Maybe the stains don’t come from the fast food. Maybe the stains come from Walky because at this point he basically is fast food. He secretes his own sauces.
Honestly, the swing from the best arcs Willis has ever written to one of the funniest strips I can think of in the entire 11 year run of the comic has basically gone past whiplash.
You’re right. That was one hell of a well-written arc. I’m actually looking forward to seeing what’s next for Joyce. I’ve been hard on her in the comments section, but she really is one of my favorite characters, and watching how she’s been developing has been super fun and interesting.
My theory is that Willis has been IN a Taco Bell since the late 90s, and they haven’t been able to redecorate because they can’t close until he leaves.
I lived in a town where the Taco Bell kept its 90s look until about 2004. They finally redecorated, and the sign out front said “Check out our bold new look!”
…And then the place burned down, but for like a week the sign was still up. It was a pretty big local meme for a while.
The last comic was fairly final (ending with Joyce walking away, nobody following her). And I don’t think there was much more to say at that point. And Willis has always been good with balancing storylines.
I just didn’t know if it would jump to Walky/Lucy or Sal/Danny. (Or if it would go totally random and jump to Ruth/Jason or Billie.
If I were in this situation, I’d be tempted to call Dina and warn her that this is really, really not a good day to say anything bad about a negative correlation between faith and intelligence to Becky.
Like, I’m fairly confident Dina has enough of an understanding of how important Becky’s faith is to her, and enough respect for that, that she can say Becky isn’t an idiot for having it despite not having it herself, but I’d probably think that a heads-up couldn’t hurt. And then I’d wonder if it could hurt, and if I’d be micro-managing my friends’ lives and telling something that wasn’t mine to tell. And then I’d wonder if Becky was even going to tell Dina about this in the first place, since she represses things so much, and if warning Dina so she wouldn’t say anything insensitive by accident wouldn’t be a good idea after all. And then I’d be back where I started.
Yeah I could see this manifest as Becky telling Dina who just kind of shrugs because Joyce just thinks like she does but she and Becky still get along and it leads into a bit of a fight, or Becky not being willing to open up about it now scared of the potential drama.
I’m leaning towards the latter because in this chapter we already had a horribly painful conversation that shattered a status quo we thought would be unshakeable and Becky losing both her ladies in one night would hit some “first is tragic, second is careless” energy, and I think there’d be some major drama in Becky both doing the same thing Joyce has been doing (avoiding a complicated talk she’s not prepared to have) and losing that built up “Dina won’t hate me if I cry in front of her” stability Becky’s got where because she can’t say it out loud it makes her more wary of expressing any vulnerability in front of Dina.
Speaking of the supposed negative correlation between faith and intelligence, it seems to me from thirty years involved with GHG policy that the stupid are not particular credulous. Sometimes they can be stupidly skeptical. I am pit in mind of the old saying that no-one is harder to convince than an intelligent person whose interest it is not to understand.
Becky doesn’t believe in God because They seem to be real, but because she needs Them to be on her side against the lesser authorities that have persecuted her.
There are no Taco Bells in Australia, and I’ve never been to one while I’ve been in the USA. So I have the feeling I have been missing something with all the Taco Bell references. What’s the gag about characters liking it? Is it just inauthentic? Bad? Greasy? Notoriously flatulogenic?
That one’s easy. Eat messy food, scratch back of ear. The amount of lower-income white single moms I’ve met who are baffled by it every time (3) is truly astonishing.
So there actually is a Oaxacan dish, Tlayuda, that’s sometimes called a Mexican pizza, because it’s a large tortilla covered with black beans, delicious sauce, toppings, and shredded cheese. But I’d guess it bears only a passing resemblance to Taco Bell.
Well all the people who’ve been hiding from the comments section for the past week can now post freely and without fear, so yeah, we’re going to break that record.
*possibly sarcasm, depending on whether it turns out this way or not*
I have been watching Youtube videos about making Youtube videos, and so have become alert to the importance of audience engagement in driving traffic and thus creating the advertising revenue that creators need to feed their children. I suspect that Willis tolerates the inanity and rancour of a comments section chiefly to increase and gauge the engagement of their readers. Therefore I feel that it behoves us to post clueless and mildly provocative comments on the strips that we want to see more like.
What the hell is Lucy doing, is she deliberately trying to sabotage Walky by screwing with his brand? He’s a cartoonish, he’s allowed, nay, expected to be a little slovenly, and Lucy’s effort at making him look clean and neat is just destroying his personality!
Clearly this is a sign that Lucy is bigoted against sauces, she needs to check herself right the hell now before she ruins everything!
(…because this is text, no, not remotely being serious, just felt like keeping in practice with heavy argument-based rants, got a good swing going this last week, don’t want the comic relief to throw off my timing 😀 )
Okay but you have to keep in mind that it is well within Lucy’s rights to expect a basic level of manners and decency from him. After all relationships are about compromise and if he doesn’t put in his part of the work he’s just manipulating her into doing all the emotional labor of managing her feelings about his behavior instead of changing it.
