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Early update for November 5, 2025 (Patreon)

Published:
2025-11-04 04:55:00
Edited:
2025-11-04 14:57:06
Imported:
2026-06

Content

what do you mean IF

Files

Comments

Fart Captor

Okay wow, fuck you Raidah

Logibear

And just like that, a stealth bomb flies under the Raidah.

Syl

someone check to see the last time that Joyce‘s major was actually mentioned in canon, i’m guessing not since like book 2

Aubrey Bryn

Ah, there she is, villain Raidah, welcome back

Corronchilejano

You have to actually open books to read them Raidah.

yumaikas

Gotta throw heavy shade if you're going after the sun, after all

C

"Have you considered kissing my ass? You'll have to wait though, my girlfriend has first dibs."

Kelly (they-them)

Hypocrite! Hypocritical social climber! Ooh, I'm so fucking mad at Raidah. RADDA RADDA RADDA! D=<

JessieSquirrel

What the fuck would Raidah know about Joyce's life and the things she cares about. College is like... the first time she's actually started to let herself have what she wants instead of caring about what everyone else thinks.

Kelly (they-them)

She mentioned it to Jacob's brother (Jaime, i think) on their fake date

Ragtime

Weaponizing homophobia to hurt a queer person is quite awful Raidah.

The Axolartl

Bold words coming from Raidah of all people, the woman who's only friends with people who can benefit her in some way. Like ma'am you're actively trying to be friends with a mob boss' kid and you're a law student. Joyce doesn't HAVE to get a job in Indiana, and that's assuming that the situation will be the same when she graduates and that she will actually graduate in elementary education and won't change her major. Four years isn't going to change how much of a monumentally bad idea getting yourself entangled in the mob is.

AE Gonzalez

“Ok, I’ll move to California. You still trying to get drug-addicted friends killed?”

Karl Moore

Look at her marching away, genuinely believing that her cruelty conceals the barren pit of envy deep inside her. It's precious.🥰

Jayne Lindgren

Hey, Raidah! Out of line! Don't you know the only ones allowed to talk to Joyce like that are the comment section??

MrShoggoth

You really think she gives a shit? This is textbook sociopath holding a grudge. They’ll wait for the right opportunity to say the most hurtful thing to you so they have a one-up on someone.

NinjaZaku

That is absolutely fucking rich coming from Raidah, whose entire beef with Sarah comes from Sarah doing something Raidah didn't like for the sake of someone else's best interests.

Uniquitous

Jesus H Christ, go suck start a bilge pump Raidah.

Kelly (they-them)

Does Raidah know Joyce and several friends were fucking kidnapped last semester? I would figure that would be common knowledge around campus Why would a kidnapping survivor WANT to be outed on the front page of a newspaper? To invite more kidnapping and violence?? Go FUCK yourself, Raidah. She did this shit to Sarah, too. Sought out the target of her ire when they're eating, made an unwarranted personal attack, and stomped off Raidah is a good antagonist, but I hope all open plot threads with her are left dangling cuz I don't want want to see her again

MrShoggoth

You can tell Raidah’s been waiting for this opportunity to hurt Joyce for a while.

Harold

Joyce hates to see her go, but loves to watch her leave with ice cream splattered all over her back

Ria

See it's moments like this that remind me how even raidah – machiavellian, social climber genius mastermind self-serious raidah – is fundamentally just so very 19 years old. She's so cruel, so pointlessly and in such a childish way! This isn't gonna make joyce meek, nor make her shake from her convictions, nor make her lastingly unhappy. It's just "lol ur out and gay and we live under fascism, haha" Like it's just such an insanely gross thing to say, coming from such a petty place – cause yeah I get that joyce's flirting with jacob did lead to him kissing her and cheating on raidah, but that was on him!! She was aware of joyce's flirting (and I'm pretty sure subtly egged it on at some point?) and totally discounted the possibility that jacob was into her because of "she's gross silly fundie". Idk man like you don't shame the person rather than just cruelly kick them because "what's the point"; you do it because it's how you participate in morality effectively

Andrea Andrew

Wow, Raidah. You weaponized homophobia to attack Joyce. Not cool.

HenryVolt

False, the real truth is that she had nothing else that would have stuck. Even this might not stick because I'm wondering if Joyce might have contemplated changing career paths a couple of times...plus if not she could just move over to Illinois right next door. They seemed to have stayed consistently blue for decades now.

Ragtime

She should, even outside of the disgusting nature of the homophobia itself a social climber like her should know how to hurt her enemies without causing collateral damage that could blowback on her.

C

Thinking about it...even if that were true (which is a terrible thing to even suggest), it's not like Joyce can't change her major. It's their second semester, most people end up only taking basic general education requirements at this point. Joyce could go full in on an Art degree, or take up History, or any number of things at this point. But yeah, seriously, there are better ways to handle your frustrations than drop that on a recently outed LGBT person.

Grace Serenity

That's rich coming from Raidah. SHE only thinks about herself! And if we look at the course of events, it was her that ended up breaking Dorothy! I didn't think I could hate anyone more than Mary, but she's so cartoonish whereas Raidah is too real.

Kelly (they-them)

Every out of pocket comment is ghost written by Raidah

Kelly (they-them)

"My boyfriend has second dibs. There's a line forming."

Mariah

yeah radiah sure is a paladin your champion awaits guys no homophobia or sexism here just justice!

HenryVolt

She thinks she's a machiavellian, I've still yet to see her have anything she can through at Joyce and Sarah that can actually cause real issue unlike vice versa when they've successfully hit her hard by breaking up her and Jacob.

Mariah

sometimes I think about how some of the paladins want mary to "put joyce in her place" and this is pretty close to that.

Omnithea

So is there a Patreon tier where you'll insert my OC into the comic kicking Raidah in the shin?

MrShoggoth

By my count I’ve known three people that give me the same vibe as Raidah. The only good things about them are that two are far, far dumber than she is, and that the third died ten years ago.

MrShoggoth

I’m surprised it took her this long tbh

Dan Rabin

Layout-wise, this strip is just a straightforward two-person interaction bracketed by a scene-setting borderless panel and one that terminates the reaction. Character-wise, Raidah's parting comment describes herself very aptly, doesn't it? Joyce's puzzlement in panel 4 is genuine: Raidah has an actual, understandable personal animus against Joyce for breaking her up with Jacob, yet she chooses to insult Joyce's apparent future aspirations as she did with Dorothy's. Raidah identifies with her own aspirations, sacrifices having real friends in order to aim herself at them, and assumes that everyone else has the same identification. Yet Joyce can easily change her major, Dorothy was never going to become President, and now they have each other—which is something that's good for people in the face of the uncertain futures most of us face most of the time. Final note: Raidah, of course, is herself politically opposed to the persecution she accuses Indiana of, so she has to chose this weird indirect way of insulting Joyce. But in Dumbing of Age human decency usually triumphs over political affiliation. Joyce has human decency to spare, but she's not going to share it with Raidah, who has little.

Empress of Robots

The thing I hate most about this is that Raidah had A POINT (a shitty point for a shitty reason motived by even shittier reasons). I really hope Raidah gets her comeuppance eventually

I Know Why the Mowed Lawn Screams

something about the Joyce having that little ice cream cone before going through the world's most bizarre bullying attempt is driving me insane

MrShoggoth

Honestly, you think she gives a flying fuck? This is an opportunity to hurt Joyce, and she took it as soon as it presented itself. Basic sociopathic behaviour.

