The last one is a compliment. She’s observing that Joyce must be desirable enough/good enough at getting guys to manage to ‘pull’ a gay dude, like Joyce was just that good that even the gay guy couldn’t stay away. Which is… kind of a gross perspective to consider.
I read it more as Joyce has dated objectively very good looking dudes, which is fair. Ethan, arguably Jacob (Jennifer knew about all that and encouraged it), and now Joe are regarded as hotties by the cast, so yeah, Joyce does have a solid record there.
My immediate response was, “Wow, his looks are boring. There are people who consider that attractive? He’s not even a 4. I mean, at least he’s not a blob or sporting some hideous beard. But if you’re going objectively attractive, at least you should have Bowie in his role as Jareth in Labyrinth. He ranks at least a 7.”
Relative to societal standards is fairly objective. If you get a statistically significant sample of people to rate a statistically significant sample of people on a scale from 1-10 on how attractive they are, you can pretty easily establish a fairly objective scale by which people can be rated. Not everyone has the same taste, in fact, for any given body type or feature, there’s somebody out there who’s into specifically that, but there are enough commonalities amongst enough people to use the societal standard as an objective scale.
It’s not especially useful when you’re *in* a relationship, since your partner’s opinion is the only one that matters there, but when you’re single and looking (or alternatively looking to exploit the advantages of being generally attractive) it can be useful to have a reasonable idea of how you stack up to the societal standard for a number of reasons. If nothing else it helps to set realistic expectations, assuming your ego will allow you to have such an objective assessment of yourself.
Being able to scale others can also be useful for factoring in other data points, like if someone who scores low on the objective scale is consistently successful with people who score high on the objective scale, that suggests they have something other than looks that makes up the difference. Conversely, if someone who scores high on the scale is consistently with people who score lower on the scale, that suggests there may be something holding them back from being successful with people higher on the scale, or they just happen to prefer traits that run counter to the societal standard, either way it’s potentially useful information for a variety of purposes.
While ”objectively sexy” doesn’t cross species barriers, it’s not an artificial construct either. Presumably the flappy bits of red skin on a rooster’s head are mad hot to a chicken.
The idea that beauty and hotness in humans would be entirely artificial and a social construct isn’t backed up by science.
Maintaining the comb (the floppy red bits) requires high levels of testosterone, but this can weaken the rooster’s immune system. If the rooster can pump up his comb and still remain healthy then he’s clearly one badass chicken and therefor an appealing mate.
Some similar considerations apply to humans, even if not quite as obviously. Some qualities that are widely considered attractive are strongly correlated with a history of health. For instance, more symmetrical facial features are typically more appealing. This can signal genetic fitness, and it can also suggest better access to food and other resources. Overall it suggests a partner who’s more likely to help produce and raise healthy offspring, which is pretty important since human reproduction is so resource intensive.
But there are also a lot of more socially constructed elements to human attraction. Preferences for body size/type, definitely style and decorations. All that kind of thing.
Huh. Turns out there is nowhere one is safe from a “Well, actually” would-be talking down to. That’s disappointing, though not really a surprise based on my existence on this planet as I am.
The funny part is, I know this is how she means it here, but my understanding is that usually, girls might not take it as a compliment for someone who is strictly attracted to men, to become attracted to the girl. Maybe that says they’re just -that hot-. But it could also imply something about their appearance that is…less flattering.
Legal citation, short for confer, which in this case means the Latin form, meaning “compare”. Closely related to “e.g.”, exemplia gratia, which is more transparently a form of “for example”/”free example”.
I’ll add to the above that it’s also used outside legal contexts and I think usually indicates that the thing being compared is analagous to the subject of discussion somehow. Kind of like ‘here’s a similar example of this thing’
Yeah, it’s a good look on her. Does wonders for her appeal. Too bad she’ll change it soon. Willis did new character portraits and got her a different look.
It occurs to me she dresses a bit like Mia Wallace. Appropriate since her (former) boyfriend is a gangster. It doesn’t bode well for the future, though. Next stop might be an OD.
That’s not even journalism. I was forced to hear like an hour of it during a recent trip to the emergency room, and literally all they did was make fun of people. They weren’t even making any points, just mocking people for saying things they disagreed with and making unnecessary remarks about their ethnicity or political alignment.
So basically, this comments section except as network TV.
The Two Minutes Hate, 24/7. Gotta keep the drip feed going all the time, to keep the audience addicted to anger so they don’t notice you’re picking their pocket. (And if they notice, you can just blame the out group du jour and you’ll be off the hook!)
Their defense for the Dominion lawsuit was that in spite of the name they were entertainment and Not News. I don’t think that is going to work with Smartmatic either.
I think she only does it because she was on the high school paper.
That said I do remember her demonstrating etymology book smarts to Walky at some point.
… I mean.
Ethan is apparently a catch for most guys.
Jacob and her were in a not quite dating phase.
