Sorry earthling. I’ve tried using my Parasite Powers to see into the future, but all I’m getting on this site are hazy visions about some character’s backstory involving… a driver’s license?
other than buying a black outfit for mourning clothes/a funeral i feel like someone going into a depression spiral after the death of a friend would probably just reuse some old clothes or having some unwashed older clothes, so basically like a regular college student but a bit more sloppy (but since this is a comic, color representation/theory would prolly play into it more than a realistic situation), though other than the parents helping out with a weekly budget or so idk how much extra money a college student would have on buying new clothes and such after paying for a class/lunch
You can also buy second hand or exchange clothes. And moreover, you can do it even if you don’t have kids! Got a camo period in college precisely because it was inexpensive or even free.
When I lost my wife, I couldn’t bear wearing anything but black. I had to go to Walmart to buy some plain black t-shirts because all of my other black t-shirts were decorated.
It was only a lack of foresight that prevented Mike from making everyone feel uncomfortable by leaving a request that everyone wear loud Hawaiian shirts at his funeral.
It’s too late for Mike, but it’s not too late for us.
Honestly, this is one of those rare moments where I fully appreciate Walky’s value to this story. I feel like the tragedy of characters like Walky and Mike and Amazigirl and Robin is that Willis wants to give every major character a serious arc, and some of them just… aren’t in serious stories. I love them, but some of them handle it better than others.
Commenting on someone’s clothing choices in any depth is a pretty rare thing to get right under normal circumstances. Going up to a depressed person in mourning and asking them if they changed their wardrobe to be Goth all of a sudden when 1) yeah, obviously, and 2) you know exactly what happened to prompt it, comes off as taunting them.
If I believed Walky had the slightest thought to anything that came out of his mouth, I might even think he was calling Ethan goth as a way of saying he’s being overdramatic and is only pretending to mourn Mike for attention, because that’s honestly a more likely context with most people than making a comment that rude just because it popped into your head.
It might be worth pointing out that it wasn’t so much that it was the words said but that it was phrased in a way that Mike absolutely would’ve used. And his response “Mike’s Dead” was more of a way to tell Walky to shove it for trying (if unconciously) to interact with him i esame manner Mike would’ve.
Let’s also take into consideration that Walky when meeting Booster was also in a weird state where he wasn’t as nonchalant about things as he normally is due to Mike’s death. I think walky is just better at compartmentalizing.
Honestly, as with Joyce I’m convinced that Walky is exactly who Eathan needs to talk with right now. Given that he out of everyone had the next closest relationship with Mike due to living with him and is in a much better place than Amber.
I sort of interpreted the interaction more as like “mike is dead, im in mourning, you lived with him heres a reminder that he’s dead so you can meet me at the appropriate mood”
And here I saw it as him trying since everyone (in story) keeps telling him to grow up, or be more observant, or be better with emotions. He’s kind of like Dina in this moment – I know I need to do the thing but I have not figured out the correct social interaction for this and like Becky all I have is jokes and denial. Yet, I SEE you and I GET it but DANG is that far.
Yup! There’s a sequence in The Sandman where Dream enters Delirium’s realm, and Delirium (who’s kinda upset with him at this point) threatens him with trapping him so while he thinks he’s escaping, he’s just going deeper into her realm and being more trapped.
So while Ethan’s rejecting comics he’s becoming all Emo and refusing to mourn and move on from the death of a loved one (to the point of fetishizing them). The more he denies Batman, the more he moves deeper into Batman’s realm…
… there are four comments in very tight proximity all saying basically this.
Why? From where I’m sitting, Ethan is the one being the asshole here. Walky asked a legitimate question about where Ethan got his clothes (albeit in a somewhat snarky fashion) only for Ethan to snap at him about Mike’s death. Ethan is being melodramatic in the extreme.
Walky isn’t really a close enough friend to snark with him like that. It comes off kind of like taunting him than actually asking a legitimate question.
Maybe.
“Mike’s Dead” is not a proper response to that. As someone above said, it seems like he’s imitating Batman (at best) and is being selfishly melodramatic, as if Mike’s Death is his personal burden to bare, at worst.
More than one person can act like an asshole in a situation, though. There’s no reason to compare the two sides in an effort to find the lesser asshole.
Is never about finding the lesser asshole. It’s all about finding the greater asshole so that we are justified when we enjoy shaming them on the Internet.
Man, his boyfriend was brutally murdered a couple of months ago, framing Ethan’s grief as “gothiness” is hugely insensitive. Like, it’s within the bounds of expected behavior for a 17 year old or however old Walky is, but also… like… that’s a shitty question.
I mean, that’s just semantics. They were lovers, however they choose to categorize that or however often it happened.
(This doesn’t change my previous points – just disagree with the devaluing their relationship because it wasn’t well defined).
First off, Walky didn’t do that – he asked if Ethan already had a goth wardrobe or bought new clothes. And it’s a legitimate question – most people don’t have enough black clothes to wear a new outfit of them every day.
Secondly, sure, Walky was being a shit. And if Ethan had said “Dude, fuck off. I’m depressed.” that would have been fine. But that wasn’t what Ethan did, and I find Walky’s mild ribbing to be less offensive that Ethan’s response.
“And it’s a legitimate question” lmaoooo in what universe? it’s a dumb and meaningless question. walky is either dumber than I thought initially or thinks he’s being funny here. it ain’t cute.
“brutally murdered” is really not a fair description of what happened. It gives Blaine and Ross far, far, far more credit than they deserve for what happened.
“brutally murdered” is what happened to Blaine and Ross. Mike did an idiotically heroic self-sacrifice.
Framing gothiness as grief is hugely insensitive for goths. I mean non-dead ones, and non-mourning ones. I mean Ian Curtis is dead, now get over it, Gabi Delgado is still alive. Wait. He’s not. Is it good or bad? I always fail to remember…
Would you ask someone at a funeral why they’re wearing black clothes? If they give you a snappy answer, does that make them the asshole?
Ethan is mourning and Walky has, at the very least, an inkling of this (because he knew Ethan and Mike were friends).
Walky might be wondering why Ethan is in mourning two months (?) after the actual funeral but there’s more tactful ways of asking this.
A) Ethan isn’t at a funeral. A funeral is a sanctioned event where wearing black is an appropriate one time event.
B) Ethan has been wearing black outfits for sometime (you yourself suggest two months), indicating that he has more than one such outfit.
C) It isn’t the fact that Ethan reacted negatively that bothered me. It was that he is acting like no one else but him has been effected by Mike’s death. Walky knows Mike is dead – he lived with Mike.
A sanctioned event? You don’t need permission to dress how you like, and you certainly don’t need permission to be mourning someone you’ve known for years for however long.
Shoot, going up to an acquaintance who isn’t in mourning and asking why they’re dressing the way that they are is kind of a dick move. You’d think Walky of all people would get that, given how much policing of his appearance he’s gotten from everyone this year.
Sorry, got that word wrong. I was thinking sanctions like requirements (which I’m not sure it actually means) – ie everyone wears black at a funeral because it is socially expected, and thus it would be foolish to ask why someone was wearing black at one. Just like it would be foolish to ask why someone at a military outpost was wearing a military uniform – the answer is obvious.
A college cafeteria is not a funeral and does not have a dress code (as you, Alexander, said), thus Derek’s comparison between Walky’s actions and asking why someone was wearing black at a funeral was fallacious. That was the intent of that statement.
And, again, Walky did not ask Ethan WHY he was dressed in black. He asked if the clothes were already owned by Ethan or purchased especially for his new look.
Hey I’m 100% with you on this. Walky’s asking if Ethan bought the clothes, not why he’s wearing them. It’s completely different. If someone would ask me at a funeral “Hey I didn’t know you had a black tie, did you buy it for the funeral?” I wouldn’t be annoyed in the slightest.
the cafeteria is not a funeral, but we know that Walky has enough smarts to figure out that Ethan’s black clothes are part of his mourning or at minimum related to his emotional state; and yet he continues to plow ahead with a tactless question because he doesn’t care.
Would you ask a widow why she’s wearing black months after the passing of her spouse?
that’s why going goth is not bringing anything. Would he be a *doomster*, then everything could be a funeral. Ofc, the problem would be that he’d had to be so slow he wouldn’t be past Walky in that last panel.
That smile tells me that Walky genuinely straight up does not give a shit that Mike died and Ethan is still in mourning, and that he in fact is deliberately mining it for humor.
Did it, though? Walky doesn’t look like he’s much bothered; in fact, he probably either a) was looking for some amusement at the expense of- what he considers- self-indulgent “woe is me look at my pain” Ethan or b) thinks he’s successfully lightened Ethan’s mood (who knows what Walky thinks, or even if/ when he does so…)- whatever, he doesn’t look like he’s been “bitten”!
Jesus fucking Christ. Ethan can’t smile, Walky can, therefore he’s practically gutting live bunny rabbits in Ethan’s face?? Goddamn, y’all get some weird fuckin ideas from these tiny interactions.
The internet has completely destroyed peoples’ ability to navigate or observe human interaction without devolving into rote fingerpointing about abusive behavior.
IMO Walky’s being unintentionally insensitive, but that’s completely in character for him. I don’t care for him, but he’s not doing anything particularly awful.
Ethan’s best friend of at least a decade and newly turned lover died in a pretty horrific way. Doubling down on that, it seems like Ethan had no one to really turn to when Mike died; Amber was dealing with her own trauma and Danny had just Danny’d harder than he’s ever Danny’d before. Ethan’s acting like a dickhead, but I can’t say I blame him.
I don’t particularly think he’s done anything wrong here. Unless he was creeping on Amber and Ethans conversation I don’t see why he can’t casually speak to Ethan about mundane matters. Should he just automatically assume Ethans in a terrible mood and brooding about Mike at every hour of the day?
I get that this is probably just blind walky hate because some people just really dislike certain characters, like anytime Danny or Joe turn up, but other than maybe being a bit tone deaf, it’s not really all that bad.
I mean, I’m no fan of Walky. I just don’t see why so many people are saying this is him going too far. This was mild Walky annoyance at best.
