Akane has only one way to get back home: collect the 42 keys to parallel worlds. Eri and Ben are just trying to get through the summer before university. When a magical key turns up in an old spare set, all three are forced to change their plans and fast.
Guilded Age
T Campbell, John Waltrip, Florence Machina
Welcome to the saga of the working-class adventurer! Enjoy the complete story with new annotations daily!
No End
Erli, Kromi
A queer romance about people attempting to build lives in a cold, post-apocalyptic world ravaged by hordes of undead.
Dumbing of Age
David M Willis
Joyce has been homeschooled her entire life until now, when she's suddenly a freshman in college! Things don't go well.
Paint the Town Red
Windy, Winter Jay Kiakas
Winona runs a werewolf shelter with partner in crime, Odile in the Gothic city of Merlot. One day they take in an injured vampire, and soon unravels many of the dark secrets of Merlot.
Hemlock
Josceline Fenton
A witch accidentally marries a monster, and now she and her familiar has to navigate life around her monstrous husband and her even more terrifying in-laws.
Shaderunners
Alex Assan, Lin Darrow
A ragtag band of bootleggers open a speakeasy for bottled colour in the greyscale city of Ironwell.
Cyanide & Happiness
Explosm
Satire, dark humor and surreal humor.
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She’s using “you” in the general sense, not referring to Danny specifically. She’s adding a corrective addendum to her statement to be more inclusive and accurate.
Someone’s memory is revising Dorothy’s face narrower. I know, art style whatever. I like the idea that it’s because of stress, so flashbacks would have her pre-crisis look.
I once poked my eye with am umbrella. My mom’s been blind in one eye since she was 4 (not from an umbrella, she was electrocuted) so as soon as my eye got poked, I FREAKED, especially when I felt something ‘fluid’ coming out. I immediately ran to a mirror but of course the ‘fluid’ was tears. My eye was a little sore and swollen but thankfully undamaged otherwise. The swelling went down within two days.
I hope he’s acquired various things in the color of the bi flag and he can now give her one.
Me, I would have a sticker on hand for this occasion. (I just always have these stickers with me; in this case, I would act like it was planned.)
When was the last time Dorothy even talked to Danny? Like had an actually substantial conversation that wasn’t idle party chatter? They really don’t hangout much since they stopped being a couple. I think Danny has actually spent more time with Walky.
Which does not particularly show significant direct interaction between them on-panel, but at the very least Danny experienced Dorothy’s singing choices for that evening.
Honestly, I think he’s been likable the whole time in DoA (minus a moment or two). I could see someone coming from the Walkyverse being reluctant to embrace the character though.
For Carla, word of Willis is March 28th. In the two strips the asker mentions, in October she says she’s 19 and in January she says she’s 20). BUT Carla would definitely fudge her age if she thought the bit would land better.
An author tend to self-insert to some level or an other into the characters they write. And to the question “How much is David Willis” self-inserting into Dorothy in the last panel, the answer is “very”.
Maybe it’s just me, but if I went to someone, out of confusion and wanting support, of an identity we now both shared, and they were like this to me, I would no longer find them a safe person to talk to.
That might be a valid and justified reaction to this situation for you and many other people, but I think something like this really depends on the context of the relationship, don’t forget that Danny has known Dorothy very well for years now, and I think that in his way he is being supportive about this, instead of acting like it’s a huge deal and causing Dorothy to freak out more than she already was, he went with some good old fashioned well meaning teasing and she no longer has that timid stressed out look she had on her face in the last strip, and he can still follow up this icebreaker with a more serious and supportive conversation. It’s also worth mentioning that while she didn’t default right to telling puns, Dorothy was also very casual during most of the conversation they had when Danny was dealing with this issue, so it seems like this is probably just a sign of how relaxed these two are with each other.
There’s also something to be said for seeing directly how Danny has moved from his previous ‘bangst’ into a comforable ‘bilaxation’. Showing rather than telling that it can in fact get better and just be a normal part of you.
But this definitely a “know your audience” moment that works because Danny and Dorothy have known each other for years and know what to expect from one another. It is also valid to nope out of this kind of response.
Me commenting on how Danny comes off as hostile and would make me feel unsafe with him with regards to coming out with important topics is not a “weird comment” to make, it’s how I feel (and in conjunction with today’s comic, I feel even more validated in that feeling).
You, however, are just being a straight up asshole for no actual reason. Like you literally went and said people I know would be glad not to talk to me. Fuck you, step on a tack.
