This Saturday and Sunday I’m going to be at the Columbus, Ohio, downtown Metro Library for CXC! But two weeks after that, on Friday, October 12, we’ve just inked in my annual return to Bloomington, Indiana! I’ll be at Vintage Phoenix Comics that day from 5-7pm, for signings and things!
I’m going to amass as many “Cat Statue” Pokestop gifts as I can.
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Aw, Walky and Billy are friends. 🙂
Though one would never admit to that.
If I were to put their relationship into proper context I would say Walky is the little brother Billie never wanted but still has so they might as well try to make it work.
Nah.
They’re siblings – in some ways, far moreso than he and Sal are, and Billie doesn’t seem to see Sal as a sister.
Pretty much. At least, I sure fucking hope she doesn’t, given she drunkenly tried to mack on her once. Sal did not appreciate that.
Plus, when Joyce was shipping Billie and Walky, Billie told her in no uncertain terms she’d rather bang Sal.
“She has multiple personalities and likes to hit people. A lot.”
Have enough personalities and you are literally everybody.
Yes, we are.
“Again, not narrowing it down.”
Panel 4: is Billie glancing outward at the cartoonist and acknowledging his obvious preferences?
Breaking the fourth wall in the fourth panel. So meta.
Or just,” yeah, I do, too”.
(Though she’s wearing contacts now)
Hee hee. Should have thrown in something about short stature, IIRC.
Of course the first person Walky goes to is Billie 😛
Billie’s probably his closest friend, and who he went to when he had his problems with Sal before Walky and her made up, where Billie actually had decent-ish advice from what I remember, so he could do worse. Who else would he have to go to? He doesn’t really know Joe that much, and Joyce is too close to the situation.
Yeah like hell he’s going to go to Joyce with this and we all know getting dating advice from Joe is a bad idea. The only two people I can see him going to is Billie or Jason and if I had to choose between the two well I think I’d get better advice on girls from a girl rather than the dude who nearly destroyed his life do to a recent fling.
I hadn’t considered Jason, but that’s definitely a conversation that could be interesting. Speaking of interesting, I wonder how it’d play out if Walky knew Sal and Jason had their fling. Like, I don’t *think* he knows it was Sal, does he? I maybe just forgot.
He does not. Though there were a few hints.
has “hey, Billie, can you keep a secret” ever been a good idea ?
only if the secret is booze.
I’m actually rather sure that “Billie, can you keep the booze” is an even worse idea..
She can only keep that in her belly.
But she does not share it, so technically…
she didn’t have a problem with sharing some with Walky last time
“She saved Dorothy’s life!”
“Oh, right, Agnes.”
I wonder if Willis will ever fix all the mistags for Agnes.. :/
Billie: “That is literally everybody! …. except me. Because I don’t wear glasses. Being a popular girl and all that.”
Billie doesn’t wear a hat either, so it might soon suck to be Walky’s privacy.
It’s too bad she doesn’t, I think Billie looks better with glasses.
There aren’t that many dark haired girls in the cast, are there? Billie, Sal, Sarah, Amber, Dina, Mary… Carla has dark red hair I suppose.
Malaya, Marcie, Roz (Replace Marcie with Mary and you get a line up I like to call “The slightly unfavorable 3”)
Roz can be a little overbearing, but I’d hardly compare her to Malaya or Mary.
Yeah, Roz generally is pretty okay.
Roz is typically a good enough person, with some really rotten moments. I guess that makes her the counter to Robin, who has been a bad person with moments of not-so-rotten flashes. Speaking of, wonder what’s happening with her. Guessing we’ll find out, eventually.
Yeah, and Roz’s rotten moments aren’t generally worse than most non-Mike cast members, really.
I wouldn’t even compare Malaya to Mary.
Malaya’s annoying. Mary’s a villain.
Each one of the 3 are on are their own level, Mary obviously being the worse because she’s in her own League.
•Malaya -Being the most tolerable of the group because she’s just a run of the mill obnoxious douchebag who doesn’t mind being hated by everyone but still manages to play nice. Plus she hasn’t done anything as cold blooded to put someone else in Harm’s Way like the other two, at least not yet.