Grace Serenity

Well, she'll have a great career in the current administration with those qualifications

Dan Rabin

I do not perceive Raidah's attack as homophobic. She herself praised Jacob's brother Harrison for winning Carla's court case, and she is clearly not sympathetic in this strip to the homophobia she attributes to Indians in general. Rather, I think she wants to dump on Joyce's future aspiration the way she did Dorothy's, possibly assuming that everyone should be a conniving schemer the way she herself is.

Ria

@Grace Kieser except for she is a practicing muslim

Kelly (they-them)

Illinoisan here. A lot of of counties are actually purple or red - but Chicago is densely populated and blue, so it keeps the state blue for federal elections. North East Illinois is generally fairly blue

Tessea

Raidah is almost as pleasant to talk to as Mary!

Mariah

radiah has really come to embody what I loath about some paladins on the surface she has very logical reasons to hate joyce I mean Joyce cheated with her boyfried and to her shows a pattern of behavior of selfishness. She appears to be a progressive person who cares about social issues but deep down she is a puritanical self rightous hypocrite who weaponizes the same things such as homophobia and misogyny that she claims to be against. I can't bring any of this up because I just get accused of "loving cheating" and making up the vile stuff I see see on the mainsite or here as if joyce even being a selfish person justifies any of it and its just really frustrating.

Andrea Andrew

Yeah, I’ve come to that conclusion as well. She’s accusing Joyce of putting Dorothy in danger because she thinks Joyce is selfish,

HenryVolt

That's actually a very interesting argument I hope someone makes one day. Radaih: "Your not as good tawords your friends as you pretend to be." Joyce/Sarah: "Atleast I'm don't enable a friends suicidal drug habits."

Beck Chonigman

And gloating that she'll face homophobia is a good and unselfish look somehow?

Kelly (they-them)

Maybe you can commission that instead of a makeout on the next kickstarter

Lazuli

raidah and mary would get along like spaghetti and meatballs

Railway Series Book Club

filing this scene into the "raidah is repressing her own queerness for self-defense reasons" research folder

William Lewis

Ah Raidah. What a perfect example of "Lawful evil".

Sajuuk-Khar

Honestly I don’t believe this at all

Sajuuk-Khar

This, though, I do agree with

MrShoggoth

She’s not a paladin, she’s a sociopath, and she’s weaponising anything she can against Joyce to hurt her on an emotional and intellectual level. You saw how she made a dig at Dorothy’s aspirations for no reason other than her own amusement. She honestly wouldn’t have given a shit about the kiss if it wasn’t for the Jacob kerfuffle last semester.

Sajuuk-Khar

Heartwarming: the worst person you know doesn’t have a point today, today they’re just being a fucking dick

NinjaZaku

You wouldn't be the only one after that. The result would end up looking like that one Jojo's Bizarre Adventure meme, I imagine.

Shane Wegner

Raidah, I thought we agreed that image didn't belong on the front page. Now you're glad it is? Pick a morality.

HenryVolt

I see, so would you say Illinois is close to being swing state level?

Mohmi

"Who the hell starts a conversation like that?" -Esteemed philosopher Peter Griffon.

Tessea

Yeah Joyce is selfish. But honestly so are most teenagers. And while she has been growing a lot, she still has a lot of social interaction skills to learn that she never had growing up.

Amós Batista

The question is: will paladins accept Raidah, instead Mary?

Empress of Robots

Heel of Morality, Burn, Burn, Burn, Tell us the Lesson that we should Learn! ...Wait. Something's not quite right there...

Maybeeus

Damn, i wonder if she had a thing for Dana...

GundamBradley

In case anyone needed reminding that Raidah is actually not like, secretly a great person or something.

DramaQueen

Mmm that makes sense. Everyone seems to be lashing out at them because they feel the need to repress their own desires. Maybe she’s just a horrible person who hates gays and anyone filled with happiness. She couldn’t stand Joyce enjoying an ice cream and had to bring her down.

MrShoggoth

She’s been giving me vibes of the three worst people I’ve known for a long time now and this strip has just solidified that view for me.

GundamBradley

Yeah, I don't like Raidah, but I also seriously doubt she'd have any tolerance for Mary, either. Mary, in addition to just being reprehensible, also has no social capital for Raidah to have any reason to extend tolerance to her to get access to.

Sajuuk-Khar

like, Raidah is a mean girl justiciar with a princess complex. Mary is a full-on groyper who probably puts extra parentheses around Dorothy’s name. they are not the same. They would mix like sodium and water, which is to say they would go off on each other (although this would spare everyone else Raidah’s mean bullshit and Mary’s genuine evil)

Railway Series Book Club

to be fair, i also cant stand joyce enjoying an ice cream. like the girl literally just went to bone town with her awesome girlfriend and now shes getting soft serve??? her greed sickens me

William Lewis

@Dan Rabin: the homophobia arises out of her personal repressed queerness. The difference between Harrison and Joyce is that Joyce allowing herself to stop repressing herself, acting out on her love and desires, is an existential threat to how Raidah sees herself in the world. Hence she lashes out and, my bet is it will get more intense and desperate in later strips. Couple this _with_ the schemer personality as well and you get a very toxic individual that is, as I smartassed called above, a perfect reflection of the roleplaying "Lawful Evil": someone who is conforming to the letter of the law while manipulating it to their advantage out of selfishness and personal desire.

DramaQueen

Does Mary have some connections, is her family rich or powerful? If so they would put aside their instant and intense antipathy for each other to crush all creativity and originality.

joe mcguire

Incredibly calculating and selfish person Raidah coming down on Joyce for supposedly being selfish and calculating.

I Know Why the Mowed Lawn Screams

That’s fair and that’s fine but I’m still holding out that she gets like. A full story arc where she can be more than just the worst (compliment and scathing criticism). Think it would be good to see a character that's genuinely so mean and petty learn empathy by force, or at least this particular character considering the few non-abrasive details and traits we know about her.

HenryVolt

Raidah is muslim, Mary Christian nationalist ways wouldn't allow them to cooperate together...then again the power of hate brings together the weirdest combination of people.

GundamBradley

Honestly, if anyone was going to chew out Joyce I'd accept, it'd be Roz, but A. Sarah already basically beat her to it, and B. I could see Roz just kind of annoyed that Joyce and Dorothy accidentally beat her at her own game by getting press through sex appeal towards a political cause. Only, yeah, that obviously had its own problems.

I Know Why the Mowed Lawn Screams

Anyways I hope this ends with Raidah getting #cancelled by the students of IU, that would be so fucking funny actually

Beck Chonigman

It doesn't matter what Raidah's aim was or that she's been not homophobic to others. The fact that she's willing to use the fact that Joyce will be facing homophobia from this as way of gloating is still incredibly homophobic. If you're only an ally to people you like and willing to throw the oppression a person will have to face towards those you don't like, then you're not an ally. Being happy about someone facing discrimination makes that person a bigot. That doesn't change when they only apply that bigotry towards the "bad" gays and are nice to the "good" gays.

