oh hey tumblr’s being crazy stupid and getting rid of all smut and also random pictures of whatever that its algorithm thinks is smut, while also keeping, like, white nationalist stuff on there, because what in hell
anyway, related, slipshine is having a special deal right now where you can subscribe for $10 (NSFW link) instead of the usual $25, so jump on that if you want access to my many smutty comics on there for an extremely rare discount
Loading ...
so much for nonviolent solutions
…ah who needs those anyway!
OH SHIT I SHOULD RENEW MY SLIPSHINE THEN
technically, it’s a non-violent solution. It’s rerouting the violence to trying to help their team win. it’s a helpful outlet 😀
Yes but its organised violence.
Socially acceptable violence (TM)
CONFLICT RESOLVED!
CONFLICT RESOLVED!
CONFLICT RESOLVED!
MODULATING PHASE!
Simpsons quote
Dr Who quote
Oooh whoever called it, you get a cookie ! or two
I mean….everyone called it.
Cookies for everyone!
Yay!
You rock!
There were a few votes for “makeouts” as the potential outlet but this is fine.
Those who choose to believe that the make-up makeouts took place between last strip and this one are free to do so.
I didn’t! I expected more punching!
Yeah, I thought it seemed pretty clear Sal was trying to justify them continuing to be vigilantes, as an outlet
After she told Dotty that she was forever through with the punching thing and not her hero? AND after she said to Amber that she’d try to go big in the other direction? No, vigilantism was not going to happen.
I was hoping for Bread Baking – ya gotta punch that dough ya know.
The outcome was hardly a surprise, Willis had Sal in roller derby gear all over his Tumblr.
Not I. I honestly didn’t think they’d go do Roller Derby. Shows what I knew.
Gonna need a lot of cookies since almost everyone called it. I may be one of the few who guessed wrong.
Oh, I also didn’t see this coming at all. I probably should have.
I predicted it. But I also predicted every other possible outcome I could think of as well.
I didn’t. XD I had a feeling that Marcie would witness Sal and Amber’s fight and become ever more distant from Sal as a result. I’m glad to see I was wrong. 🙂
Carla isn’t tagged?
No. No, she isn’t. Your point?
Sal’s jacket is tagged with Carla’s name, does that count?
How could it not?
Carla IS tagged?
Doubly so.
Is one of those a DRAMA TAG?
Roller derby? Wow Willis really pulled the drama tag THIS time!
*Has just arrived on Earth 3 days ago and has no idea what a drama tag is, but is trying to blend in*
Mystical artifact Galasso owned in the other universe. Inhibited character development.
This is now the best timeline
Well, except for the one where Mike becomes the Cheese.
ITYM storyline. And, yes, last-minute Carl–ification always makes stories better.
My Little Pony? Better with Carla.
Game of Thrones? Better with Carla.
Walky Performs A Sex? …
OKAY, maybe not ALWAYS…
I’d get a Slipshine account for that.
If Carla appeared in “Walky Performs a Sex”, she would simply stand there and make the most amazing comments on how freaky and disgusting the human body is, and especially the reproductive rituals.
This would make it impossible for Walky and Dorothy to ever have sex again, as they’d always remember these facts whenever they’d start getting hot with each other.
I think that’s “Goddamnit Malaya”
Still waiting on that Dukes of Hazard slash fiction collab!
Sal writes the Waylon Jennings commentary.
A little disappointed the punchline wasn’t them angrily playing Mario Kart, but this works, haha.
that could come later on, they have that in common as well
Roller Derby is kind of angry Mario Kart cosplay, though…
…
…
What?
Angry Mario Kart LARPing.
Do derby teams do themes? Because if so I really hope there’s one where all the names are Mario Kart themed…
Look at that, everyone’s prediction was right.
And the jacket thing got tied in too.
The future’s uncertain
And the end is always near.
Let it roll, baby, roll.
Let it roll, baby, roll.
Let it roll, baby, roll.
Let it roll–all night long!–The Doors
Oh my god I’m so happy this is the result. This works for so many friendships.
everything went so much better than expected! \:D/
oh my god i love when willis pops the balloon.
Now that all the tensions cleard this seems like the start of a good friendship, filled with roller derby and Mario Kart…. then again this feels like unfair match up for whoever the other team is there are to many power houses here.
Yep, the other teams are effed. Assuming Malaya and Sal actually play instead of killing each other.
Who’s to say that Amber and Sal are actually going to end up on the same team as Marcie, Carla, and Malaya? And for that matter, is it even canon that those three are on the same team together? Derby is kinda like pro wrestling in that regard … everybody is in the same league or umbrella organization and does what the head honcho tells them to do. I see Sal becoming a jammer for one team and Amber, with her low center of gravity, being a blocker for another. Hilarity ensues.
The roller derby leagues i have seen typucally have 2 types of teams… A “house league” with multiple teams from the same organization/city and an all-star team that plays teams from other cities.
Carla doesn’t play, and Marcie asked Sal to join her roller derby team earlier, so I presume you get to pick your team.
Given that at least one of them has undocumented super-powers, yup.
Now that DYW has released this fully functional
battleroller derby team, he can start hinting at the powers more. Joyce teleports, Sal probably spider-climbs, and can do the skill thing.Dina has the power of stealth, Becky has the power of the exact opposite of stealth.
So you’re saying that Becky is a tank? I can see that…
Well she has automatic taunt at any rate.
She’s also a lesbian.
I am looking forward to the spinoff sports manga.
I would unironically LOVE that. I love sports manga for all its overdramatic flaws and pacing problems, but I need proper character development and interaction. Only Beniiro Hero and Kuroko’s Basketball have ever really done it right for me. Then there’s Liar’s Game, which is basically Death Note: The Sports Manga.
I need a LOT of roller derby plotlines ASAP.
😀 😀 😀
Aw, Marcie is so pleased.
Also, the Sal/Marcie friendship lives!
Was there ever a doubt? ;P
Maybe! This could have all gone in a much more chaotic and depressing direction.
I gotta admit, I thought it would take a bit longer. Even if they’re not fully back to normal, this is definitely a step in the right direction.
Yes, so much doubt. All the doubt
An immense sense of relief just washed over me.
Let me remind you that this IS a Willis comic and the other shoe is out there waiting to drop. But today is a good day.
Maybe this is the other shoe. The first shoe was the original fight between Sal and Amber, and now the peace is the other shoe.
You’ll probably say that Willis has three legs and there’s still more shoe.
Willis is a millipede. There is always more shoe.
The trick is he picks up the first shoe while you are distracted by the other one dropping.
That’s a mental image I didn’t need
Yes. Good work, Derek.
Did Carla get a jacket that says Sal on it?
They booth say Rutten, so matchy-matchy they are.
But Carla didn’t have one in Amber’s size lying around?
I’m sure that can be arranged
This has got to be the most positive note a DoA storyline could end on. It might not be perfect, but it’s darn awesome!
🙂
Why are there onion ninjas in my room?
Damn onion ninjas, always sneaking in to cut onions when you’re not expecting it.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Unfollow me right now, Marcie’s smile is the only fucking thing I’m gonna be talking about all goddamn week.
LOOK AT IT. That’s frigging Joyce-esque in its adorability. It looks like it can make freaking flowers grow.
…Oh, right, plot shit.
Malaya, honey, I love you, and no offence, but watching someone practice (not even a game, just practice) sounds boring as shit, no matter how much Sal may have wanted to hang out with Marcie.
Neither Sal nor Amber looks super convinced that this is a good plan. Which, hey, contact sports can be either a great solution for working out aggression or it can be a terrible one, and sometimes the line on that gets blurry. God knows there were times I was in the letter of the law for a contact sport and nothing LOOKED like I, particularly, was working out aggression, but internally it sure felt that way sometimes.
And ha, Carla got her matching jacket. Of course she did. I think I can hear Cerberus squeeing right now.
…NOW LOOK AT MARCIE’S FRICKIN SMILE AGAIN IT IS THE CUTEST MOST ADORABLE THING EVER EXCEPT THE TIME SHE RAN UP AND HUGGED SAL.
Yeah, I’m biased, what of it?
On that note, I don’t think this will shock anyone, but this has been my favourite arc yet. I found SO MANY satisfying things about it. Obviously, I’m biased because Sal’s my favourite, but honestly, this was just SUCH a well written arc and the art’s been on point. Willis deserves all the kudos and even if I somehow end up hating everything that comes after, I’ll consider my money well spent for having seen this. Thank you SO MUCH, Willis. This arc had consistently made my day every day it’s been going. I can’t say enough good things about it. I want to print the whole thing out and wallpaper my room with it. I’ve already said this was basically like a list of things I wanted (Carla and Sal interacting, Joyce getting snapped at about boundaries even if it didn’t take, Sal and Marcie interacting again, more Fuckface, Dina being adorable, Danny and Sal hanging out, Ethan and Sal talking (which still makes me melt because he was SO SWEET), Sal finding out about Amber, so much good backstory and more insight into Sal, Amber and Sal both starting to make progress in their respective arcs (even if I have misgivings on the way said progress came about), and so much else I can’t even think of right now. I’m too excited.
Just – AHHHHHHH! *happy flailing* I LOVE EVERYONE IN THIS BAR!