•Roz- a special case because for me a it’s hard not to notice the parallel between her and her sister. In compare and contrast one thing the two have in common are that they both seem to be completely oblivious To how their actions seem to put others at risk, much like Robin supporting legislation that would crucify individuals like Becky and Leslie and not thinking much of it or Roz getting her so called ” favorite college professor in a life-ruining scandal” just to bring down her sister an obvious Vendetta masqueraded as a crusade. But the difference between them is something else, Robin doesnt have a fully developed sense of morality or a proper conscious but as for Roz she does so what her excuse?
•Mary- I have personal distaste for her, obviously being the worst of the three even though Christian upbringing should include the need to share love and compassion for all including Thy neighbor and thy enemy and yet she has none of that. She has nothing but contempt in her heart for everyone around her and viewing them as nothing but either a pawn or an adversary. While at the same time she sees no fault in our self but all the fault in the world in everyone else. She’s the worst combination of Pride and Wrath, and she seems to have Embrace those two core aspects of herself then Christian beliefs she claims to care so much about.
Personally I have nothing against them except for Mary, but I just call it how I see it.
Leslie fully agreed to try and seduce Robin. That was a plan she accepted and went into with her eyes open. That’s not on Roz. If she’d leaked the picture, it would be, but she’s already said she didn’t do it and we don’t have any reason to think she was lying.
Yeah, Malaya’s unpleasant, but there’s plenty where I can see where she isn’t a flat-out horrible human being or something, she’s just obnoxious.
Mary is simply trash, and is by the “grace” of Blaine, Ross, and Ryan that she’s not rock-bottom tier. I’d put her well below Linda Walkerton or Joyce’s mom, and somewhere in the vicinity of Ethan’s mom.
Raidah, Rachel, Sierra, Rose, Bloodrose, Sue, Faye…
Aww dang Walky, guess you’re gonna have to go learn more about Amber. Hop to it!
And I see that “butt” there. Is that supposed to be some kind of stealth pun? Or is that just Walky’s natural speech?
It’s a symptom of early-onset Butts Disease.
yes hello i sit on walky
Hardly ‘early onset’ – Willis has had it for years…
I mean, it’s even joined the commenters… ^^
…but(t), eighteen is far too young! And Walky has shown an awareness of The Disease before: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2011/comic/book-2/01-pajama-jeans/vouch/
I just noticed Walky pretty much has the same or a very similar accent to Sal, but no one ever calls him out on it.
But Wally doesnt say “Ah” for “I”. I forget what other Southernisms she uses, but that’s the most noticeable. Walky has more of a colloquial or lazy Midwestern accent. I grew up in Michigan, which isn’t Indiana, but it is the Midwest. I still struggle not to talk like that, nearly 40 years after I left.
Walky, not Wally.
Yeah, Walky doesn’t have an accent. He just speaks sloppily, like Becky.
*plays some Stevie Nicks on the hacked Muzak*
Come on, Billie. You are supposed to be the gossip around here. How you supposed to do that without remembering people? Get yourself a clipboard or something. STEP UP YOUR GAME!
buttcha to you too, billie
*walky
fuck
A fake face tattoo that she removes every time she’s Amazi-Girl *would* help with the secret identity.
“You know, Amber. Athletic? Chubby? Angry? Mentally ill?”
“… Are you hitting on me? Is this some weird new form of negging?”
Getting Billie to keep a secret is a horrible idea.
I don’t know. She never really let slip verbally about the lesbian suicide pact she had with Ruth. She just rolled low on her stealth checks.
I was going to say that, if it hadn’t been for Mary, no one would have known — but I think it’s more accurate to say that, if it hadn’t been for Mary, no one really cared.
I don’t think Billie cares who you’re potentially boning Walky.
Aww, Billie cares at least a little. Yesterday she did try pretty hard to help Walky cope with his breakup.
She’d definitely never admit that she cares though.
The amount of cute women with glasses in this college is astounding.
given how Walky and Amber are now mirroring each other, I do hope they make this relationship solid.
Walky, try ‘the girl at Joyce’s party who refused to drink and wasn’t Joyce’.
“THAT nerd, even when I brought the good stuff.”
Considering how spectacularly unhelpful Billie’s advice has been in the past, why in the blue blazes is Walky going to her for advice now? Walky I’m not questioning your methods I’m just- wait, no, that is exactly what I am doing. What the hell are you doing Walky?
Billie is probably Walky’s best friend in the entire campus. I don’t know if he’s so much looking for advice as much as someone to confide in like Amber just did with Ethan. Advice will probably be given though, and it will probably be bad.
