Now Let’s Go Commit Something Mildly Subversive Which, at Worst, Will Serve as a Humanizing Anecdote and Not as Anything Truly Threatening to the Power Structures at Hand, aka Dumbing of Age Book 9 is now up for Kickstartering!
Book 9 is 216 pages! It’s got the usual strip commentary! It’s got bonus art and rejected strips! It’s got 24 Patreon-only strips! It’s got a foreword by Dork Tower‘s John Kovalic!!!
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So is the ambulance ever going to get here?
Maybe when Aslan finally catches the bus
The ambulance arrived too late
I guess she didn’t wanna wait–David & David
👏👏👏👏👏
That was a good year for slow boiler tracks like that and “Man with a Gun”.
Every round Dorothy rolls a luck check to see if the ambulance finally arrives. *rolls*… she got another 1
Well, as yesterday’s Discussion thread revealed, “a month ago” was 6 years ago real time, so… maybe they’ll get here in late September?
What’s the rush?
Sometime in 2022, probably.
Well, it’s a rush response, so probably 2112.
….
*flees for dear punning life*
I’m old enough to both understand the pun and have bought the vinyl album.
I wore out the original vinyl album and had to buy another copy.
It’s like you’re expecting something for nothing, here.
When this sinks in for everyone, there will be tears.
Sorry, the ambulance stopped at the fireworks factory.
Maybe this AirBnB is in a bad neighborhood?
One thing I’ve noticed, among the various cities I’ve lived in, the “badness” of the neighborhood never really factors into police response time. Oh, maybe for certain areas it might be a thing, especially where gangs or bigotry factor in.
But for the areas I’ve lived in, the far more relevant factors were:
1. How close the nearest police station is
2. How corruptdedicated the police within that station were.
Assuming the police in question aren’t corrupt, the delay is presumably because there’s no nearby station or patrolling cars, and they’re making sure to get multiple cars out given the nature of the report.
Meanwhile, paramedics are definitely based on distance-to-hospital. For example, in my current neighborhood, it takes 3 minutes for police to arrive if patrolling, 15 minutes if they aren’t, and a fairly reliable 10 minutes for paramedics to arrive. Google maps puts the fire department (where paramedics are sent out from, rather than the hospital) as being an 8 minute drive [for non-emergency services], and the police as being an 11 minute drive. You’d expect them to make better time than non-emergency services but, weirdly, that never seems to be the case.
Anyway, I’m not in anything remotely close to a bad neighborhood. So if we assume 10-15 minutes as being similarly normal within DoA’s setting of Indiana, then it all still works out, as it doesn’t seem as though that much time has passed quite yet within the comic, since they phoned emergency services.
That said, looks like the police are 3 minutes away from the university over in Indiana (so presumably a 2 – 5 minute response time, which explains why they were coming in so fast during Toedad’s hostage-taking), so we can at least deduce they’ve likely moved a fair bit away from the university. Which actually makes it odd that Amber/Amazi-Girl didn’t give the impression of having been gone for very long, but maybe that’s just a faulty impression.
Anyway, that all said, one final note:
AirBnBs are always in bad neighborhoods, aren’t they? 😛
“corruptdedicated”
Corrupt or dedicated. Weirdly, it stripped out my formatting, there.
the CLEVEREST girl
OMG
Yeah.
Dina is nailing friendship and being a good people.
Dina is the best, and I love her.
I was gonna say – “we don’t deserve Dina, but we’re sure as hell not gonna go back to the manager to tell them we accidentally got a bargain we shouldn’t have.”
Wise words, Dina. A+ friending.
Sadly she gets a C- for handling a dying persons body correctly. Seriously, dead or seriously brain damaged, either way Toedads bowls are gonna be the first thing to go and it’s probably going to be a mess. Don’t even get me started on the poor paramedics who have to carry a 200+ pound body up that flimsy flight of stairs.
My understanding is that the bowels don’t go till 3 to 6 hours after death. Stuff has been happening at a rapid pace. He hasn’t been dead that long.
sooo…. next Thurs, around 6:30 pm-ish?
