The winner of May’s Patreon bonus strip poll is WONDER WOMAN HALLOWEEN COSTUME JOYCE!
i mean technically you can’t vote for an outfit but it happened anyway
All Patrons can view the bonus comic (and all previous bonus comics), and if you pledge extra per month, you can see tomorrow’s strip early every day!
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*tries to think of which Angel(s) out of like fifty that come to mind would be the funniest ones to high-five*
a million just on the head of a pin, or
that seems like a low ball otherwise
Wait, there’s a version with an actual answer?
I thought that was just the old Christian version of questions like “why is a raven like a writing desk”.
They both have quills.
Each begins with “e”.
The question “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” refers to the debate over whether or not angels take up physical space.
It’s not looking for an actual number, or asking if they can dance, or if one or more could fit on the head of a pin, or if we’re talking about the flat end or pointy end or whether at least two angels exist. It’s meant to provoke the debate.
Wasn’t it a joke about how scholastic philosophers would argue about seemingly pointless things? Or am I making up history again?
Yes it is and that’s how most people know it. But, turns out, it has an actual question behind it. It’s only pointless because no one has established that angels exist in the first place; but theologians assume they do, and philosophers don’t care about that as much as debating the issue.
Knowing the background to the question makes it less idiotic of a question in my opinion.
Green Lantern villain Black Hand once created a giant pin and balanced the baseball stadium of the Anaheim Angels on it.
One of the greatest villain schemes I’ve ever seen.
Then he made giant weights to unbalance it, which Kilowog countered by jumping really hard.
Comics are a gift
Best answer I know: Poe wrote on both.
Both have inky quills; and are nevar written on backwards.
(I did not make that up, I remembered it from somewhere…and it may be ever so slightly paraphrased, so forgive me if I got it a little wrong. xD)
I was always less concerned with the number dancing and more interested in what dances they would theoretically be doing.
I imagine angels would do a fairly traditional form of dance. The ones that are at the top of the list for me would be either ballet or perhaps a graceful waltz. 🙂
Lucifer, probably.
I’m gonna go with Brian Goodwin, personally
This was my first reaction. High five!
Angel the souled vampire, on one of his less angsty broody days
Please hi-five mahariel. I always feel sorry for them. They are the guardian of the first portal of heaven. Imagine only having st Peter for company for eons and being there to make sure souls whose who need to go to hell go on their way and don’t sneak into heaven.
Also I’d hi-5 iophiel cos the garden of Edan is cool
I imagine angels as entities so use it, they, and them.
Damn, I would go crazy having only St. Peter as company for like… 20 minutes. STOP WITH THE KNOCK KNOCK JOKES ALREADY PETER!!!
Asks Mr. Bierce to play Clapton’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.”
I’m gonna go with Sandalphon. Because it’s the most fun to say. But really, Joyce high-fiving any of the angels from Evangelion would be a hoot.
Someone – make this fanart happen!
Wait, no – Ramiel would be funnier. Because Ramiel doesn’t have hands.
Now I am picturing Joyce triangle-smiling at Auska sulking and Shinji cowering.
Rei, of course, is expressionless.
Doma, The Angel of Silence. Er no wait, I think that’s a Yu-gi-oh card. Umm…
No, he’s a real angel from religion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumah_(angel)
In Vertigo’s Lucifer series, he was one of the few angels who wasn’t a total dickhead.
I think that the best angels to high five would be the weeping angels from Dr. Who.
Sure, if you wanna get warped to a hotel in an alternate timeline and live the rest of your life in the past.
This is a Willis universe…it obviously has to be Metatron, just for one-letter-off-ness.
Ah yes, because that name is similar to Mettaton, I get it
Megatron.
I say Aziraphale, just to throw a more literary reference into the mix.
Thanks, Terry and Neil
The David Boreanaz one, specifically from when a demonic children’s show character turned him into a store brand Muppet.
As I’ve said before, I claim that Leslie is an Elohite of Novalis in the In Nomine RPG system. And Amazi-Girl is a Malakite of Gabriel, albeit one with too much Discord on board.
I was originally thinking Marchosias, but wolves don’t really do high fives. So instead I’m going with Zepar because Joyce could do with some loving.
Cassiel and Rumisiel could use a high five about now, however Vashiel is tied up at the moment.
Dejection by self-appointed standards and self-imposed expectations……
yaaaaaaaaaay….
We already know Joyce can’t lie to her parents. What if they ask?
She CAN lie to them if she has to.
And I have a feeling she will be MUCH better at it next time
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/03-the-butterflies-fly-away/commandments/
Ahh, good callback. I was thinking of earlier when she was even too nervous to answer her phone.
I guess we’ll have to start a list of how many Commandments she’s keeping.
