Topic: Damn you, Willis! (Dumbing of Age) (Read 511273 times)

chaospersonified · « **Reply #1750 on:** 18 Nov 2015, 21:39 »

Regarding today's comic: holy shit. That is what I would refer to as 'mothering care,' that Ruth is doing. It sure as shit ain't an RA's job, and there is nothing to make her so it, this is a fascinating bit of information on Ruth's character.

Method of Madness · « **Reply #1751 on:** 18 Nov 2015, 21:49 »

I'm pretty sure that's Carla, not Ruth.

chaospersonified · « **Reply #1752 on:** 18 Nov 2015, 21:56 »

Quote from: Method of Madness on 18 Nov 2015, 21:49

I'm pretty sure that's Carla, not Ruth.

I'm pretty sure you're right, and my surprise stands, nonetheless.

Neko_Ali · « **Reply #1753 on:** 18 Nov 2015, 23:04 »

It is Carla, and it still is a surprise. She's not exactly the nice type.

hedgie · « **Reply #1754 on:** 18 Nov 2015, 23:11 »

Aye. I don't know whether I was more surprised to see her without her skates, or to see her being kind like to Amber. It has been a while since I have done an archive binge, but it does seem that she and Sal seem to at least tolerate each other well enough. But who knows if that bit is because *both* tend to be a bit abrasive most of the time.

BenRG · « **Reply #1755 on:** 18 Nov 2015, 23:40 »

Sal and Carla tolerate eachother for Marcie's sake - Carla is Marcie's teammate. FWIW, we haven't really spent enough timewith her to see how she would react to a stranger in trouble. Considering the nature of their previous interaction, this may give Amber food for thought about the grey nature of most humans.

hedgie · « **Reply #1756 on:** 18 Nov 2015, 23:51 »

Carla doesn't do roller derby http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/01-when-somebody-loved-me/purpleandskates/

Kugai · « **Reply #1757 on:** 19 Nov 2015, 13:20 »

Food for thought there Amber

Method of Madness · « **Reply #1758 on:** 19 Nov 2015, 21:18 »

Dang, was hoping for more Amber.

BenRG · « **Reply #1759 on:** 19 Nov 2015, 23:12 »

I, for one, am waiting for Sarah to try to hug Joyce and never stop. She's been shooting her worried looks all night! Probably the hug will start the minute the doom room door closes.

I also think that Sal will give Becky and Dina their privacy in her dorm room tonight and, as a fair exchange, Dina lets Sal sleep in her room (the one she shares with Amber) tonight.

I’m expecting this to be one of those odd coincidental moments in DoA history. Normally, Sal sleeping in Dina’s bed would mean she collides with Amber but Amber isn’t there that night. Carla, worried that Amber is concussed, insists that she stay in her room with her overnight so she can monitor her. So it is the climactic confrontation between Amber and Sal is put off again and Carla, the outcast-by-choice, starts probably the single oddest friendship that she’s ever had.

No, I don’t think that Sal would paw through the closets in Dina and Amber’s room and thus find the Amazi-Girl costume. Despite her claims to the contrary, she’s actually a very nice and polite young woman and would never abuse Dina and her room-mate’s hospitality in such a way.

[Edit:]
A new spoiler/revised character art on DMW's Tumblr

(click to show/hide)

Kugai · « **Reply #1760 on:** 20 Nov 2015, 13:04 »

(click to show/hide)

And Becky's Chat Show career will be off to a flying start.

cesium133 · « **Reply #1761 on:** 20 Nov 2015, 20:34 »

(click to show/hide)

Method of Madness · « **Reply #1762 on:** 20 Nov 2015, 20:46 »

Yeah, it is. If it's not part of the actual comic it is.

chaospersonified · « **Reply #1763 on:** 20 Nov 2015, 21:58 »

Dina is recognizing Amber for who she truly is. This is a big moment, and it just proves my mental image of Dina as the smartest of the DoA crew

BenRG · « **Reply #1764 on:** 21 Nov 2015, 00:01 »

Dina was never fooled by Amber's 'secret identity' and, indeed, innocently fails to understand Amber's claims of 'seperate personae'. What she does understand is that Amber has risked much and been hurt helping Becky. She also understands what you are supposed to do for people who are hurting. She knows few people who so continually hurt as Amber does.