I really love this, the playful teasing is adorable. And I am always here for the puns.
I also wonder if this conversation is going to go in the direction of Dorothy’s life trajectory being upended and her confusion in its entirety. Walky’s blinding unconditional belief in Dorothy is better for their romantic/sexual relationship than Danny’s was, but iirc Walky’s “I know you Dorothy, you’ll bounce back” encouragement fell flat. I think Danny might actually be the one to give her genuine advice for how to pick yourself up when the life plan you were blindly following for years gets ripped out from under your feet, both because they have known each other for years, and because that’s the journey he went on (is still on probably) since Dorothy dumped him at the beginning of the school year.
And now my baby is awake so I have to stop my comment. Happy birthday, Willis!
Danny’s pun IS completely accurate, in every sense. He DOES have binocular vision. Just because, in one of those senses, it’s common, doesn’t make his statement wrong. It does make me jealous, though- I’m slightly cross-eyed, and my brain usually- unless I’m very tired- turns off one eye’s image so I don’t see double all the time, so I actually DON’T have binocular vision. But don’t worry, Dorothy- I didn’t find your initial statement offensive in the least.
I’m slightly cross-eyed, and my brain usually- unless I’m very tired- turns off one eye’s image so I don’t see double all the time, so I actually DON’T have binocular vision
Uh, there are glasses for this. I’ve had mine since I was 6. Are you in the US, and your insurance doesn’t pay?
I have severe nerve damage in one eye, so the prism glasses don’t help. Believe me, I spent years using them AND going in for eye training regularly before the nerve damage was found.
The Kinsey Scale was created to make 1 research project easier, and now people are stuck in the 1940s. Tho to be fair, it’s difficult to break away from the legacy while living at the home of the research institute.
Happy Birthday, Willis! And, happy 1-year buffer-versary? Nice present to give yourself. I know of only one other comic to have such an extended buffer – Howard Taylor’s Schlock Mercenary – and that one’s finished, so the field is yours!
Eh, I’m still unsure on how appropriate it is to say “Bi” in this.
Which… may come across as bi-phobic… and definitely comes across as bi-erasure, but it’s more in terms of practicality.
Imagine you have a pie and cut it into 8 slices, and then I eat 7 and a half slices of that pie.
You would, reasonably, say I ate the entire pie.
I COULD technically, and correctly, say that I didn’t eat the entire pie. That I only ate some, but not all.
Realistically, that’s kind of how I’d term the umbrella terms of “Straight/Straight*” and “Gay/Gay*”.
It’s more about practically understanding what’s more useful as a label.
I had a crush on a girl in middle school, but I still identify as gay, because if I eat 7 and a half slices of pie, it’s just practical to say I ate the entire pie. It feels slightly mis-leading if I’d term myself as bi. Even if that’s, technically speaking, the most accurate.
Of course you can identify how you want (and lots of people had crushes in middle school that don’t end up aligning with their later identity), and I’m going to try to bypass (bipass) a lot of other potential mess of this to say… it seems like it would be different if you has a crush on a girl *now*, right? Like, Dorothy’s situation isn’t “I had a crush on a girl years ago,” it’s “I am having feelings for my female friend right now and they have been affecting me in several ways.”
Agreed with Yumi, it’s obviously something that depends on how a person wishes to identify, but all we’ve learned is that Dorothy doesn’t like being called a lesbian. She hasn’t been shown to say, disagree with the label of bi. She’s bi-curious perhaps, one might say! She has unresolved feelings for at least two different women and is exploring herself. She’s also very much into men as well, what with the latest apology bed dance with Walky as well as prior experiences with him and Danny, so… what about bi seems like it doesn’t fit here for Dorothy, exactly?
People are complicated. “Straight with an exception” probably does exist, even if it’s more common as a stage into accepting actually being bi. So, even as a current crush, it’s not out of the realm of possibility.
But in this case, Dorothy’s definitely having an awakening
True, I just don’t know that it’d be more “practical” to just say one was straight/gay in that circumstance… “with an exception,” yeah. (But also, I don’t think identities are just about what’s practical.)
If we didn’t know all that we know about Dorothy pointing to her realizing she’s bi, I’d still think it’d be part of the questioning stage.
I think there may be some word confusion.
When I use “identify” I mean in terms of how you commuicate towards others.
When you use it, I THINK, you’re more using it to refer to how you may internally define yourself.