I’m wondering if Joyce got Becky’s text before or after she told Lucy she was waiting for a friend to go to church with.
I think it was before. If it were just then after Lucy had left, I think Joyce would be looking down in panel three. Also, it has more weight if it was before.
I was wondering the same. The strip makes sense either way, but slightly different senses.
Oh, that’s a good question. I didn’t consider that.
“Becky’s” text.
But then, turnabout is fair play.
I thought the strip was pretty clear it was before – the point is that Joyce is avoiding church.
Yeah, the strip is significantly weaker if Becky is meant to have texted after.
I love how Joyce shows Lucy her phone like that’s proof she’s currently waiting for a text. “I wouldn’t just have my phone here, would I? Exactly.”
Do you not gesture with your phone when you’re saying something that involves it?
Then what would I do with my knife?
Wood carving.
No wonder people are constantly replacing the things.
“When Joyce closes a door”
“…Sal climbs in a window?”
… a window opens and someone crawls in to ask her why she’s still in her dorm?
Dilemma dodged for ONE week, at least.
All I Want Is A Couple Days Off…
*sigh* Been there, done that, Joyce. Hopefully, you move beyond looking for nostalgic feeling and into the realm of joining your mind with the (emotional) love you’re looking for. And that’s going to involve disconnecting your faith from the simplistic and (unfortunately) false answers you were given as a child. God is there, and God is active in our lives, but God is also subtle and alien (aka “holy”), so Sunday school answers just don’t cut it when you enter the adult world.
Yeah, honestly, the “children are precious little innocents whose minds must not be sullied with nuance” mindset that Sunday schools seem to be filled with is probably the number one culprit for disaffection with the church.
That and Republicans.
(To be fair, too many secular schools also do this, too.)
Gonna disagree with you on Republicans, given that Democrats have become the new fundamentalists (albeit not “Biblical” fundamentalists), but aside from that, this D&D-playing, Metal-listening, science-loving Messianic Jew agrees with you.
…..i really want to know which non-biblical religious scripture, then, you think the democrats are taking strictly literally
It’s all a conspiracy the Deep State Illuminati Pedophile Pizza Owners, Willis. R tells us so.
And wouldn’t it be nice to live in a world where that wasn’t believed by people?
I can probably guess what he means, but I really don’t want to know.
Is it “don’t make waves”? THat’s the one thing Democrats seem to be consistent on, save for a very few precious exceptions. So it’s gotta be “don’t make waves”, right?
…
He doesn’t mean “don’t make waves”, does he?
Prolly not.
I was using the term somewhat metaphorically, but the Democrats are the ones who insist on absolute adherence to their beliefs, whether those beliefs be about human sexuality and gender, race, medicine, the environment, etc. And they absolutely will try to ruin your life if you step out of line with their beliefs, up to and including censoring, deplatforming, or even suing you.
Accusations of thought crimes {what ‘they’ want} equals “I have nothing.”
man i WISH democrats had enough moxy to do what you think they do
btw deplatforming you
No, no, you’re CENSORING him. Deplatforming him would require you to go after his platform, which he doesn’t have. How metaphorically appropriate.
You sure? I’d think censoring would be stopping him from talking. Buggman can still talk about how Democrats are the real fundamentalists because they complain about the laws being passed to restrict people. He just can’t do it on this platform, because screw him.
I always thought that deplatforming was, say, going after Infowars to shut up the infowars dude (whose name I can’t remember, and I’m sure as hell not having “infowars” in my search history to find out).
Deplatforming is like refusing to reblog/retweet/share something or refusing to allow someone to make a paid speech or tour stop or something at your school/business/venue.
Basically anything where you deny him a platform where he might have spread his message, even if it’s not actually his platform.
It’s often used for things like the protests for alt-right college speakers.
How dreadful of them, trying to stop shitstains from oppressing people for being gay, trans, or not-white, ruining public health, and murdering everyone in the world for short term profit. HOW DARE THEY?!
I wish they dared harder, because they’re not daring very much at any of those things.
Oh no we’re so close minded to try to silence racists, homophobes, transphobes and other bigots just because of their belief that certain people are less human! We’re cruelly shunning people simply for causing completely the avoidable resurgence of measles, mumps, and other diseases that had come close to being wiped out!
How did we not see that throwing milkshakes at fascists who just want to round up immigrants and Muslims into concentration camps makes us the REAL fascists! Banning D-list celebrities from social media simply for calling for politicians to be murdered is EXACTLY like 1984!
I feel ashamed for ever thinking it was okay to object to the vilification, dehumanization, and literal murder of marginalized people 🙄
[/sarcasm, obviously]
You just think like that because you’re a depraved liberal. Republicans understand the true value of life, including that of disease-causing virii and bacteria!