Everything you said!
Heh. Happy, BBCC? 🙂
Maaaaaaaybe. 😉
Oh who am I kidding? MY BABY IS SMILING! <333333
For the record – if my neighbours hated this comic, I'm pretty sure the whole BLOCK hates it after tonight.
Your elation could power at least a couple small towns by now, if not more. Your neighbors can probably partly blame other commentors for egging you on a bit, though : D
Oh yeah, I’ve been throwing all of y’all under the bus. I blame you for the positive reinforcement. 😛
I hope this isn’t the end of Amazi-Girl and Sal’s other extra-curricular activities – at least until Gash-Face is put away, regardless of which one of them is the sidekick.
I think he is already put away… having a knife stuck into his internal organs kinda put the end on his storyline.
Stick a knife in him, he’s done.
Or a phone.
(No, I’m not gonna let that die.)
Better put it on the charger, then.
I think there’s a trial coming up, which is why AG and Sal were out kicking butt in the first place, no? Gash-Face’s buddies were out trying to intimidate possible witnesses, and Amber had flooded various forums with fake addresses to see who would show up.
a trial is not really compatible with the timing of this comic. It’ll take a few weeks (=a few years, for us) just to start, and more to finish.
It’s certainly not the end of Amazi-Girl and there’s a lot of drama to mined there still.
Amber may think she’s no longer needed and Sal may think the roller derby will be a substitute for burning off anger, but Amazi-girl knows nothing about any of this.
Amazi-girl’s gonna be looking for her sidekick eventually too.
Yeah we came to enlist……for the OPPOSITE team! Everyone quick! Splashback on Malaya!
Alt text: end of storyline
Wait, if this storyline is over… then why isn’t anyone in bed? Someone should be in bed! I refuse to recognise the legitimacy of this ending!
That’s only for the ending of the book, not the ending of the storyline.
As I understood it, “one person in bed” = end of storyline, while “two people or more in bed” = end of the book. But I’m not known for understanding things very well, so I will tentatively recognise the legitimacy of this ending.
“two people or more in bed” = Slipshine
Storylines always end at midnight, regardless of whether or not someone’s in bed on-panel.
Also, when would roller derby practice be over but midnight?
Sal was lying on her bed before she went to talk with Amber, so it still kinda works.
Well, let’s run the numbers! 😀
Ends without the kids in bed
1) Move in Day – ends with AG revealing herself to Danny
2) Uphill From Here – Dorothy collecting Monkey Master toy from empty classroom
3) Men are from Beck, Women are from Clark – Ends with Sal sneaking through the window while Billie’s sleeping on the chair
4) The Bechdel Test – ends with Sarah snarking about Joyce dating Ethan, who she didn’t realize was Jewish. Sarah asked if she was a chaser (because she’d dated Joe as well). Joyce says she just has an affinity for God’s chosen people and Sarah called her the 11th plague.
5) Media Rumble – Joyce invites Sarah to dinner with her and Dorothy. Sarah says no. Joyce tries to push a little, telling her to make friends, and Sarah declines far more sharply.
6) Pajama Jeans – ends with Walky returning from the beach. Mike tells him he ordered him some pajama jeans. Walky doubts Mike is truly an asshole.
7) Choosing My Religion – Ends with Mike introducing himself to Dorothy during her and Walky’s first kiss.
8) The First Step Towards Recovery – Ends with AG and Danny playing Mario Kart.
9) Time Keeps On Slippin’ – Ends with Walky asking Dorothy if she’s sure it’s okay for him to touch her breast. Dorothy swears one day she’ll date a non-virgin.
10) Saturday’s All Right For Slighting – Ends with Sarah screaming at Billie that choosing to call Dana’s dad was the hardest choice she’d ever made, but she was willing to do it again for Joyce after the party. Billie says Joyce seems okay. Sarah says they better hope Billie is right.
11) If the Shoe Splits – Ends with Sal coming home after banging Jason. Billie says she went to town on an authority figure she thought hated her. Sal thinks about the weird synergy there.
12) Guess Who’s Coming To Galasso’s – Ends with AG and Danny making out after he helps her put the street sign back up.
13) Answers in Hennessy – Ends with Dorothy studying for three days straight and pouting about it.
14) Up All Night to Get Vengeance – Ends with Dorothy and AG having their first interview
15) The Butterflies Won’t Fly Away – Ends with AG and Danny cuddling on the stairs.
16) Glower Vacuum – Ends with AG and Sal on the roof watching for Ryan, Sal deletes the tracker app AG gave her.
17) The Thing I Was Before – Ends with Dorothy horrified by Amber stabbing Ryan.
18) This is the Way That We Love – Ends with Danny complimenting Sal on her singing. And then ruining the moment with a dorky song.
19) Faz is Great – Ends with Faz giving Blaine Amber’s USB.
20) Flying to the Red – Ends with Sal and Amber enlisting in the roller derby team and Marcie with an absolutely fucking precious smile.
In Bed Endings
1) Yesterday Was Thursday – Ends with Sarah admitting she cares about Joyce, since she thinks Joyce won’t remember. Joyce calls her big sister and Sarah calls her little sister and I died from adorable.
2) Strange Beerfellows – Ends with Joyce waking up screaming for help after a nightmare. Sarah asks if she’s okay, Joyce says she’s fine and doesn’t want to talk. Sarah seems unconvinced.
3) Just Hangin’ Out With My Family – Ends with Walky in bed texting Dorothy, AG on patrol, Joyce sleeping while cuddling a stuffed Dexter…and a supposedly sober Billie drinking in bed.
4) The Only Dope For Me Is You – Ends with Amber in bed, telling Dina today was a dumb day. Dina offers sympathy via light physical contact, making Amber smile.
5) I Was A Teenage Churchmouse – Ends with Walky having a flashback to being chosen over Sal to be in the video (with Bonus Linda only raising her voice to Sal when she yells at them to stop running around). Walky doesn’t like what this implies and Dorothy admits she was curious why Sal wasn’t in the video (Also, on that note: I’m impressed how many people thought Sal would be in the video with him when Walky’d already said his mother only tried to get HIM in things like that. I knew people were doing their best not to take Sal at her word about her parents at the time but come on).
6) The Whiteboard Dingdong Bandit – Ends with Amber sleeping while holding the mask, Danny in bed blushing, Joyce looking at pictures of men, and Walky texting Billie that she can share his bed again that night
7) When Somebody Loved Me – Ends with Becky and Joyce in bed and Becky says she’s so glad college changed Joyce, despite her telling Joyce not to let it.
8) Three’s A Crowd – Ends with Joyce sleeping, Becky puts her hand on Joyce’s shoulder and looks very sad.
9) Walking With Dina – Ends with Dina in bed thinking of dinosaurs and Becky.
10) To Those Who’d Ground Me – Joyce is in bed, having had her phone call with her mom and says everything is broken. Sarah sadly agrees.
11) That Perfect Girl – Billie is in Joyce’s bed, sadly looking at her key to Ruth’s room (and realizing she’s in Joyce’s bed, not her’s), Ruth is in bed missing Billie and feeling crappy about Mary.
12) When God Closes The Door – Ends with Joyce in bed, texting Joe.
13) It All Returns – Ends with Joyce and Sarah agreeing to make things better while Ruth is in the hospital, Billie is worried about her, and Dina’s wondering where Amber is (at the rally)
14) Everything You’ve Ever Wanted Floats Above – Ends with Ruth looking at the screen with her details, which say she can leave tomorrow.
15) The ‘Do’ List – Ends with Becky on Leslie’s couch, Danny and Joe hanging out, Amber starring grumpily at her mask in bed, Billie packing to move, and Sarah smiling while Joyce, Walky and Dorothy are watching Dexter and Monkey Master in her bed.
16) Face the Strange – Ends with Ruth in bed texting Billie and doing homework.
17) Of Mike and Men – Ends with Joyce watching Joe and Roz’s sex tape and then slamming her computer shut, embarrassed.
So, almost 50/50. If we’re discounting book ends, because those always end with folks in bed, then it goes down to 20 vs. 9.
I’m in bed
Are you asleep?
Yeah, I’m with you. I call bullshit.
Someone is sad in bed. That’s how a chapter ends.
…of course, I’m giving to count this, so on second thoughts, I’m good.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-9-comic/01-flyin-to-the-red/blueshells/
… but what does Amazi-Girl think of this?
Amazigirl loves roller derby and thinks she should get it, not Amber. Malaya will be upset when her play time is reduced and even more upset when Marcie is cut from the team.
I’m hoping the grudging respect Sal earned will temper things. Or that Amber will stop locking away all the feelings that created Amazi-Girl and she merges back to Amber…..
Think about it? Amazi-Girl doesn’t know about it.
She may wonder why she’s extra sore and bruised when she wakes up to go find Sal and keep the next batch of dudebros from causing trouble.
But I wonder what will happen when Amazi-girl comes out at a time when there’s practice and Amber misses it. Or if something triggers her and she switches on her way to/in the middle of practice. Or just if Sal sees Amazi-girl and confronts her about “I thought we weren’t doing this anymore”. There’s a lot of scenarios where Amazi-girl can still find out.
I don’t think she’ll be happy about it, as Amber healthily working out her agression is a direct threat to Amazi-girl’s existence.
