Ahh, the halcyon days where you could get your unlicensed game to run on an unmodded console* just by including another cartridge slot for a licensed game on top. Yet another thing the Christian teen experience has in common with Sonic the Hedgehog.
I’m pretty sure Linda’s not going to be at Lucy’s church she hadn’t heard of. She’s more likely to show up at Walky’s dorm room. And then they’ll have to sneak out through the half bath, and Ken and Arnold will make an appearance, ok I’m on board.
do we even know if linda invited them out again anywhere? I assume they wouldn’t go to the church service since walky phrased it in a way that’d be like “i’ll go to church with you and then report to my parents about how you’re a nice churchgoing girl” tho i imagine they might not be fond of religion or at least churches/organized groups if linda was willing to sue joyce’s church after that whole incident
Even then the whole “tell your parents” part was Lucy. I read Walky’s offer as just to do something with Lucy to make up for the meeting with his parents being so awful. Lucy took it in the “scheme to make them like her” direction, but I don’t think Walky had any such ideas.
Yeah, that’s just not how that conversation happened. He never said anything of the sort, he just offered to go, period. Linda is completely uninvolved, has nothing to do with it, wasn’t included in the conversation, and hasn’t been contacted about it on-panel. The only relevance she has is through Lucy’s dumbass need to please the unpleasable.
That whole relationship is Walky uttering things without saying what he’s thinking, Lucy reading something else into them and saying it out loud, and then Walky choosing not to clarify.
I will never forgive Robert Zemeckis for leaving the scene of Principal Strickland crushing students’ confiscated Walkmen (Walkmans?) on the cutting room floor.
“We were Xmas and Easter Christians until we sent my sister away to Catholic boarding school, at which point we considered our obligations to God moot and stopped bothering with religion at all.”
Ummm…None of that is how any of it works, but specifically, Linda used “we locked Sally up in a religious institution” as an excuse to stop being religious? Like she was paying off a debt to God with one of her own kids?
I know we say it pretty often around here, but Linda is a terrible mother.
I mean, Walky is an atheist and only culturally Christian (which is pretty common) so he doesn’t really care whatsoever about what was really motivating all this.
He called God “sky daddy” when talking to Joyce in a strip right after he started dating Dorothy. I think it’s safe to assume he’s at least agnostic atheist.
that’s not inconsistent with someone who believes a god or gods exist but they are indifferent to humans. I’ll see if I can find that strip to get the whole conversation though.
I don’t think that was Linda’s actual reason. Someone else suggested that maybe there was too much gossip about the incident. Or maybe they just got tired of going, or it didn’t seem worth it anymore with the family split up.
I’d buy the avoiding church due to gossip angle.. mostly because Linda seemed to only be going for appearances/connections and can’t take any suggestion that she’s a less then perfect parent so just dropped it once it became less then perfectly convenient.
I expect he ran out of “being serious for a moment” and that’s him making a joke because they happened about the same time.
Much more likely they didn’t go to Easter and Christmas services anymore because Linda thought people would see them without Sal and think Linda was a bad parent.
It is extremely common for not-that-religious-but-not-atheist parents to feel like they’re supposed to see that their children are ‘properly’ raised in the church, even against said children’s wishes. It’s also extremely common that as said children grow up, it starts to become more optional. My suspicion would be that that WOULD have been the case for the Walkertons, except Linda seeing that Sal was “on a bad track” figured church was a good influence. Once Sal was shipped off to boarding school, that wasn’t really a concern anymore, and none of them really wanted to go, so it just sort of naturally fell out of the routine.
Of course none of that would’ve been made explicit, certainly not to Walky, so he drew his own connections and attached his own explanation for it.
That kind of makes sense, though I’d expect that to be more the shift from “Church every Sunday” to “Easter/Christmas” than from “Easter/Christmas” to nothing at all. Few would expect a couple sermons a year to make any difference to a kid on a bad track.
Pretty much. My mom figured that I should be baptized and confirmed and go to Sunday School, but we only went to church when me or my brother were asked to act as ushers or participate in some other way. As for Christmas, I considered my Mom paying lip service to all of us going to the candlelight service but not following through as a family holiday tradition. I was disappointed the year she didn’t bring it up.
This is Walky’s POV. Consider church as a family outing and a way to be part of the local community. And then you send your kid to boarding school because she tried to rob a store.
How keen would you be to face the community after that? Or how much a family outing would feel like a stab in the wound?
I don’t know if that’s the real reason, but it makes more sense to me. And also Walky tends to have a self-centred perspective which makes him an unreliable narrator when it comes to stuff that hits close to home.
Linda isn’t the Ouroboros of evil that the comments section likes to paint her as. She’s just occasionally shitty just like people can often be, with or without kids.
Considering Walky and Sal were (I think) 13 at the time, I wonder if this is just some bs Linda said and Walky believed, or something he made up and forgot he did so.
They’re Chreasters, which is an actual term. Christmas and Easter.
But were they Catholic Chreasters or was the Catholic boarding school used because there aren’t many evangelical boarding schools? Because Catholics usually hold on to kids through confirmation in high school. Which seems unlikely.
That makes sense. Being absolved of sins when you haven’t committed any is pointless. You’ve got to commit some sins first, or you’re just wasting everyone’s time.
One of my favorite ancient heresies was the idea that since God shows His glory and mercy by forgiving sin, we should sin a lot in order to allow Him more opportunity to do so.
I’m going with Lucy/Walky. With Sal’s realization that her Mom only approved of Danny I think Sal is going to internalize that and see her relationship with Danny as being a manifestation for her mother’s approval, which she will never reslly have, and therefore she should dump Danny.
We’ve already went through how that’s not happening, within a single strip. She’s not gonna let her shitty mom ruin one of the best things she’s got going on right now
Church always just seemed like a waste of a Sunday. Why would I rather go to church instead of sleeping. I don’t even think you HAVE to go to church to get into heaven. Pretty sure you can just read the book.
I was never sure. Is Sunday the 7th day or is it Saturday? Most calendars consider Saturday the end of the week and Sunday the first day. If that’s the case Saturday would be the day of rest and Sunday would be the day of creation.
Christians took the 7 day week from Judaism (the Roman calendar didn’t have a week really). In Judaism, the sabbath is Saturday, the 7th day. Christian’s holy day isn’t the sabbath, although they call it that sometimes. Christian’s holy day is usually* Sunday because that’s the day of the week Jesus is said to have come back from the dead.
*Seventh Day Adventists’ holy day is on Saturday.
