Dumbing of Age

I feel like she kind of has to, but given that Becky's still on campus the next day, I'm not entirely sure what we're gonna get now.

It has to be something that keeps Becky easily accessible for as long as can be (which even my Marcie theory wouldn't work with, because Marcie lives off campus and Becky would have to find a job, which would cut into panel time with Dina and Joyce). After that, I'm seriously wondering if we are gonna get a time skip to next semester.

I guess there's an extremely slight possibility that Mary doesn't go through with informing the college that Becky's there for whatever reason.

edited 7th Jul '16 3:01:42 PM by Mr.Badguy

Any chance Mary would disapprove of Toedad's actions?

HA.

Mary would think he should have gone further. Probably wouldn't bat an eye if he had killed Dina.

I mean she might have an issue with threatening people at gunpoint, but she probably figured he had a point about bringing Becky back to God or whatever.

When has Mary showed even the smallest iota of basic human compassion?

Good point.

edited 7th Jul '16 9:12:36 PM by phantom1

Love and sympathy for Carla rising...

Amazingly good parents in a willis comic, WHAT SORCERY IS THIS?

Give him a roaring elbow, Carla.

(google "Masato Tanaka")

Aww, Carla. It's so sweet that the Ultra Car cartoon meant so much to her.

Also, goddammit, Walky, seriously?! You asshole. (His argument has really devolved, too. Like, it started with talking about how D&MM had clever pop cultural references and smart humor, and now he's using an episode that was purely fart jokes as proof that D&MM is better. How long have they been arguing?)

It's not really devolved, Walky just has an odd definition of "smart humor" and stuff.

Also, I don't expect someone who disses someone else's hobbies without provocation to hold the moral high ground.

To be fair it's not like he got in her face about it, he mocked what he felt was a stupid show . Pretty much any work of fiction can hold meaning for any random person, are we never supposed to diss anything on the of chance someone near by has cherished childhood memories of it?

For instance when I wasa kid my mom took me to see The Cat in the Hat a few weeks after my dad died to cheer me up so I actually have some really good memories of what is a pretty abominable movie, doesn't mean I care if I hear someone call it trash. Plus the last time she tried to take me somewhere to cheer me up I slipped on a patch of ice and broke my knee so at that point anything that got me out of the house and didn't involve a hospital would have gotten a thumbs up.

He did it right outside her door, though.

I mean it's generally not a good idea to diss someone's favorite show right in front of their room. If Walky was dissing the Ultra Car cartoon in some random place and Carla just happened to overhear, I'd have more sympathy for Walky, but what actually happened is that he saw the Ultra Car decoration on Carla's door, which indicates that she does like this cartoon an awful lot, and decides to diss it, right in front of her door. That's just dumb, and at that point, you're just asking to be yelled at. I think my sister's shows are shit, but I'm not gonna diss them in front of her, but I'm totally fine with talking shit about her shows to other people (as long as I know they don't like her shows either), since it's fine to talk about how bad you think a show is. And if my sister decides to talk shit about my shows to her friends, and I happen to overhear, I won't react. (I might be sad, but that's just because I'm an oversensitive crybaby, haha.) Everyone's entitled to their opinion.

That being said, did any of you find Walky a little more insensitive than usual in today's strip? I know Walky is immature and makes jokes at inappropriate times, but this felt kind of out of character.

edited 8th Jul '16 10:47:39 AM by DeathsApprentice

Walky has said incredibly immature and stupid shit before, so I didn't see it as out of character, just demonstrating the fact that he's still kind of an insensitive asshole about things.

He literally had to stop himself from saying "gun to my head" after Becky was hauled off at riflepoint.

This seems about on par.

So as for those responses I got about Mary, she's something that has to be dealt with, and she knows Becky is there so, reasonably, the only way for her not to squeal about Becky is for her to choose not to. I guess Carla could blackmail her with her internet search history or something.

And she is definitely a transphobic asshole. Joyce also dated a gay dude to make him straight and Walky treats homosexuality as a failure to be a real man. I don't think it's impossible for a combo of "oh shit I think I made Ruth try to kill herself" and staring Becky in the face to maybe make her act with some form of empathy.

'Cause even Walkyverse Mary alternated between giving Danny necessary relationship advice and also asking Sal what she did to personally deserve the death of her parents.

edited 8th Jul '16 3:04:22 PM by Mr.Badguy

As someone who used to be Mary, I have to say that I doubt anything short of a chorus of angels descending from the heavens to rebuke her would ever change her mind.

I only stopped being a Mary because I was gay; it was still a narrow thing.

I mean, Joyce was Mary too. She just fluffed it up with triangle smiles and infectious cheerfulness.

She just chose to grow up instead of doubling down on everything horrible.

Joyce, unlike Mary, showed genuine human compassion towards other people.

Joyce, unlike Mary, is someone who has shown consistently that she cares about people; her current situation with her faith is motivated entirely by her compassion.

Mary has shown that she's primarily motivated by her self-righteousness. By her belief that she's a single point of morality in a cesspool of corruption and sin.

It justifies to her that she can treat Carla and Ruth like shit, because they're bad and she's good.

I don't think Mary will ever stop being a turbo-bitch. That requires a reason to consider that her treatment of other people is wrong; people like Mary never ever consider that they may be on the wrong side of things.

edited 8th Jul '16 3:47:55 PM by Matues

I mean, I agree. I'm just not sure how Becky manages to stick around as a main character and also has Mary specifically wanting her gone.

Mary's one of the worst people in the comic, so to have her undergo Character Development would be...very interesting, actually. Though if things end up going down that road, I think we should wrap up a few of the plot threads we're following first (or at least find a good place to put them on hold).

How long-term is Willis plotting here, anyway?

There's no set end in sight. He's pretty much just going and going until he gets bored.

I'm not really expecting Mary to go through a Joyce-like revelation, it's just, I really have no idea how Becky can stick around now. There either has to be something that makes Mary not tattle, or Becky's gone.

And, yeah, ending happens when Willis runs out of ideas. I'm legit curious as to what he'll do then. I'm hoping another sci-fi comic.