemblance to Sal almost immediately! Possibly, she’s also wondering why Sal wants to see Amazi-Girl.
Oh, She really hadn’t made that connection before, huh?
Had Sal not seen Amber before, or does she not remember?
Wait, Danny had just made the connection too! That whole “oh that makes sense” about Walk/Sal feelings, even though… it shouldn’t matter because he’s bi. But still.
And Second of Danny’s exes to end up with Walky. And the whole business with Sal and Amber’s childhood…
How the hell hasn’t this devolved into fisty cuffs yet? I have a feeling that’s going to happen.
Oh man all these little drama circles are starting to intertwine more and more. It’s multiple different love triangles from various worlds connecting and interacting with each other. I’m surprised the school stands.
Interesting how Danny is in Sal’s world peripherals (or more) a lot, but one interaction I don’t remember seeing a lot of if at all: Ruth and Danny.
Not shipping. I want Billie and Ruth to find something health and be able to ship them forever. Just, curious. As to if they’ve interacted/to the extent of which. If at all.
One interesting dynamic to consider – Sal and Amazigirl have somewhat become friends. Friends-ish. Sort of. But Sal and Amber have yet to resolve anything. So… does it devolve into a fistfight? Does Amber panic and run? Does she… turn into Amazigirl, and then does Amazigirl fight for Amber? Or does Amazigirl then NOT fight for Amber, and diffuses the situation?
What will happen to our dynamic duo? Turn in next week to find out. Same Bat Time, same Bat Channel!
I don’t really understand why people act like it’s morally wrong to make out with people after a breakup. Is there a mandatory mourning-period, which you are’t allowed to break? Do you have to feel shitty and lonely for a certain amount of time?
I don’t think it’s a good idea to rebound-date, but not for these reasons.
Agreed. And speaking of mandatory mourning periods, it really, REALLY bugs me when people say stuff like “it’s been 6 months already. Shouldn’t you be over the death of your ‘insert deceased friend/relative’ already?” As if there’s supposed to be a limit on how long you’re allowed to feel grief over somebody’s passing.
Honestly I think it has to do with attitude. Basically the impression people get is that if you find a different partner just after the break-up it means that the previous relationship didn’t really mean much to you.
The mourning period is less “mandatory” more “no matter how hard you try or who you think you are, you cant just sever all the emotional ties you had to someone in a day, whether you were the dumper or dumpee”
True, but why should that hinder you in making out with someone and why should people morally judge you for it?
It’s not like Amber doesn’t know he was with Dorothy and looked like taking it badly earlier in the day.
And no one’s saying you have to or that it’s been done in the comic. There are people who are still hung up on their high school sweetheart, twenty years later. But just because you have emotional ties to one person doesn’t mean you can’t make new emotional ties to someone else, and it’s ridiculous to think that you can’t start the dating process until you’re 100% over the other person. Shit lingers, and it takes time to get over things.
I think you missed my point.
I was talking about the judgement of other people being about your morality, rather than your mental well-being. I don’t think rebound-smooching is the best idea, either, but again, not what I was referring to…
Nah dude, Sal is right. Walky said he loved dorothy, but here he is making out with another girl.. what, less than a day later? That’s not cool. There’s a cool down time to relationships and the fact that walky is rebounding because of some arbitrary boundary to make himself feel better for not making any effort t his life. I’d call my sibling out on that too. Sal’s being a great sister who isn’t enabling walkys kinda shittiness rn
How it it out of line? Dorothy dumped Walky. He gets to do whatever he wants.
I mean I could get Sal suggesting that maybe it’s not the best coping mechanism he could employ, but given that we have a least a few characters in the strip that use alcohol as a coping mechanism it’s certainly not the worst either.
I don’t doubt Dorothy might interpret it that way, given she didn’t end things with Walky because she didn’t like (fucking) him, but because she thinks she can’t afford to be distracted from her goal.
But that’s no reason for Walky not to make out with Amber.
On the other hand, It might be that Dorothy feels better for him making out with someone else, as then she can feel he will do well and will more easily forget about him, as someone in a relationship is off-limits to her.
Or Willis is playing with us again, and Dorothy will make out with Walky after he started something with Amber and she will loose her high ground with Joyce.
It’s not Sal’s place to dictate Walky’s behavior. She should support him after dumping if she wants to be his sibling. If not, she should stay out of his problems.
Someone who wants their family and/or friends to only speak to support, and not to criticize, will eventually find themselves surrounded by a lot of silent people.
What a fantastic strip. I gotta lotta thoughts since a lot of things are tangled up
1. It’s nice to see that Sal and Walky have this kind of relationship. Sal has all of her reasons to not give a shit about what her Bro does, but here she is calling him out (rightly), and Walky’s panic to smooth it over proves that he knows it’s a little scummy. However, since Sal doesn’t know thonestlyhe name of “Garbage Roof”, so it sounds like not only is he making out with some girl (to al), he just called her garbage, too. That’s a stark character contrast to how walkys been these last few weeks, which a) shows how much pain he’s in and b) shows how little he knows how to deal with it. And he’s barking up the tree of probably the worst person to go to for coping mechanisms.
An attitude I’m seeing in the comments is fascinating- there’s a couple, actually.
1. People are so diverse when it comes to what they think family is supposed to do for you alliance wise and support wise. I don’t believe that you’re supposed to expect blind allegiance to “your side”, or “support no matter what”. I value honesty from my family, since i think it means they really care about me to tell me the tough stuff. Short term it’ll hurt but long term it’ll be important for your self growth to reflect. Sal may have sins in her past, but she hasn’t exactly been given the best hand in making good decisions. She may view walky as the more moral sibling because she considers herself a lost cause, or she can just simply not believe in rebounds. Whatever the case may be, calling out a bad coping mechanism but then letting it go is a great sisterly thing to do, especially since it can be perceived outta walkys personality. However! Bad timing as ever, lmfao. I’d probably save that kinda talk for when sal and walky were alone- not in front of Amber.
2. Hookups =/= Rebounds. I believe hookups are awesome when everyone is all for it. They’re great to have and they’re fun. Rebounds, i think, are inherently different. Walky just got dumped a day or so ago. He’s in emotional, he’s sad, and this has been yet another blow to his self esteem. What was supposed to be an “inconsequential, for fun fling” turned into full blown love, and i think that was an error on Dorothys part to do. I understand why Dotty tried what she tried, but the dumping of walky- in front of two other people no less- definitely knocked him down more pegs than he needed.
So here he is- he’s got a new, pretty crappy coping mechanism that’s more than sticking his head in the sand, and he could use his time to feel terrible and whatever, sure. It’ll hurt for a while, but once it stops hurting, walky could have maybe had some time to reflect on what went wrong and what went right and his feelings about it all. But then when he reciprocated that kiss from Amber and played it off as “oh this made up area in my life is arbitrary, so nothing i do matters”, he puts off that important self reflection time and rides off another high.
That is where i think rebounds get dicey. A rebound three weeks after you get dumped, you get dolled up and go to a bar with some handsome stranger to feel sexy again- hell yeah, do your thing. A rebound where you just… don’t think or process or grieve and just jump at the next chance to feel happy again messes you up, and can potentially mess with the other person because you haven’t even had the chance to process wtf happened. And processing that will definitely take more than a day. Walky got a cute distraction from the pain, but life isn’t a series of distractions where you can just clamp down on all those bad feelings and ignore them. He especially shouldn’t be enabled from someone like amber, who is extra good at ignoring her problems. Those bad feelings gotta come out somehow, and amber is the poster child for that.
3. Rebounds get dicier when there’s percived good feelings still. The breakup wasn’t bad for just walky- Dotty is experiencing some turmoil over what she did- as evidenced by getting easily provoked by mike. Dotty wouldn’t make out with the first time to kiss her. She’s sitting down and DEALING with her issues, even if it’s an occasional thought and being self aware of what she’s doing. She has an important goal and she realized the mistake in inviting distractions from that goal- especially because of how much of a toll it takes on her goals. She realized she messed up and broke up with Walky before they could get even more attached and made it worse. All that being said, they broke up knowing they loved eachother and respected one another.
Then! Dorothy finds out Walky is hooking up with someone a day later. Bam! All of that respect and love gets called into question. We’re humans, we’re gonna doubt someone’s love when they make out with someone so soon after a technically amicable break up (remember, walky didn’t fight to stay and reaffirmed her goals during the break up). And it’s with someone who she’s struck up a friendship with! From Dorothys- and maybe other peoples- perspective, walky had a rebound in the wings. And well, that just isn’t cool.
Tl;dr on Sal’s admonishings of walky- “the pot calling the kettle black is still fuckin’ black” – billie i think
Tl;dr on rebounds: they get better the longer you’ve had time to process them. The closer they are, the more things get blurred and pushed into places where they shouldn’t.
I don’t know what to expect from tomorrow’s strip! Maybe it’s something that invalidates all or one of my therories. Maybe sal’s issue is a comical misunderstanding of garbage roof. Maybe someone finally fuckin’ makes the amber-amazigirl connection, because boy i sure am waiting for it.
Your comment is great and you should feel great. You have expertly explained rebounds and thus why Amber/Walky is a bit skeevy to me. This isn’t about never having rebounds or mourning periods for relationships, Walky’s just throwing himself at the first girl to give him positive attention the day after his break up. It ain’t gonna go well.
I think it is important, however, to consider the “break” Dorothy put them on. Like yes, the official “breakup” only just happened this day, but even before now Dorothy had made it clear that she wanted a break from Walky. And sure, cutting him out entirely is definitely more of a sting than leaving a lingering hope of rekindling, but from Walky’s perspective he hasn’t been dating Dorothy for MUCH longer than a day.
No. Relationships aren’t entitled to mourning periods. Walky gets to do whatever he wants with whatever consenting… near-adult? wants to do it with him. Also, Dorothy was a demonstrably terrible girlfriend to Walky, so.
I mean, *I* think that WalkyxAmber is going to implode so spectacularly the blast is going to travel back in time and kill the dinosaurs, but that’s besides the point.
I’m really impressed with the coloration of today’s comic. It looks bold, and yet stark. It implies deep emotion. I know, of course, that it’s just because it’s nighttime, and that’s just the evening sky – but I could also envision this as broad daylight, and Amber sees Sal, and learns Sal and Walky are siblings… and suddenly everything is deep blue dark.
Fortunately, it’s still deep blue, and not hateful red!
So…not related to this comic in particular, but something in the comments these last couple strips got me thinking.
New crack theory (because this seems like a weird thing to focus on in an arc named after Mike): Mike is gonna get Blaine killed so that he can stop hiding his feelings for Ethan. He…might get Amber to “accidentally” kill him.
Sidenote on This comic:
Sal sounds kinda judgey. This kinda makes sense considering Walky has always been the smart, do-no-wrong Golden Child. It’s not likely she’s had many examples of how to voice healthy concern/criticism anyway.
I know. If Blaine died, the celebrations would going on for years of real time. Everybody would still be dancing in the streets and the readers would have forgotten why.