The seven day week started with Assyrians or Babylonians, I don’t know exactly when. But the Babylonians had a lunar calendar, and the phases of the moon are approximately 7 days after each other. After each new moon, they counted 7, 14, 21, and 28 days, and each of those was holy to a different god/des (they got sacrifices), and different things were “inauspicious” or evil to do on those days. Maybe the Assyrians and Babylonians got it from an earlier religion or culture, phases of the moon does not seem that unintuitive.
The Christian church changed the Sabbath to be different from Jews.
Then at some point the Catholic Church started pretending they didnt ( saying Monday was day 1 ) because it puts them in conflict the bible ,
plus it makes the New Testament stories make no sense ( Sanhedrin didnt meet on the Sabbath.
Also the Jewish Sabbath starts at Friday Night at sunset, becuase Days in Jewish calendar begin at sunset.
this is Probably becuase the “jewish calendar” is actually the Babylonian calendar. and Both are Moon-based systems ( with a sem periodic leap month to correct it) . So months begin with the New Moon.
Properly speaking, the Sabbath is a Jewish observance of honoring God resting after creating the world. It’s on Saturday. Christians, despite often using the term ‘Sabbath’ generally do not honor the Sabbath as a day of rest, but instead are celebrating the Lord’s Day in honor of Christ being resurrected on Easter Sunday. That’s why the religious observation changed from Saturday to Sunday.
Early followers of Jesus still observed the Sabbath ( because they were Jews) then met in their groups the following day. As more gentiles joined the Sunday meeting took priority.
It was pointed out in Sunday School or a sermon or something, that in the gospels, Jesus reiterates 9 of the 10 commandments, and the one he doesn’t is to keep the Sabbath holy.
And the antisemitic stories where Jesus healed on the Sabbath in the gospels are also used to explain disregarding Saturday as the Sabbath.
That seems to make sense, but is there any real evidence for it?
We do know many early Jewish Christians observed the Sabbath, but is there evidence for the meeting up the next day? Outside of Paul’s letters, we don’t really have a lot for the very early days when that would have been a factor.
Oh, I can definitely explain this. First, you focus very heavily on the verses that say you should meet together. Second, you mention the reason for that is if you aren’t getting your weekly dose of the Truth (TM) then you might be led astray. Third, if you get led astray you go to hell!
And therefore, QED, not going to church is definitely very bad, and you should definitely be there because God wants you to be. Nothing to do with peer pressure and keeping you tied into the social structure, nope, it’s definitely all God saying you should do that to avoid going to hell.
no angels have ever shown up with flaming swords to cut people who had the wrong theology… but the “there’s no cost” is the thing on the Pascal’s Wager advertisement in large letters. There’s a lot of fine print. regular attendance is expected to follow true devotion. Christian churches tend to favor theologies where people are expected to show up.
My grandfather asked permission from his priest before he traveled, if it was ok to go to mass in a different parish. Apparently each time.
Its a “Free Gift” .
dont you want a “free gift”? Just gonna throw it away.
Then maybe pigeons will be saved from hellfire? is that want you want. all of heaven just filled pigeon shit ?
In a technical sense, there’s that one pinup of the random person with one hand down their panties and the other hand holding a switch. That’s pretty close?
Umm no, if you plan to do so in the morning like Walky implies you would need shower first have put down sheets or some protective barrier if you want to protect your furniture, also avoid farts and sweating some deoderizer may mask the smell but it doesnt get rid of the fecal particles, the other option unless you want to stand up the whole time not exactly relaxing if your a PC game enthusiast it’s difficult unless your using a controller. Again a protective barrier is needed. It just seems simpler if you wear pj’s. Or regular clothes or comfortable clothes
Better yet, keep the ass-chair and just clean it later. Relaxation isn’t a permanent state, and it’s weird to act like cleaning has to be a before thing.
The idea that sitting naked on a chair permanently contaminates it, but a thin layer of cloth (that might have been in contact with your ass for hours already) protects it completely is just weird to me.
Blankets can be washed after the gaming is done. You can put blankets in places that aren’t beds. You don’t need to enter a 14-digit code, turn two keys simultaneously, and recite am ancient incantation to play a video game without clothes on.
All these things require more effort then wearing comfy clothes. If you want to play video games naked thats your prerogative, myself I m just going to wear comfy clothes.
It’s not us in the real world that really matter for this, though. Walky’s a gross slob, he’s not gonna be as concerned with farticles as we are. For him, it’s as simple as taking off his clothes (like 2 seconds of effort, lol) and then playing a video game (still completely trivial effort to start up).
Some people have indicted that naked gaming is what they prefer I’m just specifying that it just seems like too much work to add any additional comfort to gaming.
Putting on clothes requires more effort than… not doing so, though. Which is the normal way people who roll out of bed to play videogames do it, not whatever you’re describing.
now that Lucy’s shown up, I’m leaning heavily towards their kiss last night not being their first kiss. Which means we won’t see it unless the bonus strip is Arnold walking in on them in a flash back, because he’s going to win this week. I was only a few hours late nominating him, so I bet he gets enough this time. He’s only 29 or 32 behind the leads, that’s surmountable.
Oh man, does Becky know that Walky was the church mouse who baby Joyce thought was cute? I want her to know this because the comedic possibilities are ENDLESS.
I… that doesn’t make sense Walky. I really don’t get how shipping Sal off to a religious boarding school would make the family quit church. If anything it would make them more likely to attend.
Only thing I can wager is that perhaps the timing lines up in Walky’s head but the real reason they quit is because churches are often gossipy judgemental shits to the point Mrs Walkerton perhaps seemed open and understanding comparatively. So when the whole drama with Sal went down and was out yeah they weren’t going to subject themselves to the at best passive aggressive excrement out of the corners of parisoners mouths, not even just for holidays.
Yes it does, the only reason they went to Church was because Sal was a naughty child who needed church. Once Sal was at boarding school the rest of the family didn’t need to attend because they were good enough.
Is this Sunday? When did the parents appear? They had two full days of doing parent related things? Didn’t that start from the day after walky materialised his parents? It doesn’t really matter but I am very confused right now about in comic time.
Each chapter is one day, starting at midnight more or less. Parents showed up on “But Don’t Give Yourself Away”, which is lyric from a song about parents being regular people.
Oh, Lucy DEFINITELY watched whatever he was in, and it is going to shatter her to find out that she’s dating the sidekick from the unaired pilot of Salvationman And The Bible Kid or whatever.
this is an obligation, it is in the Ten Commandments and the Bible. Theoretically, it’s pleasant because what’s more pleasant than communion with God and your fellow believers, but in practice you miss morning cartoons and running to church because, as usual, we’ll be late.
