Joyce also had a couple of bombs dropped on her re: her BFF being gay, in love with her, and in dire need of help. Even discounting the new experience of sharing the bed, I doubt she would have had an easy time falling asleep.
Plus adjusting to a snuggler in the bed like Becky would definitely be something to get used to. Besides, after avoiding Dorothy all day yesterday with Becky, it might have just slipped Joyce’s mind that Dorothy may take her up on the offer to be a jogging buddy.
Besides, it was safe, there was no sock (Joe Approved) on the doorknob.
Or sharing a bed with your best friend who wants to plow you like a field, and sharing it with your best friend who you know wants to plow you like a field.
That isn’t a little bit true. Any one of the people involved could be cheating on some third party.
To insure a truly proper and guilt free experience, you need to increase the total “some” of the encounter until there are no people to be jealous of. So have a six billionsome.
Also, based on the way she’s latched onto Joyce, I’m guessing that she’s one of those people who flounders around in her sleep. Being your bedmate’s punching bag definitely doesn’t make for a restful night.
I prefer #8 myself. One thing us Pagans have over people coming up in the religion they were born into is an understanding of other religions. And some of us actually took Comparative Religions in college or Uni, or attended a UU church.
Perhaps as a general trend, but the one I knew best was in her own way as ignorant and bigoted as any Christian, and had a hard time accepting that anything to do with Christianity wasn’t evil.
Most are pretty pleasant, though.
OK I have been talking with younger Pagans, and it seems you’re right. The younger Pagans seem to be about the same as the general population in terms of knowledge of general religion.
I am curious why Mr. Willis made so many of his characters gay/bi. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that he did. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I just wonder if it was a conscious effort on his part to have such diverse cast of characters.
Then again, I could just be underestimating how many gay/bi people there really are. Maybe I’m just not used to seeing orientation being represented realistically.
Out of the 18 characters on the Cast page, three are bi and two are gay. Those percentages may be a bit higher than in the population at large, but it’s hardly a remarkable number. The composition of my social circle is not much different.
That said, it makes sense to give the non-straight characters a larger share of screen time, because their stories tend to be more interesting, at least during the years of self-discovery.
I agree with your more general point, but keep in mind there are several more gay, bi people in the cast (e.g. Leslie, Daisy, Robin) which the cast page does not include. (btw, am surprised the cast page includes Carla, but not Leslie who has appeared much more often).
So, out of 18 people on the cast page, we could expect not quite one of them to be gay (3.5% of 18 is 0.63) if this campus followed the national average.
There are two numbers at the end of that summary that are also relevant:
An estimated 19 million Americans (8.2%) report that they have engaged in same-sex sexual behavior and nearly 25.6 million Americans (11%) acknowledge at least some same-sex sexual attraction.
In other words, not everyone who engages in non-straight romance or sex at a young age will show up in the statistics as gay or bi when they’re older. A lot of them end up identifying as “straight with some gay/bi experiences in their past”.
Another way of looking at the probabilities involved: what are the odds of five out of 18 people being gay or bi, given the fraction of the population overall that is gay or bi? Using a binomial distribution calculator and setting n = 18, k = 5, and p = 0.11, the odds of that are a hair over 4% — in other words, your social circle may have a more probable 0 or 1 gay/bi people out of 18, but there will be scores of groups like the DoA main cast on any decent-sized college campus.
I wonder if the people who comment, “Oh, aren’t there any straight people on this campus?” then go one to write the studios complaining that gay and bi people aren’t getting representation on the big screen unless the movie is ABOUT them being gay or bi? Unless they’re focusing their efforts on “Why don’t we see more non-white people on the screen?”
Swoop, I don’t even see it as ‘this character is gay/bi/trans/whatever’. These are college students. Their sexual alignment is way, WAY up in the air at that age. Young adults are curious, they try new things, they have unique experiences that alter their compasses and send them in new directions. Their sexual alignments aren’t settled enough to say for certain what they are (if you even consider it valid to do so).
Except, perhaps for Leslie. She’s, what, in her 30’s? By then, you know what you are. Even if no one else does.
While Deanatay’s comment is correct if you take the comic face-value,
David M. Willis, armed with canon, has established that sexual orientations of the characters are the same than in his other webcomics (where those characters are now much older).
I am curious why Mr. Willis made so many of the cast red headed. Don’t get me wrong, I am glad he did. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Some of them are very red headed, while others are brownish-red. Some may be coloring their hair, while others may be denying their gingerness. But there are more of them than in my group of friends.
Let’s talk about the genetics of this and the number of people who dye their hair. Or we can accept that in a story everything that happens is pretty much an intentional choice by the storyteller.
Personally, love the depth of story, the amount of texture and the layers of foreshadowing. DYW is clearing plotting days/years ahead, as when Becky was in strip #1 and destined to reappear four years later.
I have a Hallmark ornament with that tune! Although it is a bit heavy, so we don’t hang it on the Christmas tree. Instead, we just put it in my girlfriend’s Hanukkah display. Shatner and Nemoy are both Jewish, so we figure it works. 🙂
I personally would like to see Dorothy get jealous just because that would be a refreshing aspect of her personality. We’ve seen Joyce fume over how much Dotty time Walky gets over her, maybe a little turnabout is fair play.
“Sorry can’t go jogging. I promised Becky we’d do some more montage walking today. There’s gonna be a cut to us releasing balloons at the top of a tower and everything!”
We have seen Sarah have a similar reaction “Not fair, with her you talk like a human being”. I don’t think Dorothy would make anything big out of it, but a small sign of suppressed resentment about loosing Joyce’s time and attention would not be out of character. Lampshaded by Walky, of course.
Somebody needs to move this beyond Becky staying in the dorms and get her into contact with some organization that helps out girls in her situation. Maybe Dorothy will be sensible enough.