Method of Madness · « **Reply #1765 on:** 21 Nov 2015, 04:39 »

Joyce is frowning pretty hard

BenRG · « **Reply #1766 on:** 21 Nov 2015, 06:19 »

Quote from: Method of Madness on 21 Nov 2015, 04:39

Joyce is frowning pretty hard

Ross's pious evil has seriously undermined her faith. I suspect that she's going to be forced to go on a long, dark journey of reflection and self-rediscovery before she's able to restore her mental and emotional balance.

Neko_Ali · « **Reply #1767 on:** 21 Nov 2015, 08:59 »

Joyce has been going under a crisis of faith for a while now. She was raised being told and believing that the bible is right, those that follow it are righteous, gay people and atheists are evil and going to hell. In the past few months all that's been turned upside down. She's made a good friend who is a good person and an atheist. Her best friend and boyfriend have come out as being gay, and they are good people. Meanwhile she's found that her family are very prejudiced and controlling. Her best friend's father kidnapped his daughter at gun point and threatened, then tried to kill people stopping him from doing that, all claiming to be righteous with god on his side. And that's on top of her being drugged and nearly raped a short while ago. Something she still hasn't even started to work through. Yeah.. she's under a lot of stress lately, and everything she thought was stable in her life keeps getting knocked out from under her by reality.

Kugai · « **Reply #1768 on:** 21 Nov 2015, 12:40 »

I think we're going to see a new 'Version' of Joyce as time goes on, but I think the ride is going to be a bumpy one to say the least.

Dina, unfoolable. And I love the look Amber gives her.

hedgie · « **Reply #1769 on:** 21 Nov 2015, 18:02 »

(click to show/hide)

BenRG · « **Reply #1770 on:** 21 Nov 2015, 23:43 »

(click to show/hide)

Meanwhile, in today's strip, we're about to have Sarah become the first victim of this continuity's Anti-Joyce!

Method of Madness · « **Reply #1771 on:** 22 Nov 2015, 07:24 »

Ok, can someone link when the whole "I'll give you money for swearing" thing happened?

bhtooefr · « **Reply #1772 on:** 22 Nov 2015, 07:45 »

http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-4/01-the-only-dope-for-me-is-you/damnation/

Method of Madness · « **Reply #1773 on:** 22 Nov 2015, 07:48 »

So Joe needs to pay up, or at least pay Sarah back.

Neko_Ali · « **Reply #1774 on:** 22 Nov 2015, 08:06 »

I'm thinking Sarah was trying to break the tension... Good luck with that.

Kugai · « **Reply #1775 on:** 22 Nov 2015, 11:20 »

Yeah, nice try Sarah.

Don't think it went over well though.

Gladstone · « **Reply #1776 on:** 22 Nov 2015, 23:09 »

*bbbzzzztt bbbzzzzttt*
"M-mom?"
"Cngratulations, Joyce, you've broken through your religious programming! We're so proud of you! Now, why don't you come home so we can throw you a big party and totally not lock you in the basement for re-education or anything sinister like that."

BenRG · « **Reply #1777 on:** 23 Nov 2015, 01:22 »

If I were Carol Brown, I'd limit my call to making sure that Joyce is physically okay and that doesn't need anything right now. I would wait until morning to talk to her about the rest of the content of her message. Right now, tempers are running too high and emotional balances too precarious to get into a deep conversation; it would too easily turn into an argument and estrangement.

Method of Madness · « **Reply #1778 on:** 23 Nov 2015, 04:44 »

She called back so soon she probably just saw the missed call and hasn't heard the message yet.