Has it been confirmed that Amazi-girl does not have Amber’s memories? Sometimes memory loss goes only one way.
Amazi-girl’s main purpose has been to protect people (especially Sal) from angry Amber. This story partially resolves that. It is possible AG may go away or integrate as Amber finds better outlets for her anger. On the other hand, Amber considered AG her golden girl to Amber’s monster. This is not resolved. Amber may still need AG.
Perhaps AG will try to become relevant in some other way. Or maybe the two sides will start talking again. Maybe use Sal as an intermediary? I doubt AG will come out inappropriately or make life more difficult for Amber, but there is a small chance that could happen.
tl;dr: This could go almost any way at all.
It’s been at least strongly hinted at: Amazi-Girl couldn’t find her mask after Amber threw it down the stairwell.
Theoretically possible she knew that, but it had been cleaned up or she otherwise couldn’t find it, but it seems more likely she just doesn’t remember.
AG’s become a lot stronger than any alter I’ve ever heard of who simply faded away. She’s building her own life – she had a boyfriend, was making peace with Sal, is friends with Walky, hung out with Dorothy, and was enjoying the reputation of being a superhero (before the cops started looking for her anyways).
Cops looking for you is just part of the superhero mythology. All the gritty street level characters with tragic backstories run afoul of the cops from time to time. 🙂
Theoretically true. Practically, I imagine it’s very unfun.
I mean this really is a pretty good outcome, because roller derby is great and queer and way better than being a big fuckin dipshit cop. Just not so fond of how we got here.
Lotta people in this town could really benefit from watching I Am Not Your Negro. That’s the last I’ll say of this arc.
Word of Willis was that the testy expression on Sal’s face when Amber said she was sorry was intentional. I don’t think this is the end of that story. I think the fact Sal offered unprompted forgiveness is going to come back to bite, but it might be a while, especially since they’re both trying to move forward, whatever stumbles may or may not happen.
Yup.
This hasn’t “solved” anything. What it’s done is put Sal and Amber on a deliberate and positive path towards managing their anger. They’ve had 18+ years to build up that anger; it’s not suddenly gone in one handshake, hey presto! and everything’s fine.
But it’s huge that they both have decided to do something to channel their aggressiveness into less destructive behavior.
Also, not coincidentally, to make ties with other people, something they are both really, really bad at and reluctant to do. There’s a reason Sal relies so heavily on Marcie and is so jealous of Marcie having any other friends.
i believe I said my piece 2 strips ago. If this turns not shitty in future then it won’t be shitty in future, and that’ll be that.
Fair enough. I just saw a chance to talk about it and thought I would.
Some people called it, and it did seem like a better outlet than Sal throwing herself in with Amazi-Girl more full-time or something, but still, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Good call, folks!
What I wasn’t expecting was Carla’s smile. That warms the ever-loving fuck out of my head, lemme tell you. I love it.
Oh, oops, I meant Marcie. Carla’s just one of my faves and momentarily dazed me. 😛
But yeah, Marcie needed this smile, I think, and obviously, Sal did, too.
This is a better outcome! I thought they were going to go back out fightin’ criminals.
They can do both.
Particularly after Peter Parker ‘s uncle dies when Amazigirl could have saved him.
As much as I love Uncle Ben, his death is what finally gets Peter to pull his head out of his ass and put his powers to good use. Amazi-Girl would be dooming the universe, more or less.
Anyone can come back except for Uncle Ben.
I won’t rule out that they might still, but guessing this will keep it from being as common, probably.
YES
Is this the single happiest “end of storyline” comic ever in this comic? If it isn’t, it has to be close, and also among the most perfect!
It’d be hard to beat Dina falling asleep with her last thought being Becky.
Ugh, I went looking for that strip to post as a reply, but I got distracted in the archive, and you beat me to naming it. Oh well.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/04-walking-with-dina/noddin/
I knew I forgot one! Yeah, the ending to that storyline does edge out this one for sheer sweetness.
Points to Sal and Amber for finishing on such a high note, though, considering everything they (mostly Sal) went through to get here. Not to say that Becky wasn’t up against some tough shit then either, but I think there were probably lower expectations for this storyline than that one.
This is amazing because it means we will get more Marcie in the future. Also possibly other reasons but mostly that.
This makes me all kinds of happy. Partially because this means this is now gonna be a roller derby comic now sometimes!
DUMBING OF AGE IS FINALLY A SPORTS ANIME
More along the lines of Battle Angel Sal & Amber.
Marcie signs: “Hey, what’s up with all those cuts and bruises on your faces?”
Sal: “Oh, uh, we put on our skates and fell hard on the sidewalk…”
Amber: “…together. Yeah that’s the ticket….”
“We definitely weren’t fighting each other or anything like that.”
I kind of hope it’s not brought up, because Marcie will be pissed, and she’ll be double pissed if they lie (and Malaya almost definitely will find out, other people from their building saw it happening)
“We started a fight but de-escalated and worked it out?”
“…I am miffed, but pleased you are heading in the right direction, so instead of ignoring you, I’m just gonna kick you in the shin.”
I’m worried she wouldn’t get to say anything past that they fought before Marcie ditched her.
Thus far that hasn’t seemed like Marcie. There’d definitely be a Marcie Glare, but she’d still wait for Sal to finish her sentence.
Just tell her Amber wanted to see if she was tough enough for roller derby and things got a little out of hand.
So, real talk. Which look for Sal’s roller derby?
Look 1: http://itswalky.tumblr.com/post/86857367397/spitballin
Or look 2:
http://itswalky.tumblr.com/post/86879377952/cleansing-my-brain-before-sleepytime-by-taking
I prefer look 2. The hat in look one is kind of dorky to me.
It’s helmet. I agree it’s kinda dorky, but I like her shirt and her hair looks adorable.
Helmets are almost always kinda dorky, though.
I think it would look better without the little brim on the front. #2 but with #1’s brim-less helmet, maybe?
Look 2 all the way
Another for look 2, definitely more badass.
Look 2: Salectric Boogaloo
2 for sure, it looks better to me in general, but I also just don’t like the tank top over t-shirt thing
Those torn skin-tight things on her thighs in look 2 are weird, but it does show off her awesome tattoo and allows for greater freedom of movement of the upper body, so overall I prefer it to look 1.
Look 2 for sure
hmmmm feels too easily resolved….
How so? Beating the stuffing out of each other doesn’t seem easy to me. Plus many underlying issues haven’t been addressed *cough* Amazi-girl! Walky! *cough*
Who’s going to tell the Dutchess of Thingy she can’t play roller derby?
I should have clarified that I meant it mostly with Marcie/Sal. Marcie seemed about ready to drop Sal as a friend and completely ghost her for a self-described asshole but she shows up at the roller derby and they’re good?
Not quite. SAL felt Marcie was ready to drop her. Marcie said they were still friends, but she needed actual evidence Sal was working on her concerns before she was willing to forgive her. Marcie suggested Sal join her roller derby as a way for her to make friends, way back before the rally. Sal didn’t want to at the time, but she’s showing up now, with another girl willing to join, as well as Carla wearing a jacket matching Sal’s. I presume this is Marcie taking this as ‘okay, yes, she’s working on at least one thing I brought up, this makes me happy’. Jury’s out on how she’ll feel about Sal’s de-escalation skills, but for now, she’s happy about a step in the right direction, even if its on another problem.
There’s still going to be baggage, but given how long the road was here for Sal, even just for making peace with Marcie, not to mention obviously the knifing onward, it’s been pretty hard fought for.
HEALTHY OUTLET YESSSSSSSS
Those poor other teams, though 🙁
Let’s hope they’ve got players deeply in need of therapy and healthy coping mechanisms so our protagonists will get as much as they dish out.
In this comic, that’s a distinct possibility.
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!
Defeating Malaya at rollerskating is healthier that vigilantism and revenge.
Hmm yes. I approve of this resolution.
Sal: LOOK MARCIE! IS THIS PROOF ENOUGH OR DO I HAVE TO DRAG THE OTHER ONE DOWN HERE AS WELL?
Okay, thank you for the horrifically hilarious image of Sal dragging Ethan all the way to the roller derby place with a knife to his throat, and Ethan’s just acting casual like “Hi, nice to meet you.”
Not ENTIRELY unlike this
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-8/03-faz-is-great/window/
This one comes closer – it even has a “Nice to meet you” (but It’s Joyce saying it).
I am not concerned that he s visibly being transported against his will
I mean, how can anyone doubt Sal’s skills at making friends?
Sports are great for many things and certainly as a good physical outlet for aggression but team sports specifically are the best for learning about team work and working towards goals
Good job Sal and well done Amber, I can’t imagine its easy for someone like Amber to put herself out there like that
Omigosh this is so lovely! I’m so proud of everyone 🙂
This was not supposed to be a reply but I agree with you in retrospect 🙂
Thats ok I’ll take it 🙂
If anybody here is leaving Tumblr and thinking of going to Dreamwidth, I’ve got a ridiculously long list of helpful links here: https://conuly.dreamwidth.org/2785963.html
Also, Dumbing of Age has a feed there: https://dumbingofage-feed.dreamwidth.org/
Welp, that was fast. If I’d known moderation was so short, I would not have double posted. Sorry.
