Dumbing of Age

Never read anything else in the Walkyverse, so I gave this comic a shot. I like, so far. Especially the current arc, with Roz defending her sexual freedom, despite some unforeseen consequences.

Anyone else reading Do A?

I've been loving it. I feel like Shortpacked started going downhill some time ago, but Dumbing of Age shows David Willis has still got it as much as ever.

Me! But I have read the rest of the Walkyverse stuff so it's kinda wierd. On the one hand it's a reboot/retelling but on the other hand it's really tied to the origonal in that I'm waiting for the next character to show up from the Walkyverse and I can rely on my knowledge from the Walkyverse so I don't need an introduction to the character.

Like for instance, Robin is a pretty big deal in Shortpacked, but in Dumbing Of Age shee's more of a side character, yet she still enjoys the main character attention.

I like it. I'm a big Walkyverse fan. Keeping this comic and the rest of the 'verse seperate in my mind is easier than I thought it'd be.

I hope it's not another month until Dorothy and Joyce get to that party, though. Every so often it hits me that by webcomic standards the storytelling is insanely decompressed.

I like this story more than the rest of the walkyverse, for some reason.

I think it may have something to do that Willis's writing has seriously improved since 2002, which is when Roomies/Walky started to get good. Let's face it, Roomies gag strips were generally stupid and the angst poorly written (except for Ruth's death, that was fairly good.) Early Walky was highly episodic and the drama kind of fluxuated in quality. Don't get me wrong, I like them for what they are, but if the quality of Walky hadn't seriously improved by the time I stumbled across it and Shortpacked hadn't been funny right off the bat, I wouldn't have stuck with Willis's stuff.

Dumbing of Age is taking characters that he spent years refining and building on and giving them a fresh start, free from their rough beginnings and applying the storytelling knowledge he's built since. It works perfectly.

edited 16th Sep '11 7:24:41 AM by Wackd

I like it so far, but the pacing here makes even Questionable Content seem like a breakneck-speed romp. Willis recently pointed out that it was the first anniversary of the comic and we'd gotten only as far as Sunday to Friday of the same week.

I can't honestly say I mind. It generally bugs me when story comics don't use Webcomic Time. It feels like the weeks/months in between each arc were spent sitting around doing nothing.

Another thing I like about the pacing being this slow is that character development will probably seem a lot more gradual and therefore more real.

Damn, this thread just kind of up and died, didn't it? So, highlights from the past arc:

It was freakin' weird seeing Ryan and Ron again. Makes me wonder who else is going to get a bigger role this time around.

I think this is the first time Joyce ever came off as legitimately likeable—not getting almost raped, but playing board games with the drunkards. That was pretty much adorable.

As for the almost rape plot proper, it was very well-handled, regardless of one's opinion of what should've been done, because the reactions felt very real. Although it's weird to me that Ryan didn't, y'know, get concussed and die from the baseball bat injuries, but then should that really be shattering my suspension of disbelief when there's a flesh-and-blood superhero about?

One thing that kind of bugs me is not seeing how Roz reacts to the whole ordeal. I don't think this is how she expected Joyce to "learn something".

The latest comic is the cutest thing ever.

And I think Ryan didn't die because of that "Rapists and serial killers are Made of Iron" thing. We probably need a trope for that.

Yeah, cute if you like Sarah's whole "I'm an antisocial twat, and it's everybody else's fault but mine" schtick.

I could like Sarah, but in Roomies she was a bag of sarcasm. Here she's switching between "know-it-all jerk" and "heart of gold" with no interim making me not buy it.

Wait, there's a webcomic whose main character is a homeschooled kid adjusting to college?

THREE HOURS PASS

Why didn't someone tell me about this before?!?

You Didn't Ask.

Some people look at their favorite characters in fiction and say "Man, I'd **** that girl". Me, I look at Joyce and say "Man, I'd enter into a chaste courtship with that girl". I tend to act more like Joyce does then I like to admit.

Right down to the innocently ingrained bigotry?

Um... No.

Just started reading it. Do those yes count as Black Bead Eyes or Pie-Eyed?

Black beads, definitely, except for Joyce.

Walky looks more Pie-Eyed to me, though.

I just Archive Binged on it! It seems pretty good. I don't know too much about the rest of the Walkyverse — I read a bunch of It's Walky, but ages ago, and sometimes follow Shortpacked, so mostly for me the connection was "oh, hey, I've seen that face before." Some characters are instantly recognizable even after only minimal exposure, of course.

I really strongly disliked the arc about Joyce's and Joe's "date" with Mike... Joe may be a jerk, but he was physically abused, very extensively, with Joyce's approval and encouragement. Also possibly directly by Joyce at the end. A jerk he may be, but he didn't even remotely do anything at all to deserve that, and Joyce really didn't get any consequences at all for basically participating in a violent assault against a mostly-innocent man. In the end, the moment in the elevator was meant to make her sympathetic and since then she's still been all sweet and innocent and likeable. The one time Joe tried to call her out on how crazy and violent she was, he somehow ended up looking like the bad guy instead, yet again. I feel like this is a pretty strong case of Abuse Is Okay When It’s Female on Male, and it's very much not cool. Let me tell you, after what Joyce did to Joe, short of actually beating her up (which he'd never ever do), I don't think there's anything Joe can do to make himself look like "the bad guy" as far as that situation goes, so any attempt by the comic to make Joyce's reactions to him sympathetic seem to kind of fall extremely flat to me. And now the arc has been pretty much forgotten, without Joyce learning anything at all from it, or facing any real consequences.

... Obviously Mike is far more to blame than Joyce, but the comic doesn't try to make Mike likeable. He's a complete psychopath, while Joyce is supposed to be this misguided, but basically sweet and innocent girl that everyone likes.

Other than that, pretty neat strip, and it was also fun to briefly see Robin being all different-like and what-not.

edited 13th Nov '11 2:12:08 AM by girlyboy

I think Joyce is more innocent/fundie in DoA that she ever was in It's Walky, even at the beginning. This arc was probably meant to drive that point home.

edited 13th Nov '11 2:42:35 AM by Medinoc

Well I admit I don't remember too well what she was like in It's Walky, except that yeah, she was also innocent and religious, but... How does getting a guy beat up make her seem more innocent?..

In a way that her more pronounced fundie side believe this is innocence.

Makes sense, but again, she's never really called out on it, and never faces consequences for it. The one time Joe tries to, you know, tell her that what she did was wrong, we're immediately reminded of how he slept with Roz shortly after the failed, uh, "date," which somehow proves he... retroactively had it coming, I guess? I dunno. The effect was to make him look like the bad guy, or at least as sharing responsibility. Hello, victim-blaming!