All this time and effort trying to find out who Pepe Silvia is- and even, if he exists at all- and you come in, like some kind of Carol in HR, claiming you know who he is? But without any details? Oh, I know a snake-oil salesman when I see one!
Smash cut to a month later, and Joyce won the contest. Her comic is going strong, and it’s popular around the college. It’s a slice-of-life comic about a couple of freshman college roommates at a big state university. She’s been having trouble making up large numbers of unique characters, so she bases them on her classmates instead — “write what you know” and all. She calls it: Roomies!
About 10 years later, she gets to the point in the comic where her characters, Runner and Jayce, start writing a comic strip for the college paper. *Cue inception theme playing within the Inception theme*
Except Rassilon went universal with their theory, thus implying I am a figment and a fractured element of Willis’ psyche, as are we all. This neither astounds or offends, as it will have as much impact on my existence (if even real) as the publishers clearinghouse sweepstakes has. (cue flashing banner: You may already be a winner)
I’m still rooting for a team-up.
(Or I guess Sydney Yus could do it, but then how can Willis make jokes about the comic writing process, that just won’t do.)
Now I want Sydney to do it. Either that, or show up just a moment too late to have their comic considered and therefore swear melodramatic vengeance upon the paper
On the buffer point – it kinda depends on how long Willis intends to draw this out. Considering that a day in comic can last for months, there is every possibility that Willis has not yet drawn the conclusion to this contest.
There’s a poll?! I wanna vote but there’s no write in option so I can vote for them “Screw this underpaid scam work.” and then both go into business for themselves.
Why? I feel like Joyce would do a much better job.
I genuinely don’t understand how Walky is beating Joyce in the poll. She’s far more passionate, interested, and (admittedly based on only small amounts of evidence) talented than he is. Walky would hardly put any effort in at all, and the only reason he’s putting any in now is because Joyce might get the position instead.
(I’ll admit that I may be a bit biased, though, because I already don’t really like Dumbiverse Walky. He’s obnoxious, seemingly incapable of being mature, and actively refuses to grow up or better himself.)
Biased Walky fan about to comment, so take this with a grain of salt:
While I do agree that Walky is not mature, it is clear that he is attempting to better himself.
The obvious example is his relationship with Sal, not only in trying to connect with her, but also in standing up for her (punching Asher, breaking up with Amber, and speaking up to their parents).
He’s also handling Booster’s pronouns (identity?) better than Billie assumed he would and probably better than some of us would as well. And he apologized relatively quickly and easily to Booster when he was acting stupid about the game console.
Even in this strip, he doesn’t seem to have an issue with Dorothy anymore, which he did for a little while (though I think that was mostly due to getting involved with Amber pre time skip).
Walky is growing, is trying to be a better person, and while it does seem slow, don’t forget that while it’s years for us who have been here for awhile (and days/months for binge readers), it’s only been three months for him.
That he, and the rest of these 18-20+ year olds, are even trying to better themselves so quickly is impressive to me (I say like they’re real people). Some people (including myself) take years before we even recognize our faults, let alone try to change them.
The president of the USAA head of state getting people secretely bumped off is actually a more realistic depiction of the job than Dorothy probably realizes…
I don’t know HOW a president would secrete bumps off of people, and every time I ask that question the brainstorming part of my brain requires brainbleach.
i believe the highly classified process known as presidential hanky-panky may occasionally secrete a bump. its protocol is shrouded in mystery, however. tantalizingly sexy mystery.
Most people don’t find the general conceptnor results of generalized secretions sexy. While there are some implicitly sexy secretions, even only one of them is typically portrayed both as sexy and as a secretion, as the other is typically buffered and then delivered en-masse in a short series of progressively smaller amounts until the buffer is again empty. And most people don’t want to face that.
Other secretions are very much not sexy except to a few folks, fetishes are funny like that. For examples of some types of generally non-sexy secretions just google the keyword for youtube vid’s, or search for Dr. Sandra Lee.
Third party choices won’t be viable until the poll works under ranked-choice. Otherwise they just siphon votes away from whichever of the big two they agree with more.
Didn’t we see small bit of this confrontation before?
Remember there being a strip where Dina, trying to convince Joyce of facts, attempts to rely on Walky who states his dinosaurs beliefs fit whichever makes them cool fighting machines
I like Dumbing of Age, I do. And I liked Shortpacked. But…
Does anyone else wish that instead Willis, after It’s Walky, just kept LAWsome going perpetually?
We only got 5 comics, and it was the only thing that ever compared to IW in terms of quality.
I appreciate the shitpost energy that Joyce and Walky! seems to have a lot of. I’m kinda loving following the reruns of that at the same time as this just for the sheer ridiculousness of the contrast between the two.
Ironically, just as this strip cuts to Joyce and Walky interacting, that strip has suddenly cut away from its title characters to a story about… Jason and Marcie. Which is the most bizarre pairing ever to me. (Reading it for the first time so I’d appreciate no spoilers.)
I’ve been enjoy reading the Joyce and Walky reruns too. Interesting to see how different some of the characters are between that comic and this one. Also I finally get to read some story arcs that I never got to see before now since I think they were originally paid only. Oh, and I’m not sure why but for some reason today my comment on that comic today is stuck in moderation.
It’s like Walky is trying to think up the cartoon “My gym partners a monkey” while Joyce is being inspired to create “Avatar the last Airbender.”
Or better yet it’s like you have two cubicles and in one you have Butch Hartman trying to create Fairly Odd Parents and in the other you have Genndy Tartakovsky working on Samurai Jack.
Life is but a poor monkey who farts his way across the panels and then is heard no more.
It is a tale drawn by an idiot, full of snark and nuggets, signifying a short attention span.
Ooooh, I know how that ends, Joyce. You end up creating a beautiful and intricate world with all kinds of neat little mysteries, legends, and lore, and end up completely forgetting to put an actual story in there.