Well they haven’t had much chance, since that went down at probably 9pm or later last night (possibly much later – no one else seemed to be up). But yeah, Dorothy is a good option to get things moving.
Yeah, I’m hoping Dorothy can voice of reason this into a long term solution. I’m all for providing a safe place for Becky, but this short term plan cannot e a viable long term solution. Fortunately, Dorothy is clever and thinks big picture.
For some reason reminds me of an 8-bit Theater where Red Mage said “The results of such catastrophic events are up to the gods. Sadly, for us, they are vindictive and filled with bad ideas”
Is that really the next day in comic? because I would not put it past Willis to actually do that, then chuckle about it when someone points it out on tumblr
You have my sincere condolences on your birthday. Not on your survival to celebrate it but on its proximity to the day used to celebrate another birth that changed the world.
I know, right! Joyce is awesome, Becky is awesome, Dorothy is awesome. Jocye’s and Dorothy’s relationship is awesome, Joyce’s and Becky’s relationship is awesome. Dorothy’s and Becky’s relationship is something I really look forward to see take form. All three of them are Just So Awesome!
And Dorothy’s jobbing dress is awesome.
I love all the tiny things in this strip. Dorothy carefully sneaking in to try to spend some quality time with Joyce, Becky clinging to her like a teddy bear, Joyce trying to get her brain working, trying to figure out how to deal with best-friend-atheist and best-friend-lesbian in the same room. Dorothy’s moment of “oooops! Here be shenanigans” and then some delightful snark, which is mostly about diffusing and taking control over a weird situation, but contains a tiny bit of real challenge as well.
I wonder if Walky told Dorothy anything about Becky at all. My money is on no, he can be rather tight lipped when he wants to.
typo, but now when I’m committed Urban Dictionary have a few interesting things to say about the term “jobbing”. So these are your jobbing clothes, Dorothy. Who do you plan jobbing to?
I got Phew pointers I can show, OK I need the girl I find the most attractive in this room to volunteer… Screw it OK Joyce I know you and me Don’t see eye to eye much But I’ll just pretend your the AU version of yourself so come on.
Okay, so Billie/Ruth is our OTP, Amber/Danny/Ethan our potential OT3, and now potentially Joyce/Dorothy/Walky/Becky as our potential (if you count some platonics binding them) OT4.
(Dorothy/Walky would be the center of the OT4, of course, with Walky/Becky having a solid potential for being platonic life-partners, Joyce almost certainly has an unspoken [and deeply denied] crush on Dorothy, and Becky has a VERY spoken crush on Joyce. There would have to be tons of hijinks to stabilize the grouping, but definite OT4 potential in there, I think!)
I don’t think it’s quite that simple. I think their relationship in this universe is more siblingy, where they get on each other’s nerves, often deliberately, but when push comes to shove they really do care.
That’s how Walky treats Billie though, and he doesn’t quite act the same way with Joyce.
Hm. Maybe Billie is an older-sister-figure and Joyce is more of a younger-sister-figure. (And he has an actual twin sister in Sal, heh.) So does that make Sarah his step-sister or something now? Next he’ll have a sister-in-law-figure. All the sisters!
I all honesty though I’m having difficulty finding instances of “Joyce gives a damn about Walky.” She makes it abundantly clear to everyone that she’d rather not deal with him ever: “not having to deal with Walky” is the whole reason Joyce agreed to this morning jog, after all.
‘Course, I have an older brother and I’d rather not deal with HIM ever, so…
LMFAO i love how everyone is accidentally making comments that are really upsetting today. First it was Amber’s “boyfriend” remark to Danny yesterday RIGHT AFTER he wakes up from a sexy ethan dream and was suddenly next to his girlfriend and now its Dorothy making that joke while being unaware of the Becky situation. Whats next? Is someone gonna make a joke to Walky and Sal about how their parents might be racist?
Becky and Dorothy will hit it off immediately. There will be a certain amount of posturing, but soon enough they will find common ground and join in snark. Poor Joyce will be teased mercilessly. And that’s even before Walky shows up.
You misplaced Ruth, she is bi, not gay. We know Billie and Danny are as well.
Becky and Ethan are gay.
Carla is asexual and transgender.
That is it for the cast page, Daisy (the gay editor) isn’t on it. Though we just don’t know details like that for some on the cast page… some of them could still turn out to be LGBTQA later.
Joyce’s sister is Jocelyne (formerly Joshua), and the proper term for her is transgender.
Transsexual is used less often, I believe it technically means someone that has had sex reassignment surgery, there may still be negative feelings towards the word as well (not sure). In any case it seems that Jocelyne has not yet had surgery or hormones. (Anyone that knows more than I, please jump in!)
Oh, and she is straight (meaning she likes guys, of course). Transgender people can have any orientation cisgender people have.
We know she’s not gay (she said so herself), and her interest in Ethan seems to indicate she’s interested in men. With no indication that she’s interested in women, straight is the best guess, though bisexuality is still a possibility.
It makes sense, it kind of reduces people to nothing more than their sexuality (or that they are trans, etc). Those words should be adjectives or subject complements or similar. And after all it isn’t like you really see “straight” or “hetero” used as nouns.
Who cares how many and what genders or sexualities are in the comic? What does it matter?
Why do you care if vanillas are overrepresented? What’s wrong with an environment where there are too many cis-hets? You know, honestly, I don’t mind spending time around them as long as they keep to their quirks to themselves and don’t try to shove their sexuality down my throat.
The reason this matters is because having characters in fiction to relate to and identify with is really important in order to have a connection with any sort of narrative. People like us will never be able to know how great it is to finally find a fictional character who is almost entirely like us, “quirks” and all, because we’ve never had to struggle with that.
You think so? I mean, they kept kidding her about that unitil she shopped for one online and found out what they were, but I didn’t think she actually bought one.
This may be the single most adorable strip David Willis has ever produced. No, please don’t tell me I’m wrong, not even if you have proof. Just let me have this moment.