As for Ethan, I’m pretty sick of his faux-batman BS here. I mean, it’s entirely in character for him to retreat into Batman – but it also wore thin VERY fast.
from what i can tell, ethan has been pretty much left alone since mike’s death.
while the other girls had support nets and therapy, ethan was just left to sink into depression. he’s just going through the motions, waiting to get out of there and maybe if he’s lucky he can permanently join mike while he sleeps.
then amber comes along and is suddenly “ready” to help him feel better, but the first thing she does when ethan expresses his emotions is attempt to one up him like some bad family guy “you think that’s bad” joke.
seeing that amber (who left him to rot for a few months) isn’t going to be of any help, he leaves.
as he leaves he comes across walky that cracks a joke at his appearance.
speaking of his appearance, lets look at that for a sec.
bags under his eyes from poor sleep
he’s gotten much thinner from not working out and probably eating very little
his clothes are all just “throw on” clothes with no color, because he can’t be bothered to look at clothes and figure out which color looks good with what
he’s a mess, and he’s been rotting like a piece of old fruit.
now in comes walky with the wise ass comment of the century, a joke that ethan just HAD to hear, and ethan is understandably angry.
ethan is depressed, severely depressed. but it’s not the sexy cinematic depression that comes with cooky visions or deadpool wisecracks, it’s the real and painful kind of depression that eats away at your soul and drags you towards suicide.
it’s actual depression, no idealized/romanticized depression.
How else did you read Ethan being very explicit about his despair and how his old coping methods aren’t working but he has no other options but to continue them, and Amber’s response being ‘lol mine was worse, remember?’
I read it as her basically saying “Hey, look who you’re talking to? I completely get it.” But I don’t tend to condemn characters’ intentions to the pits of Hell as my first instinct, so I’m probably just wrong there.
I feel like that’s what she was trying to do but it can easily also come off as “if you think that’s bad…” And i wouldn’t blame Ethan for reading it that way bc he is understandably not in the best state of mind
Just to focus on the clothes, since that’s what the strip is about: he’s not just throwing on clothes, he seems to have an entire new wardrobe in black. That does smack of the romanticized depression.
Most depressed people don’t actually go out and buy up a new clothes to wear so they can put together outfits without worrying what colors look good together.
Part of what it is of course is a nod to cinematic/literary tropes for showing mourning and depression. Visual shorthand. Useful even if it doesn’t really make sense. Walky’s hanging a lampshade on that here.
When Ethan first reappeared, Danny makes a comment about how Ethan is “playing with his toys again” and asks if that’s good, which indicates that he had at least observed Ethan falling hard enough that he stopped playing with his Transformers.
I might be reading too deeply, but I think it was a mutual pulling away between Ethan and the rest of the cast. Apart from being isolated from his main relationships (Amber withdrawing thinking she needed to give him space, whereupon Mike dying effed her up, Danny’s last comment becoming immensely worse in hindsight), I don’t think everyone else abandoned him to his grief, I think his beef with Amber and Danny meant he didn’t have any connections to everyone else.
Well said. I never even thought Ethan was being an asshole here. As someone who suffered from depression before, he just reads as depressed to me.
He CAN’T muster more than this, especially after that long talk with Amber.
I mean why not? “Mike’s dead” pretty much explains it all. Everything else can be extrapolated from Ethan’s perspective – It’s the one thing that rules his thoughts and existence right now.
Yes, he’s not following the social etiquette to deflect, banter, whatever, but neither is Walky. Maybe that’s why Walky just goes along with it.
ethan was minding his own business and walky seizes the moment to dunk on him. i cant fathom how you can think walky’s ok here because “Ethan’s the asshole”
the thread of “Ethan’s emotional response is unauthorized” is also strange and unlovely, in my view.
Just throwing my thoughts in here because this whole thread is stupid overanalysis and reading into words that were never said
Walky did nothing wrong here. He is at worst being tone deaf. It’s Walky. It happens. Doa commenters need to learn that a social faux pas ≠ crime because mobs come out of the woodworks the second a character does something socially inept that mildly inconveniences someone else.
Ethan did nothing wrong here. He’s in the trenches of grief and crippling depression, his social meter was eaten up by amber just now and he has no patience left. It doesn’t matter if his line feels like edgy batman shit. Sometimes people say cringy stuff when they’re depressed, oh dear God the horror.
personal but when my close friend died i dressed very similarly, and i didnt buy anything new. i ended up just grabbing whatever involved the least amount of effort, which led to lots of dark hoodies and sweat pants
Can we please get Ethan into therapy? I know therapy isn’t for everyone, but I really think that this is the sort of situation where he could really benefit from some professional help.
The problem with therapy is that its effectiveness is limited by how effective the participant wants it to be. I’m not convinced Ethan wants to worth through this yet, which means therapy would just be a waste of time and money.
To fulfill a few of the “Walky is acting like Mike” comments, just imagine this is Walky honoring his memory and the time Mike answered Joyce’s phone (and Carol) with a “H A I L S A T A N“
Ethan’s whole thing right now is “Only I care the required amount” lately, so I don’t think it’s occurred to Ethan that anyone else gives a shit and is just handling it in their own way, or if it did, that it’d matter to him at all.
Which, I’m not wholly unsympathetic to or anything. Grief isn’t exactly an empathy booster sometimes, and he’s isolated himself, so he’s got basically no insulation from Naomi, who with Ross and Blaine dead shot up the ranks by default as still one of the most monstrous parents in the comic, so there’s that.
I’m thankful for the update because I was worried for a bit that the dead had risen. Didn’t wanna risk that monkey’s paw. Sometimes dead is better. etc. etc.
While Walky’s question is not appropriate, telling him off by simply saying, “Mke is dead,” is not appropriate either. I want Ethan to get some help so he doesn’t turn bitter for years and years. Also because Ethan is not a bad guy and seeing him like this is disappointing.
Walky: Snide joke swiping at the way Ethan’s expressing grief.
Ethan: Lashing out at Walky to make it clear that this isn’t a joke.
Walky: Dismissing it all as nothing worth caring about.
Walky’s deep in his coping mechanisms here. Ethan’s got a metric butt-ton of issues here, but at least he’s making vague stabs at trying to deal with them (albeit not well). Walky’s just trying to silly his way out of trauma no matter how much it hurts those around him, and its not healthy at all.
It also wasn’t an inquiry about Mike’s current health status. I don’t think either of them really understood this interaction properly. Just a couple of confused bois.
Also honestly it be spitting in the face of Hot Topic to go to Target for all your gothic attire when Hot Topic has gone through so much to stay relevant…Hot Topic still a thing right?
It’s still around. Mostly just junky overpriced anime/Disney merch, nowadays. There’s a token mention of queer people in the little box of pins, some Funko Pops for twice the price the store next door is charging, and $6 boxes of candy containing half a mouthful of crappy candy, too. It’s honestly just the T-shirt corner of any nerd store, just bigger and more expensive.
I mean, people watch it yes but no the merch isn’t sold here. You’ll get like, kids Disney stuff or toys but no Disney adult merch. Absolutely no band merch (most people are more into dancehall or soca) and anime only recently became openly popular. If you want anything like that you buy it online, or at the closest you might find a local online reseller on Instagram
Well I haft to give him credit for finding a way to ask the question without being the one to straight up name drop or elude too their late deceased mutual companion.
I’m guessing he had most of them already, but he wasn’t combining them. It’s not weird at all that he’d have a couple black hoodies, black shirts, black pairs of pants, and some black shoes already in his wardrobe.
“MiKe’S dEaD” oh gee is he really? i don’t think anyone has noticed, ethan. i’m not sure anybody but you has been able to perceive this massive looming cloud of gloom and doom, ethan. you’re the only person aware of mike being dead, you special special boy. his roommate, his other friend who was there to see his fatal injury, they don’t have the capability of noticing that mike died. only you, special little Ethan.
no doubt everyone else has noticed, it’s just that we the audience can’t tell on account of the fact that all the previously-thrown confetti is on the ground, below the bottom of the panel
I dunno, I just took Ethan’s response as being to the implied question- why did you suddenly start dressing like that- rather than the stated one- which is… pretty random, like, yes, I’m sure people might randomly wonder whether someone went out and bought a new wardrobe in response to a significant life event, but that is something people do, it’s something he’s seen other characters in this comic do, it’s none of his business, and what in god’s name would he even gain by an answer?
Not even mad, just… Walky, damn, get on something that allows you to slow down long enough to think, please. The correct response would’ve been to ignore him, and I can see how it comes off as chastising Walky, but…
On the other hand, I don’t understand why people are bothered by Ethan’s general demeanor outside of agreeing with Walky’s implication that Ethan’s falling very loudly into a depressive spiral is just a dumb fake bid for attention he doesn’t need because it’s not actually a big deal.
“Walky’s implication that Ethan’s falling very loudly into a depressive spiral is just a dumb fake bid for attention he doesn’t need because it’s not actually a big deal.”
Sorry, but I don’t see that at all here. Walky is well aware of the situation with Mike, he was there for a lot of it. His question doesn’t imply that Ethan’s grief is fake. I think it’s more like he spoke a question out of mild curiosity without considering if it might have broader implication at all.
I’m honestly not sure what’s going on in Walky’s head right now, but I don’t think it’s so straightforward when it comes to Mike. Ever since the Time Skip, Walky’s been doing everything he can to avoid dealing with Mike’s death, even when it’s blindingly obvious that he was affected by it.
If Walky was innocently asking the question, I think his reaction wouldn’t have been as calm and casual as it was in the last panel, more likely confusion at Ethan lashing out at him.
As someone who recently had a death in my family, my response to ethan is ” And? Your point? Answer my question dammit.” Cause my version of grief is getting my questions answered relentlessly cause my mind will ask really stupid questions and not let me rest til i get the answers in order to avoid thinking about my grief.
Admittedly, it just occurred to me that I’d also be annoyed with everyone for 1) Having a funeral at all and 2) bothering to show up to it as well. So I’d be a very upset ghost all around.
