Good morning, /co/, I hope you have a nice day.
It was good until I fucked up the call to my mom.
>>81442033
She could easily explain herself calmly. It's not like it'd be hard to explain yourself as in the right when the guy you punched out was waving around a shotgun.
>>81442033
Make more Edits
>>81442110
How many of DoA's plots could be solved within a couple strips if the characters actually talked to each other for a strip or two?
I guess drama bombs and car chases are a lot easier
>>81442033
>Our lives are worth less than their barely disguised bigotry
What is she saying here? I don't understand.
>>81442113
>>81442900
Original?
>>81442755
She's saying that her family saying that Becky's dad had a point and just really cared about her makes it out like this justifies pointing a fucking gun in her and Becky's faces.
"Like, jeez, it sucks about the whole kidnapping and nearly being murdered thing, but this is just what happens when you hang out with gay people."
>>81443044
Churches don't buy their employees cars. If she's say he bought a fancy car with money from the church because he gets paid by the Church to do work their, then that's stupid.
I also called her brother being made out like the villain.
Also, Mustangs aren't that fancy.
>>81443212
Well to be fair
It is what should happen to you, if you willingly choose to hang around Becky
>>81443496
After the Mary debacle where every one sided with her over Carla. willis probably RUSHED to make John a criminal bad guy so no one would dare to question to the moral standing of Joyce "the Straw Slayer" Brown for a single moment.
>>81436096
>CRAP! John's making some decent points. How can I make him look like a completely hypocritical asshole in the next four panels?
>Oh! I've got it! I'll make his entire character do a 180 and be a corrupt sleazebag skimming funds out of charity drives to buy sports cars!
Subtle as always, Willis
>>81443212
It's a good thing there's no news outlets in the DoA, otherwise the "Becky's dad tried to shoot up the school" thing would have been much more common knowledge.
>>81443639
But it is common knowledge. They're not saying these things out of ignorance of the event, they're saying his behavior was justified.
>>81443572
Ya know he's had this page done for months, right?
>>81443639
>Becky's dad tried to shoot up the school
>shoot up the school
>In America
It probably was on the news, but mass shooting are such a thing, people in America really dont care after a week.
>>81443736
Hey now!
I'm pretty sure there hasn't been one this week!
This reminds me of the Sinfest storyline with the fembot going around pointing a shotgun at every man it encountered and it in the end was absolved of all wrongdoing because the gun wasn't actually loaded.
>>81443758
http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/four-men-injured-in-shooting-in-englewood/
Oh wait, nevermind.
>>81443758
>>81443798
Yeah, now take in to account how this "shooting" involved Zero deaths. Probably was a 10 second blurb.
>>81443636
Thaaaaaaaat's not what's happening at all. The church gifted him the car for his missionary work. The church gets money from donations. Ergo, he got his car from donations. This is an easier way to get a car than it is for someone who has no home, job, family to support them, or current access to legitimate aid.
>>81443636
>>81443731
After checking the old thread where John suddenly becomes a 60 year old grumbling about Kids These Days, it makes his 'sudden' heel turn even more sad because it was Willis' plan all along.
All of this to set up DoA: Civil War in the Brown household.
>>81443931
Why was shooting in quotations?
A gun was fired and people were shot.
>>81443976
Who was shot?
>>81443954
That's the BROTHER being a shit! Her dad's actually been a pretty fucking cool guy.
Goddamn you people are worse than tumblr.
>>81443994
>A 43-year-old man was shot in the abdomen and was taken in serious condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, police said.
>Two 30-year-old men suffered gunshot wounds to the foot and were taken to St. Bernard Hospital, where they were both listed in good condition, police said.
>Another 30-year-old man was shot in the hand and leg, and took himself in fair condition to Holy Cross Hospital, police said.
>>81443994
>>81444047
Oh wait, if you meant the comic, then yeah, no one was shot. A gun was brandished and fired. There were injuries, but no one was shot.
I mean, the bullet mighta come down on someone, but we don't know.
>>81444077
This is what I meant, not the real life shooting.
>>81444090
So yeah, the fact that it was at a school means it probably got... a minute of coverage maybe. After that any news about "The shooter at the school" would be prompted by, "Which one? Oh him? Who cares, he didn't even shoot anyone!"
>>81444009
I know that, that's a preview pic of the dad for something in July. It's a face of a man who has Seen Some Shit, and is going to have to have to choose between the mom and John being obnoxious, or Joyce and Becky being obnoxious.
...which I guess would make Josh/Jocelyn the Spider-Man of this particular Civil War.
Also, yes, this means this is going to be continuing on into the summer.
>>81442110
she's not choosing to not be calm in this moment, that's not how emotions workespecially when you're of the weaker sex and ruled by hormones.
>>81442561
This comic isn't called "Totally Rational and Reasonable-ing of Age".
>>81443943
Whether or not that's what really happened - that's what it's being portrayed as.
Fuck even Josh is turning on him and giving him shit.
