Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for December 04, 2014

Yeah, Quill’s attempting again to “get rid of -his Luann competiton Gunther”. But instead of him “encouraging” Gunther to go down an incline, he’s hoping Gunther will go up one… a very steep one…but this time, with the added step of going up into “the black hole plateau”… – A “Remote Clinic”, huh? Maybe in addition to working on TVs, they could also treat computers with bugs….

hang in there, G

Well, Gunther, Mars can be an interesting challenge… ;)

“Dread Rover”“Humble Pie And A Fork In The Road”“12,000 Step Program”“The Delta Quadrant”“A Steep Price”“Remote Control "“Wonder-ous Wanderlust”“Second Thoughts For Major Tom” (♫)or“That Irregular Feeling”

Bye Gunther!!

I’m glad to see that Gunther won’t be on the first plane back to the US, and is willing to try ‘one more step’. Quill continues to amaze me with his calm, common sense approach. (I don’t see this as Quill attempting to get rid of his competition for Luann, because Quill is probably well aware that Luann isn’t really attracted to Gunther as a potential love interest. Levi not withstanding…)

“How Soon Is Now?” The Smiths“Motorboat To Mars”, Chicago30 Seconds To Mars, groupJourney, group“Everyday I Write The Book”, Elvis Costello“Destination Unknown”, Missing Persons“Never Been To Spain”, Three Dog Night“Cygnus X-1”, Rush“This Must Be The Place”, Talking Heads“While You See A Chance”, Steve Winwood“The Dark”, Billy Squier

Hi! I just finished the whole Luann archive and I am not used to waiting for comics to come out daily. At what time does it usually do that?

Quill is a good friend.

Gunter shod coime home. He is happy working at a computer. Not at some remote mountain clinic. If Roasa wants to help the poor – why not helping the the poor in this county?

Here on the West Coast right now it is 10:42 pm.

Thanks! So much people have responded to my question. I’m so happy.

Gunther – You’re already on Mars. Quill sure has a level head. Maybe Luann can fix that.

Well, the witching hour doth approacheth…it is time to roust out IS (Irish Setter) Katie, and schlep up the stairs. The hub and I have begun our Christmas baking! It began with some really delicious brownies. Next will be Scottish Shortbread (our recipe has butter, sugar, and flour), which I have a terrible time keeping my hands off (the standing joke around here is here comes the pounds…(except I do exercise every day because of Katie!). My hub also makes his famous cinnamon rolls as do I. Since this is the only time of year we bake these, they taste extra-special! Well, I am making myself hungry…must ignore fridge…must ignore bread box…! ‘Nite all! ;)-——————————————————————"’Tis an old saying, Like master, like man; why not as well, Like mistress, like maid?"(George Farquhar, 1678-1707)

they not going to the amazons, they going to ones living high in the mountains

arcamax Luann is at 9:20 PM PST http://www.arcamax.com/thefunnies/luann/

I don’t understand if the truck, or bus, or whatever makes a trip from the clinic to the village (resort, spa), then it has to return, so if it is a six hour drive there, an hour to drop off the supplies and a six hour return to the clinic, Gunther needn’t be “off the grid” for very long, if at all, this is the 21st Century after all.

Loved it. “Irving” Did you listen to Dr. Demento too?

19-1 you’re thinking of the wrong country.The Amazon isn’t in Peru.

IAmJayBluE said “That was a “tongue- in -cheek reference”…..”

That took a lot of cheek….

Stick it out, Gunther! There are worse fates than spending time in an isolated mountain village with a beautiful girl who dotes on you….The Ballad of Irving.

“Irregular” visits, huh? Might be a good idea to check out where this van is going and whether they want or need two American kids there. It is not like Rosa has a good track record for due diligence on these decisions.

Gunther! You Blithering, DOLT! Don’t Listen to HIM!“He” Just Wants YOU, Out of the Way!

Now PACK Your Pocket Protectors, Come Home and CLEAN House!!

I hope they go on a real adventure in Peru, off the beaten path, it would be great to see something really interesting happen!