I don’t actually think I’ve ever been to a funeral where you wear black. Maybe once as a kid but even then, i wore mostly white with black accents. Every time the family’s wishes are to wear colors because it’s a celebration of the life the person had and they don’t want it to be too somber.
It didn’t occur to me until today that Ethan’s probably doing a Queen Victoria thing
“Walky, don’t you know Mike’s dead?!”
“No.”
“So you think Mike is alive?!”
“Sorry, I said No meaning Yes.”
“No meaning Yes?! Walky, you do realize Mike is dead, right? Yes or no?!”
“No.”
“No you do realize or no you don’t?!”
“Yes.”
“Please!”
Walky is very obviously dealing with a painful amount of grief in a scenario he doesn’t know how to approach, let alone that it’s for someone who made him feel miserable all the time.
Openly acknowledging grief is already hard when you’re steeped in culturally enforced toxic masculinity, it’s probably way harder when the dude you’re grieving made your life miserable because he thought it was funny.
While I agree with the point you make, I tend to read Walky as avoiding “culturally enforced toxic masculinity” better than the average straight male DoA character.
(Don’t know why this came out as a standalone comment the first time, my apologies)
The kid only had one pair of shoes (until Dorothy and Joe basically made fun of him for it) because he thought it was too fruity to have multiple pairs.
He’s got some weird hangups, but he’s also perfectly okay with pretending to be gay for pizza. Picking one facet and attributing broad traits to a character because of it when they run counter to other things we’ve seen isn’t a great approach.
So, maybe this is a good moment to ask this but, I’m kinda wondering how grief counseling works. I mean, I know that in the wake of bad events at schools, those schools typically make sure it’s known that there’s people who know what they’re talking about that you can just go and talk to, but I’ve never been in a position to see how that works.
I’m just saying… you know… Ruth’s getting therapy and I think Amber’s getting therapy now too, and maybe Ethan would like to talk something out with someone?
Most public colleges have a help center that includes counselors at the very least, which may offer therapy or at least can give referrals to therapy nearby
Now I’m wondering about that too. My best theory:
It does seem unlikely for someone that depressed to decide to go shopping for new outfits, but he did lose some weight, so I’d guess his old clothes stopped fitting right, so a family member dragged Ethan to the store, and he went ‘ah screw it, all black’.
Also: Amazon exists. You can buy clothes on it. Black ones, even! I would know, I get a lot of my clothes there, and I like black. It matches with itself very nicely.
He literally reincarnated in you. You’ve turned himself a medium, got possessed by a malevolent spirit, which its destiny is to tormet Walky until the end.
Ethan’s quickly becoming the least likeable character, and surprisingly less able to process emotions than Amber now. Can’t wait for a different arc, gonna get old seeing emo Ethan wandering around saying ‘Mike’s dead’ all the time.
Agreed. I know that in real life it’s not like one can control what stage of grief they’re in but in a character that you have to follow for multiple panels, the “anger” stage gets tiresome.
Ah, speaking of people who aren’t emotionally available . . .
Also, bloody hell this comment section. One of this dude’s closest friends has died and he’s supposed to make space for other people’s bullshit? C’mon. Just because you the reader didn’t like Mike doesn’t mean that Ethan the character isn’t allowed to process it. If he was able to crack jokes or even entertain other people’s jokes, I would be incredibly surprised and it would take me out of the story. Not everything gotta be quippy.
The last time I said this, it led to a Whole Thing, but here goes:
Nobody is asking for that. Not one person is asking for Ethan to “be quippy”. He’s bawling everyone else out and guilt tripping them for Mike being dead, as if he’s the only one who cares enough. It’s exactly the same as Ruth’s grandpa (may he rest in pee) saying “At least SOME of us care” or whatever the wording was. All anyone is saying is that it’s grating and/or Unhealthy. Wally’s relentless snark and refusal to stop quipping, that’s getting called out too.
There’s no exchange here, no “or”, no “instead of”, everybody involved is handling it like crap and every last one of them is getting fingered for it. The only one who’s fully stopped to process their grief a little is Amber, of all people, and Ethan but her fuckin’ head off for saying so.
I don’t think Ethan is grieving the same Mike as everyone else, and he *is* mad that no one else is doing so.
Charitably, nobody liked Mike. Danny’s foot in mouth comment is, I think, what anyone would say if they were similarly as bad at keeping their thoughts inside.
But that isn’t Ethan’s Mike, the jerk who “cared, deep down” and died saving Amber from her own problem. Ethan was crushing on him a long time, it finally happened but he was smart enough to know why it never could happen, because Mike is an asshole who makes everyone miserable. It’s true, he is; the only reason Mike slept with him was to make Danny miserable about it, whereupon Mike caught feels.
But Ethan didn’t lose that Mike, he lost the Mike he always wanted, who was secretly a good person and cared about Ethan. The Mike that Ethan is grieving is the most idealized Mike possible, and Mike can’t do anything to contradict that ever again because he died in the heroic way possible, except what motivated that was the realization that he had been abusing Amber for years and in the exact same way as Blaine had.
Amber’s grieving her asshole friend, Walky is grieving his asshole roommate, and Ethan is grieving someone who doesn’t exist and he’s mad that no one else is doing the same.
You’re right and it’s exhausting
Boo hoo why can’t Ethan grieve peacefully and with grace, why’s he so angry all the time, why can’t he just be nicer >:/
Okay I know I’m repeating what I did in another comment but “why’s he so angry all the time, why can’t he just be nicer” is what happens all the time here with every character.
I know, and it’s annoying, and I’m not immune to it bc everyone is a dirty dirty hypocrite on the inside.
Something about it in this scenario is irking me more than usual. Let the man grieve, sheesh
Oh and it’s not always “why are they so angry why can’t they be nicer”. Sometimes it’s “ew why can’t they be normal”, a la Lucy and Booster.
Never forget the biggest crimes of doa: being angowy and committing a social faux pas
I’m really confused about the approach taken here. For the longest time there seemed to be ambiguity on whether Mike was still in the hospital, or had he passed.
It’s a weird thing to have jumped over, and to have kept the audience guessing. I can’t say I like it.
A lot of this comment section seems/seemed determined to see, manufacture, and/or cling to that ambiguity. To the point that I’ve sometimes been uncertain how much is “doing a bit” and how much is earnest denial.
Well Ethan. everyone grieves in their own way. please stop assuming that you are the only one who mourns Mike’s death plus you do feel guiltly for not talking to him much before his death.
After these last few strips, I’m making a declaration that no one is allowed to say I “hate these characters” ever again.
At least when I write 8000000 words on why Sarah is being a butt I can say why I think she’s being a butt and what motivated her current state of buttitude.
What? Dead two months and not totally forgotten?
Ethan isn’t Batman, he’s Hamlet. The arc mirrors Hamlets friends and family telling him to get over it and move on. Hope this ends with a sword fight and poison.
Walky mentioned to Booster a while back that he’s still bracing himself for Mike to jump out of the closet snarling “I faked my death to make you feel bad you sorry loser.”
Other than Amber and Mike, Walky seemed to be his favorite target, if only because of proximity.
Partly, except that it’s actually a real person who’s dead that he knew and that died saving Amber – who was important to him. Death of someone close to you is traumatizing, even if you don’t like them. It’s likely all twisted up relief and with guilt for feeling that and for not actually grieving.
After Amber and Ethan, I’d bet Walky’s the most messed up by Ethan’s death, even if he’s not the saddest about it. All covered by jokes of course.
Also Walky knew Mike for like two months at maximum. Like,it should be really obvious that the mourning period for ‘asshole roommate I knew for a few weeks’ is much shorter than ‘childhood friend turned lover’.
While I agree with the point you make, I tend to read Walky as avoiding “culturally enforced toxic masculinity” better than the average straight male DoA character.
What are you talking about? Joe of all people chewed him out for his “men don’t own more than one pair of shoes” comment way back when. Walky is culturally enforced and rewarded toxic masculinity come to life.
Yes and no, the previous commenter already called out the shoes issue. He seems to have fallen hard for the idea that self-care and paying attention to personal appearance are too feminine. But on the other hand, he seems to be in touch with his own feelings and doesn’t need to perform for anyone.
… did you catch the part where he performs not having trouble with classes? Or how he’s been constantly performing for his parents? (Just to name a couple) Look, I don’t think Walky is *bad*, his personality makes for both internal and external conflict and that’s good! I like him as a character for what he brings to the story and I don’t his flaws make him unrelatable or unredeemable. But this bending over backwards to pretend his lack of empathy is somehow good actually is really annoying.
Sorry, I’m not sure what you’re trying to communicate. You haven’t insinuated anything horrible about me as a person or armchair diagnosed me with anything.
I’m baffled by “Ethan is being a jerk here” comments to be honest. The only times Ethan is being snappy with people (Amber and Walky so far) is when they’re needling him about a subject he’s extremely sore and sensitive about.
There was another character, either Ruth or Sal, who said “do I have to write ‘I don’t want to talk about this’ on my forehead?” and I think this is Ethan right now. He can’t or doesn’t want to engage people in the subject about Mike’s death or his prolonged mourning; but since apparently he hasn’t talked to anyone of the main cast for months, it’s the only thing they can bring up.
idk the people comparing Ethan to Batman or saying he’s just being goth for attention seem to be saying no on is allowed to express grief through negative emotions
It doesn’t help that Walky is probably not the easiest person to deal with at the best of times – the last thing you wanna deal with while pretty much being neck-deep in grief is some guy who refuses to take literally anything seriously.
I feel the need to quantify the grieving, emotionally devastated teenager as “a jerk” is kinda absolutionist.
Like, sometimes folks feel bad shit. I think the more we try to quantify stuff like that as “they’re upset but they’re a jerk” the more we invalidate the expression of resentments, grief and anger as aberrations that need to be hastily powered through.