“Well, you see, young’un, in MY day there was this utter shitheel called Blaine O’Malley who wrought great evil. And the he died. Fin. And also, we had to walk to our dorms uphill. Both ways.”
“Wait, how does that even wor-”
“Because that campus was a freaking Escher print!”
Amber remembers – and looks like she is going to freak out any minute now.
Sal hasn’t given any indication that she connects Amber to the robbery and her stabbed hand. This might actually pile insult on injury that she doesn’t remember.
I’d like to think that the phrase “coping mechanisms” has triggered insight in Amber into her own DID, and that this will begin a healing process. However, I suspect that Willis is not yet ready to relieve her torment.
Honestly, this is probably *why* Sal is being so judgmental here. She’s projecting her own guilt and self-recrimination onto Walky.
And yeah… Walky was the one dumped by Dorothy, not the other way around, and Dorothy even strung him along with post-breakup “pity” sex. Not cool on her end.
I mean, Amber and Walky are not a good couple (mental health-wise) given their current issues and likelihood of mutual self-flagellation… but that’s not really the issue here.
The sex during the pause? Not cool, but not pity sex either. She just loves him and isn’t good at sticking to the limits she sets.
She did suggest comfort sex when she saw him after the actual breakup, but didn’t follow through with – or even mention it to him. Again, I read that as mostly her wanting him and not really wanting to be broken up, even though she thinks she needs to.
Man, whatever. Dorothy dumped him, not the other way around, and for what I consider pretty stupid reasons at that. You do you, Walky, get that rebound action!
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“Bro, ah gotta teach ya ’bout how ta talk dirty f’REAL”
“idk that sounds MORE gross”
Amber’s not upset, she’s just realizing that she has a long night’s work ahead of her adding an “incest” tag to all her WalkyXSal fics, and is wondering if it’d be more efficient to write a script to do it.
Gotta keep things properly curated, y’know? I mean, one time she forgot there were two Rachels on her floor and the RachelXGalassos got mixed up with the OtherRachelXGalassos and it took days to fix.
I believe the technical term is “twincest”.
“wincest”*
Yes, Twincest is Wincest. 😉
winchesters?
No, Wincest is Twincest, but not all Twincest is Wincest.
NO WAIT THEY’RE NOT TWINS ERASE MY MESSAGE SHUT UP YOUR THE STUPID ONE!
*offers hugs*
*hugs and rubs head* shhhhhh, it’s okay. We all f*ck up sometimes
The first rule of Garbage Roof is you do not talk about Garbage Roof!
The Second rule of Garbage Roof is… YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT GARBAGE ROOF!
The third rule is that nothing you do matters on garbing roof.
So, whatever, man.
I don’t know, something tells me this is going to have repercussions. After all, Amber did just pash her Nemesis’s twin brother…
The fourth rule of Garbage Roof is that if someone asks if you’re a cop, you have to tell them. It’s only sporting.
The fifth rule is that if someone asks if you are a god, you say YES!
Rule #6: ALWAYS. EXPECT. NINJAS.
Rule #7 is that there is no Rule #7.
Rule #34: There is slash of it. No exceptions.
Rule 7 is don’t take the piss.
If this is your first night on Garbage Roof, you HAVE to be garbage.
Well hey Sal, way to bring up a bunch of important issues right out the gate. Harsh, but fair!
In fairness, I don’t think she realizes that Danny was with Amber, and she definitely doesn’t recognize Amber as the one who’d stabbed her hand when they were younger.
Yeah, between what you’re pointing out and what others have below, Sal is missing a lot of the context to this situation. I still generally agree with her concerns, but *shrug*.
It kinda makes me wonder why sal doesn’t recognize Amber? Amber looks more like she did back then than Sal did back then. How did Amber even recognize her?
IIRC, she was already experiencing somewhat of a flashback to the robbery when she ran into Sal for the first time, and Sal just happened to be wearing the same outfit as on the day of the robbery on that day.
If the stabbing didn’t go to court, then it’s quite possible Sal didn’t even see Amber’s face in association with it – Sal was facing away from Amber when it happened, and may not have looked around to see her after she was stabbed (her eyes are squeezed shut iirc in the stabbing panel and all panels showing Sal immediately post-stabbing).
You also don’t generally get victim impact statements in juvenile courts, which is how that incident would have been processed. Juvenile courts are significantly different from adult criminal courts.
No, not really fair at all.
Walky and Dorothy are broken up. Walky can do what he wants with any other consenting adult. It is not Sal’s business, nor Dorothy’s, nor anyone else’s.
Sal is being a jerk by suggesting that Walky is not “choked up” about Dorothy.
I will grant that Walky’s defense of “garbage roof” was… not well thought out, but that’s mostly because Sal has no context on the level of depression and self-loathing that Walky has been dealing with. Mocking him for it is only going to reinforce his depression and do nothing to help him cope or recover.
On the other hand, make-outs with Amber might help both to feel like they are worthwhile as human beings by providing pleasure and relief to one another.
Sorry if all of my (admittedly late) comments are in the same vein, but seriously, I don’t think I have ever been more angry and disappointed with Sal. And that includes her time in It’s Walky.
I mean i get what you are saying but i disagree on them being “good” for each other. So far their relationship has kind of hinged on them meeting at a “garbage roof” where they are allowed to hate/feel sorry for themselves. Venting is important but they haven’t really talked about anything important and to be fair just because they ARE making out doesn’t mean it’s a necessarily healthy mechanism for Walky to make out with Amber right now.
Imagine how she’d feel if in the end Walky DIDN’T have feelings for her he just didn’t want to be alone. She could be more invested and walky might not be ready it could devastate how Amber feels.
Both of them are in a bad place right now in their minds so yeah it might be good for them to meet each other but it also means they can just easy help each other continue to spiral into bad behaviors as well. So far it seems Walky is using Amber specifically to ignore his feelings and what’s going on in real life (hence continuously being stuck on his phone talking to her)
In short: Walky needs to confront what’s going on and while i don’t think Sal is completely in the right here, she does have a point, this is Walky’s coping mechanism and it’s probably not very healthy
I think I mostly agree with you, actually. I do agree with Sal that Walky’s probably making a mistake, but she’s going about it all wrong if she’s trying to help him realize that. Walky has a right to try what he’s trying, and even if Sal were certain that it was a bad idea that doesn’t give her a right to be rude to him about it. And the comments she’s making aren’t really going to do anything helpful for any of them, anyway, just get them all more upset.
There’s probably something to be said about Sal and Walky’s history and how they have trouble interacting in a healthy manner, but I’m very much the wrong person to comment on that.
And, I dunno, I guess I’m not great at keeping the entirety of these situations coherent in my mind while I’m posting in this comment section. *Shrug*
I can’t tell what Sal is about in the last panel. Is she annoyed Tharja walky called Amber garbage? Or that it doesn’t matter? Or did she finally connect the dots?
I think it’s the “IT DOESN’T MATTER” in front of the other half of IT, two seconds after IT.
That’s it, I’m switching my gravatar to something far more logical and less pointless-in-joke-y.
Next strip: Pennywise wanders off sadly.
Yeah, WE know what Walky means by “garbage roof”, but Sal does not. To her it just sounds like Walky is saying that kissing Amber doesn’t count and/or that Amber is trashy
Oh shit, I didn’t even think of that.
Yeah, out of context, the whole Garbage Roof thing sounds pretty horible.
Also, even if Sal were able to parse Walky’s gibberish by virtue of having known him a looonnnng time…pretty sure that the concept of garbage roof, as Walky and Amber are using it, is ALSO worth a ‘Wow, bro.’
Perhaps more of a “Wow, bro…you’re in a darker place than I thought you were and maybe need some actual help,” but a ‘Wow, bro’ nonetheless.
I don’t think it’s all that bad as they first laid it out, but it does seem like it could shade over into something nasty pretty easily. As an occasional outlet, it’s good. As a full time habit or worse the basis for a relationship, it’s a problem.
It kinda seems like it is a full-time habit for both of them (or at least Amber for sure) “Garbage Roof” is just an excuse to verbalize it without anyone confronting them over how incredibly unproductive that mentality is.
Sal doesn’t really have much of a high-ground after basically calling amber “rebound-whoever”. Acting shocked at a “It’s not serious” after that seems a bit disingenuous.
Maybe, but hey, disingenuity never stopped any siblings I’ve ever known from fighting over stupid shit with each other.
I’d say there’s a difference between calling Amber a rebound (which is true) and not knowing her name, or even just saying it wasn’t serious, is different than saying ‘Nothing we do up here matters’ right in front of Amber as the person who was just kissing her. Especially since, rebound and casual or not, it’s still an experience they’ve both had that could affect either.
Also: At least Walky’s not sleeping with his TA for better grades.
Na, he’s got Amber to fix the grades, tho’ he’s not sleeping with her yet.
He turned down Amber’s offer to fix the grades.
He did try to, though.
Maybe the stigma of being a rebound has lessened since I was younger. Back then calling someone a rebound was a pretty nasty slur in a very “Don’t think you’re as good as the rest of us” kind of way.
I think in this situation Sal doesn’t really care about “whoever-this-is”/Amber/rebound at all. So I don’t think Sal was really insulting her purposefully. I think her whole surprise/disgust revolves around Walky’s behavior. Sal has been shown to have strong morality, even though it’s not standard morality.
If she connects the dots, I’d call bullshit. She really doesn’t have a valid reason to think it’d be Amazi-Girl other than her happening to be on top of a roof that people apparently go up on to smoke weed, anyway, etc.
The only way I can think of her figuring it out is if she used the phone tracker app that only works on AG’s phone and it lead her to Amber.
WHUH OH
…boy, sal, your mouth sure is off-center
The Willis giveth, and the Willis taketh away.
And Willis has struck ships harder than this before, too.
… I would’ve gone with ‘sunk’, but I think Ruth/Billie went through the roughest waters of all.
Damnèd be the name of the Willis.
THE SMOOCHING CAN STILL RESUME LATER
You know. After she’s done panicking
Assuming she’s able to. Before this, Walky’s face only mildly triggered her anxieties. Now that she’s fully associated Walky with her NEMESIS, kissing him is going to feel a LOT different.
*suggestive eyebrow wiggling*
I dunno. Going from Dorothy to Amber it’s VERY clear that Walky has a type.
Also that lewd of Amber and Walky banging on garbage roof is closer to being canon than ever before.
Well for God knows what reason I thought they were going to have more privacy on garbage roof but apparently I was wrong.
There’s a sign-up sheet to reserve it in advance, but it’s only enforced by the honor system.
Since when did Garbage Roof become an Honor Society? There are only two members and the only requirements to join is that you haft to hate yourself.
Wait, what lewd. WHERE.
https://imgur.com/a/1MWKkTd (nsfw) (obviously)
Wait, that IS Amber, right? You didn’t darken her hair much, so it looks a lot like Dorothy…
Well, Danny did too. Until Ethan.
Aaaaand Amber has the swift realization that things just got significantly more complicated about her simple Garbage Roof fling
Lmao, if Sal thinks what I think she thinks that’s a really funny joke
So what do you think Sal thinks she think?