The term ‘Lord’s Day’s is Christian, the Ten Commandments predate the NT. The term is properly Sabbath. Christians just moved the day because of Easter Sunday.
And Christian doctrines typically that as attending church service on Sunday, as well as whatever various blue laws are trendy at the moment. It’s obligatory.
Not sure how many denominations it takes to be typical out of the over 45000, but of the mainstream and evangelical ones I know, Sunday church service is not part of doctrine as it’s not codified – atonement is doctrine, Sunday service is cultural expectation.
Some events that can be part of Sunday church services can be doctrine-related sacraments, but not attending the service itself. Even in times and places when church attendance was obligatory through threats of violence because it was used as proof of following doctrine, there were many reasons one could get away with not doing so, some where it was required for someone not to attend. In most places these days with far less cultural obligation, the expectation can still have force without doctrine being involved.
I guess I don’t understand something… does Walky have … morals?
I mean, he basically jumped Dorothy, right? He had sex with another one (Amber?). Now he is actively avoiding sex with Lucy? Not only that, but appears to be panicking at even turning her on and/or nekkid time?
I’m not going to slut shame, but there is a lot of morality with sex. There’s consent requirements, there’s adherence to fidelity (whether monogamous, polygamy, polyandry, polyamory). There’s ‘I need to tell someone I have an STD’ etc.
Okay, but none of that applies to this question. Walky hasn’t violated anybody’s consent, he hasn’t been a dirty infidel, and he hasn’t neglected to mention an STD. The question was whether he has morals, seemingly just because he’s had sex with somebody and is hesitant to do it with somebody else who’s completely separate from the first one. I didn’t bring up all that extra stuff because it’s irrelevant.
Sure, but the phrasing of this question implies having sex without… I don’t know, enough prevarication? = immoral.
I find it quite bizarre how “Walky is not attracted to Lucy” is so underrepresented in the comments, because that’s all I get off this. Her being a virgin adds another level, but he has shown zero interest, ever.
He most certainly has shown interest. Not as frequently or intensely as Lucy has displayed attraction to him, but he clearly does find her attractive. Maybe he’s got other hangups, maybe he’d actually prefer her as a friend, maybe a lot of things that we can project on his mental state regarding Lucy. But “they should break up because he’s not attracted to her” is a weird take.
IIRC, his hesitation stems from the fact that he will be Lucy’s first time. As such, he feels a certain sense of pressure to ensure that her first time will be “Good and up to expectations”, which in turn leads to a feeling of responsibility. And as we all know, Walky is allergic to responsibility. ;P
That said, I DO also think that it’s fairly obvious that Walky does not have the same kind of physical attraction to Lucy that he did with Dorothy and Amber. It’s not that he doesn’t like her, but it’s clear that the kind of passion he had with the other two girls is… missing with Lucy.
There are so many reasons someone might not want to have sex, even when they’ve had and enjoyed sex in the past, and it’s not about morals. Walky’s relationship with Lucy is different; his feelings are different. Whether or not differences in his feelings, are a fault in their relationship, it makes sense that they could be connected to different desires. There’s also a mismatch in desire between him and Lucy, which he seems pretty aware of.
There are also experiences outside of being with Lucy that could affect him. He might have feelings about having had sex with people he now is distant from, and it could make him more hesitant about going there again. He’s also been through trauma since then, and one after effect can be a lower sex drive.
Now, for what we’ll see here, I’m thinking “how he feels about Lucy” is going to be the main focus. I bring up these other possible factors just as examples for why a change in wanting to have or not have sex with one’s partner/someone can have many reasons and nothing to do with morality.
He kidnapped everybody and threw them in a basement at some random abandoned fully-furnished house, killed three guys, abused Faz until he became Like That™, roofied Joyce at that party, stabbed somebody to the point of near death just for quoting the Bibble, dumped Danny for talking to Sal, railed Stacy in a supply closet, stole Sierra’s Jordans, made a list on a not-so-private website that ranked women numerically, turned Becky into a lesbian, stabbed Sal in the hand, dated Ethan in an attempt to turn him straight, beat the shit out of Ruth, refused to use the blue shell, stole Fizzy Lifting Drinks, manipulated Jacob into a brief makeout that ruined his relationship with Raidah, gave Liz (a minor) weed edibles, ruined Dorothy’s grades, sniped Joyce’s spot in the school paper, ditched Daisy in the middle of a date and sent her some random woman’s nudes like it was gonna make up for that, cuffed Jason to the door and kept him there overnight, constantly accuses Sal of being fakey, pulled a gun on campus, superglued Carla’s skates, threw a plate of whipped cream at Mary’s face, diagnosed Joyce with autism, drew dicks on a bunch of whiteboards, punched Joe several times for allegedly thinking about sex, fucked at least two students whose grades he was responsible for tracking, stole Carol’s car and took it out for a joyride, paid for Ross’s bail, broke into Becky’s childhood home, interviewed Roz, voted for Robin, snuck into Leslie’s house and stayed there for multiple days, taught Joyce to masturbate, took that nice dental hygienist on a really bad date, destroyed Marcie’s vocal cords, kidnapped Fuckface, beat up Amazi-Girl, tried to toss a cinder block at a car window, broke Ken and Arnold’s Joycons, held Ethan at knifepoint, hired a bunch of thugs to fight Sal at Robin’s political rally, wrote the RA election subplot, killed Ruth’s parents, beats up Howard on the daily, tried to blackmail Billie, gaslit Ethan for years, stole Booster’s Nintendo, embezzled political funds to buy a large plush dinosaur, had enthusiastically consensual sex with Becky, said mildly rude things about science, stole gay pizza, ogled Connie (who’s like 17 dude come on), made misogynistic comments in Gender Studies class, dissed Joyce in that same class, served alcohol to minors, played ukulele in public, forced Sal to accept a bicycle, stood in snow one too many times, said something slightly pissy to Danny and Sal about music practice, and invited people to watch Riff Trax on purpose.
Dammmn if my boyfriend OFFERED to go do a thing with me, and then spent this much time whining about it being an obligation and how they coulda dressed like a slob… I’d ask them wtf why’d they offered to come???
Right? Like dude, my floor mates and I went on a waterfall hike/beach trip that we paid for, by our own volition, and we still griped about waking up early and having to go on a hike. Griping is human nature
What if he complained for a couple minutes to his friend in private, and then tried his absolute best when he was actually with you? I think the jury is still out on Walky.
So, just for funsies, I read the dialogue from the last two strips up to todays panel 4 out loud against against a timer, and “this much time” has been about a minute. Including Becky saying things for him to respond to.
