Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for January 12, 2013

Now this is a letdown…I expected a lot more fireworks and maybe a hint of who TJ REALLY is….sigh. Well, the door is left open for a sequel, anyway. LOL

Can we say “Meals for Firefighters?”

I figure this gave us a lot of TJ. For those that want to know all about TJ in a short time you should be grateful that Greg developed the character as much as he has. There wasn’t much before this. The question is… what is next???

Brad is getting distinctly less stupid as each year (our time) goes by. Very obviously he is Greg’s favourite character.

Whew! End of round one. So glad TJ won the battle here. Question is: Will he win the war?? Ann will be back!

You’re clever, you know that?-BTW your images of damaged and vandalised Robot recently were heartbreaking. Are you sure that at least one remains in good condition? That was the only innovative, genuine and plausible character on Lost In Space. And Billy Mumy, of course. I stopped watching that series (when new) as a kid.

TJ could cook gourmet dinners for me any time! Mmm. Come here, young man, I have candy. ;-)

So, now that Ann has (presumably) resigned, I guess TJ quit? Or was he officially terminated before Ann left? It seems like if Ann just told TJ, “You’re fired” before leaving and did nothing else, her replacement will have no idea that TJ doesn’t work there anymore. … Wonder who the new manager will be? I doubt it will be TJ, even if he is offered the job. I suggested this a long, long, long time ago, but I think it should be Nancy Degroot. She could take the job to bring in extra money and keep herself occupied now that her kids are (mostly) grown.

“No, but the first of you turns my stomach!”

So, who closed out and locked up the store?

I find it sad that this arc is ending for now.

Anne Will probably turn up as a VP of sales at “the Dog Depot” WW’s rival/competitor- (prpare yourself for this one) It is a Dog-Eat-Dog world in fast paced, pre- packaged, pulverized meat product, fast food franchise marketplace.

She does have all the proprietary information and trade secrets of WW- and they do live in a Right to Work State don’t they?

Is TJ’s last name Haskell, by any chance? Eddie’s grandson, perhaps?

Well, at least Brad’s eyes are open abotut what kind of friend he has.

That, actually, is what makes TJ useful to Brad. TJ can easily lead people wrong, unless they know how to use him.

Brad is sounding unexpectedly (—by me, at least) clever and insightful today. I wonder what delight chef TJ is cooking up.

This does bring up the question…

Mission Accomplished, TJ…but now what’re you gonna do with yourself?

You’re trolling again, Lev.

Well, TJ’s talents need direction, by someone who knows how. Left to himself, he does things that aren’t necessarily helpful. When he was focused on Ann, he created a beautiful weave of destruction that operated as intended…he destroyed her.

He needs a new task, a new focus…or else his idleness will lead him astray.

I am having trouble digesting that AE thought she had to leave. My take is that – if TJ went to corporate with those tapes – he’d be perceived as a disgruntled employee and a nut case. But I understand this is just an episode in the comics – with simple premises. If the TJ/AE thing is over, well it was a good run – except for the fizzle at the end. I’m still open for surprises. And yeah – Brad sized it up.

Thanks for that robotic info. B9 was the robot’s model/designation? (Have trouble with links via smartphone.)

Why hasn’t Johnnysmell been banned yet? His post are all offensive to anyone with an actual brain stem

I have to say that this ending isn’t THAT bad, however, had I been writing this, I would have shown Ann calling corporate (with TJ listening in, to make sure it was for real) to resign, then, after TJ left, I’d have Ann sitting in her soon to be former office, crying and feeling hopeless…but, at least she has her “pills”… if one makes her feel better, then the whole bottle should work even better… (She’s not in her right mind atm) last panel shows Ann, unconcious on the office floor. Next strip: Cut to a close-up pic of a nearly empty bottle of pills and the hand of the unconscious Ann on the office floor….. next we see TJ , out of his WW uniform, in the middle of the store, walking towards the office… “Hey Annie I brought back my unif…” last panel, close up of TJs face, having just seen the result of his revenge…after that, I’d show TJ calling 911 and doing his best to revive her until the paramedics get there…Brad being on paramedic duty that week, saves her life, and both men get to see first-hand, what can happen, if you deliberately set out to “destroy” someone. (That is how I would have ended the arc)

Eh. Mikeyj, having them successfully save her might not be as potent as having her die. There’s something quite final about a panel of them staring at a stone cold tombstone…

Well, that was an uncalled for rant and not pertinent to the comic.

Any other tablets you have brought down from the mount?

For all those waiting for a sequel to TJ and Ann, the wait could be an extremely long one. Characters have a way of going on a long hiatus (think Aaron Hill). The TJ/Ann arc seems to be a favorite for many, but it could be a long stretch before we see these two lock horns for Round 2. Hope I’m wrong.