And when you eventually do decide to actually do anything with it, you find yourself thinking “But wait, that won’t work because it conflicts with this little piece. But if I do this…”, and end up down a rabbit hole that leaves you going months without actual progress, until you decide to start a new world instead. And so the cycle begins again, ever unbroken.
Our chief gender is surprise. Surprise and fear, fear and surprise. Our two genders are fear and surprise and ruthless efficiency. Our *three* genders are fear and surprise and ruthless efficiency, and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope.
I should probably be more ashamed of this comment than I am but welp post comment!
I might be projecting my own experiences onto the OP, but there’s a running joke in some online trans spaces where a false dichotomy having very little to do with gender is presented (in this case, low effort potty humor vs incredibly detailed worldbuilding), and we respond “Ah yes, the two genders.” It’s a bit of a mockery of society’s tendency to assign behavioural dichotomies to gender, us knowing from personal experience just how silly that tendency is.
I thought it came from branding/gender reveal cakes, so “pink and blue” > “bunnies and trucks” > any two other random things being presented as a dichotomous choice?
I don’t know how it will sync up, but I’m pretty sure it’s not a coincidence that Ruth is being set up with Daisy the girl in charge of judging the submissions for the comic competition. I mean it’s probably a coincidence in their lives but not a literary one. So how do these two storylines converge?
Walky will show up when Ruth is meeting Daisy for the first time (or second time after a surprisingly decent first date), blurt out that Ruth used to be with Jennifer, sparking Daisy to suspect there was no real attraction between them and becoming hurt, thus ending what Ruth was surprised to find out was an enjoyable experience.
Or the exact same thing, but Daisy being so horny and/or liking Ruth that she doesn’t care, but Ruth ends it because she doesn’t feel right dating her for the wrong reasons.
Daisy says she’ll accept the strip, on the condition that Julia Gray and President Kenner hook up. Joyce, flabbergasted, asks why. Daisy responds dude, c’mon, it’s pretty friggin’ obvious. Joyce, still not ready to accept this part of herself, storms out.
…I’ve just realized Ruth doesn’t play into my theory at all, and thus I haven’t actually answered the question.
Ruth would at least have some fantastic comments on the situation, but who knows; maybe that would all lead into a storyline where Ruth helps Joyce come to terms with the possibility she’s bi (or trying to get someone else to do it).
That would be good. As much as Ruth hates the R.A. job, she has actually been trying to do it well since the Clint incident, and it’d be nice to see the more supportive side of her that she buries deep down. Ruth can probably tell that Jennifer, who is currently in “I am totally and completely straight” mode, is not as healthy as she claims to be, which might be a good example for her to bring up of how repression is just going to hurt Joyce in the long run.
Maybe Ruth will ask Joyce who the most supportive person she knows is, Joyce will remember Jocelyne congratulating Becky on coming out at the restaurant, and we’ll get another heart-to-heart between the Brown sisters. I can only hope.
Date goes smashingly, Daisy bangs from dusk till dawn the night before the strip is due, she is entirely incapable of making tough calls and exercising judgment due to afterglow and sleep-deprivation, so she just cheerfully hires both teams without so much as a glance at their art. She also accidentally signs Mary on. Damn You Willises ensue.
I suspect that, despite their very different approaches, what they actually manage to produce and turn in will be of similar *cough* “quality”.
Not that Daisy actually cares, about that or anything besides how desperately thirsty she is.
Joyce gets the job because her comic stars a woman, and that’s all Daisy needs to hear. She completely tunes out of Walky’s presentation, lost in thought as the army of tiny brain!Daisy-s in her head start mass-producing Julia Gray fanfiction.
(Unless the date with Ruth grants her a short window of clarity, then it’s anyone’s game.)
I’m just realizing that the IASIP scene being referenced is how our D&D group looked while building our campaign world. Like, three Charlies and one Sweet Dee during the crack addiction episode, performing that scene.
Inside you there are two wolves. One of them is a monkey sitting on a T-Rex whose eyes shoot lasers when it farts and is someone eating McAwesome nuggets in here?! i’m so hungry. o hai Lucy didn’t see you before what do you mean you’ve been here the whole heyy!!! i just rememberd i ordered this ironic howling wolf shirt on Wish i’ll go check with Asma if I’ve received it yet, laters Luce, wait. wolf? wolf…. wollllffff…. Oh well.
Walky looks stressed about this cartoon.
Anyone think he’s putting so much effort into this to avoid thinking about other stuff?
Like his dead roommate?
His increasing separation from another sister seemingly thanks to the actions of the same guy?
His failed romantic relationships and having no idea how to handle someone liking him when he doesn’t feel the same way?
The realization that he can’t cruise by in life anymore and that his parents aren’t necessarily a safe space for him after he’s seen some of their flaws?
His struggles to reconnect with his twin after years of separation (I feel like he’s still in try hard mode with that right now vs just being natural)?
And I’m rambling…
Maybe Walky will create a comic about a young man who reunites with his estranged twin sister, at the cost of his relationship with the non-blood sibling he’s known his whole life.
I get that lots of them are going to be pretty dumb and/or immature, but that doesn’t mean I have to like them 😛
Walky just comes off to me as particularly childish compared to the others. They’ve all got their vices, but Walky’s is particularly abrasive. I say with a Roz gravatar
I suspect part of it is that, Walky growing up as he did in an abusive household, he got very, very good at being a superficial goofball and burying his concerns. We’ve seen him say that being The Smart One (which he associates with EFFORTLESS smarts, as a former gifted kid) is necessary to his image because he’s deathly afraid of disappointing Linda. We know he hasn’t gotten support on campus for any of his issues – the campus therapists are terrible, he says, having ‘heard from a friend’, and while he wasn’t really trying in the tutoring sessions with Jason, the fact that Jason was insulting him for showing up definitely didn’t help. (Given he was earnestly trying with Dorothy and Amber, though, I’m not even sure trying with Jason would have worked.)