Is my depression eating up my patience again (hmmm sounds a lot like a certain character) or are the takes in the comments just getting more and more fucking nuclear
Being insensitive or snippy because you’re grieving doesn’t make you the devil, shut up
a lot of people are pointing out that Ethan deserves time to grieve in his own way. and he does ! the problem is he is not grieving. he’s ruminating. and eventually this will eat him up. he’s leaving his first bandaid on because it’ll hurt too much to rip it off and put on a fresh one, and he will never heal that way. he doesn’t have to talk to his friends about it but he needs to talk to SOMEONE.
try mixing up the capitalization of your email address. every version should work to reach you – they’re not case-sensitive – but they’ll give you different avatars.
yeah, he needs to take time off from school before he gets kicked out… as I learned when my mom passed the world moves on after a few months…….his problem is since he was in love with the guy who was pretty much hated by the world for being a dick he cant parse why no one field the same way
Speaking from experience i kinda doubt he has it in him to even think about his assignments, let alone actually do them. I doubt he’s going to class either and i know some places require attendance.
Had a depressive spiral last semester and it tanked my gpa so hard I’m on academic warning now 🙃
Don’t worry, Ethan, Mike may be dead but Walky is apparently determined to pick up the asshole mantle and carry on making people miserable in Mike’s absence.
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there was a Sharpie in his laundry
or an oil spill in the ocean… where he did his laundry
He was carrying his laundry, and an industrial crane knocked him to the ground and spilled his clothes into a vat of ink
Man, if that happened to me, I’d be moody as hell too
And if it happened to Mike, he’d be dead or something
Now, see. I thought he was arm wrestling an octopus.
Also, can Mike ever really be dead?
Mike will always live in our hearts, but in the real world he veddy dayd.
As Coroner, I can aver
I’ve thoroughly examined, er…
And he is not just merely dead –
He’s really most sincerely dead!
As pathologist I must insist
I’ve checked ‘im out from toes to wrist
And he is not just merely dead
He’s really most sincerely dead
New avatar I see?
OH YEAH! Sal’s always a winner in my book!!! Great choice!!! 😍
I still want to know how she got the old one. How?!?
Preview panels from the Willis’ tumblr, I believe.
Sorry earthling. I’ve tried using my Parasite Powers to see into the future, but all I’m getting on this site are hazy visions about some character’s backstory involving… a driver’s license?
Eh, it’s probably a fluke anyway 😑
Maybe it was Ethan that died, and he came back as Ethan the Black.
#1 most plausible explanation.
It’s what is written in the Tome of Ages about the coming of the Second Eaton…
Yesss…. the second Second Eaton must happen!
2²nd Eaton
Second Eaton was unironically the best arc of Shortpacked.
Maybe it was Ethan that died, and this is Mike doing an elaborate prank
Now I see Ethan in that bridge scene of Brütal Legend … and Mr. Crowley in my head.
…i mean i wasn’t asking that question before, but now i’m kinda curious
Off topic but A+ username.
other than buying a black outfit for mourning clothes/a funeral i feel like someone going into a depression spiral after the death of a friend would probably just reuse some old clothes or having some unwashed older clothes, so basically like a regular college student but a bit more sloppy (but since this is a comic, color representation/theory would prolly play into it more than a realistic situation), though other than the parents helping out with a weekly budget or so idk how much extra money a college student would have on buying new clothes and such after paying for a class/lunch
You can also buy second hand or exchange clothes. And moreover, you can do it even if you don’t have kids! Got a camo period in college precisely because it was inexpensive or even free.
When I lost my wife, I couldn’t bear wearing anything but black. I had to go to Walmart to buy some plain black t-shirts because all of my other black t-shirts were decorated.
It was only a lack of foresight that prevented Mike from making everyone feel uncomfortable by leaving a request that everyone wear loud Hawaiian shirts at his funeral.
It’s too late for Mike, but it’s not too late for us.
It definitely wasn’t not a denial of a “no”. Probably.
Well I’m glad to see in a world of change Walky is still as unlikeable as hes ever been
Ethan is the one getting on my nerves.
Honestly, this is one of those rare moments where I fully appreciate Walky’s value to this story. I feel like the tragedy of characters like Walky and Mike and Amazigirl and Robin is that Willis wants to give every major character a serious arc, and some of them just… aren’t in serious stories. I love them, but some of them handle it better than others.
Yeah. You could never use Mike in a serious storyline.
I’m really not trying to put you on the spot, but to be fair to Willis & to how Mike was written, Willis did do just that in Mike’s final arcs.
I mean, Walky’s got obnoxious moments, but he didn’t really even *do* anything here.
Asking questions is worse than murder.
**comes crawling out of that the comment cul-de-sac below**
**peers around**
This thread is way chiller than the one I came from.
Comparing one thing to another thing is exactly the same as [Insert Gulf War Atrocity Here]. You’re going to prison.
But did anyone really go to prison for [Insert Favorite Gulf War Atrocity Here]?
Asking questions is literally Hitler.
Name one famous question that Hitler ever asked.
If there was such, we could name it Fred. Or maybe in honor of Mike.
“Why didn’t they accept me into art school?!”
Google says https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=acoN9XUDtUw
Commenting on someone’s clothing choices in any depth is a pretty rare thing to get right under normal circumstances. Going up to a depressed person in mourning and asking them if they changed their wardrobe to be Goth all of a sudden when 1) yeah, obviously, and 2) you know exactly what happened to prompt it, comes off as taunting them.
If I believed Walky had the slightest thought to anything that came out of his mouth, I might even think he was calling Ethan goth as a way of saying he’s being overdramatic and is only pretending to mourn Mike for attention, because that’s honestly a more likely context with most people than making a comment that rude just because it popped into your head.
Nothing just pops into Walky’s head. It just pops into Walky’s mouth and goes out.
It might be worth pointing out that it wasn’t so much that it was the words said but that it was phrased in a way that Mike absolutely would’ve used. And his response “Mike’s Dead” was more of a way to tell Walky to shove it for trying (if unconciously) to interact with him i esame manner Mike would’ve.
Let’s also take into consideration that Walky when meeting Booster was also in a weird state where he wasn’t as nonchalant about things as he normally is due to Mike’s death. I think walky is just better at compartmentalizing.
Honestly, as with Joyce I’m convinced that Walky is exactly who Eathan needs to talk with right now. Given that he out of everyone had the next closest relationship with Mike due to living with him and is in a much better place than Amber.
I sort of interpreted the interaction more as like “mike is dead, im in mourning, you lived with him heres a reminder that he’s dead so you can meet me at the appropriate mood”
The appropriate mood of course being “on edge and empty”.
Now imagine if Mike had asked that question.
If it had been Mike everyone would have said how insightful it was and make Ethan reconsider his choices. Thank god Mike is dead. Good riddance.
*high fives the mouse*
But Mike’s example is inspiring Walky to ask it, irritating Ethan for his own good.
Mikeness is a universal constant and can never be destroyed.
And here I saw it as him trying since everyone (in story) keeps telling him to grow up, or be more observant, or be better with emotions. He’s kind of like Dina in this moment – I know I need to do the thing but I have not figured out the correct social interaction for this and like Becky all I have is jokes and denial. Yet, I SEE you and I GET it but DANG is that far.
Preach.
I read that in the same tone of voice I read the Batman “My parents are dead!” meme.
I only work in black. And sometimes very, very dark grey.
Same here.
For a second there I thought you meant the Batman & Raphael Cowabummer meme- wait just got an idea-
https://www.reddit.com/r/dumbingofage/comments/tbjiup/im_taking_the_liberty_to_start_sht_posting_here/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
There we go (I just got into Reddit and it basically made for memes so I’m going to try something new with it.)
Yup! There’s a sequence in The Sandman where Dream enters Delirium’s realm, and Delirium (who’s kinda upset with him at this point) threatens him with trapping him so while he thinks he’s escaping, he’s just going deeper into her realm and being more trapped.
So while Ethan’s rejecting comics he’s becoming all Emo and refusing to mourn and move on from the death of a loved one (to the point of fetishizing them). The more he denies Batman, the more he moves deeper into Batman’s realm…
Not a great Walky moment…just sayin.
… there are four comments in very tight proximity all saying basically this.
Why? From where I’m sitting, Ethan is the one being the asshole here. Walky asked a legitimate question about where Ethan got his clothes (albeit in a somewhat snarky fashion) only for Ethan to snap at him about Mike’s death. Ethan is being melodramatic in the extreme.
Yeah.
Walky isn’t really a close enough friend to snark with him like that. It comes off kind of like taunting him than actually asking a legitimate question.
Maybe.
“Mike’s Dead” is not a proper response to that. As someone above said, it seems like he’s imitating Batman (at best) and is being selfishly melodramatic, as if Mike’s Death is his personal burden to bare, at worst.
After that last conversation with Amber, he’s all out of patience for dancing around the issue.
Still doesn’t justify lashing out though.
More than one person can act like an asshole in a situation, though. There’s no reason to compare the two sides in an effort to find the lesser asshole.
but… science…
Is never about finding the lesser asshole. It’s all about finding the greater asshole so that we are justified when we enjoy shaming them on the Internet.
Read the first two lines of that comment and thought you were going in a COMPLETELY different direction with that >.>
i have opinions about assholes, mind if i plug them?
Man, his boyfriend was brutally murdered a couple of months ago, framing Ethan’s grief as “gothiness” is hugely insensitive. Like, it’s within the bounds of expected behavior for a 17 year old or however old Walky is, but also… like… that’s a shitty question.
Boyfriend? They were best friends that had sex once or twice.
I mean, that’s just semantics. They were lovers, however they choose to categorize that or however often it happened.
(This doesn’t change my previous points – just disagree with the devaluing their relationship because it wasn’t well defined).
In what world is “best friend” by definition a downgrade from “boyfriend”? I know for a fact that your view of their relative values is not universal.
First off, Walky didn’t do that – he asked if Ethan already had a goth wardrobe or bought new clothes. And it’s a legitimate question – most people don’t have enough black clothes to wear a new outfit of them every day.
Secondly, sure, Walky was being a shit. And if Ethan had said “Dude, fuck off. I’m depressed.” that would have been fine. But that wasn’t what Ethan did, and I find Walky’s mild ribbing to be less offensive that Ethan’s response.
“And it’s a legitimate question” lmaoooo in what universe? it’s a dumb and meaningless question. walky is either dumber than I thought initially or thinks he’s being funny here. it ain’t cute.
