Dumbing of Age turns TEN YEARS OLD today! Enjoy a brand new semester.
wait i’ve never done a “this strip is ten years old today, enjoy more of this strip” blog post before
usually the strips end before now
how do i do this
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You put a keg on the flat side
so it stands
hence the name
…duh
also I guess you soft reboot it every ten years is how, blog post
Speakin’ ’bout blog weirdness, this site changed colors on that news box thingy and some names before i hit the road, so i spent several minutes trying to calibrate a laptop’s screen colors thinking it was off, cause last time i seen them at my home pc, they were more of a salmon color, now they’re more like a minecraft pig.
I love that ‘minecraft pig’ is a color! Pantone should adopt it!
It was a fast 10 years though. (Well deserved congrats, by the way).
So we have Joyce and Becky, check. Next is Walky and Billie?
So very sheltered.
You think that’s bad? I’m 35 years old and I’m STILL not sure what a keg stand is 🤣
I think it involves a funnel. (27)
You’re thinking buttchugging.
Remember to mark those days on your calendars.
I think you’re thinking of a beer bong.
I’m almost 50. I’ve seen video.
It involves drinking beer from a tap on a keg while doing a handstand on said keg.
It’s unbelievably stupid. As in, it’s so completely pointless and in no way looks fun that I can’t really believe anyone does it other than because someone told them that keg stands are cool or something.
The last college party I went to (which was long after college, maybe a decade ago) I brought the keg. (Party was for my former neighbors who were graduating, keg was my homebrew that they’d helped make for the occasion. I had great neighbors, even if they were vegetarians.)
Somebody made a joking comment about a kegstand. One of the former neighbors made a joking comment about breaking arms for disrespecting good beer.
Something tells me these girls heard about too many 80s college movies.
“Let’s watch this one! It’s about Saint Elmo, so it must be spiritual!”
“No, this one! It’s about a house full of animals!”
This one is about an angel’s heart!
“I bet it’s like Noah’s Frat House! Maybe there will be a flood.”
https://robertbowenart.com/wp-content/gallery/art/st-elmos-fire.jpg
(Click it. Totally worth seeing. Not even joking, you’ve got to see this.)
I was not disappointed.
It’s . . . it’s . . . BEAUTIFUL.
Here’s a good one! It’s got that pig from the Looney Tunes!
Really, this one, looks a little spooky, but kinda Batman-esque…it’s about a flying guy, The Crow.
TOGA PARTIES!
Happy DOAnniversary!
(I can’t believe it’s been a decade!)
Becky’s hair has gotten even Beckier. But is she the Beckiest?
Meanwhile, Dina has systematically replaced every item of furniture in her room with dinosaurs.
Her desk is an Ankylosaurus! (With a flat surface over its back to make for an actual desktop, whatever.)
Im surprised she isn’t livin’ with Dina.
True story, at my college a couple girls were dating and decided to become roommates, they’re still together 30 years later.
My guess is that her religious sensibilities won’t let her live with her girlfriend until they are married.
She finds Dina irresistible, and is worried that anything beyond kissing and cuddling will end in premarital hanky-panky.
Do you think we’ll be getting flashbacks to certain plot relevant moments? I want to see Joyce’s confrontation with her mother, or is that upcoming? How Is this 2020, or 2021? would Carol rationalize Trump’s associations with Ghislaine Maxwell?
The Beckiest Becky
But what happened to the brown car?
Well, the Brown is here, presumably she arrived in something.
Forget the car, what about the tree?! It’s storyline was finally getting good and now we cut back to these chuckleheads? Ugh, Willis’ priorities are wack.
You know how Willis does things – he cuts to another scene, just when the drama was getting good. You’ll have to wait another week or two for the automobile-parking-lot resolution.
It gets around town, it’s a brown car, it’s brown.
It likes to get around because the car is brown.
(Any excuse to link the Frantics.)
Happy Dumbiversary!
I love these two nerds.
Oh holy shit I just realized they’re mirroring the first episode that came out EXACTLY ten years ago this is amazing
omg, you’re right.
… omg, that art.
Hopefully the inaugural poop is off-screen.
It’s so far off screen it got deleted
Srsly, Patreon bonus
Check the alt-text.
It’s so nice to see Becky leveled up in lesbian over the break!