Pay for the whole seat but you’ll only need the eeeeeeedge!
Bowels’ll go immediately. There’s two factors to consider. The first is a complete relaxation of all bodily muscles- thus, anyone with fecal matter or urine ready for release will release it upon- or even before- death. As the body decomposes, gases will build up within the bowels, and those can apparently also force out wastes. So that may perhaps be in line with the 3-6 hours you mentioned?
*To be clear, if there isn’t anything to evacuate, then there won’t be an “toilet events” upon death. So maybe Toedad got a good poop in before his death. 😛
What would you have her do differently?
Also, I’m under the impression that the paramedics would only take him up the stairs if there’s signs of life. Otherwise it’d presumably be forensics specialists (police), dieners (morgue assistants), or funeral services who are called in to handle the corpse.
“Take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!” -Miss Frizzle
Dina watched The Busasaurus 500 times as a kid.
She’s told other episodes were made, but never saw the point.
Her favorite bit was the part at the end where the producer gets yelled at over the phone for all the scientific inaccuracies.
I actually looked it up and there wasn’t a segment like that in that episode. But comedy. And you know Dina would love that
That’s ok, Dina just has a fan-fiction of herself calling in at the end of the episode to yell at them.
I remember I read a ton of those books when I was a kid. I don’t think I saw much of the TV show.
😮 There are BOOKS?!
Honestly while I remember the picture and chapter books reasonably well (I did my first science fair project in second grade off a project in the electricity book, which turned out to be a fucking TRIAL because we couldn’t find bar magnets anywhere), I think I spent the most time with the space and dinosaur CD-ROM games. I still occasionally think of the ‘how many of each of the other planets would fit in Jupiter’ activity, and the ‘defending your eggs from oviraptor’ game just came back to me from whatever corner of my brain it’s been lurking for the last fifteen-plus years since I played it. (There were little in-game trading card collectables, too. I think the dinosaur one was my favorite, space was too hard for me.)
I didn’t know there were CD-ROM games! I just checkewd with “myabandonware.com” and under DOS, M, page 7, they show “The Magic School Bus Lands on Mars” and “The Magic School Bus Volcano Adventure” no dinosaurs. very sad.
Regrettable! I loved that game. (I am… very tempted to also track down DK’s Dinosaur Hunter.)
I have a t-shirt with that Ms Frizzle quote on it, and my 4th Graders were like “really??” and started spilling out the paint onto the tables, and I had to quickly amend that it’s not a mistake if you do it on purpose, so that the class wouldn’t get too bonkers. True story.
The World is undeserving of Dina!
last two panels are keeping my depression at bay
I am confused about how these words fit Dina’s character. Where do these strong opinions about friendship, messes, and passions come from?
(I am hoping for researched answers 😁)
From dating Becky I would think ,
and attacking her dad,
I think this may be a rephrasing of what Amber told her a while ago:
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-4/01-the-only-dope-for-me-is-you/dependable/
I agree, and also, is it just me, or is that comic and the one before much more expressive than we’ve seen from DoA in a while?
I’m not up to doing the research, but at the very least? They came from Amber. Amber taught her how to express sympathy, remember. Not AG.
Yeah, this is a direct callback to something Amber told her way back when she let Blaine into their dorm, not yet knowing he was a violent douchebag
Dina has learned all of her social skills from immersion, observation and mimicry. It’s the same way we learn as babies, but it didn’t wear off with Dina. Since previous to arriving at college she was always outside of the relationships and interactions, she perhaps developed the habit to observe and absorb, and analyze it as she goes along.
Throughout the ten years of the comic, she responds to what is going on beneath the bluster and the words. Dina has trouble interpreting facial expression. When her friends say things that don’t mesh with what she’s picking up underneath, the heart of the problem, she ignores the words and assumes she didn’t understand and goes with what she does see.
Dina makes the most sense to me of all the cast of characters here. I was not diagnosed with autism until I was in my 30s. I used a lot of Dinas coping mechanisms myself growing up. I don’t think Willis has ever said Dina has autism, but she looks mighty familiar to me.