“brutally murdered” is really not a fair description of what happened. It gives Blaine and Ross far, far, far more credit than they deserve for what happened.
“brutally murdered” is what happened to Blaine and Ross. Mike did an idiotically heroic self-sacrifice.
Framing gothiness as grief is hugely insensitive for goths. I mean non-dead ones, and non-mourning ones. I mean Ian Curtis is dead, now get over it, Gabi Delgado is still alive. Wait. He’s not. Is it good or bad? I always fail to remember…
Would you ask someone at a funeral why they’re wearing black clothes? If they give you a snappy answer, does that make them the asshole?
Ethan is mourning and Walky has, at the very least, an inkling of this (because he knew Ethan and Mike were friends).
Walky might be wondering why Ethan is in mourning two months (?) after the actual funeral but there’s more tactful ways of asking this.
A) Ethan isn’t at a funeral. A funeral is a sanctioned event where wearing black is an appropriate one time event.
B) Ethan has been wearing black outfits for sometime (you yourself suggest two months), indicating that he has more than one such outfit.
C) It isn’t the fact that Ethan reacted negatively that bothered me. It was that he is acting like no one else but him has been effected by Mike’s death. Walky knows Mike is dead – he lived with Mike.
A sanctioned event? You don’t need permission to dress how you like, and you certainly don’t need permission to be mourning someone you’ve known for years for however long.
Shoot, going up to an acquaintance who isn’t in mourning and asking why they’re dressing the way that they are is kind of a dick move. You’d think Walky of all people would get that, given how much policing of his appearance he’s gotten from everyone this year.
Sorry, got that word wrong. I was thinking sanctions like requirements (which I’m not sure it actually means) – ie everyone wears black at a funeral because it is socially expected, and thus it would be foolish to ask why someone was wearing black at one. Just like it would be foolish to ask why someone at a military outpost was wearing a military uniform – the answer is obvious.
A college cafeteria is not a funeral and does not have a dress code (as you, Alexander, said), thus Derek’s comparison between Walky’s actions and asking why someone was wearing black at a funeral was fallacious. That was the intent of that statement.
And, again, Walky did not ask Ethan WHY he was dressed in black. He asked if the clothes were already owned by Ethan or purchased especially for his new look.
Hey I’m 100% with you on this. Walky’s asking if Ethan bought the clothes, not why he’s wearing them. It’s completely different. If someone would ask me at a funeral “Hey I didn’t know you had a black tie, did you buy it for the funeral?” I wouldn’t be annoyed in the slightest.
(let’s see if I got that italic tag right)
I got bad news for you…
Unless you totally meant to italicize all of your message starting with “bought”.
Good job Ron!
the cafeteria is not a funeral, but we know that Walky has enough smarts to figure out that Ethan’s black clothes are part of his mourning or at minimum related to his emotional state; and yet he continues to plow ahead with a tactless question because he doesn’t care.
Would you ask a widow why she’s wearing black months after the passing of her spouse?
that’s why going goth is not bringing anything. Would he be a *doomster*, then everything could be a funeral. Ofc, the problem would be that he’d had to be so slow he wouldn’t be past Walky in that last panel.
“grammer nerd” -affected, not effected.
It’s the smile.
That smile tells me that Walky genuinely straight up does not give a shit that Mike died and Ethan is still in mourning, and that he in fact is deliberately mining it for humor.
I mean of everyone in this comic, Walky is the most likely to repress feelings of grief and hide them behind humor
Right up there with Becky, I’d say.
Ethan isn’t in the right headspace to see that, though. All he heard was Walky poking fun at his wardrobe change.
That’s fair, but we the commenters aren’t distraught with grief. We should be able to see that Walky’s humor doesn’t mean he “does not give a shit”.
It’s often inappropriate and he’s bad at judging the room. It’s a character flaw, but that’s what it means.
Yup, and this time it came back to bite him.
Trust me, it’s a problem I’m all too familiar with…
Did it, though? Walky doesn’t look like he’s much bothered; in fact, he probably either a) was looking for some amusement at the expense of- what he considers- self-indulgent “woe is me look at my pain” Ethan or b) thinks he’s successfully lightened Ethan’s mood (who knows what Walky thinks, or even if/ when he does so…)- whatever, he doesn’t look like he’s been “bitten”!
> we the commenters aren’t distraught with grief.
Speak for yourself. I’m still mourning the death of one of the most potentially interesting character arcs in the story.
which of these chickens turned into nuggets?
Jesus fucking Christ. Ethan can’t smile, Walky can, therefore he’s practically gutting live bunny rabbits in Ethan’s face?? Goddamn, y’all get some weird fuckin ideas from these tiny interactions.
The internet has completely destroyed peoples’ ability to navigate or observe human interaction without devolving into rote fingerpointing about abusive behavior.
I’m often inclined to agree.
Grief and suffering are only valid if you’re a good victim.
I don’t understand what this comment means.
Rueful sarcasm about how we treat people expressing their suffering in ways that are not immediately convenient to us.
So are you agreeing with my comment or was your reply in opposition to it? That’s what I’m having trouble with.
ah.
Yeah I’m agreeing with you, I’ve agreed with you in the past when we’ve talked about the same and similar topics.
I thought so, and I do remember that, but I wanted to make sure! Sorry for the misunderstanding.
I don’t think that’s fair to Walky’s emotional range. To clarify what he’s doing with these callous remarks, you need only read these two strips (or for that matter, the recently posted 2022-03-12 strip):
First:Booster’s second appearance
Second:wherein Booster finishes analyzing everyone who says anything
That’s not to say I condone Walky’s terrible remarks, either. It just seems much more a case of him doubling-down on escaping feelings.
IMO Walky’s being unintentionally insensitive, but that’s completely in character for him. I don’t care for him, but he’s not doing anything particularly awful.
Ethan’s best friend of at least a decade and newly turned lover died in a pretty horrific way. Doubling down on that, it seems like Ethan had no one to really turn to when Mike died; Amber was dealing with her own trauma and Danny had just Danny’d harder than he’s ever Danny’d before. Ethan’s acting like a dickhead, but I can’t say I blame him.
Agreed. Ethan’s reactions are spot-on for what he’s dealing with.
The way I see it, Ethan is clearly in emotional pain. Asking a cheeky question about that might be considered tactless.
I don’t particularly think he’s done anything wrong here. Unless he was creeping on Amber and Ethans conversation I don’t see why he can’t casually speak to Ethan about mundane matters. Should he just automatically assume Ethans in a terrible mood and brooding about Mike at every hour of the day?
I get that this is probably just blind walky hate because some people just really dislike certain characters, like anytime Danny or Joe turn up, but other than maybe being a bit tone deaf, it’s not really all that bad.
I mean, I’m no fan of Walky. I just don’t see why so many people are saying this is him going too far. This was mild Walky annoyance at best.
As for Ethan, I’m pretty sick of his faux-batman BS here. I mean, it’s entirely in character for him to retreat into Batman – but it also wore thin VERY fast.
from what i can tell, ethan has been pretty much left alone since mike’s death.
while the other girls had support nets and therapy, ethan was just left to sink into depression. he’s just going through the motions, waiting to get out of there and maybe if he’s lucky he can permanently join mike while he sleeps.
then amber comes along and is suddenly “ready” to help him feel better, but the first thing she does when ethan expresses his emotions is attempt to one up him like some bad family guy “you think that’s bad” joke.
seeing that amber (who left him to rot for a few months) isn’t going to be of any help, he leaves.
as he leaves he comes across walky that cracks a joke at his appearance.
speaking of his appearance, lets look at that for a sec.
bags under his eyes from poor sleep
he’s gotten much thinner from not working out and probably eating very little
his clothes are all just “throw on” clothes with no color, because he can’t be bothered to look at clothes and figure out which color looks good with what
he’s a mess, and he’s been rotting like a piece of old fruit.
now in comes walky with the wise ass comment of the century, a joke that ethan just HAD to hear, and ethan is understandably angry.
ethan is depressed, severely depressed. but it’s not the sexy cinematic depression that comes with cooky visions or deadpool wisecracks, it’s the real and painful kind of depression that eats away at your soul and drags you towards suicide.
it’s actual depression, no idealized/romanticized depression.
>”the first thing she does when ethan expresses his emotions is attempt to one up him like some bad family guy “you think that’s bad” joke”
The hell? I must have read the past few strips wrong, because I don’t remember anything of the sort.
How else did you read Ethan being very explicit about his despair and how his old coping methods aren’t working but he has no other options but to continue them, and Amber’s response being ‘lol mine was worse, remember?’
I read it as her basically saying “Hey, look who you’re talking to? I completely get it.” But I don’t tend to condemn characters’ intentions to the pits of Hell as my first instinct, so I’m probably just wrong there.
I feel like that’s what she was trying to do but it can easily also come off as “if you think that’s bad…” And i wouldn’t blame Ethan for reading it that way bc he is understandably not in the best state of mind
Just to focus on the clothes, since that’s what the strip is about: he’s not just throwing on clothes, he seems to have an entire new wardrobe in black. That does smack of the romanticized depression.
Most depressed people don’t actually go out and buy up a new clothes to wear so they can put together outfits without worrying what colors look good together.
Part of what it is of course is a nod to cinematic/literary tropes for showing mourning and depression. Visual shorthand. Useful even if it doesn’t really make sense. Walky’s hanging a lampshade on that here.
I don’t actually think Ethan was abandoned.
When Ethan first reappeared, Danny makes a comment about how Ethan is “playing with his toys again” and asks if that’s good, which indicates that he had at least observed Ethan falling hard enough that he stopped playing with his Transformers.
I might be reading too deeply, but I think it was a mutual pulling away between Ethan and the rest of the cast. Apart from being isolated from his main relationships (Amber withdrawing thinking she needed to give him space, whereupon Mike dying effed her up, Danny’s last comment becoming immensely worse in hindsight), I don’t think everyone else abandoned him to his grief, I think his beef with Amber and Danny meant he didn’t have any connections to everyone else.