The issue I have with:
Kinsey 0 – Straight
Kinsey 6 – Gay
Kinsey 1,2,3,4,5 – Bisexual
Is how some conflate self-internal identification versus external communication of your label.
The implication being that even then, Danny had at least an inkling which is what prompted him to ask. And when given an answer, to think to himself “bullshit”.
No disrespect to Danny, but I find it hard to credit that he was thinking this immediately after learning bisexuality was even a thing. I think it was more like “Wait, how does she know bisexuality’s a thing?” (possibly influenced by having heard Joe suggest she’s a lesbian since they were fifteen).
In fact, his immediate follow-up was “No offence, but I’d rather hear this from a non-zero,” which rather suggests he took it at face value at the time.
Did anyone else think Dororhy was saying “unimclusive” because the second n and the c are…weirdly touching for some reason? Is that what happens when the font is rendered that small?
Haha Danny went from not even knowing bisexual was a word in the strip before the flashback to making god awful bi puns to the person that taught it to him. Growth?
As much of an irritating twerp as Dorothy’s being about the semantics, I do sort of enjoy her not going along with Danny’s “pun”. All he’s doing is emphasizing “bi” like that’s clever on its own just because it’s part of the word “binocular”.
I was hesitant about the fan theory that Dorothy is actually autistic and her planning was a symptom of that. I was sure that she was ADHD and all her planning was her way of masking it. This conversation though. Her taking the pun literally is very autistic.
democrats would find it much easier to fight trump if their donors were willing to let them actually oppose the things trump is doing
there is no voter in this entire country who is calling for "trump's economic plan, but bipartisan"
you are chasing ghosts of your own mind
Nathan Kalman-Lamb@nkalamb.bsky.social ⋅ 13h
This is the Dem's vision for confronting Trumpist fascism *in their own* [press release] words:
Whitmer “will outline her bipartisan approach to bring supply chains home from China, create more good-paying jobs, and invest in our defense industry.”
thehill.com/homenews/cam...
today in #9chickweedlane i learned we're... having a double wedding, sure, why not
half of it to some old man polly met four strips ago, back when he had a mustache and brown hair
Had to pull this weirdo out of the basement. It'd been a while.
Pablo Hidalgo@infinata.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
#botaday Swerve. This is an odd one. Only considered part of the Universe line because of the logo on its instructions. No box. Apparently only available via the Chevy website in Switzerland and United Arab Emirates in 2008, and a Canadian mall promo in 2009? Turns into a Chevy Aveo LT.
hey is it good if you’re on vacation in another country and the tv news is all like “Conséquences pour les Américains” over various red downward graphs and b-roll of an auto plant
if i weren't driving all day yesterday, i would've learned in #9chickweedlane that Walter is surprised, somehow, that his vast incalculable wealth has separated him from human empathy
We simply had to intentionally destroy the world’s strongest economy while dismantling our scientific and educational infrastructure to ensure that a team with a trans girl would never finish second place in the Mountain West volleyball standings again
I am trying so hard not to be jealous of other countries packing up their grifters and culture vultures. Congratulations on your "weird cases" and holding creeps accountable. If only this country would do the same.
Phil Lewis@phillewis.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
LONDON (AP) — UK police charge comedian Russell Brand with rape and sexual assault.
Every time I lose, it is on purpose. Each loss simply means I'm playing a more advanced version of chess. 4D. Then 8D. Then 64D. Then 720D. Is that not the right mathematical progression? Too bad, the chess number just went up. 40kD.
American companies quite literally lost one trillion dollars in a single day but on the other hand Dave from accounts receivable doesn't have to worry about using they/them pronouns when he sees Leslie in the break room
Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social ⋅ 13h
Pablo Hidalgo @infinata.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
domino @stopmrdomino.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
Dr. Elle, Her Celestial Majesty 
@abstractica.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
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Jeremy Diamond
Happy birthday to you!
The world is a zoo!
We wish you a great party!
And a huge buffer too!
🥳 🪅
Indeed – Happy Birthday! Though, I doesn’t seem that anybody got you a gift. Which is simply horrid, as you give us one every day.
Happy Birthday and Happy unbirthday and Happy bi-rthday and happybIrthDAy
Ooh, nice!
A very merry un-birthday, to you!
Time for cake 8D
Ooh, happy birthday Willis.