MrShoggoth

She hasn’t got morality, she’s got ammunition to hurt people with

DramaQueen

Actually I totally agree with you but you are too hard on Joyce. She has not done anything to deserve this level of hatred. Raidha goes out of her way to ruin moods and crush happiness. I wouldn’t put it past her to be campaigning to get Dorothy and Joyce kicked out of school. I firmly believe Raidha was just using Jacob and was making him miserable, he was searching for a way out, look how happy he is with Lucy.

GundamBradley

I would have even a smidge of thinking it was turnabout for Jacob if A. she wasn't a shitty match for him, anyway, and part of his attempts to be like his older brother, and B. if she hadn't basically just said "hope a bigotry happens to you" without an iota of shame.

DramaQueen

I also agree some of those people on the main website are probably working themselves up to mass murder women or gay people. Out to lunch.

MrShoggoth

This whole strip struck me as something a former friend would do if you felt she’d been slighted in some way. My best friend finally cut ties with her last year, seven years after I did, and she spent days digging up old chats and things he’d told her in confidence to try and hurt him. She also tried sending me a message calling me the name of a family member who struggled for years with alcoholism because she thought it’d hurt me - without realising that family member is the strongest person I know for quitting and staying sober.

Railway Series Book Club

@maybeeus: This is something that’s been rotating in my head, the idea that Dana meant more to her than just being an asset and that losing her made her way worse than she would have otherwise been… it would be interesting!

Gale Tazzin

dang, she's really not skilled at reading people. and she wants to be a lawyer? rachel at least has the excuse of being a computer scientist

Smoochie

Because sometimes people lack nuance. I don’t mean within comic just—some are so hard upon to express their own opinion that they can’t see the forest for the trees. They need to feel some sort of validation for opinions and express it in the worst ways. Or they’re just weird idk. BACK ON TOPIC—what I find especially funny about this strip is how obsessed over Joyce (the irony) Raidah must be. She must have spent ALL that time thinking the best possible way to hurt Joyce verbally before coming to this.

DramaQueen

Look how happy Jacob is now. He was so miserable with this social climber, freaking out about impressing his brother and consumed with checking all the boxes. It looks like both he and Lucy have really dialed down the neurosis.

MrShoggoth

She’s acting exactly like a former friend of mine. Thought she was intelligent and a great manipulator, instead she successfully pissed off and alienated everyone around her, and is now drinking herself to death while emotionally abusing her two children.

DramaQueen

Joyce was so happy! She’s really had her struggles. Her mom’s probably out there right now plotting some master manipulation or more kidnappings. Let the girl have some ice cream!

Gale Tazzin

wait why do you keep calling her a paladin

Gale Tazzin

yeah, it's *rachel* that raidah would get along with

Gale Tazzin

yeah that's an interesting angle for sure. Raidah exclusively picks her relationships based on prestige, with the only exceptions being Dana... and Sarah

Gale Tazzin

"you want me to change my career aspirations? the exact thing dorothy just did because of me???"

Genevieve

Not that this makes me like Raidah, but I do respect that she clearly sat down and thought through what she wanted to throw in Joyce's face specifically

I Know Why the Mowed Lawn Screams

@DramaQueen There's nothing wrong with Joyce having her ice cream, it's just a funny visual given the context. Really makes Raidah look like a TV-Y7 cartoon bully lmfao

DramaQueen

That’s an interesting point that I hadn’t thought of. The real reason that Raidah seeks out Dorothy and Joyce to hurt them is because she resents their efforts to be genuine and to find happiness. Because she herself has sacrificed all joy and real friendship on the altar of her ambition. She’s really the most dangerous kind of person, she will spend her life crushing joy while convinced she’s doing what’s best for everyone.

ArdieBea

Dana's father was the head of a law firm. She was plenty prestigous.

DiDi-chan

Raidah is still a terrible person. But damn if that wasn't a little satisfying to watch Joyce's face crack.

DramaQueen

Reminding myself that the original Paladins, the European crusaders, invaded “the holy land” and murdered everyone indiscriminately. They claimed God would sort them out in the afterlife. Evil.

I Know Why the Mowed Lawn Screams

@MrShoggoth I’m genuinely so sorry that happened to you and I think that it’s honestly really great that person no longer a part of your life. Like I’ve said before, it’s more than fine if this character is one you have 0 love for, she’s contentious for a reason, but I personally see enough things in her (both in-text and in the hypothetical conjecture) that makes me still root for her as a character, even if it's just small hyper-niche things that might only speak to me

MrShoggoth

The former friend of mine who Raidah reminds me of used to do this exact thing, and she’d stew over it for months until she had a chance to use it.

DramaQueen

Colorado was considered Purple for awhile but it’s really a huge swath of blue mega city on the front range where the money and jobs are, surrounded by Red rural areas that live on tourism and then ultra-red Weld county with oil and gas jobs. Other states are like this too, but we fixed the gerrymandering here so the cities actually have representation along with taxation.

DramaQueen

This admin is not above using women and minorities as tools to further their own repression. Trump even said he likes to hire women because they work twice as hard to please him.

ArdieBea

Interesting that Raidah still claims Joyce is shameless AFTER Joyce says quite clearly that there are lots of things she can be attacked for. She's aware of the fucked up stuff she's done. She knows they're going to face blow-back for it. Clearly, in her mind, Dorothy is worth it, but that doesn't mean she is happy (!!!) she's hurt Becky (and Dina), or cheated on Joe, or derailed coverage of the protest. Nor is she at all proud of her actions with Jacob. Also, Joyce's basic attitude has always been, "I AM going to fuck this up, but I'm going to try anyway, because we have to try. To make things better." Fucking up is how she gets by. And, frankly, she gets shit done. Like Dorothy's done (but not dusted!)

Michelle Solon

No definitely not. Almost 2/3 of the state’s population is in Chicago + the northeast counties near Chicago. The districts in those areas swing either very blue or majority blue so unless something happens to cause all those voters to vote republican, the state will probably always be blue for federal elections.

MrShoggoth

Hey it’s okay! As much as it’s frustrating that I wasted too much time being her friend, nothing she said had any actual impact. At the end of the day I’ve dealt with people far worse than her and I just feel bad for the (few) people still in her orbit.

MrShoggoth

If she’s anything like real people I’ve met she won’t get her comeuppance for many, many years to come, sadly.

MrShoggoth

I was thinking of writing some of my characters into a University AU because I feel bad for all the shit I’ve been putting them through, I’d love to do this as well.

MrShoggoth

if I were a paladin I’d rather circumcise myself with a blunt butter knife than even consider using Raidah as a champion lmao

Omnithea

Leaving money on the table, Willis.

Dmitri0240

Kudos to Joyce for standing up for herself at least a bit and seemingly understanding that just because you know you made some imperfect choices doesn't mean you have to sheepishly accept ignorant, bad faith attacks. Hopefully this is also a lesson in "you can't walk around owing everyone you've ever met a 20-minute, complicated, and overly-personal explanation for why the social transgression you committed was mostly defensible given the circumstances". Sometimes, you just have to accept that some people will only believe the worst no matter what you do, and work to rebuild trust in the relationships you actually care about. On the plus side, Radiah being openly pissed at Joyce is one of the best ways to help Sarah come around.

Katrina Marie Paton

Meh, there are 49 other states...and Puerto Rico. I hear California is quite a nice place this time of year.

Andrew

Wife. You meant wife.

Star Ringer

yes, why shame when you can gloat

Jesse

When petty assholes think they’re psychic.

