The Dumbing of Age Book 10 Kickstarter is pluggin’ along! As of this writing, we’re $178 from reaching $45K, when the next magnet tier is unlocked! That’d be CLOSEST COSPLAY AMAZI-GIRL (after some reader input), and hopefully when I wake up in the morning tomorrow I can add that new tier. Yeah, yeah, Kickstarter weekends are slow.
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is it Walky’s funk
Eau de Mcnuggets de poulet.
Eh, it’s a college dorm full of freshmen. He doesn’t smell all that unusual.
So either his strip got picked and has somehow already been published, or the entire campus knows him as “the guy whose roommate died.”
The real tragedy is that Mike didn’t live to see the comic.
This is why this website needs an upvote system.
Plot twist: Mike would’ve been its biggest fan.
I understand why a student death would be news but did Mike really have enough presence on campus for most people to know he is and who his roommate was? Did Daisy run an article on that shit or something? And assuming Walky is the subject of these stares why would random people even recognize him or care?
At a school that big?
Not a chance. I mean, it would have been in the school paper, like the guy who died after drinking an entire bottle of Jack my freshman semester. I didn’t know him, I never met him, and decades later I don’t remember his name.
Now the bUTt chugging guy? He didn’t even die. But if you google “butt chugging” today you’ll see his picture. That made the national news.
And now my alma mater will always be known for something.
Did he mark those activities down on his calendar? That might be important in a decade or two, and you can’t rely on PJ and Squee to remember.
I want to know but I don’t want to Google that…
About the act in general, or that particular instance? Look up “alcohol enema” on Wikipedia for the former.
Well Mike’s a bit more then the guy who died doing something stupid.
He’s the guy who died fighting two gunman who kidnapped a bunch of students
Mike’s been dead for two months. If anyone was staring at Walky back in October, they’re over it now.
I mean, his res hall would probably know.
My money’s on “Booster did something”
Walky is the photo-manipped hero of Booster’s NightGuy comic.
No, Walky – it’s BEACUSE you’re wearing pants.
THAT’S out of the ordinary.
Is that that one douchebag that was super skeptical of those Ryan rape allegations when that started floating around campus in the foreground of panel 2? If it is then fuck that guy.
Oooh, what’s happening?
… Maybe it’s just ‘cuz his hair’s a little messier, I think?
…
I have no idea.
Random Guesses:
1) Lucy spent the night in his room (platonically helping with the comic) and everyone now thinks they slept together.
2) Joe made a new list as a self-parody, this one ranking male hotness, and he put Walky at the top.
3) Walky is having a psychotic break and actually isn’t wearing pants.
4) Lucy published one of Walky’s comics on the internet and everyone has read it.
5) Joyce recently published a new fanfic which involves a romance with a dashing man with messy hair (based on Joe), and everyone thinks the character is based on Walky.
6) Walky is trapped in a false reality, the whole comic has been a amazingly slow cold open, and now everyone is going to turn to Walky at once and reveal the twist that they’re all AIs.
7) Entirely coincidentally, the smiling individuals had sex with one another the previous evening and are actually flirting with one another – Walky is just walking through the middle and misinterpreting.
8) Before his death, Mike paid all of the staring individuals to wait until a precise moment several months later to all stare at Walky. His original plan would have continued as follows: Mike would have run up and kicked Walky in the nuts. All of the staring people would have then pointed and laughed at Walky. In this moment, they are all waiting for a Mike that shall never appear. Like Godot.
9) … I’m not topping the one above. Goodnight everybody!
Any of these would be amazing to see, honestly.
Jolly good job!
1 wouldn’t get all that many looks in college. Certainly not everyone, and *especially* not complete strangers.
2 or 3 seem the most likely to me, though I don’t see Joe as being that self-aware, and I’d have to wonder what would have made Walky snap now, of all times.
4. Possible, but I feel Lucy would have asked Walky before doing so, and if so, he’d think of that in this strip.
5. Possible, but I think she’s too engaged in her worldbuilding to work on this side story.
6. They’d be Soggies, not AIs.
7. That’s something I’d totally think in real life if everyone were staring at me, but I don’t see that happening so much in fiction.
8. That seems like something Mike would do in the Walkyverse more than here, unless I’m badly misreading him.
Honestly, I think it’s more likely either he’s known as the guy who lost his roommate, or he’s not so good at hiding his Superhero identity.
8A) The same as 8 except this is how Mike reveals that he isn’t dead. The entire comic after that is Mike saying “bongo, I lived.” and then an Achewood style silent expression exchange.
Walky forgot to wear a bra.
He has a “kick me” sign taped to his back.
How come Asma has been working here for so long and hasn’t gotten a single promotion?
Management insists that she’s only been there for a few months.
You mean for two semesters?
I worked at the front desk of my dorm the whole time I was at college.
Never got a promotion, but damned if that wasn’t the easiest job ever. Paid to do my homework, basically.
I worked as computer lab monitor in the Pentium lab that no one used except EE and CS majors. I basically got paid to play Doom. (I may be dating myself a little here.)
I played Sam & Max Hit the Road!
I played that but not at uni… Quite a while before I went to uni 😂
I never played a Sam and Max game. I feel I missed out on a cultural phenomenon.
I played Zork.
Maybe she’s like me at my job … perfectly satisfied (well, reasonably satisfied) with the duties I am expected to perform and level of responsibility/culpability that I have — and not seeking anything more, thank you very much.
It’s a student job not a career. You can shelve books at the library but you shouldn’t expect that to magically give you a degree in information science.