Joe is built and trying and sweet.
Jennifer isn’t wrong.
I think it’s more internalised biphobia. She was fine setting up her ex with a new girl, then lost her cool when Ruth instead forcibly kidnapped I mean dated Jason. She insists that she’s not bi, but is straight and went through a phase. She’s also said outright that bisexuality was “made up for pron”
But seriously, the only evidence she has for Asher and Ethan being together is that they’re standing next to each other in the hallway. It’s funny because we know, but “He’s talking to the gay dude, they must be fucking” is a weird jump
I’d say it’s equal parts that Joyce pulls some tall-hunk-guy attraction her way, and Joyce herself is pulled toward tall-hunk-guy types. Irresistable force and movable object.
I both don’t want it cos I want to like Asher and for him and Ethan to have a fairytale ending, but… That would also be a freaking awesome plot and there’s a hole in my life left by the Ruth/Billy bisexual dramatics
For which I mean, because my enthusiasm ran away with my wording – It would be amazing if indeed Ethan and Asher got away with being happy, I like Asher and I want him to succeed at _getting better,_ he’s clearly worked hard for it! I like Ethan and oh my god he needs to, pls let him.
Just, if it isn’t going to be the case, this would be fun as hell. Asher’s not completely free yet.
Where is the strip that hints that Asher has this thought or goal, I am struggling to recall anything beyond his knowledge of the assassination of Amber’s dad.
He spotted AG’s costume in Amber’s room after the party. If he knows Amber is AG and he got Amber’s dad whacked, he might have a vested interest in drawing out AG to see what she’ll do, if only for self preservation.
I’m not bought in on the ‘Asher goaded Incel to make a scene’ yet but given this story arc has been pointing Asher and Amber in the same direction for a little, it would be an interesting twist.
Not sure if it is more common in the UK, but to go “on the pull” means going out looking to find a partner or hookup partner, and if you succeed you’ve “pulled”.
How to explain…as far as people like Jennifer are concerned, dating is a game where the way to win is by scoring all the hottest/wealthiest/most popular dudes. When someone “pulls”, that means they’re pulling in very high-quality dudes, like a fisherman catching high-quality fish. It’s objectifying as hell, sure, but also entirely not uncommon, and in this case it means that Jennifer suddenly 1000% more respect for Joyce, whom she had always seen as sort of weak and in need of protection before.
Tbf its not like they are in some bush, bed or romantic garden with floric swing so why she should think its fishy?
I hope Jennifer allow her BF to speak to other people
Black holes technically are not in our universe, anything past the event horizon is no longer part of our universe. There is a substance that is incredibly dense but still part of our universe, the core material of a Neutron Star is made of a material called neutronium, just pure neutrons packed together by gravity in the core of a neutron star because the electrons and protons have been packed so close together they lost their charges and turned into neutrons. It is just this side of a black hole, and the energy of their trillions of electric charges getting annihilated is believed to be one of the reasons for the formation of Pulsars.
I would argue that black holes are still a part of the universe. They still apparently have mass, because they have gravity. IIRC they can even be charged. They can have momentum in some inertial frame. There’s actually quite a lot there, but we can’t observe it across the event horizon; we can only know it by its influence through fields and their motion. (Oh, and Hawking radiation, energy released from an accretion disk, and the like.) Information doesn’t cross the horizon…although I seem to recall someone postulated a sneaky way for some information to leak out.
The singularity within is an essential bit of nonsense, and could be said to be not in the universe. It’s a place where the math fails, the physical equivalent of Not-A-Number. “Singularities are the places where God divided by zero.”
Agreed: neutronium is the densest thing we can observe. Jennifer’s density is not more than half that.
Your logic is flawed – if you accept the premise “rich implies obnoxious”, that does not mean “obnoxious implies rich”. It DOES mean “not obnoxious implies not rich”, but there are few examples of that here, so maybe the original premise is flawed.
Yeah, I can buy into rich kids being jerks, but Jennifer is lacking in so many basic skills and understandings that I got to side with neglect. Though, maybe sprinkle in a little influence and bad lessons from Linda as well. We haven’t really gotten that much of her backstory aside from school stuff.
It can, but when we already know we’re dealing with a kid who’s been neglected by her parents to the point that she turned to the Walkerton’s as better substitutes.
If Jennifer’s assumption that someone deliberately set Paul off to lure AG out turns out to be accurate, Asher is easily the strongest candidate for the culprit.
13 Reasons Why is a TV series in which a girl kills herself and leaves behind audio recordings explaining the 13 reasons why she killed herself and the people she holds responsible.
Reference to the book and later TV show called 13 Reasons Why. The TV show I have never watched and never intend to, but I have read the book. Basically about the reasons why a girl chose to commit suicide and left behind as tapes for the people she blamed to hear about it.