The official statement is “never been diagnosed”, but between the coding and an implication her Walkyverse counterpart was specifically neurodivergent (listing it along with being Asian and “non-heteronormative”) just before that universe ended, I’ve read her that way as basically canon for years.
For those who don’t care about spoilers, said comic is here:
(There was a post on Tumblr shortly after that about how “you have a lot of time for self-reflection while *SPOILERS FOR WALKYVERSE I WILL CHOOSE NOT TO BRING UP DESPITE POSTING THE LITERAL END OF THE WALKYVERSE, THAT ONE’S COMEDIC*” as well, covering both Dina realizing more things about her sexuality and about her neurotype while she was offscreen for ages.)
https://www.shortpacked.com/comic/my-name-is-dina-sarazu
I wholeheartedly respect such a dedication to avoiding spoilers.
Quiet “introverted” people, who lack social instincts for their own behavior, are often extremely good observers of other people, and have surprisingly good insight about things that don’t directly involve them.
Hi poofdepoof. I’ve raised a neurodiverse son, and Dina sure seems familiar to me. People on the spectrum can and do process emotions and social considerations similar to how Dina does here–it’s just often difficult for them to express such ideas. One school of thought (forgive me, I don’t know where i heard this) suggests autism actually results in increased sensitivity to emotions rather than desensievity, and the extreme nature of the emotions is just so overwhelming people on the spectrum are overwhelmed by them (hence the panic attacks my son has when he loses his car keys in his room).
Not sure if that gives any insight or not–as Stephen Shore says, “If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism.” the neurodivergent are, like the neurotypical, infinitely diverse. (would link to the Shore quote, but I haven’t figured out how to do that yet).
Damn, used overwhelming twice in one sentence. I am shamed.
We’re also fairly prone to empathy (the ability to feel what other people are feeling) being either hypoactive (we feel sympathy, we care, we just don’t take it on for ourselves) or hyperactive (as in you get sad and I get sad by proxy.) Add in ‘we have difficulty finding the words to express the emotions we are feeling’ (which is fairly common) and you get the Emotional Overload.
Overwhelming is a very accurate word for it! Repetition’s fine when it’s very much a thing.
But yeah, Dina may not be extremely perceptive of social rules and norms, but she remembered what Amber says and she is perceptive of people. (Remember, she recognized that Raidah was patronizing her. She’s been keeping AmbG’s secret this whole time because she knows it is a secret. And this is… perhaps more indication than we previously had that Dina’s aware of the split, but definitely a hint she does.)
My son definitely shows signs of hyperactive empathy (so do I, come to that, although I don’t believe I’m on the spectrum). Anyway thanks Regalli, for helping me understand him just a little bit better.
She can have a little bit of a mess, as a treat
Oh god… Dina stop raising your death flags!
The adventure’s flippin over, and being a good person isn’t a death flag.
Cops haven’t got there yet. A whole ‘nother adventure starts then.
Wonder if they’ll brutalize more people than the criminals?
Or is that only something that happens in the places I live? >.<
From all characters, Dina is the one that gives me peace of mind. And she is one of the few that I can imagine how her voice would sound like.
I just imagine it as Dendy from OK KO for whatever reason
I’m pretty sure Joyce sounds like Judy from Zootopia.
Good job, Dina!
Dina is a good egg. They all are.
#NotAllEggs But yeah, this is a good batch.
Dina is not just a good egg, but the good yeast and milk and flour and cinnamon sugar and icing needed to make the purest cinnamon roll.
(Sorry, I’ve been baking more than usual lately. But still true.)
Hurrah for bakers!
When can we expect yeast on the store shelves?
and Dina Knows this is Amber
so Dead Bodies get tagged ?
It raises interesting metaphysical questions about where the line might be. Would a severed limb be tagged? Just a finger? What if nothing were left but a lumpy red smear on the floor?
i have tagged a character’s blood
Oh shit that’s right, lol
That is so Hellraiser
So I’m guessing random skin particles is where you draw the line
there’s always the S. Clay Wilson approach with continuity written for detached fleshy gobbets
You’ve also tagged the occasional stray hint of an individual’s shirt, as I recall. 😛
Whoa, who’s blood? Was that in Walkyverse?
