Dumbing of Age: "Oh Goddammit, It's This Plotline" Edition

Remember, folks: Parents are awful beings undeserving of respect if you're David Willis.

Even though, you know, he's a father now. Well, he takes care of two kids; that doesn't necessarily mean he's a father.

Man, this is a garbage strip. I like that Joe is worried about his dad's girlfriend, since he's sure that his dad will cheat. But it sounds way too much like monogamy itself is an issue, not just with his dad.

This is so badly written. I'm actually starting to just be... done with all this. The utter monotony. The focusing on nothing that matters. The months-long delaying of important facts for the plot. The consistently awful parents.

It's gotten even more tedious. It was fun to have good discussions about character relations and how awful Carla, Ruth, Billie, and Amber are.

This is just drivel.

Willis is deeply broken.
Deeply fucking broken.

>I'm actually starting to just be... done with all this.
For me it began when Jacob and Joyce were on their lunch break.

This is technically the first chapter in the inevitable trade collection, so I would suppose that it makes sense that here is where Willis sets up plot threads to be explored later. Wouldn't be surprised if, thanks to Willis' pacing, the trial of Rapin' Ryan vs. "Ow The Edge" Amber ends up on Saturday, in-universe.

>It was fun to have good discussions about character relations and how awful Carla, Ruth, Billie, and Amber are.

Y'know, it just dawned on me that Billie just moved into her new room. Like, we've spent so much time on everything else that it feels like forever since we last saw her.

Can't wait for the day-closer where Ruth and Billie miss each other.

I wonder if the specific guy that Joe is apparently based on ever reads any of this. His opinion would be interesting.

Why is he talking to himself with a beard

Wait, who??? I'd love to know more about this guy and how Flanderized he got.

His dad is basically the same as he is. His dad is here to keep his girlfriend company while she visits her daughter.

Looking around on more social-justice-friendly sites, it's amusing to see fans just now realize that their hatred for Joe's dad is almost entirely unfounded.

From the wiki (yes, Willis has his own wiki):

>Joe is based on one of David Willis's childhood friends, Dave Ressman, and was also named after him for a while. In junior high, the character was unDaved and renamed "Joe Ranksman," and then finally for Roomies!, his last name was changed into something real.

>it's not a casual relationship

makes no sense. God forbid two older people say "hey you, i'm single your single our kids are in college lets fuck"

Why would she even WANT a "committed" relationship. I would love the twist if he turned out to be a great boyfriend for her but you know it won't happen

>joe knows his father is a fucking whore
>joe is told his father is dating Stabby McStab's mother
>joe realizes he's gonna be the next on the list of ""self defense""
I'd be angry too.

>one day Joe is ignoring her at lunch because she sat down and started talking uninvited as always
>she stabs him in self defense for man-oring her.
Fortunately his dad is a doctor so he can sew his penis back on

>implying amber doesn't eat the dicks she cuts
How do you think she got so fat?

He's wanting to establish himself as one of The Good Ones, a Cool Nerd Dad like his pal Kris Straub, or a the least the Penny Arcade guys.

>>joe is told his father is dating Stabby McStab's mother


Oh right, whatever happened to that

There was a three day skip in that time; Ryan survived
Amber was questioned then released without charge
Amber is eaten up with guilt for giving in to her violet impluses
Everyone now thinks Amber is great
Ryan's family is sueing Amber

How will newly activated Joe deal with his historical horndog of a father?

We'll find out in about two years when Willis resumes the plotline and then drops it again

What's the over/under on Ryan admitting his crimes/committing new crimes in front of witnesses in order for Willis to tidily wrap up the lawsuit plot?

Probably all the butter she puts on them.

>Mary gets used regularly
>comic is interesting(ish) and threads are fun
>Mary is not used
>comic is shit and threads are dead
Activates my almonds it does.

Ryan on the stand will basically be the Yazan "I'm going to violate you" screencap and then Ryan gets tasered/stabbed again and everyone is happy.

I doubt Willis would be so base as to have Ryan admit on the stand that he intended to kill.
Hell, the first thing he'd have to answer for is why he was there in the first place.

Man, they're probably gonna drag out something about Amazi-Girl, too.

I forget where I was going with this post.

Mary's dead now that Willis gave her a boyfriend.
Not because it's a waifu thing, but because there's no development to come from it. Her boyfriend is being portrayed as being as awful as she is, but it's worse because his scene was the most we had ever seen of him in one sitting. He was essentially introduced as "Mary but male and horny," with no actual character in his bones.