Plus if he gave her the impression he would do the self improvement work pertaining to his slovenliness he’s really just gaslighting her by ducking out of it and making her think he doesn’t owe it to her.
(The same disclaimer you gave applies to this comment as well)
I can’t believe either of you are on Walky or Lucy’s side. The poor food! It was just innocently sitting there, minding its own foody business, when up come these two strangers out of nowhere, stalking out the location of this Taco Bell online probably, and start biting it and draining its precious bodily fluids! They probably gaslit the food too, cooked it on gas-fired stoves – and before you say anything, I’m definitely using the word proberly, how dare you insuinate otherwise! Walky’s so immature in this scene, needing a bib! And Lucy, well she calls herself a genius, and you know who else called themselves a brain genius?? That’s right, Lex Luthor! Thery’re clearly villains here, and the food did nothing wrong? Like, how could you believe that???
Reminds me of when I worked on an art project, somehow getting no glitter on my shirt I could see, or my jacket, or my pants, only to get home and somehow I had glitter on my underwear.
Semi-related question… Does anyone know if Lucy is ok with pre-marital Hanky Panky?
I know she’s a christian, but I don’t think she is a fundamentalist. (Her parents certainly didn’t shield her from pop culture like Joyce/Becky.) She had made subtle hints about Walky inviting her to his room when he was alone, but she’s also shy/conservative.
I think she’ll be down for it as long as Walky initiates.
There’s a larger elaboration on this but to sum it up: I think Lucy has a narrative on how this is supposed to go, and that narrative is based on all the otome games she has definitely been playing.
This feels like such a Peanuts set-up and punchline to me. Walky goes to great lengths to prevent a recurring accident, only to have that same thing somehow transpire, and then Lucy’s last line of ‘Incredible’ is the icing on top. (I think the naming coincidence might have helped bring it to mind, too.)
It’s the unhealing wound of the Witch King’s blade. It always bleeds from the time that Walky hurled the Chicken Nugget of DoomTM into Mount Deep Fryer.
Spoilers for tomorrow’s strip as it scene cuts back to Joyce and co.
– Joyce and Becky are hugging and laughing, having been able to come to understand that loving each other also means respecting your differences.
– Dina (who’s also been there the whole time it turns out) respectfully offers Joyce some reading material at her own pace if she wants to understand anything she’s missed out, refusing to judge her for the lies she bought into and clung to.
– Dorothy, inspired by Joyce and Becky, reveals her acceptance letter to Yale and resolves to make the most of her time with her dear friends.
– Joe, moved to tears by this display of friendship, resolves to be the man he wants to be instead of the one he thinks he’s doomed to become, and asks Joyce out.
– Liz decides to make a proper goodbye and while she’s not ready to change her own views, she’s willing to accept different ones can exist. She gets an actual non-trap hug out of Sarah and leaves a parting gift of edibles that the gang all get high off of, unaware that they’re just eating gummy bears.
I wrote this with shitposting in my heart but then I thought about how Joe actually has the man he thinks he’s doomed to become right in front of him all the time reminding him of that fact. It’s his dad, Joe with a beard, who has probably already gone through plenty of dynamite gals he’s gotta do right by and they fall in love just long enough that it hurts a lot more when he breaks her heart cheating on her because he’s a randy stallion who can’t help himself around all these pretty ladies.
Like it’s not just a matter of Joe’s dad being a selfish asshole who leaves a trail of broken hearts, it’s that Joe’s dad is legitimately serious when he says that he wants to do right by Stacy, and he was legitimately serious in wanting to do right by Joe’s mom and every woman since, but he always betrayed them in the end and couldn’t stop, despite himself?
I never thought about that, but let alone that Joe thinks he’s protecting himself and everyone else by never getting close enough that he can hurt them or be hurt, has Joe this whole time thought that if he fell in love, if he tried to do right by a woman he loved (Joyce, I’m saying Joyce), he’s not only absolutely assured in himself that he does mean well and that he can be supportive, he just thinks that regardless of that well meaning support it will, inevitably, end with him breaking her heart by cheating on her? That he can do good and it will all end in tears because of him?
Oh my god that’s so fucked up if it plays out like that (which is fortunate since I am never right, so I may have saved Joe the grief).
Imagine thinking every single good thing you do for someone you care about being another step forward towards the moment where you break their heart, you know it’s coming, and you’re helpless to stop it. That caring for someone and helping them makes your betrayal even worse because if you never bothered in the first place they’d never grow attached enough that you could hurt them this badly.
Yep, that’s what I understood the situation to be. Joe chose to be an emotionally-detached playah because he judged that that was kinder and more ethical than the feasible alternative. Love hurts when Joe’s father does it to you.
Yeah, that’s pretty much Joe’s take on his fate as I read it too.
Of course, it’s bullshit. He’s not his dad. That’s he’s aware of this as a potential problem means he’s already in a far better place than his dad has ever been.
i disagree, at least topologically. A sandwich consists of at least one center layer between two separate outer layers (one on each side) of a different material. On a side note, no, just three sliced of bread isn’t a bread sandwich, its a stack of bread. you are more than welcome to eat said stack of bread, but you can’t call it a sandwich.