Becky’s new hairstyle in profile is excellent.
Absolutely, those long luxurious locks. She’s like a My Little Pony.
How hard is it to maintain that kind of hairstyle? You have to carefully keep the other side short and probably trim the long side once in a while, at least.
It’s not that difficult. You take electric clippers to the short side every week or two. The long side you trimmed the same as you do any other hairstyle.
It’s super easy! Best hair decision I made ever was to do a side shave. You know how some days (especially with curls) you wake up and half your hair is PERFECT and the other half looks like a bird’s nest? And you just know that you’ll never be able to match the bird’s nest to the perfect curls without like, showering or something?
That doesn’t exist with a side shave. Either your hair is ALL perfect or ALL a mess, and then you deal with it. I love it. I just make my husband shave it for me every couple weeks or so.
But is she as difficult to translate into a physical object as a My Little Pony?!
In order for her hair to work the same on a figurine as it does in the comic, it would have to be a solid piece of transparent orange plastic. Kind of like the late 90s iMacs.
If they worked out a way to make Walkyverse Mike’s hair work as a serviceable figurine, this should be a walk in the park.
Think of the strain to keep your head upright, though!
I should have expected Joyce to not really change over the time skip. She strikes me as the type to pick a look and stick with it for the long haul.
Though… where did they go on break? I cannot imagine Joyce would have gone home to where her Mom is. Yet, at the same time I cannot see Joyce spending Christmas of all things away from family.
Go celebrate with Joycelyne? (sp?)
Joycelyne? I thought it was Joshilyne.
Jocelyne
Leather Jacket Joyce, though…
She spent it with Becky’s family! … Oh. Oh, uhh… Dina’s family?
Sarah’s Family where she was the favorite? Or with her dad at his new bachelor pad?
Probably just celebrated with Hank and Jocelyne, since Hank and Carol are likely to be separated by now. Hank has been very nice to Becky, and we know that Becky and Jocelyne get long. So it could have been a pleasant time.
If they’re not divorced or separated yet, it was probably awkward but survivable with her dad there.
If they are, probably was with Hank.
Yeah, I 10000000000000000000% don’t see Christmas or even Thanksgiving at her moms.
Damn, look at Becky. I wish I were that cool.
So are they sharing the dorm now? Where is Sarah?
Hiding under the bed to avoid their cheerfulness?
Shacked up off-campus with Jacob. But his brother still thinks he is with Joyce. Hilarity ensues.
And if they’re not roommates, who is Becky going to live with?
I was thinking that Sarah might pair well with Dina.
Also give Willis a good chance to shake things up a bit and torment us about where Amber is for as long as possible.
Yeah, Becky’s in school! That was an easy call!
Becky has longer hair, and now I wish I actually *stated* that prediction so I could claim to be right about it.
It’s important. How else do you get internet kudos?
In darker news, Sarah is now rooming with one of: Roz, Mary or Raidah.
How to Get Away with Murder: Indiana Edition
Isn’t she allowed to have a room to herself by now?!
Unlikely, assuming she still lives in this floor of this wing. There’s only two singles to my understanding and one’s reserved for the RA. Carla has the other and is unlikely to relinquish it.
Someone has to be gone to make room for Becky. There usually isn’t a lot of moving around between semesters. Be interesting to see who.
Worried about Amber, since the tuition thing came up with Linda…
Becky replaces Bloodrose then, problem solved.
who?
I’m not being snarky; I genuinely don’t remember who that is.
She’s a background character/ascended meme from It’s Walky. Basically, a Goth Semme agent that Willis wanted to do something with but never did.
She’s still gotta better chance of showing up than Guns, though.
She always appeared just offscreen. Like a hand or foot or something on panel, but never a full body shot.
It is assumed that she’s on the floor, but never appears on panel. At least not enough to be tagged.
You rang?
I can guarantee murder won’t be the first thing on her mind, it’ll be how to get away with murder.
Trust me, she’s in law.
I think Sarah and Roz would get along well enough, no? At least Roz would be okay with Other Jacob, lol!
In my headcannon, Mary has transferred to another building to try to establish herself there, since no one on this floor likes her (or submits to her). Then Roz gets a non-Mary roommate and we never have to see Mary again! Win-win!