LeeC · « **Reply #1779 on:** 23 Nov 2015, 05:18 »

Kugai · « **Reply #1780 on:** 23 Nov 2015, 13:40 »

Well

That's one way to declare your emancipation to your parents

hedgie · « **Reply #1781 on:** 23 Nov 2015, 22:35 »

Poor Joyce.

BenRG · « **Reply #1782 on:** 23 Nov 2015, 23:06 »

Sometimes I hate being right.

Willis has said that there is a lot of him in his characters sometimes (in It's Walky as well as in DoA). Based on this, I think I'm coming to understand why he has such a vinegary approach to religion and faith. If he's been through a fraction of what Joyce has been through, then the piety some people classifies as 'righteousness' has done him nothing but harm.

hedgie · « **Reply #1783 on:** 23 Nov 2015, 23:24 »

(click to show/hide)

He has said in the past that Joyce is, to some degree, autobiographical, and posted this earlier this evening:

Quote

I don’t talk to my mom anymore.

Whenever we had a difference of opinion, on, like, say, whether homosexuality is basically the same as pedophilia, and I would refute her terrible arguments she’s regurgitating from some bigoted asshole and/or news network, to recoup her losses and try to regain an emotional toehold she would routinely end up begging, “david, I would die for you, you know that, I would die for you.”

It is, in fact, one of the last things I saw her saying to me before I took her off my Facebook several months ago.

(Only once did our arguments end differently. In the wake of Ferguson, suddenly she was very happy with me hypothetically dying without her intervention, because in this circumstance I would know better, just like Michael Brown should have, who deserved it for doing whatever he clearly must have done. She would accept my fate for being untowardly, like Ferguson’s community should have. No motherly martyrdom here!)

Anyway, tonight’s strip, the second one above, writing it made me cry. Talking to my mother always begins with what you’d expect, what you’d want, what you crave as a child, and for those few seconds of “sweeties” and maternal concern all wounds are healed. Everything’s fine. Up until the emotional blackmail begins, you very happily forgive all the previous instances of emotional blackmail. But then it starts, and there’s that moment where you realize that, no, this is actually awful. You realize that you as a person don’t matter against the fabricated reality that she’s built her worldview out of. Her hateful ideas are way stronger than her concern for you. Heaven and Hell, Sin and Salvation, those are the foundation of everything, and everything else does not compute. This is terrible. And you remember everything’s broken and this is a comfort you’ve already learned you are not allowed. The strip depicts the arc of every conversation I’ve had with her, from worrying about beginning an interaction because of history, to it beginning and the scabs shedding and thinking oh it’ll be cool this time, to the wounds being renewed.

For Joyce, though, this is her first time. :/

It's rather interesting to compare how this whole situation (post Becky arrival) affected both of them, and their reactions.

BenRG · « **Reply #1784 on:** 23 Nov 2015, 23:59 »

Okay, first up, some absolutely brilliant Amazi-Girl fanart!

Amazi-Girl is Always Prepared by Eric Burns-White

Secondly, another spoiler/preview art from DMW. It's not really a 'spoiler' spoiler as it doesn't make any significant contributions to any major plot-line that I'm aware of. I'll put my comments in a spoiler space anyway because I know some are super-sensitive to this stuff.

(click to show/hide)

ChaoSera · « **Reply #1785 on:** 24 Nov 2015, 03:25 »

Oh, this can't end well.

Kugai · « **Reply #1786 on:** 24 Nov 2015, 14:18 »

Damn!!

All the wrong things to say JoyceMom, all the wrong things.

Nice image too there Ben.

Method of Madness · « **Reply #1787 on:** 24 Nov 2015, 14:21 »

Thanks for spoiler-tagging it, but was it really necessary to call asking you not to post unmarked spoilers "super-sensitive"?