Anyway back to the math(s) since you would need to cut the taco shell in order to create the second outer layer, it isn’t a sandwich. Incidentally, hotdogs are typically not sandwiches either, unless you are unfortunate enough to have the bun separate while you are putting it together.
I…suppose? I probably wouldn’t say that since it was not initially constructed that way, but one could probably argue that, if you specifically eat the connecting bits, it would become a sandwich during consumption.
God fucking damn it, not the “everything is a sandwich” thing again. This might be more distressing than most of the #Discourse that’s been held here lately.
Probably because I am either Elvis Presley or at a county fair (you guess which is more likely).
And I was counting the batter as a protective coating like the outer chocolate layer on a tim-tam, but if you’re willing to concede that a hush puppy is a sandwich I’ll take the win.
God fucking damn it, not the “everything is a sandwich” thing again. This might be more distressing than most of the #Discourse that’s been held here lately.
So, just to be sure I get this plotline: This and Joyce skipping class to rush over and so on is in service of something the student paper itself doesn’t care very much about at all, right?
Not complaining- it makes it all the more absurd if the principle about infighting getting more vicious the lower the stakes are applies.
If the newspaper doesn’t really care that much, it’s actually more likely to be based on a trivial factor such as who made their submission first, rather than the quality of the comic.
Yet, when taken out of the vacuum sealed, triple layered containment unit…it will in fact have received, a stain. From. whatever. sauce. He was using. As ValdVin says “Ah, Schridinger’s Shirt:”
While not a clothes horse of any measure, nor a neat freak as far as well anything goes. I have to honestly say “Walky, kid. You done did your best and that shirt sure did look nice. Go ahead, have a nice long scatalogical melt down in public. You earned it.
I love how the first strip that one “fuck willis i’m out” commenter didn’t read has nothing to do with the plotline they were so pissed over yesterday.
I don’t get how that dude read a strip most everyone processed as “this is a processing of incredibly personal feelings in the immediate aftermath of something Joyce and Becky never really thought could happen between them” or “Joyce is five seconds away from growing a fedora through sheer willpower”, and his takeaway was “Joyce is saying fuck Christians, ergo the comic is anti-Christian so goodbye forever.”
They had a lot of weird takes over the years. I’ll never forget when they tried to say amazi wasn’t stalking and harassing sal, she was stalking and harassing an idea of sal that didn’t exist so it’s all okay
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Walky’s Got Talent
He’s saucy too!
Seems he’s still connected to Joyce, Amber, Sal and Dina’s magical realism girl power source.
I was impressed by the sudden disappearance of the jacket into jacketspace.
He dropped it. It’s on the floor.
Tbf a jacket that only exists temporally wouldn’t be much sauce defence
I was impressed by the number of stripes on his shirt increasing between panel 4 and 5.
I initially read this as “Joyce, Amber, Sal, and Dina’s magical realm” and was deeply disturbed for a moment.
Maybe the stains don’t come from the fast food. Maybe the stains come from Walky because at this point he basically is fast food. He secretes his own sauces.
Maybe the real stains were inside us all along.
Maybe the real fast food was the friends we made along the way.
Not until next year. … wait, it was 2022, right? … yeah, 2022.
I mean. Blood DOES stain pretty good.
Hydrogen peroxide (or sodium percarbonate based “oxygen bleach”) take fresh blood stains out very easily.
Fresh blood stains, maybe, but blood stains with quiet dignity are a tougher remove.
Who knows?
Maybe all those savory sauces will soon drive Lucy to eat him out….
That would be very sweet.
Is it just me, or has this gone full graybles?
These cartoon references are starting to sour my mood.
Are you feeling salty?
How could you make such a terrible pun you’re disappointing **U-mam-i**, she is so disappointed.
**tear in eyes**
You guys… make me so happy. ^^
Comrade, while I admire your boldness I must say that this comment caused me to suffer psychic damage.
Psychic damage?
I should have known that would happen near a wall of psychic energy…
You are what you eat, huh?
You callin’ me a pu- [is pulled offstage]
I just spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to work out why being a pudding is wrong
That is so adorably pure. So innocent. Must protect.
So are you saying that Walky is a SCP?
that’s okay I never wanted to eat again anyway
Aaaaahhh…. comic relief.
We ALL need a little of this after the last few strips.
Somehow I suspect this will only be a brief respite from the drama
The taco bell turns out to be run by the cheese and everyone ends up dead again.
Honestly, the swing from the best arcs Willis has ever written to one of the funniest strips I can think of in the entire 11 year run of the comic has basically gone past whiplash.
You’re right. That was one hell of a well-written arc. I’m actually looking forward to seeing what’s next for Joyce. I’ve been hard on her in the comments section, but she really is one of my favorite characters, and watching how she’s been developing has been super fun and interesting.
Sometimes it be that way, Walky.
It’s okay, Walky
Just stagger into the building like you’ve been shot, and beg them to print your comics as a dying request
You are the April Fool after all
I’m excited to see Walky on in-universe April Fool’s day (several years from now irl)
I think Carla would be the undisputable queen of April Fools here.