(I think Roz is the only one we know requested a room transfer, though. Someone please correct me. I don’t want Sarah or Becky rooming with Mary. I don’t wish that on anybody.)
I second that Sarah and Roz would mostly get along… in that they’d agree not to pester each other too much, Sarah would agree with Roz’s causes but be too cynical to think Roz can accomplish much with them, and Roz would agree with Sarah’s cynicism but insist they have to try anyway.
In a twist, she goes to Forest and competes with Billie for dominance there – while Billie keeps trying to not be dominant, but also not let her take over.
Maybe Mary transferred to Anderson, since there was an opening there. Turns out she’s the only one who genuinely believes toxic bigotry over there and she’s still miserable.
There’s our spinoff!
Mary had to drop out because she got pregnant.
Willis did that story already. Well, kind of, at least. If I recall correctly, miss high and mighty got an abortion.
And Peter Paul dropped her like a greasy turd once he found out about it.
I hope Sarah gets a nice roommate, or at least a civil one. I don’t like the idea of Roz as her roommate. Though it’d be better than rooming with Mary, still I could see Roz making fun of her and a Sarah reacting angrily.
Roz might make fun of Sarah’s lack of socializing. Or keep after her to socialize more, which would piss her off too.
Sarah is now sharing Becky’s apartment with Robin (iirc only freshmen are required to live in the dorms).
Alternatively, Joyce is just helping Becky get moved in and still rooms with Sarah. I’m hoping for this as I think Becky and Roz would be good roommates.
That seems more likely to me.
Not sure who Becky is rooming with though. Maybe Bloodrose. Who we will still never see.
Actually, freshmen who have family within 50 miles of campus are not required to live in the dorms. If Robin is living in that apartment, that is less than a mile from campus and Roz *could* live there if she actually wanted to if Robin had done a complete 180 in her politics over the time skip.
And We’re BACK!
SO MUCH BECKY!!!
well this is exciting!
Are they roommates? Would Joyce cruelly abandon Sarah?
Depends how hard Sarah begged her to.
I imagine Sarah is of the opinion that a replacement for Joyce would be a heck of a crapshoot (consider her previous roommate, for example)
If you look at the very first strip, the door to Joyce’s room was hinged on the left (as you look at it from inside the room). This door, from the same perspective, is hinged on the right. Hence, this is Becky’s new room, and Joyce and Sarah are still roommates somewhere down the hall.
Becky’s new roommate (and new character) coming up in three…. two….
But if Joyce abandoned Sarah, she would be moving into a different room, with, one assumes, a different door (because they tend to frown on people taking their old doors with them when they move)
Also, Becky abandoned her jacket in three seconds flat while Joyce still has hers on. So this could indeed be Becky’s room and Joyce hasn’t proceeded to her own room yet.
That’s my theory, but we’ll found out soon.
Agreed, Joyce isn’t abandoning Big Sister #1 (to her knowledge, not ours) that quickly. Just wondering who Becky’s new roomie is.
Bloodrose? Guns? Wen? Someone I can’t think of right now?
Ah, the joys and wonders to be found in…*checks what month it is currently in DoA*…January 2020.
Anyone else still remember how January seemed such an awful month?
I mean I think there was a big amazon fire that was kind of worrying but it wasn’t immediately, directly affecting me and oh my god is the Amazon still on fire???
Believe it or not, those notorious Amazon fires were a year ago.
Now Australia, on the other hand, didn’t stop burning until just five months ago, and was definitely still burning in January. And let’s not even get into that brief WWIII panic certain parts of the Internet stirred themselves into in January 2020…
Meanwhile on the California coast, the sky is so orange I keep trying to pull sorcery from the Imperial Orb.
Brust?
Must be the Interregnum.
Indeed.
I did not expect a Brust comment!
I was walkin’ along, mindin’ my business… WHANG! BAM! ALAKAZAM!
Yep! Where I live we had three years of drought culminating in no rain for ten months until February 2020, and didn’t see the sky for forty-nine days from the seventh of November 2019 because of smoke.
And we were starting to hear about a scary virus 🦠 in January.
I didn’t start writing panicky letters to my political people and newspapers until the second week of March. We had had four weeks of no-disaster by then.
Everything was fairly normal around here until the TP disappeared.