It is not something I recommend to anyone actively depressed/suicidal as I have heard a lot of people say it made their issues worse. I thought it was interesting when I read it, but I wasn’t suffering said issues myself.
The TV show I know has been seen as very controversial from how it handled the topic.
I enjoyed the first season of the TV show (later seasons became unwatchable for me), but I also think it was handled irresponsibly. Also, I was very depressed at the time I first watched it, in a way that makes me think I might be more uncomfortable watching it now.
Jennifer is musing about who might have set up Incelidiot against A-G. And, lo, Asher and Ethan are right there in the next panel. And it probably ain’t Ethan’s doing.
It’s not off-base. The one person Ethan can find comfort from the world in turns out to be trying to get someone super important to him in trouble with the corrupt police… I can imagine that not being great for him!
Walky is more what I’d call… street smart. He also ignores information on purpose cause he hates stuff being complicated.
And Joyce has a weird perspective due to her upbringing but autistic people are actually quite good at people watching and analysing what is going on.
It probably doesn’t make any sense, but I love the fact that the last panel draws attention to Jennifer’s… torsal profile in a way that even panel 3 doesn’t. Just sort of a “Yes, Jennifer, your rack’s amazing, and yet…”
I love how Jennifer has just completely glossed over “Amazi-Girl was fighting a supervillain while I was talking to Sal”. She thought it was impossible for Sal to be in two places at once, but if Amazi-Girl was in the lobby, then obviously it wasn’t after all.
The one she actually had: Joyce gets a lot of tall, hunk-type male attention. And she doesn’t need Jennifer’s rack-type proportions to do it.
The one she shoulda had: Who set up Incelidiot against A-G.
jennifer’s been extremely close to mob guy jr. and relatively close to a superhero as well as the superhero’s not-sidekick
and has not figured out at all how these pieces fit together with regards to the kidnapping or any other incident
while she might have some insight in the first couple panels I’m guessing she’s either wrong or about to forget immediately
It’s sorta amusing how Jennifer is so thoroughly disliked that most folks here seem to be gliding over or ignoring her actually pretty decent insight into why Incelerator suddenly popped up here.
I mean, I get it, even in this strip she’s managing to miss like two or three deductions against the one good thought she had and she’s enough of a trash fire that it’s easy to hate on her, but still, the chain of logic about someone drawing out Amazi-Girl isn’t one that occurred to me until she brought it up – and from the comments of those who DID notice her brief moment of competence, it seems like it slipped past quite a few others as well.
I think most folks just put it into “Comics things happen in comics” more then any kind of actual behind the scenes rationale. It’s not until Willis actually points out there’s reasons outside of “Comics gonna comic” where you start thinking about this sort of thing.
Asher (*thinking*): Jennifer just walked by without saying hi, or even acknowledging me, as I stand next to my gay lover. But I didn’t say anything either. Does this mean she’s tacitly agreeing that we’re broken up and she’s moving on? Or is it some weird passive-aggressive power move?
Jennifer (*thinking*): I just walked by Asher, and neither of us said “hi” or acknowledged the other. This is just great! Neither of us feels any need to indulge in that codependent virtue-signaling of communicating with the other when we happen to see each other during the course of the day. This is fine!
Ethan (*thinking*): Uh, that’s Billie, I mean Jennifer… Why isn’t she saying something? What is even happening? Ugh, it’s so much easier to keep track of Transformers and Decepticons. (*More Transformer-related woolgathering goes here*)
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Jennifer walks right past Amber changing into her Amazi-Girl costume in an alleyway.
(Sudden World-Shattering Realization!)
Jennifer: “Ohhhh, Tony was into Sarah, I get it now. Well, that’s why I’m in journalism, observation skills.”
Nah, she’d somehow conclude Tony must be gay, then try to pair him and Ethan up because she is an expert match maker
“Oh my god, since Tony is gay, that must mean Sarah is really a trans-girl! No wonder she’s so tall!”
Jennifer, truly a dizzying intellect.
She’s just getting warmed up!
man, even her complements are gross now
The back-handed one for Ethan? Or is the last one somehow a compliment?
How is the last one NOT a compliment??
The last one is a compliment. She’s observing that Joyce must be desirable enough/good enough at getting guys to manage to ‘pull’ a gay dude, like Joyce was just that good that even the gay guy couldn’t stay away. Which is… kind of a gross perspective to consider.
less that more “wow the dudes interested in her are hot!”
I read it more as Joyce has dated objectively very good looking dudes, which is fair. Ethan, arguably Jacob (Jennifer knew about all that and encouraged it), and now Joe are regarded as hotties by the cast, so yeah, Joyce does have a solid record there.
There is no such thing as “objectively good-looking”. This is about Jennifer’s personal taste.
While I want to agree with you, the existence of Henry Cavill disproves your theory.
@Scotch
As an admirer of Henry Cavill, I appreciate your comment.
I don’t find Henry Cavill good looking at all, and his personality wrt women leaves a lot to be desired.