Don’t get me wrong, he is still INCREDIBLY immature and has yet to actually consider something worth actual effort. But he’s also got a lot of trauma and feelings of worthlessness he’s holding in under the goofball ‘pay no attention to me unless it’s positive’ facade, and hasn’t learned any good strategies to deal with it. I don’t blame him for not finding a better coping mechanism yet.
Not that any of this means people have to like watching his character, of course, just that I get why he can’t acknowledge his issues when he’s been given no space to get help for them.
He’s also show a remarkable ability to step up and be mature when needed. He just prefers to hide it under the goofball.
One of the things I really like about this comic is how many of the characters have a surface presentation that covers what’s really going on underneath. What’s frustrating is how often the commentariat ignores the depths for the surface. 🙂
I am curious what happened with Walky and math – he obviously passed since he’s in the next level class this semester.
I would add that Walky also clearly has undiagnosed ADHD and if you don’t have a specific interest in the topic and executive dysfunction has decided to kick in, he might have GENUINELY BEEN TRYING with Jason, but been COMPLETELY UNABLE to force his focus on it.
When I have been stuck in executive dysfunction before, responding to a writing post took three months. And that was something I wanted to do. And I was thinking about it CONSTANTLY in the back of my mind. So yeah, executive dysfunction probably makes it seem like he didn’t actually care or intend to try, but when your brain doesn’t engage the focus for the task you are trying to do, the mental block you are trying to push through to make even minimal progress is massive.
He was definitely trying with Dorothy and Amber; Jason’s tutoring looked like it was mutual insults and yelling at each other for much of the sessions so I don’t think Walky was putting the same effort in as he did with the others. Not that it would’ve mattered either way – as you say, he seems to have some serious executive dysfunction issues and that would kill even his best efforts, but also Jason, as we saw with Sal, is a HORRIBLE teacher. He only has one method to teach things and if you don’t get it, that’s a you problem. As evidenced by how much Sal improved with Danny’s help, since he could explain things in a way she actually got, he is wrong.
I’m not saying Walky doesn’t have depth, it’s just kind of frustrating watching him react the same way to every scenario, whether it’s his childhood friend abandoning him, his relationship with Dorothy falling apart, or getting kidnapped; he always acts like a wacky dipshit.
Clocking Asher in the face or giving absolutely no fucks in Ruth’s direction as she almost desperately tries to assure him and herself that she can be better are peak Walky to me.
Oh I definitely agree.
I won’t lie: almost half my liking for this version of Walky is nostalgia for the previous version of Walky.
I’m not so secretly hoping that he’ll eventually develop super powers and occasionally turn into an unthinking rage monster.
Or, you know, start studying mixed martial arts or something.
You know, the college newspaper doesn’t have any comics at all. I could understand if they can’t make the space for multiples but if they can, I bet Walky and Joyce will both have strips running
I want Joyce to win because you know all the characters are going to be her classmates and that seems way more fun down the line than dinosaur fart jokes
Joyce, I think that Daisy is just looking for something light-hearted and possibly topical to fill in bit of a page. The complex Jullia Grey visual novel series can wait until you can afford your own website.
Seriously, I’m still expecting Joyce to get a gig ad Walky’s scriptwriter.
No, Joyce is trying to create the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That’s the thing that makes me think Walky will probably get the job, no matter how terrible in comparison is his work.
… so. Walky’s got a bunch of dumb running gags with no plot, no setting, and no characters. (Names and identities, maybe, personalities, no.) Joyce has a bunch of plot and setting, but no characters and nothing to make people laugh or hook people in.
…. I think a teamup would require Lucy to make the characters.
Joyce has characters – You can see President Keenest and what I think is another pilot, possibly based on Walky, on post-its on the wall behind her in panel 4.
So, ‘Captain Julia Grey – Space Ace’ being essentially Joyce’s answer to ‘Dan Dare – Pilot of the Future’ but with a lesbian romance plot. FWIW, the last canon Dan Dare graphic novel had Dan very obviously in a ‘will they/won’t they’ with Prof. Joscelyn Peabody, who is now the Prime Minister of the British Interstellar Commonwealth, so Julia having a relationship with the President isn’t unprecedented in the genre.
A lot of classic multimedia characters started out as strip cartoons in papers and magazines (the Munsters, the Addams Family and Modesty Blaise being particular examples). Depending on how serious Joyce is about this, it could be her big break!
So Walky gets the job because Jennifer is in charge of the newspaper while Daisy is busy wooing Ruth and she thinks this will keep Walky off her. Get ready for Monkey Fart Comics.
And the best part of being a newspaper comic: We could get a cameo nod to Josh Fruhlinger (Joshreads, dissector of Mary Worth et al) after someone gets their comic published in the IDS.
I was on the fence before, but this strip places me squarely in the “Joyce-should-make-the-comic” camp. She’s doing actual worldbuilding. All Walky got is a dinosaur-riding monkey who farts every day. And that’s with Lucy’s help.
It’s still too soon to call it. Maybe they can both end up making that comic, or they can collaborate.
….Okay, so I voted for Walky in the poll, my reasoning being I think Walky could really benefit from something he has to focus on that he enjoys, like making a comic.
Please. Please don’t make me regret my vote, Walky.
Lucy. Please. Before he says even one more word, suck this man’s dick. Do it before he ruins the idea of sucking his dick forever. Do it for the Walky you fantasize about, the Walky he could be, the Walky who might learn again not to construct sentences involving a monkey farting his way across the lands.
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https://imgur.com/gallery/0ZnWnAS
I’m positive every single person here knew what that link was without clicking on it.
Im not even sure what that link was AFTER clicking on it!
Charlie stumbled onto a major company conspiracy
Yeah, that’s what I assumed that link was gonna be.
TIL who Pepe Silvia is.
All this time and effort trying to find out who Pepe Silvia is- and even, if he exists at all- and you come in, like some kind of Carol in HR, claiming you know who he is? But without any details? Oh, I know a snake-oil salesman when I see one!
..wait, unless YOU’RE Pepe Silvia..