It was normal here, but if you were paying attention to what was happening in Wuhan it was clearly a threat in January and spreading worldwide (Italy & Iran) in early February.
At that point, we could still believe that the CDC wasn’t compromised and would be able to keep things under control here. Now we know that Trump knew at the time how serious a threat it was and was deliberately downplaying it for political reasons.
Oh absolutely. It’s good to have our suspicions confirmed, or at least substantiated, though.
Around here, for the average citizen willful ignorance and belligerent contradiction were out in full force until it hit home. (Even if the shortages only lasted all of two weeks if you knew where and when to shop. Thanks, Market Basket.)
Then the fire nation attacked?
Only the master of all four elements (masks, TP, dimensional lumber, and pasta) can return our nations to peace.
At this point, Australia had been on fire for months.
17 million hectares of land burned (43 million acres). 3,094 houses were destroyed. 33 people were killed and more injured.
Well, it is a big warehouse.
I actually thought 2020 might be ok at the start, but it went downhill really fast.
Who the hell are these people?
Less naive Joyce and gayer Becky.
As in, Becky’s TOTALLY happier!
Becky’s bangs seemed to have grown a lot longer than the rest of her hair in the same time
I am completely in to seeing plastered Joyce.
Do it.
Probably too reminiscent of roofied Joyce.
Unlikely.
Yeah, I don’t think that’ll go very far past learning what the thing means.
Students coming back from break with significantly different hairstyles (even just growing it way out) really messes with my ability to recognize them.
(Especially now that hair and eyes are about all I see of their heads!)
Everybody’s getting new design. Maybe someone’s gone cueball?! Maybe we’ll get new characters?
Certainly whoever was wishing for Sal to dump straightening her hair might be getting their wish.
That silhouette lineup contains a high concentration of *pomf*.
A lot of people’s hair look’s like it is going to be a pain to draw. Obviously we see Becky’s glorious ‘do. Both Sal and Walky look like their hair are going to be nice and lush. Whoever Fuckface is sitting on (Dorothy?) will also take more work than before. Even Danny’s seems that it could be reverting to a terrible 90’s mullet. The one that could be Mike would be at least more subtle than in the past, but I don’t know if that makes it harder or not.
While it’s nice that it looks like Lucy is getting elevated to the main cast, I am disturbed by the shocking lack of both Jacob and Ethan in that image.
Oh, and we cannot ignore that it looks as though Sarah has stopped wearing her headscarf and let her hair down. I’m looking forward to seeing that.
Ten years. Y’know when this comic started I was just starting college myself and could relate to these characters. Now I’m an old and bitter adult that would actively be working against them if I existed in their universe!
I was also sitting in college to and I still am beacuse Dissertations are hard made harder when they cut your funding beacuse of Covid budget constraints!
Bless ‘Em All, Bless ‘Em All
The Long and the Short and the Tall
Bless all the sophomores and the Room Admin gals
Bless all the lesbians and underage pals…
‘Cause We’re saying goodbye to them all
As back to their dorm rooms they crawl
You’re still just a frosh and this term’s been a wash
But cheer up for now, Bless ‘Em ALL!–apologies to the Air Corps
Hijacks the Muzak to play “Under An Orange-Colored Sky” by Nat King Cole
Sorry, I’m in California…
Lynda Carter remade that with The Muppets. Classic.
Aaaaaaaaa I love Becky’s new look!!! ♥
Happy Walkyversary!
So at this rate, only 70 more years until Joyce graduates!
Unless Willis decides to time-skip again…
Becky….your hair. My god.
Next semester she’ll be Rapunzel on one side, and Sinead O’Connor on the other.
The sides will be flipped, no explanation given.
Happy ten years!!!
To ten more years with only 90 days worth of storyline!!!
*adds “Joyce Finally Learns What a Kegstand Is” to the long shots*
“Kegstand”.
“Long Shot”.
ISWYDT.
Becky looks ready for a shampoo commercial.
We’re entering year 11 of a Willis comic. This is uncharted territory.
[Lemon Demon’s ‘Birthday’ plays on hacked Muzak speakers]
Just ask Billie, she’ll tell you what keg-standing is and you will immediately realize why you won’t do it.
Also, happy anniversary Willis, and everyone else. What is your favorite strip from the past decade?