Good point, this ship was destined to crash long before it ever set sail, wasn’t it?
They’ll be fine. Walky has enough sense to not listen to Billie’s advice when it’s clearly bad
Hey now, when walky had a falling out with sal, billie’s advice was pretty decent!
…because they’re friends and he wants to tell her?
I don’t think he has any other person to turn to. I can think of three people who were close to him, Dorothy, Amber and Billie. Billie is the only viable choice of those three.
And seriously, there aren’t many people at all in this cast that could give you decent relationship advice.
You left out his sister… but that’s probably a wise decision.
They are related, I don’t think they are close.
Try “Shorter, rounder Dorothy.”
Yes, but it’s in the shape of a face mask.
Amber and Billie literally had only two conversations, one was briefly after Billie very much failed to get it on with Danny after interviewing him about Amazi-Girl [ahhh, early-comic drama], and during the other Billie was very, very drunk.
Ok she’s that girl who punched out her dad on parents da- oh wait no that’s probably not tagline she wants to be known by. Ok she’s that one girl who saved Dorothy, Joyce, and the others by shanking up that serial rapist- Wait that’s not good either…. she’s that brunette Dorothy look alike that’s just as nerdy but has a slightly better athletic build and bigger boobs? I’m sorry that’s the best I can do okay!
“The one who saved Dorothy’s life” would be a line that makes sense to Billie, -even Billie will have noticed the even -, but would call Walky’s decision to start something with her even more.
*
Puts in the missing ‘t’ and ‘into question’ and sneaks out again.
*
Huge Dork describes everyone in this comic.
It’s like Willis is airing his character kinks.
I’m telling Mike you said that.
Mike was trolling TFwikis in order to seduce Ethan. That’s huge dorkery, even in evil.
That is literally EVERYONE.
Dorothy will know about this relationship before the day is out.
She’s gonna use her investigative journalism skills to grill Becky.
She ain’t got time for that. Her schedule’s booked.
This secret is even less well kept than Amazi-girls secret identity.
and at the rate of this comic, we should see the end of this day in about two years.
The timeline doesn’t drag on that long… The last two chapters were just over 100 strips each. According to preview panels, there’s a wardrobe change coming sometime in mid-to-late November.
Closer to December. IIRC, this strip ends on December 3rd.
*chapter
I don’t know who you are🎶 Not even a little bit🎶
Since Walky’s in Forest Quad, I can’t wait to see him run into the other residents.
Forest Quad is kind of DoA’s version of McAwesome’s, so who would his equal-but-opposite be?
I wanna say Zaph since he’s the only male Forest resident seen so far. His previous doppelgänger, Faz, wouldn’t work as a counterpart in this universe.
But Faz and Zaph are letter by letter mirror images.
That is true. But I don’t see much overlap between the two characters in this universe. Then again the same can also be said for Walky since there is little known about Zaph. Essentially I didn’t select Faz because he’s a high school student here instead of in college like the majority of the cast.
If they say each others’ names, do they get sent back to the Fifth Dimension?
Okay new theory: people are going to find about out Amber and Walky because they’re going to tell _everyone_ except Dorothy, Danny, and presumably Mike
But they will all be told: “Don’t tell anyone else! It’s a secret!”
And contrary to expectations, Dorothy and Danny will never actually find out. Eventually everyone will assume everyone knows and Dorothy and Danny will just keep missing it by pure chance.
looking back it seems Amber and Billie have had very little direct interaction except when Billie was trashed.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/tag/billie+amber/
The only real straight up interaction they’ve had is when Amber helped Billie back to her room when she was drunk off her ass and depressed about Ruth.
right, that’s what I referring to trashed=drunk
Yeah, they really haven’t interacted enough for Billie to remember much about Amber at this point.
she dated the journalism guy you tried to seduce
What happened to her journalism gig anyway?
Billie got set aside when Dorothy mentioned to Daisy she saw AmaziGirl thus taking Billie’s story (and place).
It sort of makes sense that Amber is the kind of girl that you wouldn’t remember if you weren’t spending time with her. She’s almost as good as Dina at being invisible.
Of course, this is Billie we’re dealing with here. If something does not directly involve her or the inflation of her self-image, she seems to have little wish to know anything about it!