So, no, no one is objectively attractive. Maybe widely agreed upon, but not objective.
I had to look up Henry Cavill for this comment.
My immediate response was, “Wow, his looks are boring. There are people who consider that attractive? He’s not even a 4. I mean, at least he’s not a blob or sporting some hideous beard. But if you’re going objectively attractive, at least you should have Bowie in his role as Jareth in Labyrinth. He ranks at least a 7.”
Relative to societal standards is fairly objective. If you get a statistically significant sample of people to rate a statistically significant sample of people on a scale from 1-10 on how attractive they are, you can pretty easily establish a fairly objective scale by which people can be rated. Not everyone has the same taste, in fact, for any given body type or feature, there’s somebody out there who’s into specifically that, but there are enough commonalities amongst enough people to use the societal standard as an objective scale.
It’s not especially useful when you’re *in* a relationship, since your partner’s opinion is the only one that matters there, but when you’re single and looking (or alternatively looking to exploit the advantages of being generally attractive) it can be useful to have a reasonable idea of how you stack up to the societal standard for a number of reasons. If nothing else it helps to set realistic expectations, assuming your ego will allow you to have such an objective assessment of yourself.
Being able to scale others can also be useful for factoring in other data points, like if someone who scores low on the objective scale is consistently successful with people who score high on the objective scale, that suggests they have something other than looks that makes up the difference. Conversely, if someone who scores high on the scale is consistently with people who score lower on the scale, that suggests there may be something holding them back from being successful with people higher on the scale, or they just happen to prefer traits that run counter to the societal standard, either way it’s potentially useful information for a variety of purposes.
While ”objectively sexy” doesn’t cross species barriers, it’s not an artificial construct either. Presumably the flappy bits of red skin on a rooster’s head are mad hot to a chicken.
The idea that beauty and hotness in humans would be entirely artificial and a social construct isn’t backed up by science.
Maintaining the comb (the floppy red bits) requires high levels of testosterone, but this can weaken the rooster’s immune system. If the rooster can pump up his comb and still remain healthy then he’s clearly one badass chicken and therefor an appealing mate.
Some similar considerations apply to humans, even if not quite as obviously. Some qualities that are widely considered attractive are strongly correlated with a history of health. For instance, more symmetrical facial features are typically more appealing. This can signal genetic fitness, and it can also suggest better access to food and other resources. Overall it suggests a partner who’s more likely to help produce and raise healthy offspring, which is pretty important since human reproduction is so resource intensive.
But there are also a lot of more socially constructed elements to human attraction. Preferences for body size/type, definitely style and decorations. All that kind of thing.
Or some people are just hot and there’s nothing you can do about it.
Huh. Turns out there is nowhere one is safe from a “Well, actually” would-be talking down to. That’s disappointing, though not really a surprise based on my existence on this planet as I am.
I dunno, even most straight/gay people have their “I would go X for…” person (even if it’s a joke). She seems to be saying that that’s Joyce.
Which… I mean fair.
The funny part is, I know this is how she means it here, but my understanding is that usually, girls might not take it as a compliment for someone who is strictly attracted to men, to become attracted to the girl. Maybe that says they’re just -that hot-. But it could also imply something about their appearance that is…less flattering.
I do not understand. Do they think it makes them less feminine?
Yeah, that’s one of the less flattering takes on that particular kind of compliment.
cf: Heartstopper
“Did you go out with me because I look like a guy?”
“No, I stopped going out with you because you don’t.”
cf? never seen that, would you mind letting me know what it means?
Legal citation, short for confer, which in this case means the Latin form, meaning “compare”. Closely related to “e.g.”, exemplia gratia, which is more transparently a form of “for example”/”free example”.
I’ll add to the above that it’s also used outside legal contexts and I think usually indicates that the thing being compared is analagous to the subject of discussion somehow. Kind of like ‘here’s a similar example of this thing’
Dumbing of Age Book 15: Wow, Joyce Pulls, Actually
I’m voting for “Dumbing of Age Book 15: Sudden World-Shattering Realization”.
But only if the book cover keeps that fiery font.
Jennifer: wait… that means Joe is only into dudes!
Just laughed my dog off my lap at that. She’s miffed. I’m not. I wanted a coffee anyway.
Was “Joyce pulls, actually” the other name for the Patreon comic?
Sounds more like a Slipshine than a Patreon comic.
Naw, that’d be “Joyce TUGS, actually”
If it were for Slipshine, it would have to be Joyce Tugs, Actually—wouldn’t it?
“Joyce pulls, actually.”
“Joyce pulls Joe, actually.”
“Joyce pulls jobs on Joe, actually.”
GASP! Are you trying to say that……… Joyce is a JOBBER!?
That doesn’t work for me, brother.
Laughed and woke the cat. Not sure why this tickled me so much but thank you 🤣
Four minutes past midnight and you already won the comments for the day.