Well, Walky’s birthday is canonically April 1st if I’m not mistaken, just saying
A birthright claim is meaningless if you can’t back it up, and Carla would absolutely annihilate Walky in this field
It is an unfathomable skill. And sadly, a relatable one.
I’m… guessing he managed to spill some on the inside of his coat before he put his coat on?
Nonono…you don’t EXPLAIN how the trick is done.
You know, for the first time since the start of the strip, I’m happier to see a strip with Walky than Joyce.
…oh man. I agree with this sentiment. And it feels weird.
To clarify. It feels weird prefering Walky to Joyce.
Look Walky, nobody claims it’s the BEST superpower, but it’s your’s. Just remember to only use it for good.
It’s the sauce’s superpower really, and it has chosen evil
The sauce only wants Joyce to win. That doesn’t make it inherently evil.
Basically my dad whenever he paints. He gets it underneath the protective clothing somehow. It is a skill and talent to be that messy quite frankly.
Was expecting more pain tonight, this is a nice surprise.
…hang on, purple booths… is this a 90s Taco Bell? DO THEY HAVE A TACO BELL THAT STILL LOOKS LIKE A 90S TACO BELL
My theory is that willis hasn’t actually been to a taco bell since the 90s so he’s just writing off pure nostalgia.
My theory is that Willis has been IN a Taco Bell since the late 90s, and they haven’t been able to redecorate because they can’t close until he leaves.
The real Taco Bell was the American Midwest we made along the way.
There are so many depressing parts to that sentence.
They say to write what you know.
I lived in a town where the Taco Bell kept its 90s look until about 2004. They finally redecorated, and the sign out front said “Check out our bold new look!”
…And then the place burned down, but for like a week the sign was still up. It was a pretty big local meme for a while.
Maybe the fire was set by someone who didn’t like the bold new look?
God, I would love to see that photo.
I was kind of expecting a subject change myself.
The last comic was fairly final (ending with Joyce walking away, nobody following her). And I don’t think there was much more to say at that point. And Willis has always been good with balancing storylines.
I just didn’t know if it would jump to Walky/Lucy or Sal/Danny. (Or if it would go totally random and jump to Ruth/Jason or Billie.
Yeah I think a moment to breathe is necessary, one of the major status quos of the last seven years of the series just got nuked.
I think the last thing we’ll see is Joe, Sarah and Dorothy talking amongst each other on “what to do about it”, however that manifests.
If I were in this situation, I’d be tempted to call Dina and warn her that this is really, really not a good day to say anything bad about a negative correlation between faith and intelligence to Becky.
Like, I’m fairly confident Dina has enough of an understanding of how important Becky’s faith is to her, and enough respect for that, that she can say Becky isn’t an idiot for having it despite not having it herself, but I’d probably think that a heads-up couldn’t hurt. And then I’d wonder if it could hurt, and if I’d be micro-managing my friends’ lives and telling something that wasn’t mine to tell. And then I’d wonder if Becky was even going to tell Dina about this in the first place, since she represses things so much, and if warning Dina so she wouldn’t say anything insensitive by accident wouldn’t be a good idea after all. And then I’d be back where I started.
Yeah I could see this manifest as Becky telling Dina who just kind of shrugs because Joyce just thinks like she does but she and Becky still get along and it leads into a bit of a fight, or Becky not being willing to open up about it now scared of the potential drama.
I’m leaning towards the latter because in this chapter we already had a horribly painful conversation that shattered a status quo we thought would be unshakeable and Becky losing both her ladies in one night would hit some “first is tragic, second is careless” energy, and I think there’d be some major drama in Becky both doing the same thing Joyce has been doing (avoiding a complicated talk she’s not prepared to have) and losing that built up “Dina won’t hate me if I cry in front of her” stability Becky’s got where because she can’t say it out loud it makes her more wary of expressing any vulnerability in front of Dina.
Speaking of the supposed negative correlation between faith and intelligence, it seems to me from thirty years involved with GHG policy that the stupid are not particular credulous. Sometimes they can be stupidly skeptical. I am pit in mind of the old saying that no-one is harder to convince than an intelligent person whose interest it is not to understand.
Becky doesn’t believe in God because They seem to be real, but because she needs Them to be on her side against the lesser authorities that have persecuted her.
Walky removes his coat with powerful energy.
He’s straight up fabulous.
I for one welcome our hard cut to comedy because I was getting tired of unreadably long comments sections.
They’ll be back, soon you’ll see
They’ll remember they belong to we?
You’ll be back, time will tell! You’ll remember that we’ve served you well~
Oceans rise, empires fall, we have seen each other through it all~
And when push, cooomes to shove! I will send you Taco Bell to remind you of my love!~
They’ll soon be back, and in greater numbers.
Long comments are in a single column, it hides their numbers.
Yeah, it’s a nice break from the huge comment sections full of arguments. I’m sure they’ll be back soon enough.
