Dumbing of Age

[The Rose Dragon]

So, Ethan has found a possible boyfriend. He's just like his girlfriend, but a guy.

[Gez]

So. Jonathan, Joshua, Jordan, and Joyce. There is still room for a Jorge, a Joanna, and a Joseph. Get to work, Hank and Carol!

[CRtwenty]

So. Jonathan, Joshua, Jordan, and Joyce. There is still room for a Jorge, a Joanna, and a Joseph. Get to work, Hank and Carol!

If they're anything like their Walkyverse counterparts they've long since placed all their hopes of further progeny on Joyce's shoulders.

[Occasional Sage]

I don't understand the recycling of characters. Can anybody explain what it brings to the table that's positive? I see people being confused/upset/disappointed by differences, and no reason not to just write a new cast to shed incorrect assumptions.

[Gez]

I don't understand the recycling of characters. Can anybody explain what it brings to the table that's positive? I see people being confused/upset/disappointed by differences, and no reason not to just write a new cast to shed incorrect assumptions.

This is what Willis says in the About/FAQ section:

If you’re a reader of other works by David Willis (Roomies!, It’s Walky!, Shortpacked!), you’ll like this webcomic as well! It stars some familiar faces in new situations. If you’re not familiar with his other webcomics, that’s even better! Why? Dumbing of Age is its own separate continuity, with no story ties to any previous works. It’s basically a reboot, if reboots usually ran concurrently with the original universe. I just wanted to write all my characters in college, minus fifteen years of baggage, okay?

It's not about the setting or story, it's about the characters. If you haven't noticed, David Willis likes toys a lot more than most people his age. DOA is him playing with his favorite toys, with no care given to how he played with them previously.

[Glass Mouse]

It's not about the setting or story, it's about the characters. If you haven't noticed, David Willis likes toys a lot more than most people his age. DOA is him playing with his favorite toys, with no care given to how he played with them previously.

Plus, with some of them, it seems to be about improving those favourite toys (case in point, Ruth's story).

(great analogy, by the way )

[CRtwenty]

Yeah he's able to come back to his old characters that he shoved into fridges and improve on them. Plus a lot of the characters in DoA are ones that have faded from relevance in the main continuity so it's nice to see familiar faces in new situations.

[The Rose Dragon]

So, Joshua. Gay or super-gay?

[CRtwenty]

So, Joshua. Gay or super-gay?

Super not wanting to get disowned by his family-gay.

I like him though. Hopefuly we get to see him making cute pouty faces like Joyce does all the time.

Also I'm feeling really, really bad for Joyce right about now. Hopefully it's a wake up call that Ethan may not have been the best boyfriend choice but I know Willis has months and months of angst for those two already planned out in his head.

[John Campbell]

I've binged all of the the walkyverse comics in the last 2 weeks (I read Shortpacked before It's Walky, so I was completely floored when things like the drama tag and the giant honey bun were actually real). It may interest you to know that the schoolgirl Sal outfit (probably her boarding school uniform BTW) is the same outfit Walky wore when he and Joyce got gender-switched.

It's the uniform of Avalon High, from the long-defunct webcomic Avalon. There was a lot of overlap between the Avalon and It's Walky! fan communities back in the day. (I found It's Walky via Avalon, in fact.) Josh Phillips, the Avalon creator, did at least one con-filler week for Willis, and IIRC Avalon characters show up in con filler Willis drew, too.

There are other references to Avalon and the Avalon fandom in that IW! storyline, including a long shot of the school where you can see that it is in fact Avalon High. I recall Willis complaining about how hard it was to find the reference for that. The whole time-freezing thing is one big shot at the way Avalon died - like a lot of webcomics, erratic updates and missed promises trailing off into nothing at all. Though at least Josh did tell us how it all turns out.

Willis promising to eventually finish Joyce & Walky, and "not just with a text outline where everyone becomes lesbians" was a shot at Avalon, too.

I'm not sure if Sal's boarding school uniform is referencing Avalon, or referencing It's Walky! referencing Avalon, but in any case Avalon's at the end of the reference chain.

[The Rose Dragon]

Hmm. Looks like we haven't had a good "Damn you Willis!" in a while.

So...

Damn you, Willis!

[CRtwenty]

Hmm. Looks like we haven't had a good "Damn you Willis!" in a while.

So...

Damn you, Willis!

More like "Damn you Danny!"
Of course that's kind of a given, being that it's Danny.

[The Rose Dragon]

More like "Damn you Danny!"
Of course that's kind of a given, being that it's Danny.

Well, yeah. There is a reason we have words like "Danning" or "Dannerisms".

[Socratov]

So, just started with Dumbing of age, and I must say, I'm impressed. I mean the comic makes me laugh, out loud, more then once, while binging... Where has this comic been all my life?

[Shadow of the Sun]

Called it.

Now let's see where this is going...

[Arkhosia]

Spoiler: Yayyyyyy

Show

Yay, Dorothy & Joyce are allowed to be buddies now!

[CRtwenty]

Called it.

Now let's see where this is going...

Damn... so much for that ship.

[Randomguy]

Spoiler

Show

WOW. I did not see that coming.

Isn't it nice how close to midnight this comic updates for my timezone?

[Arkhosia]

It updates at midnight for me

[VeliciaL]

Spoiler

Show

omgomgomg

As a trans woman, I'm a little excited right now.

[Arkhosia]

Spoiler

Show

omgomgomg

As a trans woman, I'm a little excited right now.

Spoiler

Show

Oh, so that was what the whole thing with the text was!
I thought it was from Joyce.
(Cue banging head on wall repeatedly to knock sense back in head)

[CRtwenty]

Even with the new revelations the ship still appears dead.
I need time to mourn.

[VeliciaL]

Spoiler

Show

Oh, so that was what the whole thing with the text was!
I thought it was from Joyce.
(Cue banging head on wall repeatedly to knock sense back in head)

Spoiler

Show

Admittedly, I zipped straight to the comments to make sure my hunch was correct. It took me a few minutes to get it, myself.

[Astrella]

Huh, I was joking about that being the case to a friend of mine.

[Randomguy]

So has the author been tagging all the posts with Joshua in them as #Jocelyn this whole time or did he go back and change them?

[Astrella]

Went back and changed them.

[Mewtarthio]

Willis has been known to go back and retroactively re-tag comics in the past. Plus, I'm pretty sure everyone would have guessed the twist if he hadn't used Jocelyn's birth name at first.

[CRtwenty]

For those of you enjoying Willis' re release of "Roomies" with author commentary today's strip has newly drawn art.

Can't tell if that makes the strip better or worse.

[stsasser]

So, is all this just variations on previous Willis drama?

[idksocrates]

It really suffers from lots and lots of characters syndrome (and the stylized appearance doesn't help).

It helps that it updates five days a week though, so you don't forget who people are (at least, until the focus changes to someone else).

With a completely character-driven plot, I think having a sprawling cast of characters is an advantage, not a disadvantage.

Also I challenge you to pistols at dawn over the stylized art rip.

I don't understand the recycling of characters. Can anybody explain what it brings to the table that's positive? I see people being confused/upset/disappointed by differences, and no reason not to just write a new cast to shed incorrect assumptions.

The point of DoA is kind of to remake the Walkyverse characters for a new audience. From what Willis has said there are a lot of DoA readers totally unfamiliar with the old comics. You can make the argument that Willis is uncreative or afraid of new territory; I won't argue with you. He just decided he liked his characters and wanted to put them in a new setting rather than make new ones. For long-time willis readers its a nice treat to see everyone in different roles, its the Angelic Days of Neon Genisis: Evangelion.