Not only did I NOT know what it was before I clicked it, I’m not sure what it after having done so.
You are not alone – I still have absolutely no idea what the heck I just watched there. xD
I think that’s what most of us commenters look like reading between the lines and piecing DoA’s lore together.
Joyce is Mike in disguise.
Shhh!
TBH, I thought that was too obvious, and was expecting a rick roll.
Both of them have already worked way too hard on this!
I’m kind of rooting for walky, purely because joyce could make a joke about how this proves she was right that there isn’t a god
I mean, this is pretty much how the Walkyverse (and thus, eventually, DoA itself) got its start
It’s even sadder actually because apparently Willis was only paid 2 bucks a strip instead of 5.
Oh, wait for Daisy to decide to have both but at half-pay.
Both at two dollars a piece, and pocket the last dollar.
You gotta account for inflation, though.
Apparently $2 in 1997 had the same buying power as $3.26 does today. They’re going above and beyond, that’s a whole $1.74 extra!
Apparently $2 in 1997 had the same buying power as $3.26 does today. They’re going above and beyond, that’s a whole $1.74 extra!
/s
Smash cut to a month later, and Joyce won the contest. Her comic is going strong, and it’s popular around the college. It’s a slice-of-life comic about a couple of freshman college roommates at a big state university. She’s been having trouble making up large numbers of unique characters, so she bases them on her classmates instead — “write what you know” and all. She calls it: Roomies!
cue Inception theme
then 10ish years later she reboots the series and she writes about her characters Runner and Jayce making comics *cues Inception theme*
About 10 years later, she gets to the point in the comic where her characters, Runner and Jayce, start writing a comic strip for the college paper. *Cue inception theme playing within the Inception theme*
Oh my fucking God y’all I was right. (See next comic.)
I feel like panels 2 and 4 both represent Willis, and he oscillates between them.
Fractured psyche of the author.
Not counting parents, I think almost everyone in their work is, to some extent, a representation of some part of Willis.
I mean, isn’t any character in some sense reflective of some part of their author?
Except Rassilon went universal with their theory, thus implying I am a figment and a fractured element of Willis’ psyche, as are we all. This neither astounds or offends, as it will have as much impact on my existence (if even real) as the publishers clearinghouse sweepstakes has. (cue flashing banner: You may already be a winner)
oooh i failed to grasp the radicality of Rassilon’s theory how very Danny of me
I want Walky to end up being the one who draws the comkc, but at the same time I wonder if he’ll have the drive to keep doing it.
I’d say the poll shows who is going to win but then I remember the buffer.
My gut feeling is that since Joyce is the more explicitly autobiographical of the two, it’s probably going to be her.
I’m still rooting for a team-up.
(Or I guess Sydney Yus could do it, but then how can Willis make jokes about the comic writing process, that just won’t do.)
By having Yus POV. Like… that’s a pretty simple solution if you want both Yus writing the comics and jokes about the process. …if.
Now I want Sydney to do it. Either that, or show up just a moment too late to have their comic considered and therefore swear melodramatic vengeance upon the paper
Joyce and Walky’s strengths complement on this though. They obviously need to work together.
If only there were a sensible third person to suggest it.
I mean, competition seems to be bringing out the very best in them at this point?
Plot twist: Becky wins by
doing absolutely nothingdrawing Amazi-Girl femslash.stick figure with chest window
On the buffer point – it kinda depends on how long Willis intends to draw this out. Considering that a day in comic can last for months, there is every possibility that Willis has not yet drawn the conclusion to this contest.
There’s a poll?! I wanna vote but there’s no write in option so I can vote for them “Screw this underpaid scam work.” and then both go into business for themselves.
hm yes, the previous poll (“Robin DeSanto: ☐ Great teacher? / ☐ Greatest teacher?”) definitely didn’t run into this issue of lacking a third option.
I refused to vote in that poll, as I actually think Robin’s a pretty awful teacher. 😛
egads no
Why? I feel like Joyce would do a much better job.
I genuinely don’t understand how Walky is beating Joyce in the poll. She’s far more passionate, interested, and (admittedly based on only small amounts of evidence) talented than he is. Walky would hardly put any effort in at all, and the only reason he’s putting any in now is because Joyce might get the position instead.
(I’ll admit that I may be a bit biased, though, because I already don’t really like Dumbiverse Walky. He’s obnoxious, seemingly incapable of being mature, and actively refuses to grow up or better himself.)
Biased Walky fan about to comment, so take this with a grain of salt:
While I do agree that Walky is not mature, it is clear that he is attempting to better himself.
The obvious example is his relationship with Sal, not only in trying to connect with her, but also in standing up for her (punching Asher, breaking up with Amber, and speaking up to their parents).
He’s also handling Booster’s pronouns (identity?) better than Billie assumed he would and probably better than some of us would as well. And he apologized relatively quickly and easily to Booster when he was acting stupid about the game console.
Even in this strip, he doesn’t seem to have an issue with Dorothy anymore, which he did for a little while (though I think that was mostly due to getting involved with Amber pre time skip).
Walky is growing, is trying to be a better person, and while it does seem slow, don’t forget that while it’s years for us who have been here for awhile (and days/months for binge readers), it’s only been three months for him.
That he, and the rest of these 18-20+ year olds, are even trying to better themselves so quickly is impressive to me (I say like they’re real people). Some people (including myself) take years before we even recognize our faults, let alone try to change them.
I appreciate the reality check here. It’s easy to see/read what I want to see/read.
I think a big part of it is also that people like rooting for the underdog.
Monkey…on T-rex…farting… What could be better???
Two monkeys!
And a pack of Secret Service Raptors.
I’m curious how Dorothy is going to react to a fictionalized version of herself who advocates extrajudicial killing…
…I think you got the wrong link there?
Crap. Here’s the correct one. I hope.
With Becky as her PR manager and Joyce as her secret enforcer, Dotty will be the most powerful US President in history
Her name is Dorothy, irrespective of what Rebecca calls her.