Given that tumblr is setting it’s self on fire as fast as it can, all the available alternatives are welcome.
Ack, I forgot – too many links equals moderation!
If anybody here is leaving Tumblr and thinking of going to Dreamwidth, I’ve got a ridiculously long list of helpful links here: conuly.dreamwidth.org/2785963.html
Also, Dumbing of Age has a feed there, under the name dumbingofage_feed
YESSS MARCIE AND SAL ARE GONNA BE FRIENDS AGAIN GODDAMN IM SO HAPPY
Everyone I like is smiling. I like this.
The porn bots on Tumblr are horrible. They clog up every tag and follow unrelated accounts, making it impossible to use Tumblr without daily viewings of naked women committing sex acts. And men, but for me as a woman it specifically sucks because it’s just one more way I’m seeing myself objectified in public. If Tumblr’s new policy works, I’m in support of it.
It it were working, those posts would already be flagged and the harmless shit people were sharing (for example, a post I reblogged about a day of action for net neutrality) would not.
No one likes spam porn bots. Not even people who are there exclusively for the porn like the spam bots. The problem is that Tumblr has never had a baseline acceptable ability to code without things breaking and this was clearly more of a rush job than usual, pushed by the folks who bought the people who bought them, to try to get them back on the app store.
So while people would agree with you- that’s a big “if” that has yet to bear out and seems to instead be banning random people and entire SFW tags.
Tumblr’s new policy is using napalm to get rid of ants. It’s going to harm queer artists and sex workers and pretty much kill the platform, especially since the current algorithm thinks absolutely everything is explicit content (especially pictures of fully clothed women and LGBT art)
It’s fucked up that platforms trying to be “family friendly” spend greater effort banning nudity than racism and bigotry that is specifically targeting young people
I’m honestly a bit miffed not a single one of my posts got flagged.
I’m not THAT tame, am I? I’m cool, I’m hip, I’m chill. I can do subterfuge within certain outlined parameters.
Don’t worry. Willis’ Pornographique stuff didn’t get flagged either.
To be fair, my most risqué stuff is reblogged from him, so…
“Risque stuff mimicking Willis” is a big part of my Tumblr’s masthead pic. I guess it’s safe enough, though.
Well, you use terms like “a bit miffed”, so guess. 8p
I’d be meaner, but then you’d come over and do my laundry and fold it wrong, you Swede.
*gasp* I’d NEVER fold it wrong. What do you think I am, a Dane?
(I might assemble your furniture wrong, though.)
All you need in that reply is a mention of ABBA and it would have been the highest possible peak Swede.
Bagge = Wholesome little meatball.
BY THE POWER OF SURSTRÖMMING!
Sorry Bagge, you’ll just have to accept your fate as a very very good and wholesome man. 😛
Seriously, I’m a little impressed the algorithm somehow didn’t screw you over. I got flagged for net neutrality and pictures of finger splints that look like cool rings that people with arthritis can use.
Are you sure that’s the algorithm and not some troll reporting you (though anti-arthritis troll would be a new one)? Because if it’s the anti-porn algorithm those are really weird flags.
I doubt it. The only trolls I’ve ever had were two – one who asked if I thought it was okay to be a slut and one who said being trans was a mental illness. I told both to fuck off and never heard from either again, though I suppose the trans one was relatively recent. I suspect the arthritis one got caught by an algorithm that’s only programmed to flag anything with a certain number of flesh coloured (well, white flesh coloured) pixels. No idea what the problem was with the day of action on net neutrality though.
I heard a lot of talk about the chronic pain tag getting flagged/hidden/purged (since at least the round of purges before this one). It’s fucked up, but might explain why the splint jewelry post got flagged.
Your explanation makes more sense though probably.
I heard about that! Why in the world were they doing that?? As a chronic pain sufferer, that is messed up…
I saw a few people speculate it had to do with drug deals. Other suspected it had to do with kink. Basically – nobody has any clue.
Judging by all the absurd flags I saw on my own and friends’ blogs…I suspect it was the algorithm. It’s flagging some WEIRD stuff (any and all ladies, Pikachu, drawings of cats, photos of dogs, etc).
I’ve been called worse 🙂
But not very often.
I draw mostly (child-friendly) cartoon cat art and illustrate children’s books. A ton of my work was flagged. I am not sure why the tumblr algorithm thinks cats are NSFW.
….and that’s apparently more edgy than me.
Eh, I can live with that.
(Really cute drawings, btw. I love the Captain Beepo one)
Any storyline that ends with a smiling Marcie is a good storyline in my book.
No, the book is not out yet. You have to wait a year or so.
#I’mVeryFunny
Oh thank god I thought they were gonna kill people.
While overall I think this is a positive development, I question just how effective aggression management could be had from Sal spending more time with Malaya.
Correction: Sal spending more time with Malaya in an environment where she can knock her on her ass and not get told off by Marcie (mostly).
Well thats got me thinking why Sal never tried that before
She’s been hesitant to skate in a league. Part of me thought it might have to do with Marcie losing her voice, but now I’m wondering if she was telling the truth when she says she just doesn’t like organized sports.
Thats a shame as many a young life has been turned around by sports especially those of a more …aggressive nature
On the other hand, sometimes that turn around is ‘straight into rock bottom’
Contact sports aren’t always a good idea for aggression, especially if the brain starts taking the adrenaline and associates aggressive or angry feelings with a good workout. Then it just ends in a confusing blur of ‘okay, that was within the normal scope of the sport, but was I doing it because of the sport or because it felt good to work off some of my angry feelings?’
Even without those issues, I think the “sports are the answer to teen problems” thing is horribly overdone. It can be for some. It can be just another source of pain and frustration for others.
On the whole I’d suggest organised team sports do more good than bad
Sal is pretty antisocial; and sports = being social.
But she obviously is ready to make an exception for anger/amber management.
*for the sake of
I know absolutely nothing about roller derby except that apparently it mostly involves women and at least according to pop culture it’s extremely queer. If she’s on the same team as Malaya, is Sal allowed to beat her up, or only the oher team?
I’d make a joke about not knowing sportsball, except I don’t think this even qualifies as sportsball.
Serious answer, the “beating up” is about what you’d expect offensive linebackers in football to do to defensive linebackers: Physically blocking someone trying to slam through your line, possibly forcing them aside or to the ground. Except you’re on hard wood instead of soft grass. And wearing roller skates. But no punching, kicking, headbutting, etc.
You don’t block your own team. … I don’t think there’s any rules against that, but it’s pretty much self-sabotage.
Of course, during PRACTICE you’re probably going to be doing all that stuff to your own team. So…. yeah, they get to beat each other up.
*Also doesn’t know anything about football*
So it’s not even as violent as Rollerball at the start of the James Caan film? Disappointing…
Marcie’s smile seals it.
All is good with the world.
That team is going to be unstopable.
Well… the risk of Sal and Amber forgetting the opposite team and take the chance to duke it out between themselves is non-zero…
This has been one of the best storylines, hands-down.
We really got to see this seed grow over the years, and I think this a beautiful point of re-convergence for Sal and Amber. After I read book four I took some time to think about the inevitability of their confrontation, I felt that there was no way this comic would run its course without it. I didn’t know when, so every subsequent Sal and Amber/Amazi-girl interaction low-key put me on edge but this, this beats my expectations and fulfills my hopes. I like to joke that I waited four years for this, but man, Willis has been waiting for at least eight. Sal attempting to rob that store was orchestrated to be not just an inciting incident for Amber’s dynamic with Sal, but a fundamental moment for Dumbing of Age as a whole. That’s where I get the feeling of inevitability from–Sal and Amber were destined to meet back then and again now which had a major development on their respective characters. There’s a lot to compare and contrast between the two of them but I think most pointedly Sal is who she is because of what she did in that store and how her parents treated her afterward as Amber is who she is because of what she didn’t do in that store (but outside) and how her parents (read: Blaine) treated her afterward. The exacerbation of these relationships is defining for Sal and Amber and turns out to be pretty damn important to the story. This was character development and plot forged to be expanded on and resolved, one eventual day. Ethan was there too and is pretty important so we should talk about him sometime too.
And in terms of waiting for that day, I think we’ve been waiting about the same amount of time Sal and Amber have. Going off the fact they were in junior high for the robbery puts their wait time between 5-7 years. Some of us might’ve guessed it sooner, but the revelations of book four’s “The Only Dope For Me Is You” came to us around this time five years ago. Pretty close eh?
tl;dr David Willis has a mastery of storytelling and this moment is completely, thoroughly earned.
Its not bad but I’m still hanging out for Joe and Joyce to have at least one proper date and by proper I mean no one gets punched
Very much this! Sal and Amber each still have a long way to go, but this has been a really significant step for each of them, and it’s been really fantastic to see unfold. It’s hard to get a satisfying payoff for buildup that’s been going on for as long as this has!
Before they left the dorm room, Sal paused to sort Dina’s pachycephalosaurus toys in order of anatomical correctness.
Well, yeah. Some things go unsaid.
Either that OR how cool they look. This could go several ways
I’m a bit disappointed. I suppose roller derby is a better way to channel anger, but so would beating Leland to an unrecognizable pulp. Oh well maybe Mike could destroy him for shits and giggles.