So generous, to wish Willis something he already has… through months and months of hard work, no less…
Happy older day. Hope you don’t feel older today. If you do, this TMBG song is for you. https://youtu.be/TdIRrmNN_CQ?si=DXJ3Dch-gbVBeCAQ
Adding my voice to the Chorus Willis! Happy birthday.
Congrats on completing another lap around the sun.
hep bert
Happy bi-rthday!
Bi all that is holy…
Bi all the gods!
lol even tho he’s currently dating sal i kinda wanna see his parents reaction to finding out “mom, dad college made me bi”
“Hey, the random number generator of life does weird stuff sometimes!”
See, e.g.:
https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5537
;-D
Sometimes the RNG is augmented when Tai-type-people cross the streams between a couple dozen friend groups.
“Good-BI, Danny.”
“See, I knew you had it in you!”
“A good pun! Now on a scale of 0 to 6, how should I rate that?”
I respect that Dorothy is so committed to being socially inclusive she undercuts her own jokes.
She’s not under cutting. She’s bifurcating.
In seriousness, I like that about her character as well.
I wanted to make a bisecting joke but it turned intersectional.
+1
+ 1
This is me IRL
I think it’s hilarious you think she was actually making a joke there. I think she was being dead serious.
Now, Danny’s joke, she tried to undercut the hell out of. But little does the understand that fighting puns only makes them stronger!
Happy Birthday, Willis! Congrats on hitting your birthday buffer!
And yeah, okay, now I can see how these two dated
Bi-rthday*
… I can’t think of any puns about having accurate puns.
Inaccurate puns?
I’m not bi-ing it
/Dorothy probably
Inaccurate puns are pun-ishable.
inaccurate puns are punishable by time in the punitentiary
”Hey, potential mate. Are you a pun of mine?
Because you Always makes sense” *finger guns*
Puns that function as medical treatments. The have accurerate that’s better than sugar pill.
idk what would be defined as ‘accurate’ since puns are word plays as opposed to a similar ‘buy/bye’ thing and replacing it with ‘bi’
I bet you can bi some accurate puns on-Target’s web site.
I’d just give up now Danny, Dorothy isn’t going to bite.
Yeah she is just a Bistander
No need to stand around bi-ckering like this!
Dunno. I think there’s a non-zero chance.
Dorothy has known Danny for years. She can’t actually think he may be blind. How would she not know?
She’s using “you” in the general sense, not referring to Danny specifically. She’s adding a corrective addendum to her statement to be more inclusive and accurate.
Thank you for clarifying.
One does not simply wear an eyepatch.
Majima has entered the chat.
would be awkward if someone missing an eye or disabled sight did walk on by(bi) lol
altho it does remind me of joyce when she was fumbling over herself with jocelyne like “no i didn’t make a mistake” or so;/overcorecting
Happy birthday Willis!!!
Joyeux anniversaiiiire
Happy bday! And ty for all the puns and strips!
Don’t you mean Biday?
”A biday to you, sir!”
“I get that reference”
Sorry Dorothy, you’ll have to say “bi-bi” to scientifically accurate puns!
No way could she ever let accurate puns pass her bi!
You’ve convinced me. I’ll bi that.
I mean, her pun in the last panel didn’t seem scientifically inaccurate.
All of Dorothy’s puns will come with their appropriate addendums
Danny that was bad and you should feel bad
I couldn’t help but read this in Garfield’s voice
it’s perfect XD
I read it in Dr. Zoidberg’s.
Happy birthday, and Danny is a present to us all.
Her bife is talking to Alice.
Bi all metrics; a successful pun.
Danny couldn’t help but do this bit :p
Clever wordplay doesn’t necessitate being bi-lingual.
Buzz it helps!
(I REALLY wanted to answer this with him not letting the oppurtunity pass him -bi-,! But I already used that one in an earlier comment 🫣
)
*Plays “Gettin’ bi” on the hacked boardroom meeting-table Polycom speakerphone…*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e7844P77Is
Literally used “search in page” immediately after reading just to find out if anyone had pointed out that a bife is obviously a bi-wife.
Thank you for your service!
So the term “bife” has some am-bi-guity
a pan-opoly of definitions, if you will
So… a pun that hits its target just as hard audibly, visibly, tactilely…
… okay, I can see a pun throwing someone off balance, how do you get a pun to impact a person’s “I need to poop” sense?
Wait, I got it! HYPNOSIS!
Huh.
What’s the female sibling to HypnoToad got to do with this?
_
||
___ | \
C |
C |
C____|
almost worked
It’s nice to see Danny having so much fun.