Well said. I never even thought Ethan was being an asshole here. As someone who suffered from depression before, he just reads as depressed to me.
He CAN’T muster more than this, especially after that long talk with Amber.
I mean why not? “Mike’s dead” pretty much explains it all. Everything else can be extrapolated from Ethan’s perspective – It’s the one thing that rules his thoughts and existence right now.
Yes, he’s not following the social etiquette to deflect, banter, whatever, but neither is Walky. Maybe that’s why Walky just goes along with it.
ethan was minding his own business and walky seizes the moment to dunk on him. i cant fathom how you can think walky’s ok here because “Ethan’s the asshole”
the thread of “Ethan’s emotional response is unauthorized” is also strange and unlovely, in my view.
He was mindin’ his damn business, eatin’ some fruit!
Wait … when did Walky dunk on him?
Just throwing my thoughts in here because this whole thread is stupid overanalysis and reading into words that were never said
Walky did nothing wrong here. He is at worst being tone deaf. It’s Walky. It happens. Doa commenters need to learn that a social faux pas ≠ crime because mobs come out of the woodworks the second a character does something socially inept that mildly inconveniences someone else.
Ethan did nothing wrong here. He’s in the trenches of grief and crippling depression, his social meter was eaten up by amber just now and he has no patience left. It doesn’t matter if his line feels like edgy batman shit. Sometimes people say cringy stuff when they’re depressed, oh dear God the horror.
I mean yeah pretty much.
It’s only doing wrong in the most absolutionist terms and where “being rude” is a wrong regardless of context.
mobs come out of the woodworks the second a character does something socially inept that mildly inconveniences someone else.
Ain’t that the truth.
zee? i love you. that was so perfect
Thank you thank you
Unhelpful, Walky.
Damn, my comments are having a hard time going through lately. Rude, WordPress.
wow, walky lol
I’m gonna be honest, I was wondering that, too.
I know, right?
Did Ethan have a secret Goth era sometime in high-school? That would be some interesting backstory.
A closeted, self-loathing nerd whose best friends are an asshole and the human manifestation of childhood trauma? Without a shadow of a doubt
Craaaaawling in my skin
These wounds, they will not heeeal
Craaawling in my craaaaawlll
These craaaaawllllss they will not craaaaaaawlllll
You just know Ethan was big into MCR until Naomi saw Gerard Way being Like That and immediately prohibiting him from listening to them
I was thinking it yesterday
On some level, I feel like I could see Carla making this exact series of comments.
If Walky paid better attention he’d already know that Mike’s Dead is the name of Bloomington’s leading alternative thrift store.
Really harsh that they opened right after Mike died, too.
It was the Ayds of its time.
I think this is my favorite comment tonight.
**bows to butting**
There is a second-hand bin by the cash register where you can buy used moms. For a nickel.
personal but when my close friend died i dressed very similarly, and i didnt buy anything new. i ended up just grabbing whatever involved the least amount of effort, which led to lots of dark hoodies and sweat pants
Can we please get Ethan into therapy? I know therapy isn’t for everyone, but I really think that this is the sort of situation where he could really benefit from some professional help.
The problem with therapy is that its effectiveness is limited by how effective the participant wants it to be. I’m not convinced Ethan wants to worth through this yet, which means therapy would just be a waste of time and money.
If every character who needed therapy in the comic got therapy we could do the entire comic from the doctor’s office.
Honestly, I kinda want to see that TV series.
That’d be an interesting new story arc, so I’d be ok with that.
everyone deals with things their own way, you two
I guess Walky is saying yes to the
dressI have actually been very curious too, so thank you Walky!
To fulfill a few of the “Walky is acting like Mike” comments, just imagine this is Walky honoring his memory and the time Mike answered Joyce’s phone (and Carol) with a “H A I L S A T A N“
*plays Billy Squier’s “In The Dark” on the hacked Muzak*
not the video tho
Gee Ethan do you think Walky might not have noticed? Like the guys got a new room mate precisely because MIKES DEAD!
Ethan’s whole thing right now is “Only I care the required amount” lately, so I don’t think it’s occurred to Ethan that anyone else gives a shit and is just handling it in their own way, or if it did, that it’d matter to him at all.
Which, I’m not wholly unsympathetic to or anything. Grief isn’t exactly an empathy booster sometimes, and he’s isolated himself, so he’s got basically no insulation from Naomi, who with Ross and Blaine dead shot up the ranks by default as still one of the most monstrous parents in the comic, so there’s that.
Thanks for the update Ethan. I don’t think any of us noticed that Mike died. What would we do with the Goth News Network
I’m thankful for the update because I was worried for a bit that the dead had risen. Didn’t wanna risk that monkey’s paw. Sometimes dead is better. etc. etc.
While Walky’s question is not appropriate, telling him off by simply saying, “Mke is dead,” is not appropriate either. I want Ethan to get some help so he doesn’t turn bitter for years and years. Also because Ethan is not a bad guy and seeing him like this is disappointing.
God Walky is still my favorite boy in DOA. Dare I say my favorite character in general.
Isn’t he tho? He’s an inquinsitive guy who asks ALL the right questions! 😍
If I had to guess… Carla.
Gonna be honest, she probably doesn’t even make the top 5.
Wow, that’s surprising to me, and now I’m curious who your top 5 are.
Off the top of my head, as of march 11th 2022
Walky and Jennifer are definitely top 5. (honestly I’m a bit biased cuz regardless of her personality I just find her really hot)
Liz (again there’s an attractiveness bias)
Honestly Joe has really grown on me. He used to be whatever but his latest arc has really endeared me to him.
Probably Robin. She doesn’t get to do much but she’s basically grandfathered in as my favorite Shortpacked! character.
walky: “hey ethan! playful ribbing!”
ethan: “MY MIKE IS DEAAAD!”
walky: “I’ll bounce back from this immediately.”
Truthfully, I think Walky is treating this interaction with the appropriate level of seriousness.
I dunno, I read it more as:
Walky: Snide joke swiping at the way Ethan’s expressing grief.
Ethan: Lashing out at Walky to make it clear that this isn’t a joke.
Walky: Dismissing it all as nothing worth caring about.
Walky’s deep in his coping mechanisms here. Ethan’s got a metric butt-ton of issues here, but at least he’s making vague stabs at trying to deal with them (albeit not well). Walky’s just trying to silly his way out of trauma no matter how much it hurts those around him, and its not healthy at all.
I mean it’s not like Walky said he didn’t like the new look.
But it wasn’t a yes or no question
It also wasn’t an inquiry about Mike’s current health status. I don’t think either of them really understood this interaction properly. Just a couple of confused bois.
They misunderstood the assignment.
Honestly, how do these two even have high school diplomas?
Walky’s good at taking tests and Amber was Ethan’s friend.
There’s a reason why Walky almost flunked out.
Okay, new rule (for myself at least) when I read a new strip I have the chorus to Unravel ready to play on the off chance Ethan is there.
Also honestly it be spitting in the face of Hot Topic to go to Target for all your gothic attire when Hot Topic has gone through so much to stay relevant…Hot Topic still a thing right?
I dunno. Haven’t been to a mall since 2019.
It’s still around. Mostly just junky overpriced anime/Disney merch, nowadays. There’s a token mention of queer people in the little box of pins, some Funko Pops for twice the price the store next door is charging, and $6 boxes of candy containing half a mouthful of crappy candy, too. It’s honestly just the T-shirt corner of any nerd store, just bigger and more expensive.
I went once in 2019 and thought it was really cool. Then again I’m Jamaican and literally none of what hot topic sells exists here
Y’all don’t have popular anime, old bands, or Disney?
I mean, people watch it yes but no the merch isn’t sold here. You’ll get like, kids Disney stuff or toys but no Disney adult merch. Absolutely no band merch (most people are more into dancehall or soca) and anime only recently became openly popular. If you want anything like that you buy it online, or at the closest you might find a local online reseller on Instagram
There IS a single tiny japanese shop that I’m aware of that has some anime merch. But it’s mostly food
Even for Walky this feels pretty damn insensitive. Like, dude, what on earth makes you think he wants to crack wise with you?
And of course Emo Ethan still sucks but that surprises nobody
Well I haft to give him credit for finding a way to ask the question without being the one to straight up name drop or elude too their late deceased mutual companion.
I’m guessing he had most of them already, but he wasn’t combining them. It’s not weird at all that he’d have a couple black hoodies, black shirts, black pairs of pants, and some black shoes already in his wardrobe.
Dorothy [appearing from just out of the panel]: “that wasn’t a yes or no question, walky”
And yet he somehow answered it with one!
The most Batman response posible.
“Did one day didja”
Is that intentionally awkward phrasing or a typo?
I believe it was intentional, since it is how some people phrase things.
do they??? it looks very awkwark to me
(that was a typo, for reference)
“MiKe’S dEaD” oh gee is he really? i don’t think anyone has noticed, ethan. i’m not sure anybody but you has been able to perceive this massive looming cloud of gloom and doom, ethan. you’re the only person aware of mike being dead, you special special boy. his roommate, his other friend who was there to see his fatal injury, they don’t have the capability of noticing that mike died. only you, special little Ethan.
no doubt everyone else has noticed, it’s just that we the audience can’t tell on account of the fact that all the previously-thrown confetti is on the ground, below the bottom of the panel
lol
….I was also wondering.
Me if I was Walky: “So that’s why I had a spare bed in my room the last semester.”
“So that’s why Mike hasn’t been tormenting me so much lately. I was just enjoying it and not questioning.”
I dunno, I just took Ethan’s response as being to the implied question- why did you suddenly start dressing like that- rather than the stated one- which is… pretty random, like, yes, I’m sure people might randomly wonder whether someone went out and bought a new wardrobe in response to a significant life event, but that is something people do, it’s something he’s seen other characters in this comic do, it’s none of his business, and what in god’s name would he even gain by an answer?
Not even mad, just… Walky, damn, get on something that allows you to slow down long enough to think, please. The correct response would’ve been to ignore him, and I can see how it comes off as chastising Walky, but…
On the other hand, I don’t understand why people are bothered by Ethan’s general demeanor outside of agreeing with Walky’s implication that Ethan’s falling very loudly into a depressive spiral is just a dumb fake bid for attention he doesn’t need because it’s not actually a big deal.