Dorothy, being the journalist she is, will eventually discover the reason Becky has turned up and is sharing a bed with Joyce. Actually, considering how quickly Becky opened up to Joyce (and later Sarah) about the reason “classes were cancelled”, she will probably volunteer the information at the earliest opportunity. This will of course lead to an article slamming Anderson for being intolerant. Becky’s father will then, of course, find out where she is and …..
That would be an interesting plot development. I think Ross-the-butt will find Becky faster than that – it’s no big stretch that she’ll go to Joyce – but it could be an fine common cause for Dorothy, Joyce and Becky (and a nice stepping stone in her political career).
On Parent’s Weekend, when parent’s were expected to be turning up, Ruth and the woman in the headscarf who works the dorm office downstairs managed to remove Blaine O’Malley. If whats-his-butt shows up and tries to get into the dorm, I think they might be able to deal with him. Of course, this will bring Becky’s existance to the attention of powers that be, but if they have any competence at all they can evict her from the dorm into a women’s shelter rather than into the arms of her dad.
Of course, they should be getting Becky into a women’s shelter ASAP anyway.
Dorothy has shown restraint in publishing volatile or personal information in the past.
I don’t see her outing Becky’s hidey hole being a problem.
Though I’m pretty sure it’s not much of a secret to begin with. She ran away to stay with her best friend. That’s like the first number any parent calls when their kid’s missing. We’ll probably be hearing from Mister Macantyre sooner rather than later regardless of what articles Dorothy writes.
Where’s the drama in that?
(Maybe Joyce kept it unlocked for this very reason. Jogging aside, speaking to Dorothy about Becky’s situation as quickly as possible is a very smart thing to do)
Thirded. We do bag on the characters we love occasionally*. That’s because we want them to grow and become better at those things we love them for to begin with.
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Becky Huuuuuugs!
🙂
They’re clearly not morning people. 😀
Joyce has been an early riser on other occasions, but she’s just had a major lifestyle adjustment, from single-bed to shared-bed.
Only now do I remember Sal going for Joyce’s throat. Right. =/ Well, I suppose my comment still applies to Becky.
Joyce also had a couple of bombs dropped on her re: her BFF being gay, in love with her, and in dire need of help. Even discounting the new experience of sharing the bed, I doubt she would have had an easy time falling asleep.
Plus adjusting to a snuggler in the bed like Becky would definitely be something to get used to. Besides, after avoiding Dorothy all day yesterday with Becky, it might have just slipped Joyce’s mind that Dorothy may take her up on the offer to be a jogging buddy.
Besides, it was safe, there was no sock (Joe Approved) on the doorknob.
And now I’m picturing Joe manufacturing and selling socks with “Joe Approved!” embroidered on them.
I’m thinking from Joyce’s “just like a sleepover!” comment that this isn’t even the first time she and Becky have shared a bed.
But it’s the first time they’ve shared a bed when Joyce knows how soft and sweet Becky’s lips are.
There’s a big difference between sharing a bed with your best friend and sharing it with someone who want to plow you like a field.
OrsoI’webeentold
Or sharing a bed with your best friend who wants to plow you like a field, and sharing it with your best friend who you know wants to plow you like a field.
Don’t say “Plow you like a field”, it’s derogatory.
She want’s to drill her like an oil well!
I prefer “bang her like a screen door in a hurricane”, myself, but I was going with the phrasing Aolbain established.
and those beds are small!
( and seriously hard to share of you have wide shoulders )
The trick is to twist your shoulders and/or layer people on top of each other in a big, puppy-ish pile.
She still is. That face is 100% her reaction to Dorothy’s implications 😀
The implication that Dorothy is going to go jogging, you mean? Or are you suggesting that Joyce can see into the future?
The cheating.
Definitely. I know just how hard it is to share one of those Twin XL beds. It can be hard to get a good night’s rest sharing one.
Mecky Morning Mugs?
IS there a word for lesbian and adorable? because we need one!
Saphorable ?
I vote for this one. Very clever.
WIn
Adorian?
Lezdorable…
Lesbian?
Joyce is not cheating on you, Dorothy – she’s merely trying to change a couple into a threesome! 😀
That post with that Gravatar, maximum win.
Heehee, thank you! 🙂
I have considered updating it to a more recent pic of Joycy, but I can’t find any that’s as cute. :3
Becky…just…adorable.
Cue Mary pouncing on her prey.
It appears Becky hasn’t learned any lessons about locking doors.
Nor Joyce or Sarah, for some reason.
I imagine Sarah as the type who believes in locking doors.
Yeah, exactly!
Yes, Dorothy, she is. That’s her actual best friend.
Oooooh, shots fired.
Evasive maneuvers! EVASIVE MANEUVERS!!!
Well, her best friends are a lesbian and an atheist, and she’s dating a gay guy. Joyce really takes her religion seriously!
I bet she’s wearing mixed fabrics, too!
We’ve already seen her wearing a hat! BLASPHEMY!!!
NONSENSE. HATS ARE EXPLICITLY SANCTIONED BY THE MOST HOLY INQUISITION.
AVE IMPERATOR.
Oh hey, look there’s another friend of Dorothy.
+1
The plot thickens.
I at least hope there’s some plot soon. hurr hurr
As in derrière, or..?
More of a Bosom guy, myself.
Massive tracts of land?
the most beautiful and appropriate avatar that ever there was
The thick plottens.
Then what does the thin do?
And then all 3 of them go jogging together. Jogging party.
They then go into the showers. Well, a guy can dream, can’t he?
Menage a trot?
I buy that pun for a dollar. ^_^
You are being overcharged.
By a factor of 20.
Plasma’s a mum?
Well played!
“Jogging” is code for somethin’ right?
Like ‘Journalism’. ^_^
Or “sex.”
…Wait…
Ok, I lied! We weren’t having sex… We were out jogging!