It’s okay, Walky, just tell them the backstory and I’m sure they’ll be really impressed.
oh thank god a comedic filler arc
We all need to cool down before we bring up the fight again. (Just like the characters involved in said fight!)
Walky is one with the sauce.
(Also damn you, Willis, for making me crave Taco Bell more than usual when my local Taco Bells are always disappointing)
No joke, getting into these comics has led to a significant increase in my consumption of Taco Bell.
My Taco Bell consumption has remained nonexistent, but these comics have successfully got me into Transformers
Reading DOA led to purchasing the Transformers/My Little Pony crossover comic. Which I enjoyed immensely.
WHAT?!
Oh wait . . . is that like Bambi meets Godzilla?
I kinda miss Taco Bell. It may have been a decade since I last ate some.
My craving of Taco Bell has also increased substantially.
Now that’s what I call a psychic attack!
#damnyouwillis
Yeah, I kinda stopped eating at Taco Bell after college given an unfortunate incident of REALLY BAD food poisoning, but I’m actually craving it again.
…damn you, Willis.
Are you 100% sure that wasn’t a Chipotle disguised as a Taco Bell?
I’ve got you beat…I currently live in a province where there ARE no Taco Bells.
My only way of satisfying the craving for Mass Produced Meat Product in a Vaguely Mexican Form is frozen burritos.
My first exposure to Taco Bell was as a university student, where the Taco Bell happened to be located right in front of the Gas Company’s offices.
My second exposure was in Alberta, where the closest taco bell was along a road that had giant gas pipelines running beside it.
Coincidences? I think not!
There are no Taco Bells in Australia, and I’ve never been to one while I’ve been in the USA. So I have the feeling I have been missing something with all the Taco Bell references. What’s the gag about characters liking it? Is it just inauthentic? Bad? Greasy? Notoriously flatulogenic?
Taco Bell: It’s cheaper than food!
Walky is one with the sauce, and the sauce is with him.
Now, that’s talent.
I mean this mess isn’t much more difficult to make than the time I found pasta sauce on the back of a child’s ear.
That one’s easy. Eat messy food, scratch back of ear. The amount of lower-income white single moms I’ve met who are baffled by it every time (3) is truly astonishing.
For the past week, we’ve regularly been getting comics with >500 comments.
Anyone want to bet if today’s comic beats that?
Probably not ‘cuz this is a funny lighthearted jokey bit where the past week’s been full of serious discussion topics.
Just to go on the record, I wasn’t being serious about this comic having more comments. (I wouldn’t even be surprised if it fails to crack 250)
Alright, here’s a serious discussion topic then.
I have no one to blame but myself.
This is truly what unskippable YouTube pre-roll ads are for.
Enough time to take a look at the title of the video.
I got an ad for tall, thin, young people wearing RM Williams.
Saint Jude’s?
I recognize that link all too well.
Probably not, unless people got real strong Taco Bell opinions
How DARE you suggest we have strong Taco Bell opinions?!?
I’m sorry, are you implying that strong Taco Bell opinions are somehow detrimental to our overall society and the geopolitics of food? Kinda yikes.
Strong opinions about strong taco bell opinions are still considered to be strong taco bell opinions
Hmmm…. maybe this strip will get more comments than Willis is expecting right now.
Well, I really don’t like the changes they made to their beef burrito.
(They went from a mix of their beefy dog-food/plastic cheese to one that also includes rice.)
And what happened to Nachos Supreme? I know the BellGrande is the same thing, but it’s really more than I need.
Hmmm… looks like they still have Nachos Supreme up here in Canada. (As well as chilli Cheese fries and Fries Supreme.)
Its like a whole other world up here!
The Mexican pizza is neither Mexican nor a pizza, but it is fucking delicious?
Mexican pizza? Must be an American think. (They don’t have that on the menu here in Canada.)
It’s a crunchy tortilla topped with beans topped with a second crunchy tortilla topped with taco fixings (mostly cheese, tomatoes, and salsa).
So there actually is a Oaxacan dish, Tlayuda, that’s sometimes called a Mexican pizza, because it’s a large tortilla covered with black beans, delicious sauce, toppings, and shredded cheese. But I’d guess it bears only a passing resemblance to Taco Bell.
It’s delicious, but baja blast is really the main reason to go.
Gamba is a sin.
Well all the people who’ve been hiding from the comments section for the past week can now post freely and without fear, so yeah, we’re going to break that record.
*possibly sarcasm, depending on whether it turns out this way or not*
I have been watching Youtube videos about making Youtube videos, and so have become alert to the importance of audience engagement in driving traffic and thus creating the advertising revenue that creators need to feed their children. I suspect that Willis tolerates the inanity and rancour of a comments section chiefly to increase and gauge the engagement of their readers. Therefore I feel that it behoves us to post clueless and mildly provocative comments on the strips that we want to see more like.
I can’t believe this shit!
What the hell is Lucy doing, is she deliberately trying to sabotage Walky by screwing with his brand? He’s a cartoonish, he’s allowed, nay, expected to be a little slovenly, and Lucy’s effort at making him look clean and neat is just destroying his personality!