Either that Walky called Amber garbage or that picking up Amber as a rebound doesn’t matter
Or, sidechick. Remember, Walky was skipping out on lunches with Dorothy, to go meet Amber.
Did I forget some connection Sal has with Dorothy? Because I don’t see why she should care and she has pretty much zero moral ground to stand on.
Stabbing.
wait sorry I thought you were asking what connection Sal had with Amber.
Stabbing is also a connection between Amber and Dorothy, as well as Amber and Joyce.
… Jesus, Amber.
She’s a lot stabbier than I consider ideal in a girlfriend.
I don’t know. Two out of three of those stabbing connections (that were actually the same stabbing) were actually pretty well justified. Girlfriend who stabs would-be rapists and knife-wielding assailants isn’t really something I’d consider a problem.
On the other hand “Girlfriend who stabs disarmed and detained preteens” is something I would. Plus, the whole “Batman minus 90% of the compassion” thing.
Well yeah, but that’s not any of our cast, so …
At least technically: Sal was 13. There was only the one time.
And Amber was 13 herself, traumatized and goaded by her abusive father. It makes a difference.
If she was currently making a habit of doing so, as your phrase applies, that would be a completely different story.
I mean does it really make a meaningful difference when it comes to assault with a deadly weapon against someone who poses no threat? I kinda need more than that especially considering she’s just kept on assaulting people to combat her feelings of powerlessness.
Yes.
Or if it doesn’t, you didn’t have to throw in “preteens” to make it sound worse.
I mistook how old they were by one year, sue me.
Sal generally approves of Dorothy, as I remember. Called her respectable.
Also, Dorothy wanted to take Sal out for dinner using her gift card once, and I think sal would respect that.
Yes, don’t ever stand with a girlfriend or boyfriend over a relative. That is the most uncool thing Sal has ever done.
Seriously? Family can be wrong and family can agree with a partner over you. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Acting like Sal in particular has ANY obligation to her family is especially laughable.
Walky never did anything to Sal. She can shit on her parents all she liked but the only thing Waly ever did to her was get more cookies.
Even if that were true, that still doesn’t give Sal an obligation to Walky and especially not an obligation to automatically side with him over anyone else.
It’s not entirely true though. We know Walky tuned out Sal when she was upset and wanted to talk, we know he ignored what was going on when her parents were being shitheads (which also means he never stood up for her) and we know he either made light of or got defensive about it when she brought up that her parents treat her well (including saying it was because of her robbing convenience stores).
He was a child just like Sal.
I was a child when my grandma treated my brother differently. I was about 15 when I noticed. I still feel bad for overlooking it for so long (granted, we didn’t visit often and it was way more subtle) Walky is, what, 17? 18? He just now found out. And he never bothered to keep contact with his sister after she was sent away.
Don’t really see a reason for her to consider him family.
From the experience of someone whose family dynamics growing up had similarities to the Walkertons: There is now way his parents didn’t manipulate him into being an arm of their abuse. Triangulation is what abusive parents do. And we have already seen Walky justify the abuse and favoritism to Sal on screen (I think his exact words were something like, “Well, I never held up a store. Of course they’ll like me better.”)
Do I think Walky did that internationally? No. But all families that exhibit toxic favoritism have a kid that I have seen rope their Golden Child into doling out abuse and the parents themselves do their best to ensure no healthy relationship can form between the kids.
Now, do I as a 30YO grownass aduly blame him for it? No. He was doint the best he could with thesocial/ emotional tools his parents gave him. It wasn’t his fault, he had no way of knowing better.
That said, as my family’s Sal, did I have the perspective and maturity to realize my family’s Golden Child was as much of a victim as me? Hell no. That only happened after I made friends with folks who were their family’s Golden Child and saw the toll it took on them.
Neither Walky nor Sal are wrong based on what their parents gave them to work with. Blame the Walkertons. Cuz they’re shit.
If anyone needs translation of the above from phone autocorrect-isms, I’m happy to provide it.
“do that internationally” pffft.
Yeah, I know. I can get not standing up for her, but doing things like tuning her out when she’s upset and wants to talk is shitty and Sal’s got good reason other than him being the favourite to resent him.
If she wants to cut him out of her life, then fine. You don’t get to then judge him and harass him about his girlfriends. You have it one way or the other.
First, she isn’t harassing him. She said commented on the fact he’s gone from being upset about Dorothy to making out with a girl she’s never seen him with before and then said ‘ah well, I guess we all cope differently’. Then she explained what she was doing up here and Walky shot off his mouth about how nothing matters on garbage roof and, not knowing what he’s talking about, she said ‘WOW, bro.’ because, out of context, garbage roof sounds incredible self destructive and kinda rude considering Amber’s right there and he just said nothing they do matters.
Second of all, I said she has reason to resent him and no obligation to him based on the fact they’re family. Especially not an obligation to side with him on everything because they’re family. That’s ridiculous. It’d be ridiculous even if we weren’t talking about the Walkertons but since we are, and since we’re talking about Sal in particular, it’s moreso.
Well that’s stupid as fuck.
Walky and Dorothy have broken up for reasons that have nothing to do with Amber. I don’t think Walky is in the wrong here.
That being said automatically siding with your relative over their girlfriend/boyfriend is really shitty behavior. Keep in mind Amber is Blain’s relative what if Yuri broke up with him. I think Amber siding with him in that case would be grounds for Yuri to cut Amber out of her half brother’s life. What about Joe is he just supposed to be cool with his dad cheating on his girlfriends. What about middle name Ryan’s parents were they doing the right thing trying to punish Amber for defending herself and her friends.
I call BS on this. Family doesn’t mean anything. No one deserves special treatment just because they happen to have similar genetics. Screw family.
Well screw YOUR family, I love mine, warts and all.
There’s no indication of Sal ever even being in a serious relationship, let alone hooking up with a random person less than a day after said serious relationship ended.
I took it less as Sal being worried about Dorothy and more Sal being worried about Walky’s behavior. Though I can’t quite explain why I read “Walky is rebounding” as behavior Sal would be worried about.
Sal has some severe issues with Walky and a surprisingly judgemental side for the cool rebel.
Before the semester started, the two of them hadn’t talked since she got sent to boarding school. Sal had ONE person she trusted and could be at all vulnerable with, and that was Marcie
Her and Walky have had to rebuild their relationship almost from scratch
I know this is about Walky, but I’m still floored that the Walkertons were just…totally cool apparently with just letting a 13 year old stay in Tennessee year round even when school was out. Like, where was she staying during summer? Were kids sent there as an alternative to juvie allowed (or required) to stay? Did the school run a summer program? Did she stay with Marcie? Or did she crash with some of the less reliable ‘friends-for-lack-of-a-better-word’ she apparently had (since she says she and Marcie both had a habit of picking ‘the worst damn people’ aside from each other, I’m wondering if she stayed with a not so great ex or two when she got older). Just…where the hell were the Walkertons letting Sal live during summer and easter and other Catholic school’s out days?
Summer camps, maybe? Heretofore-unmentioned relatives, almost assuredly terrible ones given Sal’s luck?
Man, there is not a single good option here. Seriously Walkertons Senior, what the fuck.
Looking back on it, Walky says they haven’t talked ‘much’ in five years, not at all, so she may at least have come back for holidays occasionally… but his first question is ‘How was Tennessee?’ and she clearly therefore wasn’t living with him the summer after graduation. I mean, maybe that was a choice of hers. Maybe she stayed with Marcie.
But that still paints a pretty bleak picture, so I reiterate: what the FUCK, Walkertons Senior.
I don’t think she came home – Walky’s also said on the in-character twitters Willis made that he hasn’t seen her at all and that he’s ‘kept tabs’ on her as much as Billie has. I don’t think she came home, though there were probably things like phone calls occasionally (which went probably about as far as ‘hi, smalltalk, bye’).
Yeah, it’s hard to blame 13 year old Walky much for that though if their parents cut her off so thoroughly. If she’s not brought back for holidays, I can’t really expect them to even let him know how to contact her.
I don’t blame Walky for it but I can also see how Sal might be resentful, especially since Walky apparently did know how to contact her (at the very least, he knew her school’s address and he knows how to write – although him making a crack about ‘the rising cost of postage’ being why he didn’t contact her makes me think it was less ‘I couldn’t’ and more ‘I didn’t care too’).
Having grown up in a family with the Golden Child/Scapegoat dichotomy – I think it’s less “didn’t care to” and more “was discouraged from it subtly or explicitly on the grounds that Sal is a bad influence.”
Most probably definitely terrible ones, because I think if Sal had a positive authority figure in her life she wouldn’t be so down on all of them. (Which also doesn’t fill me with hope for Marcie’s parents – so far my guess is ‘well meaning but unhelpful’).
Just…who the FUCK lets a thirteen year old girl live, quite possibly in a different state, with someone else all summer while not speaking to her unless its for a lecture of the ‘you’re a failure’ variety and not seeing her for FIVE YEARS?
Seriously, in my world, it is ALWAYS Fuck the Walkerton Parents O’Clock. They are just…such shit.
Eh, Walky and Dorothy broke up. They can both kiss whoever they want.
Yeah, and like Sal is broken up over Jason.
If you’re proposing a threesome I’m not opposed…
Sal and Jason never were in a relationship.
They never had a relationship. It wasn’t even a friends with benefits thing, because they weren’t friends. Actually, she literally said she hates him once.
Not exactly comparable to a breakup..
More like antagonism with benefits.
On the other hand, consider how broken up Walky was before the texting. When Sal saw him last, earlier today. She has reason to think Walky jumping into a new relationship the day after a breakup may not be the best idea and that he’s not over Dorothy.
Even now I’m pretty sure he’s not over Dorothy yet. Feelings don’t just go away immediately like that, and he was feeling conflicted about dating right after the breakup immediately pre-kiss.
Eh Walky would be far from the first fictional character to move from a broken relationship to a friend of the appropriate gender to their sexuality. It sometimes works out well.
Doesn’t make it a good idea when we the readers know he still has reservations. I would be a lot more willing to judge Sal if we didn’t already know she had a point.
I’m not saying I can’t see it working out, I just think it needed a little time before it did. Especially with as many outside complications as are present here.
Sure, Sal can think that and has plenty of reason to, but the way she’s voicing her thoughts doesn’t really seem as though she’s concerned but more.. judgmental? I mean, it is a tricky situation, walking in on your brother macking on some girl right after he was dumped, but that’s still not really any of her business to comment on, at least the way she’s doing it.
At the very least, it’d be something she should’ve taken Walky to the side to talk about, not right in front of Amber.
I admit I come from the school of thought that sometimes you keep your opinions to yourself with friends and just be supportive. Doubly so family.
Funny. I always can rely on my family being honest with me when I’m about to do something dumb. It’s how they help me to avoid mistakes.
Guess they define support differently than you. And I’m glad they do.
“Your enemies will give you information your friends are keeping from you.”