I have complained for longer than that about the fact I ate the last bagel, and now there’s no bagels until the shopping arrives later the same day.
Yeah, that sounds about right. The Walkertons strike me as pretty unconcerned about religion so it doesn’t surprise me at all they took the chance to stop going once the kid who ‘needed moral instruction’ was gone.
I appreciate having grown up in a family that didn’t go to church. I have a relationship with god (or WHATEVER it is up there) that isn’t based in fear or obligation, which as i’ve come to learn is VERY rare 😳😳
I said this in a reply, but every single interaction between Walky and Lucy = Walky is not attracted to Lucy, glaringly so, to me.
Like, you can think someone is attractive in the abstract, and be fine with a kiss, without wanting to have sex with him. And to me, there is zero question that Walky experiences zero physical attraction to Lucy.
Which means I actually feel vaguely uncomfortable the way he’s being given very little agency by the other characters or the commenters in the “will they fuck” question.
I did enjoy the punchline very much (and remembered the previous strip, Willis. lol)
right? like he’s trying to follow Dotty’s advice, and he firmly believes that he can’t tell Lucy what is going on in his head, or where his feelings are, because she’d be hurt and theferefor he wouldn’t be a “good boyfriend”. So, like in all other things, he is avoiding the situation and making excuses to get out of having sex with her.
Good point, but I don’t think it necessarily cancels it out.
If I liked someone as a person and didn’t find them unattractive, I would likely be turned on in the situation in the comic. It still wouldn’t mean I’m super into them. And it’s been a long time of extremely lukewarm and avoidant reactions by Walky.
That does make me feel slightly less uncomfortable: at least there’s *some* attraction. Also, holy crap, 2 years??
Walky, there is no *normal* amount to do church.
Normal is what your family teaches you as normal.
For me, that was going to church every sunday and getting in touch with secular things as little as possible. It was normal. It’s only now that i’m an atheist with more awareness of what other people’s childhood was like, that i see it’s not normal outside my own bubble!
Jocelyne!!!
EXTRA hooray! (76%, 2,788 Votes)
wait who's jocelyne i didn't read the first ten years of the strip (13%, 491 Votes)
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Lucy, if he downloads a rom of Bible Adventures and plays that naked, it still counts as attending church, so there’s your loophole.
Ahh, the halcyon days where you could get your unlicensed game to run on an unmodded console* just by including another cartridge slot for a licensed game on top. Yet another thing the Christian teen experience has in common with Sonic the Hedgehog.
*Assuming you had a top-loader, anyway.
If Lucy’s looking for a loophole, she could take Garfunkle & Oates’ advice!
You’ll never get that game’s immortal soundtrack out of your head:
Neh. Neh neh, neh neh neh neh neh neh neh neh neh neh neh. Neh neh. Neh neh neh. Nehnehnehnehnehnehneh, neh neh neh neh
Do you want succubi? Because THAT is how you get succubi.
The fun kind, or the boring “ooga booga scary nightmare monster” kind?
Yes.
Becky never really been one to mince words, eh
Becky: You could have so much fun at church!
Walky: I don’t believe in Primus or Gandalf.
Lucy: I DO!
Surrender to temptation Lucy!
(you’re certainly not gonna regret less time with Linda, just sayin’)
In other words,
“Forget life, play Snood!”
With your girlfriend! NAKED!!!! 🎮
*plays “Eggplant” from Spelunky Soundtrack on hacked muzak*
I want this pin up!
I’m pretty sure Linda’s not going to be at Lucy’s church she hadn’t heard of. She’s more likely to show up at Walky’s dorm room. And then they’ll have to sneak out through the half bath, and Ken and Arnold will make an appearance, ok I’m on board.
do we even know if linda invited them out again anywhere? I assume they wouldn’t go to the church service since walky phrased it in a way that’d be like “i’ll go to church with you and then report to my parents about how you’re a nice churchgoing girl” tho i imagine they might not be fond of religion or at least churches/organized groups if linda was willing to sue joyce’s church after that whole incident
Even then the whole “tell your parents” part was Lucy. I read Walky’s offer as just to do something with Lucy to make up for the meeting with his parents being so awful. Lucy took it in the “scheme to make them like her” direction, but I don’t think Walky had any such ideas.
Yeah, that’s just not how that conversation happened. He never said anything of the sort, he just offered to go, period. Linda is completely uninvolved, has nothing to do with it, wasn’t included in the conversation, and hasn’t been contacted about it on-panel. The only relevance she has is through Lucy’s dumbass need to please the unpleasable.
That whole relationship is Walky uttering things without saying what he’s thinking, Lucy reading something else into them and saying it out loud, and then Walky choosing not to clarify.
Lucy has been in serious negotiations with Temptation for some time. Surrender is a done deal; now they’re just working out the timing.
Naked gaming has proven to be the better option. Take the out, Walkman.
Take out “the Walkman”.
Take the Walkman out.
Out-take: the Walkman
–Dave, if you’re old enough to remember it, no you don’t
I will never forgive Robert Zemeckis for leaving the scene of Principal Strickland crushing students’ confiscated Walkmen (Walkmans?) on the cutting room floor.
Come now…..NO DON’T!
Naked video game sessions are truly second to none in terms of relaxation, fulfillment and self realization.
Not really, but who cares.
This response doesn’t make much sense. Was it meant for a different post?
ohhh myyyy
“We were Xmas and Easter Christians until we sent my sister away to Catholic boarding school, at which point we considered our obligations to God moot and stopped bothering with religion at all.”
Ummm…None of that is how any of it works, but specifically, Linda used “we locked Sally up in a religious institution” as an excuse to stop being religious? Like she was paying off a debt to God with one of her own kids?
I know we say it pretty often around here, but Linda is a terrible mother.
I mean, Walky is an atheist and only culturally Christian (which is pretty common) so he doesn’t really care whatsoever about what was really motivating all this.
I don’t think we know that he’s an atheist. Just that he’s irreligious. A person can think a god or gods exist and be disinterested in them.
He called God “sky daddy” when talking to Joyce in a strip right after he started dating Dorothy. I think it’s safe to assume he’s at least agnostic atheist.
that’s not inconsistent with someone who believes a god or gods exist but they are indifferent to humans. I’ll see if I can find that strip to get the whole conversation though.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/skywizard/ I’m just getting irreligious and troll out of this, not necessarily atheist.
Last time Willis said anything about it, he said the Walkerton family was agnostic/unconcerned about god. Not an atheist, but not a believer either.
I would call them “apatheist”
Just sort of believe it as a baseline, don’t care enough to get involved or really examine it in any direction.