I KNEW IT!!!!! HOW COULD YOU?
Yes. Jogging. With roller skates. In a stadium.
Isn’t it 6am?
Sarah’s going to kill some people for getting woken up at this hour.
Being a deep sleeper is wonderful.
DOROTHY.
IS.
SO.
CUTE.
‘U’
Desu~
How will Joyce explain THAT comment? 😀
“She’s better at the sex than you.”
She was my first kiss. YOU MISSED YOUR CHANCE!!!
Ethan was her first kiss.
Well there was no passion in that one so I guess it doesn’t count to him.
Their second one was better. In some sense of the word.
If by “better,” you mean “marking their relationship for eventual and catastrophic failure,” then I agree.
The first one did that. I was thinking more in terms of objective contextless evaluation as a kiss.
First kiss with a woman.
You’ve never really kissed until you’ve kissed somebody of the same sex as you.
First time being kissed.
Incoherent sputtering or being too tired for it to register, probably.
Ohhh, poor poor Becky. She’s going to think Joyce is just messing with her, isn’t she?
Well, hopefully Becky’s apparent grasp of banter lets her see the truth.
“Hey what did you expect me to wait?”
Ot3.
I wonder if Becky will take this seriously.
I wonder if Becky is awake enough to even notice.
She’s snoring.
Joyce slept late.
PANIC MODE
Not entirely sure she slept.
Dorothy gets up early, so nah, she did not.
Love triangle go!
Aw man, now Dorothy is telling that joke, too? Ah well, Becky is adorable so it’s all good.
Of course ! what you think she doesn’t read the comments ? Either I think we’ve successful ran this joke into the ground nice everyone High 5 !
Walky rubs off on her more than she likes to admit, doesn’t he?
I bet he rubs off on her all the time.
…OK, I walked into that one.
It’s not cheating if it’s a threesome.
That isn’t a little bit true. Any one of the people involved could be cheating on some third party.
To insure a truly proper and guilt free experience, you need to increase the total “some” of the encounter until there are no people to be jealous of. So have a six billionsome.
Side effect: world peace
For a long time as everybody gets to their place…
Like an advanced society of bonobos
It would be like a Bonobo Conspiracy. Get the 10 MB zip file of the entire series.
Some people’s kinks might be left unfulfilled by that.
I think the n-person fulfillment problem is NP-complete in the general case.
I would imagine…
Hmm, going to need alot more “door socks” for that kinda action.
What you would trust Walky not to cheat on you but you wouldn’t trust Joyce? I would be offended if I was her.
Walky doesn’t have a lot more options.
Ya I guess this just shows that Joyce has more game than him, she can get all the lesbian poon she wants.
The only other women Walky associates with are Sal, Billie and Joyce. No possibility of cheating exists.
I think Dorothy’s eyebrows may have just set a new high-jump record.
Not even her hairband can keep them in place…
She has Beckytosis of the eyebrow. Bilateral Beckytosis, probably terminal… Poor girl.
Uh-oh. Looks like Becky’s snoring kept Joyce up all night.
Also, based on the way she’s latched onto Joyce, I’m guessing that she’s one of those people who flounders around in her sleep. Being your bedmate’s punching bag definitely doesn’t make for a restful night.
I like FAQ #10.
I dunno. It seems a little offensive. Tools are at least useful, you see, and are being maligned a little unfairly, I think.
I wonder how many new FAQs will be added next year(2015)?
Huh? Does this strip have a FAQ somewhere?
Yup right here. http://www.dumbingofage.com/about/
I prefer #8 myself. One thing us Pagans have over people coming up in the religion they were born into is an understanding of other religions. And some of us actually took Comparative Religions in college or Uni, or attended a UU church.
Perhaps as a general trend, but the one I knew best was in her own way as ignorant and bigoted as any Christian, and had a hard time accepting that anything to do with Christianity wasn’t evil.
Most are pretty pleasant, though.
OK I have been talking with younger Pagans, and it seems you’re right. The younger Pagans seem to be about the same as the general population in terms of knowledge of general religion.
There have by now been plenty of kids ‘born into’ paganism. It yet remains to be seen how second-gen pagans will behave themselves.
I am curious why Mr. Willis made so many of his characters gay/bi. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that he did. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I just wonder if it was a conscious effort on his part to have such diverse cast of characters.
Then again, I could just be underestimating how many gay/bi people there really are. Maybe I’m just not used to seeing orientation being represented realistically.
Out of the 18 characters on the Cast page, three are bi and two are gay. Those percentages may be a bit higher than in the population at large, but it’s hardly a remarkable number. The composition of my social circle is not much different.
That said, it makes sense to give the non-straight characters a larger share of screen time, because their stories tend to be more interesting, at least during the years of self-discovery.
Slightly nitpicky, but I believe it was three of each? Billie, Danny and Marcie are bi, Ethan, Ruth and Becky are gay.
Mike may or may not be bi.
Ruth is bi. Mike is probably most accurately classified as bi. I’m still not completely convinced that Joyce is entirely straight.
I feel like Mike may be pan. He never seemed to care about his partner’s equipment in Shortpacked!, only how fucking them would hurt them and others.
I agree with your more general point, but keep in mind there are several more gay, bi people in the cast (e.g. Leslie, Daisy, Robin) which the cast page does not include. (btw, am surprised the cast page includes Carla, but not Leslie who has appeared much more often).
One of countless Google hits for “percentage gay or bi”: http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/research/census-lgbt-demographics-studies/how-many-people-are-lesbian-gay-bisexual-and-transgender/
So, out of 18 people on the cast page, we could expect not quite one of them to be gay (3.5% of 18 is 0.63) if this campus followed the national average.
Note that those statistics might not be accurate. Considering the amount of heavily-repressed fundies in the US, that number might be a lot higher.