Ugh. “whose” not “who’s.” I’m not a cretin.
It was Ryans, during the Just-Off-Panel-Knife-“Fight”
Yeah, the only person clearly on-panel in that one was Dorothy, and decent shots of Amber’s arm. Ryan was only tagged by blood, probably for ‘finding it later’ purposes.
(There was also an intentional fakeout way back when before we knew the details of the convenience store stabbing, where Sal was barely in-frame and her hair or something was tagged to obscure who was the one holding the knife.)
awwwww, Dina. That’s deep
I’m going to have to flag this comic for future arguments. Amber is tagged and there are no cheek blushes.
The last couple panels are blushed!
Yes there are, panels 5 and 7, when Dina wants to talk to Amber specifically. They’re poking out from under the mask.
Okay, you guys are right. I was interpreting that as shadowing.
i did a doubletake seeing Amazigirl tagged
She doesn’t have the blushes in the first panel.
panels 4 and 6 have cheek blushes
Ack! Reltzik is right, 5 and 7 not 4 and 6.
You are also technically correct (the best kind of correct), because Dina has them too.
again, I’m so impressed by Becky. She recognizes this moment for what it is – the last chance to not leave things unsaid to her piece of shit father. She will not let it fester. She will say her piece, she will grieve and she will move on.
Toedad won’t have any power over her, even in death.
You tried to strike me down. But I came back, more powerfully than you could have Possibly imagined.
So Amber and Amazi-Girl are like Dog and God from Fallout: New Vegas’ DLC of Dead Money.
Thank you, Dina. 🙂
“Is this about our dorm room?”
“No, although I wish you to know that while I prefer that you pick up your socks, you not doing so does not jeopardize our bond.”
Is anyone else having a problem on this site with the ad on the right edge of the screen that partially to mostly covers the last panel of the comic and grows when you mouse over and seems to have no way to close or collapse so I can see the entire comic? Mine today is from Home Depot, but on other days it has been from other advertisers. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I’ve had that happen sometimes – I usually find if I refresh the page, the ad’s moved out of the way.
Sometimes the ad box disappears when the ad changes, which makes the whole right column jump up for a couple seconds once in a while. That’s about it, though.
Yes. I right-click the comic, choose “Open image in new tab”.
I don’t mind ads, really I don’t. But when they run code on my computer or cover up content… and then companies complain that I use an ad blocker, which is only partially effective
I just use ublock. Yea, I know ads create revenue, but too many of them either break sites or are malicious. So I block ads and support the webcomics I read via Patreon.
“Well Dad, I guess I get to keep my stuff after all. Fuck you for making it work out this way.”
okay dina climbs like minimum four or five spaces up the “best character” ladder in four panels not bad girl not bad
Somewhere in the world, there’s a real-life counterpart to Dina
.
.
(Accesses controls, steers ELE asteroid away from planet)
I almost had to ask you or google ELE asteroid, but then it hit me. Imma gonna use that, I love it.
Well ok it didn’t literally hit me, or I’d not have posted my previous or this. 🤪
Okay, good. Because for a moment, I had questions.
Sniff…DiNA IS SO PRECIOUS!!!!!
Dina continues to prove to us why she is best girl. So wonderful.
Dina <3
“friends are allowed a mess” is the sweetest thing I’ve EVER heard.
Yup. Trust Dina to sum up friendship in five words.
For someone on the Spectrum, Dina sure can say the right thing sometimes.
I think that sounds a bit condescending. What Dina said was a good thing to say, period. Not “okay for someone who isn’t normal“. Note how Joyce, a “neurotypical” person, spent the last strip being quite insensitive towards Amber without even realizing it.
Yeah, Dina does display some unusual behaviors. But she’s also been shown to be sensitive, observant, and a quick learner.
Why can’t people just be individuals instead of diagnoses?