Sal tried that already. It ended… not-perfect
So what you’re saying is this time nobody can find what’s left of him. Got it.
Yes. Just like beating Blaine to a pulp worked so well for Amber, she didn’t even feel the need to go after Sal anymore!
Wait…
Ah! It is St Nicholas’ Eve. I wondered why we were getting a present.
INFORMAL POLL:
The next storyline is “But the Sun Still Shines.” Are the lyrics from:
a) Darren Styles, “Paradise and Dreams” (“As you smile, you start to cry/So I wipe the tears from your eyes”)
b) Fountains of Wayne, “Mexican Wine” (“I’ll be yours if you’ll be mine/I tried to change but I changed my mind”)
c) Billy Bragg, “St. Swithin’s Day” (“And the fact that you don’t understand/Casts a shadow over this land”)
d) Wayne Wonder, “All This Time” (“The heart forgives, the heart forgets)
Hemingway?
I’d say it’s a reference to A-ha’s second hit “The Sun Always Shines on TV”.
HELL YEAH
Teenage ninja~ skaters!
Ok legit question what should the team name be?
The Pachycephalosauruses
If they called themselves the Rutten Pachycephalosauruses, Carla could provide the uniforms.
And squee for a month
She (possibly egged on by Dina) would insist that their helmets look like those supersolid foreheads, though.
Oh dear, Malaya! You’re not Carla’s role model anymore!
Is Sal going to tell Marcie that Amber is the one who stabber her hand?
I was trying to remember if she knew that already… This strip went about as well as I hoped it would, I just thought maybe there’d be a hint to that (like Sal still having the glove off her scar hand, for example).
She couldn’t know that. Sal herself found out about an hour ago.
I just want to know why there are couches in this gym
Well, you see, after the players build up all this sexual tension from trying to kill each other on roller skates, they appreciate a soft comfortable seat on which to sit and simply relax.
That… didn’t end up how I hoped.
Where did you hope it would end up?
I always thought it was to catch people when they went veering out of control off the track.
marcie’s smiling because of the matching jackets
It’s not clear to me but has Sal also realized that what she did to Ethan and Marcy that what she did to them was violence. I mean I think she did with the strip where it was the string of events in her life leading up to the stabbing
I mean amber
Considering the first thing she did when she recognised Ethan was apologise to him and insist in making it up to him somehow, I’d say she does know she messed up. What makes you think she didn’t realise that?
The November 19 strip where Sal says she didn’t hurt anyone. It felt like she thought that if she didn’t physically hurt someone that she hadn’t hurt someone. I mean by the end of this I think she’s beginning to understand that even though she didn’t physically hurt people in the robbery it was still an assault. That is to say that when she apologizes to Ethan it’s less about what she did and more about him thinking she was a thug. But I do think that by the end of this she does realize that your actions can be just as important as the result of your actions.
We know Sal knew she hurt them though. Not just her apologizing to Ethan (and frankly, Sal doesn’t care if people think she’s a thug. Well, she does, but not in the ‘bend over backwards to not look like one’ sense), but also in her flashback to seeing Amber sobbing, scared out of her mind, and realizing how fucked up what she was doing was and putting the knife down. Sal’s known it was fucked up – and fucked other people up – for a long time.
As for the ‘not hurting anyone’ comment – Sal’s talking legally there. How Amber actually USED the knife Sal got punished for threatening someone with, but Amber didn’t face any sanction for it (although her dad took the blow to his ego out on her mom because he’s an abusive fuck head). Sal’s point there was about the inequity of the justice system there.
Awww. ^^
Third panel pose reminds me of something but I can’t put my finger on it
Hithertofor Amber and Malaya have not really interacted. Now they get to be besties.
HOLY. SHIT.
LET’S GO.
LOOK AT MARCIE’S FACE!! YAY!
I Really REALLY love how this all went down.
:DDD
And that’s how Amber became a lesbian 😀
Is that a prerequisite?
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2010/comic/book-1/02-uphill-from-here/why/
More likely bi, or pan, she does like Walky, after all.
I DID NOT SEE THIS COMING
Neither did the people in the opposite team…
Wow yeah Amber’s gonna be a real threat isn’t she
It’s almost sad that the storyline ended here. We missed a chance for the next comic being about Malaya assuming this was somehow about her.
I think Carla secretly wants friends, despite acting like an asshole.
Couldn’t be. This is Carla owning Sal because Sal’s wearing her name on her sleeve. Nothing else. Couldn’t possibly be.
CARLA DOESN’T SECRETLY WANT FRIENDS, SHE’S TOO COOL TO SECRETLY WANT FRIENDS. ALSO, SHE HAVEN’T FOLLOWED SAL LIKE A PUPPY ALL DAY. ALSO YOU SHUT UP.
Are you saying that maybe Carla acting like a jerk is indeed just an act? No, never! Not in a million years! Nuh-uh! I’m sure some geeks would have spent over an hour talking about it if that was ever the case.
Wait, if Amber has a new outlet for her issues, does that mean she is not going to be Amazi-girl any more?
Amazi-Girl still exists, and is still her own persona. IIRC they’re not sharing memories, which means AG isn’t even aware that all this character development took place. Still, she might find herself in control less often.
(Almost everything I know about DID comes from this very comments section, so this is just speculation.)
It’s all been worth it for that smile of Marcie’s !
(Even though I was a bit miffed at what seemed like ‘prove yourself good enough to be my friend’ earlier!)
Marcie has been hurt a lot through association with Sal. She loves Sal, but she’s been Sal’s collateral damage enough that she did need a break.
EVERYTHING IS AWESOME
Oh wait, it’s a Willis cartoon! Damn it, Willis!
On the plus side, I’m pretty sure Amber appreciates that reference.
Awwwww.
Bless you Willis.
Oh fuck it. We did get the “hot and steamy” part, but not the “sex” part. That’s way too wholesome.
Give them time…
Squee
Apparently I’ve been reading this comic too much, because last night I had a dream about the characters.
In the dream, Carla was pregnant, which is impossible for a few reasons, but she seemed happy so I didn’t question it.
The “adult resolution” is nice.
But what about OMG IT LOOKS LIKE MARCIE HAS A SOUL PATCH!!?
Cue Joycevoice:
“Derrrrbytiiiiiiime!”
This is so much better than I ever expected
Then imagine how Sal and Amber feel!
Yah!!! I was right! This is so cool!
Insert a gif of Amethyst falling over and sighing “Finally!” right here.
Now I kinda want to see Amethyst playing roller derby.
Okay, I can’t be the only one happy that Fuckface is finally in the tags list on the homepage, can I? 😀
I haven’t commented in forever but I HAD TO say how much I LOVE THIS.
WHAT? This is not Mario Kart!!!
No, it’s Rollerball, which is must more in Amber and Sal’s area of interest.
Do Roller Derby do personas like wrestling? Will Amazi-girl become a Roller Derby persona?
since half of campus seems to know who Amazi-girl is now anyway
Damn you, Wi-!
Wait, hold up.
Thank . . .?
Thank you, Willis?
Oh hell yeah! I’m so here for this sort-of-resolution.
I have been having such a stressful day and just YES. Needed this. So good.
oh my god this is the BEST possible solution, i hope we get to see some of their roller derby shenanigans here or in a side comic or SOMETHING
also i maybe ship them now?
Beware, David! A roller derby arc was the end of Hijinks Ensue!
On a related note, I know you drew this long ago but what are the odds of a cameo by Joel and his wife? Maybe on the opposing team?
I fucking hate this.
Not nearly as much as all the other teams will, though.
Okay?
I’m just happy this arc is resolved for now. I agree that Amber should have had more repercussions on the level that Sal has, but since I think she has plot armor for some reason, it’s nice to at least see it just end.
I think the OTHER of Emily’s issues is the one I most definitely share: Amber needs professional help and this will not only give her that, it will in fact delay it. It’s putting a band-aid on a severed limb and saying, “well, that looks good enough.”
Yeah like sorry guys but roller derby isn’t actually going to fix Amber’s severe psychological issues and using it as an outlet for the like disturbing levels of violence she tends to lapse into is just going to get someone seriously hurt. Amber doesn’t need an outlet that is more violence she needs to learn how to actually cope with her anger and not resort to violence as a means of expressing it.
But also yeah, I’m fucking tired of Amber getting off scot-free for treating the people around her like shit because everyone just bends over backwards to accommodate her.
Pretty much on the money, as usual
The number of people in this thread that think this is an actual solution is honestly kind of disturbing. I guess it’s cute if you have zero foresight and pretend Amber’s problem is like “sometimes she gets a bit too mad” and not a dogpile of rage issues, PTSD, DID, low self-esteem, and violent tendencies amidst other things.
I think most people are just happy Amber has committed to finding another outlet and trying to move forward with Sal. That is a good step, but like…I doubt it’ll be complication free.
People are literally saying this is the best possible solution. No. The best possible solution is a metric fuck ton of therapy.
Oh god, yeah, no. I hadn’t seen that comment. Please let someone get Amber therapy. Can that be a tier on Patreon or the next kickstarter? I feel like it should be a tier on Patreon or the next kickstarter.