Yeah it doesn’t make sense to me
With every action Linda has already taken with this pair, it is more evident that it is always a cruel result.
I mean, if one kid is getting twice as much church, the other must not need any, stands to reason.
God can’t argue with math, he invented it.
I think Walky’s mainly talking for himself there.
I don’t think that was Linda’s actual reason. Someone else suggested that maybe there was too much gossip about the incident. Or maybe they just got tired of going, or it didn’t seem worth it anymore with the family split up.
I’d buy the avoiding church due to gossip angle.. mostly because Linda seemed to only be going for appearances/connections and can’t take any suggestion that she’s a less then perfect parent so just dropped it once it became less then perfectly convenient.
I expect he ran out of “being serious for a moment” and that’s him making a joke because they happened about the same time.
Much more likely they didn’t go to Easter and Christmas services anymore because Linda thought people would see them without Sal and think Linda was a bad parent.
It is extremely common for not-that-religious-but-not-atheist parents to feel like they’re supposed to see that their children are ‘properly’ raised in the church, even against said children’s wishes. It’s also extremely common that as said children grow up, it starts to become more optional. My suspicion would be that that WOULD have been the case for the Walkertons, except Linda seeing that Sal was “on a bad track” figured church was a good influence. Once Sal was shipped off to boarding school, that wasn’t really a concern anymore, and none of them really wanted to go, so it just sort of naturally fell out of the routine.
Of course none of that would’ve been made explicit, certainly not to Walky, so he drew his own connections and attached his own explanation for it.
That kind of makes sense, though I’d expect that to be more the shift from “Church every Sunday” to “Easter/Christmas” than from “Easter/Christmas” to nothing at all. Few would expect a couple sermons a year to make any difference to a kid on a bad track.
Pretty much. My mom figured that I should be baptized and confirmed and go to Sunday School, but we only went to church when me or my brother were asked to act as ushers or participate in some other way. As for Christmas, I considered my Mom paying lip service to all of us going to the candlelight service but not following through as a family holiday tradition. I was disappointed the year she didn’t bring it up.
This is Walky’s POV. Consider church as a family outing and a way to be part of the local community. And then you send your kid to boarding school because she tried to rob a store.
How keen would you be to face the community after that? Or how much a family outing would feel like a stab in the wound?
I don’t know if that’s the real reason, but it makes more sense to me. And also Walky tends to have a self-centred perspective which makes him an unreliable narrator when it comes to stuff that hits close to home.
Linda isn’t the Ouroboros of evil that the comments section likes to paint her as. She’s just occasionally shitty just like people can often be, with or without kids.
Considering Walky and Sal were (I think) 13 at the time, I wonder if this is just some bs Linda said and Walky believed, or something he made up and forgot he did so.
They’re Chreasters, which is an actual term. Christmas and Easter.
But were they Catholic Chreasters or was the Catholic boarding school used because there aren’t many evangelical boarding schools? Because Catholics usually hold on to kids through confirmation in high school. Which seems unlikely.
She’s a two-bit classist climber with control issues. For people like her, what’s the point of believing in a god that isn’t at your beck and call?
C’mon, Lucy, priorities.
Attend first service THEN skip whatever with Linda and Charles to play video games naked for the rest of the day.
She wants to sin BEFORE church so that she can be absolved of them later.
That makes sense. Being absolved of sins when you haven’t committed any is pointless. You’ve got to commit some sins first, or you’re just wasting everyone’s time.
One of my favorite ancient heresies was the idea that since God shows His glory and mercy by forgiving sin, we should sin a lot in order to allow Him more opportunity to do so.
Wouldn’t wanna deprive ol’ Chuck of a chance to flex his forgiveness, right?
“Oh, hell yeah, these are the sins I died for.”
Nope, Paul addressed that one directly.
That’s why it’s a heresy 🙂
She should oook into absolution IOU
that’s not video games
–Dave, that’s the Librarian
It seems Lucy has forgiven Walky the ladyboner killer that is his parents.
Curse you, Hymmel the Hymnal
Yeah, alt, as long as Lucy’s coming on time, that is… *hurriedly plays Could It Be Magic by Donna Summer*
I do kind of wonder who bones first, Walky and Lucy or Danny and Sal.
Leaning Walky/Lucy, neither Danny or Sal are so enthusiastic to fuck as Lucy is and I feel like the music nerds have better long term odds
20 quataloons on Danny and Walky.
40 quatloos on the NewComers!
3 bars of latinum on Walky-Lucy.
I think we’ve got 12:1 on Lucy & Sal, by accident
–Dave, Lucy recalls a previous incarnation in which she was Amazi-Girl, snd it just sort of snowballs helplessly from there
I’m going with Lucy/Walky. With Sal’s realization that her Mom only approved of Danny I think Sal is going to internalize that and see her relationship with Danny as being a manifestation for her mother’s approval, which she will never reslly have, and therefore she should dump Danny.
We’ve already went through how that’s not happening, within a single strip. She’s not gonna let her shitty mom ruin one of the best things she’s got going on right now
Control yourself Lucy
Church always just seemed like a waste of a Sunday. Why would I rather go to church instead of sleeping. I don’t even think you HAVE to go to church to get into heaven. Pretty sure you can just read the book.
It’s supposed to be a day of rest innit?
I was never sure. Is Sunday the 7th day or is it Saturday? Most calendars consider Saturday the end of the week and Sunday the first day. If that’s the case Saturday would be the day of rest and Sunday would be the day of creation.
The sabbath or Saturday is supposed to be the day of rest I think.
Christians took the 7 day week from Judaism (the Roman calendar didn’t have a week really). In Judaism, the sabbath is Saturday, the 7th day. Christian’s holy day isn’t the sabbath, although they call it that sometimes. Christian’s holy day is usually* Sunday because that’s the day of the week Jesus is said to have come back from the dead.
*Seventh Day Adventists’ holy day is on Saturday.
The seven day week started with Assyrians or Babylonians, I don’t know exactly when. But the Babylonians had a lunar calendar, and the phases of the moon are approximately 7 days after each other. After each new moon, they counted 7, 14, 21, and 28 days, and each of those was holy to a different god/des (they got sacrifices), and different things were “inauspicious” or evil to do on those days. Maybe the Assyrians and Babylonians got it from an earlier religion or culture, phases of the moon does not seem that unintuitive.
*I appear to be incorrect when the Romans adopted a 7 day week. It was first century BCE.
The Christian church changed the Sabbath to be different from Jews.