“ANNNnnnnnn - ie!”

I wonder if the next time she shows up she’ll have Dirk with her.

I sure hope there’s more to this story line than this….Talk about a deflating ballon sound!!!! We finally get past the lame Luann New Year’s story line and back to something good…FINALY…and this is all we get??? I am starting to agree with people…this strip is in decline!!!

So, Brad. You Knowing and Willingly ALLOW a LYING, SWEET-TALKING, Con, into Your Home.

THAT pretty much SUMS Up the Current State of the Nation….,

“Brad, please. When I con I don’t hurt people. I get them to spend extra money for food they didn’t want and to get you to tear up your house looking for a little girl.”

After that kiss, I have a feeling TJ’s going to have a female stalker on his hands. Those Love/Hate relationships can get verrrrrrrrry interesting, but stupid. To quote Arthur Stanton Eric “Arte” Johnson.

Unfortunately, today has already been ruined.

At least TJ can cook. I doubt Ann could.

Good. I hate to see Ann go. She’s a perfect foil for TJ.

TJ and Ann Eyefull have the beginnings of a beautiful relationship built on deceit, obsessive gamesmanship, and inappropriate expressions of affection.It’s destiny. The only kind of relationship either one of them could ever have.

Whos is Brad talking about? T,J,, Dirk, or Tiffany Farrell?

( He doesn’t know Leslie Knox )

It’s so obvious that this will not be the last time we’ll be seeing Ann. I don’t feel like this little incident has ended just yet..

And so that’s it? THIS is the grand finale to that arc? Oy…I don’t have the words.

So….Ann just….left? Come on TJ, you know that’s way too simple of an ending.For some reason, I’m worried

I’m not worried. TJ’s a bigger con man, for lack of a better word, and he’s not evil. If he ever did decide to use his power for evil, we’d have to kill him.

I’m thinking this arc will continue for a few more strips..What it will be, I have no idea.

No way is Ann “gone.” This arc might be over for now, but I get the feeling TJ’s life is about to turn into a living hell, which should make Leviticus happy because he A) hates TJ and B) obssesses over Ann. FYI, these aren’t real people, Lev, they’re characters in a comic strip. Perspective, perspective…

BTW, about the robot on “Lost in Space:” I was watching a rerun a few weeks ago and Robot was on some planet’s surface at the end of the show as the two male leads started walking up a ramp of stairs leading into the spaceship. This led me to wonder “How the hell does Robot climb steps to get into that ship? How did he get OFF the ship in the first place? Robot doesn’t WALK, he ROLLS on one leg (or whatever you call that thing).”

apparently we don’t care near as much as you do. O_o Don’t you have anything better to do??

Some other random ideas (hey, it’s Sat., no need to be organized)*- According the the Wikipedia site, TJ’s dad is in Argentina. I still think TJ is living on a trust fund built with hot loot. There will come a day when he really needs a job.*- Bernice will be thrilled to know AE has left. You know, a temporary Bern & TJ pairing might be a good idea— logical Bern could teach TJ to think through ideas to look at their consequences and grinning TJ could teach Bern to look at the bright side of things. Too bad they would find each other too repulsive to get within 3 feet of each other.*- Did TJ get AE’s resignation in writing? My guess is that she is on the phone to Corporate asking to get an order of protection against that aggressive, hallucinating former employee.

Actually, I would put the your last bit in reverse… in comparison to Ann, TJ is a saint.

The different between Ann and TJ is that TJ does what he does to help his friends out, while Ann is in it for herself.

t j better not wish it or it will come true

You’re replying to jpirard’s comment:

so Weenie World is worth killing yourself over? In today’s world it is more likely she would take out her gun and kill TJ and anybody else who happens to be in the building, then herself because that’s the answer to everything ‘of course’.^^Well, don’t forget that Ann had already been in trouble for abusing her authority, sexual harassment , improper dismissal of employees when she ran the bookstore, and, who knows what she did, when she was working in Tokyo. As someone pointed out a few days ago, the big corporations DO know who is a commer and who is corporate poison, and, they “talk” to each other; basically, Ann’s chances of ever climbing the corporate ladder are now nil, and her future in big business is gone, this is the premise I went with, not to mention that, her job as a manager left her with little time for a social life, causing her to fall for her employees, and none of them responded how she’d hoped; take it all together, future gone, becoming unhireable in her chosen field, all alone, no one cares for her…people have killed themselves over just one of these problems, never mind all three; thus, I think Ann trying to “end it all” is very plausible< and I do know of where I speak. (nuff said)

She will try and get him for sexual harassment. Just watch and see.

“She abuses her employees. T.J. has no employees.” … If he did, TJ would probably be like Scorpio, the supervillain boss Homer had in an early Simpsons cartoon. He would be planning evil deeds, trying to take over the world, etc, but be good to his employees, offering them raises and benefits. Ann would be more like Mr. Burns, treating all employees like cr@p. And now, I’m imagining Bernice as Ann’s “Smithers.” Yikes!