>>81442033
Uhg, I hate how this strip is forcing my to side with the girl throwing a temper tantrum but God damn what the hell is wrong with Joyce's family?
Could they be any more patronising and unsympathetic?
>>81446852
Think it's because all the children in the family have 'failed' Joyce's mom to one degree or another, and she's too old to refill the quiver at this point.
I really hope this ends up with Carol fighting someone. I wanna see her kick someone's ass.
Then maybe she and Joyce could finally bond over their love of punching people.
>>81444220
>Implying both sexes aren't ruled by hormones
Just in different capacities and different areas.
>>81446852
Willis wrote it that way so that's how it's gonna be, don't like you're a biggoted cis shit lord senpai
>>81443731
>months
Well, I said "probaly"
But that's terribly sad if true. Sad for Willis, sad for his patreons, sad for the webcomic industry as a whole.
>>81449053
right now, his buffer goes til July. So he has over 3 months of strips done
face it boys, capitalism has failed
>>81449053
How is him working to have a backlog sad?
Look, it's cool if you hate the comic, there's plenty to hate, but I fucking WISH most creators took comic-ing as serious as Willis when it comes to having a buffer.
>>81449089
having a buffer is great, but willis has over 90 days of comics done. What if something needs to change in comic number 2 in the buffer? And that changes ever strip afterwards?
Having such a large buffer is another excuse for Willis not wanting to change or learn his craft because it means he'd have to do more work.
>>81449319
Why would he have to go back and change a comic? Peer pressure? Because /co/ doesn't like it?
I'm really not following you here,
>>81449394
Feedback sure, but just decent editing requires changing dialogue, artwork, storyline, pretty much everything.
Willis sits down and just bangs out a months worth of comics in a day, he's mentioned that's his work method on his twitter and tumblr. There's no way that's antiquate enough time to self edit and make a decent product unless Willis was some kind of savant, which let's be honest, he's not
>>81449499
He's been doing this for over a decade, he's got enough experience. Besides he doesn't do a month in day, more like a couple days worth in a day.
You can shit on his writing and art and characters and personality until the cows come home, but his work ethic is something to be admired.
>>81449696
You and I will just disagree, because working hard while doing something wrong to me is a moot point
who am I supposed to sympathize with in this comic?
I can't sympathize with Joyce, she's intentionally making life hard on herself
Sure as fuck isn't Becky, she lives to make others miserable
Everyone back at college is a dick, some a dick and a half.
I don't know who to side with.
>>81443212
>Becky's dad had a point
There's...no way to really say that without SORT of justifying the gun thing.
"Well, his heart was in the right place" doesn't really work with a gun-wielding kidnapping maniac. It sounds like you're trying to make excuses for the maniac.
In conclusion, Willis is a bad writer.
>>81449803
I imagine Joyce, but she's a twit.
>>81449803
Mary.
She just wants to study in peace.
>>81449827
There are people who said that chump who shot up the place because he couldn't get laid had a point. There are news anchors who say it's a shame when rapists go to jail because they had promising sports careers. People ARE that stupid.
Willis is a bad writer, but that doesn't mean what he's saying isn't true.
>>81449867
Then she wouldn't have gone to college.
>>81443212
They're not saying Becky's dad had a point.
They're Christians. They're saying Becky's dad is worth being redeemed.
>>81450227
That's literally not what they're saying.
>>81449888
Wait, is there something I'm not seeing?
It is a shame when someone with a promising sports career goes to jail.
The rapist didn't just take something from their victim away. He took something away from himself and from the community.
Hundreds of people lost their team mate, thousands of children lost their role model, dozens of charities lost their sponsor.
That's fair, but it's also a shame. The crime he did onto himself is added onto the one he did to others. You can condemn both unexclusively, especially when one of them exists so far outside your personal sphere, and may be even considered offensive if you try to so much as discuss it.
>>81450322
Well, it's literally what they should be saying, and it's what my mind interprets in order to pretend there's rationality in the world
>>81450445
>Expecting Willis to write rational Christians
I feel your pain
>>81450614
You'd think he'd have a great grasp on it, considering how he writes Saint Carla and Satan Mary
>>81443731
He keeps a backlog, but he doesn't have to throw it out to make changes as he wants. He can easily insert new strips or edit before release, and he has done that before (as with the toedad chase scene physics)
>>81449803
Toedad, he just wants his family back.
>>81443758
>south side of chicago
>driveby
>not at school
>"mass shooting"
I don't think so.
>>81443796
Sinfest has become such a blur of mixed metaphors and heavy-handed propaganda I don't even remember that ever happening, but it sounds like Sinfest.
>>81450227
I was under the impression that they weren't aware of what went down and figured it was just a really tense altercation, because that's the only way it makes sense.
That being said, another, more human angle to write it from is "Hey maybe it's not healthy for Joyce to get involved with people who lead to scenarios involving guns and car chases". I mean if Joyce was my daughter, I'd have pulled her out of college almost immediately because it's clear that college is not a safe place for her to be if she's getting herself into trouble with some guy with a gun.