There are two numbers at the end of that summary that are also relevant:
An estimated 19 million Americans (8.2%) report that they have engaged in same-sex sexual behavior and nearly 25.6 million Americans (11%) acknowledge at least some same-sex sexual attraction.
In other words, not everyone who engages in non-straight romance or sex at a young age will show up in the statistics as gay or bi when they’re older. A lot of them end up identifying as “straight with some gay/bi experiences in their past”.
Another way of looking at the probabilities involved: what are the odds of five out of 18 people being gay or bi, given the fraction of the population overall that is gay or bi? Using a binomial distribution calculator and setting n = 18, k = 5, and p = 0.11, the odds of that are a hair over 4% — in other words, your social circle may have a more probable 0 or 1 gay/bi people out of 18, but there will be scores of groups like the DoA main cast on any decent-sized college campus.
Thank you for teaching me something. Math is fun.
Where does p=0.11 come from? I would think that p=0.035, from the information in the cited article.
I wonder if the people who comment, “Oh, aren’t there any straight people on this campus?” then go one to write the studios complaining that gay and bi people aren’t getting representation on the big screen unless the movie is ABOUT them being gay or bi? Unless they’re focusing their efforts on “Why don’t we see more non-white people on the screen?”
Swoop, I don’t even see it as ‘this character is gay/bi/trans/whatever’. These are college students. Their sexual alignment is way, WAY up in the air at that age. Young adults are curious, they try new things, they have unique experiences that alter their compasses and send them in new directions. Their sexual alignments aren’t settled enough to say for certain what they are (if you even consider it valid to do so).
Except, perhaps for Leslie. She’s, what, in her 30’s? By then, you know what you are. Even if no one else does.
You are also right. I really need to think more about the things I say. I could answer a lot of my own questions. Thank you.
While Deanatay’s comment is correct if you take the comic face-value,
David M. Willis, armed with canon, has established that sexual orientations of the characters are the same than in his other webcomics (where those characters are now much older).
He even retconned Danny to be bisexual in the old continuity to avoid violating this rule.
So when discussing the comic knowing this meta-level info, your original question does make sense.
I am curious why Mr. Willis made so many of the cast red headed. Don’t get me wrong, I am glad he did. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Some of them are very red headed, while others are brownish-red. Some may be coloring their hair, while others may be denying their gingerness. But there are more of them than in my group of friends.
Let’s talk about the genetics of this and the number of people who dye their hair. Or we can accept that in a story everything that happens is pretty much an intentional choice by the storyteller.
Personally, love the depth of story, the amount of texture and the layers of foreshadowing. DYW is clearing plotting days/years ahead, as when Becky was in strip #1 and destined to reappear four years later.
Because this comic uses a cast combined from four other comics. Each had it’s own redheads and blondes and now they’re all together in the same place.
Ok, you’re right. You have the best answer.
Agreed.
Let us speak no more of this, nor of the ginger conspiracy. Which does not exist.
Amazing, amazing eyebrows. My eyebrows have felt like that fairly often of late.
You should get that looked at. I checked webMD and it says you have eyebrow cancer.
It’s really more like eyebrow leprosy.
Beckytosis. Incurable and possibly fatal in the Bilateral condition… like what Dorothy has.
Now, I hate to nitpick, but are you sure you aren’t leaping two conclusions?
You can’t be too careful. Given enough time, eyebrow cancer has 100% mortality rate.
Oh no! That’s as bad as being born 😉
(I was actually trying acknowledge Plasma’s inspired diagnosis.)
Dorothy’s face!
Don’t you mean…
FAAAAAAAAAAACE
S-smiley? Is that you?
Time for Dorothy and Becky to fight to the death for Joyce’s affections.
The only loser here is Walky, really
Unless he can get a videotape.
No no it’s perfect. As revenge, he goes and tries to seduce Dorothy’s old boyfriend. Resulting in the most convoluted love polygon imaginable.
Someone might have to draw a chalkboard diagram for that.
“We’re still Okay.
Roz an’ Jacob ain’t yet connected to the rest.”
Ok this new ‘verse already has Carla and Malaya
(unlike the four year old walkyverse i linked to),
allowing for even more complicated shenanigans!
If I don’t need a mobius strip, it’s not THAT complicated.
Time for Dorothy and Becky to fight to the death for Joyce’s affections.
dun-dun-DON-don-DON-don-DON-da-da-DAHN-don
(Trekkies will recognize the tune, at any rate.)
You mean THIS tune?
Sigh, I keep forgetting that this isn’t Usenet, where we had to just refer to stuff like that and hope people had seen it.. Yes, that tune.
I have a Hallmark ornament with that tune! Although it is a bit heavy, so we don’t hang it on the Christmas tree. Instead, we just put it in my girlfriend’s Hanukkah display. Shatner and Nemoy are both Jewish, so we figure it works. 🙂
That is fantastic.
Dahn is not involved in this.
“Please rise for the national anthem.”
if he loses there he can always T-ry the only character that is T-ruly his equal and go for T-W-incest
Tripple pun combo
Worst word choice, or best word choice?
Best word choice for a shipping fic.
And just as authorities were finally bringing the eyebrow beast under control, Becky brought a new in a new strain from off-campus.
Get ready be bongo-slapped, Dorothy.
Although a bongo-slap from Joyce is more like a stern look and a change of subject.
She’s not going to be angry. She gets to spend time with her two favorite people in the world.
Agreed. Joyce might be embarrassed or something till she can explain, but mad? No.
I personally would like to see Dorothy get jealous just because that would be a refreshing aspect of her personality. We’ve seen Joyce fume over how much Dotty time Walky gets over her, maybe a little turnabout is fair play.
“Sorry can’t go jogging. I promised Becky we’d do some more montage walking today. There’s gonna be a cut to us releasing balloons at the top of a tower and everything!”