I’m telling you! “Locked Up Abroad”

Its on a mountain, not in a valley. Mobile phone and internet coverage is better in most third world countries, than many first world ones, particularly america/canada, and even more especially in mountainous areas, because its the first opportunity most of them have had to get on the grid. Electricity is easy, its running water and sanitation that take some doing. (Plus, y’know, advanced medical supplies and access to training to use them)

Though whether it would be worse or better for him, to be able to talk to people but know exactly what sort of situation he was in – he’ll be just as unable to leave as if he had no internet, after all.

He will be on the van before the Orion spacecraft takes off.

Well, at least Q is trying to steer Gunther in the right direction for his own development. Hopefully, Gunther will go with it. Maybe so, as them being at this remote site would seem to be a logical place to put the “Gunther Arc” on hold for the holidays while Greg comes back to Pitts to show holiday action here.

My Wish List:

1) Brad and Toni set a date and initiate formal arrangements;

2) We finally get to meet “Dez;”

3) We finally get to meet some of Lu’s Pitts CC friends;

4) We get some kind of resolution on TJ (that one’s optional)

(Nothing really has to happen to TJ until after the Brad/Toni wedding)

C’Mon “Santa Greg” let’s fill those stockings with some good stuff.

Maybe find a worm hole and travel to another solar system or galaxy.

Why does everyone keep saying Gunther has to go to a remote mountain village to be happy? Had he gone to a local school for computer engineering, been near his family, and met a girl that likes him for who he is, he would be plenty happy.

Plenty happy being his old “timid,” “introverted,” “paranoid” self. Maybe it doesn’t have to be a “remote mountain village,” but something that, at least, takes him out of his comfort zone, so he can learn how to deal with unknown situations and manage those fears. What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger. Gunther needs to realize just how strong he can be. The closest he’s come to that (so far) was dealing with Les and his bullying. He can do it. He just has to recognize it.

In Peru a remote mountain clinic would be at a very high altitude and it would be VERY unlikely the women would go topless unless they wanted to freeze to death!! You are thinking Amazon tribes in tropical Brazil! Not mountain tribes at 10,000ft

@BrdshttGosh, is there a tune for this ballad?

I agree with you….. Gunther could and probably would be very happy going to University and being close to family and friends and finding a girl that appreciates him for who he is. Rosa, while nice, may be too damn much work for Gunther. And, Rosa does not seem to like Gunther for who he is…. but instead wants to change him.

I already posted because of the clue by Gunther that the village is 6 hours from Lima, there is no way that they are going to a village in the Amazons , it would be in the Andes mountain range……………. and even if the village is “somewhat remote”, I am sure they could walk in less than 2 days to an important town(most probably Satipo or Mazamari ) and get a Taxi or bus going back to Lima

I think the boy is starting to grow a pair.

“I do not think Rosa plans on them coming back right away.”-—————————————————————-Rosa didn’t plan on working in an office in Lima either.If they’re not going to be helping unload the truck there’s plenty of time for a little sight-seeing to assess the situation. Plenty of time to decide if Gunther’s going to stay with Rosa or high-tail it back to “the grid”.In any case, bring at least a week’s worth of bug repellent and TP (which wasn’t invented until 1888, folks).

I think we both agree on Gunther’s need to change his obsession with his mother’s personal life.-But you believe that he can be just fine as a timid and introverted person (IF that is truly what he is; he shows enough anger from time to time that I have come to doubt that). -The reality is, though, that he has a goal of possibly becoming an engineer. This means he will have to interact with others productively, or he can’t achieve that goal. Someone who sits in front of a computer all day and doesn’t go to his classes (unless they are all online classes), or go meet with his teachers, or take his tests, won’t end up as an engineer.-And even assuming that he manages to qualify for is PE without dealing with professors and tests will have a lot of trouble getting a job if he is totally timid and introverted. He will need to convince people in interviews, for example, that he can design a computer network (or, if that isn’t the type of engineering he wants, a wastewater treatment system, or a highway network, or what.)-I work with engineers all the time. They have to convince clients to hire them, or, if they work in a public agency, they have to present their recommendations to the elected officials to get okays for projects. They can’t just sit in front of a computer all day…

Aye.