Becky for Press Secretary.
Dorothy Keener and Doris Kenner have nothing in common, what are you talking about
The president of the USAA head of state getting people secretely bumped off is actually a more realistic depiction of the job than Dorothy probably realizes…I don’t know HOW a president would secrete bumps off of people, and every time I ask that question the brainstorming part of my brain requires brainbleach.
i believe the highly classified process known as presidential hanky-panky may occasionally secrete a bump. its protocol is shrouded in mystery, however. tantalizingly sexy mystery.
Most people don’t find the general conceptnor results of generalized secretions sexy. While there are some implicitly sexy secretions, even only one of them is typically portrayed both as sexy and as a secretion, as the other is typically buffered and then delivered en-masse in a short series of progressively smaller amounts until the buffer is again empty. And most people don’t want to face that.
Other secretions are very much not sexy except to a few folks, fetishes are funny like that. For examples of some types of generally non-sexy secretions just google the keyword for youtube vid’s, or search for Dr. Sandra Lee.
Just steal his idea, Joyce
She hasn’t stopped having morals.
Honestly, it’s anyone’s game at this point.
I think I might have made up my mind on that recent poll.
The poll is deeply flawed. No option for team ups or third parties.
Shun the nonbeliever SHUNNNN-ah
Third party choices won’t be viable until the poll works under ranked-choice. Otherwise they just siphon votes away from whichever of the big two they agree with more.
I approve of this comment and the Instant Runoff system in general.
On paper, Joyce has this locked down. My bet, though, is that it ends up a team effort credited to, or even called, “Joyce & Walky.”
….. oh my god.
I can’t even describe how badly I want this to happen
Does Walky consider allowing the comic to credit him as “David” in order to beat Joyce in alphabetical order?
Have you seen this new Brown and David comic?
Yeah, I wonder if this is a set-up for Dorothy to play mediator and get them working together.
Then they rebuild Amber’s privacy chair fort so nobody steals their ideas.
In which Joyce becomes Willis on an entirely new level.
Stubble and everything.
Just looking at Joyce’s face …. was her nose always this pointy? Or are her new glasses magnifying/exaggerating the look?
She’s turning into Pinocchio
Her nose currently lines up with her under-eye waterline in a way that magnifies the amount of pointy
I think Willis has just been drawing noses pointier over time— it’s especially noticeable on Ruth.
Joyce does kinda have a head start here
Oh god, Walky’s going to get it, isn’t he.
I’m mostly rooting for Joyce, personally, but it’d be fun to see Dina criticize him over getting dinosaur-related things wrong.
Didn’t we see small bit of this confrontation before?
Remember there being a strip where Dina, trying to convince Joyce of facts, attempts to rely on Walky who states his dinosaurs beliefs fit whichever makes them cool fighting machines
Nah, the gig’s gonna go to some yet unseen background character.
I hope Walky does. He needs something to do.
The two approaches to writing.
I’m Walky.
You go for it, Joyce!
Religious people are big on worldbuilding!
Ceiling Dorothy is watching you worldbuild.
*plays Dr. John’s “Diggin’ On Comix” on the hacked Muzak*
I like Dumbing of Age, I do. And I liked Shortpacked. But…
Does anyone else wish that instead Willis, after It’s Walky, just kept LAWsome going perpetually?
We only got 5 comics, and it was the only thing that ever compared to IW in terms of quality.
IDK I kind of enjoyed the Joyce & Walky antics.
I appreciate the shitpost energy that Joyce and Walky! seems to have a lot of. I’m kinda loving following the reruns of that at the same time as this just for the sheer ridiculousness of the contrast between the two.
Ironically, just as this strip cuts to Joyce and Walky interacting, that strip has suddenly cut away from its title characters to a story about… Jason and Marcie. Which is the most bizarre pairing ever to me. (Reading it for the first time so I’d appreciate no spoilers.)
I’ve been enjoy reading the Joyce and Walky reruns too. Interesting to see how different some of the characters are between that comic and this one. Also I finally get to read some story arcs that I never got to see before now since I think they were originally paid only. Oh, and I’m not sure why but for some reason today my comment on that comic today is stuck in moderation.
It’s like Walky is trying to think up the cartoon “My gym partners a monkey” while Joyce is being inspired to create “Avatar the last Airbender.”
Or better yet it’s like you have two cubicles and in one you have Butch Hartman trying to create Fairly Odd Parents and in the other you have Genndy Tartakovsky working on Samurai Jack.
Then I lean towards the Joyce style of cartooning.
Joycing?
The Brown Method?
The Brown method
Joycean cartooning would be interesting.
I’m both of them, oh god help me.
Okay, grav roulette, let’s do this.
Love Jennifer, fine with this.
two cubby chairs, both alike in dignity (questionable), in fair [indiana university], where we lay our scene.
From ancient grudge break to new cartoon strip,
Where comic prep makes comic hands unclean.
In fair Bloomington, where we lay our scene, from recent grudge to break new mutiny, where pencil dust makes civil hands unclean
Life is but a poor monkey who farts his way across the panels and then is heard no more.
It is a tale drawn by an idiot, full of snark and nuggets, signifying a short attention span.
Mashup idea: Romeo and Juliet, only everyone is a flatulent monkey.
JULIPET: Rumpeo, O Rumpeo, wherefore fart thou Rumpeo?
What wind through yonder window breaks?
Ooooh, I know how that ends, Joyce. You end up creating a beautiful and intricate world with all kinds of neat little mysteries, legends, and lore, and end up completely forgetting to put an actual story in there.
And when you eventually do decide to actually do anything with it, you find yourself thinking “But wait, that won’t work because it conflicts with this little piece. But if I do this…”, and end up down a rabbit hole that leaves you going months without actual progress, until you decide to start a new world instead. And so the cycle begins again, ever unbroken.
…Still better than Walky’s idea, though.
The two genders
Two of the genders.