Clearly this is a sign that Lucy is bigoted against sauces, she needs to check herself right the hell now before she ruins everything!
(…because this is text, no, not remotely being serious, just felt like keeping in practice with heavy argument-based rants, got a good swing going this last week, don’t want the comic relief to throw off my timing 😀 )
Okay but you have to keep in mind that it is well within Lucy’s rights to expect a basic level of manners and decency from him. After all relationships are about compromise and if he doesn’t put in his part of the work he’s just manipulating her into doing all the emotional labor of managing her feelings about his behavior instead of changing it.
Plus if he gave her the impression he would do the self improvement work pertaining to his slovenliness he’s really just gaslighting her by ducking out of it and making her think he doesn’t owe it to her.
(The same disclaimer you gave applies to this comment as well)
Great! Now let’s repeat these points at each other ad infinitum until it either gets A Little Too Personal, or there’s a subject change.
I can’t believe either of you are on Walky or Lucy’s side. The poor food! It was just innocently sitting there, minding its own foody business, when up come these two strangers out of nowhere, stalking out the location of this Taco Bell online probably, and start biting it and draining its precious bodily fluids! They probably gaslit the food too, cooked it on gas-fired stoves – and before you say anything, I’m definitely using the word proberly, how dare you insuinate otherwise! Walky’s so immature in this scene, needing a bib! And Lucy, well she calls herself a genius, and you know who else called themselves a brain genius?? That’s right, Lex Luthor! Thery’re clearly villains here, and the food did nothing wrong? Like, how could you believe that???
Huh. A bloody centrist. I should have known.
Mike had your mother for a nickel!
Fourth panel is superb.
Reminds me of when I worked on an art project, somehow getting no glitter on my shirt I could see, or my jacket, or my pants, only to get home and somehow I had glitter on my underwear.
Glitter gets everywhere. It’s dark and insidious magic
YM sparkly and insidious magic.
See, that’s less impressive when we learn you were doing crafts in your undies.
Well now, I guess the shirt has to come off and then sexy times for Lucy!
Right there in the Taco Bell?
I can think of worse venues.
Semi-related question… Does anyone know if Lucy is ok with pre-marital Hanky Panky?
I know she’s a christian, but I don’t think she is a fundamentalist. (Her parents certainly didn’t shield her from pop culture like Joyce/Becky.) She had made subtle hints about Walky inviting her to his room when he was alone, but she’s also shy/conservative.
I vaguely recall a strip where she gets very blushie and mentions that she’s Christian, but that might’ve been a bit “the lady doth protest too much”.
I think she is a “not on the first date” sort of Christian, not an “only within marriage and without birth control” Christian.
Here we go: Christian women fuck on the third date, in accordance with the aptly-named Sermon on the Mount.
Oh my god how did I not notice that pun the first time it showed up?
Walky distracted you with guns and philately.
(Now I have to go off and craft a pun about ataxia.)
I think she’ll be down for it as long as Walky initiates.
There’s a larger elaboration on this but to sum it up: I think Lucy has a narrative on how this is supposed to go, and that narrative is based on all the otome games she has definitely been playing.
Walky runs on Peanuts-style physics, which is good to know.
This feels like such a Peanuts set-up and punchline to me. Walky goes to great lengths to prevent a recurring accident, only to have that same thing somehow transpire, and then Lucy’s last line of ‘Incredible’ is the icing on top. (I think the naming coincidence might have helped bring it to mind, too.)
(Oh heck yes I got Sal! :D)
Welcome, friend
*travels back in time to high-five Sal gravatar friend*
Welp. Guess I called it.
Walky, are you sure you haven’t got a stab wound that’s healing badly?
I think we’d have to go over a couple parallel universes for that one.
Depends. Did Walky ever visit Amon Sûl?
It’s the unhealing wound of the Witch King’s blade. It always bleeds from the time that Walky hurled the Chicken Nugget of DoomTM into Mount Deep Fryer.
I could see Walky bleeding Taco Bell sauce.
When I was his age I had a friend who bled coffee.
Shouldn’t have gotten the Phase Salsa, goes literally everywhere. And nowhere, depending on your frame of reference.
Should of been safer, don’t use any sauce. And not go to Taco Bell. Go to BK, their food is lame enough, shouldn’t of made a mess.
If you’re going to Burgered King, you may as well just eat some fuckin’ sand. It’s just as dry and abrasive, but at least it’s probably not moldy.
Yes, Lucy. You are, perhaps, a genius.
But Walky, mah darling, is a natural.
I have never related to a strip MORE
Stains just seek out the nice shirts!
Spoilers for tomorrow’s strip as it scene cuts back to Joyce and co.
– Joyce and Becky are hugging and laughing, having been able to come to understand that loving each other also means respecting your differences.
– Dina (who’s also been there the whole time it turns out) respectfully offers Joyce some reading material at her own pace if she wants to understand anything she’s missed out, refusing to judge her for the lies she bought into and clung to.
– Dorothy, inspired by Joyce and Becky, reveals her acceptance letter to Yale and resolves to make the most of her time with her dear friends.