Billie also has just barely interacted with Amber. It’s not always something insidious. Likewise, Amber would probably barely know Billie if not for the very public reveal of her and Ruth’s relationship, leading to her moving dorms. The two of them have not properly been introduced to each other without Billie being drunk or there being several people around.
But hasn’t Amber become a minor celebrity due to the stabbing?
I can’t imagine that people in the hall haven’t hear who took the pastor’s son down.
As I said, if it doesn’t directly involve Billie in some way, she tends to just ignore it! 😛
That doesn’t mean that Billie would know her automatically by name, though. If Walky had pointed her out, sure, Billie could recognize her, most likely. But saying a relatively common name and giving a vague description like ‘glasses, dark hair’- that doesn’t really do anything, no.
Though most of the talk about the stabbing would have used the name, right?
I’d actually expect her to be more likely to know that Amber was the one who cut up Ryan, but not be able to recognize her by sight.
And Amber isn’t that common a name that she wouldn’t go first to “girl on our floor who stabbed the rapist”.
That really depends. Other than Amber’s admittedly skewed perspective of everyone knowing exactly who she is and judging her for what happened with Ryan, we really haven’t seen the reactions from anyone else on their floor besides people who knew her- Dorothy, Joyce, Dina, Ruth, Danny, Ethan. It’s very likely that all everyone else knew was that someone from their dorm cut up a guy, but they don’t necessarily know who.
Carla explicitly didn’t recognize her: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-8/01-face-the-strange/soap/ So, the knowledge about who it was that cut up Ryan isn’t universal. And Ruth and other authority figures would probably try to keep names from spreading as long as possible until the police investigation is done, to try and keep Amber from being harassed on campus or anything.
Or more simply: sometimes names just don’t stick in your head. It doesn’t matter if it’s a prolific enough event, that doesn’t guarantee that those details will be remembered.
Billie still struggles at friendship
Dunno, I think Walky got exactly what he looked for.
In a changing world, it’s comforting when some things stay the same
Remember, Walky speaks fluent Billiese.
It’s also an amusing parallel to Walky pretending not to remember Amber’s name. Or recognize her when Amazi-Girl unmasked.
Even if that thing is your best friend being a self-obsessed tool.
#ExactlyWhatYouSaidButWithoutSarcasm
Amber and Walky: Sooo, we should keep this under wraps for now, yeah?
*within one morning, Sal, Dina, Becky, Ethan, and Billie all know about their relationship*
They are not good at keeping their relationship secret are they?
Listen, there is such a thing a secrets, and there is such a thing as bragging rights.
Walky, why are you even telling Billie about this? Who you’re dating is no business of anybody else’s unless they were previously ex’s (and that’s just to avoid potentially awkward social gatherings).
I think he’s either so happy that he just wants to tell someone or wants advice concerning the rebound-thing or he noticed that something is off. I mean, she stormed off the roof and threw away the mask. He should have noticed that.
Because Billie is his friend and he wants her to have his back
I tell things I care about to friends, I don’t get why he wouldn’t?
Because Billie is his childhood friend and he wants to tell someone because he’s excited about it.
He doesn’t have an obligation to tell her, but he wants to.
“She is Amazigirl”
“YOU ARE DATING YOUR OWN SISTER YOU SICK BONGO!?”
If this comment system had upvotes, you’d have earned one.
+1
+2
It seems to be that ‘is a huge dork’ is a massive positive for Walky. Well done sir!
==//== LOOKING FOR SUGGESTIONS ==//==
Hello, fellow Dummies! (Agers? Walkyphiles?)
David has sent out his surveys for those of us in the $300 tier, and for the first time I am stumped as to who to choose for my makeout art. In the past I’ve chosen:
— Sarah/Jacob
— Sarah/Danny
— Leslie/Robin
— Leslie/Mindy
— Penny/Joe (I think I like this one the best)
Hmm, since this is the 7th book, it feels like I should have 6th one there, but I can’t recall it, although I do have both the 2005 & 2013 Ruth/Billie makeouts he posted.
So anyway, I’m looking for suggestions for this year! I’m thinking someone who isn’t main cast… so no one I already have, plus no Walky, Dorothy, Joyce, Sal, Amber, Dina, Becky.
Maybe Daisy? Pudding Head? I’d pick Galasso for laughs, but who to makeout with? A sub? 😀
IMO, you should choose the one you like the best. No need to distrust one’s gut in a situation like this!