Happy birthday Willis!
Truly!
They should do this bi-weekly. (Which, for these two, means once every week)
i like how theyre evenly dorky in different ways. god theyre actually so guy-girl bi couple coded how is this only officially canon now
This is a blast!
Which is why it can now be cannon.
What the hell. Did you actually just use “cannon” correctly but only as a pun. I hate you. Take an internet.
Biconic 8D;
And happy birthday to you, Willis!
Happy Birthday to His Royal Cheezinus, Lord Willis! May your digital ink wells never run dry!
Someone’s memory is revising Dorothy’s face narrower. I know, art style whatever. I like the idea that it’s because of stress, so flashbacks would have her pre-crisis look.
My aunt lost an eye years ago and now I’m terrified of umbrellas.
That sounds like the tittle of a creepypasta video.
I once poked my eye with am umbrella. My mom’s been blind in one eye since she was 4 (not from an umbrella, she was electrocuted) so as soon as my eye got poked, I FREAKED, especially when I felt something ‘fluid’ coming out. I immediately ran to a mirror but of course the ‘fluid’ was tears. My eye was a little sore and swollen but thankfully undamaged otherwise. The swelling went down within two days.
My dad told me he knew a guy who lost an eye because someone threw a cookie.
Now THAT sounds like the setup to a dad joke.
Better then from tossing them.
I don’t even want to imagine how that might have happened.
Hes bein such a lil shit bout this and i love it
I hope he’s acquired various things in the color of the bi flag and he can now give her one.
Me, I would have a sticker on hand for this occasion. (I just always have these stickers with me; in this case, I would act like it was planned.)
Always prepared for a sticky situation, I hear.
*hands you a sticker*
“Various things in the color of the bi flag”
– Butterfree
– Darkwing Duck
Feel free to add more
I have stickers and rings available for almost all possibilities and I don’t even play the ukulele.
Good for him.
It is Dorothy’s birthday,
but before she begins her journey, she must first choose a starter Pokemon!
The choices are Bidoof, Bisharp or Binacle.
Finally, the authentic bi experience, represented in print.
When was the last time Dorothy even talked to Danny? Like had an actually substantial conversation that wasn’t idle party chatter? They really don’t hangout much since they stopped being a couple. I think Danny has actually spent more time with Walky.
Well, there was the time that Danny went to Dorothy for advice about being bi, at least.
There’s also the fact that we don’t see all interactions that characters have.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2024/comic/book-14/04-for-me-it-was-tuesday/partypartypartyhard/ last double tag was here tho i guess they didn’t interact much
I linked the bangst comic yesterday, if that helps.
I’m going to also point out that Danny was at karaoke night like 4 fays ago: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2024/comic/book-14/02-its-the-love-i-havent-got/courtesy-2/
Which does not particularly show significant direct interaction between them on-panel, but at the very least Danny experienced Dorothy’s singing choices for that evening.
Danny’s a dreamwalker. Danny is Horse.
Might sound crazy, but it ain’t no lie
You’re bi, bi, bi…
Really, this is the only bi pun anyone ever needs.
While Deadpool dances in the background.
My drag name is now Sloppy Bi Puns
What a coincidence, mine’s Sly Puppy Buns.
Danny is relishing this.
A chance to lord over Dorothy is a rare dish.
He’s the Thanos of Dorothy’s Endgame.
He should have gone for the head?
If they’re sloppy, they’re not clever. Having a buffer on your birthday is clever. Updated art is also clever.
Danny is sloppier than Sloppy Joe.
Even if Danny hasn’t seen Dorothy much, a four or five is ridiculous. 0.8, final answer.
*points excitedly at the first two panels* There it is, it’s the Kinsey scale strip! Hooray!
The final panel represents the firs5 t8me I have ever fully accepted that Danny and Dorothy were ever a genuinely attached couple.
I’m guessing her estimate started changing when she started brushing her bangs to the right.
Happy Birthday!
Happy BIrthday! Happy BIrthday to you!
Happy B-day Willis!
Or untreated amblyopia…
You did it
After xxxxx years, you made Danny likeable
By (bi!) making him even more of a dork than he already is
Honestly, I think he’s been likable the whole time in DoA (minus a moment or two). I could see someone coming from the Walkyverse being reluctant to embrace the character though.
Cool redraw of the flashback panels.
You didn’t have to do that, but I’m also completely unsurprised you did.