We have seen Sarah have a similar reaction “Not fair, with her you talk like a human being”. I don’t think Dorothy would make anything big out of it, but a small sign of suppressed resentment about loosing Joyce’s time and attention would not be out of character. Lampshaded by Walky, of course.
Tell that to Joe.
A bongo-slap from Joyce involves glass breaking in your face. Don’t rile her.
Dorothy can outrun her. She’s been preparing for it.
Yes she is
So is “Three’s a crowd” in reference to Joyce’s dorm room situation or to the new mostly platonic best friend triangle?
Or the Ethan/Danny/Amazi-Girl triangle, or the Amber/Danny/Amazi-Girl triangle…
I’m thinking “yes”.
Triangles for everyone!
Some universities just have quadrangles …
Or the fact tht three people are living in the same dorm room.
If the last title was to go by, I would say it will apply to more than just these three gals.
1. YES MORE BECKY
2. Oh thank god, Dorothy’s here, she’s full of plans and sympathy. This conversation between Joyce and Dorothy is going to be great.
Joyce: “Hey Dorothy meet my second girlfriend, If it wasn’t for the fact that I’m straight I’d would have probably gotten over my fear of sex by now.”
Joyce: “No Dorothy, totally not.
That’s my girlfriend from youth, Becky,
and she sleeps in my bed because she found out she’s gay!”
Somebody needs to move this beyond Becky staying in the dorms and get her into contact with some organization that helps out girls in her situation. Maybe Dorothy will be sensible enough.
Well they haven’t had much chance, since that went down at probably 9pm or later last night (possibly much later – no one else seemed to be up). But yeah, Dorothy is a good option to get things moving.
Yeah, I’m hoping Dorothy can voice of reason this into a long term solution. I’m all for providing a safe place for Becky, but this short term plan cannot e a viable long term solution. Fortunately, Dorothy is clever and thinks big picture.
For some reason reminds me of an 8-bit Theater where Red Mage said “The results of such catastrophic events are up to the gods. Sadly, for us, they are vindictive and filled with bad ideas”
http://www.nuklearpower.com/2004/06/17/episode-430-very-long-range/
Dorothy: full of plans and sympathy
Gods: full of vindictiveness and bad ideas
I’ll definitely take Dorothy!
Does that make you a…Dorotheist?
(rimshot.com)
I rather like “Disciple of Dorothy” or “Grand High Cleric of the Order of the Dot.”
you could just go with ‘friend of’…
The snark, I can taste it… tastes like… copper.
You’ll never take me alive! *handgun noises*
Naww, you just bit your lip.
d’aw
Dawes!
I want one
I’m starting a Harem, Dorothy. It’s what we protagonists are supposed to do!
AllI need now is a hot Tsundere Fairy…Eh guess Ruth will do been, wanting to hit that anyway.
All I
The font this site uses for comments made that look like alll with 3 “el”s.
Prepare for a major genre shift! Joisu Buraun no Utsukushī Daigaku Jidai is about to begin!
I like how even Dorothy is in on the whole “Joyce is lesbian in love with Dotty” thing.
Well, she is dating Walky. He’s a strong advocate of that one. 😛
She’s looking forward to tomorrow.
Is that really the next day in comic? because I would not put it past Willis to actually do that, then chuckle about it when someone points it out on tumblr
As near as I can figure, yeah. That was Saturday of Week 3, the Parentpocalypse, and I believe it’s currently early Friday morning of Week 4.
That is correct.
Tomorrow
Tomorrow
We’ll lez out, tomorrow
It’s only a day away!
Now, let’s fight space nazis
wow this thread went to strange places 😀
Bagge is referencing another recent comic in the Walkyverse:
http://www.shortpacked.com/index.php?id=2178
Leapin’ Lizards
Joyce got no sleep that night, if you know what I mean. That is right, they sat up all night talking about their feelings.
Becky’s pretending to be asleep so she can keep snuggling with Joyce.
… Early morning threesome? Or am I being too optomistic
(On a side note, today’s my birthday woop-dee-freakin-doo)
Congratulations!
Too optimistic. Definitely a happy thought, though.
ugh, this strip is so cute.
Happy birthday! I hope the after Christmas cleanup doesn’t ruin it.
You have my sincere condolences on your birthday. Not on your survival to celebrate it but on its proximity to the day used to celebrate another birth that changed the world.
Oh my goodness, you are right! Alex Chilton’s birthday is December 28!
You mean Isaac Newton, of course: 1642-12-25 (OS).
Merry Newtonmas!
We wish you a Merry Newton, we wish you a Merry Newton, we wish you a Merry Newton, and a Happy Revere!
Mine, of course. 12/24/1995
She was so surprised her eyebrows achieved escape velocity.
I dont know what I love more. Becky cuddling on Joyce or Dorothy acknowledging the running gag that Joyce is obviously attracted to her.
On an unrelated note Joyce x Harem
I know, it is all wonderful!
Perfect Gravatar is perfect
Notice that Becky is between Joyce and getting out of the bed. No chance of hurridly explaining this to Dorothy outside of the room in hushed voices.
But Harem is in another comic (Grrl Power) http://grrlpowercomic.com/ Now updating twice a week since the Patreon did so well.
This….guy………. XD
Joyce has that “I am not amused” look in her eye.
The condom hat completes that look.
<3 <3 <3 So adorable!
My favorite threesome (no, not like *that*…well, ok, I would have no problem with *that*, but it's not what I meant!) is finally together!
I know, right! Joyce is awesome, Becky is awesome, Dorothy is awesome. Jocye’s and Dorothy’s relationship is awesome, Joyce’s and Becky’s relationship is awesome. Dorothy’s and Becky’s relationship is something I really look forward to see take form. All three of them are Just So Awesome!
And Dorothy’s jobbing dress is awesome.