Mine: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/02-that-perfect-girl/fox/
For me, it has to be one of these two:
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/02-everything-youve-ever-wanted/approachable/
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-7/01-glower-vacuum/cobwebs/
I’m a big fan of the second one, it’s always nice to see Becky and Dina.
Billie’s an English major, and one of the top rules of writing is “show, don’t tell”.
Ruth’s an English major, Billie’s a journalism major.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/02-everything-youve-ever-wanted/blame-2/
Maybe not my absolute favorite, but I’ve always really liked the colors and expressions in this one specifically for whatever reason (and the one before it I suppose).
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/03-the-butterflies-fly-away/erase/
This is my favourite. It always makes me smile.
I don’t know that I have a specific favorite, but I am nonetheless going to throw this one on the pile: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/03-when-god-closes-the-door/criminal/
I can’t make links on my phone, so I’ll just say either “You gotta fuck the shit outta Ruth!”, that one where Billie punches Mary’s block off, or Becky and Dina sharing a bed after the birthday party.
I guess Indiana U (or is it U of Indiana?) doesn’t have “Jan terms” like my 4-year college did?
Looks like IU does summer terms, but since their spring semester starts in mid-January or so there’s not really time to have even a three-week one when you account for Christmas/New Year’s. (Since fall semester apparently only ends December 18, they can’t shove one in before, either.)
Indiana University, University of Indiana, and Indiana State University are three separate colleges lol…Indiana University also has 8 distinct campuses (that are separate colleges, although a large number of resources and systems are unified across the campuses).
I think IUB has a few winter courses, sometimes. Not very many, though.
It’s so weird–I started reading this in high school, and when I got to college & hit midterms freshman year I remember I took special care to look around and be like “I am, right now, at the same place as the DoA people”. but time kept moving. i already had my second semester of freshman year and they’re having it now. kinda surreal tbh
First, happy decennial, which spell check confirms is a real word that I spelled correctly.
Second I don’t think they would have been nearly as happy to be back if they had a good winter break, and I don’t see how Becky could have had a good break in her and Joyce’s home town, so yeah she is Very Glad to be back. And I’m betting she and Dina got together over the break and did The Dirty, so their meetings will be total dorkfests as they try to pretend they didn’t while getting together as often as possible to repeat the act.
Becky did at least have her own place, so it might have been a choice of lonely rather than horrible hometown (since she probably couldn’t stay the entire time with Dina)
And so season 2 begins
Becky looks fantastic
BECKY??? holy shit
NO PUEDE SER! JOYCE FINISHED A SEMESTER! THIS IS A FIRST TIME IN THE WILLIS MULTIVERSE!!!!
joyce finished three semesters in roomies
Bad brain! I I just realized that now! Dammit retroactive Willis!
becky’s gonna steal cameron esposito’s look
That’s who she reminded me of! It was on the tip of my tongue.
I watched one of her older specials recently, so that helped
Leaving aside the question of whether Joyce and Becky are now roomies (mostly because everyone else is fielding that ball), I have to glom onto Becky’s “best friends in Christ” line.
That’s… not where we left Joyce, spiritually-speaking. So what’s happening here?
As she still not shared her religious doubts with Becky in a clear way that Becky can understand?
Have several months of (presumable) peace and happiness helped quiet those doubts so that she can go weeks without wrestling with them, to the point where she doesn’t really remember they existed most days?
HAS she told Becky, only for Becky to be in complete and pointed denial about it?
*Has she still not shared grrrrrrrrr
Maybe they found a more gay-friendly branch of Christianity?
Well that would solve all the problems that Becky might have had. But Joyce, not so much. Joyce was questioning whether she’d ever actually had a personal relationship with a God at all, whether the people who’d taught her about God were trustworthy in the first place, etc. Finding Christians who aren’t all “kill da gays” is nice, but doesn’t deal with those other concerns.
Becky being in denial about Joyce’s loss of faith would be an interesting but unexpected plotline. Especially if Becky held onto her faith through what she viewed as a much worse tribulation.
(Loss of faith doesn’t work like that–only in movies–but Becky might not know that)
Or maybe Joyce has zig-zagged on that.
Maybe she just put up a facade to make spending time in La Porte (and especially proximity to Carol) more tolerable, and hasn’t dropped it yet.
With Big Gay Al as the minister/pastor/whatever.