I may not have that quote quite 100% correct (and I don’t remember where I got it from, so); but it’s true. Enemies will happily point out all your flaws that everyone (except you, often) is aware of, but your friends won’t tell you about so as to spare your feelings, etc.
Don’t listen to your enemies when they tell you how useless they are. But when they say things like, “Jesus, are you ever on time?!” that propensity for lateness is a helpful thing to know about yourself. Hard to factor for it if you aren’t consciously aware of it, eh.
they’ll also make perfectly innocuous things sound like faults, though.
I feel like siblings close in age have special judgement rights. And if i was sal id be judging the hell outta walky rn.
Then again my only sibling is 14 years my senior so whst do i know
I disagree with that, but that’s because my own siblings have fairly intolerant and shitty opinions, which reflects in what they’re judgmental towards. So no, they don’t get shit.
And considering that Sal and Walky aren’t even close but more.. they just happen to be related, I’d say even more so.
I wonder why Sal reacts so badly here. Though there might be a note of concern in the seconds panel, Sal’s angry about something from the start and i wonder what it is. Even if she liked and respected Dorothy immensely and thought she was good for Walky (and we didn’t get any indication she did while they were together) it wouldn’t make going for him this way reasonable and it’s totally out of style for Sal.
So what is going on in her head?
I’m wondering if it is about Jason, his getting fired, and Walky’s unknowing dig (that same day I think) about how she shoulda slept with him for better grades instead of studying.
Well, as others have pointed out, to her it probably sounds like he just called Amber garbage, so.
But yeah, wonder what she wants Amazi-Girl for?
Thank you, Czigot.
I didn’t have time to post last night, but Sal’s attitude here really pisses me off. Walky and Amber are adults. There is no moral time limit after a breakup – if the relationship is over, it’s over. One can argue about the health of rebounds, but that is entirely different and not at all what Sal is doing. She isn’t showing concern for Walky’s state of mind, which might be justified, but instead is mocking his level of investment in Dorothy. We’ve seen him mope and mourn his time with Dorothy – if he needs to make out (or more) with another consenting adult as part of moving on, then fine. Sal can piss off, and I hope Walky tells her so.
Walky and Amber are adults.
AHAHAHAHAHA. So what is that supposed to mean – that they’re old enough to know what they’re doing and make smart, informed, responsible choices?
This entire comic is an extended disproof of that assertion.
And not just the 18-year-old “adults” ; as we’ve seen in many cases, even much older people, including their parents, can be utter shit.
I think the implication is that they aren’t children, they don’t have to answer to anybody about their relationships?
*attempts to get the soundtrack going again and fails*
Come on you just need to kick the Roof Jukebox in the right place.
Well first you need to receive instructions from The Fonz to be able to get that move down pat.
What is he giving out lessons now?
SHE’S having a conversation with her brother right now.
I hope that you succeed, because otherwise we’re stuck with predictable stuff like “Mr. Brightside.”
(Mr. Brightside is a great song. Just totally predictable for this situation.)
When this ol’ world starts getting me down,
I know a place to go where it’s trouble-proof.
(up – on – th’ – roooooofff)
Hang on, professional AV tech support here.
*Turns it off and back on again*
… Well I’m out of ideas.
Next step is to check if a cable’s loose.
Nah, I’ll douse the thing in Faderlube and exercise all the connectors. That should get rid of the scratches in the volume controls.
“But it still doesn’t work!”
Yes but once it decides to work again, the signals will be clean!
*hums the notes to The Fray’s “How To Save A Life” quietly in the background*
Sal is a terrible judgemental sister.
Be glad your brother moved on quickly.
I get what you’re saying, but “moving on” within, like, a day is not moving on. It is, as Sal points out, playing make-believe and coping.
Coping mechanisms are often not healthy. She’s not terrible and judgmental. She’s concerned.
Sal calling him out on it certainly isn’t the best way to handle it.
Maybe not, but these are supposed to be *people*, and if you, as a *person* come across this after hearing someone you care about has just gone through a breakup, your first reaction is probably not going to be an elaborate and well-thought-out one, it’s going to be more of a “what the hell happened???”
… I also don’t think Sal is the one who needs to be called out here, if either of them do?
I think Sal can be concerned and judgemental, TBH- Sal’s the hero Walky deserves, but really, really not the one he Needs right now. (Everyone else on this roof is basically batman and somehow he’s still in danger)
I’d call out Sal for doing something potentially embarrassing and kinda rude; but I wouldn’t go after her for sharing her opinion in general, either. In Smarting of Age, she probs should’ve just talked to the dude later when he wasn’t in the middle of something
Yeah, Sal’s judgment is also clearly mixed (especially in the last panel) with some ‘what the fuck is going on here’ thing. She has no idea this was a regular hangout thing, or that Walky’s been looking up this afternoon since they started texting. As far as she knows, this is WEIRD.
Also in panel 2 she acknowledges ‘Ah guess we all have our coping mechanisms’.
Coping mechanisms allow you to function while you are not ready to deal with the result of something.
They only start to be unhealthy if you stay there instead of using them as a band-aid.
Not for nothing, but the thing about “common knowledge” is that it isn’t always right. Most recent studies have found that rebounds can, in fact, be healthy, because they improve your self-esteem, a lack of which is often the biggest danger of a major breakup.
Additionally, their success rate is about on par with relationships started without that excess baggage. Most relationships fail, of course, so it’s easy for confirmation bias to assert itself with any “this is bad” notion about them, but they aren’t really any worse.
That isn’t to say that a relationship started on the notion that “we are bad people so who gives a shit” is starting on very solid ground, just saying that it’s proximity to Walky’s previous relationship isn’t likely to make it better or worse and may well be better for Walky regardless.
(first reference I could find, but there are mroe out there) https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/meet-catch-and-keep/201405/can-rebound-relationship-be-the-real-deal
I mean yeah rebounds are fine but ~24 hours after getting dumped by the first person you were ever in love with, without even giving yourself a chance to process what happened? Thats just not healthy
No, Sal is not concerned – nothing about her demeanor suggests that. She is mocking him and implying that he was not invested in his relationship with Dorothy.
Sal is being a complete jerk here. Personally, I hope Walky gives her a piece of his mind and then goes off somewhere private with Amber (assuming she’s still interested after all this).
i to like making things up leslie
“Ah see yer real choked up ’bout Dorothy”
“Ah find ya reboundin’ the shit offa.. whoever this is”
Yup. Real concerned here.
why not both
Wow, bro……that’s a really weak excuse for rebounding so soon after a recent breakup. Now if you and this random girl who don’t matter could leave I got Amazi-Girl searchin ta do!”
I don’t see any problem with his rebounding. What is the proper time to find a new girlfriend after you get dumped by the old one because she said you’re impediment to her studies? I have no problem with the answer, “immediately.”
It wasn’t really a critique on Walky’s behavior as much as I was trying to be funny. Mostly based on Sal not knowing Amber or “whoever” is the Amazi-Girl she’s looking for. Honestly Walky rebounding so quickly is maybe slightly scummy but it’s in no way a sin or wrong. Sal’s probably the last person who should be judging him, but they are siblings and that’s what siblings do. It more calls into question how much Walky actually valued his relationship with Dorothy to have moved on so soon, especially (and keep in mind I’m only assuming this based on the context of his reaction) he seems a bit defensive by validating his actions under the pretense of being on “garbage roof” instead of just owning up to it.
Eh, as a somewhat familiar person with emotional baggage from being dumped, immediate hookups after are not uncommon–including with 1. Exes 2. Friends. There’s a strong pressure to feel like it wasn’t because you belong on garbage roof but because your dumper sucks.
Now that’s not usually a good reason but self-esteem is funny that way.
I prefer to face the pain and deal with it. You end up with a lot less emotional baggage that way.
Facing pain is sometimes doubling down on powering through it. Facing pain is sometimes also, “It’s not me, it’s her.” Raidah should have followed her adcice that if Jacob is the kind of girl to dump her for Joyce she needs a better boyfriend.
In my experience, it’s mostly both. And none of this requires a rebound.
Jacob probably isn’t aware of what was going on. And there was little indication that he’d actually dump raidah.
My hunch is that Jacob isn’t any kind of girl Just saying.
“It more calls into question how much Walky actually valued his relationship with Dorothy to have moved on so soon”
No, it doesn’t. He still clearly values Dorothy and his (former) relationship with her, but that doesn’t mean he can’t still seek comfort from someone else and even try. And just kissing someone else doesn’t mean diddly shit about moving on lmao There’s also absolutely nothing scummy about it, considering he was the one that was dumped twice. Unless Dorothy’s also scummy for dating Walky so quickly after Danny. (She’s not, before anyone says anything.)
Sal is being judgmental and shame-y, without full knowledge of the situation. And if she was concerned about Walky’s emotional state and any poor decisions he’s making, she could voice them to him privately instead of right in front of Amber, who she’s not even pretending to have any kind of consideration for.
This is a lot quicker than Dorothy moving on after Danny. That was a full week, this is the next day. And in terms of “moving on”, Dorothy had actually started that process well before breaking up with Danny – which has its own issues, I’ll admit.
My point was that it’s not scummy for Walky to have done this. Walky was dumped twice, the first time being at least a week if not more ago, and while showing consideration for Dorothy’s feelings is nice, he also doesn’t have an obligation to do so. Especially given all the context leading up to this. If Walky had just kissed Amber as the first girl he’s seen after he was dumped? Sure, that’s a little skeevy. But in comic, there was build up to it, as Walky and Amber met on the roof for a bit at that point.
And since you missed it: And just kissing someone else doesn’t mean diddly shit about moving on lmao
Walky’s not moved on yet, but is seeking a quick comfort.
When was Walky dumped a week ago?
They went on pause 2 days ago. Broke the pause the next day by sleeping together, then broke up for good a little after that. This is the evening of the next day.
Okay, so I miscounted and thought that it had been at least four or five days in comic since they broke up and not three. Walky and Dorothy originally hooked up within four days of knowing each other. But I’m going to be honest, I really don’t find that much difference between 2 or 3 days and 4 or 5 days if we’re talking about a short recovery time.
My whole point this entire time is that Walky is not ‘moving on’ and kissing someone else doesn’t mean shit towards ‘moving on’, and the timing of it being so tight to him being dumped doesn’t say anything about how Walky valued Dorothy and his relationship, but more about his emotional state as he is clearly going for comfort more than starting a whole brand new relationship. I’m not saying anything about whether it’s healthy, or if Walky and Amber are good for each other, literally all I’ve been saying from the start is just because Walky kissed Amber back, it doesn’t diminish his past relationship with Dorothy in any way.
It’s going around. That it was half a year ago in real time makes it seem like it’s been much longer than it has.
Also, his response seems to be “no, no, Dorothy totally matters – this, the girl I’m smooching now, she doesn’t matter. It’s just
VegasGarbage Roof.”Which might bother Amber a bit, if she wasn’t in complete shutdown over kissing that monster’s brother.
Yup. But Sal hears it just fine, and I think that’s what she’s reacting to in the last panel(s).