“Get everyone therapy” should be a tier because damn the only character who doesn’t seem to need it is Dina.
I think there’s plenty who could get along and be functional without it, but I can’t disagree that they’d almost all benefit from it.
That said, good luck hauling Sal to a therapist.
While I am happy about this step forward, I would like to subscribe to your newsletter about introducing competent therapists to everyone in the cast.
At the very least it could give her something positive to put in her mental “‘Amber’ bin”, and open up some more opportunities for positive social interaction (which don’t involve everyone around her fawning over her superhero vigilante alter).
But yeah the poor girl absolutely needs to see a therapist regularly, she’s got more issues than National Geographic.
That’s fair. I don’t think anyone thinks this is going to fix Amber’s psychological issues, moreso that it’s a step above bottling it until she snaps, and it’s her looking for another outlet to fix the anger (which is a step towards getting better, even if it’s not as substantial as seeking help). It won’t stop AG from going out to kick ass, but Sal couldn’t have known that when she made the offer. I’m also worried that contact sports as an outlet will backfire – I’ve said before that it’s not always a great idea. If I had to pick an outlet for her, I’d say ‘Girl, sit your ass down and write that fucked up fanfic like its your day job.’ I do think Amber’s still on a collision course with therapy and that the fact she got forgiveness without doing anything is going to come back to bite, but I also think that could take a very long time and I don’t blame you for being frustrated. We all have hens we want home to roost.
Like any outlet for Amber’s violent tendencies that is literally just finding a context where violence is acceptable is a terrible idea. This might actually be a worse outlet than vigilantism because at least there Amazi-girl actually had to goad people into a fight to justify it to herself whereas here Amber just has implicit consent to hurt people.
I think it’s positive that Amber is at least looking for other outlets, but I suspect you’re right that this will go poorly. I think the only positive thing is that the other girls here are (hopefully) super strong too. I think wanting to make a change is a good start. She needs help though. DID doesn’t go away and while there may be something to working out aggression or rage at a sport, when you combine that with her tendency to snap and go waaaaay over the line, this might not be a good idea. Granted, the only two incidents of that Sal knows about were the robbery and Ryan. The robbery is something Sal feels guilty about and was definitely traumatic for her and with Ryan…well, it’s Ryan. Nobody gives a shit he got carved up like a Christmas chicken. So Sal probably didn’t see this as a consistent, dangerous problem. She thinks the robbery was the only time Amber really flew off the handle since with Ryan it was self defence.
Plus, I suspect whatever peace she’s making with Sal is going to hit a serious bump when AG comes looking for her ‘sidekick’ wondering why she didn’t come out to help her beat up rape-y frat boys (since AG wouldn’t know about this development and Sal wouldn’t know AG and Amber are different).
I think whoever said Amber should write more fan fiction as her outlet was right on the money. At least that way, nobody really gets hurt.
Working out aggression through sports is more of a viable strategy when “aggression” doesn’t mean “bouts of violence.”
I mean, non-contact sports it can be fine – it’s hard to hurt someone else just going for a run. But yeah, contact sports can be tricky when you’re working out regular aggression, this seems…dangerous.
Well, she will have to learn to control her aggression to stay within the rules of the game, she can’t just go full hulk on someone, so there is some potential for this to be a good outlet. Maybe?
Regardless of what other commenters might say, in universe there’s reason to see this as a net positive since being on a Roller Derby team might bring Amber in contact with other people who deal with their anger/aggressiveness through roller derby AND therapy. No, this isn’t “the solution” but it can be part of it.
Well, unfortunately for you, Willis has decided to make this a relatively happy ending.
Okay, well if this is really the end of this it’s just bad writing and bad ethics. I love a happy ending just not one that’s completely forced and rooted in a bigoted trope.
Oh and absolutely terrible understanding of mental illness.
This isn’t an ending. There’s way too much obviously unresolved.
This is a step. And a good one.
But there’s plenty of more unpleasantness to come. Amazi-Girl isn’t going to just vanish, if nothing else.
Actually it’s a good depiction of mental illness. Because nothing is resolved and a short term solution is found, some piece of driftwood that can maybe keep one floating along for a while before the next bad turn.
Most people don’t go to therapist even when they know they’re fucked up. Most people don’t realize the depth of a stranger, friend or close family member’s issues. Wasn’t until I was in my 20’s before the family alcoholism (both sides) was known by me. Late 20’s before an attempted intervention by my mother enlightened me to the serious streak of depression. Early 40’s to realize how serious some close family members other mental health issues were. Scared and still scares the shit out of me.
Very few people will accept therapy if it’s not part of there culture. And very few will take things up to that level of intervention.
This “Happy Ending” is more about Sal finding a way to deal with her trauma, to gain a personal insight on her actions. This arc is Sal’s arc not Amber’s. Amber was thrown a life line not a cure in the process.
This isn’t over, it’s a temporary reprieve and it will be addressed.
Wow, Sal’s arc sure seemed to revolve almost entirely around Amber and her feelings and making sure she was absolved of her wrongdoings towards Sal without actually having to give Sal any real closure or reparations. Weird.
I think the whole point of Sal’s arc is learning that violence begets violence, and hanging to anger while waiting for some kind of cosmic justice to happen would just leave both her and Amber in a cycle of escalating violence (pardon the redundancy).
I get the frustration but in the end Sal ALSO gains a path back to Marcie, and she’s more interested in that than in any “reparation” Amber might have to offer, if she could.
That’s a terrible point. Like every aspect of that first paragraph sounds awful. “Violence begets violence” is a platitude that exists to protect the status quo. And the idea that wanting the people who harm you to face justice is in any way a negative trait is just morally repugnant. Yeah, you shouldn’t let your resentment for them become something that harms you emotionally but that doesn’t mean you need to forgive them or give up hoping for justice.
@Emily
Sal is a girl of color, Amber is a girl with mental illness, neither of them uphold the status quo. Amber gets a little more privilege because of her whiteness, yes, but she also loses a lot due to her body type.
The whole “violence begets violence” is meant in an individual level, not systemic. It was Sal’s personal lesson and lesson that can be learned by people of all genders and races.
And I don’t know how you can argue for justice while at the same time being aware of how unjust the system is. You want Sal to push for justice while at the same time being aware that she lives in a system that will not give it to her. Basically, you want her to have a long drawn out legal battle that will put her in the spotlight as a POC who used to rob convenience stores (that it was only 2 and 1 of those was a failed attempt won’t matter) for… what? Amber ending up in jail or having to pay her won’t make her parents less problematic, won’t make her childhood any different, or her hand any less scarred.
Sal’s sense of justice won’t suddenly become a “Welp, have to let people get away with stuff now” just because she forgave a girl that is just as troubled as her in a different way.
So, yes, this is a net positive for Sal, because she gets to move forward and grow instead of staying on one spot to fester.
Well if we’re pulling those out, Amber may be psychologically disabled, but Sal is physically disabled now (thanks Amber). And for the record, body type does not erase white privilege. They’re two different things. Being a larger white woman isn’t going to erase the advantages being white gives her.
And frankly, violence begets violence is bullshit on an individual level too. Individuals make up those systemic things. I don’t think that’s Sal’s lesson. If it is, I call hypocrite on literally every tweet Willis makes on punching Nazis and the like. Yes, Sal realized that things kept escalating until she got stabbed in the hand, and recognized parallels between her and Amber (and how messed up Amber/AG was in general). On that note – while Amber and Sal are both marginalized along different axis, it is still possible to uphold the status quo in other ways. For instance, ‘violence begets violence’ is a platitude that gets trotted out any time people resist marginalization in any way but the most paltry and ineffective. Especially when those in charge can’t or won’t step in to do actual justice, which often leaves people with few alternatives. That is, in fact, what happened with Sal and Leland actually. She tried reporting him the ‘right’ way and it screwed Marcie over. Fighting him ended up having Marcie screwed over too. Doing nothing would have, in fact, let him get away with it. None of these are good options. The point is to handle things without others getting hit in the crossfire. Not ‘violence is bad’. That’s bullshit, no matter what level you’re looking at it.
….are you seriously arguing that wanting justice is a bad thing? Because no. Just because not everybody will get it doesn’t mean wanting it is bad. Or that being angry it’s not going to happen is bad (though jesus fucking christ, the way people still harp on Sal’s phrasing when she talked about how Amber was never sanctioned for actually using the knife Sal was punished for threatening to use sure would give you the opposite impression). If Sal was doing a bad thing because she was still angry about the stabbing and wanted to fight about it, why was Amber not doing something equally bad when she not only agreed she wanted to fight, but has planned to do violence to Sal at least four times before that? Out of those two, why is SAL the one who needs to learn some paltry, grade school kiddy lesson about violence (which, again, is not actually true) and letting go?
For that matter, by that logic, why should Sal have been arrested for threatening Ethan then? It didn’t cure Amber’s trauma, or change the fact the stores were robbed (even if restitution was made, it still happened). Oh, right, because it’s generally important to give justice (and many people do find solace in the fact that the other was sanctioned and/or wouldn’t be able to do the thing again) and the fact it doesn’t happen is FUCKED UP and not something to give people shit for wanting. Sal’s sense of justice is not a character flaw and it is fucked up to try and frame it as such that she is angry that someone was allowed to stab her and get away with it.