…Or, you know, other parts of your anatomy.
If you have not grown tired of Leslie, perhaps her and Anna so you have the full set of Leslie-relationship-THAT-WILL-IN-NO-WAY-END-BADLY-THANK-YOU-VERY-MUCH?
How about Galasso and his wife? 😀
Ooh, yeah, seconding this. They have the bonus of being potentially insightful!
Galasso has a WIFE?! Have we seen her? (why don’t I remember this?)
Pamela has appeared, but only once, so it’s not surprising. She may have been mentioned a few other times as well.
So far, it’s been much less dramatic than her role in the Walkyverse, despite her being alive here.
Probably BECAUSE she’s alive here, if we’re being honest.
Leslie/Mindy is a good idea. Mindy could use some smoochin
I believe Leslie/Mindy was listed as one of the ones they already chose in the past.
Yep! That was last year’s art. I had requested it just before we found out that Leslie & Mindy wouldn’t be a couple. 🙁
ALL THE MORE REASON IT WAS A GOOD CHOICE
How can the answer be anything but Becky/Dina
I just had a mental image of AG getting the mask tattooed on her face while Amber was asleep, and I am not a fan of that thought.
…Now you’ve given that mental image to everyone else.
Worse, it doesn’t seem that out of character. AG is taking more and more control away from Amber. She’s already taking Amber’s body out crimefighting without her knowledge or consent. How long before she attempts to suppress Amber permanently?
To be fair, Amber is the one attempting to suppress Amazi-Girl at the moment. To keep her from having any time in control. That’s why Amazi-Girl is taking the body without knowledge or consent, because she can only do so while Amber is asleep.
You could argue that the risks of crimefighting make it worse, but it’s not like it’s Amber’s body and Amazi-Girl needs special consent to use it.
True, I suppose. There’s just something I find about AG’s behaviour to be… unsettling. The way she seemed to be losing touch with reality earlier, and how she tried to assert control whenever Amber saw Sal.
And yeah, the crimefighting thing is probably my main concern. Even if it’s been for a good cause, she’s constantly risking injury or death.
That wasn’t so much AG trying to assert control when Amber saw Sal, but Amber ditching control either in a triggered panic attack or to avoid going into a red rage attack on her.
And the crimefighting thing certainly has issues, but my main point was that it’s Amber doing the suppressing and it has nothing to do with the risks of crimefighting. It’s a conflict between alters over who’s in control, not anything more reasonable.
AG doesn’t have any right to Amber’s body whatsoever because it’s not a person it’s a trauma symptom. It’s a harmful dissociative coping mechanism run amuck not a real sapient person with human rights. Like Amber isn’t an alter she is the real identity and AG is the psychological equivalent of a tumour.
No, that’s not how DID works.
DID is one of the most controversial forms of mental illness because nobody is entirely sure how it works so I highly doubt you have the answers.
What I have is lots of stories from people with actual experience. Sure, anecdotes aren’t data, but when a bunch of people say “trying this made things worse” then maybe believe them?
also: Myth: Individuals with DID can choose to get rid of, kill off, or immediately integrate their alters.
Fact: Alters are dissociated parts of the self. They cannot be gotten rid of or killed any more than one’s traits, flaws, or other mental health symptoms can be magically be gotten rid of or cured.
and that website cites its sources – that section is apparently from “International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation. (2011). Guidelines for treating dissociative identity disorder in adults, third revision. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 12(2), 115-187.”
so I guess it wasn’t all anecdata after all.
huh. that source is itself available on the internet and is an interesting read. and I found another relevant quote:
“Helping the identities to be aware of one another as legitimate parts
of the self and to negotiate and resolve their conflicts is at the very core of
the therapeutic process. It is countertherapeutic for the therapist to treat any
alternate identity as if it were more “real” or more important than any other.”
http://www.isst-d.org/downloads/GUIDELINES_REVISED2011.pdf
Trauma victims have no rights to their own body’s? What?
That’s not even remotely what I said stop being willfully obtuse.
AG can’t get rid of Amber any more than Amber can get rid of AG.
They could still mess up their life quite a bit, though :/ which Amber was trying and utterly failing to do until she “helped” Walky with his grades.
I knew what the title of this strip was going to be before I scrolled down.
If this doesn’t end with Billie FINALLY figuring out who Amazi-Girl is, then she doesn’t deserve to ever find out lol