Happy birthday Mr. Willis Authorman
I love how Dorothy needs to be right even about things she thinks are not true.
It is the autism.
As much as I love being neuroatypical, I think Dorothy is just a perfectionist.
Coming from a neuroatypical.
I am also coming from a Neuroatypical and many parts of Dorothy strikes as sharing many similar traits to it.
Happy birthday Willis!
*starts chanting*
Please have Sal in his room wearing one of Danny’s shirts
Her brain will melt, her brain will fry.
Something something bi bi bi!
heh, I hadn’t considered there might be another reason Billie changed her name XD
LOVE this for danny actually
It’s okay, Dorothy. Danny can teach you to get bi with a little help from your friends
The flashback is also good for showing the visual difference of old and in control President Dorothy and the current frazzled Crisis Dorothy.
God I love Danny so much
this is exactly what being bisexual is like
Happy Birthday!
The world is in shambles, but I bet Amber’s insanely excited about Silksong!
Ok new Chapter 15 title: MY PUNS ARE ALWAYS ACCURATE IN EVERY SENSE!
Also, Danny, stop being a dick
He’s not being a dick, he’s just teasing her a little bit.
For some commenters there is no distractions
The constant overuse of the word “asshole” comes to mind. It’s like people forgot how to talk.
#1 choice: My Puns Will Always Be Accurate in Every Sense
#2 choice: This Is Your Life Now
#3 choice: Give In To Sloppy Bi Puns of Various Cleverness Levels
#400 choice: Your Bife
I meant to ask this earlier, but did any commenter call the last book title correctly?
ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US!
He should have said bi-nocular but a space between syllables rather then empathize one.
Happy birthday to us! (It is also my birthday.) (And Carla’s, if I remember right.)
If the wikia can be trusted, her’s was a few days ago. So happy belated to Carla! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to Dorothy and Willis!
Are you Carla’s #2 fan because #1 is Carla?
#2, do you pay people to ask that?
I swear I don’t! This is honestly only the second time it’s happened. As long as you count the last time as one despite it being a group.
But yes! Carla is her own #1 fan, I could never compete!
Sal and her brother’s birthday was this week too!
For Carla, word of Willis is March 28th. In the two strips the asker mentions, in October she says she’s 19 and in January she says she’s 20). BUT Carla would definitely fudge her age if she thought the bit would land better.
I forgot about the kinsey scale panels and just thought Dorothy was bi already…..
♫Oh, Danny Bi…♫
And Happy Birthday to you, Willis.
Dorothy should kill somebody. Just ice a motherfucker, dead on sight, no warning.
you’re right, danny. this IS gonna be her bife now #teambi
hbd willis!
Happy birthday Willis!
Bi Jove, it is the Willis’ birthday! Oh frabjous day!!
Callooh, callay!
(they chortled in their joy)
An author tend to self-insert to some level or an other into the characters they write. And to the question “How much is David Willis” self-inserting into Dorothy in the last panel, the answer is “very”.
Happy birthday, Willis!
Happy birthday! And may you survive many more orbits of the increasingly bizarre world!
Maybe it’s just me, but if I went to someone, out of confusion and wanting support, of an identity we now both shared, and they were like this to me, I would no longer find them a safe person to talk to.
That might be a valid and justified reaction to this situation for you and many other people, but I think something like this really depends on the context of the relationship, don’t forget that Danny has known Dorothy very well for years now, and I think that in his way he is being supportive about this, instead of acting like it’s a huge deal and causing Dorothy to freak out more than she already was, he went with some good old fashioned well meaning teasing and she no longer has that timid stressed out look she had on her face in the last strip, and he can still follow up this icebreaker with a more serious and supportive conversation. It’s also worth mentioning that while she didn’t default right to telling puns, Dorothy was also very casual during most of the conversation they had when Danny was dealing with this issue, so it seems like this is probably just a sign of how relaxed these two are with each other.
There’s also something to be said for seeing directly how Danny has moved from his previous ‘bangst’ into a comforable ‘bilaxation’. Showing rather than telling that it can in fact get better and just be a normal part of you.
But this definitely a “know your audience” moment that works because Danny and Dorothy have known each other for years and know what to expect from one another. It is also valid to nope out of this kind of response.
No fun allowed during Serious Conversations™
Well they probably will be happy about not having to talk to you anymore.
ngl kind of a weird reply
Well I think that was a weird comment to make so I guess it balanced out.