Oh, definitely. And Sal’s hearing it without the context of the Garbage Roof concept he and Amber have been talking about, so it likely sounds even worse.
You’re aware that emotions exist, right? Even after a breakup? They are messy and inconvenient and Walky was clearly miserable and hurting and not ready to be around Dorothy this morning. Walky was talking about feeling bad about dating so soon after the breakup like, one minute ago in-striptime. (Even if you think he shouldn’t have that hang up, clearly he DOES, and that’s not going to go away immediately either.) Sal has every reason to question whether or not Walky’s kissing a new person as a coping mechanism. The last time she saw him, he was clearly hurting, and that was maybe twelve hours ago, tops. Twelve hours ago is not enough time to purge all feelings of connection to a human being you cared about from your body. Twelve hours ago is not enough time to get over the sadness of your first major relationship ending and jump straight into a new one with no reservations. Relationship mourning periods exist because, whether you like their existence or not, no matter how the relationship ended you probably need a little time to process the feelings. And especially in a case where the breakup was in spite of the fact they both clearly still had feelings for each other. Dorothy’s move was short-sighted and probably a terrible idea, but that doesn’t make all the feelings Walky had for her go away.
I am actually stating that such hookups are a healthy and common coping mechanism because if you feel like you’ve had your heart ripped out, the comfort of a friend or lover can be quite healthy. Mourning a relationship with someone who has stomped on you isn’t actually the best way to do it and frankly could very well be worse.
Take note that Walky and Amber were friends before too. There will be bumps because of it (as we see) but Sal should be supporting her brother and not his brutal ex.
Wait. I’m confused. How did Dorothy get to be a brutal ex again?
Some people really hate Dorothy, and will rate everything she does wrong as 11/10 and everything she does right as non-existent. But aside from some awkward not knowing how to interact, I think it is fair to say having sex after breaking up was not good for either of them.
I was referring to the fact the breakup method was emotionally devastating.
That describes like every breakup where one party is still invested.
I’ve seen emotionally devastating breakups. As breakups go that was pretty damn mild. It hurt because he still loved her. Still loves her. (And she still loves him, for that matter.)
Other than that, I’m not sure what was bad about the breakup method.
An 11/10 devastating breakup, no doubt.
I’m in agreement with Emily.
The end times are upon us.
Seriously…?
That was one of the gentlest breakups I’ve ever seen or heard; it can hardly get less “brutal” than that one. If your problem was that she broke up with him because she didn’t have time for him *and* her studies, note that she tried to remove other activities before even considering taking a pause from Walky (see distancing herself from the Amazi-Girl case), and only ultimately did so-with Walky’s encouragement, no less- in the midst of an obvious mental breakdown. Considering they clearly still have strong feelings for each other, they could still very plausibly unpause their relationship in the nearish future.
I’ll also note that Walky himself thought kissing/dating Amber happened too soon, that it would make him a terrible person, but quickly chose to ignore it. He chose to ignore his grades for weeks, too, even though it clearly bothered him. This is *not* him confronting his pain; this is him *running* from it at a sprint, while risking hurting several others along with him.
This seems to have gone down a Dorothy-centric cul de sac. The point is that Walky is feeling very hurt right now due the breakup (no matter how it rates on a scale). Dorothy is likely feeling it too. However, Sal is Walky’s brother. She should be supporting him, not attacking him.
Also, I completely agree that hookups like this can be an important part of the coping mechanism. I had a few of those myself when I was Walky’s age, and they helped.
Garbage Roof is about two people in pain helping to soothe one another’s pain. I’m not expecting anything long term out of this other than two humans soothing one another’s wounds and helping one another to heal (and maybe to stop thinking that they are garbage).
First Problem, he’s making up some dumb “what happens in Vegas”-excuse. Second, it could be really unfair to Amber because the rebound often gets hurt if he or she cares to much about the relationship. It’s based on the other one not wanting to confront the own pain, that’s not really a stable basis.
And it could make the breakup a whole lot less amicable. Which could get ugly, since they have classes together.
Yes, it could end badly but they are very common because breakups can shred your self-esteem. They also can end well.
As for ending amicably….it wasn’t an amicable breakup.
so, I might not be an intelligent font of breakup knowledge (I am in fact, a font of Comic Sans), but I still have some thoughts:
1. Walky isn’t responsible for Dorothy’s emotions anymore; and modifying his own behavior to make her happy (outside of certain boundaries, of course) isn’t really morally compulsory. It’s admirable to take other’s comfort into account, but sometimes to create space and be your own person, you need to do that second thing.
2. Rebounding with Amber isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Amb’s aware of Walky’s situation with the breakup and such (although Sal might presume otherwise) and she’s clearly attracted to and willing to make out with him, regardless of this, so no false expectations are in play as in the usual rebound tropes. She’s a consenting adult, and isn’t- unless there are factors we don’t know about like Walky being an Agent of Galasso here to destroy her- she’s not being wronged; she’s not *doing* wrong either.
3. as Sal pointed out, everyone has coping mechanisms. Sometimes, even a one-night stand is fine. Walky did not explain his coping mechanism… articulately…. but still. This is really a situation where, TBH, everyone in the room is (mostly) an adult, and frankly Sal’s in a position to judge but shouldn’t. the worst parts of the Walky-Amber dynamic aren’t really present, here, per say. Just, um, their tongues.
Not that this matters, anyways, because Amber is about to explode.
I don’t do rebounds as a principle. I think they are a dumb idea. They are a way to find an easy way out of the pain. Which kind of works, but you never really deal with it. that can cause a whole lot of difficulties. And it’s unfair for the rebound, unless you tell him from the start what he is. A diversion from the one you really care about.
I never really understood that self-esteem thing. I mean, there’s always someone who’d date you but that doesn’t change the fact that the one you care about has chosen to go on without you.
It was. They both still cared for another. No hatred, no big bang. It got a bit bad later, but no breakup without feeling bad, so that’s kind of part of any breakup. It was amicable as breakups can be.
Someone else sees what’s inherently wrong with it, I’m glad to see.
Well, my last “rebound” has lasted over a decade. My then-partner and I had ongoing problems that kept getting worse. I finally told him he had until the end of the semester to find another place to live. I couldn’t afford the rent on my own, so I asked a friend of mine if he wanted to move in for a little while (he lived in a dorm and hated it – I had an off-campus apartment.)
A few days after my friend moved in we hooked up. We’re still together today, having gone through three moves and (to date) four cats.
Granted, the break-up with my ex had been coming for a long time. And my friend and I pretty obviously had the potential to be more than platonic. My ex was seriously angry that I was moving someone else in so soon after he left. I wrote him an *incredibly* self-righteous note (thinking about it now makes me cringe) saying that I don’t do rebounds and wouldn’t be ready to be with anyone else for a long time.
Then, a few days later… *blush*
Of course that is a slightly longer timeline than Walky and Amber and I wouldn’t indiscriminately recommend rebound relationships. But they aren’t always a bad thing or wrong.
You went through four cats in ten years!? Are there eagles in your neighbourhood?
@Bathymetheus: I think I explained it badly. We’ve had four cats, three of which are still alive and healthy. As follows:
1.) Lenore-Kitteh. She was my current partner’s cat before he met me and he brought her to “visit” when it became clear that he wasn’t moving back into the dorms. Lenore was a tiny black cat with green eyes and died not too long ago of kidney failure. We did what we could for her, but the vet said it was basically hospice care. She was somewhere between 17 and 20 years old. (She was adopted – my partner’s neighbours owned a show-quality blue-point Siamese and a tomcat jumped the fence one night. They gave the litter away to people in the neighbourhood.)
2.) Annabel Lee-Kitteh. My mom gave her to us when we moved to NYC years ago. Since she came from a shelter, we don’t know exactly how old she is, but she has to be at least about 13. Since she is getting older, she has bad teeth, and was losing weight until we FINALLY realized the problem was that she couldn’t chew the dry food anymore. Now we’re feeding her wet food and she is gaining weight. She is in fine health otherwise. Annabel is a black kitteh with green/yellow eyes and probably has apple-head Siamese somewhere in her family tree. (Siamese cats, when mixed with other breeds, are likely to produce black cats.)
3.) Ligeia-Kitteh. (At this point you may notice a theme with the names). She was a rescue cat that I picked up off the street in front of our apartment building. She is a friendly tuxedo cat; she was in danger of being run over by a car and when I called to her, she came running over and tried to climb up my leg. I was positive that she belonged to someone and had gotten out since she was so affectionate and so clean, but when I asked around everyone said she was a stray. So of COURSE I couldn’t just dump her back in the street…again, we’re not totally sure how old she is, but she has to be pushing 10. She unfortunately has cataracts and has trouble seeing (we’ve taken her to the vet and there isn’t much to be done), but she’s in good shape otherwise. We call her the “ice cream kitteh” because she has the SOFTEST creamy white fur on her tummy and feets. 🙂
4.) Berenice-Kitteh. She is a black Maine Coon cat with yellow eyes and can’t be more than 3 or 4 years old. My mom got her for us as a holiday present when she found out that my partner always wanted a huge fluffy Maine Coon cat. However, Berenice is TINY for a Maine Coon – Ligeia is larger than she is! However, Berenice is quite fluffy and still very kitteny. She is a hunter and can catch flies out of the air, of which I strongly approve.
For the record – I am actually pretty sure we had eagles around my old apartment where I lived with my ex. The apartment building was on the banks of the Merrimac River (this was in Massachusetts) and all kinds of wildlife used to come down the river. (We also had HORRIBLE SCARY RIVER SPIDERS that used to infest our windows and the apartment porch – we had to keep a can of Raid outside so as not to be attacked by spiders on the way in and could never open our windows during the summer.) But I saw all kinds of birds – including what I still think was an enormous gray goose – near the river. One day I almost ran my car off the road on the way to work because I was hanging out the window watching what I’m almost positive was a golden eagle, following the river downstream. 🙂
Walky did start off by saying this was one day after a breakup, though.
Thank you- you get it!
What wasn’t amicable about it?
No ones saying its not common dude. Yea it happens a lot, and it can cause more pain. I know ive broken a couple hearts because of my rebounds in my attempts to move on after my first big breakup. And with the context we have for these two, we know it wont be healthy
Amber pushed for it, so he’s not really using here.
Judge all you want, the Garbage lovers welcome it.
Ooooh, mention of coping mechanisms right here and now, ow.
Yep, Amber definitely did not know. This is gonna hurt.
At least Sal is worried about Garbage Roof’s self-destructive and self-loathing implications, it seems? Or Walky was genuinely gonna be in on ‘yeah we can kiss on Garbage Roof but not date for real yet’, and the last thing Amber needs is more compartmentalization. Plus an Amber is AG reveal seems potentially imminent, and Amber’s obvious impending breakdown might just prompt her opening up after they wonder why she’s freaking out so badly? I can hope?
Dammit, I want SOMETHING good to come of this and not just Amber losing a positive relationship and getting her and Walky in huge trouble if a secret ever comes out!