Sal doesn’t need to forgive Amber in order to move on with her life. Hell, she doesn’t even need to stop wanting justice to acknowledge it wouldn’t happen. And frankly, justice isn’t really the problem here. The problem here, as so many have expressed, is that Amber did not have to do anything to get said forgiveness and it furthers a fucked up trope where marginalized people (particularly PoC and particularly particularly Black people) just have to eat whatever was done to them and forgive and lately it’s been framed in utter trite cliches like ‘violence begets violence’ and ‘forgiveness is for you, not the other person’. While the second one may be true for real people, Sal is not a real person.
Hi Emily, been expecting that.
Why does Sal need Amber to give her closure? Sal can do it herself
and did. Sal did a lot of this for herself for how she views her place.
One of the best comic depiction of an internal decision to make such a choice.
Couple points.
A) Sometimes you forgive someone as a way of letting the past go Regardless if they deserve it or not.
B) Sal is hyper sensitive at this moment to how her actions can cause splash back. Conversation with Marcie.
C) Sal won this arc very much so. She managed to get a handle on a bunch of her shit. Marcie and her on the mend. Decided to be more open to people. Got forgiveness from Ethan – without having to do a thing. ( Hmm sounds similar but as you’ll point out, rightly, not quite the same.) Finally got some light on the festering Amber/AG issue. Had a view realignment ( never fun from personal experience) in a growing way. Figured a way to bury the Hatchet on that.
D) Sal has had her closure. She has a lot of rage, a lot of empathy, and firm ideas on Justice. All were on display this arc.
E) Amber may have resolved a chunk of her Sal trigger. She’s still drowning in the darkness that was Blaine’s contribution. Side note her arc of growth will begin when Blaine.
F) You have valid points on some of the tropes used.
H) I Identified a lot with Sal during this arc and felt that it was very well done.
I) Last I haven’t absolved Amber or Amazing Girl.
Those sure are a lot of letters but luckily I don’t have to go through and refute them point by point (and I will fucking die before I will acknowledge A as a valid point and not bullshit propaganda) because they’re moot in the face of the fact that they’re all just ways the narrative tried to justify a racist trope.
Point A is a valid one with real people. Unfortunately, in fiction, it often comes up for marginalized characters forgiving people who hurt them without the other person having to do anything. Sal’s not real. She’s fictional. Willis decided that for her. And sure, I can see a few reasons why it might have seemed like a good idea:
– Sal’s noticed the cyclical nature for her lashing out and it blowing up on others as well.
– Sal’s also realized, now that she knows who she is, how messed up Amber/AG is about the robbery. She’s probably also thinking of the vague general attempts at reaching out by AG earlier.
– Sal’s the POV character for the main plot of this arc. It might have seemed more emotional from her.
– Sal’s incredibly compassionate and wants to move on, especially since she and Amber just had a very dangerous fight that could have seriously hurt or killed them at different points.
– Sal’s working on de-escalating to get Marcie back.
That all being said though, in the larger media context, it’s still a bad look. Marginalized people forgiving people who haven’t apologized or made any effort (or, in this case, more than a vague, unspecific effort) is an old, obnoxious trope and even if it ends up coming back to bite later, Emily’s allowed to be dissatisfied with it now.
Also, because this false equivalence needs to die – Sal chased Ethan down to apologize as soon as she realized who he was and, connected with that apology, offered him dinner or free transport whenever he wants. That’s is in fact doing something. Ethan didn’t take her up on it until she insisted, but she did in fact do something.
AG made a very vague apology and let Sal have the app that tracked her phone, but those were a) not specific (‘I’m sorry for more than you know’ – No. Bad AG. Say what you did.), b) without the full context and so Sal couldn’t have understood how nasty what AG did was, and c) Even if you consider it sufficient, AG can’t cover stuff Amber did (especially since Amber was okay with AG taking over so she could try to do violence to Sal, including her specifically running off so she could let AG take over).
@BBCC-Just wanted to agree with you on that. It’s showing to be a trait of Amber to avoid these conflicts or try and find round about ways to solve her problems. That strip where she imagined a way to tell Walky without him actually knowing hurts my opinion so much I’d wager she wouldn’t have apologized to Sal if Sal hadn’t taken the initiative. Ambs still has a long way to go.
Your biases are blinding you.
Sals Arc had little to do with Amber, its you who are only focusing on that.
Sals arc had her getting closer to Danny, reconciling with Ethan , fighting with Amazigirl, confronting how people pigeonhole her, confronting Marcie about her ability to de escalate, and finally the fight and de escalation with Amber.
Its you who want to pigeonhole a bigoted trope onto the story. This entire plot is around Sals seld insight s and insight s into others, and her personal growth as a result.
Sals motivation is to be better in Marcie s eyes, her Anger at Amber had a lot to do with losing Marcie to become a mere sidekick to Amazigirl. If Amber hadn’t stalked her ( and that lead to losing Marcie ) she was on a path to forgive. In your attempt to make Sal purely innocent, you erase her personal growth and empathy towards Amber. An empathy rooted in seeing Ambers horror at Ethan being attacked by her, as similar to her own rage at watching Marcie be hurt. Its probably not the end of This.
Sal’s anger is also rooted in that she fought with AG against Ryan, losing Marcie in the process, while AG’d been the girl who stabbed her the whole time and never thought that information was relevant. There was a huge undercurrent of her feeling betrayed and lied to regarding that. As well as residual anger about being stalked, harassed and stabbed. Yeah, Sal made a connection on how cyclical that violence got and made the parallel between her and Amber. She’s also realized how messed up Amber is. And yeah, she wants to be better at de-escalating for Marcie and show her she’s trying to make friends. At the same time, she doesn’t really know a lot about what she wants in general, as she told Danny.
That said, I think saying Amber has little to do with Sal’s arc isn’t true. Sal and Amber’s actions at the robbery shaped each other and AG’s harassment led to a lot of problems with Marcie and in general (she’s been wondering if they were being effective for a while).
Also, I think it’s a stretch to say Sal was on the path to forgive and would have if AG hadn’t stalked her. It’s possible she would have. It’s also possible that she would’ve still been angry. It was the stabbing that recontextualized everything else AG did to her and it’s also a trauma we hadn’t yet seen her react to. And Sal was certainly not on the path to forgiving AG for stalking her before the rally – she was pissed about it, even using it as an example why she didn’t like AG when Billie accused Sal of being Amazi-Girl. They made a sort of peace, but Sal still had her misgivings about it and didn’t always seem to like how AG treated her.
And frankly, insight or no, the story doesn’t exist in a vacuum. The story exists in a cultural context where marginalized characters often forgive people who hurt them despite no steps from that party to fix things (or, in AG’s case, vague, unspecific things that still don’t require her to acknowledge just what she did). That is something the story fit in with. I’m sure it wasn’t intentional by Willis, and I’m not convinced we won’t see more of it, but yeah, it does fit in the trope thus far and people are allowed to be uncomfortable with it.
“This is a step. And a good one.”
Very succinct and very correct!
It’d be a better step if the foot weren’t planted right in the middle of Sal’s back.
Granting what seems to be your premise, doesn’t Willis’s successful depiction of white privilege in action make him a keen depictor of the human condition?
Representing violence against minorities… is not necessarily a conscious commentary on violence against minorities.
I don’t get this comment at all, sorry.
Or if it is an ending, it’s not like a “this is fixed” ending because they aren’t better. They’ve just kinda, sorta, shifted directions. Having this as an outlet might be useful, but certainly won’t fix the underlying issues. However they may be able to empathy for each other as, maybe, friends as they get to know how their situations ended up after the event.
I’ve been meaning to ask for a few pages — is there a TVTropes page for that (the “disadvantaged person forgiving the privileged one” thing)? I’m an oblivious white guy who doesn’t actually consume that much pop culture, so either I’ve just never recognized it (in which case, my bad) or else I’ve never really come across it.
I couldn’t be ‘aww’ing harder right now. Marcie’s smile at the end is so sweet to see, especially after everything we’ve seen lately.
As much as this comic thrives on its drama, I’m really glad that Amber and Sal finally had a happy ending, at least for now. I really hope this works out for them.
Panel three was 3D printed from pure awesomeness
MOTORBALL!
(why yes i am overly hyped for a certain james cameron movie)
Uhhh … “ROLLERBALL” (original 1975; remake 2002). And what does/did James Cameron have to do with it?
Alita, specifically the way she maneuvers around.
Motorball is a fictional sport probably derived from Rollerball, played by cyborgs, shown in the manga Gunnm (known in english as Battle Angel Alita) which is getting a Cameron movie this February.
This is perfect. :’)
I am surprised no one has said it yet, so here goes: TWINSIES!!
TWINSIES!
yes this is the bEST POSSIBLE SOLUTION
Rolling squad
I suddenly need to know: Does Carla’s jacket have ‘Walkerton’ on the sleeves?
Either way, I’m 100% sure she DIDN’T have that jacket this morning. She made sure her parents sent it by drone to be twinsie with Sal as soon as possible.
That is exactly what Carla did and we all know it.
Dammit Wiilis, you could have given us at least a partial view of Carla’s sleeve. We better see her walikg around with “WALKERTON” on her sleeve sometime.