Unless Evans again balks at depicting indigenous Peruvians it should be interesting to see his attention to detail. And the colorist might just go mad.And as there are currently reported to be 92 separate and distinct languages spoken in Peru, even Rosa may find herself as isolated as Gunther.http://www.inside-peru.com/indigenous-people-of-peru.html

hope Rosa is up on her birth control….gets cold in the mountains and snuggling for warmth can get really hot.

Just finished reading all the comments. Wow. I don’t believe Rosa “pushed” Gunther into accompanying her. She asked, and after much waffling he decided to go. She’s happy he’s there, but don’t think her life will fall apart if he returns to the U.S. She knows what she wants but he doesn’t. As commented before, Gunther is a pain and if I was Rosa I wouldn’t count on him for anything. Let him go, girl, and get on with your life!

I’m not sure that all of the posters here who were urging Gunther to be less fearful were also cheering on his attempts at a relationship with Rosa. (Note, though, that Gunther himself tells Quill that he does want to be with her.)-I think many of us were urging him not to be so possessive of his mother, and to instead pay attention to (as Quill said) figuring out what HE loves. And Gunther’s response to Quill was that he was not sure, which is why Quill suggested that he give the visit to the village a try.-Quill was making a reasonable suggestion with that, because Gunther was not 100 percent certain of what he wanted to do. After all, at some point in his life, he had to try for the first time to make costumes for plays. That involved getting close enough to people (girls) to measure them. Yet he was able to convince himself to do that, even though he is supposedly very timid around girls. -He also volunteered in the library, meaning he was around kids. A timid person can have a lot of trouble with that, yet he did that. So he learned a couple things about himself that he didn’t know before he started making costumes and volunteering at the library.-If he finds that he really hates working in the village, then he’s learned something else about himself. And that might also tell him that he might not be able to handle some of the stresses involved with being an engineer…

There’s always a “what if?”

What’s wrong with being timid and introverted? That is his personality, some people are just like that. They don’t need to be forced into changing themselves, we should accept them for who they are.

And, in Gunther’s case, it would be an absolute shame. Because I and others can see a great deal of potential in him, if he’d only see it in himself. He may never see it, and that we do have to accept, but it would be a total shame.

Potential for what?

Potential for becoming a well rounded, confident person in all aspects of life, not just “engineering.” If that’s the only scope of his comfort zone, then, as stated, it’s a total shame. I believe he can do better. I just hope he realizes he can as well.

He doesn’t enjoy roughing it. He doesn’t enjoy anything Rosa does. Everyone here is acting like if he doesn’t do this he would live in his mother’s basement forever. He had a plan, it was to get a PhD in Engineering. What’s so wrong about THAT plan?

How does he even know if he enjoys it or not? He’s never tried it! That was Quill’s point… “It’s time for you to find out…” I don’t think roughing it in the wilderness is all that dangerous, if done correctly and with the proper equipment/precautions. If it were something intuitively dangerous from the start (i.e. an “Evel Knievel” type of jump across the Snake River), then that’s different.

Now, I will grant that Rosa does not think these things completely through, and there might be a danger, in this case, if she doesn’t prepare for it correctly/completely. And she has demonstrated that failure previously (i.e. the Peru trip itself). And it sounds like she isn’t, this time either (i.e. “let’s jump on the supply van…” But I digress.

Point being,Gunther will never know what his limitations are if he doesn’t push himself close to them, in the name of staying in his present “comfort zone.” If that’s his choice, we have to respect that. But i still believe it would be a cryin’ shame if he did.