On an unrelated note, what’s the etiquette on talking about unused strip commentary from Patreon? Because this latest one was Interesting.
As one not (yet) on Patreon, my gut response is: don’t.
What’s in the public sphere (i.e., Dumblr of Age and Willis’s twitter) is essentially non-spoilery.
What’s on the non-public parts of Patreon is pretty much by-definition spoilery. And if it’s something that Willis himself posted there and not anywhere else, one has to assume that was intentional.
Over time — I am specifically thinking of Willis’s Patreon-only comments about Faz and Amber’s possible kinship — over time, if they leak, no big deal. But for recent events, perhaps it would be best to respect the reason that the patron-only part of Patreon exists.
I agree that it should probably be kept to Patreon, but in this case it’s not spoiler-y; the strip in question is one that would have been in the storyline months ago, had Willis chosen to use it. Instead, he decided against it for various reasons he detailed.
But I do think it’s best to let Patreon content be Patreon content, as that’s a way to motivate people to pay for it and support Willis.
And on another completely related note, I’m guessing that tomorrow at 14:01 UTC I should be furiously hitting the refesh button on my browser.
If those are the Patreon-only comments I think they were, they mostly leaked because there was old public commentary that they contradicted – that he’d apparently forgotten he’d made and that we were relying on.
Thanks for the comments here, yeah. I was mostly interested in the commentary, but it’s not relevant here anyway.
yes, yes it was. 🙂
Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear leather jackets.
It is not Sal, but Amazi-Girl’s newest villain nemesis, the nefarious Cockblockzor!
These past 3 strips have had so many levels of satisfying payoffs built in that I don’t even know where to start.
I guess with feeling bad for Amber, since the universe has once again ruined everything for her.
It does that.
Willis is a cruel god.
I don’t think Walky’s last line came off the best, but I’m not sure Amber’s in a space to process or even hear it anyway.
Yeah, I think Sal’s seeing Amber, and thinking Amber heard it, but I don’t think she did (and if she did, it’s not what’s gotten her frozen).
yeah, we know what he means, but what he actually *said*… yeah, I guess from sal’s POV a “wow” is quite appropriate. it sounds like he’s either saying amber doesn’t matter, or that anything bad can be excused by “it’s garbage roof”.
I’m still annoyed that she’s shaming him for a rebound kiss.
wow, sal.
I don’t think Sal’s exactly the BEST person to really give an example in ethics in relationships.
No and it doesn’t help her brother was the DUMPEE not the DUMPER so he owes Dorothy exactly 0 consideration in this respect.
Not only was he the dumpee, but he was dumped in an almost damningly impersonal way. Like “you’re a distraction” is plausible but that’s still pretty harsh. It can make you feel pretty worthless.
Yeah, also, “I was unfair to you…by making you think this had a chance and letting you fall for me.”
Double ouch.
Just clarifying, this is cruel in this instance. This is not cruel when, say, one of your friends is like ‘I think we need to take our friendship to the next level,’ because you being friendly with him made him think he had a chance and blame you for his wanting you. (rearrange/change genders as necessary)
Double Ouch …
is what Danny will feel …when he learns his second GF who dumped him,
moved on to Walky.
this is the second continuity where a girl has moved on from Danny to Walky.
Danny doesn’t care. He has a hat and a ukulele!
Until they move on to Walky.
And of course Walky will probably play it much better too, just to twist the knife.
Yotomoe, you need to draw Walky in Danny’s cap, playing Danny’s uke.
Ukulele man only ever needs his Ukulele.
She was actually criticizing herself there. Not “I was fooling you into thinking this could be real”, but setting limits “just-for-fun” and then breaking them by falling in love with him and expecting him to keep up. Or declaring the pause then dragging him into bed.
I’m pretty sure Walky didn’t react to this the way you are.
I’m starting to think that Garbage Roof is not really that healthy.
I’m starting to think, “You should mind your own business, sis!”
🙂
I actually consider Sal to be the highlight of these past two strips. The more Sal snarks, the more I like her!
I like it better after this one, where she has clarified she went up there for a reason.
Well it’s not the first unhealthy romance that Amber made work….well not in this AU.
Amber has made a lot of unhealthy things work. And they work surprisingly well.
That is wholly untrue.
It never was. The rules forbid to support each other, which is the definition of unhealthy.
Not to mention the manipulate-grades-thing which could get them both thrown out.
Walky and Amber need to print out “Garbage Roof” pamphlets to prevent future misunderstandings.
It’s like the seen in Starship Troopers with Casper Van Dyne getting dumped by Denise Richards so he hooks up with Dinah Meyers instead. Only with less Bugs and the better match for the hero dying.
Didn’t his new girlfriend got killed horribly by the arachnids?
Yeah. I think it was the next day too that it happened.
Yes, that would be the better match. I admit that’s because I love Dinah Meyer in Johnny Mnemonic, Birds of Prey, and yes Starship Troopers. 🙂 Also, adoring grunt Marine is better than starship girl who doesn’t really care about you.
It’s okay.
She comes back as a CGI ghost haunting him after he becomes Big Boss from Metal Gear Solid.
Even Sal is impressed. Wow, Walky. Anyway, how long before Amber runs away?
OH NO OHNOOHNONONONO I DIDN’T WANT IT BUT SOMEHOW THIS IS WORSE THAN AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
he is making this SO MUCH WORSE
Yes. Yes he is.
I wonder how much of Amber’s face in panels 3 and 4 is her trying to process that Sal is Walky’s sister, and how much of it is related to thinking about Walky being the second guy she has kissed after they broke up with Dorothy. Neither one is particularly pleasant, but I can’t tell which is worse or what those expressions say.
I find it funny that Amber probably doesn’t even acknowledge Dorothy’s existence despite their many shared issues. She’s just some random girl to her, unlike Becky’s seething hate of her future political rival.
You know Amber and Dorothy have talked before right? And Dorothy was there when Amber cut up Ryan that night? I sincerely doubt that Amber suddenly stopped acknowledging Dotty’s existence. It is more likely she is worried about Sal, as Axel pointed out but she has spoken with Dorothy about a great deal. Or rather Amazi-Girl and she both have.
Since the stabbing, it has been Dorothy who has avoided meeting Amber because Dorothy couldn’t process the Rage she saw (and she had put AG on a rather high pedestal before).
Dorothy is the half-bath roommate who knows Amber is AG (though I’m not sure where this knowledge ended up given Amber/AGs increased compartmentalizations).
Dude, amber amd Dorothy are friends.
I mean, walky just mentioned that he had only just broken up with Dorothy like, three strips ago? So I don’t she’s suddenly concerned by that now that Sal’s there.
I don’t remember if that’s supposed to say ‘I doubt’ or ‘I don’t think’
Either one works, and fair enough I forgot that Walky told her about Dorothy. And I didn’t connect whether she even thought it was Dotty. Granted she may have known that Walky was dating Dotty, they did talk before Dorothy went near full shut in to focus on school.
She knew. He wandered out of Dorothy’s bed, through the connecting bath, and into Amber’s room once while the girls were talking.
I also believe that Amber referred to herself as “the person who saved your girlfriend” when she revealed to Walky that she was Amazi-Girl
That realization that the boy you’re crushing on, and smooching, looks ‘zackly like that girl you’ve been avoiding for forever.
I called it. 😐
Amazi-girl has met Sal, but Amber never has. Not since she stabbed her in the hand outside a convenience store.
Wonder how Amber will react.
Pretty sure they raced in Mario Kart before all 3DSes spontaneously transformed into Switches.
Not exactly true, Amber met Sal once in the hallway holding laundry and one other time iirc, and she basically fled into Amazi-Girl to escape.
Plys, they’ve had other random run-ins, like in the hallway with laundry back when she was dating Danny.
I mean, they’re the same person so
Not to themselves, they aren’t. The strip thus far, while not calling it a DID situation in so many words, has very much been pointing to Amber and AG as separate individuals (even down to the tagging)
Plus, there’s this strip which makes it pretty clear that it’s a DID-type of situation: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/03-the-thing-i-was-before/find/
And that was before Amazi-Girl and Amber stopped sharing memories.
To be fair we have one single instance where Amber was under a lot of pressure and didn’t recall patrolling as Amazigirl which was something she was doing every night and could pretty much do on automatic. Since then, as far as we know, Amber has pretty much given up the costume, at least temporarily and we haven’t seen Amazigirl at all. None of this talk about alters not sharing memories is actually supported. It is a popular theory in the comment section.
And could be right.
We’ve also seen AG and Amber arguing the day Ryan got stabbed, so it looked like they were splitting further before that too. So regardless of if that was a one time thing, their split is very much getting worse (they never used to argue before).
I consider it mostly emotional compartmentalization. She has been processing her relationship with Sal as Amazi-Girl, hiding behind the mask, but not really as Amber. Amber’s emotions are always a lot more raw. As witness what Amber wound up doing to Ryan.
Well, we’ve actually seen the costume since then – Amber went out wearing it with the intent of smearing Amazi-Girl’s name. Though she wasn’t actually successful.
It’s pretty clear, given the emphasis that scene was given that Amber discovering Amazi-Girl had been out wasn’t just “Oh yeah, the dognapper last night. I’m more tired than I thought. Didn’t remember that for a moment.”
I’m assuming Amazi-Girl has been out and about and that we just haven’t seen it since Amber doesn’t know about it.
Even more explicitly here’s Amber talking to the costume about “running around at night without me”.
Wait, Amber is Amazi-Girl? SPOILERS!
Knowledge is knowing that Amazi-Girl is Amber.
Wisdom is knowing that she is not.
Friendly reminder, high tension moments like these are worth a next page early look on Patreon…..look I think I joined some sort of cult and they’re telling me to bring more people in okay?
Oh no. I’m worried Amber now realizes that Walky could pass for Sal with a wig and is going to find his presence triggering too.
Eh, Walky could only pass for Sal if he put a mess of seaweed on his head.
Also boobs
There are interesting points being made here, yet it still seems to me that Sal is being a judgemental buzzkill rather than a concerned sibling. (Walky doesn’t even get a “Garbage roof? What the eff are you talking about bro?”) I know Sal has a sympathetic backstory, but I’d like to point out she doesn’t show any better judgement than any of the other characters in this strip. She was the one who convinced everyone that Joyce shouldn’t go to the police after Ryan attacked her and that they should all just go to the beach instead. She was the one who seduced Jason (eventually costing him his job) and then expected to be given better grades afterwards. (Please note I am not excusing Jason’s behavior. I am simply saying that (1) the hookup was originally Sal’s idea and (2) there is evidence she did it for reasons other than a quick hatefuck.)
Mostly I just hope Amber comes out of this okay.
There was also the fact she killed Ethan. Thankfully, the Matrix of Leadership resurrected him.
Good times.
That’s Ethan’s headcanon, and he’s sticking to it.
Her choices reflect her beliefs: that ‘the system’ is corrupt. She doesn’t believe in the police being helpful, and she thinks she can exploit her banging Jason for better grades.
I think she believes in surviving on your own and helping yourself.
