Puck 546

Chapter: Junior PromCharacters: Daphne Miranda PuckTags: dragon mom Prince
A MAY VOTING INCENTIVE CAVALCADE! We're doing a Tracee retrospective this month! Every few days, another classic voting incentive will pop up! Make sure to vote often and catch them all! VOTE FOR FAKE TANS! As for this comic... If you've never been to the halls of higher learning and have thus never learned why a women's studies prof who specializes in post-colonial feminist literature is particularly formidable, just ... just trust me. In the humanities field, there are two types of academics: the genial, quirky, chill variety, and the aggressive, angry variety. It's not that the subject matter is inherently a problem or anything. It's more that you don't get into that academic field unless you really, really relish the fight.

69 Comments

  • Pat

    I was kind of hoping for a “mom” moment, a peck on the cheek for just a slight bit of romanticism of the nuclear family I believe. But this is a bit better bonding than that time they both got Norwalk.

    Much better.

  • Brother Parvus

    [meta] Puck is interfering with Miranda’s exercise of her superpower.

  • Brother Parvus

    Meanwhile,[0] Daffy is looking and acting much more mature than in previous pages; it becomes her.

    [0] “back at the ranch”, as the cowboy movie trope has it

    • ElectricGecko

      Everybody gotta grow up some time.

      • HKMaly

        Peter Pan disagrees.

      • I have met a number of exceptions.

        One in particular that I had the misfortune to share accommodations with, a… (two minutes spent self-censoring) 49 year old man whose words and behavior seemed totally alien to me: walking around without a shirt, insulting other tenants for no apparent reason, being a fat slob who made fun of others by calling them a fat slob, bragging about how many “bitches” he “banged, and how many weights he lifted “I do 75 bicep curls each arm, every day! That’s right! 130 every day!” (not only was his math wrong, it was a very apparent lie), trying to physically intimidate people by putting his face less than an inch from theirs, bragging about how much his house (that he’d been thrown out of) was worth (not how much of his mortgage he’d paid off, just the value of the house he wasn’t allowed to live in… which was quite average, frankly). Recording on his phone “proof” of how much better he was than the rest of the tenants, which really only amounted to him providing a record of his own criminal acts, such as harassment, abuse, assault, violation of privacy…
        I’ll repeat: he was 49 years old.

        …NONE of this behavior made ANY sense to me at all… until I could put it in the correct context. Imagine a 13 year old Jr. high school bully (who was also flunking most of his classes). Aha! Now the bizarre behavior has a pattern that fits! He was in exactly the same place, mentally, emotionally, and in how he tries to interact with other people, as a 13-year old bully.

        No, we don’t all “have” to grow up sometime, but I think most of us should, if at all possible.

        • ElectricGecko

          One wonders how you manage to remain 13 years old for 40 years straight. It must be a very special life circumstance that facilitates that.

          • He was going through a divorce (which surprised none of us who knew him). What baffles me is that he was able to get married in the first place.

  • aaron Smith

    Here i thought she was a real doctor imo unless you can prescribe drugs or heal them that’s not a doctor, that’s just a smart person.

  • Kurmudgeon

    That does sound like a scary lady.
    I assume Bro Parvus refers to Miranda’s ability to turn everything nearby into a dirtier thing. A typical baby power.

  • ChrisH

    Pick ain’t afraid of no dragon!
    But angry academics are much scarier!!! 😉

  • Tjimmy1999

    Still gonna say she’s just overprotective and quick to anger. I never even heard of that subject before anyway.

    • ElectricGecko

      If you’ve never heard of it, good.

      • Del

        Aye, that!

        This particular angry discipline has been at war with reality for a couple of decades. And reality is losing!

        • ElectricGecko

          In my opinion, there are angry factions on both sides of the political spectrum who are at war with social norms. I won’t say ‘reality’ because reality is largely a product of those social norms, but I get what you’re saying. And yes, I would agree with you that the social norms are losing. To both sides. Simultaneously.

          I dislike extremists of all types. I am a big fan of actual discourse. I am not a big fan of screaming fanatics or anyone who attends rallies and chants stuff.

          But that’s just me.

  • Unemployable outside academia, right?

  • Sigurther

    I’d say I feel bad for the father, but he knew what he was getting into.