Welu · « **Reply #1788 on:** 24 Nov 2015, 14:35 »

I'd like to back up Method's comment. "Super-sensitive" got me furrowing my brow, and I follow Willis on Tumblr so it's not because I'm part of the group that, reasonably so, would like preview images spoilered.

chaospersonified · « **Reply #1789 on:** 24 Nov 2015, 21:17 »

Oof. 'Everything' includes Joyce, that's what I'm taking from Sarah's expression. To Sarah, everything's been broken for a long time, but seeing Joyce realize it is like having that realization a second time... I may be projecting on this one.

ankhtahr · « **Reply #1790 on:** 24 Nov 2015, 21:58 »

This very relevant comment was given on the Patreon about todays strip yesterday:

Quote

Welp.

This comic was not long ago in-universe, I think. Makes today's comic even more tragical.

BenRG · « **Reply #1791 on:** 24 Nov 2015, 23:05 »

To me, this strip has emphasised how bitter the estrangement was between DMW and his parents and how totally something like that affects everything that you do, say and think from then on. Art as a kind of expression therapy? A primal scream in a comic strip? I would argue 'when is it not?'

I said this on yesterday's comments thread on the DoA site but I'll repeat it here: Joyce is in for a long, dark journey through barren and trouble-filled places before she is able to rediscover happiness and a certain balance. However, for now, she's got to confront her own past and determine just which parts of it were a lie (no matter how well-intentioned).

Welu · « **Reply #1792 on:** 25 Nov 2015, 12:13 »

Willis discusses the now ended storyline. No spoilers, to me, but maybe to be avoided for safe sake. He mentions what we've already seen and his thought process behind it.

Kugai · « **Reply #1793 on:** 25 Nov 2015, 13:19 »

One can only hope that the network of friends around Joyce will help her through this. Sarah's problem was, and still is in some ways, she didn't have that kind of a network around her after things went south with her.

Joyce has, which will probably make the difference now that she's hit rock bottom.

BenRG · « **Reply #1794 on:** 25 Nov 2015, 23:55 »

Sometimes, I really wonder if Ruth scripts these depressive statements in advance in an attempt to impress Billie with her pathos. Billie clearly thinks so!

ChaoSera · « **Reply #1795 on:** 26 Nov 2015, 01:23 »

Four days later. The way the strip's going, that's like 2 years of comics.

BenRG · « **Reply #1796 on:** 26 Nov 2015, 01:44 »

This time skip is interesting because it means that there has been plenty of time for the aftershocks of Ross's little psychotic episode to thoroughly penetrate the campus community and reach the various characters' families. I have no doubt that the Dean is having to placate outraged trustees and tuition fee payers and that he's also under pressure to 'do something to stop it happening again' (as if that is somehow possible). This may be filtering down to the RAs with Ruth being under pressure to keep her floor 'in line'.

Meanwhile, it also means that the Browns have had a while to consider Joyce's earlier voice mail. Similarly, Amber has had some time to consider Sal's explicit threat and how to respond to it.

Basically, Willis has made the right decision to jump over a lot of emotional filler and take us straight to the consequences starting to unfold.

Regarding this chapter's title, "That Perfect Girl", I suspect that it refers to two things: Firstly, it is either Billie or Ruth's mantra to help them deal with a major rough patch in their relationship. Secondly, it is also Joyce's mental situation; that she doesn't want to be her parents' 'perfect girl' anymore.

Kugai · « **Reply #1797 on:** 26 Nov 2015, 13:27 »

As deep statements go Ruth, that was fairly mid level deep

BenRG · « **Reply #1798 on:** 26 Nov 2015, 23:28 »

Something tells me that Ruth likes social interaction far less when the other person isn't afraid of her and, instead, thinks of her as being their personal dress-up doll.

sitnspin · « **Reply #1799 on:** 27 Nov 2015, 05:34 »

As someone who has lived with severe depression for over half my life, I understand Ruth's feelings of "eh" far too well.

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Author Topic: Damn you, Willis! (Dumbing of Age) (Read 511273 times)