Then at some point the Catholic Church started pretending they didnt ( saying Monday was day 1 ) because it puts them in conflict the bible ,
plus it makes the New Testament stories make no sense ( Sanhedrin didnt meet on the Sabbath.
Also the Jewish Sabbath starts at Friday Night at sunset, becuase Days in Jewish calendar begin at sunset.
this is Probably becuase the “jewish calendar” is actually the Babylonian calendar. and Both are Moon-based systems ( with a sem periodic leap month to correct it) . So months begin with the New Moon.
It’s because Jesus resurrected on Sunday.
There’s more to it than that, but that’s the original reason.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord%27s_Day
Most calendars in the US, that is! I grew up completely unfamiliar with the concept that half of the weekend is the beginning of the week…
Properly speaking, the Sabbath is a Jewish observance of honoring God resting after creating the world. It’s on Saturday. Christians, despite often using the term ‘Sabbath’ generally do not honor the Sabbath as a day of rest, but instead are celebrating the Lord’s Day in honor of Christ being resurrected on Easter Sunday. That’s why the religious observation changed from Saturday to Sunday.
Early followers of Jesus still observed the Sabbath ( because they were Jews) then met in their groups the following day. As more gentiles joined the Sunday meeting took priority.
It was pointed out in Sunday School or a sermon or something, that in the gospels, Jesus reiterates 9 of the 10 commandments, and the one he doesn’t is to keep the Sabbath holy.
And the antisemitic stories where Jesus healed on the Sabbath in the gospels are also used to explain disregarding Saturday as the Sabbath.
That seems to make sense, but is there any real evidence for it?
We do know many early Jewish Christians observed the Sabbath, but is there evidence for the meeting up the next day? Outside of Paul’s letters, we don’t really have a lot for the very early days when that would have been a factor.
*plays “Charlie’s Inferno” by That Handsome Devil on the hacked muzak*
Please, somebody say this to my parents…
I’ve never understood why a day for rest didn’t start with sleeping in.
Oh, I can definitely explain this. First, you focus very heavily on the verses that say you should meet together. Second, you mention the reason for that is if you aren’t getting your weekly dose of the Truth (TM) then you might be led astray. Third, if you get led astray you go to hell!
And therefore, QED, not going to church is definitely very bad, and you should definitely be there because God wants you to be. Nothing to do with peer pressure and keeping you tied into the social structure, nope, it’s definitely all God saying you should do that to avoid going to hell.
no angels have ever shown up with flaming swords to cut people who had the wrong theology… but the “there’s no cost” is the thing on the Pascal’s Wager advertisement in large letters. There’s a lot of fine print. regular attendance is expected to follow true devotion. Christian churches tend to favor theologies where people are expected to show up.
My grandfather asked permission from his priest before he traveled, if it was ok to go to mass in a different parish. Apparently each time.
Its a “Free Gift” .
dont you want a “free gift”? Just gonna throw it away.
Then maybe pigeons will be saved from hellfire? is that want you want. all of heaven just filled pigeon shit ?
because you couldnt take the “free gift”
>no angels have ever shown up with flaming swords to cut people who had the wrong theology…
except, like, that VERY first time
–Dave, technically that was before theology was invented, okay, you got me
Naked video game session slipshine when?
be based if someone was actually dedicated/skilled enough to make an interactive game for it lol, like huniepop lol
In a technical sense, there’s that one pinup of the random person with one hand down their panties and the other hand holding a switch. That’s pretty close?
Playing video games naked doesn’t appear to me personally seems like alot of prep work.
*appeal
You mean… taking off your clothes?
Umm no, if you plan to do so in the morning like Walky implies you would need shower first have put down sheets or some protective barrier if you want to protect your furniture, also avoid farts and sweating some deoderizer may mask the smell but it doesnt get rid of the fecal particles, the other option unless you want to stand up the whole time not exactly relaxing if your a PC game enthusiast it’s difficult unless your using a controller. Again a protective barrier is needed. It just seems simpler if you wear pj’s. Or regular clothes or comfortable clothes
Also yes I shower, before someone decides to be snarky about adding it to the prep routine.
All of these soultions still require more effort then just wearing comfy clothes.
Somthing tells me you might be more hygienic than Walky.
I dont know. maybe Walky has less asshair.
You just sit on a fart towel so you don’t have to throw away a chair for smelling like ass.
Better yet, keep the ass-chair and just clean it later. Relaxation isn’t a permanent state, and it’s weird to act like cleaning has to be a before thing.
The idea that sitting naked on a chair permanently contaminates it, but a thin layer of cloth (that might have been in contact with your ass for hours already) protects it completely is just weird to me.
the landlord won’t let me put a chair in the washing machine.
Toilet paper gets rid of the fecal particles. Use it. Use enough of it.
And how much do you heat that you sweat when you’re sitting around naked?
Well bare skin on leather or vinyl tends to get damp because of lack of airflow/absorption.
Blankets can be washed after the gaming is done. You can put blankets in places that aren’t beds. You don’t need to enter a 14-digit code, turn two keys simultaneously, and recite am ancient incantation to play a video game without clothes on.
Just put down a towel.
All these things require more effort then wearing comfy clothes. If you want to play video games naked thats your prerogative, myself I m just going to wear comfy clothes.
It’s not us in the real world that really matter for this, though. Walky’s a gross slob, he’s not gonna be as concerned with farticles as we are. For him, it’s as simple as taking off his clothes (like 2 seconds of effort, lol) and then playing a video game (still completely trivial effort to start up).
Some people have indicted that naked gaming is what they prefer I’m just specifying that it just seems like too much work to add any additional comfort to gaming.
Putting on clothes requires more effort than… not doing so, though. Which is the normal way people who roll out of bed to play videogames do it, not whatever you’re describing.
And then deal with the fact that gaming laptops get way too hot to have on your naked lap! Guess consoles are better?
What’s the worst that could happen with a hot laptop right over your junk?
Uncomfortable/unwanted erections?
Didn’t really expect a whole thing about the health and sanitary dangers of nudism in the comments today.
but but nudist _video gaming_
–Dave, won’t someone think about the children killing spiders with their CLOTHES OFF
Walky is the family scapegoat. Like, literally the scapegoat, because he supposed to save family from Hell.
Huh, I was just thinking that Sal was the one sacrificed. Poor Sal, no ram for you!
It makes me wonder whether Mike got a religious service for his funeral.
Weren’t they legally obliged to bury Mike at a crossroads at midnight or something?
No, just legally obliged to bury him in your mom. For a nickel.