If you do all of those things( except the pajamas) you will regret them latter.
Wait so they’ve been away for 2-3 months?
Was college in break?
Was it a long holiday?
Is that why they were away for so long?
I have no idea how USA colleges work with semesters.
I’m European.
The rest of October, November, and December were uneventful. Colleges in the US usually have a break from mid-late December to mid-January for Christmas, New Year’s,* and everyone taking a breath for another few weeks before they plunge back in again (so that out of state or international students can actually come home, for instance,) though some colleges offer optional, shortened winter terms January.
* The US academic calendar is extremely Christian-centric as a whole, so even though there are other winter holidays that’s the one it’s built around. Public schools in my area started giving Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur off sometime around a decade, decade and a half ago, but that’s not universal and it was only the mandatory schooling, not college. You’ll generally get excused from class for them if you ask, at least in my area, but the onus is on you to ask whereas it’d be unthinkable to schedule a school event on Christmas.
Damn, you beat me to it, I was taking too long to write my comment.
Given how long I took on that asterisk, it was mostly luck.
By which I mean in that asterisk, if high holy days involving fasting from one of the more visible and (relatively) accepted religions aren’t considered by a lot of public calendaring in the US because they’re not Christian, why the fuck would anything else be?
They weren’t gone for 2-3 months, they are back from winter break, which is typically 2-3 weeks, I believe. The reason we didn’t see the rest of October, November, December and the first bit of January was because Willis wanted to skip ahead to the new semester.
Is it just me, or are they taller than before?
So in the weeks to come ignore the pageants that they’ll hold,
Skip the football matches,
And the globes made out of gold,
Screw all those apprentices,
And every bachelorette,
Give into the miracle that no one thought we’d get!
IT’S A NEW SEMESTER though it will be quite long,
A new semester with some slightly new shadings,
There’s still no reason comments burst into song,
You’ll know hell’s freezing if Malaya’s not grating!
(… Look, it wouldn’t leave my head so I had to try.)
Does this mean the semester ends with a huge battle between rival dormitories? And a wedding planner/evil sorcerer?
Forrest Quad’s secrets are finally revealed.
Happy Dumbing of Age 10th Anniversary! And congratulations on continuing past ten years!
I have just…so many questions.
honestly, I am HYPE for all these time skip reveals. is Mike now a masked avenger? is Walky snogging….actually, IDC. did Joe and Amber have familial holiday bonding?
God what I wouldn’t give to see flashbacks to that Thanksgiving.
Oh no, Becky no longer looks like Sombra!
Anyone else playing Who’s that Pokemon with cast?
I’m pretty sure the Mike looking one is Mike, so he’s probably not dead unless brain Mike got a hair cut. Also, the apparent absence of Ethan is a bit strange, but probably nothing.
Walky’s the second on the left, with his shoelaces untied.
Yes! My list from left to right is Sal (rocking her natural hair!), Walky, Ruth, Dina, Dorothy (with Fuckface on her head??), Carla, Joe, Sarah, Mike, Amber/Amazi-Girl, Billie, Danny, ???, and Malaya.
Any guesses as to who’s between Danny and Malaya??
On second glance, I feel pretty sure it’s Lucy.
Roz
I was wondering what that thing was on Dorothy’s head. Looked like a weird skull or a Garbage Roof hat.
it’s Fuckface wearing a weird skull!
Wait are they roomies now?! That is probably the best news we are going to hear. Eventually we will hear about Amber and need to cry, and then remember Mike never woke up… ENJOY THIS TIME!
i keep thinking doa is like 6 years old? 10 years ago i was in elementary school whadda hell
wait where’s sarah….
So does this mean Becky and Joyce are roomies? And if so, who is Sarah rooming with now?
I guess Becky REALLY doesn’t mind only being able to see out of one eye.
Depth perception is so overrated.
Just went back and reread the first twenty or thirty strips.
That was a real mind-stretcher.
Is that sal with her natural hair on the left!! And billie with short hair? And Sarah with a different style?? Yes i only focus on the hair shut up
I think so! It seems good that Sal is reclaiming her natural hair. If she wants to of course.
It’ll be awesome but I’d be kinda sad we didn’t get to see her make that decision in real time.