HenryVolt

I wonder if it will cause some buzz in the comments section tomorrow if Willis just names the page title IF...that's incase he hasn't done something like that already.

tifani

This is cold and this is cruel but it’s not wrong. It’s actually helpful in a really harsh way. Joyce has to start understanding that her actions have consequences. And this might be tmi but I am also someone who works in early childhood education and it is very much a career where you have to be aware that working in this field means you CAN’T be careless about things like what you put online. People WILL use it against you. I know people who have been fired because of things they posted on their personal facebooks that parents saw and reported and the things on the Facebook were just using some profanity. A picture of a night out with friends that got a little wild. Nothing to do with those jobs at all. But when you work with kids anything can be a random morality test. And I say this working in New York State. I can’t IMAGINE Indiana. Also for people about to say something about Raidah not knowing Joyce she is basing this feedback on what she knows of her and so far the major things she knows about Joyce is that she has no problem stealing other people’s partners (Jacob, Dorothy) and making a spectacle of herself. (The last 24 hours). She puts not enough thought into what she does who she speaks to or how she conducts herself. In a lot of ways it’s brave and admirable. In a lot of ways it’s poison to reputation. Today is giving her very good advice on how to protect what Raidah views as the most important thing navigating the world as a vulnerable minority. Something Joyce now has to realize she IS. Raidah may not be very nice. Her motivations are her own. But I think she is a very useful person to know.

HenryVolt

It's silver lining for her vendetta.

HenryVolt

That implies spite virtue which it aint.

Sajuuk-Khar

@Gale: Now THAT I can see

Waifu Purplebutt

You heard wrong - it highkey sucks here all the time

tifani

From a relational ethics standpoint (take a shot!), this exchange isn’t about cruelty — it’s about proportional responsibility. Raidah is intentionally trying to hurt Joyce, but the harm functions as a delivery system for truth. Her advice is sound, and hearing it from someone with no stake in protecting her feelings might be the only way it penetrates. Joyce is still behaving as if her actions exist in a vacuum, while Raidah understands that visibility has collateral. The sharpness, then, isn’t spite for its own sake; it’s risk management born of experience. In relational terms, Joyce is encountering her first ethical corrective — one rooted not in empathy, but in the reality of consequence. It isn’t kindness, but it is coherence. And in stories like this, coherence is often the first language of moral growth.

Sajuuk-Khar

Raidah has a very good skillset for petty personal harassment and manipulation! She performs it at a high level! Like honestly if she could be convinced to turn this shit on Mary I would clap for her a little

Avian

"Okay, so we move to a blue state?"

Sajuuk-Khar

Her family was prestigious, yeah, but a secret closeted yearning for Dana would both make Raidah more interesting and square several circles: -if Dana was just a resource, why this yearlong crusade for someone who’s never coming back -why not ditch the obviously problematic Carl if Dana was just a resource -why was she seemingly content to let Dana spiral and self-medicate if Dana was just a resource? but if she LOVED Dana, it could be a case of “I believe in her and I want her to be happy and she’s only happy when she’s high fuck OFF SARAH”

tifani

She does based on the limited context she has of her. Joyce is NOT doing herself favors with how she conducts herself.

tifani

Am I the only one over people calling her this?

tifani

Moving to a blue state lessens this problem it does not make it disappear. Joyce needs to get her shit together.

Sajuuk-Khar

ALSO, if Raidah is closeted sapphic, you know who’s REALLY in trouble? Billifer! Like, Goddamn, Raidah is focused on Joyce understandably, but Billie is living Raidah’s fucking dream in front of her—reconnecting with Alice, a flower of romance with Alice, coming back from something that Dana hasn’t and might never If that doesn’t activate Raidah’s revenge glands I will be shocked

HenryVolt

Wrong comic dude, what you want to do is pay money to the Patreon for the welcoming "JAWsome" by David Walkerton

tifani

My respect for Raidah increases with every appearance lately. Respect is different from affection friendly reminder.

Girlycore

Is it "being psychic" to have an understanding of politics and how shitty people might react to seeing someone openly queer around their kids?

Girlycore

Nah she's being a dick AND she has a point. Being openly queer has downsides exactly like the one Raidah describes.

tifani

Also isn’t California on fire 90% of the time?

Sajuuk-Khar

Yeah that’s true, I’m mostly just wording it like that 1.) for the meme and 2.) to contrast the last time Raidah appeared, where she demonstrated a smidge of actual ethics (outing people in the newspaper IS bad! focusing on Joyce and Dorothy WAS shitty!), as opposed to here where she approaches the objective of “hurt Joyce” from the standpoint of “false concern”, which is just shitty and weaponizing even if it is true

Sajuuk-Khar

Also it’s very funny to me as someone who made some (stupid) doomer predictions once upon a time about Raidah doing Machiavellian schemer shit and like, grabbing Walky for whirlwind seduction or recruiting Becky into a MLM startup to see her mostly just focused on the Machiavellian equivalent of pushing Joyce over in the sandbox Like damn girl you truly are nineteen, I had the chessboard out and you are playing tic tac toe

tifani

I don’t get this attitude. She’s not bad at reading people based on textual evidence on how they react to the world. Joyce’s observable behaviors as presented to Raidah have shown her to be a) impulsive b) slightly self destructive and c) willfully ignorant on the larger implications. We have access to Joyce’s backstory and inner anxieties and shit so we have the luxury of giving her grace that Raidah can’t with the information she has. Which is the entire lesson Joyce is now being given on reputation and perception.

Terra Bruder

Joyce did NOT go out looking for a newspaper to kiss on, and neither did she ask to deal with the comphet bullshit that locked the closet so hard she had to kick her way out of it. Increasingly certain that the lack of compassion in these comments comes from people who are either traumatized or unreflective or both. "You get systematized oppression, and good riddance" is a bad fucking look.

Logibear

"Lawful shitheel"

Logibear

Correct response to this is just to think about it for a few seconds and shrug "eh, what can you do"...I think this might be a big tug at a loose end of a very large ball of yarn though.

Sajuuk-Khar

You know who would be like, the coolest fucking person to see take Raidah down in this manner? Lucy. It’d be so satisfying. The ultimate triumph of Sweetie over Bongo. And it’d fit so neatly into Lucy’s character arc of being underestimated and REALLY FUCKING SMART! Like, everyone (me included) thought Lucy totally drank the Kool-Aid back at the brunch time, when Sarah was misrepresented as “discarding people”, but you know what Lucy actually did with that info? She didn’t just turn it around to hurt Sarah and become a resource for Raidah—she addressed her primary Sarah-related concern by *becoming indispensable*. Can’t get thrown out of the friend group if you take it over! It’s very similar to how brilliantly she took Billie off her pedestal by showing how ordinary her forbidden love really was! So like. What if Raidah tries to leverage Lucy again some more, but this time Luce is prepared? This time, the Glenn Machine does her research and she finds out THE REAL TRUTH about Dana? And then she and Billie unite to take down the meanest girl? Fucking CINEMA, that would be.

William Lewis

Well, yes. But then I always play Neutral Good so I have no sympathy or respect for her attitudes...

Andrew

I should have added /s. This was intended as a callback.