That’s an explanation, even if it’s not an excuse. Her actions make sense for her.
And Joyce decided to not report Ryan, because she didn’t want to be take out of school, and because she didn’t want to deal with the situation. She had both opinions, Sal’s and Sarah’s…? I think? Someone who said that they should report this to prevent Ryan from targeting other girls.
suduced jason lol is jason not a fucking adult capable of masking his own decisions he fucked up and slept with student and got fired
Didn’t Sal explicitly state that she did it to get a better grade? And Jason slept with her anyway, knowing he wasn’t going to adjust her grade for her.
She did not explicitly state it at the time. She implied it, which Jason apparently didn’t realize.
Oh jeez, I keep forgetting this weird hangup Amber has with Sal
When someone threatens the life of your best friend, I’m not sure that the resulting hangup is exactly weird.
Eh, when you stab said person i think youve gotten even
Amber machine broke.
So I know it’s only been less than a couple days comic time since the breakup but like that judgemental tone from Sal is super unnecessary IMO. Him kissing another person after his girlfriend broke up with him doesn’t mean he’s not hurt or upset or sad about the breakup anymore. People are complicated and allowed to feel more than one thing in short succession after all. Plus he’s not professing his undying love and affection for Amber, they kissed. Mayhaps not the healthiest coping mechanism but like nobody can really blame or judge him for it.
Well it’s not like she’s judging THAT much, ” we all ever copin mechanisms” seems to be referring to exactly what your saying.
Hey, so it’s time for me to give what nobody asked for: my two-bit psych evaluation, with all the authority that occasional telenovelas, a long-forgotten Psych 101 course, and the video game Xenogears can give!
So, we’ve all figured out by now that Amber suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder, as can be evidenced by the specific tags identifying her as two different people, as well as Amber’s not remembering of Amazi-Girl’s actions. Until very recently, I thought she only had two personalities; Amber and Amazi-Girl – however, thanks to the flashbacks with Mike, I think that there’s really four.
Amber -> What the public sees; nerdy girl who plays way too many video games and can code in her sleep. Essentially, the person she is who acts as if nothing terrible had essentially happened to her.
Potato -> The beaten-down, abused, tearful, meek self she had before the hold-up. The person who couldn’t bear to speak loudly or stand up for herself, and only ever had one friend.
O’Malley -> The red-background rage-demon who takes every ounce of anger and frustration and uses it to lash out at everything that it can touch. Created when stresses got way too much for ‘Potato’ and every repressed emotion was too much to hold down.
Amazi-Girl -> Likely created significantly after O’Malley, using the model of the superhero comics that she reads regularly, and possibly with Mike and Ethan’s help. Most likely, Amber had severe anger issues following the attack and needed some way to channel the rage she could no longer contain into a more healthy outlet.
The reason I bring this up is because this strip seems really important due to the re-emergence of the ‘potato’ persona. Yes, this has typically happened every time that Amber sees Sal – these feelings seem to be successfully repressed otherwise – but this is significant because this is the first time after the attack with Ryan, where she not only attacked someone to within an inch of his life, but did so in compromising the Amber persona. Amber’s actions since have been pretty strongly set towards trying to destroy Amazi-Girl and instead just meld the Amber/O’Malley persona into a single, chaotic, destructive, devil-may-care persona.
But Potato is still there. That little kid who was so scared all through her childhood, who sees Sal and can only think about how absolutely terrified she is. And so Amber’s attempts at just trying to accept herself for what she is just isn’t going to work, because not only is Amazi-Girl less artificial than she thinks, she also has this fear and vulnerability within her that isn’t going to go away
I think you’re over thinking this. Dissociative disorders don’t work like in comics, where a character gets split into separate people, each representing one aspect of a single personality. A single alter can be just as complex and multifaceted as anyone else’s personality.
“Potato” isn’t a separate alter. It’s just that Amber’s social anxiety has gotten more manageable as she’s gotten older. This also isn’t the first time since the rally that Sal being nearby has triggered Amber’s panic attacks. There was also the time in the lobby when she was in her privacy chair fort and Sal came to take one of the chairs, and then again after they’d been playing Mario Kart, and Amber had to use ventriloquism to lure Sal away.
“O’Malley” also isn’t an alter. Those red panels happen when Amber loses control of her rage to the point where remembering that loss of control will be scary for her.
There’s also the fact that to my knowledge, alters don’t just appear from nothing. I’m far from an expert, but my understanding is that there usually is some traumatic event that causes the initial dissociation, which for Amber, was the robbery.
Amazi-Girl doesn’t have Amber’s anxiety or her rage (at least not to the same degree) because that’s the entire point of her. Her brain tried to just break off those parts of her so she could escape her feelings of being weak and helpless, as well as scary and uncontrollable
I mean, it’s not IMPOSSIBLE that she has more alters, but I don’t think it’s likely.
You know, FC, you’re probably right- after all, it’s only Amazi-Girl who Amber recognizes as an alter- but I have a hard time with that, as Amazi-Girl seems to be someone who appeared far later than the robbery. I’ll just keep in mind that I don’t know too much about these things and just see what Willis writes next.
She actually has 24 alters, but only 4 of them get real screen time, and 4 get shown in suspiciously-cinematic Webcam diaries. The other 16 are never mentioned outside of saying they exist once, which makes the audience wonder why they were ever included in the first place.
This Is Canon.
More like shotgun.
To be fair, Amber initiated this rebound thing by kissing Walky while he was kinda hesitant about it.
It looks me that Sal still not sure if she’s appalled or impressed!
Meanwhile, Amber is experiencing the very essence of cognitive dissonance as she realises that, yes, Walky is cute and, yes, she should have seen the family resemblance to Sal almost immediately! Possibly, she’s also wondering why Sal wants to see Amazi-Girl.
Just let bro have his hookup Sal, and if you feel the need to comment on it, do it afterwards.
is this vaudeville or what?
It’s the Walkerton siblings; that’s one step over Vaudeville. If Billie were here, it would probably be two or three steps!
If Billie were here, it would be Burlesque.
The Importance of Being Amazi-Girl.
Who’s on Garbage Roof.
Sal: “Maybe your new GF can give you a hand job. After all {take off glove} she did a great job on my hand”.
Amber: That was awesome {double high five}
I like the way you think.
Oh fudge
I forgot
Except, you didn’t say “fudge”.
First rule of garbage roof: it doesn’t matter on garbage roof.
And just like that, paradise has crumbled in to the sea.
Feeling miserable and withdrawn after a breakup is not a moral obligation, it’s an unfortunate consequence.
Is it just me, or do Amber’s blushes look fainter? Does that mean AG is fighting to take control, I wonder?
Oh, She really hadn’t made that connection before, huh?
Had Sal not seen Amber before, or does she not remember?
Wait, Danny had just made the connection too! That whole “oh that makes sense” about Walk/Sal feelings, even though… it shouldn’t matter because he’s bi. But still.
And Second of Danny’s exes to end up with Walky. And the whole business with Sal and Amber’s childhood…
How the hell hasn’t this devolved into fisty cuffs yet? I have a feeling that’s going to happen.
Oh man all these little drama circles are starting to intertwine more and more. It’s multiple different love triangles from various worlds connecting and interacting with each other. I’m surprised the school stands.
Interesting how Danny is in Sal’s world peripherals (or more) a lot, but one interaction I don’t remember seeing a lot of if at all: Ruth and Danny.
Not shipping. I want Billie and Ruth to find something health and be able to ship them forever. Just, curious. As to if they’ve interacted/to the extent of which. If at all.
I think dealing with Danny would drive Ruth to drink. Or want to kill her self. So, mostly what she’s like now.
In terms of recognizing a person, hormones make fools of us all.
Also Sal is not that hot in a fight, she only LOOKS badass.
One interesting dynamic to consider – Sal and Amazigirl have somewhat become friends. Friends-ish. Sort of. But Sal and Amber have yet to resolve anything. So… does it devolve into a fistfight? Does Amber panic and run? Does she… turn into Amazigirl, and then does Amazigirl fight for Amber? Or does Amazigirl then NOT fight for Amber, and diffuses the situation?
What will happen to our dynamic duo? Turn in next week to find out. Same Bat Time, same Bat Channel!
Aaaaaand Amber’s brain broke.
AMBER.EXE has stopped responding.
Abort, Retry, Fail? _
I don’t really understand why people act like it’s morally wrong to make out with people after a breakup. Is there a mandatory mourning-period, which you are’t allowed to break? Do you have to feel shitty and lonely for a certain amount of time?
I don’t think it’s a good idea to rebound-date, but not for these reasons.
Agreed. And speaking of mandatory mourning periods, it really, REALLY bugs me when people say stuff like “it’s been 6 months already. Shouldn’t you be over the death of your ‘insert deceased friend/relative’ already?” As if there’s supposed to be a limit on how long you’re allowed to feel grief over somebody’s passing.
Those two things aren’t even close to being in the same ballpark, though.
Honestly I think it has to do with attitude. Basically the impression people get is that if you find a different partner just after the break-up it means that the previous relationship didn’t really mean much to you.
Often we suspect that the new relationship was actually developing while the old one was still going.
Heh yeah, that too.
The mourning period is less “mandatory” more “no matter how hard you try or who you think you are, you cant just sever all the emotional ties you had to someone in a day, whether you were the dumper or dumpee”
True, but why should that hinder you in making out with someone and why should people morally judge you for it?
It’s not like Amber doesn’t know he was with Dorothy and looked like taking it badly earlier in the day.
And no one’s saying you have to or that it’s been done in the comic. There are people who are still hung up on their high school sweetheart, twenty years later. But just because you have emotional ties to one person doesn’t mean you can’t make new emotional ties to someone else, and it’s ridiculous to think that you can’t start the dating process until you’re 100% over the other person. Shit lingers, and it takes time to get over things.
I think you missed my point.
I was talking about the judgement of other people being about your morality, rather than your mental well-being. I don’t think rebound-smooching is the best idea, either, but again, not what I was referring to…
*drinks some popcorn* this should be gud.
*pops some more Dr. Pepper for the bowl*
Agnes McMarshmallow.
This is some modern Freudian ish.
“I could not beat my enemy so I shall try to bang the next best thing to them.”
Man if any of my siblings ever did this to me I’d be so freaking pissed. Sal is so out of line.
Nah dude, Sal is right. Walky said he loved dorothy, but here he is making out with another girl.. what, less than a day later? That’s not cool. There’s a cool down time to relationships and the fact that walky is rebounding because of some arbitrary boundary to make himself feel better for not making any effort t his life. I’d call my sibling out on that too. Sal’s being a great sister who isn’t enabling walkys kinda shittiness rn
How it it out of line? Dorothy dumped Walky. He gets to do whatever he wants.
I mean I could get Sal suggesting that maybe it’s not the best coping mechanism he could employ, but given that we have a least a few characters in the strip that use alcohol as a coping mechanism it’s certainly not the worst either.
I don’t doubt Dorothy might interpret it that way, given she didn’t end things with Walky because she didn’t like (fucking) him, but because she thinks she can’t afford to be distracted from her goal.