“Walky’s implication that Ethan’s falling very loudly into a depressive spiral is just a dumb fake bid for attention he doesn’t need because it’s not actually a big deal.”
Sorry, but I don’t see that at all here. Walky is well aware of the situation with Mike, he was there for a lot of it. His question doesn’t imply that Ethan’s grief is fake. I think it’s more like he spoke a question out of mild curiosity without considering if it might have broader implication at all.
I’m honestly not sure what’s going on in Walky’s head right now, but I don’t think it’s so straightforward when it comes to Mike. Ever since the Time Skip, Walky’s been doing everything he can to avoid dealing with Mike’s death, even when it’s blindingly obvious that he was affected by it.
If Walky was innocently asking the question, I think his reaction wouldn’t have been as calm and casual as it was in the last panel, more likely confusion at Ethan lashing out at him.
It’s not an intended implication, at all, it’s just the worst still-plausibly-read implication.
Which is the only one that ever matters.
I certainly hope not, but, again, that doesn’t mean people don’t agree with it.
Not to mistake you for someone posting without about twenty layers of contempt and sarcasm for the entire comments section, here. 😛
Me? Sarcastic? Naaaah, couldn’t be.
Waiter: “We don’t have Coke, is Pepsi okay?”
Ethan: “Mike’s dead!”
Teacher’s Assistant: “Can we have a moment to talk after class?”
Ethan: “Mike’s dead!”
Psychotic Customer Service Rep: “Hi Sir! It’s the Credit Card Fraud Department.”
Ethan: “Mike’s dead!”
Local Bank Employee: “Would you like open a savings account with us today sir?”
Ethan: “Mike’s dead!”
Mike’s dead (dead, dead), tell a friend (friend, friend),
Ethan: “Mike’s dead.”
Twitter: Eat at Arbys.
Batman: I’m Batman!
Ethan: Mike’s dead!
Batman: Being Batman is better.
This is where I watched Mike die, Parappa.
That’s a perfectly legitimate question
I don’t think Ethan was asking a question.
r/InclusiveOr
Walky is a big fan of other peoples drama
This is going to backfire on Ethan horribly.
“uh ? I’m i’m pretty sure his clothes wouldn’t fit you”
As someone who recently had a death in my family, my response to ethan is ” And? Your point? Answer my question dammit.” Cause my version of grief is getting my questions answered relentlessly cause my mind will ask really stupid questions and not let me rest til i get the answers in order to avoid thinking about my grief.
You all do know that black is the traditional color for mourning, right? Walky doesn’t, of course, but the rest of you should.
Pretty sure everyone is well aware. Nobody seems to actually be confused by this.
It’s also the traditional color for priests!
Not to mention stage ninjas.
And seriously, wear a suit. It’s only respectful.
Depends on the person. Personally, if I were around to observe my own funeral, I’d take offense to that. I can’t be the only one.
Admittedly, it just occurred to me that I’d also be annoyed with everyone for 1) Having a funeral at all and 2) bothering to show up to it as well. So I’d be a very upset ghost all around.
? Why would you assume Walky doesn’t know that. He didn’t ask “Why are you wearing black”, he asked “Where did you get the black clothes”.
I don’t actually think I’ve ever been to a funeral where you wear black. Maybe once as a kid but even then, i wore mostly white with black accents. Every time the family’s wishes are to wear colors because it’s a celebration of the life the person had and they don’t want it to be too somber.
It didn’t occur to me until today that Ethan’s probably doing a Queen Victoria thing
Depends what country you are in.
Walky asking the important questions. Fashion tropes won’t simply be let unquestioned.
So what Ethan is saying is that his mourning garb is a hoodie?
I think Ethan got the Walky’s indirect question. He asked like “dude, what’s happened to you?”
“Walky, don’t you know Mike’s dead?!”
“No.”
“So you think Mike is alive?!”
“Sorry, I said No meaning Yes.”
“No meaning Yes?! Walky, you do realize Mike is dead, right? Yes or no?!”
“No.”
“No you do realize or no you don’t?!”
“Yes.”
“Please!”
Amber flips a table at “Please!”
I suggest we split up, and search the house!
Yes! Have an internet smile.
Metaphorical upvote for the Clue reference.
Sorry Ethan, besides you and Amber no one cares that Mike’s dead outside of the comments section.
Also:
DoA Book 12: Mike’s Dead (with covers full of Mikes and Ghost Mikes and all magnets being Mike).
<3
Walky is very obviously dealing with a painful amount of grief in a scenario he doesn’t know how to approach, let alone that it’s for someone who made him feel miserable all the time.
Openly acknowledging grief is already hard when you’re steeped in culturally enforced toxic masculinity, it’s probably way harder when the dude you’re grieving made your life miserable because he thought it was funny.
While I agree with the point you make, I tend to read Walky as avoiding “culturally enforced toxic masculinity” better than the average straight male DoA character.
(Don’t know why this came out as a standalone comment the first time, my apologies)
The kid only had one pair of shoes (until Dorothy and Joe basically made fun of him for it) because he thought it was too fruity to have multiple pairs.
And told Dorothy he loved her back because he refused to give that word any power.
He’s got some weird hangups, but he’s also perfectly okay with pretending to be gay for pizza. Picking one facet and attributing broad traits to a character because of it when they run counter to other things we’ve seen isn’t a great approach.
That’s what everyone else does around here. I’m just trying to fit in with the cool kids.
Straight dudes think gay chicken is funny, yes.
This is why when he was married to Joe in Gender Studies he made a big farce of it.
I remember reading it at the time as Walky making fun of Joe at the expense of Joe’s macho schtick. Maybe I missed some cues.
Never thought “toxic” in “culturally enforced toxic masculinity” was literal. Interesting, but a little smelly, I guess.
So, maybe this is a good moment to ask this but, I’m kinda wondering how grief counseling works. I mean, I know that in the wake of bad events at schools, those schools typically make sure it’s known that there’s people who know what they’re talking about that you can just go and talk to, but I’ve never been in a position to see how that works.
I’m just saying… you know… Ruth’s getting therapy and I think Amber’s getting therapy now too, and maybe Ethan would like to talk something out with someone?
In american colleges, is possible to find free therapy?
IU’s a big school with a med school attached. There’s likely some mental health services for students available or at least a resident clinic.
Most public colleges have a help center that includes counselors at the very least, which may offer therapy or at least can give referrals to therapy nearby
It has ALSO been said that the therapists here aren’t very good. I don’t remember by whom, but it’s definitely been said.
Now I’m wondering about that too. My best theory:
It does seem unlikely for someone that depressed to decide to go shopping for new outfits, but he did lose some weight, so I’d guess his old clothes stopped fitting right, so a family member dragged Ethan to the store, and he went ‘ah screw it, all black’.
Also: Amazon exists. You can buy clothes on it. Black ones, even! I would know, I get a lot of my clothes there, and I like black. It matches with itself very nicely.
also works fairly well with dark gray, dark blue, maybe dark green on an overcast day.
Ethan, Mike is alive. So fucking alive.
He literally reincarnated in you. You’ve turned himself a medium, got possessed by a malevolent spirit, which its destiny is to tormet Walky until the end.
Ethan’s quickly becoming the least likeable character, and surprisingly less able to process emotions than Amber now. Can’t wait for a different arc, gonna get old seeing emo Ethan wandering around saying ‘Mike’s dead’ all the time.
Agreed. I know that in real life it’s not like one can control what stage of grief they’re in but in a character that you have to follow for multiple panels, the “anger” stage gets tiresome.
Presented with absolutely no apology!
https://i.imgur.com/YZBrsnW.png
(I think spam filter eats my posts if they’re only a few words long)
Willis should, really, put Ethan slapping Walky…
The fact that Ethan is Batman in this makes it even better.
Ah, speaking of people who aren’t emotionally available . . .
Also, bloody hell this comment section. One of this dude’s closest friends has died and he’s supposed to make space for other people’s bullshit? C’mon. Just because you the reader didn’t like Mike doesn’t mean that Ethan the character isn’t allowed to process it. If he was able to crack jokes or even entertain other people’s jokes, I would be incredibly surprised and it would take me out of the story. Not everything gotta be quippy.
The last time I said this, it led to a Whole Thing, but here goes:
Nobody is asking for that. Not one person is asking for Ethan to “be quippy”. He’s bawling everyone else out and guilt tripping them for Mike being dead, as if he’s the only one who cares enough. It’s exactly the same as Ruth’s grandpa (may he rest in pee) saying “At least SOME of us care” or whatever the wording was. All anyone is saying is that it’s grating and/or Unhealthy. Wally’s relentless snark and refusal to stop quipping, that’s getting called out too.
There’s no exchange here, no “or”, no “instead of”, everybody involved is handling it like crap and every last one of them is getting fingered for it. The only one who’s fully stopped to process their grief a little is Amber, of all people, and Ethan but her fuckin’ head off for saying so.
This post made me think of something.
I don’t think Ethan is grieving the same Mike as everyone else, and he *is* mad that no one else is doing so.
Charitably, nobody liked Mike. Danny’s foot in mouth comment is, I think, what anyone would say if they were similarly as bad at keeping their thoughts inside.
But that isn’t Ethan’s Mike, the jerk who “cared, deep down” and died saving Amber from her own problem. Ethan was crushing on him a long time, it finally happened but he was smart enough to know why it never could happen, because Mike is an asshole who makes everyone miserable. It’s true, he is; the only reason Mike slept with him was to make Danny miserable about it, whereupon Mike caught feels.
But Ethan didn’t lose that Mike, he lost the Mike he always wanted, who was secretly a good person and cared about Ethan. The Mike that Ethan is grieving is the most idealized Mike possible, and Mike can’t do anything to contradict that ever again because he died in the heroic way possible, except what motivated that was the realization that he had been abusing Amber for years and in the exact same way as Blaine had.