Gale Tazzin

still, it's a very cynical read! and surely Raidah knows that Joyce was originally trying to set Jacob up *with Sarah*, or that she helped her friends escape a kidnapping. "everything you do is selfish" is a huge jump, and probably projection, since Raidah is the one who views everything through the lens of social advancement, and probably assumes Joyce had to do the same to get ahead of her

Gale Tazzin

unfortunately young Republicans really are that toxic

The Axolartl

It's not being psychic but it's also not necessarily being realistic. Queer people move to different areas of the country for better legal protections all the time, said legal protections are always changing, and Joyce is a freshman. Even without any of the other factors that went into her decision to major in early childhood education which she could potentially be rethinking, this is literally prime time to change her major if she's that dead set on getting a job in Indiana and that worried about having a hard time finding one in four years (and yes, it'd be having a hard time finding one, Indiana does have urban areas. Joyce drives an hour north and she's immediately got better prospects even if they're not great). She hasn't even finished taking her gen eds yet.

Jasmijn Wellner

I think we have a different understanding of what it means to have someone's number

The Axolartl

My guess is there aren't many autistic people in her circle of networking opportunities and their plus ones. She didn't really know what to do with Dina either. What went wrong with Raidah's attempt at bullying Joyce is that she's a) a little too late with most of the things that Joyce could actually have been shamed for like a month ago, and b) she's likely never really dealt with someone who doesn't give a shit what she thinks of them. Like I do think she has sociopathic or narcissistic tendencies (not in a "she's clearly evil" way in a "she clearly needs therapy" way) and because of that she's probably never genuinely made a friend, and has almost certainly never had to consider social interactions outside of her carefully curated inner circle of predictable rich kids.

Rob McBobson

@Dan Rabin: I might be wrong, but shouldn't that be "Indianians"?

Astariel

@DramaQueen - Actually, the historical Paladins were members of Charlemagne's court, about 300 years before the Crusades. Also, the quote you refer to was from the Albigensian Crusade, which was against heretics in southern France, not the Middle East.

Astariel

Ugh, Raidah is just the fucking worst. She could get hit by a meteor tomorrow and the comic would be better for it.

VengeanceKnight

I love how after building up Raidah’s genuinely defensible anger at Joyce throughout this arc, Willis yanks the rug out from under us with this genuinely INdefensible insult. “Ha! You’re going to suffer systematic oppression! Bet you feel bad about what you did NOW!”

Wyle Heart

Sorry Raidah, Dorothy made it clear that her inspiration for going back to the protest was Joyce's "stupid, beautiful anger" in the defense of others. Joyce cares enough about others to inspire people around her into doing the same. That's like the opposite of only caring about what you wants for yourself.

zee

Okay obvious shit aside Raidah, girl,,, they can move. There's no curse anchoring them to the midwest

Shane Wegner

I believe this qualifies as Projection. (Although Joyce and Dorothy have been estranging a lot of people in their friends circle in pursuit of their own goals lately.)

Sajuuk-Khar

Rachel and Raidah should meet up to complain about how everyone else is a bunch of stupid assholes and then make out and have a toxic relationship that makes Billie and Ruth look like 25-year rock solid marriage material lmao

Shane Wegner

I forgot Raidah (wrongly) assumes they carefully masterminded the whole media appearance (since it’s what she’d do), instead of just bumbling through the whole thing with a shared reserve of five non-horny brain cells like they actually did. And that’s after probably assuming Joyce carefully masterminded taking Jacob away from her, when that too was bumbling through doing the first dumb thing that came to her mind. (To include her two brain cell plan of pretending they were dating, which Jacob briefly went along with.)

Matt McKenzie

You respect Raidah for trying to make Joyce feel shitty out of spite by throwing it into her face that there are groups who would oppress her for being who she is?

Sajuuk-Khar

Raidah’s list of numbers is like T-Swift’s “Blank Space” only with the psycho turned way up (He said, introducing a third numerical idea)

Sajuuk-Khar

Further thought: both Lucy and Raidah are excellent social engineers, but Lucy doesn’t use it to intentionally hurt people and Raidah does, and the poetic justice in seeing Lucy Triumphant could fuel a Divine Comedy

Empress of Robots

Yeah, but this is DoA! Where douchebags get what they get (stares in Blaine O’Malley)

Elphrid

So, is Raidah calling Joyce self-serving because she's aware of her own hypocrisy on this poiny and self-loathing about it, or is it just because on a subconscious level that's the most hurtful thing she can think of?

zee

Just when I thought we were finally getting some nuance to her (real nuance and not the kind that come from peoples memories getting mushed up after not rereading the comic for a while)

Heatth

The funniest thing to me is that I think Joyce might actually not care about any of that. I mean it is shitty her career options are limited because of her queerness and she might feel a bit bad about this in general. But about not being able to become an elementary teacher in specific? Does Joyce even care about that? She came to college to find a husband, that was her explicit goal. I don't remember she ever talking about future career goals beyond "housewife", so I think the point of education major was to learn enough to be able to homeschool her future children? Or maybe "teacher" is a safe "religious woman goal". Regardless, I don't think she was ever enamored with that career, it is just her major. So rather than making Joyce anguish about not being able to realize her dream of becoming a teacher, like Raidah clearly intended, I think this will just push Joyce to consider what she actually wants to do in the future.

zee

I have to disagree that it's helpful. This isn't about them posting their "underage" drinking online (calling 18 underage breaks my brain). As massive as the pile of problems I have with the protest kiss is, I don't see a reasonable expectation for them to realize in the moment they'd be photographed and put on the front page of the paper. That was out of their control. The substance of what raidah is saying is "Indiana is too homophobic to let gay people teach children." Which granted is true but the only actionable advice you can take away from that is "dont be out." Yes, Joyce does need to realize she's a vulnerable minority now, and I guess this can help achieve that. In a round about way ig its helpful in the same way that tripping and skinning your knee reminds you that you're not invincible. I'm deliberately not using the "burning your hand on a stove" example because I don't think this is a reasonable consequence.

Ilana Feldman

Yeah, the elementary education bit is definitely a remnant of the hardline religious upbringing that Joyce just hadn't directly thought about yet. And if you look at her classes, I mean... she's a freshman and taking courses in biology, math, and political science at least. Lots of directions she can go at this rate.

Sajuuk-Khar

Real talk, though, I think Jasmijn’s right here: Raidah definitely *doesn’t* have Joyce’s number, she’s very textually just trying to hurt her with words, and one cudgel is as good as another. She can’t get her with shame, so here, have weaponized bigotry! KAPOW, bitch! Raidah wins again! Like, even if—and this is a big if—this bit of nasty bullshit gets Joyce to slow her roll and consider “man, I kind of have been running around singing ‘I’m Just A Girl In Love’ from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, I should stop”, when the pot calls the kettle black the pot is still fuckin’ black. Positive side effects do not excuse the cruelty or the intent to hurt! (It does provide an interesting contrast to Asma from a few pages ago—Asma did try to employ shame, but to get Dorothy and Joyce to consider and improve their behavior vis-a-vis direct political action and life goals and shit. Raidah, on the other hand, all but admits she’s just in it to score points on a nasty bitch she hates! She doesn’t want Joyce to improve, she just wants her to feel small and alone.)

Harold

@Elphrid: It's Raidah. "The most hurtful thing" is *always* the default.

