Dumbing of Age

[Max_Killjoy]

Sort of, but more like in-jokes. Couples of the original story are kinda hinted at, then smashed as being completely unsuited for each other - a jab of the author at himself.

FWIW, I enjoyed It's Walky! back in the day, but its a bit of a mess. I'm not sure I could force myself to read it now - it has not aged well, I fear.

GW

At least in his older works, his penchant for snark and absurdity didn't clash with the seemingly grounded setting, and he wasn't trying to address sober topics in his juvenile manner.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

At least in his older works, his penchant for snark and absurdity didn't clash with the seemingly grounded setting

Err... yes, they did. Which is why Roomies! (the grounded, could-have-been Dumbing of Age setting) became Its Walky!

(I am intentionally NOT commenting on your "sober topic" thing because nothing good could come out of that)

GW

[Cikomyr]

Oh come on, its not like

- Religiosity
- Sheltered Upbringing
- Sexual self-discovery
- Religious Repression of self-identity
- Suicidal Alcoholism

Are hot topics here :-P

Yhea, its serious. I like it.

[Lacuna Caster]

Start from the start. He is the very, very, very first boy she has interaction with, the date happens quickly thereafter.

Found it! It's like 50 strips in, though. Yeah, I'd forgotten that Joyce/Mike were kind of a jerk about thought-policing there. But she does seem a little contrite about it, both here and later.

I'm really struck by the development of the art style too. It feels so tacked-together in the early strips.

[Otomodachi]

Found it! It's like 50 strips in, though. Yeah, I'd forgotten that Joyce/Mike were kind of a jerk about thought-policing there. But she does seem a little contrite about it, both here and later.

I'm really struck by the development of the art style too. It feels so tacked-together in the early strips.

She ABSOLUTELY did grow as a character, you're absolutely right. That first date still REALLY bothers me, though, and it also bothers me that she's turning the screws on Joe right now when he's already panicking. Like, Joyce, are you really surprised after giving this guy probably THE worst date of his life that he doesn't rate you very high on HIS BANG LIST? Like, honestly, being a 0- seems like what she was TRYING to get out of him, at the time.

Since then she's started at least considering that she might have a sexuality to explore, and she has NO WAY of knowing how badly Joe is doing this exact moment. But still, she's bugging me right now. I LIKE Joe. He's probably one of my favourite characters across the Walkyverse. He's simple, but I honestly think he's pretty enlightened. Fairly self-aware for his age, too, IMO.

[Lacuna Caster]

I like Joe as well. I'm not sure I'd consider him 'enlightened', but his particular brand of hetero swag strikes me as relatively harmless, compared to... well, the strip's actual examples of toxic masculinity.

I also don't think disclosing his do list to all and sundry was wise if he didn't want exactly the kind of blowback that's happening now, but if I glance around a room and squint a bit I could probably assign numbers between 0 and 10 to various people. That's what sexual preferences are.

I don't think Joyce is deliberately turning the screw here, or even angry- more a case of curiosity, maybe even concern. It's just obvious that Joe is masking an attraction on a deeper level than he's used to, and that terrifies him.

[Seerow]

Maybe, but not necessarily. Pretty much every character in Dumbing of Age is an expy of characters in Willis' first webcomic, Roomies/It's Walky! from way back.

Grey Wolf

Becky/Toedad were actually exceptions to this, neither ever showed up in It's Walky/Shortpacked (unless they came into It's Walky after the paywall went up at the very end. But I doubt that).

[Max_Killjoy]

Becky/Toedad were actually exceptions to this, neither ever showed up in It's Walky/Shortpacked (unless they came into It's Walky after the paywall went up at the very end. But I doubt that).

IIRC, Becky and Toedad were from the "Joyce and Walky" days, Becky was their neighbor I think.

[Cikomyr]

Jesus Christ is it easy to lose track of time reading that comic. Man, its really catchy.

I am in Becky/Dina budding relationship.

Cutest
Thing
Ever

[Lacuna Caster]

So, Mary- unexpectedly pleased by 3rd-party assessment or taking twisted pleasure in others' distress? Place your bets!

[Cikomyr]

All right! All caught up!!

Oh god oh god oh god what happened to Amber??!

[John Campbell]

Ah, Amber's fine.

It wasn't Amber who Willis tagged because their blood was in the strip.

[eschmenk]

All right! All caught up!!

Oh god oh god oh god what happened to Amber??!

I'm not reading the comic, but I looked at the strips around the one that John Campbell linked to. It looks to me that Amber disarmed Ryan, then punched and cut him. Was there something else?

[John Campbell]

I'm not reading the comic, but I looked at the strips around the one that John Campbell linked to. It looks to me that Amber disarmed Ryan, then punched and cut him. Was there something else?

Note that the strip I linked ran almost a month ago - in a daily comic, so almost thirty strips ago - and is still the most recent appearance of either Amber or Ryan. Until today, it was also Dorothy's most recent appearance. The next strip was a three-day timeskip to a completely different set of characters, and Willis has been deliberately taunting us with checking up on everyone else and every other plotline going before letting us know whether Amber just straight-up killed a dude in front of Dorothy or what.

[Max_Killjoy]

Note that the strip I linked ran almost a month ago - in a daily comic, so almost thirty strips ago - and is still the most recent appearance of either Amber or Ryan. Until today, it was also Dorothy's most recent appearance. The next strip was a three-day timeskip to a completely different set of characters, and Willis has been deliberately taunting us with checking up on everyone else and every other plotline going before letting us know whether Amber just straight-up killed a dude in front of Dorothy or what.

The hopping about gets old. It comes across as an attempt to gin-up suspense and/or drive advance-access sales.

[Lacuna Caster]

And, we have closure on the "do" list series.

Yeah, the 'treasure map' aspect was also something I had not considered.

[Cikomyr]

So.. if i wanted to start the Walkyverse, where should i start, and when should i spin off?

[The Extinguisher]

So.. if i wanted to start the Walkyverse, where should i start, and when should i spin off?

I would recommend http://www.bringbackroomies.com
Willis is re-releasing all of the old walkyverse comics daily and it nice if you want to follow along with it. If you're just looking to binge the whole thing, start here http://www.joyceandwalky.com/d/19970908.html and go through all the way until the end, then you can start on Shortpacked!

Roomies! is alright, has some good ideas but also has a lot of bad ones. Its Walky! gets good about half way through and Shortpacked! is pretty good consistently with some minor exceptions, and there are definitely parts of all three that are just Awful so heads up but Willis does start to get progressive throughout Shortpacked!'s run which ends on a very gay note.

[Lacuna Caster]

Speaking of gay notes- I know the characterisation is both odd and mildly troubling, but I find myself cracking up over Mary's recent behaviour.

[137beth]

Hello y'all,

This comic had been on my radar for quite awhile due to frequent recommendations. The initial description never sounded appealing to me, so I avoided reading it for a long time. I finally tried it a week and a half ago and finished binge-reading today.

I haven't read any of Willis' other comics, but that didn't really stop me from enjoying this one. It isn't very often that I care about the characters in a webcomic while also laughing as much as I did for this one. I'm not sure if I am going to read the Walkyverse comics yet, though I'll probably go through the DoA archives at least one more time to see if it is as good the second time as the first.

[Cikomyr]

I love this comic so damn much