Our chief gender is surprise. Surprise and fear, fear and surprise. Our two genders are fear and surprise and ruthless efficiency. Our *three* genders are fear and surprise and ruthless efficiency, and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope.
I should probably be more ashamed of this comment than I am but welp post comment!
I actually didn’t expect the Spanish Inquisition!
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!
Good thing, because the Spanish Inquisition still is stuck in the London bus system.
How did they even get in with the Comfy Chair?
public transportation isn’t supposed to have comfortable seating!
And don’t get me started on the fluffy pillow.
That was unexpected.
Please accept this complimentary internet.
Not sure the two approaches have much to do with gender.
I might be projecting my own experiences onto the OP, but there’s a running joke in some online trans spaces where a false dichotomy having very little to do with gender is presented (in this case, low effort potty humor vs incredibly detailed worldbuilding), and we respond “Ah yes, the two genders.” It’s a bit of a mockery of society’s tendency to assign behavioural dichotomies to gender, us knowing from personal experience just how silly that tendency is.
I thought it came from branding/gender reveal cakes, so “pink and blue” > “bunnies and trucks” > any two other random things being presented as a dichotomous choice?
Can confirm this was the intended joke, but in hindsight I can see why people who aren’t on twitter probably wouldn’t get it.
I see it plenty of places that aren’t Twitter, too, but I guess it makes sense with the circles I run in.
I love Dorothy just wandering between whatever madness is unfolding at the moment, offering soft support.
I also love the fact that Joyce and Walky+Lucy sat up shop just next to each other because of course they did
Reconnaissance is an essential component of winning a war
Regardless of how much recon you do and intel you gather, no battle plan has ever survived first contact with an enemy.
Have you studied the abject surrender plan?
Works every time.
Sometimes the aftermath is a bit dicey though.
Because they’re both way more similar than either would ever admit, ever.
Oh, man. I kind of want one of those chairs in my home.
Instead of a chair-and-a-half, they’re like a chair-and-two-thirds.
I dig it.
Yes, please.
Ah, finally the information I need in order to choose my poll answer
I’m sure the 5,814th vote is going to be very important
Every vote matters! 😀
I don’t know how it will sync up, but I’m pretty sure it’s not a coincidence that Ruth is being set up with Daisy the girl in charge of judging the submissions for the comic competition. I mean it’s probably a coincidence in their lives but not a literary one. So how do these two storylines converge?
Walky will show up when Ruth is meeting Daisy for the first time (or second time after a surprisingly decent first date), blurt out that Ruth used to be with Jennifer, sparking Daisy to suspect there was no real attraction between them and becoming hurt, thus ending what Ruth was surprised to find out was an enjoyable experience.
Or the exact same thing, but Daisy being so horny and/or liking Ruth that she doesn’t care, but Ruth ends it because she doesn’t feel right dating her for the wrong reasons.
Daisy says she’ll accept the strip, on the condition that Julia Gray and President Kenner hook up. Joyce, flabbergasted, asks why. Daisy responds dude, c’mon, it’s pretty friggin’ obvious. Joyce, still not ready to accept this part of herself, storms out.
…I’ve just realized Ruth doesn’t play into my theory at all, and thus I haven’t actually answered the question.
…oh well.
Ruth would at least have some fantastic comments on the situation, but who knows; maybe that would all lead into a storyline where Ruth helps Joyce come to terms with the possibility she’s bi (or trying to get someone else to do it).
That would be good. As much as Ruth hates the R.A. job, she has actually been trying to do it well since the Clint incident, and it’d be nice to see the more supportive side of her that she buries deep down. Ruth can probably tell that Jennifer, who is currently in “I am totally and completely straight” mode, is not as healthy as she claims to be, which might be a good example for her to bring up of how repression is just going to hurt Joyce in the long run.
Maybe Ruth will ask Joyce who the most supportive person she knows is, Joyce will remember Jocelyne congratulating Becky on coming out at the restaurant, and we’ll get another heart-to-heart between the Brown sisters. I can only hope.
Now, this would be interesting!
Date goes smashingly, Daisy bangs from dusk till dawn the night before the strip is due, she is entirely incapable of making tough calls and exercising judgment due to afterglow and sleep-deprivation, so she just cheerfully hires both teams without so much as a glance at their art. She also accidentally signs Mary on. Damn You Willises ensue.
Yep.
They’re gonna collab.
I suspect that, despite their very different approaches, what they actually manage to produce and turn in will be of similar *cough* “quality”.
Not that Daisy actually cares, about that or anything besides how desperately thirsty she is.
Joyce gets the job because her comic stars a woman, and that’s all Daisy needs to hear. She completely tunes out of Walky’s presentation, lost in thought as the army of tiny brain!Daisy-s in her head start mass-producing Julia Gray fanfiction.
(Unless the date with Ruth grants her a short window of clarity, then it’s anyone’s game.)
“Window”
hur hur hur
I’m just realizing that the IASIP scene being referenced is how our D&D group looked while building our campaign world. Like, three Charlies and one Sweet Dee during the crack addiction episode, performing that scene.
And we regretted nothing.
Inside us all there are two wolves, one is frivolity and the other over-thinking…
you feed one of your wolves, next thing you know you have a poodle. So… i don’t know
https://eu-browse.startpage.com/av/anon-image?piurl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2F48%2Fed%2Fc3%2F48edc333562826b658160b17c2964c51.jpg&sp=1615427209T8be122919cd285edce8287c1fc411fd9fec05cb6458be20a6310cf357cd86bfa
Inside you there are two wolves. You should probably see a doctor, the recommended amount of wolves inside you is zero.
Inside you there are two wolves. One of them is a monkey sitting on a T-Rex whose eyes shoot lasers when it farts and is someone eating McAwesome nuggets in here?! i’m so hungry. o hai Lucy didn’t see you before what do you mean you’ve been here the whole heyy!!! i just rememberd i ordered this ironic howling wolf shirt on Wish i’ll go check with Asma if I’ve received it yet, laters Luce, wait. wolf? wolf…. wollllffff…. Oh well.