On the other hand, her parents are the worst and there’s only so much of their bullshit my blood pressure can take.
Pyjamas are a social construct. Learn this wisdom in college, carry it with you for life.
I love how this is a callback to the first strip.
I love Beckys’ new haircut (extra rad. Hey, aren’t you happy toe-jerk, she ‘reclaimed her womanhood’)
I love Becky and Joyce being their usual double act.
and I love, love LOVE that Becky finally is a student. This will be epic.
… I did not get the metatextual dig at Toedad of growing her one side out but YES. She took a level in lesbian while ‘reclaiming her womanhood,’ beautiful.
Becky that hair is fabulous.
On the question of what Joyce did during the elapsed time: got to meet John’s wife Christi would be one possibility.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/03-when-god-closes-the-door/christi/
Offscreen?
Not allowed.
Yes yes yes yes, Becky making her big debut as a student! Someone who learns all sorts of things! Someone who’s gonna be a SCIENTIST!
Also, don’t feel too bad, Joyce. I’m not really sure if I know what a keg stand is either, and now I refuse to google it. Solidarity
I looked it up on duckduckgo. It would be more fitting to call it a keg handstand.
Oh hot dang, a loophole that I definitely should have seen coming.
It is the stand you put the keg on, those suckers are heavy.
-looks at camera and blinks innocently.
Happy Dumbiversary, Willis! As others have said here, I cannot believe it has been 10 years!! Thanks for all the feels! And please don’t stop anytime soon, or the rest of us will be wandering around going “Life after Dumbing of Age?? How do l do this?”
I think that this is the first time we’ve seen the ‘real’ Becky – the girl she would be, aesthetically speaking, if she hadn’t had someone else’s standards imposed on her.
Oddly enough, the only thing in my head is whether that ‘do would make her head feel lopsided in terms of weight distribution!
Wow, guess that answers how you were going to do Halloween, Thanksgiving and Chrismas. As slow as the comic was going it would have been years in each Holiday. It makes a lot of sense that they had those months off though, after what they’ve been through with the last Arc. Anyway, good job at skipping those Holidays Willis, guessing were gonna get some flashbacks at some time though.
By the way how did we get through the previous four strips without any Rapture jokes?
Too obvious.
BECKY!! THAT HAIR!! BACK IN ACTION AND READY FOR A NEW SEMESTER!! YES!! I AM HYPED!!
Joyce is gonna try alcohol exactly one time and instantly become a booze savant.
Hope not… that bit was done in “Questionable Content” some time back.
It took Claire two drinks to do that. Joyce could do it in one, I bet.
Man. Becky is looking… shapely, all of a sudden.
I mean, she’s got hips, and bosoms. Where did those come from?
It wouldn’t surprise me if she deliberately tried to cover that stuff up due to Ross telling her that her body was intrinsically shameful and only to be shown to her husband.
Possibly she was not eating properly due to stress, and is now catching up, or she had a really good christmas.
Her hair thingy also seems longer and more lively.
She looks about how she did during Joyce’s party, maybe a little curvier. It’s amazing what a couple months of freedom can do for your figure, though. Oh, and the flannel+vest combo has some sort of magic that makes people hotter. Maybe that’s just the Italian in me talking.
Freedom and eating regularly / not (under constant threat of) being homeless.
Not that Dina has noticed or anything…
Dina probably has noticed, but she strikes me as someone who approves of a healthy metabolism and some fat reserves since those signal that Becky is a mating partner who’s likely to survive winter and strong enough to raise offspring. Just like dinosaurs would’ve done back when.
Becky’s growing out that hair. I like it.
Happy 10 Anniversary!!!
Re-starting… 😛
How in the heck did Becky’s hair grow six inches in six weeks?
? We skipped November and December, it’s been at least 8.
Closer to 10 to 12 weeks, IMO.
Well, 10 days of October, so at least 9, plus however long in January they’re off for winter break.
Okay: How in the heck did Becky’s hair grow six inches in ten weeks?
The American Midwest has an excellent climate for rapid hair growth.
Hooray for the new semester!
I’ll need a TON of flashback strips to catch up on what we’ve missed, though.
Advice: Don’t hold your breath for too many flashbacks.
I’m sorry we missed thanksgiving. I figured that was going to be a chance to see more of Jocelyn.