And nothing important was lost.
I gotta say, Jennifer’s Akane-esque hair endears her to me even when she’s being an oblivious asshole.
Yeah, it’s a good look on her. Does wonders for her appeal. Too bad she’ll change it soon. Willis did new character portraits and got her a different look.
The extra cowlick near her forehead works, but I think it’s still too short to make a ponytail.
It occurs to me she dresses a bit like Mia Wallace. Appropriate since her (former) boyfriend is a gangster. It doesn’t bode well for the future, though. Next stop might be an OD.
Trying to wrap my head around the logic in the alt-text made my head hurt; so thanks for that?
Billie/Jennifer is concerning me; that she is so far in her own head can’t be healthy.
This is too early, but I think this could be a prelude to something not pleasant.
Well, it’s Jennifer, so—duh.
Don’t worry about the alt-text. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.
well, you can push a horse into a lake..
I’m not sure thirstiness is the issue here.
Part of her issue is thirst, yes. Another part is stubbornness. Yet another part is cluelessness.
But is it a gift horse?
Part savant, but all idiot.
Is Jennifer sure she wants to do journalism?
She do numbers on fox news!
It’s legit the only way I can see her career working, at NO POINT we’ve ever seen her be good at it sdgkljsdk
TMZ as well, given how much she likes to pester people 9-9
That’s not even journalism. I was forced to hear like an hour of it during a recent trip to the emergency room, and literally all they did was make fun of people. They weren’t even making any points, just mocking people for saying things they disagreed with and making unnecessary remarks about their ethnicity or political alignment.
So basically, this comments section except as network TV.
Hey that is not fair! Most of the people here are not blantlantly bigoted or sucking billionaires off.
I’m gonna let “most” and “not blatantly” be the keywords.
That is why I put them there.
Then again, I never have been one for plausible deniability. If anyone feels attacked, I invite them to ask themselves why.
The Two Minutes Hate, 24/7. Gotta keep the drip feed going all the time, to keep the audience addicted to anger so they don’t notice you’re picking their pocket. (And if they notice, you can just blame the out group du jour and you’ll be off the hook!)
Fox “News” isn’t news, either. Just incitement and propaganda.
Their defense for the Dominion lawsuit was that in spite of the name they were entertainment and Not News. I don’t think that is going to work with Smartmatic either.
she would also make a good writer for Kotaku.
Nah, people still put absurd amounts of weight on what Kotaku says. Nothing Billie says gets taken seriously.
I think she only does it because she was on the high school paper.
That said I do remember her demonstrating etymology book smarts to Walky at some point.
… I mean.
Ethan is apparently a catch for most guys.
Jacob and her were in a not quite dating phase.
Joe is built and trying and sweet.
Jennifer isn’t wrong.
It’s a respectable body of work…dang I mean her impressive career of men…no good either. Joyce is better at this than billie.
So she assumes shes still dating asher
And she was hitting on tony?
No, I think she knows they’re broken up but she doesn’t think Asher is dating Ethan.
Yup. Jennifer’s internalized homophobia strikes again.
I think it’s more internalised biphobia. She was fine setting up her ex with a new girl, then lost her cool when Ruth instead
forcibly kidnappedI mean dated Jason. She insists that she’s not bi, but is straight and went through a phase. She’s also said outright that bisexuality was “made up for pron”Being fairy she was more mad that she ditched the date she set up with her boss to go out with the bartender.
Or just her internalized obliviousness.
But seriously, the only evidence she has for Asher and Ethan being together is that they’re standing next to each other in the hallway. It’s funny because we know, but “He’s talking to the gay dude, they must be fucking” is a weird jump
She’s not wrong. Joyce has had three love interests, and all three are big buff dudes with wide shoulders and a considerable following.
I mean, yes, a lot of the cast dislikes/disliked Joe, but he didn’t get laid as often as he did because no one thought he was good looking.
I’d say it’s equal parts that Joyce pulls some tall-hunk-guy attraction her way, and Joyce herself is pulled toward tall-hunk-guy types. Irresistable force and movable object.
So Asher hired the Incelerator to draw out Amazi-Girl and confirm it was Amber.
He is an evil genius.
Oh thank the gods! Had to read all the way to the bottom to find someone else who made that connection.
It explains why he was doing his loud obnoxious spiel in a public place.
Yup. I was hoping Asher had actually turned good.
what’s that saying from Star Wars?
ah yeah, “always a bigger fish” 0-0
it’s way older than Star Wars; Star Wars assumed its audience knew the saying 🙂
Is that true, though? They have a chain of literal bigger fish happening when Liam Neeson says that.
Dr Seuss. It is at least that old.
Russian Dolls bigger fish in people form.
Dr. Seuss wasn’t real.
Oh my god. I hadn’t considered this and I’m not sold but, holy shit that would be FUN.