Working in the stacks gave you a better reading opportunity.
The joke was that she’s been there 10 years but I probably should have workshopped it a bit more.
It’s okay, I got it.
Work study jobs don’t have “promotions”.
Did Walky pull a Joe and secretly make a black list of all the girls on campus?
Doubtful. Two of the three ladies looking at him look bemused, not irate.
*plays The Pretenders’ “Talk Of The Town” on the hacked Muzak*
Oh boy, can’t wait to find out why everyone is staring at Walky.
I’m putting my money on it being related to his break up with Amber. Anyone want in on this action?
It’s a stretch but, maybe he got outed as Night Guy. Lucy figured it out almost immediately.
It is most assuredly Night Guy.
But didn’t he breakup happen on Halloween, which would be several months ago in strip time?
I’m wondering if maybe it has something to do with his comic strip, or maybe from him hanging out with Lucy?
Well, you should tie your shoelaces, but that doesn’t explain it
I’m amazed he hasn’t tripped on his shoelaces yet, I would have tripped after the first day.
I do think this is why everyone is starring. They are waiting for the fall and don’t want to miss it. It’s always funny when it happens to someone else.
I was going to ask about him going out without pants, but then remembered that, oh yeah, he’s done that at least once, like going all the way to Ruth’s room in his boxers.
On Freshmen Family Weekend he accidentally walked around the dorm with his dick hanging out and got a lot of sneers for it. Then he was ambushed with a hug from Mrs Warner before he could fix it.
Big headline in the college newspaper, with a big blown-up photo:
WHO IS NIGHTGUY?
(My predictions almost never pan out, so.)
WHO is NightGirl?
Everybody knows that Mike was his roommate and that he got murdered. We had a kid die at our school and trust me, that news travels VERY quickly, even at a large school like Indiana University.
Yeah, but Mike already died. People would have time to hear about this before today, so the staring probably would have happened already.
Then again, it was never stated WHEN Mike died. We assumed soon after the timeskip for that ‘everyone gets time to grieve’ aspect, but it is possible I suppose that he died during finals or over the break and we’re only hitting critical mass of knowledge now.
I mean…
It doesn’t look like people are angry.
So 50/50 on this being horrifying.
Hey it’s Asma!
Haven’t seen her in a while. Hope she gets her own spin-off comic about the mairoom soon.
Now picturing this as a late 20th century sitcom.
Or at least a Patreon strip sometime.
Make it so, Willis.
I thought she was in at least one. Another would be nice, though.
Walky did an “End of the Line” Slipshine with Amber, but it turned out a lot better for him than it did for Danny, except someone filmed it and now he’s Sex Tape Boy.
Sex Tape Boy and his trusty sidekick,
RozAdult Film Girl!“again”?
A reference to this?
I’m reminded of the “same shirt, second day” post in Leslie’s class also.
A mix of smiles and neutral faces lends me to think it’s something at worst kind of embarrassing than horrifying (could even be positive but that’s less likely and I don’t see people making this expression just on him winning the comic contest).
Oh cool Asma’s back.
I see what you did there.
Always freaky when DOA and It’s Walky juxtapose.
They all just realized how sexy Walky is
I’m betting they ran Walky’s strip and an author photo,
I’m betting Lucy rewrote the strip too.
I don’t always tie my shoes, but I at least make sure they are tied. Come on, man.
“That’s it, I’m tying your shoes”
“NEVER”
Swerve!!!
Walky’s dreaming and his nightmare is to not know why they would react like that.
Oh jeez, does he have a toilet paper tail behind him?
Clips from that silly TV show he was in as a kid somehow went viral, and everyone recognizes him from it?
That or the comic Joyce was working on got published and it includes him.
that didnt even cross my mind, that sounds amazing/horrifying (depending on which side of it you are)
I thought that it was a commercial
It was a kids’ bible TV show, and also one of the earliest instances of Linda’s favoritism that Walky can remember.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/02-i-was-a-teenage-churchmouse/freezeframe/
(And the next one)
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/02-i-was-a-teenage-churchmouse/professional/
At the time, she wanted her daughter to be part of it but was told ‘no’.
She was told the audition was for a single line so the role couldn’t be split between the twins.
It is STRONGLY implied only Walky got to audition after she learned that.
Also, look at her dialogue. The twins are doing the same thing, but Sal’s the one who gets the bold yelling.
But don’t worry, she’s positive that she’s not racist.
Huh, now it’s working? I couldn’t post since yesterday, what changed now?
Could’ve been a glitch?
Misspelled email while playing grav roulette?
His shoes are untied and they are hoping that he falls on his face. Why? I have no idea.
Aren’t his shoes always untied? That’s not “look at that guy!” material.
Quickly skimming, his clothing all appears to be on right-side out and not backwards.
A situation like that would scare and make me crazy. WHAT IS HAPPENING?????????????
Lucy rewrote the comic, submitted it and gave him credit. He’ll have to work with her (closely) to continue the strip. Nice work Lucy.
“Everybody thinks that you’re Night Guy.”
“Well, to be fair, I ain’t ever really tried to hide it!”
HE IS RISEN
My absolute favorite word for use in comedy, flawlessly demonstrated here. “Again” is such a simple little add-on, but it makes things much funnier!
I surmise that his sister did something.
@ everyone commenting on his shoelaces, did none of you watch into the spider verse?
Walky pauses to check that he is, indeed, wearing pants.
So, joyce featured him in her comic, right?