Me commenting on how Danny comes off as hostile and would make me feel unsafe with him with regards to coming out with important topics is not a “weird comment” to make, it’s how I feel (and in conjunction with today’s comic, I feel even more validated in that feeling).
You, however, are just being a straight up asshole for no actual reason. Like you literally went and said people I know would be glad not to talk to me. Fuck you, step on a tack.
A bold move to demonstrate that Danny is not an asshole by being one yourself.
Happy birthday, Willis! And many happy returns!
just gonna leave this one here https://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/02-threes-a-crowd/cheating/ since it’s been all the rage pointing out all the times Dorothy and Joyce flirted. ~<3
Hehehehehehe
10 Years in the making?!!!!
And Happy Birthday!!!
Wow!
How the years go bi!
Danny is enjoying this the exactly appropriate amount. You better bi-lieve it Dotty.
(And since I commented on the wrong strit just now, I’ll repeat it here)
Amazigirl’s ”A friend of Dorothy’s” quip is paying off in a very satisfying manner.
I really love this, the playful teasing is adorable. And I am always here for the puns.
I also wonder if this conversation is going to go in the direction of Dorothy’s life trajectory being upended and her confusion in its entirety. Walky’s blinding unconditional belief in Dorothy is better for their romantic/sexual relationship than Danny’s was, but iirc Walky’s “I know you Dorothy, you’ll bounce back” encouragement fell flat. I think Danny might actually be the one to give her genuine advice for how to pick yourself up when the life plan you were blindly following for years gets ripped out from under your feet, both because they have known each other for years, and because that’s the journey he went on (is still on probably) since Dorothy dumped him at the beginning of the school year.
And now my baby is awake so I have to stop my comment. Happy birthday, Willis!
Danny’s pun IS completely accurate, in every sense. He DOES have binocular vision. Just because, in one of those senses, it’s common, doesn’t make his statement wrong. It does make me jealous, though- I’m slightly cross-eyed, and my brain usually- unless I’m very tired- turns off one eye’s image so I don’t see double all the time, so I actually DON’T have binocular vision. But don’t worry, Dorothy- I didn’t find your initial statement offensive in the least.
Uh, there are glasses for this. I’ve had mine since I was 6. Are you in the US, and your insurance doesn’t pay?
Weird way to phrase that.
a moment of silence for willis circa one year ago having to draw dorothy’s old hair. happy birthday sir. your efforts do not go unnoticed
THIS WASN’T SUPPOSED TO BE A REPLY. WHY WAS THIS A REPLY. CAN I REPORT MY OWN COMMENT AND GET IT DELETED OUT OF EMBARRASSMENT AND SHAME
I have severe nerve damage in one eye, so the prism glasses don’t help. Believe me, I spent years using them AND going in for eye training regularly before the nerve damage was found.
everyone in my friend group had come out in one form or another before graduation. we all joked it was something in the water supply.
Hey, Happy Birthday, Willis!
The Kinsey Scale was created to make 1 research project easier, and now people are stuck in the 1940s. Tho to be fair, it’s difficult to break away from the legacy while living at the home of the research institute.
It illustrates a concept it doesn’t have to be entirely inclusive of all conceptual possibilities for sexuality.
She went straight down the middle!
For a high flown intellectual, she should be getting a Marlene Dietrich poster at a bare minimum.
Happy Birthday, Willis! And, happy 1-year buffer-versary? Nice present to give yourself. I know of only one other comic to have such an extended buffer – Howard Taylor’s Schlock Mercenary – and that one’s finished, so the field is yours!
Gaah, it’s Tayler, not Taylor.
omg happy bday!!
Or if you just close one eye!
ahaaa! previous strip flashback.
Its always fun to compare how your art has changed and improved over the years.
You have so many different comics to compare from its a pretty incredible journey to look at for aspiring artists.
Eh, I’m still unsure on how appropriate it is to say “Bi” in this.
Which… may come across as bi-phobic… and definitely comes across as bi-erasure, but it’s more in terms of practicality.
Imagine you have a pie and cut it into 8 slices, and then I eat 7 and a half slices of that pie.
You would, reasonably, say I ate the entire pie.
I COULD technically, and correctly, say that I didn’t eat the entire pie. That I only ate some, but not all.
Realistically, that’s kind of how I’d term the umbrella terms of “Straight/Straight*” and “Gay/Gay*”.
It’s more about practically understanding what’s more useful as a label.