Amber’s grieving her asshole friend, Walky is grieving his asshole roommate, and Ethan is grieving someone who doesn’t exist and he’s mad that no one else is doing the same.
Mourning people who don’t exist is a really good way to ruin your own life, tee hee haytch.
Yup.
Thumb’s up for thumb!
You’re right and it’s exhausting
Boo hoo why can’t Ethan grieve peacefully and with grace, why’s he so angry all the time, why can’t he just be nicer >:/
Okay I know I’m repeating what I did in another comment but “why’s he so angry all the time, why can’t he just be nicer” is what happens all the time here with every character.
I know, and it’s annoying, and I’m not immune to it bc everyone is a dirty dirty hypocrite on the inside.
Something about it in this scenario is irking me more than usual. Let the man grieve, sheesh
Oh and it’s not always “why are they so angry why can’t they be nicer”. Sometimes it’s “ew why can’t they be normal”, a la Lucy and Booster.
Never forget the biggest crimes of doa: being angowy and committing a social faux pas
I’m really confused about the approach taken here. For the longest time there seemed to be ambiguity on whether Mike was still in the hospital, or had he passed.
It’s a weird thing to have jumped over, and to have kept the audience guessing. I can’t say I like it.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2020/comic/book-11/01-this-bright-millennium/invited-2/
it was answered within 13 days of the time jump, i dunno if “inside of two weeks” is really “the longest time”
A lot of this comment section seems/seemed determined to see, manufacture, and/or cling to that ambiguity. To the point that I’ve sometimes been uncertain how much is “doing a bit” and how much is earnest denial.
I still say that “Jennifer” is actually Mike in disguise and Billie just hasn’t popped up yet out of sheet coincidence.
Well duh, Willis actually confirmed that one. 😛
“sheet” coincidence?
Picturing Billie popping her head out of Ruth’s bedsheets wondering if anything has happened in the past four months while she was busy under there.
And why her old Math TA is there.
My auto”correct” has lost its goddamn mind, lately. It changes shit long after I’ve already typed a full sentence.
Well Ethan. everyone grieves in their own way. please stop assuming that you are the only one who mourns Mike’s death plus you do feel guiltly for not talking to him much before his death.
After these last few strips, I’m making a declaration that no one is allowed to say I “hate these characters” ever again.
At least when I write 8000000 words on why Sarah is being a butt I can say why I think she’s being a butt and what motivated her current state of buttitude.
What? Dead two months and not totally forgotten?
Ethan isn’t Batman, he’s Hamlet. The arc mirrors Hamlets friends and family telling him to get over it and move on. Hope this ends with a sword fight and poison.
So be angry at Asher and Blaine, not Walky.
But Asher is hot and Blaine already died. Walky is an easier target.
Amber/Asher is my crackship because “you killed my father, let’s make out” is my exact kind of trash.
I have to figure out a way to fit Ethan in there. “Mike’s dead because of you, so you’re obligated to replace him “
“Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father, now pucker up.”
Yes, because grief is famously rational
Yep. He certainly bought them all at once. I wonder if Ethan is able to understand that for Walky Mike was only the roommate from hell.
Do we know how Mike was as roommate? I barelly remeber Walky/Mike in the same room or even talk to each other
Walky mentioned to Booster a while back that he’s still bracing himself for Mike to jump out of the closet snarling “I faked my death to make you feel bad you sorry loser.”
Other than Amber and Mike, Walky seemed to be his favorite target, if only because of proximity.
So bing bond witch is dead for walky
Exactly!
Partly, except that it’s actually a real person who’s dead that he knew and that died saving Amber – who was important to him. Death of someone close to you is traumatizing, even if you don’t like them. It’s likely all twisted up relief and with guilt for feeling that and for not actually grieving.
After Amber and Ethan, I’d bet Walky’s the most messed up by Ethan’s death, even if he’s not the saddest about it. All covered by jokes of course.
Also Walky knew Mike for like two months at maximum. Like,it should be really obvious that the mourning period for ‘asshole roommate I knew for a few weeks’ is much shorter than ‘childhood friend turned lover’.
Yeah, he only had a couple months of abuse. Mike had years to get his hooks into Amber and Ethan.
While I agree with the point you make, I tend to read Walky as avoiding “culturally enforced toxic masculinity” better than the average straight male DoA character.
Sorry, this was intended as a reply to Spencer above.
What are you talking about? Joe of all people chewed him out for his “men don’t own more than one pair of shoes” comment way back when. Walky is culturally enforced and rewarded toxic masculinity come to life.
Yes and no, the previous commenter already called out the shoes issue. He seems to have fallen hard for the idea that self-care and paying attention to personal appearance are too feminine. But on the other hand, he seems to be in touch with his own feelings and doesn’t need to perform for anyone.
… did you catch the part where he performs not having trouble with classes? Or how he’s been constantly performing for his parents? (Just to name a couple) Look, I don’t think Walky is *bad*, his personality makes for both internal and external conflict and that’s good! I like him as a character for what he brings to the story and I don’t his flaws make him unrelatable or unredeemable. But this bending over backwards to pretend his lack of empathy is somehow good actually is really annoying.
Walky’s lack of empathy will never cease to amaze me.
The bad takes in the comments on any DoA comic, however, are still a surprise.
Big props to the people mocking Ethan’s very level headed and appropriate response to an insensitive question, btw.
There isn’t even an exclamation point in the original comic, ffs.
Walky’s being vaguely insensitive here, and Ethan is processing his grief in deeply unhealthy ways and needs therapy.
There, I saved you a debate.
*vaguely* sure. Like how one sometimes *vaguely* sticks a finger in an open wound.
Good to know “being noticeably sad” is now a deeply unhealthy way to process grief, too.
It’s important to word things in the most intense, dire way possible.
Taffy, if you think this is peak drama I’m afraid to tell you you’ve not even begun climbing.
Sorry, I’m not sure what you’re trying to communicate. You haven’t insinuated anything horrible about me as a person or armchair diagnosed me with anything.
I don’t even own an armchair.
Something something moral responsibility to own an armchair, something something speaks volumes, something something depression.
Fucking…thank you
No one is the antichrist here, everyone shut up
I feel like Ethan is going to grow up to be Emo Karen if he’s not careful.
The thing is, IMO, right now Ethan’s not growing up or changing into anything. He’s stuck here.
Mike’s dead. High five!
Basically the most valid response. It’s Mike, here. Fuck that guy.
“Fuck that guy.”
Ethan did that.
Yeah, and look how that turned out. Little did Ethan know, a green witch cursed his penis and now anyone he fucks will die shortly after.
Mike’s dead, and Walky, you can’t fill his shoes.
For one thing, they probably wear different sizes.
Also, they’ve probably been given away, sold, or otherwise disposed of by now.
I’m baffled by “Ethan is being a jerk here” comments to be honest. The only times Ethan is being snappy with people (Amber and Walky so far) is when they’re needling him about a subject he’s extremely sore and sensitive about.
There was another character, either Ruth or Sal, who said “do I have to write ‘I don’t want to talk about this’ on my forehead?” and I think this is Ethan right now. He can’t or doesn’t want to engage people in the subject about Mike’s death or his prolonged mourning; but since apparently he hasn’t talked to anyone of the main cast for months, it’s the only thing they can bring up.
idk the people comparing Ethan to Batman or saying he’s just being goth for attention seem to be saying no on is allowed to express grief through negative emotions
It doesn’t help that Walky is probably not the easiest person to deal with at the best of times – the last thing you wanna deal with while pretty much being neck-deep in grief is some guy who refuses to take literally anything seriously.
I’d say he’s being more than just snappy with Amber. I’d say in her case, he’s trying to be downright hurtful, and succeeding.
I mean, Ethan is being a bit of a jerk. He’s in mourning with complicated feelings and is lashing out.
But it’s like Tier 1 jerkiness. It’s pretty mild and entirely understandable, all told, just want him to get some help…
Ah, better way to put it: Ethan’s being a jerk, but not an asshole. Nor the mega asshole supreme that some comments are implying.
I feel the need to quantify the grieving, emotionally devastated teenager as “a jerk” is kinda absolutionist.
Like, sometimes folks feel bad shit. I think the more we try to quantify stuff like that as “they’re upset but they’re a jerk” the more we invalidate the expression of resentments, grief and anger as aberrations that need to be hastily powered through.
Did you mean
“Mike’s dad”?
As in:
“I got these emo clothes from Mike’s dad.”
Is my depression eating up my patience again (hmmm sounds a lot like a certain character) or are the takes in the comments just getting more and more fucking nuclear
Being insensitive or snippy because you’re grieving doesn’t make you the devil, shut up
Being snippy might not make him the devil, but the blood-red skin, giant horns, goat legs, and wings are making people a little nervous.
In mild seriousness, you’re mostly right about how intense the “takes” have been getting lately. Mostly.
“lately”?
a lot of people are pointing out that Ethan deserves time to grieve in his own way. and he does ! the problem is he is not grieving. he’s ruminating. and eventually this will eat him up. he’s leaving his first bandaid on because it’ll hurt too much to rip it off and put on a fresh one, and he will never heal that way. he doesn’t have to talk to his friends about it but he needs to talk to SOMEONE.
boy i do not want to have to make a gravatar account but if it keeps picking this avatar for me i might have to lmao
try mixing up the capitalization of your email address. every version should work to reach you – they’re not case-sensitive – but they’ll give you different avatars.
BLESS
yeah, he needs to take time off from school before he gets kicked out… as I learned when my mom passed the world moves on after a few months…….his problem is since he was in love with the guy who was pretty much hated by the world for being a dick he cant parse why no one field the same way
What’s he gonna get kicked out for? Bringing up a dead kid that nobody else cared about?
Speaking from experience i kinda doubt he has it in him to even think about his assignments, let alone actually do them. I doubt he’s going to class either and i know some places require attendance.
Had a depressive spiral last semester and it tanked my gpa so hard I’m on academic warning now 🙃
Don’t worry, Ethan, Mike may be dead but Walky is apparently determined to pick up the asshole mantle and carry on making people miserable in Mike’s absence.
Yeah by asking mildly insensitive questions. The fucking horror.