MAGA – Make America Germ-Riddled Again!
(also sarcasm, I hope obviously)
Unfortunately, the anti-vax stuff is not the exclusive property of the right. Left-wingers deserve just as much blame for that one. But, you know, we can riff on your joke and point out that Republicans know life begins at conception – and stops at birth.
Sadly, not at all surprised this was where we were going.
Me neither.
It truly was not “don’t make waves.” 8(
Aha, I understand now. You’re a moron.
This is a hell of a week to try out that line.
yeah what the fuck
Yes, that’s the number one thing I did when I was Sunday school director (just ended a 10-year hitch, time to do go something else). Everything cutesy got pitched. The point of Sunday school/children’s church should be to prepare them for confirmation as full participating members of the congregation. So we tossed around questions like, “Hey, in the story of Abraham and Isaac, did Abraham pass his test or fail it?”
I myself have brought that up. Mind you, I consider the story to be an injunction against human sacrifice. People think, “Oh it’s all about loyalty to God” but it also was fairly relavent back then that you SHOULDN’T sacrifice your kids and God isn’t down for that.
Carthage: Well, I’ll DO WHAT I WANT.
It’s one of those stories that makes great sense from a sociological/anthropological point of view: “Here’s why we don’t sacrifice kids like those other people do.”
Much less from a “This really happened” point of view.
Dear Joyce,
Whenever you have the chance, please high five Castiel for me.
He deserves it.
In retrospect, his attempts to reform Heaven didn’t work out so well.
Either that or Sam and Dean ruin everything.
Oh no…
So clearly the optimal solution is to get Joyce and Lucy’s relationship to the point where Joyce can say with confidence “No thank you, my good friend Lucy! I don’t want to go to church today! This has nothing to do with you, everything to do with me, and I simply trust you enough to be emotionally honest with you!”
And then they watch some of the lighter episodes of Teen Titans together or something.
‘Ding Dong Daddy’ may give her a bit of pause.
The episodes where Raven and Starfire bond are some of the best.
The Halloween decorations on Joyce and Sarah’s door looks pretty nice.
Doesn’t it?
Oh, Joyce, honey. It’ll be okay.
Ish.
Maybe.
Oh.
I get the feeling Joyce would have ducked out even before Becky texted her, I don’t think she and God are on speaking terms at the moment.
Yeah, I get that feeling too. I imagine she got that text and was like “well, one less excuse to come up with”.
Ugh. Looks like newest Android Chrome broke the alt text patch.
“might take a while, there’s a million of them”
Reminds me when I stopped attending church in college. That was rough.
I’m back to it now, but I wonder if I would’ve handled the academic pressures better through weekly spiritual attendance.
So, how long until Carol finds out Joyce skipped church and disowns her?
That IS the question, isn’t it? Even Jocelyn hopes that their mom would do the right thing, in the end, but i don’t think she really believes that.
She wouldn’t have hesitated like she did if she did.
NOOOOOO, BECKY, DON’T LIE TO JOYCE ABOUT YOUR NEW JOOOOOOB
Buncha fibbers around here.
Well she didn’t technically lie. She only said she has work. Just not that it’s working at a new job.
Shopping for work clothes IS work, especially if your boss takes you. She’s not lying here.
Puh, for a moment there I thought Becky’s shame over her new job, as well as how her plans to keep it on the low until Robin lost the election exploded when Robin started parading her on TV and wished her away from the at least somewhat safe place Becky had gained on Leslie’s couch, could actively drive her to distance herself from those who love her and look after her, and that said increased isolation could be a source of tension for them, especially at a time when everyone involved already are having various crisis of faith or otherwise are in vulnerable positions and really could use those who love them and look after them to have their backs.
So I’m really glad it’s technically not a lie. That makes it much better.
Especially because you’ve already talked to Dorothy about it and it’s been on the news. Secrecy isn’t really an option here.
Joyce internally: oh thank…. hmm. Gonna need to figure out an alternative.
Oh my stars, oh my non existent god, Jegus, Oh my gosh, oh my science, oh my thor, etc.
It was good enough for Isis, She will help you in a crisis,
And She’s never raised the prices, so it’s good enough for me.
Gimme that Ole Tyme Religion,…
How many verses do you know?
on one hand, eh good either way I guess, on the other, it would’ve been nice if Joyce had just straight decided to not go on her own from the get go
I think she did, since she didn’t get up at the usual time…
She was probably stalling, not wanting to go.
Otherwise she would have texted Becky. Or had to deal with a confrontation when Becky showed up.
Joyce: “Everything stays, right where you left it.”
Sarah: “You do know Marceline is dating that pink princess?”
Joyce: “Let me be the straight girl that sings like gay characters!”
