Jesus!
on July 19, 2013 at 12:01 amYeah, this comic was one of three that were NOT intended for the newspaper audience. Â I didn’t even send them in, though maybe I should have tried. Â I could have had some hilarious ratings marked in their filenames.
These web-only strips exist because, well, just like with the original Roomies!, I was chafing a bit under newspaper guidelines — though this wasn’t a schedule-based chafing, but a content-based. Â These newer newspaper strips took place during a period in both Billie and Ruth’s history in which I knew something had happened, but had never been able to depict. Â And I wanted to depict it, dammit. Â So.
(These three strips originally went online with some snarky commentary. Â I like the commentary, but I also kind of like just presenting the strips-as-is. Â Plus the commentary kept on makin’ folks think the strips were noncanon for some reason. Â Well, they ain’t noncanon, and they never were. Â If you miss the commentary, it’s in Roomies! Book One and on the old website for however long it persists.)
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An unhealthy part of your daily routine.
Breakfast of champions.
ALMOST! *Sits and waits 24 hours*
And personally, I liked the commentary as well, but I can understand why it confused people when it was placed when it was online.
Also note that Ruth is wearing a nightshirt with no obvious pants. Even further proof this is too sexy for newspaper strips.
And Ruth is the only one that could smell booze on her in her A.M. classes? And this caused no comments?
I’ve been to both small and very large campus’s: I can understand how it would be ignored in a class of 100 students sitting in an amphitheater: but is their college that big? (I really don’t know).
No comments to Billie’s face. I get the impression she doesn’t have any friends apart from Ruth who’d ever be willing to call her out on her alcohol abuse and risk her wrath. Gossiping behind her back is another matter.
You are doing it wrong, it is supposed to be: FAAAAAAAACE.
and why did that hot link pop in?
Beer. It’s what’s for breakfast.
And lunch. And dinner.
And maybe Fourth Meal.
And elevenses! (I’m not even a Tolkien person, I just like elevenses.)
If you’re not the token person on the show, does that make you one of the annoyingly cute animals?!?
Clearly you have found me out. I am a majestically adorable pegacorn.
Also, I see that Billie has once again turned into a blank-faced robot goon.
So while not your first attempt at lesbians, it was, in canon, your first time using lesbians to convey lesbianism.
…I just like saying lesbians. C’mon now, say it with me. It’s fun. Lesbians.
“Lesbians!”
LEEEEESBIAAAAANS!”
“LESBIANS!”
“…Moose.”
(I apologize if you don’t get the Freakazoid reference.)
They’re not lesbians! Neither of them are solely into girls.
I admit “bisexuals” is not as fun to say.
I know, but you said it yourself, “bisexuals” isn’t as fun to say, and I was looking to make a Freakazoid reference today.
…I have weird goals.
Hey Ragnal, you want to go get an Italian Ice?
BOY DO I?!
Why is panel 2 Ruth so cute?
For those who don’t follow Willis’ tumblr
http://sadpanda.us/images/1744649-BZINYM8.png
Billies
Bless you, Yotomoe.
Oh, little Timmy, what do you say?
God bless every licky style. Everyone.
You are my hero.
YES!
You say “these three strips,” but I can’t help but think that the weekend’s upcoming event has been subtly building for a while. First, Ruth’s depression is well established, so she’s sufficiently unmoored to do something stupid. Billie is similarly unmoored and didn’t have great judgment to begin with.
Second, Billie’s been acting out, first by insulting Ruth’s own brother and dismissing Ruth’s defense of him, then by pitching a fit because her body has had the temerity to weigh more, and finally by blatantly defying Ruth’s injunction against alcohol before noon. For this, she deserves considerably worse treatment than today’s aggravated cry or Wednesday’s “No.” But this version of Ruth has a saintly patience, and feels no small responsibility for Billie’s emotional state. She’s barely holding it together as well as she is for Billie’s sake, and now it’s looking like that’s not enough.
So hey, Ruth, you genius, the girl you’ve been trying to protect is spiraling into self-destruction, and you just yelled at her, right after you told her nobody cared about her. Is there anything you can do to make her stop feeling like the worthless pile of crap you are? Huh? Anything? Anything anything? Well, there’s that, but, I mean, that’d be a short-term solution at the very best– WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH YOU, DON’T YOU CARE?
Since it took me a little while to dig out, here’s the link on the old site for anyone interested in said commentary.
http://www.itswalky.com/d/20050222.html
I guess that’s why I forgot about these; the commentary makes it look like they were made just to be sarcastic.
New link that works:
http://www.joyceandwalky.com/d/20050222.html
I have a terrifying vision of a Billie/Robin hybrid who breakfasts on Cadbury’s Cream Eggs in a bowl of beer.
…That sounds disgusting, yet I’m now tempted in trying it.
I’ve been wondering whether this series of comics was 1999-Willis’s head-canon that you were too embarrassed and/or content-restricted at the time to actually publish, or whether it was something that you came up with later and retconned in.
I think Willis has stated it’s the latter. I remember him saying something along the lines of that at the time he was writing Roomies!, he couldn’t even conceive of a relationship that wasn’t between a man and a woman.
Wow, the old website has a truly horrible navigation system.
Anyone have a link to the old comic with original commentary?
Starts with this one here, and the navigation works well enough (at least in my browser) that you can page ahead through the rest, though you’ll need to skip past a bit of giant robot ape.
Bad billie, very bad!
Originally posted:
February 22, 2005
Commentary on the old website.
THE REALITY OF MAINSTREAM NEWSPAPER SYNDICATION
Most newspapers in America today are published to an aging demographic. Teens and young adults, when turning to the media for news (if at all), increasingly depend on television and the Internet, rather than newspapers.
As such, newspaper content, including the funny papers, must be geared towards a very sensitive and conservative aduience. Family-friendly and inoffensive material is heavily stressed.
Over the next few updates, we will be presenting a guide to what will not be allowed in newspaper syndication. For example:
Over panel 2) – 1)Promotion of alcohol use.
Over panels 2 and 3) – 2) Material that might be perceived as setting a bad example for young children.
Under panel 3) – 3) Taking the Lord’s name in vain.