I love all the tiny things in this strip. Dorothy carefully sneaking in to try to spend some quality time with Joyce, Becky clinging to her like a teddy bear, Joyce trying to get her brain working, trying to figure out how to deal with best-friend-atheist and best-friend-lesbian in the same room. Dorothy’s moment of “oooops! Here be shenanigans” and then some delightful snark, which is mostly about diffusing and taking control over a weird situation, but contains a tiny bit of real challenge as well.
I wonder if Walky told Dorothy anything about Becky at all. My money is on no, he can be rather tight lipped when he wants to.
Typo or did your autocorrect change “jogging” to “jobbing”?
In case the latter: really weird!
typo, but now when I’m committed Urban Dictionary have a few interesting things to say about the term “jobbing”. So these are your jobbing clothes, Dorothy. Who do you plan jobbing to?
I love Dorothy’s “piqued interest” eyebrow lift, I think we last saw it when she first saw Walky naked. I assume the context is different here though.
Unless Walky’s penis looks like Becky hugging Joyce.
Cannot unsee. I may have to head over to Slipshine sooner than I’d planned to cleanse my mind-palate with wholesomely proper caramel dong.
O_o what has this thread done to me?
Someone needs to draw Walky’s penis in the silhouette of Becky and Joyce.
I adore Dorothy’s jogging outfit. She looks like she stepped out of an ’80s workout video.
I wonder if she exercises to DEVO.
I don’t understand why, but Dorothy always looks really hot in that outfit (not that she isn’t anyway, just moreso)
That comment + that gravatar = a sign of things to come
One can hope, one can hope…
Walky: Bummer.
Joyce: Super-bummer.
Every character in this strip today is adorable. It’s kind of amazing.
Enjoy while it lasts – Sarah will wake up soon enough and she has zero tolerance for adorable
Haha!
Perfect! 🙂
Dorothy’s eyebrows almost went into orbit!
Hilarious one Mr. Willis!
So. Without using her arms, and supporting Becky’s weight (some of it), Joyce was able to slowly sit up in bed.
Either she is sleeping on a hydraulic piston of some sort, or she has abs of steel.
Maybe she started training with Amazi-girl?
No face in tits? Becky, step your lesbian game up, girl!
Billie can show her how it is done!
I got Phew pointers I can show, OK I need the girl I find the most attractive in this room to volunteer… Screw it OK Joyce I know you and me Don’t see eye to eye much But I’ll just pretend your the AU version of yourself so come on.
Give her time, she’s new at this.
Motorboating is an art – not just anyone can do it, and take years to master.
Okay, so Billie/Ruth is our OTP, Amber/Danny/Ethan our potential OT3, and now potentially Joyce/Dorothy/Walky/Becky as our potential (if you count some platonics binding them) OT4.
I’m looking forward to our crazy-ass OT5 setup!
(Dorothy/Walky would be the center of the OT4, of course, with Walky/Becky having a solid potential for being platonic life-partners, Joyce almost certainly has an unspoken [and deeply denied] crush on Dorothy, and Becky has a VERY spoken crush on Joyce. There would have to be tons of hijinks to stabilize the grouping, but definite OT4 potential in there, I think!)
Joyce and Walky still strongly dislike each other.
I don’t think it’s quite that simple. I think their relationship in this universe is more siblingy, where they get on each other’s nerves, often deliberately, but when push comes to shove they really do care.
This has been my read on the situation as well.
Yeah, that’s how I feel about it. I mean, if they REALLY hated each other that much, they wouldn’t hang out basically all the time.
Joyce has her own, deeply depressing, reasons for hanging out with Walky, whether she wants to or not. She’s afraid to be alone, and he’s a safe guy that she trusts. But the fact remains that she does trust him.
That’s how Walky treats Billie though, and he doesn’t quite act the same way with Joyce.
Hm. Maybe Billie is an older-sister-figure and Joyce is more of a younger-sister-figure. (And he has an actual twin sister in Sal, heh.) So does that make Sarah his step-sister or something now? Next he’ll have a sister-in-law-figure. All the sisters!
I all honesty though I’m having difficulty finding instances of “Joyce gives a damn about Walky.” She makes it abundantly clear to everyone that she’d rather not deal with him ever: “not having to deal with Walky” is the whole reason Joyce agreed to this morning jog, after all.
‘Course, I have an older brother and I’d rather not deal with HIM ever, so…
xD Becky shall probalby join them
LMFAO i love how everyone is accidentally making comments that are really upsetting today. First it was Amber’s “boyfriend” remark to Danny yesterday RIGHT AFTER he wakes up from a sexy ethan dream and was suddenly next to his girlfriend and now its Dorothy making that joke while being unaware of the Becky situation. Whats next? Is someone gonna make a joke to Walky and Sal about how their parents might be racist?
And both Joyce and Walky has yet to say something – they are usually good at the insensitive insults thing. More epicnes to come.
To say nothing of Mike, who would do so deliberately.
Maybe Mike will coincidentally be drunk today, and say nothing but nice things.
Becky: I wish this was what it looked like.
Im so glad he brought back the neon green outfit, Dorothy looks so cute in it.
“Are you cheating on me?”
*Ahem* *Takes a deep breath*
Bwahahahahahahahaha11hahahaha!hahhaElevenahahaha!!!!!!1!!!!eleven!!!
8/10, I chuckled.
Becky and Dorothy will hit it off immediately. There will be a certain amount of posturing, but soon enough they will find common ground and join in snark. Poor Joyce will be teased mercilessly. And that’s even before Walky shows up.
Dorothy you put those eyebrows back down this instance
Heh, ok, this is the best.
Fanely the meeting ive been waiting for
Dorothy read the comment from my brane before I got to see the comic
Some one said there are 3 gays and 2 bi’s in this cast of 18.
Becky, Ethan, Ruth, and Joyce’s newspaper editor are gay?
And Billy is Bi, but I’m betting so is Danny-he’s dreaming about Ethan.