If this becomes a pattern, I’m really worried about the fallout of her parents finding out she’s skipping church.
(I’ve skipped it for 10 months and counting, and mine are gonna find out eventually probably, but that’s… irrelevant. XD)
I assume Mom would blame Becky.
I assume mom blames Becky for the heat death of the universe.
Surely as a Good Christian(tm) she would not believe in such a thing?
Good Christians(tm) think the heat death of the universe will happen, but that it involves heavenly fire and brimstone.
It is possible her parents may find out, but the fact her mom doesn’t see a man brandishing a loaded weapon and threatening human lives (versus carrying concealed on campus with a proper CCL, which is legal in most states) as a problem, I as Joyce would question the reliability of the source.
Time for Joyce to start reading some Richard Dawkins and Douglas Adams. There’s nothing wrong with religious practices. Often they’re based on communal needs for cleanliness, personal safety, or some other basic rules that were key to survival during the religion’s foundation (why Kosher foods are based on meats that don’t tend to spoil rapidly in Mediterranean climates or let diseases cross species). The issue comes when evidence that counters a religious origin story is brought to light, and a population ignores logic in order to support a belief system built originally to keep feudal serfs in-line.
On a related note, Ian, just watch James Burke’s “The Day the Universe Changed” on YouTube, and if your folks give you trouble, send them the links. It works when combating post-scarcity believers with “Scrooge McDuck and Money”.
Yesterday, I talked to someone who didn’t know that Catholics don’t believe in Young Earth Creationism.
There’s a lot of ignorance about what Christianity believes.
But no, speaking as a Christian, there’s no point in believing the religion if it’s not true and it’s insulting to believe otherwise.
So…Dorothy gets “Perfect Cinnamon Roll” as a display name. Becky just gets “Becky MacIntyre.” Hmm.
Heh, you beat me to that observation.
What, Joyce. No cute nickname for Becky in your phone book?
is there a particular significance to Becky’s phone number being visible? I wonder what happens if one texts that number
The 555- prefix is reserved for dead numbers that can be safely shown in entertainment.
Not so – there are some reserved numbers for entertainment in the 555 NXXs, but that number isn’t one of the reserved ones in the NANP (it’s just 0100 through 0199, apparently).
Note that NPA-555-1212 has been directory assistance…
The 555 NXX used to be reserved for telephone company usage (not fake number usage, although it was common for that, because most of it was unused), but now apparently it can have numbers assigned to customers, even.
Joyce the Apostate, Daughter of Perdition.
She’s gonna pay for this – for Eternity
If anyone wants Joyce today, she will still be hiding in her room.
Maybe she’s not hiding. Maybe she’s just doing whatever she wants. Like a REBEL!
I wonder if Lucy will continue to be the Joyce-Undamaged type character, or if Lucy will get some struggles too. Although the fact that Lucy has read Harry Potter means that her parents weren’t as strict about the Christianity.
While Lucy is very like Joyce in personality, I think that their family background and upbringing was very different.
I don’t think Lucy’s religion is wrapped up with rejection of “the other” (what fundamental Christians view that way), I don’t think she was homeschooled, I don’t think she was taught to hate difference.
I don’t think she’s from a fundamentalist Christian background like Joyce is.
Lucy already has struggles: her crush on Wally which will probably always be unrequited and the fact that she continues to care about others more than she receives
Jesus it up
Joyce literally turning and walking into the dark and sheltering behind the door showing her and Sarah as demons? That’s a plot line long in development. Sweet.
Technically Sarah’s new picture shows her as a witch, and Joyce’s picture is still the same as before, unchanged. 😛
All the angels? Geez, can’t blame Joyce for skipping that task.
Those angels will just have to high-five each other, sheesh.
Not on Twitter so I can’t comment there, but I’m guessing this is Mrs. Diaz?
My first thought was Mrs. Rosenthal (Joe’s mom).
My next guess is some stripe of DeSanto.
The last few odd numbered books opened on a Sal and Marcie strip, so I think it’s somewhat unlikely this one will.
UHM, EXCUSE ME, alt text, but if you do the math and cross reference Hebrews with Revelations, it is clear that canonically there are AT LEAST 100 million angels.
(This is a joke but also a “real” thing.)
So wait, am I the only person thinking this is clearly Robin texting with Becky’s phone? When the strip went up last night I thought it super-obvious that that sounds far more like Robin than like Becky talking to Joyce, but a skim of the comment section seems to indicate a number of people assuming that is Becky and no one (besides me) protesting otherwise.
Joyce is showing signs of depression now.
🙁
And Joyce goes back to bed. Called it!
… not happy …
I wouldn’t want to high five Zeruel, for one. Nor most of the others.