>I forget where I was going with this post.

That we'll never have a scene of Ryan confronting the cast, gloating about how is family's money and status will allow him to get away with everything, only for Carla to take the baseball bat from Sarah and beat the shit out of him before casually dropping $100s on his broken and bloody face, telling him to clean himself up and run back to the upper middle class.

>He was essentially introduced as "Mary but male and horny," with no actual character in his bones.
The frustrating thing is that if Willis wasn't a hack and didn't just want Mary to be a one dimensional Saturday morning cartoon villain there's a good story there of this guy being a scumbag who pressures Mary into sex that she doesn't feel she's ready for but because she likes him gives in only to get pumped and dumped. You can cast Mary in a more sympathetic light, you can do things with her relationship with Roz (because much as she's a "do what feels good" hypersexed cunt she probably wouldn't be cool with that), etc.

But it'll probably just end up like It's Walky and Mary will just get pregnant and probably have an abortion because FUCK YOU MOM I HATE YOU AND I HATE GOD.

Yeah, Mary's boyfriend is basically just a prop to get her Teen Pregnant so Willis can unpack another stock plotline.

Imagine it:

>Roz notices Mary acting weird and paranoid
>comes back early from class to find a pregnancy test box in the trash and Mary crying in the bathroom
>Roz tries to comfort her, Mary rebuffs but can't hold it together and breaks down
>to Mary's surprise Roz doesn't judge or gloat, just comforts her
>Roz drives Mary to a Planned Parenthood clinic to get properly tested and get information to figure out how she wants to proceed with the pregnancy
>Mary talks about how she felt pressured to have sex but at the same time feels guilty because she did want to have sex, leaving it open as to whether or not Peter is a scumbag or just a horny teenager who wasn't paying attention to his gf's conflicted emotions
>test at the clinic turns out negative, Roz promises she won't won't speak a word about this to anyone
>Roz reveals she had an abortion in high school that she never told anyone about and that even though she doesn't regret it, she still sometimes has a mixed feeling about it
>flashbacks show that Robin actually helped Roz get her abortion
>heavy implication that Roz's antipathy for her sister stems from Robin's rank hypocrisy in securing an abortion for Roz then turning around and trying to restrict abortions for other women
>Roz and Mary are a little more friendly and playful with each other; Roz still thinks that Mary is judgmental, holy rolling bitch, Mary still thinks Roz is a walking STD collection, but they'd both admit, under pressure, that the other isn't necessarily a bad person

It's a shame because even with all of his dumber plots you can think of (with relatively little thought at that) interesting ways for them to play out. But Willis is obsessed at getting back at his parents, getting back at his church and having his worldview filtered through a combination of social media and 1980s cartoons that we get this monstrosity.

>I doubt Willis would be so base as to have Ryan admit on the stand that he intended to kill.
I felt like he implied he was just going to maim Joyce so she'd have a scar like his.

Just look at the current plot: Joe doesn't believe his dad can be faithful, Richard is worried that Joe might be right, Amber is afraid that her mom is dating a sleazeball, and Stacy might be gold digging. That's some great fodder for plots.

Well even some of the shittier plots like the Leslie stuff; a point could be made about Leslie having terrible taste in romantic partners and who she gets involved with (since the Anna/Mindy relationship seems like it's toxic as fuck). The only exception is the stuff with Jacob-Tron 3000.

Outside of Joyce's behavior in church there really isn't anything bad about the Jacob plot. You'd just need to tweak some things to make it interesting. Since Joyce, or the audience, doesn't actually know Jacob you could develop him through the process of Joyce getting to know him better. There is a good foundation with Joyce and Jacob: he's the only one who is taking Joyce's struggles with her faith seriously and helping her, Joyce is showing some clear attraction to him, Jacob shows interest in her even if it's not romantic, Raidah is apparently setting herself up as Jacob's kingmaker, Jacob's family might have an issue with him actually hooking up with Joyce, and Joyce is receiving encouragement to be with Jacob from Sarah, who is trying to get Jacob to dump Raidah.

The only problem is that teen pregnancy plotline wouldn't work with his pacing. Unless Willis is going to have Mary have sex then find out she's pregnant within a day or two it'd take years to actually get around to the plot.

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