Harold

Also, even if what Raidah is saying *is* "helpful" to know, on some level, THIS is not - to say the least - the way for Joyce to hear it, nor - again, to say the least - is Raidah the best person to inform her. Because (as Tifani seems to agree) Raidah is most definitely NOT coming to Joyce from a position of offering helpful advice; she's coming for Joyce from a position of wanting to destroy her emotionally. There's a difference between telling someone, "Be aware that your actions could have an impact on your reputation and your future, whether that's fair or not," and saying, "I hope your actions nuke your future prospects from orbit."

Harold

"I don't always approve of weaponized homophobia. But when I do, I prefer it to be used against a character I don't care for much."

Harold

@Sajuuk-Khar: "Emerge Glenn-fiant"

Harold

Activating Raidah's Revenge Glands: The Least Popular Dumbing of Age Pornographique

Harold

Willis, I hate to point this out, but the dates on the last two posts are off (I'm assuming because of the insertion of the Asma strips) - yesterday's should be November 4 and this one should be November 5.

tifani

Yeah totally. That’s what I meant. I’m allergic to nuance. No wait that’s you. (Shakes invisible bottle) “Zyrtec?”

David M Willis

Nah, just looking at today's date when writing it instead of what the file said.

tifani

@zee @harold Totally agree that Raidah’s not being kind or (traditionally) helpful, but I still think there’s merit in what she represents. She’s one of the few characters who refuses to cushion Joyce, and that tension has narrative value — it forces her to confront how much of her growth depends on other people’s grace. I don’t respect Raidah morally so much as structurally; she’s the necessary discomfort in the story. I guess similar to Mike or Booster but more blunt force instrument about it.

Sajuuk-Khar

18 pages of Raidah jilling off to scenarios that make her angry (Also I belly laughed at work at this dammit 😂)

Sajuuk-Khar

@Harold: Fuck, why did I think Lucy’s surname was Greene? Mea culpa, corrected

I Know Why the Mowed Lawn Screams

@sajuuk-khar tbh I don’t even need Raidah to get taken down as much as i feel it would be so incredible if she herself was responsible for entering her imperial flop era. hoisted your own petard so now you must relearn kindness or die. however i DO wanna see more interactions from Lucy. not only is Lucy dating Radiah’s ex that cheated and dumped her, i also 10000% agree that so many ppl underestimated her. like ok ok ok full honesty i’ve read Lucy’s arc so far (i.e from her first appearance to around when she dumped Walky/Sarah’s party) as a story about how it feels to be a college student with no friends or no community and feeling like you need to stretch yourself thin to be ultra likable and helpful and charming because it only makes sense that the amount of emotional labor you’re putting in will be reciprocated equally, right? And her wanting to be accepted by Raidah’s group is an extension of that, like she does NOT give a shit that they’re the “popular cool kids” (that’s Jennifer’s whole deal) Lucy only cares that they’re a friend group that is willing to extend a branch to let her in and be friends with HER (with the tragic part being that the branch was only extended because she was dating Walky at the time). but now we’re in the post Walky era and i think there’s enough going on thematically that having Lucy like reject Raidah (even symbolically) or even play off her would only enhance that character arc. lowkey even roping Jacob in would do so much to just add on this. thinking about how his last words to her is that he knows that she’s better than that, and her immediately getting upset about it and now he’s dating this girl that’s patient and sweet and nothing at all like her. like there is something there !!!

I Know Why the Mowed Lawn Screams

also re: Dana godddddd i have so many feelings on this. like the big big tragedy about the whole Dana thing is that Sarah was put in this impossible position where she had to either do the right thing (keep her self-harming roommate from ruining both their lives) or keep her friends (something that we know in retrospect probably meant more to her than we think), and she still chose to do the right thing !!! Sarah lost everything and it did fuck her up but now she has come out the other side knowing that she can have positive relationships with other people and not be scared that they’ll reject her the moment they’re in conflict. and i DO think part of tragedy is bc of the crossed boundaries and insane emotional labor that Dana put on Sarah. like truly i do not think people remember that Dana was LYING to Raidah + co about getting better, cutting them off, going outta of her way to not accept their help etc. and that’s incredibly fucked up but also 100% in-line with a character caught in a loop of misusing drugs explicitly to feed/cope with her suicidal ideation. i do not think that Dana was like, the secret ultimate bad guy in the whole freshmen year fallout and i don’t want the impression to be that Dana didn’t deserve to get help or that any sympathy for being in a self destructive situation is misplaced or that Radiah and co’s response after the fact was not fucked up and awful but i do think Dana was actively ignoring Sarah’s boundaries even before her mom died and it only escalated after her death. I would not even be surprised if it turns out part of that fallout btw Sarah and Raidah was Sarah not being able to communicate just how SCARY of a position she was in and she just emphasized the scholarship thing instead, but tbh this is leaning more towards conjecture than like actual in-text evidence but whatever i digress. more than anything i hope that storyline gets revisited soon. also re; Jennifer, i have my feelings on her and Raidah as well but i’ve written so much as is, so all i’m gonna say is that Raidah and Jennifer should be Betty and Veronica by way of the MJF and CM Punk valentine’s day dog collar match and also probably kissing each other.

David M Willis

"use anger as a tool for kindness" "no not like that"

Railway Series Book Club

one of those pages had better be her furiously jerking it to the sheer audacity of joyce with her soft serve here

tifani

@willis: I got a jump scare when I saw that you replied in my notifications. I was like “oh shit what did I do?”

Sajuuk-Khar

@Queen: If that’s not the page right before she climaxes I will renounce Willis three times as a hack

tifani

@jasmine Yeah, I think we do. And yours is fair and also probably what most people mean when they say it. (Sometimes I make up alternate meanings in my head) I’m just using “having someone’s number” more metaphorically, as in having an accurate read on them based on observable context. Raidah’s view of Joyce isn’t built on deep familiarity, but on patterns Joyce keeps reinforcing. She’s working from limited data but still reading a recognizable signal.

Sajuuk-Khar

@I Know Why: Yes yes 1000% oh I completely believe Dana wasn’t the secret bad guy but she was absolutely in a self-destructive spiral and honestly I believe as a pillar of faith that she’d be fucking *horrified* if she learned (when she learns) that Raidah basically tortured Sarah mentally for a year in her name Also yessss I crave interactions between Meanest Girl Raidah and Alpha Sweetie Lucy so much. Even if they don’t go my wild outline way above I need to see it. It’s gonna be GOOD.

Sajuuk-Khar

Also you know. Y’know. Given Jennifer’s incredible penchant for and beauty in toxic yuri. And given that she could absolutely sabotage putting her cooch on Alice’s. I. I think I see the vision. Oh. Oh no. (“Kit Fisto THIS, Billingsworth: A Dumbing of Age Pornographique”)

tifani

Not enough not to do it twice though😉 Respect. This is your house after all.

5099 5618 v2.0

@DIDI-chan Terrible person with exceptional aim.

tifani

@queen: Dope, adds to my lone wolf vibe 😎

Harold

@Sajuuk-Khar: Kudos on coming up with a Slipshine joke referencing Kit Fisto, something I've been trying and failing to do since the first time he was mentioned in DoA

Harold

Joyce Gets Her Licks In: A Dumbing of Age Pornographique

KittyKai

Hey, Reddit is finally getting their mouthpiece! xP

KittyKai

Spite is a powerful motivator x3

tifani

I mean we also gotta keep in mind Joyce did actively try to steal Raidah’s boyfriend and succeeded in helping to kill that relationship . Out of all the characters in this comic Raidah has the most legitimate and understandable beef with Joyce. She’s not going to give her even a crumb of a benefit of the doubt and she’s been waiting to tear Joyce down. Girl got off easy.