    • ElectricGecko

      Exactly. And there are certainly benefits to having a passionate fighter in your corner. As long as you keep them in your corner, of course.

    • Valkeiper2020

      Not necessarily.
      There’s an old (as in BEFORE WW2 to today) saying…
      A woman marries a man thinking he will change… and he doesn’t.
      A man marries a woman thinking she won’t change… and she does.

      • Valkeiper2020

        In fact, I’m hoping he (or any male in this comic besides Tyler) finally grows a pair and lays down the law.
        Powerful women are nice, but wimpy men are ridiculous.
        I can already hear a certain dad saying (to his wife) “Woman… SIT!!!”

        Then (to Daf) “listen girl, your past is fun to hear about, but it’s the past. If I hear another ‘bad report’, Tyler will be ‘off limits’ to you. if you think I can’t do it, think again.”

        Then (to wife) “Tyler is my son, too. OUR only child. He should already have a younger brother or sister. That is something we are going to fix… starting TONIGHT!!!)”

  • Grace

    Oh no, not the department in the hall with the weird split-level and the potted trees!

  • EcchiKitty

    I’d say baby’s reaction is perfectly natural. Might not understand the conversation, but can pick up on Puck’s reactions.

  • Frank Harr

    Dragons have very understandable motivations. I’ll admit, I was a humanities person, but I’ve never met one of the angry sort. Maybe I did it wrong.

    Miranda’s practicing!

    • ElectricGecko

      It must be noted that the angry subsection of academia has steadily increased its presence on campuses over time. All my genial, gentle profs were old. All my angry profs were young. Now only time will tell whether the angry young ones will eventually morph into genial old ones. But I don’t think so. I think the entire environment of academia changed.

      • Frank Harr

        Well, I don’t know about YOUR country, but people in my country have been getting steadly angrier since the 80’s.

  • bcool

    So… This strip has me thinking of dragons and if they exist in the world of Puck or at least used to like dinosaurs. After all we have various mythical people just roaming around like it’s nothing.

  • Sleel

    From what I’ve seen, those woman studies doctors specializing in feminism, and those that subscribe to their…ideals, are just misandrists passing themselves off as feminists. And deserve just as much voice and say as any misogynist does. And just as much contempt.

    • ElectricGecko

      Some. Not all. A number have noble goals and view themselves as defenders of the downtrodden, voices of the voiceless, and honestly, that’s valid. But even the ones with noble goals are fighters. They need to be, I guess. And more power to them. I just … I don’t want to be in their targeting reticle.

      • Frank Harr

        As my brother once said, jerks exist in all races, creeds, colors, sexual orientations and academic disciplines.

        So do sweet people.

  • Bunnaroo

    If you think the academics with this attitude are scary, you should meet the ones that have “real jobs” and get more targets for their fanaticism. I’d feel sorry for their husbands, but those guys are already gone, so they don’t suffer.

    • ElectricGecko

      Academics with real jobs?!? I feel (and this is just my personal old school bias) that you can’t have a real job and call yourself an academic.

  • SalemCat

    WOO HOO !!!

    Not to hoo-doo this, but this instant PUCK is number 19 on TWC.

    That’s ain’t half bad.

    Especially since it is THURSDAY, and mid-month.

    EXCLELLENT.

  • BuggleSezGoPlayImprobableIsland

    If I didn’t know better, I’d be tempted to think his mom was based on my Gender Studies professor…

  • SalemCat

    Another wonderful TRACEEE incentive (and the voting results on TWC is no coincidence).

    “Two Legs Good – Eight Legs Better”

    George Orwell – Animal Farm

  • ChrisH

    Tracee puts the spectacular in the tentacular!

    • SalemCat

      @ChrisH

      Hey, EG, if it is ok with you, I’d like to nominate ChrisH as the Official VP as THE OFFICIAL TRACEEE FAN CLUB.

      (I’ve been the President for several years)

  • SalemCat

    @ChrisH

    For the duration, I have suspended the $4000 Initiation Fee and $3500 Annual Dues to the TRACEEE FAN CLUB.

    The sole requirement, now, is to always refer to our beloved as TRACEEE.

    Simply because it forces you to smile when you say her name.

  • ChrisH

    @Salem Cat Thank you and it would be my pleasure. 🙂

  • SalemCat

    @EG

    re latest incentive: TRACEEE is MY “Thing”, alright !

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