I had a crush on a girl in middle school, but I still identify as gay, because if I eat 7 and a half slices of pie, it’s just practical to say I ate the entire pie. It feels slightly mis-leading if I’d term myself as bi. Even if that’s, technically speaking, the most accurate.
Of course you can identify how you want (and lots of people had crushes in middle school that don’t end up aligning with their later identity), and I’m going to try to bypass (bipass) a lot of other potential mess of this to say… it seems like it would be different if you has a crush on a girl *now*, right? Like, Dorothy’s situation isn’t “I had a crush on a girl years ago,” it’s “I am having feelings for my female friend right now and they have been affecting me in several ways.”
Agreed with Yumi, it’s obviously something that depends on how a person wishes to identify, but all we’ve learned is that Dorothy doesn’t like being called a lesbian. She hasn’t been shown to say, disagree with the label of bi. She’s bi-curious perhaps, one might say! She has unresolved feelings for at least two different women and is exploring herself. She’s also very much into men as well, what with the latest apology bed dance with Walky as well as prior experiences with him and Danny, so… what about bi seems like it doesn’t fit here for Dorothy, exactly?
People are complicated. “Straight with an exception” probably does exist, even if it’s more common as a stage into accepting actually being bi. So, even as a current crush, it’s not out of the realm of possibility.
But in this case, Dorothy’s definitely having an awakening
True, I just don’t know that it’d be more “practical” to just say one was straight/gay in that circumstance… “with an exception,” yeah. (But also, I don’t think identities are just about what’s practical.)
If we didn’t know all that we know about Dorothy pointing to her realizing she’s bi, I’d still think it’d be part of the questioning stage.
I think there may be some word confusion.
When I use “identify” I mean in terms of how you commuicate towards others.
When you use it, I THINK, you’re more using it to refer to how you may internally define yourself.
The issue I have with:
Kinsey 0 – Straight
Kinsey 6 – Gay
Kinsey 1,2,3,4,5 – Bisexual
Is how some conflate self-internal identification versus external communication of your label.
Tbf, it’s quite a different issue whether I get to eat the remaining 1/16th of that pie, or none at all.
You do get that and this situation are almost entirely different right? I am sorry but yes this does fell like bi erasure.
As Dorothy says, there’s all those numbers in the middle for a reason.
Happy b-day.
Also love how Dorothy isn’t claiming the bi part is wrong at the end, just that her puns will infact be accurate
Happy Birthday Willis! Sadly I seem to have missed out on making lots of bi puns since realizing I’m bi a couple years ago.
The implication being that even then, Danny had at least an inkling which is what prompted him to ask. And when given an answer, to think to himself “bullshit”.
No disrespect to Danny, but I find it hard to credit that he was thinking this immediately after learning bisexuality was even a thing. I think it was more like “Wait, how does she know bisexuality’s a thing?” (possibly influenced by having heard Joe suggest she’s a lesbian since they were fifteen).
In fact, his immediate follow-up was “No offence, but I’d rather hear this from a non-zero,” which rather suggests he took it at face value at the time.
Happy birthday Willis!!! Thank you for bringing us enjoy every single day of the year and gifting all of us on our birthdays!
I wonder, what are sailor cakes anyway?
they anything like sailor bi-scuits? XD
If their my cakes they would be :3
A nifty foodstock you could get bi on for a very long time?
Very good! ^^
Congratulations for your birthday, Willis, and for your one-year vacation.
Did anyone else think Dororhy was saying “unimclusive” because the second n and the c are…weirdly touching for some reason? Is that what happens when the font is rendered that small?
Haha Danny went from not even knowing bisexual was a word in the strip before the flashback to making god awful bi puns to the person that taught it to him. Growth?
As much of an irritating twerp as Dorothy’s being about the semantics, I do sort of enjoy her not going along with Danny’s “pun”. All he’s doing is emphasizing “bi” like that’s clever on its own just because it’s part of the word “binocular”.
That, that is what a pun is.
No.
Yes.
Many “good guys” are sadly very obnoxious when dealing with sensitive or personal subjects…
Be for real rn
Oh wow… that flashback is from the Before-Times. Before Covid, before… him.
I don’t do orientation puns much, but when I do I always ace them.
Dorothy should have said, “I kin see what you did there”
I was hesitant about the fan theory that Dorothy is actually autistic and her planning was a symptom of that. I was sure that she was ADHD and all her planning was her way of masking it. This conversation though. Her taking the pun literally is very autistic.