(one day I’ll finally be able to resist a straight line… alas, today is not that day.)
now that Lucy’s shown up, I’m leaning heavily towards their kiss last night not being their first kiss. Which means we won’t see it unless the bonus strip is Arnold walking in on them in a flash back, because he’s going to win this week. I was only a few hours late nominating him, so I bet he gets enough this time. He’s only 29 or 32 behind the leads, that’s surmountable.
Is Walky still running around as Night Guy?
Running around as Night Guy is something Night Guy forgot he was doing.
Oh man, does Becky know that Walky was the church mouse who baby Joyce thought was cute? I want her to know this because the comedic possibilities are ENDLESS.
AIRHORN NOISES
I… that doesn’t make sense Walky. I really don’t get how shipping Sal off to a religious boarding school would make the family quit church. If anything it would make them more likely to attend.
Only thing I can wager is that perhaps the timing lines up in Walky’s head but the real reason they quit is because churches are often gossipy judgemental shits to the point Mrs Walkerton perhaps seemed open and understanding comparatively. So when the whole drama with Sal went down and was out yeah they weren’t going to subject themselves to the at best passive aggressive excrement out of the corners of parisoners mouths, not even just for holidays.
Yes it does, the only reason they went to Church was because Sal was a naughty child who needed church. Once Sal was at boarding school the rest of the family didn’t need to attend because they were good enough.
Is this Sunday? When did the parents appear? They had two full days of doing parent related things? Didn’t that start from the day after walky materialised his parents? It doesn’t really matter but I am very confused right now about in comic time.
I think he materialized them on Friday, since they were on their way to class.
They appeared Friday afternoon, and it’s currently Sunday morning.
Each chapter is one day, starting at midnight more or less. Parents showed up on “But Don’t Give Yourself Away”, which is lyric from a song about parents being regular people.
Oh, Lucy DEFINITELY watched whatever he was in, and it is going to shatter her to find out that she’s dating the sidekick from the unaired pilot of Salvationman And The Bible Kid or whatever.
Punchline absolutely landed lmao
this is an obligation, it is in the Ten Commandments and the Bible. Theoretically, it’s pleasant because what’s more pleasant than communion with God and your fellow believers, but in practice you miss morning cartoons and running to church because, as usual, we’ll be late.
no, just “keep the Lord’s Day holy”
and the Ten Commandments are in the Bible
The term ‘Lord’s Day’s is Christian, the Ten Commandments predate the NT. The term is properly Sabbath. Christians just moved the day because of Easter Sunday.
And Christian doctrines typically that as attending church service on Sunday, as well as whatever various blue laws are trendy at the moment. It’s obligatory.
Not sure how many denominations it takes to be typical out of the over 45000, but of the mainstream and evangelical ones I know, Sunday church service is not part of doctrine as it’s not codified – atonement is doctrine, Sunday service is cultural expectation.
Some events that can be part of Sunday church services can be doctrine-related sacraments, but not attending the service itself. Even in times and places when church attendance was obligatory through threats of violence because it was used as proof of following doctrine, there were many reasons one could get away with not doing so, some where it was required for someone not to attend. In most places these days with far less cultural obligation, the expectation can still have force without doctrine being involved.
walky my dude, this was YOUR idea
I guess I don’t understand something… does Walky have … morals?
I mean, he basically jumped Dorothy, right? He had sex with another one (Amber?). Now he is actively avoiding sex with Lucy? Not only that, but appears to be panicking at even turning her on and/or nekkid time?
Could you clarify a bit? It seema like you’re saying that sex has anything to do with morality.
I’m not going to slut shame, but there is a lot of morality with sex. There’s consent requirements, there’s adherence to fidelity (whether monogamous, polygamy, polyandry, polyamory). There’s ‘I need to tell someone I have an STD’ etc.
Okay, but none of that applies to this question. Walky hasn’t violated anybody’s consent, he hasn’t been a dirty infidel, and he hasn’t neglected to mention an STD. The question was whether he has morals, seemingly just because he’s had sex with somebody and is hesitant to do it with somebody else who’s completely separate from the first one. I didn’t bring up all that extra stuff because it’s irrelevant.
Sure, but the phrasing of this question implies having sex without… I don’t know, enough prevarication? = immoral.
I find it quite bizarre how “Walky is not attracted to Lucy” is so underrepresented in the comments, because that’s all I get off this. Her being a virgin adds another level, but he has shown zero interest, ever.
He most certainly has shown interest. Not as frequently or intensely as Lucy has displayed attraction to him, but he clearly does find her attractive. Maybe he’s got other hangups, maybe he’d actually prefer her as a friend, maybe a lot of things that we can project on his mental state regarding Lucy. But “they should break up because he’s not attracted to her” is a weird take.
sure, but I think at this point even, Walky is still thinking of some of that as ‘gender studies homework’
–Dave, and not as ‘hey, maybe Lucy would be someone to talk to about this’
IIRC, his hesitation stems from the fact that he will be Lucy’s first time. As such, he feels a certain sense of pressure to ensure that her first time will be “Good and up to expectations”, which in turn leads to a feeling of responsibility. And as we all know, Walky is allergic to responsibility. ;P
That said, I DO also think that it’s fairly obvious that Walky does not have the same kind of physical attraction to Lucy that he did with Dorothy and Amber. It’s not that he doesn’t like her, but it’s clear that the kind of passion he had with the other two girls is… missing with Lucy.
There are so many reasons someone might not want to have sex, even when they’ve had and enjoyed sex in the past, and it’s not about morals. Walky’s relationship with Lucy is different; his feelings are different. Whether or not differences in his feelings, are a fault in their relationship, it makes sense that they could be connected to different desires. There’s also a mismatch in desire between him and Lucy, which he seems pretty aware of.
There are also experiences outside of being with Lucy that could affect him. He might have feelings about having had sex with people he now is distant from, and it could make him more hesitant about going there again. He’s also been through trauma since then, and one after effect can be a lower sex drive.