FWIW, I suspect that the current atmosphere in the Brown parental home is so tense and toxic that none of the children are happy to be there, not even John.
So….no Holloween costumes. Alright team headcanon let’s go! What did everyone dress as?!
Dina wore an anatomically incorrect dinosaur outfit… because it’s disturbing as far as she is concerned.
Joyce and Sal wore Black Canary and Huntress costumes on a dare. There was an incident where corrupt cops and the local mob were up to no good in which Amber/Mazie (dressed as Kate Kane/Batwoman) became involved. The next day’s newspapers were… interesting reads.
The ladies directly involved are treating it as a Noodle Incident.
Danny strikes me as a Spider-Man.
Someone a few days ago linked art Willis drew of DoA!Joyce in a Rapunzel costume and talking about how she’d once snuck away to watch that movie with Becky (and how the irony of doing that was not lost on her when considering Tangled‘s plot), so maybe that’s what Joyce went as?
Becky with the good hair 💅
The Gang Goes to a Frat Party
The Big Leagues: Part Deux
ROAD TRIP
Happy tenth, DOA!
10 more years! 10 more years!
Welcome, DoA Season 2!! (will we get to know WTF about the cars?)
Happy ten years! I feel like I’m a latecomer having only been onboard for not quite four of them.
Love how Becky’s hair is growing like realtime.
At this rate they’ll finally finish college in, what, 70 years real time? Hmm…I might have to make some changes to my lifestyle so I can live that long. lol
That’s a lot of hair growth for Becky in just three months.
And while obviously I don’t have a deciding vote here, I prefered it short.
Hie thee to Jeph’s comic, then.
Soooo… where’s Ethan at.
I don’t think he’s in the cast of silhouettes, unless he changed his hair.
February.
So, ten years per semester? I look forward to seeing the cast graduate just short of my 110th birthday…
HOORAY!
Aww, are Joyce and Sarah not roommates anymore? Sad.
Wow! I mean, there’s no other way to start the story than calling back to the first strip, Becky’s new hairstyle, and she’s finally an IU student!
Heavy post-Dark Cybertron MTMTE vibes in panel one.
Happy Decade of Age!
Aw, look at Becky’s hair! It got so long!
So, someone commented I think yesterday about a vaguely Mike silhouette is the picture that now seems to be filling in and I looked at it today… Is it just me or is there no Ethan silhouette?
Yeah I’m pretty sure the tall guy is Joe.
Ethan died on the way back to his home planet.
No Ethan or Jacob. Dorothy might be missing as well unless that is who Fuckface is using as a perch.
Happy 10 year anniversary!
Becky’s hair looks great.
Also, congratulations on TEN YEARS of daily updates!
like, holy jesus.
Wasn’t daily for the first little bit. Skipped weekends, I believe. Daily updates were an early book Kickstarter goal.
With the silhouettes, I’m actually really excited to see how Malaya looks.
Far right, I think they still have their new haircut from a while ago.
Gaaaaaaaah Becky and Joyce look amazing, let’s just ignore all the trauma and enjoy BECKY’S HAAAAIIIIIR AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH
You put the keg down, so you can stand on it, like a step ladder. You’re welcome.
Becky’s hair is so rad, I might have to steal it for one of my own characters.
Ooooh, a fourth wall break. Joyce knows what’s up.
Am I not the only one wondering where Joyce went over the break? Surely not home.
First Time comment. I just noticed that this page parallels alot with the first page of the comic, only that Joyce is helping Becky move in… and maybe that’s Hank behind them in panel 1 with the box? (it’s a small detail, but look!)
Huge congratulations to Willis! <3 Happy birthday, DoA!
Dang, it’s so long now
OMFG Becky, that hair, you are the very incarnation of the flaming lesbian.
(cue the Gilbert and Sullivan tune)
I already made this joke, but she saw Cameron Esposito between then and now
I hope they at least talk about some of the missing time. Did they have a Friendsgiving and/or Friendsmas? Were they excused for the rest of the semester (and if so, is Sarah’s scholarship and academic standing in order to keep it still okay?). Did Joyce get to see Jocelyn, even if she hasn’t come out to Joyce yet? Where did Joyce and Becky go over the break (whether several-month or just winter)?
Time Keeps Jumping Forward
Congrats on the decade of college