– Joe, moved to tears by this display of friendship, resolves to be the man he wants to be instead of the one he thinks he’s doomed to become, and asks Joyce out.
– Liz decides to make a proper goodbye and while she’s not ready to change her own views, she’s willing to accept different ones can exist. She gets an actual non-trap hug out of Sarah and leaves a parting gift of edibles that the gang all get high off of, unaware that they’re just eating gummy bears.
*Nevermore by Shoji Meguro plays on somebody’s MP3 player hooked up to a cheap handheld speaker that’s been placed in a Solo cup*
Spencer, I can’t tell you how much I want what you just said to be real, but please, if you smoke this much copium in one sitting, you’re gonna die.
Don’t worry my copium is also actually gummy bears.
I wrote this with shitposting in my heart but then I thought about how Joe actually has the man he thinks he’s doomed to become right in front of him all the time reminding him of that fact. It’s his dad, Joe with a beard, who has probably already gone through plenty of dynamite gals he’s gotta do right by and they fall in love just long enough that it hurts a lot more when he breaks her heart cheating on her because he’s a randy stallion who can’t help himself around all these pretty ladies.
Like it’s not just a matter of Joe’s dad being a selfish asshole who leaves a trail of broken hearts, it’s that Joe’s dad is legitimately serious when he says that he wants to do right by Stacy, and he was legitimately serious in wanting to do right by Joe’s mom and every woman since, but he always betrayed them in the end and couldn’t stop, despite himself?
I never thought about that, but let alone that Joe thinks he’s protecting himself and everyone else by never getting close enough that he can hurt them or be hurt, has Joe this whole time thought that if he fell in love, if he tried to do right by a woman he loved (Joyce, I’m saying Joyce), he’s not only absolutely assured in himself that he does mean well and that he can be supportive, he just thinks that regardless of that well meaning support it will, inevitably, end with him breaking her heart by cheating on her? That he can do good and it will all end in tears because of him?
Probably.
Oh my god that’s so fucked up if it plays out like that (which is fortunate since I am never right, so I may have saved Joe the grief).
Imagine thinking every single good thing you do for someone you care about being another step forward towards the moment where you break their heart, you know it’s coming, and you’re helpless to stop it. That caring for someone and helping them makes your betrayal even worse because if you never bothered in the first place they’d never grow attached enough that you could hurt them this badly.
Yep, that’s what I understood the situation to be. Joe chose to be an emotionally-detached playah because he judged that that was kinder and more ethical than the feasible alternative. Love hurts when Joe’s father does it to you.
Yeah, that’s pretty much Joe’s take on his fate as I read it too.
Of course, it’s bullshit. He’s not his dad. That’s he’s aware of this as a potential problem means he’s already in a far better place than his dad has ever been.
Well, dang. What is everyone going to argue about today?
Is the Crispy Chicken Taco Sandwich from Taco Bell a taco?
Or is it a sandwich?
If this serious question doesn’t get its own poll, I don’t know what will.
All tacos are sandwiches.
Discuss!
i disagree, at least topologically. A sandwich consists of at least one center layer between two separate outer layers (one on each side) of a different material. On a side note, no, just three sliced of bread isn’t a bread sandwich, its a stack of bread. you are more than welcome to eat said stack of bread, but you can’t call it a sandwich.
Anyway back to the math(s) since you would need to cut the taco shell in order to create the second outer layer, it isn’t a sandwich. Incidentally, hotdogs are typically not sandwiches either, unless you are unfortunate enough to have the bun separate while you are putting it together.
So hot dogs become sandwiches while you eat?
I…suppose? I probably wouldn’t say that since it was not initially constructed that way, but one could probably argue that, if you specifically eat the connecting bits, it would become a sandwich during consumption.
Connecting…bits?
I propose that only the Earl of Sandwich is the proper judge of what counts as a sandwich.
Depending on how you define it, a pop tart could technically be considered a sandwich. I await the massive arguments from this.
Fried chicken is a sandwhich
Pop Tarts are a ravioli, because the filling is fully enclosed.
Yes, those frozen crustless PB&J things are also ravioli.
as would be some pies. other pies could probably fit into the same category as tacos though.
Pies are soup.
O.O Does this mean I’ve eaten soup with a fork?
I’m sorry you had to find out this way.
God fucking damn it, not the “everything is a sandwich” thing again. This might be more distressing than most of the #Discourse that’s been held here lately.
You didn’t like the sandwich alignment chart?
Don’t agree that an oreo is a sandwich? What about a tim-tam?
Tim-tams are COVERED. You don’t COVER a sandwich. Name me ONE single kind of sandwich that’s completely coated in a protective layer.
Does greaseproof paper count?
NO, paper does not COUNT???? If it did, a carton of MILK would count as a fucking sandwich.
Okay, so what about batter? Is a deep-fried PB&J sandwich a sandwich?
Why in the hell are you battering and frying a PB&J? But if we’re counting BATTER now, a fucking hush puppy is a sandwich.
Probably because I am either Elvis Presley or at a county fair (you guess which is more likely).