Mariah

after reading the comments for the last few weeks I can't blame hIm.

The Axolartl

I mean... She kind of is. Raidah has a habit of assuming that most everyone only interacts with other people for the same reasons she does: to gain something, and that the few who don't do this are antisocial, don't know any better, or are in some way deeply and pathologically different to her. I couldn't say if this is where the story is going with it but it reads as pretty classic "person with NPD encounters autistic person and all of a sudden their model for what a normal social interaction looks like is up in flames" to me.

KittyKai

I wouldn't know - I hopped in the Discord, took one step through the front gate, then NOPE'd the hell outta there-

tifani

Okay so autistic person here for whatever that’s worth 👋 ‘sup. And I would like us to be careful on what is a pathology vs what is just neurotypical logic based conclusions; a very neurotypical kind of moral rigidity.Yeah she’s reacting to Joyce through a framework that assumes her own social reasoning is the default and that deviations from it are moral or emotional flaws. But honestly, her read of Joyce tracks based on what she knows — Joyce comes off unpredictable, boundary-blurry, and inconsistent in ways that would confuse someone who relies on conventional social logic. Raidah’s just wrong about why Joyce acts that way. She’s interpreting through a neurotypical rulebook, not manipulating or feeding an ego wound. So to me, this isn’t about pathology. It’s about how a neurotypical person misreads an autistic one, and how that misread can look like cruelty when it’s really just bias, limited context, and misplaced certainty.

Laura

a few months ago i posted some comments hoping we were going to see nuance, but with this strip my feeling has flipped from "i'm glad we're getting more raidah" to wary neutrality. to get really personal about why i was hopeful, i'm a grad student, i do activism on my campus, and so often me and my friends end up holding our tongue to give criticism to well-meaning but unconscientious white people, in the most measured of terms, or juggle being seen as the unreasonable angry women of color. raidah is awful, she's ableist and anti-black, but within the context of this story line i could appreciate her for being willing to say the reasonably angry things to the nice, polite white girls. something i wish i could do myself. but that was assuming that her anger is at least partially coming from a genuine investment in the protest or something, you know? not just pure vindictiveness, a desire to hurt people.

Jennifer Novelli

Is it weird that Raidah reminds me of Doctor Who right now? You know, "I could bring down your entire government with just five words," and those words were, "Doesn't she look tired, though?"

Jayne Lindgren

There's something darkly interesting at people who lately seem to be basing their approval of characters solely on whether or not that character is being mean to Joyce/Dorothy. I'm looking forward to Mary finally showing up, calling Joyce a "filthy d**e," and some people saying "Well, she's being homophobic but she does have a legitimate point..."

George Simpson

I think Raidah actually is genuinely invested in the protest. That's part of why she takes this so personally... it feels so unjust to her that Joyce is getting away with bullshit attention-seeking. Of course, Raidah being Raidah means that she'll resort to vindictiveness to "right the scales", regardless of how unjust the mechanism. That's a jerk thing to do. I just think it's worth remembering that sometimes nasty jerks are *sincerely* invested in a good cause, and are self-rightous about it, rather than faking their investment in order to be self-rightous about it.

Laura

thanks, george, i think you're right on the nose here. my reading of the comic is getting emotionally clouded by reading the comments which means it's probably time to step back haha

MrShoggoth

Six words, actually, “don’t you think she looks tired”.

tifani

Okay, since I’ve been the main one defending Raidah, I want to clarify why I think her perspective is worth engaging with even though I’m not a fan of the tone of your comment. There’s a fundamentally different story mechanism at play between Mary and Raidah. Mary’s cruelty is deliberate — she’s moralizing, punitive, and designed to embody the worst parts of Joyce’s old worldview. She’s what happens when faith curdles into control. Raidah, on the other hand, isn’t a moral symbol — she’s a person whose worldview works until it collides with someone like Joyce. Her logic is rigid but not malicious. She’s not trying to punish Joyce for existing; she’s trying to preserve coherence in a situation that defies her sense of fairness. Mary lashes out to dominate. Raidah lashes out to reconcile dissonance. Mary acts from certainty; Raidah acts from confusion. That difference matters, because it makes Raidah’s reactions human rather than archetypal. Reducing her to “she’s just mean to Joyce” oversimplifies what’s happening in the story. She’s not a cartoon antagonist (though yeah this is a comic); she’s a representation of how neurotypical logic can clash painfully with autistic communication in the case of Joyce right now but also her perspective adds texture to the narrative — she shows how easily misunderstanding becomes judgment. So my “defense” of her isn’t about taking her side. It’s about respecting the writing enough to take her reasoning seriously. Her logic is wrong, but it’s real — and that realism gives the story its weight.

MrShoggoth

@George I’ve mentioned a former friend in other comments on this strip and how Raidah reminds me of her, and what you just described is precisely what she would do. She supported multiple good causes but was a spiteful, petty monster if she felt she’d been slighted, and as she got older she always made sure to lord over the rest of her friends about what we were doing “wrong” morally compared to her.

tifani

And in this particular moment, she’s actually voicing something Joyce does need to hear — she’s naming a truth that’s uncomfortable but not wrong, even if her delivery is sharp.

Jayne Lindgren

tifani, I'm going to be frank here. I don't think there's any amount of arguing between us that's going to be positive. It's pretty clear that we have very different opinions on...basically everything that's happened in this comic for the last however months. And I don't really have the brain space to make huge analyses about why I feel the way I do. I've been trying not to comment very much, or read too many comments, because I know it's bad for my mental health and my enjoyment of DoA. I occasionally slip up and post something I hope is insightful, or at least somewhat witty or amusing. You're not wrong that this is partly inspired by your comments, if only because you've been one of the most vocally critical and harsh on Joyce, Dorothy and their choices. And you've been, in my opinion, extremely generous to every character that's been critical of them in-comic, even when I believe that person has little standing to criticize them or their choices. Like, it doesn't really matter what Raidah is trying to do here. It's none of her fucking business! "Because they were on the front page of the newspaper"? They didn't ask for that! So what gives Raidah the right to be homophobic to Joyce's face? Because she "needs to hear" it? Hear what? That Indiana can be really tough to be queer in? Sure, but again, why does Raidah of all people get to be that messenger? Because Joyce is standing there? They're not even friends. It feels like just because you believe Joyce needs to be corrected, it justifies *any* character delivering that correction, no matter how awful they are or how little justification that actually have for talking to Joyce about this incredibly personal thing. Sarah calling Joyce out on her bad behavior is one thing, but man, fuck Raidah. I don't care if you think she's "correct," she's still a homophobic asshole, and it doesn't matter what her motives are. Anyway. I said I don't want to post essays, and then I did, so that's fun.