Greg himself said that TJ is a “surprisingly gifted gourmet chef” or something along those lines on his blog.

I already knew 1-3. 4-8 are interesting theories that nobody actually confuses with canon ever. Already knew #9, and you’re right that somebody mentions this at least once a day (from a previous comment of yours). Don’t agree with #10. I think they had sex after Brad saved Toni but that’s just me. … #11: “TJ is not gay”… honestly, although I like to joke he is, and I think it would make an interesting storyline, there’s no way to establish TJ’s sexuality one way or another. #12: TJ’s not any more fearful of women than he is fearful of men. He interacts with both genders the same way. He doesn’t get into romantic entanglements with them, but he tends to try to manipulate them. … Regarding 13 and 14, I never thought Gunther was gay. I also agree with 15. I kind of agree with 16, as Luann is completely nuts sometimes. But she doesn’t love her phone in lieu of a real person. She uses her phone to talk to the person she loves (currently), Quill. … 17-21 are no-brainers, though characters do have a tendency to come back in this strip. Your list doesn’t have an item for number 22. In order to move on with the list, I have to make one up. And, Lev, I gotta say, your theory that TJ is a mob boss who put a hit out on his half-sister Ann is all too believable. …#23: Knute only cross dressed once. I don’t think that makes him a cross-dresser. #24: so it would seem. #25: I trust Crystal’s judgment on this one. She seems smart and like someone who knows what she wants. I agree with #26 and #27. You have #28 backwards.

Wow! Cool robot!

another dud evans ending . . . ZZZZZZZZZZZ

@LeviticusNumbers 4-8 are definately opinion-nothing has ever been said of TJs family. For all we known it could be true and something TJ doesn’t want leaked out. #9 has been suggested

Hate hitting the wrong button.

has been hinted at and makes sense regardless of the family’s true holdings. #28-I would rather know TJ than Ann. I know both types and I did know where the TJs of the world were coming from. The Anns are sneakier.my opinion of how it ended is TJ strongly suggested she move on or he would be forced to bring the security/spy camera videos to corporate. He had permission from corporate, telling them he was Ann’s assistant and was making the request on her behalf. So, at the end he had the audio recording and a video to show what she was doing.

Note that we didn’t actually SEE her quit….

Agreed…

Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew may be have inspired this story arc. If so, Ann may mature and grow, as other characters in the series have grown.

After reading the last panel, does anyone get the feeling that that they skip a panel? I know they didn’t, but it sure feels that way. I even back track a day to see if I missed anything.Surely she would not just walk out the door, but it is just a comic strip.

Hey – Don’t overlook this possible ending: Maybe AE was also recording TJ. She does a little editing. She tells corporate that TJ made her leave. She plays the edited tape with TJ saying, “I don’t want to be manager…You abused my friends and lied to me…” AE stays and TJ goes. Next day “Luann”: TJ is having a beer somewhere. There is only one empty seat – next to him. Enter AE who takes the seat. Next frame they glare at each other. Last frame (looking toward them from behind) – they are sitting close together.

And Ann just leaves – because TJ has a recording of her making vague admissions- she just resigns? Hey, Evans, just have her eaten by a magical dragon! That would be just about as believable. A crappy, contrived ending to a ludicrous plot.

I had a girlfriend like that back around 2000. Dumped her.

Thanks for the information, especially the fact that some of it is opinion but undisproved.

You’re a good person, no matter what everybody else says.

I’m well aware of that. It’s just that you seem to have a God complex.

AAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!

Note to ShagsCA: nice to have a Firesign fan here!! I’m just surprised that at this point Ann is gone on that note .. and that Greg wrapped it here. Of course, some the fantasies in these comment boards ain’t suitable for a newspaper!

is TJ one of Brad’s friends?….he’s talking to Brad

“Affects” not “effects.” … It doesn’t matter if the internet affects the brain in the same PLACE as crack cocaine would if it doesn’t affect the brain the same way as crack cocaine. Your comment leaves open the possibility that cocaine and the internet affect the same part of the brain but in opposite ways.

You should know.

@Leviticus; If this comic disappoints you so much, then please for everyone sake, stop reading it. At the very least, stop commenting on it. The rest of us do not want to be a party to your tirades.You seem to be a student of the me first generation, why not write your own comic. I’m sure that Mr. Evans would love to sit at his computer and critique your attempts to please people.

You got most of it right. But, my question here is, why so much of hate for TJ? Is there no end to your nonsensical hatred for the poor guy! He went out of his way to take Ann just cuz she mistreated Brad.

Oh ya. You’re paranoid about Knute too. Slack off man!