And I was counting the batter as a protective coating like the outer chocolate layer on a tim-tam, but if you’re willing to concede that a hush puppy is a sandwich I’ll take the win.
I’d put the hoodie back on and wear it to the presentation. But given Walky’s luck right now the stain must have seeped to the front of the jacket. 😞
That’s some Charlie Brown luck right there. Finally succeed at something and still fail.
Did anyone completely overlook the stain the first read through and think they were talking about Walky’s new signature hot-guy removes coat move?
Dunno if it would be better go to the bathroom and try to wash that stain off or just use the coat to cover the shirt. But sure, that was impressive.
Long time reader, never poster.
But I feel you Walky. Happens to me all the time.
I mean… the hoodie’s still clean at least.
Only on the outside.
I do not believe Daisy will be checking the inside of his jacket.
She might check the inside of JOYCE’s jacket, but not Walky’s.
not unless someone suggests he’s got, shall we say, unsavory pics under there.
She might mistake him for Sal.
Or be mislead by the deliciously feminine energy that Booster detected.
Anybody else suddenly getting a full-page background ad all around the main template? My screen is 2/3 Fast & Furious 9, 1/3 Lucy & Walky.
God fucking damn it, not the “everything is a sandwich” thing again. This might be more distressing than most of the #Discourse that’s been held here lately.
….I had a completely different comment typed out. How did it duplicate my other one?
I get an ad for Adobe Stock superimposed over the composition window while I am writing a comment.
So, just to be sure I get this plotline: This and Joyce skipping class to rush over and so on is in service of something the student paper itself doesn’t care very much about at all, right?
Not complaining- it makes it all the more absurd if the principle about infighting getting more vicious the lower the stakes are applies.
Look, the most unifying Dorothy has been in-universe was when she got both Walky and Carla mad at her for being a centrist about cartoons.
If the newspaper doesn’t really care that much, it’s actually more likely to be based on a trivial factor such as who made their submission first, rather than the quality of the comic.
I see Walky’s shirts are related to my crumb shelf.
You cannot outsmart murphy’s law… you just can’t XD
Tear-a-what-now?
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/04-it-all-returns/kazam/
Obviously Walky should eat tacos shirtless henceforward.
Yet, when taken out of the vacuum sealed, triple layered containment unit…it will in fact have received, a stain. From. whatever. sauce. He was using. As ValdVin says “Ah, Schridinger’s Shirt:”
It’s the only way.
Lucy would spontaneously combust.
Ah, Schrodinger’s Shirt: It is both stained and clean, until you uncover it.
While not a clothes horse of any measure, nor a neat freak as far as well anything goes. I have to honestly say “Walky, kid. You done did your best and that shirt sure did look nice. Go ahead, have a nice long scatalogical melt down in public. You earned it.
The sauce must flow.
That is an impressive ability Walky has.
Ahh, levity
Oh, thank Go… Hea… goodness for this emotional palate clenser.
Also, I totally relate to Walky here. Although in my case it’s mostly Irn Bru, and that stuff just doesn’t come out.
*peaks around the corner* Is it safe to be in the comment section?
We’re bickering over the definition of “sandwich” up there, but so far the comments aren’t exploding like they have for the last week.
Long as nobody gets weirdly personal about fast food, it seems better than *broad gesture*.
The only fast food I eat is pies* from independent bakeries.
Are pies sandwiches?
* Australian-style pies, that is, but not exclusively meat pies. I have sauce only on plain meat pies.
I love how the first strip that one “fuck willis i’m out” commenter didn’t read has nothing to do with the plotline they were so pissed over yesterday.
Ain’t that the way of things? The second you reach your limit and take off, things immediately change.
I don’t get how that dude read a strip most everyone processed as “this is a processing of incredibly personal feelings in the immediate aftermath of something Joyce and Becky never really thought could happen between them” or “Joyce is five seconds away from growing a fedora through sheer willpower”, and his takeaway was “Joyce is saying fuck Christians, ergo the comic is anti-Christian so goodbye forever.”
Don’t forget the unnecessarily personal jab!
They had a lot of weird takes over the years. I’ll never forget when they tried to say amazi wasn’t stalking and harassing sal, she was stalking and harassing an idea of sal that didn’t exist so it’s all okay
Hm. I just *had* to go back and find that comment, and now I’m going to enjoy that commentor’s contributions elsewhere even less. Ah, well.
This is why Walky had to be born as the boy twin – could you imagine the debris that would end up in his bra every day?
Well, now I am!
The stain has chosen you Walky, you can never be rid of it.
I think we can all relate to this on some level at some point in our lives lol
Never had food skip a layer like that, but I do have a weird tendency to find sauce/crumbs on me when I haven’t even eaten recently.
i know the feeling bro i need a bed sheet when I eat
He had gone awhile without any stains so his shirt felt he needed to ketchup.
I like that Walky just kinda looks kinda like a soft butch now, it’s really workin for him
…oh my god he does
Lucy is absolutely a genius
probably could convert into a magician if being forced t obecome a lawyer/doctor by his mom fails.