Walky looks stressed about this cartoon.
Anyone think he’s putting so much effort into this to avoid thinking about other stuff?
Like his dead roommate?
His increasing separation from another sister seemingly thanks to the actions of the same guy?
His failed romantic relationships and having no idea how to handle someone liking him when he doesn’t feel the same way?
The realization that he can’t cruise by in life anymore and that his parents aren’t necessarily a safe space for him after he’s seen some of their flaws?
His struggles to reconnect with his twin after years of separation (I feel like he’s still in try hard mode with that right now vs just being natural)?
And I’m rambling…
It’s insightful rambling, though!
🙂
Maybe Walky will create a comic about a young man who reunites with his estranged twin sister, at the cost of his relationship with the non-blood sibling he’s known his whole life.
And maybe they’ll all fight aliens or somethingAll that would make me feel sympathetic to him of he would just admit all of that and make efforts to address his problems and be more mature.
JFC why can’t you be more mature??!! …they shouted at a comic about teenagers called Dumbing of Age. =P
I get that lots of them are going to be pretty dumb and/or immature, but that doesn’t mean I have to like them 😛
Walky just comes off to me as particularly childish compared to the others. They’ve all got their vices, but Walky’s is particularly abrasive.
I say with a Roz gravatarBut to complain about it lends the appearance of someone standing in a waterpark complaining of getting wet.
But someone should have warned me that they use real water.
I suspect part of it is that, Walky growing up as he did in an abusive household, he got very, very good at being a superficial goofball and burying his concerns. We’ve seen him say that being The Smart One (which he associates with EFFORTLESS smarts, as a former gifted kid) is necessary to his image because he’s deathly afraid of disappointing Linda. We know he hasn’t gotten support on campus for any of his issues – the campus therapists are terrible, he says, having ‘heard from a friend’, and while he wasn’t really trying in the tutoring sessions with Jason, the fact that Jason was insulting him for showing up definitely didn’t help. (Given he was earnestly trying with Dorothy and Amber, though, I’m not even sure trying with Jason would have worked.)
Don’t get me wrong, he is still INCREDIBLY immature and has yet to actually consider something worth actual effort. But he’s also got a lot of trauma and feelings of worthlessness he’s holding in under the goofball ‘pay no attention to me unless it’s positive’ facade, and hasn’t learned any good strategies to deal with it. I don’t blame him for not finding a better coping mechanism yet.
Not that any of this means people have to like watching his character, of course, just that I get why he can’t acknowledge his issues when he’s been given no space to get help for them.
He’s also show a remarkable ability to step up and be mature when needed. He just prefers to hide it under the goofball.
One of the things I really like about this comic is how many of the characters have a surface presentation that covers what’s really going on underneath. What’s frustrating is how often the commentariat ignores the depths for the surface. 🙂
I am curious what happened with Walky and math – he obviously passed since he’s in the next level class this semester.
Agreed. He’s got areas that need work, but he’s also made huge strides forward since the comic started.
Yeah, I have some questions with Walky and math.
Good point.
I’m also curious on whether he ever found out/realized Amber changed his grades and if that further contributed to them falling apart.
I would add that Walky also clearly has undiagnosed ADHD and if you don’t have a specific interest in the topic and executive dysfunction has decided to kick in, he might have GENUINELY BEEN TRYING with Jason, but been COMPLETELY UNABLE to force his focus on it.
When I have been stuck in executive dysfunction before, responding to a writing post took three months. And that was something I wanted to do. And I was thinking about it CONSTANTLY in the back of my mind. So yeah, executive dysfunction probably makes it seem like he didn’t actually care or intend to try, but when your brain doesn’t engage the focus for the task you are trying to do, the mental block you are trying to push through to make even minimal progress is massive.
He was definitely trying with Dorothy and Amber; Jason’s tutoring looked like it was mutual insults and yelling at each other for much of the sessions so I don’t think Walky was putting the same effort in as he did with the others. Not that it would’ve mattered either way – as you say, he seems to have some serious executive dysfunction issues and that would kill even his best efforts, but also Jason, as we saw with Sal, is a HORRIBLE teacher. He only has one method to teach things and if you don’t get it, that’s a you problem. As evidenced by how much Sal improved with Danny’s help, since he could explain things in a way she actually got, he is wrong.
I’m not saying Walky doesn’t have depth, it’s just kind of frustrating watching him react the same way to every scenario, whether it’s his childhood friend abandoning him, his relationship with Dorothy falling apart, or getting kidnapped; he always acts like a wacky dipshit.
Clocking Asher in the face or giving absolutely no fucks in Ruth’s direction as she almost desperately tries to assure him and herself that she can be better are peak Walky to me.
Oh I definitely agree.
I won’t lie: almost half my liking for this version of Walky is nostalgia for the previous version of Walky.
I’m not so secretly hoping that he’ll eventually develop super powers and occasionally turn into an unthinking rage monster.
Or, you know, start studying mixed martial arts or something.
And today i learned Joyce is just Willis.
We’ve known for a while that she’s his SI in terms of life-story.
Would you please expand SI? I am failing to parse it.
Self-insert
Walky can do a strip where the monkey farts while riding on a T-Rex. And then he gets eaten out of annoyance.
Boom, one strip to save for his impending buffer.
the next day, the T-Rex farts. No one eats them. They.. cackle?
“Moon Boy tasted bad and gave me some considerable rectal distress.” Devil Dinosaur in ‘Nextwave : Agents of H.A.T.E.’
You know, the college newspaper doesn’t have any comics at all. I could understand if they can’t make the space for multiples but if they can, I bet Walky and Joyce will both have strips running
*looks at hover text* So, is there going to be a Pepe Silvia in Joyce’s strip?
I want Joyce to win because you know all the characters are going to be her classmates and that seems way more fun down the line than dinosaur fart jokes
hmm, you make a good case. I shall vote for Joyce today.