Mariah

I can't believe you of all people are justifying homophobia it does not matter if its true telling someone your career will be hindered by homophobia is not neccesary its just spiteful.

tifani

@Jayne you said your piece, I’ve got nothing to add that would be productive to an actual dialogue. @mariah I’m not “justifying homophobia” and I think you absolutely know that. I’m a black bisexual autistic pre K teacher who lives in the real world and I only bring this up because apparently I have to. However If you’re not going to take my arguments in good faith I’m not wasting my breath. For the record I’m not some troll. I put thought into the things I post and the opinions I form and they are always based on textual evidence. I’m sorry I’m not some fangirl who comes into the comic cheerleading everybody. I think all these characters are worth the same amount of analysis of their experiences that we give the main characters when the story is clearly saying that they should be given that. If me putting thought and consideration into the story as a whole is somehow off putting to someone’s general vibe then I don’t really have much to say to you beyond that. I simply do not engage with media the same way you do. So there’s nothing left to say except wow I’m genuinely offended by both of you honestly. That’s rare. I’m peacing out for awhile.

ArdieBea

When asked, she said she'd like to be a fighter pilot with her own cartoon series. She's actually taking steps towards at least one of those dreams.

Albi

Bored ag-- wait... let's see where this goes.

Albi

But also, fuck shame! ...JOYCE DON'T

David M Willis

look, i don't claim to be super on top of how to generally act around other people in social situations, but surely i feel like posting "bored again" into somebody's feed, day after day is... not... wonderful? like, i'd rather just not get your five dollars a month for this service you're providing me, but also feel like banning you to protect both of us from each other's content, without a note of interjection, would be rude

tifani

Oh my god I was genuinely going to just disappear into the ether until I remembered this is literally the second comic in a row we have of a Muslim girl being presented as literal satan because she dares to burst Joyce’s delusional little bubble. Like news fucking flash. The world is not gentle and it is not kind. Joyce HAS to be aware that she is making choices that put a fucking target on her and adjust her behavior accordingly. Case in point this entire goddamn interaction. Don’t give your enemies fucking fuel to destroy you. Cover your fucking ass. And maybe consider that there can be validity in a message even if you don’t care for the messenger. Maybe I’m making my entire world existence the point of being that I don’t fucking know. But this idea that valid points can only be made if they’re presented in a nice package is half the reason the entire political climate is a mess and frankly why this comment section has become basically intolerable lately. Half of you seem just wholly uninterested in letting these characters actually grow. You just want every stupid thing they do signed off on by the universe itself. Even when presented with the literal God of this universe (hey Willis) telegraphing as loudly as he can without literally spelling it out the lesson that is being taught. And honestly I can’t fucking do it anymore. I absolutely can’t. I’m just….✌️

Harold

@tifani: All that I wish to say here is that, while I cannot speak for Willis, I don't believe that we as readers are meant to respond to Asma the same way we're encouraged to respond to Raidah. (Or vice versa.) I'm not thrilled with the way some people here were demonizing Asma (for what turned out to be no reason, but it wouldn't have been good even if there "was reason"), but for all of Raidah's relative complexity (compared to someone like, say, Mary) she has never been depicted as a sympathetic character, and this strip doesn't change that even if she's doing something of which some might happen to approve.

Leon

Interesting.

Maude Reads Things

*hugs if wanted, appropriate gesture of support if not* You're cool. The comments have ...not been lately.

Maude Reads Things

Frankly I think she's just lucky Raidah's 'too good' to smack that ice cream out of her hand. Instead she went with a verbal nuclear strike.

Brian Danger Hicks

It's nice of Raidah to remind Joyce that she's only a freshman and still has plenty of time to look into a different major.

tifani

@andrea @bbcc looking through the past comments it seems that the thread containing the remarks that prompted me making this post was deleted. Long story short some people took the opportunity to take disagreement over character analysis to get weird/rude/personal. If you saw you saw. I’m fine but I might not be posting here as often unless the vibe changes a lot. I’m also going to be utilizing block a lot more instead of making dramatic statements like the one above. Thanks for the support guys. I’m fine. It’s been a rough week overall so I am feeling kind of sensitive atm. Nothing to worry about though.

tifani

The ice cream is really just….I mean do you think she got it after dropping that bomb on Lucy? Just congratulated herself on nailing that social interaction and got herself a little treat? I bet Lucy didn’t even SAY ANYTHING. Joyce just said “Dorothy was inside me” and headed straight for the soft serve. The cognitive dissonance is strong. Joyce isn’t even wearing shoes! 🤣 idk why but the level of comfort she has with herself after being THAT WEIRD kills me.

tifani

She analyzes her behavior so hard! When it comes to what is an appropriate thing to label her sister as in her phone but when it comes to actual behavior she should maybe reconsider that is just soooo off putting no hesitation whatsoever. It’s funny, she’s funny.

Jayne Lindgren

@Rob Actually, for reasons more inscrutable than the Voynich Manuscript, people from Indiana are called "Hoosiers." No, we don't know why. Yes, it's bonkers.

HeroGirlsVT

Homer voice: Hey, I got off pretty light! :D

Kelly (they-them)

It's so dark already. I feel like the next post should be up, but it's not even 7 pm central standard time

Jennifer Novelli

Been a while since I watched it. Only really liked the 9th Doctor. *shrugs*

David M Willis

I drew her the soft serve because the last time she was over at Lucy's dining hall (only two days ago????) she was seen getting soft serve, and thought it'd be 1) a reminder that, yes, she traveled very far to deliver this information, she actually for-real traveled there, and she's on her way back, and 2) funny.

tifani

Very far in no shoes

T Campbell

I'm a fan of the "jerkass has a point" trope, and I know that David is too, but even though Raidah has had a few nominal points in her last few appearances, I just never stop wanting her to be eaten by bears.

GundamBradley

I think Raidah is a little too Future Lawyer to assault someone in public, especially given the campus probably has a lot of cameras as it is.

Miquashi

I think my take on this is summed up in " just because you're right doesn't mean you're not being an asshole"

Tessea

Or this is an hour later, maybe? Perhaps she gave Lucy a celebratory ice cream as well!

Tessea

"Dorothy, why does everyone seem to think we WANTED to be in the newspaper?" "I'm more curious why Lucy ran away when I said hello."

Maude Reads Things

@ Willis - I love that! I didn't even notice she was going for soft serve in the first strip, but it's a great detail. I love that she went that far in no shoes. XD Clearly this was Very Important and yes, funny. @ Gundam - Yeah, honestly, even without that. I actually like Raidah's character but girl is a snob with a capital Snoot and I'm sure she'd consider that something 'low class' people do. @ Tifani - Reflection is painful and right now she doesn't want to do it and while that is very aggravating for Raidah, it makes for great reading!

C Bonesmith

It's also kinda- like Indiana is a hellhole and I want to leave it every goddamn day- but if she moved to Indy or Mishawaka or hell, even staying in Bloomington, she could absolutely get a job as an elementary school teacher. Or she could leave the state. There's 49 others. Some of the ones that border Indiana are actually pretty good.

Empress of Robots

"Joyce. What did you say to Lucy and why did she make a point of loudly asking if I had washed my hands as she ran away?"

Harold

It's too bad Dina isn't in a HOMPK!-ing mood at the moment

Katrina Marie Paton

More than all the southern states? Well, I guess it IS still part of the USA after all.

Elphrid

I think you misunderstand what I was getting at: I'm asking does Raidah think this is the most hurtful thing purely because of her (incomplete) read on Joyce, or because Raidah is aware (consciously or subconsciously) of the ways she resembles that remark and hates that about herself?