But that’s no reason for Walky not to make out with Amber.
On the other hand, It might be that Dorothy feels better for him making out with someone else, as then she can feel he will do well and will more easily forget about him, as someone in a relationship is off-limits to her.
Or Willis is playing with us again, and Dorothy will make out with Walky after he started something with Amber and she will loose her high ground with Joyce.
It’s not Sal’s place to dictate Walky’s behavior. She should support him after dumping if she wants to be his sibling. If not, she should stay out of his problems.
Someone who wants their family and/or friends to only speak to support, and not to criticize, will eventually find themselves surrounded by a lot of silent people.
or a very few, who always tell them what they want to hear … and no one else.
The fact that Sal is the only person on this roof I actually like makes this entire scenario 100% comedy and 0% drama.
Garbage Ship has now run aground on Garbage Island and is rapidly taking on more garbage
What a fantastic strip. I gotta lotta thoughts since a lot of things are tangled up
1. It’s nice to see that Sal and Walky have this kind of relationship. Sal has all of her reasons to not give a shit about what her Bro does, but here she is calling him out (rightly), and Walky’s panic to smooth it over proves that he knows it’s a little scummy. However, since Sal doesn’t know thonestlyhe name of “Garbage Roof”, so it sounds like not only is he making out with some girl (to al), he just called her garbage, too. That’s a stark character contrast to how walkys been these last few weeks, which a) shows how much pain he’s in and b) shows how little he knows how to deal with it. And he’s barking up the tree of probably the worst person to go to for coping mechanisms.
An attitude I’m seeing in the comments is fascinating- there’s a couple, actually.
1. People are so diverse when it comes to what they think family is supposed to do for you alliance wise and support wise. I don’t believe that you’re supposed to expect blind allegiance to “your side”, or “support no matter what”. I value honesty from my family, since i think it means they really care about me to tell me the tough stuff. Short term it’ll hurt but long term it’ll be important for your self growth to reflect. Sal may have sins in her past, but she hasn’t exactly been given the best hand in making good decisions. She may view walky as the more moral sibling because she considers herself a lost cause, or she can just simply not believe in rebounds. Whatever the case may be, calling out a bad coping mechanism but then letting it go is a great sisterly thing to do, especially since it can be perceived outta walkys personality. However! Bad timing as ever, lmfao. I’d probably save that kinda talk for when sal and walky were alone- not in front of Amber.
2. Hookups =/= Rebounds. I believe hookups are awesome when everyone is all for it. They’re great to have and they’re fun. Rebounds, i think, are inherently different. Walky just got dumped a day or so ago. He’s in emotional, he’s sad, and this has been yet another blow to his self esteem. What was supposed to be an “inconsequential, for fun fling” turned into full blown love, and i think that was an error on Dorothys part to do. I understand why Dotty tried what she tried, but the dumping of walky- in front of two other people no less- definitely knocked him down more pegs than he needed.
So here he is- he’s got a new, pretty crappy coping mechanism that’s more than sticking his head in the sand, and he could use his time to feel terrible and whatever, sure. It’ll hurt for a while, but once it stops hurting, walky could have maybe had some time to reflect on what went wrong and what went right and his feelings about it all. But then when he reciprocated that kiss from Amber and played it off as “oh this made up area in my life is arbitrary, so nothing i do matters”, he puts off that important self reflection time and rides off another high.
That is where i think rebounds get dicey. A rebound three weeks after you get dumped, you get dolled up and go to a bar with some handsome stranger to feel sexy again- hell yeah, do your thing. A rebound where you just… don’t think or process or grieve and just jump at the next chance to feel happy again messes you up, and can potentially mess with the other person because you haven’t even had the chance to process wtf happened. And processing that will definitely take more than a day. Walky got a cute distraction from the pain, but life isn’t a series of distractions where you can just clamp down on all those bad feelings and ignore them. He especially shouldn’t be enabled from someone like amber, who is extra good at ignoring her problems. Those bad feelings gotta come out somehow, and amber is the poster child for that.
3. Rebounds get dicier when there’s percived good feelings still. The breakup wasn’t bad for just walky- Dotty is experiencing some turmoil over what she did- as evidenced by getting easily provoked by mike. Dotty wouldn’t make out with the first time to kiss her. She’s sitting down and DEALING with her issues, even if it’s an occasional thought and being self aware of what she’s doing. She has an important goal and she realized the mistake in inviting distractions from that goal- especially because of how much of a toll it takes on her goals. She realized she messed up and broke up with Walky before they could get even more attached and made it worse. All that being said, they broke up knowing they loved eachother and respected one another.
Then! Dorothy finds out Walky is hooking up with someone a day later. Bam! All of that respect and love gets called into question. We’re humans, we’re gonna doubt someone’s love when they make out with someone so soon after a technically amicable break up (remember, walky didn’t fight to stay and reaffirmed her goals during the break up). And it’s with someone who she’s struck up a friendship with! From Dorothys- and maybe other peoples- perspective, walky had a rebound in the wings. And well, that just isn’t cool.
Tl;dr on Sal’s admonishings of walky- “the pot calling the kettle black is still fuckin’ black” – billie i think
Tl;dr on rebounds: they get better the longer you’ve had time to process them. The closer they are, the more things get blurred and pushed into places where they shouldn’t.
I don’t know what to expect from tomorrow’s strip! Maybe it’s something that invalidates all or one of my therories. Maybe sal’s issue is a comical misunderstanding of garbage roof. Maybe someone finally fuckin’ makes the amber-amazigirl connection, because boy i sure am waiting for it.
Your comment is great and you should feel great. You have expertly explained rebounds and thus why Amber/Walky is a bit skeevy to me. This isn’t about never having rebounds or mourning periods for relationships, Walky’s just throwing himself at the first girl to give him positive attention the day after his break up. It ain’t gonna go well.
Great commentary on why I agree with Sal here.
I think it is important, however, to consider the “break” Dorothy put them on. Like yes, the official “breakup” only just happened this day, but even before now Dorothy had made it clear that she wanted a break from Walky. And sure, cutting him out entirely is definitely more of a sting than leaving a lingering hope of rekindling, but from Walky’s perspective he hasn’t been dating Dorothy for MUCH longer than a day.
Much longer. Two days.
The “pause” lasted less than a day and the actual break up was a couple hours after the pause revealed itself as a lie.
Ah I haven’t been keeping track of the timeline.
That said it is technically TWICE as long 😛
Sooo… Amber is going full PTSD mode and Sal is precariously leaning over the railing. Did Willis say there would or would not be deaths?
No. Relationships aren’t entitled to mourning periods. Walky gets to do whatever he wants with whatever consenting… near-adult? wants to do it with him. Also, Dorothy was a demonstrably terrible girlfriend to Walky, so.
I mean, *I* think that WalkyxAmber is going to implode so spectacularly the blast is going to travel back in time and kill the dinosaurs, but that’s besides the point.
Dina: No, don’t kill the dinosaurs.
I mean, it’s a bit too late for that now. Besides, by her own admission, a sizeable part of why Dina likes dinosaurs is that they’re dead.
I mean, er, Next strip: Dina gets between Walky and Amber and pushes them apart “No dinosaur killing.”
Sal: “Where da hell didJA come from?”
Sal left the roof door open. For Dina, that’s practically an invitation.
I feel like Dorothy was a good girlfriend but is terrible at being a dumper.
Okay, now have a threesome.
I’m really impressed with the coloration of today’s comic. It looks bold, and yet stark. It implies deep emotion. I know, of course, that it’s just because it’s nighttime, and that’s just the evening sky – but I could also envision this as broad daylight, and Amber sees Sal, and learns Sal and Walky are siblings… and suddenly everything is deep blue dark.
Fortunately, it’s still deep blue, and not hateful red!
And just like that, the sanctity of garbage roof was broken.
Also, keeping my fingers crossed that this is where the Sal/Amber thing gets resolved.
So…not related to this comic in particular, but something in the comments these last couple strips got me thinking.
New crack theory (because this seems like a weird thing to focus on in an arc named after Mike): Mike is gonna get Blaine killed so that he can stop hiding his feelings for Ethan. He…might get Amber to “accidentally” kill him.
Sidenote on This comic:
Sal sounds kinda judgey. This kinda makes sense considering Walky has always been the smart, do-no-wrong Golden Child. It’s not likely she’s had many examples of how to voice healthy concern/criticism anyway.
Willis has said no-one’s dying on DoA, so Blaine is unfortunately surviving.
Coma?
Ah, was not aware the Willis had decreed thus.
I find coma an acceptable alteration to the theory.
IIRC, it’s because of the timescale – if someone died in DOA we’d be dealing with it for AGES in real time.
I know. If Blaine died, the celebrations would going on for years of real time. Everybody would still be dancing in the streets and the readers would have forgotten why.
“Well, you see, young’un, in MY day there was this utter shitheel called Blaine O’Malley who wrought great evil. And the he died. Fin. And also, we had to walk to our dorms uphill. Both ways.”
“Wait, how does that even wor-”
“Because that campus was a freaking Escher print!”
I think Sal definitely has the moral high ground in this situation.
In the busy-body none of your damned business judgemental sense.
Wow.
walky needs to not hook up with dannys ex’s tbh like first dorothy now amber this is gonna get awkward after a while…
yeah, salvage divers will have a rough time with this one
Gotta wonder if Sal and Amber remember how they first met???
Amber remembers – and looks like she is going to freak out any minute now.
Sal hasn’t given any indication that she connects Amber to the robbery and her stabbed hand. This might actually pile insult on injury that she doesn’t remember.
I’d like to think that the phrase “coping mechanisms” has triggered insight in Amber into her own DID, and that this will begin a healing process. However, I suspect that Willis is not yet ready to relieve her torment.
Sal’s one to talk, getting the TA fired for something that didn’t matter., but it’s just one strip. Also, Walky got dumped, hard.
Honestly, this is probably *why* Sal is being so judgmental here. She’s projecting her own guilt and self-recrimination onto Walky.
And yeah… Walky was the one dumped by Dorothy, not the other way around, and Dorothy even strung him along with post-breakup “pity” sex. Not cool on her end.
I mean, Amber and Walky are not a good couple (mental health-wise) given their current issues and likelihood of mutual self-flagellation… but that’s not really the issue here.
The sex during the pause? Not cool, but not pity sex either. She just loves him and isn’t good at sticking to the limits she sets.
She did suggest comfort sex when she saw him after the actual breakup, but didn’t follow through with – or even mention it to him. Again, I read that as mostly her wanting him and not really wanting to be broken up, even though she thinks she needs to.
Man, whatever. Dorothy dumped him, not the other way around, and for what I consider pretty stupid reasons at that. You do you, Walky, get that rebound action!
this strip would have been much funnier if sal had been bringing danny up to garbage roof to make out.
You have a delightfully evil sense of humour
I do too because that image just made me cackle.
Yeah no, Sal can fuck off.
This art is weird…
It’s weird, isn’t it…???