Joyce, I think that Daisy is just looking for something light-hearted and possibly topical to fill in bit of a page. The complex Jullia Grey visual novel series can wait until you can afford your own website.
Seriously, I’m still expecting Joyce to get a gig ad Walky’s scriptwriter.
I love everything about this strip. Especially Dorothy in panel 4.
So I’m not the only one that does that?
ikr? it was such a relief when i learned that other people fart too
+1
It’s a class act only if a T. Rex is involved.
So basically Walky is trying to create Teen Titans Go, while Joyce is trying to create Teen Titans.
No, Joyce is trying to create the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That’s the thing that makes me think Walky will probably get the job, no matter how terrible in comparison is his work.
Now, guess which will actually get a pitch together.
Inside Davis Willis, there are two
wolvesdorks…More than two. And they can all transform into Batman.
Who can breathe in space.
Also, is it just me, or have Joyce’s hair become poofier than before?
It’s being filled with energy from her creative process.
Also, I don’t know how seriously I meant that.
The privacy chairs get surprisingly static-y. (And it doesn’t look like she had it cut over the break.)
… so. Walky’s got a bunch of dumb running gags with no plot, no setting, and no characters. (Names and identities, maybe, personalities, no.) Joyce has a bunch of plot and setting, but no characters and nothing to make people laugh or hook people in.
…. I think a teamup would require Lucy to make the characters.
Joyce has characters – You can see President Keenest and what I think is another pilot, possibly based on Walky, on post-its on the wall behind her in panel 4.
Is president Keenest rule 63 Dorothy?
Or rule 34 Doris Keener?
Is Rule 63 the genderflip one? If so, I think President Keenest is very much not that version of Dorothy.
It is, so I take it I remember/know even less about Joyce’s fanfic(?) than I thought.
This is not a handicap.
I want Joyce to be a DM
So, ‘Captain Julia Grey – Space Ace’ being essentially Joyce’s answer to ‘Dan Dare – Pilot of the Future’ but with a lesbian romance plot. FWIW, the last canon Dan Dare graphic novel had Dan very obviously in a ‘will they/won’t they’ with Prof. Joscelyn Peabody, who is now the Prime Minister of the British Interstellar Commonwealth, so Julia having a relationship with the President isn’t unprecedented in the genre.
A lot of classic multimedia characters started out as strip cartoons in papers and magazines (the Munsters, the Addams Family and Modesty Blaise being particular examples). Depending on how serious Joyce is about this, it could be her big break!
Bah! Pay the writer!
So Walky gets the job because Jennifer is in charge of the newspaper while Daisy is busy wooing Ruth and she thinks this will keep Walky off her. Get ready for Monkey Fart Comics.
A monkey who farts and rides a T-Rex? That’s at least two things, maybe three even.
Walky should just go and read Dr. McNinja for inspiration.
Or the T. Rex farts monkeys?
I’m sure the faculty will be overjoyed about the pinholes in their seats
how are these seats not covered in graffiti already tho??
Napped cloth upholstery.
Joyce is us trying to keep up with accurately documenting the Dumbiverse.
This is a NEWSPAPER COMIC. Walky gts the job, and he’s alreayd putting waaaaaaay too much thought into it.
And the best part of being a newspaper comic: We could get a cameo nod to Josh Fruhlinger (Joshreads, dissector of Mary Worth et al) after someone gets their comic published in the IDS.
Sorry Walky and Lucky, but I’m rooting for Joyce here. She looks more qualified and that’s could be the turning point of her life.
This is what 3/4ths of you voted for.
A farting monkey on a T. Rex.
The T. Rex should wear a HAM helmet, or no sale.
i am so proud of us
Well, duh!
Is it me or does Joyce look extra-plausible as ‘the author’ wearing glasses for some reason?
I was on the fence before, but this strip places me squarely in the “Joyce-should-make-the-comic” camp. She’s doing actual worldbuilding. All Walky got is a dinosaur-riding monkey who farts every day. And that’s with Lucy’s help.
It’s still too soon to call it. Maybe they can both end up making that comic, or they can collaborate.
Also I kinda like Joyce’s glasses now.
Maybe, but tons of worldbuilding for your first college newspaper strip isn’t necessarily a good thing. Start small and build up to the complex arcs.
yes, but, glasses
….Okay, so I voted for Walky in the poll, my reasoning being I think Walky could really benefit from something he has to focus on that he enjoys, like making a comic.
Please. Please don’t make me regret my vote, Walky.
If he doesn’t learn to tie his shoes, he’ll be “Trippy”
chuckle!
Quick, get Joyce a DM Guide and the Player’s Handbook!
Joyce at this stage would likely be an awful GM. Of the “reading the players her fiction” kind.
I voted Walkerton too.
Walky needs more plotlines and Joyce is already too overloaded. Almost like she’s an avatar of a real person.
Lucy. Please. Before he says even one more word, suck this man’s dick. Do it before he ruins the idea of sucking his dick forever. Do it for the Walky you fantasize about, the Walky he could be, the Walky who might learn again not to construct sentences involving a monkey farting his way across the lands.
Get you a friend who looks at you the way Dorothy looks at Joyce.
I’m not 100% sure how she is looking at her frankly?
(also hey Arianod! what a pleasant unsurprise to be finding you here =)
I’m betting that Willis pulls the rug out from everyone at the end and some as yet unmentioned person gets the job.
Gonna be Malaya getting extra credit and she’s gonna give no shits about it at all
I now want this more than anything else I’ve ever wanted in this comic.
maybe she’ll still get to be a pilot
(I wonder whose 3rd team will end up winning instead of these 2 :D)
Hoping for a Joyce and Walky comic collaboration to get the best of both worlds!
Twist: *Neither* of them gets the job.
8*o
that’s my shocked bjcat face
it’s the new shocked pikachu
Mary gets it. It’s the story of a righteous warrior with a chest window in a den of iniquity.
Yep, Walky’s boned.
Curious to see if Walky goes the spiraling into depression route or the jealous revenge route when he loses the pitch for the comic strip.