I both don’t want it cos I want to like Asher and for him and Ethan to have a fairytale ending, but… That would also be a freaking awesome plot and there’s a hole in my life left by the Ruth/Billy bisexual dramatics
Yes! Yes! I wasn’t sure why I was like, hesitating? You’ve brought me beautiful clarity.
It would SUCH. A. MESS. Inject it into my veins sgjshdkgsjd
Are you a chaos goblin who craves relationshipping mess?
I can’t help it. It’s a medical condition
For which I mean, because my enthusiasm ran away with my wording – It would be amazing if indeed Ethan and Asher got away with being happy, I like Asher and I want him to succeed at _getting better,_ he’s clearly worked hard for it! I like Ethan and oh my god he needs to, pls let him.
Just, if it isn’t going to be the case, this would be fun as hell. Asher’s not completely free yet.
That’s actually not the worst deduction of Jennifer’s part either
*on Jennifer’s part
In high school, she was used to having deductions because of her parts.
But this is college now, and her parts aren’t getting her the deductions she’s needing.
Tax deductions? Based on her parts? I’m not following this line of reasoning.
Yes, tax deductions based on her stage play parts. One’s involvement in campus theatre is crucial for proper tax accounting.
The way I usually explain it is you dont have to be in theater to be in a drama club of one.
Where is the strip that hints that Asher has this thought or goal, I am struggling to recall anything beyond his knowledge of the assassination of Amber’s dad.
He spotted AG’s costume in Amber’s room after the party. If he knows Amber is AG and he got Amber’s dad whacked, he might have a vested interest in drawing out AG to see what she’ll do, if only for self preservation.
I’m not bought in on the ‘Asher goaded Incel to make a scene’ yet but given this story arc has been pointing Asher and Amber in the same direction for a little, it would be an interesting twist.
That….actually would make a lot of sense.
Plot twist, Ethan riled him up online in order to get Amber to leave her room more often.
Sorry Jen, you’re back to being Billie until or unless you can actually pull a correct assumption out once in a damn while
To be fair, “Joyce pulls, actually” seems like a pretty correct assumption to draw in this case.
I may be a little dense. (Ok, I’m a lot dense.)
But what does she mean by “Joyce PULLS”? (I’m not familiar with any special definition with respect to dating/relationships.)
Does the term mean “Joyce attracts dudes of all types” or does it mean something else?
I’d read that as Joyce attracts hot guys?
Basically it means that Joyce pulls off attracting hot people that other people agree are hot.
I don’t know where the specific wording comes from, but I know it is supposed to mean that you get with very attractive people.
I assumed the wording connects with attract = pull
Not sure if it is more common in the UK, but to go “on the pull” means going out looking to find a partner or hookup partner, and if you succeed you’ve “pulled”.
Yeah, pull some attention, pull some hotness, pull some sexy times.
Started in UK but came to America quick enough.
it means she’s SO hot that even GAY guys want her, in this context, i think
How to explain…as far as people like Jennifer are concerned, dating is a game where the way to win is by scoring all the hottest/wealthiest/most popular dudes. When someone “pulls”, that means they’re pulling in very high-quality dudes, like a fisherman catching high-quality fish. It’s objectifying as hell, sure, but also entirely not uncommon, and in this case it means that Jennifer suddenly 1000% more respect for Joyce, whom she had always seen as sort of weak and in need of protection before.
Well Joyce certainly was pulling something a bit ago in the dorm kitchen…
You mean she pulled a knife? On someone in the kitchen?
Fortunately she washed her hands so as to get rid of the evidence. Good street smarts.
Stretched Joe’s macaroni.
Yeah, Joyce tends to draw in pretty handsome men.
There are worse curses for a young, straight girl to have.
(And damn, Jennifer, you just missed out on having a shred of journalistic instinct).
c u r s e
Tbf its not like they are in some bush, bed or romantic garden with floric swing so why she should think its fishy?
I hope Jennifer allow her BF to speak to other people
Well she knows Asher kissed a guy, and now she sees him with an attractive gay man. Some assumptions could be made.
Could be, but it’s still a bit of a jump.
Making one (1) observation about a human being may be a breakthrough for Jennifer, sadly.
Hey, she makes a lot of observations about humans beings! Those observation often are completely incorrect but they are still observations!
See, I think those are all observations of caricatures of people she’s made up in her head.
Ahahahahahaha!!!!
“Black holes are the densest thing in the entire universe”
Jennifer:
Black holes technically are not in our universe, anything past the event horizon is no longer part of our universe. There is a substance that is incredibly dense but still part of our universe, the core material of a Neutron Star is made of a material called neutronium, just pure neutrons packed together by gravity in the core of a neutron star because the electrons and protons have been packed so close together they lost their charges and turned into neutrons. It is just this side of a black hole, and the energy of their trillions of electric charges getting annihilated is believed to be one of the reasons for the formation of Pulsars.