Now, for what we’ll see here, I’m thinking “how he feels about Lucy” is going to be the main focus. I bring up these other possible factors just as examples for why a change in wanting to have or not have sex with one’s partner/someone can have many reasons and nothing to do with morality.
yikes
bruh moment for real
what’s he done that’s so immoral for you to ask this
He kidnapped everybody and threw them in a basement at some random abandoned fully-furnished house, killed three guys, abused Faz until he became Like That™, roofied Joyce at that party, stabbed somebody to the point of near death just for quoting the Bibble, dumped Danny for talking to Sal, railed Stacy in a supply closet, stole Sierra’s Jordans, made a list on a not-so-private website that ranked women numerically, turned Becky into a lesbian, stabbed Sal in the hand, dated Ethan in an attempt to turn him straight, beat the shit out of Ruth, refused to use the blue shell, stole Fizzy Lifting Drinks, manipulated Jacob into a brief makeout that ruined his relationship with Raidah, gave Liz (a minor) weed edibles, ruined Dorothy’s grades, sniped Joyce’s spot in the school paper, ditched Daisy in the middle of a date and sent her some random woman’s nudes like it was gonna make up for that, cuffed Jason to the door and kept him there overnight, constantly accuses Sal of being fakey, pulled a gun on campus, superglued Carla’s skates, threw a plate of whipped cream at Mary’s face, diagnosed Joyce with autism, drew dicks on a bunch of whiteboards, punched Joe several times for allegedly thinking about sex, fucked at least two students whose grades he was responsible for tracking, stole Carol’s car and took it out for a joyride, paid for Ross’s bail, broke into Becky’s childhood home, interviewed Roz, voted for Robin, snuck into Leslie’s house and stayed there for multiple days, taught Joyce to masturbate, took that nice dental hygienist on a really bad date, destroyed Marcie’s vocal cords, kidnapped Fuckface, beat up Amazi-Girl, tried to toss a cinder block at a car window, broke Ken and Arnold’s Joycons, held Ethan at knifepoint, hired a bunch of thugs to fight Sal at Robin’s political rally, wrote the RA election subplot, killed Ruth’s parents, beats up Howard on the daily, tried to blackmail Billie, gaslit Ethan for years, stole Booster’s Nintendo, embezzled political funds to buy a large plush dinosaur, had enthusiastically consensual sex with Becky, said mildly rude things about science, stole gay pizza, ogled Connie (who’s like 17 dude come on), made misogynistic comments in Gender Studies class, dissed Joyce in that same class, served alcohol to minors, played ukulele in public, forced Sal to accept a bicycle, stood in snow one too many times, said something slightly pissy to Danny and Sal about music practice, and invited people to watch Riff Trax on purpose.
For starters.
… MAN there’s still a lot of the Walkyverse I need to catch up on
–Dave, this is Feynman’s ‘there is only one character, moving backwards and forwards in morality’ paradigm, isn’t it
i think lucy being a virgin adds some pressure on walky that he is NOT prepared for
Obvious song choice for Lucy today:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=z9LiPuVRyU8&pp=ygUPY29tZSBhcyB5b3UgYXJl
Dammmn if my boyfriend OFFERED to go do a thing with me, and then spent this much time whining about it being an obligation and how they coulda dressed like a slob… I’d ask them wtf why’d they offered to come???
It’s just normal surface-level “I’m awake earlier than I want to be” griping, it’s honestly not as deep as people are making it.
This right here. Hell, I gripe this way when I have to get up early for plans *I* made *for myself*.
Right? Like dude, my floor mates and I went on a waterfall hike/beach trip that we paid for, by our own volition, and we still griped about waking up early and having to go on a hike. Griping is human nature
What if he complained for a couple minutes to his friend in private, and then tried his absolute best when he was actually with you? I think the jury is still out on Walky.
So, just for funsies, I read the dialogue from the last two strips up to todays panel 4 out loud against against a timer, and “this much time” has been about a minute. Including Becky saying things for him to respond to.
I have complained for longer than that about the fact I ate the last bagel, and now there’s no bagels until the shopping arrives later the same day.
But it’s been days this has been going on. He’s been whining about it for days.
I think the time scale really messes with our reactions.
Alt text is exactly my thoughts after finally catching up to this comic.
(Also i never have a comment to make gaddang it)
I can see Charles behaving like this twenty years ago.
Genuine question for Willis: approximately how long have you been waiting to make a “come as you are” pun?
My money is on “since Nirvana.”
Yeah, that sounds about right. The Walkertons strike me as pretty unconcerned about religion so it doesn’t surprise me at all they took the chance to stop going once the kid who ‘needed moral instruction’ was gone.
I imagine Linda may also have been doing it for the optics, so to speak. I have no doubt she took them to a very conservative, majority-white church.
Might even have been a Catholic one, who knows?
Further evidence supporting the theory of whoever said Lucy has no interest in sex with Walky, and has forgotten she ever implied otherwise.
Close sarcasm tag.
clearly her amount of interest varies with the time of day
–Dave, and also the phase of the moon, did I do that one right?
I keep having this thought that Walky is going to go through a whole church-overhaul and slide into religion. Would that be a wacky twist or what
I appreciate having grown up in a family that didn’t go to church. I have a relationship with god (or WHATEVER it is up there) that isn’t based in fear or obligation, which as i’ve come to learn is VERY rare 😳😳
Stop teasing Lucy, she’s about to blow a gasket as she is without cranking up the heat any more.
I said this in a reply, but every single interaction between Walky and Lucy = Walky is not attracted to Lucy, glaringly so, to me.
Like, you can think someone is attractive in the abstract, and be fine with a kiss, without wanting to have sex with him. And to me, there is zero question that Walky experiences zero physical attraction to Lucy.
Which means I actually feel vaguely uncomfortable the way he’s being given very little agency by the other characters or the commenters in the “will they fuck” question.
I did enjoy the punchline very much (and remembered the previous strip, Willis. lol)
right? like he’s trying to follow Dotty’s advice, and he firmly believes that he can’t tell Lucy what is going on in his head, or where his feelings are, because she’d be hurt and theferefor he wouldn’t be a “good boyfriend”. So, like in all other things, he is avoiding the situation and making excuses to get out of having sex with her.
This isn’t really supported by the comic. Like, yeah, she’s more enthusiastic about this, but this kind of torpedoes the theory, otherwise.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2021/comic/book-12/01-sister-christian/solution/
This strip was like 2 years ago, so it’s okay for people to not remember it, but it’s established that, yeah, he thinks she’s hot, too.
Good point, but I don’t think it necessarily cancels it out.
If I liked someone as a person and didn’t find them unattractive, I would likely be turned on in the situation in the comic. It still wouldn’t mean I’m super into them. And it’s been a long time of extremely lukewarm and avoidant reactions by Walky.
That does make me feel slightly less uncomfortable: at least there’s *some* attraction. Also, holy crap, 2 years??
Lucy is killing spiders with Walky in her mind RIGHT NOW
iykwim
–Dave, aityd
Walky, there is no *normal* amount to do church.
Normal is what your family teaches you as normal.
For me, that was going to church every sunday and getting in touch with secular things as little as possible. It was normal. It’s only now that i’m an atheist with more awareness of what other people’s childhood was like, that i see it’s not normal outside my own bubble!