>>81451397
things that haven happened since Joyce went to college:
Directly involved in a kidnapping
Almost raped
fake dated a gay man
is harboring a runaway illegally
all her friends are dicks
so yeah, I'd pull her too at least for the semester to get some counseling
>>81451397
>she's getting herself into trouble with some guy with a gun
The biggest problem is that it's not just some guy- it's a close family friend. Which brings in the doubt of "I wonder if any other of our friends are gonna go trigger-happy". It also means they can't just wave the shooting away as something happening at a sinful secular college and separate from their hometown.
>>81451250
>I just want my kids back!
Anyone else notice that Carla is just Willis drawing himself with a red ponytail?
Stop making these threads while I'm asleep.Stop making these threads altogether.
>>81452999
The idea that just because one guy couldn't cope with his family falling apart and took drastic measures doesn't really imply that any of their friends is going to go postal any time soon. Granted, Joyce's family is also falling apart, so if this was a shit-tier webcomic put out by an obnoxious, lazy, self-righteous hack, it's more than possible that their situation could also end in guns drawn. But it's not, right?
...Right?
>>81453745
Nah, even for Willis I doubt it. It should make them less able to blame college for the Toedad incident, but when has anyone in this comic acted like a real person?
>>81453745
The only guns Carol will need to keep her family together are in her sleeves.
>>81453745
To be frank, most of what I saw was is closer to people reaching out empathy towards toedad, than excuses.
If this were a muslim terrorist doing the bernardino shootings, you bet your ass Willis would be going all "yes, but can you imagine what must have gone on in his mind? His home has been getting oppressed by the west for *years*"
>>81442113
>>81442900
I can't decide whether I want you to keep going because these better alternatives of the actual characters is amazing, or stop because it's depressing me what might have been.
>>81454159
Unironically, yeah, but there's probably a sizable "Toedad did nothing wrong" sentiment among most hate-readers just out of spite for Willis and his shitty characters.
It's kinda like how at Wrestlemania last night Triple H got cheered as a babyface despite being the biggest douchebag tyrant heel authority figure for over two years, all because everyone hated the actual "heroic" babyface Roman Reigns. People will cheer someone with virtually no redeeming qualities if they don't like your hero enough.
>>81443496
The consensus in the previous thread was that some churches do, indeed, buy their employees cars.
Either way, the intention was pretty obvious: it was to portray John as one of those hypocritical "I had to work hard for my stuff" guys AND to paint a religion as corrupt. It's a double whammy for David Willis.
>>81454407
He did do nothing wrong
A) Becky is awful.
B) He wanted to take Becky away from the strip at any costs to himself.
Therefore
Toedad wanted to rid the universe (of the comic strip) from something awful.
Isn't that literally a hero?
>>81454488
As someone with families involved in evangelical churches, they don't buy them mustangs unless they're "prosperity gospel" types, who are mostly looked down on by virtually every other denomination. (fun fact: the prosperity gospel is considered heresy in the catholic church, teaching it can lead to excommunication) Usually they get them sedans or minivans, cars that are useful for family functions.
Also, if you're doing ministry abroad, you're less likely to get a car at all because it's usually pretty hard to take said car with you. They might hook you up with a van or an SUV or something while you're there, but the idea that a serious evangelical church would gift anyone who isn't even a pastor a luxury sports car is ridiculous.
>>81454488
>double whammy
It only works though if you assume, from the start, that religious work isn't valid work. To me, going to India for a mission seems incredibly difficult.
>>81454817
I've had similar experiences; Minivan or church van, maybe a rectory or parsonage adjacent to the Church and to be shared with the church.
>>81449803
>who am I supposed to sympathize with in this comic?
Joyce, to various degrees. She's not perfect, and you're right that a lot of her problems are caused by, or at least exacerbated by, her actions, but she's also a heavily sheltered 18 year old who never had a chance to grow out on her own before, suddenly thrust into college. Her actions should be looked at as an extension of her childhood and the parenting method that coddled her all her life then threw her out into the real world completely unable to survive.
>>81454916
Actually, India is probably one of the hardest countries to go and minister in, if not because the hindu way of life is so deeply integrated into their culture. On top of that, it's one of the few countries in the world where helping the poor and sick lower castes is all but forbidden, so you're really not going to make friends with the non-untouchable locals. Also, the /int/ jokes about designated shitting streets and rape buses aren't that divorced from reality.
All in all, Willis's portrayal of American Evangelical Christianity bugs me because of how horribly inaccurate it is. It's like an A. Wyatt Mann cartoon where blacks are drawn as short with slanty eyes and buck teeth and the asians are given big lips and flat noses. His caricature is almost completely devoid of any reality and so his criticisms fall flat because of it.
>>81443572
Nah, this is Willis's modus operandi. He likes his world to be very black and white - either you're a good guy who nobody ever hates, or you're a bad guy with a load of flaws that make you completely unlikeable.