I would argue that black holes are still a part of the universe. They still apparently have mass, because they have gravity. IIRC they can even be charged. They can have momentum in some inertial frame. There’s actually quite a lot there, but we can’t observe it across the event horizon; we can only know it by its influence through fields and their motion. (Oh, and Hawking radiation, energy released from an accretion disk, and the like.) Information doesn’t cross the horizon…although I seem to recall someone postulated a sneaky way for some information to leak out.
The singularity within is an essential bit of nonsense, and could be said to be not in the universe. It’s a place where the math fails, the physical equivalent of Not-A-Number. “Singularities are the places where God divided by zero.”
Agreed: neutronium is the densest thing we can observe. Jennifer’s density is not more than half that.
You know, when you remember Jennifer is a rich kid so many things about her make sense.
Yeah, that Affluenza starting to look Terminal at this point.
Aw c’mon, Carla is also a rich kid and she’s not obnoxio-
Actually hold on.
if being rich is a prerequisit to being obnoxious then Malaya must be incredibly Loaded.
Your logic is flawed – if you accept the premise “rich implies obnoxious”, that does not mean “obnoxious implies rich”. It DOES mean “not obnoxious implies not rich”, but there are few examples of that here, so maybe the original premise is flawed.
Well, Asher’s FAMILY is rich…
Yeah, but that’s criminally accomplished, as opposed to your typical billionaire who…
…Wait. Hm.
..Steals legally…
Not an oxymoron just Lawful Evil alignment.
I still say her parents neglect played a much bigger role in shaping her than their money.
Yeah, I can buy into rich kids being jerks, but Jennifer is lacking in so many basic skills and understandings that I got to side with neglect. Though, maybe sprinkle in a little influence and bad lessons from Linda as well. We haven’t really gotten that much of her backstory aside from school stuff.
Having lots of money can make lack basic skills and understanding, just look at twitter for a bit.
It can, but when we already know we’re dealing with a kid who’s been neglected by her parents to the point that she turned to the Walkerton’s as better substitutes.
Yes, Linda is the reason Jennifer is such a basket case.
Dumbing of Age 69: Joyce Pulls Actually
God dammit, Asher. I was rooting for you.
What did Asher do wrong? They’re pretty much broken up at this point so he’s just… existing in the same space as her?
If Jennifer’s assumption that someone deliberately set Paul off to lure AG out turns out to be accurate, Asher is easily the strongest candidate for the culprit.
Always so disappointing when a guy goes out with a guy, I guess?
Bryy suspects Jennifer’s actually right about Incelerator actually being a ploy to lure out AG, on Asher’s behalf to tie up loose ends 0-0
If that’s revealed to be the case it could end up being Ethan’s 13th reason and I don’t know if I could handle that
I’d look up what “13th reason” means, but last time I looked up a term I didn’t recognise, I got nothing but TikTok and sneaker ads for two months.
13 Reasons Why is a TV series in which a girl kills herself and leaves behind audio recordings explaining the 13 reasons why she killed herself and the people she holds responsible.
Reference to the book and later TV show called 13 Reasons Why. The TV show I have never watched and never intend to, but I have read the book. Basically about the reasons why a girl chose to commit suicide and left behind as tapes for the people she blamed to hear about it.
It is not something I recommend to anyone actively depressed/suicidal as I have heard a lot of people say it made their issues worse. I thought it was interesting when I read it, but I wasn’t suffering said issues myself.
The TV show I know has been seen as very controversial from how it handled the topic.
I enjoyed the first season of the TV show (later seasons became unwatchable for me), but I also think it was handled irresponsibly. Also, I was very depressed at the time I first watched it, in a way that makes me think I might be more uncomfortable watching it now.
I’m subtly giving you the “nuh uh” signal about looking that up. Not recommended.
and after reading the above (as I wasn’t familiar with it myself before), I’m very unsubtly giving you the “WAVE OFF! WAVE OFF!”
What loose ends? Amazi-Girl herself?
Asher had Blaine murdered cuz he threatened to snitch.
Asher’s hardly a saint from the get-go, heck he’s paying tuition with money he stole from his grandfather.
thanks for explaining NGPZ, but how was I to get all of that from “God dammit, Asher. I was rooting for you.”
Taffy, I know you meant that as a joke but come on.
You don’t know as much as you think. I was trying to guess what you were talking about, based on what’s on the strip. Asher’s just standing there.
Jennifer is musing about who might have set up Incelidiot against A-G. And, lo, Asher and Ethan are right there in the next panel. And it probably ain’t Ethan’s doing.
It’s not off-base. The one person Ethan can find comfort from the world in turns out to be trying to get someone super important to him in trouble with the corrupt police… I can imagine that not being great for him!
God dammit about what?
Seemed like Jennifer was almost onto something with Amazi-Girl. And then the relationship issues and self-delusion start clouding her mind.
So close. SSSOOO close.