Don”t forget Jolene (?) the writer that Ethan was interested in briefly, Transsexual. I know, not gay or bi and so on, but not straight either.
A super interesting cast of individuals here.
Being trans doesn’t make a person not straight, though.
You misplaced Ruth, she is bi, not gay. We know Billie and Danny are as well.
Becky and Ethan are gay.
Carla is asexual and transgender.
That is it for the cast page, Daisy (the gay editor) isn’t on it. Though we just don’t know details like that for some on the cast page… some of them could still turn out to be LGBTQA later.
Joyce’s sister is Jocelyne (formerly Joshua), and the proper term for her is transgender.
Transsexual is used less often, I believe it technically means someone that has had sex reassignment surgery, there may still be negative feelings towards the word as well (not sure). In any case it seems that Jocelyne has not yet had surgery or hormones. (Anyone that knows more than I, please jump in!)
Oh, and she is straight (meaning she likes guys, of course). Transgender people can have any orientation cisgender people have.
We don’t know anything about Jocelyne’s orientation, do we?
We know she’s not gay (she said so herself), and her interest in Ethan seems to indicate she’s interested in men. With no indication that she’s interested in women, straight is the best guess, though bisexuality is still a possibility.
I hate it so much when people use “gay” (or “bisexual,” “transgender,” etc) as a noun.
Lesbian and homosexual are both used as nouns frequently. That leaves without a noun for a homosexual man.
We’ll survive.
It makes sense, it kind of reduces people to nothing more than their sexuality (or that they are trans, etc). Those words should be adjectives or subject complements or similar. And after all it isn’t like you really see “straight” or “hetero” used as nouns.
I remember way back in the 80’s people talking about “AIDS spreading to heterosexuals”, so yes, “heterosexual” is used as a noun.
Who cares how many and what genders or sexualities are in the comic? What does it matter?
Why do you care if vanillas are overrepresented? What’s wrong with an environment where there are too many cis-hets? You know, honestly, I don’t mind spending time around them as long as they keep to their quirks to themselves and don’t try to shove their sexuality down my throat.
The reason this matters is because having characters in fiction to relate to and identify with is really important in order to have a connection with any sort of narrative. People like us will never be able to know how great it is to finally find a fictional character who is almost entirely like us, “quirks” and all, because we’ve never had to struggle with that.
You don’t get it, do you?
I was cheating on BECKY-
with YOU.
+10
I need to Like your comment and can’t
Dorothy clearly reached eyebrow level ultra violet here.
“Joyce, you have an attachment.”
You think so? I mean, they kept kidding her about that unitil she shopped for one online and found out what they were, but I didn’t think she actually bought one.
Not an attachment but a parasite…. like a tick.
Willis shrunk the forehead!
… And all of that was okay, ’cause it was in a threeway.
This may be the single most adorable strip David Willis has ever produced. No, please don’t tell me I’m wrong, not even if you have proof. Just let me have this moment.
I don’t think you are wrong. Becky’s Joyce-cling is a thing of beauty
Dorothy, being the journalist she is, will eventually discover the reason Becky has turned up and is sharing a bed with Joyce. Actually, considering how quickly Becky opened up to Joyce (and later Sarah) about the reason “classes were cancelled”, she will probably volunteer the information at the earliest opportunity. This will of course lead to an article slamming Anderson for being intolerant. Becky’s father will then, of course, find out where she is and …..
I fear this is not going to turn out well.
That would be an interesting plot development. I think Ross-the-butt will find Becky faster than that – it’s no big stretch that she’ll go to Joyce – but it could be an fine common cause for Dorothy, Joyce and Becky (and a nice stepping stone in her political career).
On Parent’s Weekend, when parent’s were expected to be turning up, Ruth and the woman in the headscarf who works the dorm office downstairs managed to remove Blaine O’Malley. If whats-his-butt shows up and tries to get into the dorm, I think they might be able to deal with him. Of course, this will bring Becky’s existance to the attention of powers that be, but if they have any competence at all they can evict her from the dorm into a women’s shelter rather than into the arms of her dad.
Of course, they should be getting Becky into a women’s shelter ASAP anyway.
the woman in the headscarf = Asma.
Dorothy has shown restraint in publishing volatile or personal information in the past.
I don’t see her outing Becky’s hidey hole being a problem.
Though I’m pretty sure it’s not much of a secret to begin with. She ran away to stay with her best friend. That’s like the first number any parent calls when their kid’s missing. We’ll probably be hearing from Mister Macantyre sooner rather than later regardless of what articles Dorothy writes.
DO THESE ROOMS NOT HAVE LOCKS
Where’s the drama in that?
(Maybe Joyce kept it unlocked for this very reason. Jogging aside, speaking to Dorothy about Becky’s situation as quickly as possible is a very smart thing to do)
Joyce probably gave Dorothy a key to her room as a gesture of friendship. Because she’s Joyce.
Wake up, Sarah! Here is the fun stuff you were asking for.
DAMN look those eyebrows gettin’ away from her in panel 3.
I prefer to believe that a slide whistle accompanies the eyebrow raise
And now I will love Dorothy forever.
Agreed. I may bag on her for how she’s not being entirely fair to Walky, but that doesn’t change that she is my absolute favorite.
Thirded. We do bag on the characters we love occasionally*. That’s because we want them to grow and become better at those things we love them for to begin with.
*) all the friggin’ time.
Your comment is the happiest moment in Danny’s life.
“It’s only because we love you we renamed ‘to fuck up in a stupid way’ after you.”
Well, actually, when it comes to me it’s true. I have a LOT of shit to give him because I give a lot of shit about him.
Antimetabole at its finest.
Now that is just adorable.
aww yiss
I like how the two final panels are drawn from Joyce’s perspective.
Jogging!Dorothy is like the cutest thing ever.
The last panel is my favorite panel ever.
In this comic, everyone momentarily loses their eyebrows some time or another.