I dunno why but Marcie’s smile makes me feel better.
You and Sal both
It makes me more determined to get wordpress working so I can make it my avatar.
I d’awwwed the most when I saw Carla. Awe, how touching. Sal really came thru
Odd that the slipshine discount coincides with Tumblr shitting itself
I’m pretty sure it’s BECAUSE tumblr’s fucking up.
I looooooove how this has turned out!
Of course it won’t magically solve all of Amber’s (or Sal’s) problems, but it seems like a really, really good first step.
While it’s a healthier outlet I still have reservations about Amber and Sal taking out their aggression on other girls instead of beating the crap out of guys trying to intimidate sexual assault victims to remain silent.
Don’t worry. Amazi-Girl’s not part of this deal. She’ll still be out beating up the dudebros (and redirecting them to empty houses.)
no the next amber drama is wilis remembering that blaines got a usb driver of ambers that him and his mom put faz up to stealing 3 or 4 months ago
It’s gonna be nothing but porn and smutty fan fiction. If that USB somehow had anything remotely important on it, I’ll be extremely surprised.
Yup, all that build-up’s going to lead nowhere. We might get one line next time Blaine shows up about how Faz got nothing useful.
Or maybe not.
I harbor the heartfelt hope that what Faz stole contained NOTHING useful.
PURE CONTENT INVOLVING MY TWO FAVORITE CHARACTERS AT LAST
Shut up, Malaya.
The conflict is resolved and everybody is happy. Calling it right now, the next comic features Blaine, twirling an elaborately long mustache.
In an unrelated matter, Blaine will testify against Donald Trump and have to enter the Witness Protection Program.
Well THAT was the exact opposite of what I anticipated.
Almost anti-climatic
hmm as I think about it, I guess we won’t be getting a bunch of Derby strips cause, Willis didn’t name and tag the other players. :\
So any bets on how long Malaya has known Amber is Amazi-girl?
Negative months?
I think this is the first time she’s even met Amber.
Yeah, and Malaya isn’t… it’s not that Malaya’s stupid, but there’s nothing to suggest she of all people would make the connection.
Positive channeling of negative emotions? I’m skeptically hopeful.
“Carla. Me an’ Amber here are gonna go sign up for roller derby. You in?”
“I thought I already said that…”
“We can both wear the Rutten Jackets”
“DEAL”
Please forgive me for a major Master of the Obvious post (I don’t post here that often), but I want to lay out what Amber’s major malfunction was. Amber stabbed Sal out of desperation brought on by the trauma of being in that hostage situation combined with Daddy Blaine’s bullying – after that, she lived in fear that Sal would come after her for revenge. Amber *knew* she’d gone way over the line but didn’t see any way to right that wrong; all she could do was to become *strong enough* that, if/when Sal came back for her pound of flesh, Amber would be able to stay alive. This is why, after Sal rescued her from the Becky’s-Dad-pursuit-confrontation, when Amber came to and saw Sal, she immediately attempted to escape – directly into a tree and possible head injury. Flight-or-fight: Flight activate BIG TIME. This is why Sal’s extension of forgiveness was so crucial to Amber’s healing – once she realized that Sal did not intend to *MURDER* her, she could let go of that self-protective existential terror. And notice in the strip above that Amber looks nervous and shy, but Sal is right behind her, strong and with her hand protectively on Amber’s shoulder. Amber is a gentle soul whose psyche was deeply traumatized by that event so many years ago and the fear accumulated all those years since; Sal’s forgiveness cut the fuse. The bomb’s still there, but the trigger is now gone – and Sal is providing her with a way to defuse that bomb as well, through her emotional support and competitive sports (the salvation of many an angry/hostile young person). And doesn’t EVERYBODY have a crush on Sal?? Is this what everybody else already knows?
This isn’t entirely true. When Amber first realized who she was, she ran..and then changed into her costume and planned to attack her from behind. She also stalked her and harassed her twice, both times planning to do violence to her. Like, I believe some of this is true, and I do believe she feels guilty, horrified and traumatized because of stabbing Sal and I’m sure it was a relief to not have that threat of revenge hanging over her, but there’s a lot of anger and desire for revenge on her too. Sal was her Joe Chill and Amber wanted to face her as Batman.
This is, in fact, entirely untrue. Amber wasn’t/isn’t afraid of Sal hurting her. If anything, she wanted to be hurt. What Amber is really afraid of is Amber.
I think Amber’s a LITTLE afraid Sal will hurt her (hence her saying ‘One step closer and I’ll stab you again’), but the point is Amber’s wanted to hurt Sal as well, along with being traumatized about the time she actually did hurt Sal.
Living with Blaine probably instilled in Amber that it is a bad idea to be in a helpless position because he would always use that to hurt her more.
Oh. Was kinda hoping this would end with a new slipshine comic.
Good to see Marcie smile.
YEYEYEYEY
Man people either love this or hate. Like I agree that in real life -definitely- get therapy, but this is a comic (And while that could still be a good plot line) this absolutely seems like the way things would happen in this universe. Though again, nothing is fixed.
I’m extremely surprised and pleased with this development…Thank you, Willis.
Did we all just… forget how Marcie was treating Sal before now because Marcie smiled? A couple dozen pages ago, when Marcie ditched Sal even though Sal was doing her best to make friends (which she was very uncomfortable with)? I mean, even going by “tough love”, that was not cool.
Did all that suddenly disappear?
Marcie asked for proof Sal was trying to make friends (and, for that matter, trying to learn to de-escalate). Marcie never disavowed Sal entirely (although Sal, with her abandonment issues, felt like she had), and the last time she spoke on the matter, it was that she DID still consider Sal her friend, she just wasn’t ready to forgive yet. Now that she can visibly see Sal showing up with two others, one of whom explicitly says she’s here to dress like her, she seems to be taking this as the evidence she asked for.
And frankly, given that Marcie’s been seriously burned by Sal’s problems with escalating, I don’t blame her for wanting evidence.
I haven’t forgotten that exchange, but I disagree that Marcie was particularly in the wrong then. Marcie’s been mad with Sal not just for one stupid thing, but for repeatedly pulling off stupid things in which Marcie oftens ends up in the blast zone.
Some of those things have even been when Sal’s specifically tried to stand up for Marcie, yet still ended up hurting her instead. Such as the robbery. It was done to collect money for surgery; yet instead it ended up with Sal being shipped off to a Catholic school for years, so they barely saw one another.
(Incidentally, this is -very- classic Greek Tragedy storytelling. The main people in those plays often have the best of intentions, but their actual actions end up doing more harm than good; and in the context of the play, it is generally their actions that are judged, not their intentions.)
And let’s not forget that Marcie’s made a pretty damn big sacrifice in moving to Bloomington because of Sal. She didn’t have to. But Sal was, at that point, probably the only friend that Marcie had; because back where they grew up, Marcie and family was not accepted.
After the move, though, Marcie has indeed made some new friends. And interests. She’s been expanding her social horizon. Sal, on the other hand, has tried to monopolize said horizon; and basically taking it for granted that Marcie would always be there.
In other words, Sal’s taken Marcie’s friendship so for granted that she never realized the sacrifices Marcie’s taken for the friendship. And yes, eventually Marcie realized that she doesn’t have to be the collateral damage anymore if she doesn’t want to. She is starting to build her own life, and considering where she’s starting from, that’s not been an easy task.
And even then, -even then-, Marcie did not completely ditch Sal. She just made it very clear that Sal does indeed need to stop some of the goddamn bullshit.
Such as the very strip -before- she told Sal to “prove it”. You know, the one where Sal accuses Malaya of “contniuing to steal my best friend”. Sal thinking she’s the only one who has a “claim” on Marcie’s friendship is indeed one of the things Marcie is getting pretty damn sick of, and I for one absolutely don’t blame her for that.
So when Sal now shows up and
a) brings in a new person that is treated like a normal, casual friend*, and
b) shows interest in joining an activity that’s not about sneering at people from a wall
then yes, of course Marcie will smile. Because finally, -finally- it seems that Sal’s getting what Marcie’s been trying to tell her for quite some time now.
*as far as Marcie knows anyway.
Marcie’s never really expressed a problem with Sal not having a ton of activities – but you’re right, this is about Sal’s problems with de-escalating and Sal making other friends. Her showing up with a new person treating her like a friend, and with Carla who explicitly says she’s here to dress like Sal, it’s evidence (to her) that Sal’s actually taking what she’s saying seriously and working on it.
Hence the absolutely adorable grin up above.
I suppose that the strip I was thinking of* when I talked about Sal and doing activities is a bit more ambiguous than I first thought. I mean, it’s clear that Marcie’s as good as stating “Yeah, this game here? Not gonna play it.” to Sal; but upon re-reading it, I can see that there are at least three possible interpretations of what exact game is being played.
*This one: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/02-threes-a-crowd/sleuthed/
Yeah, the way I read it was ‘Marcie wanted to hang out with Malaya and now that she’s gone and Sal’s been pissy about it this whole time, she’s out’. Especially because as soon as Malaya leaves, Sal wants to stop glaring at people from a wall and go out to do stuff with Marcie.
Carla’s parents will now sponsor this team and rake in bux.
YAY! I’m so looking forward to these developments.