That’s why I like Jennifer, she’s often so close, but then botches the landing.
How the hell is Jennifer the most oblivious character in a comic that has both Walky and Joyce. it’s insane.
Walky is more what I’d call… street smart. He also ignores information on purpose cause he hates stuff being complicated.
And Joyce has a weird perspective due to her upbringing but autistic people are actually quite good at people watching and analysing what is going on.
You can hear the glass-shattering sound effect in Panel 5.
You may be right.
I thought it was the record scratch sound.
oh hey I didn’t expect Asher/Ethan in the VERY NEXT STRIP; ahaha
“I believe in coincidence. Coincidences happen every day. But I don’t trust coincidences.”
– Garak
If coincidences happen every day, why has it been over 13 years? Answer that Mr Smarty-Well-Tailored-Pants
(meant to include the link: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2011/comic/book-2/01-pajama-jeans/coincidence/ )
It probably doesn’t make any sense, but I love the fact that the last panel draws attention to Jennifer’s… torsal profile in a way that even panel 3 doesn’t. Just sort of a “Yes, Jennifer, your rack’s amazing, and yet…”
As I say, it probably doesn’t make any sense.
I love how Jennifer has just completely glossed over “Amazi-Girl was fighting a supervillain while I was talking to Sal”. She thought it was impossible for Sal to be in two places at once, but if Amazi-Girl was in the lobby, then obviously it wasn’t after all.
– have you ever seen sal and amazi-girl in the same room together?
-yes
-… I don’t believe you
Maybe I’m wrong, but I kinda assumed you need to be better at noticing things than Jennifer has been if you want to become a journalist.
Don’t worry she’s still a freshman meaning plenty of time to change her major.
Or take ranks in perception
Given the state of modern journalism, that might be a qualification
*somewhere, Walky pauses as a stray Joyce thought wafts through his mind. He considers for a moment*
“NAH!”
*goes back to eating Nachitos*
Haha! OMG Jennifer 😀
Jennifer, your incisively insightful and keen powers of observation are simply without peer. No one else is in your league.
*Morgan Freeman voice-over*
Suddenly, Jennifer had a world-shattering realization.
what is this earth-shattering realization she had? i don’t get it, am dumb
The one she actually had: Joyce gets a lot of tall, hunk-type male attention. And she doesn’t need Jennifer’s rack-type proportions to do it.
The one she shoulda had: Who set up Incelidiot against A-G.
Honestly, Joyce is probably the closest to Jennifer in rack proportions out of the whole cast.
I think that Amber, Liz, and Marcie have her beat.
I thought it was more that Ethan was the guy Asher is dating now.
I think the world-shattering realization was she lost her boyfriend to another man.
It’s always weird to find out that two major characters have only spoken in one strip, eleven years ago.
The bonus strip is an echo of the first coincidence strip. Talk about synchronicity.
jennifer’s been extremely close to mob guy jr. and relatively close to a superhero as well as the superhero’s not-sidekick
and has not figured out at all how these pieces fit together with regards to the kidnapping or any other incident
while she might have some insight in the first couple panels I’m guessing she’s either wrong or about to forget immediately
It’s sorta amusing how Jennifer is so thoroughly disliked that most folks here seem to be gliding over or ignoring her actually pretty decent insight into why Incelerator suddenly popped up here.
I mean, I get it, even in this strip she’s managing to miss like two or three deductions against the one good thought she had and she’s enough of a trash fire that it’s easy to hate on her, but still, the chain of logic about someone drawing out Amazi-Girl isn’t one that occurred to me until she brought it up – and from the comments of those who DID notice her brief moment of competence, it seems like it slipped past quite a few others as well.
I don’t hate on her, I make fun of her, two very different things.
It’s a possibility. We don’t know that it’s true.
I think most folks just put it into “Comics things happen in comics” more then any kind of actual behind the scenes rationale. It’s not until Willis actually points out there’s reasons outside of “Comics gonna comic” where you start thinking about this sort of thing.
Wait, Jennifer made an accurate observation? Twice in the same strip? Incredible
It’s counterbalanced by the fact that she missed the incredibly obvious realization literally directly in front of her.
Asher (*thinking*): Jennifer just walked by without saying hi, or even acknowledging me, as I stand next to my gay lover. But I didn’t say anything either. Does this mean she’s tacitly agreeing that we’re broken up and she’s moving on? Or is it some weird passive-aggressive power move?
Jennifer (*thinking*): I just walked by Asher, and neither of us said “hi” or acknowledged the other. This is just great! Neither of us feels any need to indulge in that codependent virtue-signaling of communicating with the other when we happen to see each other during the course of the day. This is fine!
Ethan (*thinking*): Uh, that’s Billie, I mean Jennifer… Why isn’t she saying something? What is even happening? Ugh, it’s so much easier to keep track of Transformers and Decepticons. (*More Transformer-related woolgathering goes here*)