At some point, Gunther discovered that he not only liked sewing, but liked creating costumes for particular people (as opposed to sitting in front of a machine and just sewing an anonymous garment for an anonymous buyer.)-In order to find out that he liked sewing for particular people, he had to try it out.-If everyone just does what they know how to do and feel comfortable with, and never tries anything different, where does that leave us? It probably means we as a species will become extinct.-The most interesting thing about college, by the way, is that kids may start out with one idea of what they want to do, and try a class or two in a different subject and decide that’s what they really want. -Your example of Quill suggesting that Gunther let the locals stone him does not make as much sense as recognizing that someone may start college with one idea, and then go in a different direction. The same is true of this situation. We don’t know anything about the village Rosa (and maybe Gunther) will visit. -As long as you keep regarding someone who is idealistic as simply selfish, you will not win very many converts to your point of view…

" heard here in the original"-That is funny! Because of the unusual beat, I thought it was derived from a song.

Quill is the sort of guy who says things like that because it makes him feel like the coolest guy in the room! He has no actual idea of the context.

Quill is looking completely punchable today. So maybe that means Evans thinks Quill is right, alas!

Maybe Gunther and Rosa will get kidnapped by Sendero Luminso terrorists?

"How about:

“Men are from Mars, Gunther is from Weenus”? "

^LOL, Well, you can’t even say that … problem is mostly because Gunther doesn’t even know which planet is his home world, yet….– Probably why he’s stopping off at Mars, first….

Good one!!! – Now I can’t release my version of Jane’s Addiction"s “Mountain Song” for a take on Gunther’s trepidations… I had worked on the lyrics, and everything… – It was going to be included on the “Everything’s Shocking” concept album centering on him…

So getting stoned repeatedly by villagers will make him confident in all aspects of life?

Now, who’s speculating??? My view of the outcome is just as plausible as yours.

Gunther is old enough to make up his mind about things, not have everyone lead him around because they know what’s best for him.

He may be old enough, but does he have enough life experience to make his choices? Does he know all the choices has has available? Considering the very sheltered life he’s led (as opposed to Rosa), I’d argue he doesn’t. Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m going to force those choices on him. I’d only hope that he recognize that there are other choices to make, before he commits to something and then discovers he did have those other choices…. a bit too late to act on them.

Personally I think we’ve got a lot of “armchair quarterbacks” on this site that have a lot of fun judging people for what they should and shouldnt do, yet wont actively do those things themselves.

I trust you are counting yourself among them…. :)

I can easily make an argument that many things are more worthwhile than reading this strip everyday, yet people are still here reading it. You must read it because you enjoy it, right?

Absolutely! But the point is, at least I read it once, and liked it enough to keep reading it. There are a bunch of strips I don’t (or no longer) read because I don’t like them. But, at least, I tried reading them once. The problem comes when I refuse to read a strip because I’m afraid I won’t like it.

And, BTW, reading this strip isn’t the only thing I do. I do a ton of other things… things I never though I could do until i tried them. Things I thought were dangerous until I got the proper training for them and worked with friends more experienced than me. Have you ever SCUBA dived in an underwater cave? I used to think that was the craziest, most dangerous thing I could do (equivalent level as skydiving). But, after the right training and mentoring, and resolving my fears about it (ie. building confidence), I do it all the time!

Ever had a Carolina Reaper? Hottest pepper on Earth. You should eat one!

No, I shouldn’t. But not because I’m afraid of it, or because I’ve never tried peppers. I actually have tried certain peppers and, like Clint Eastwood, this man “knows his limitations!” My experience tells me that I have to stop when it comes to consuming something above a certain Scoville Unit threshold. You might be absolutely correct if I’d never tried peppers at all. BTW, I see that the Carolina Reaper has dethroned the Bhut Jolokia (Ghost Chili). FTR, I admit my threshold is pretty low (i.e not much above a Jalapeño). However, I can do some Thai Chilli’s (stronger than Jalapeños) when used as flavorings in some dishes.

Point being, no one here I think (certainly not myself) wants to force Gunther to be anything he doesn’t want to be. We only hope that he sees that he has other choices and the potential to be much more than he currently is. and do more things with his life and his talents… things that given his very sheltered childhood (almost “helicopter” in some ways), I believe he doesn’t realize he can do, unless/until he’s shown them.

Ha ha ha!!!!

No, it’s actually probably “serendipity”. I had decided to push it back for a week or so. So it’s good, since that way our albums can both get on the charts, spaced apart and “dual impact”…

again, ha ha ha ha!!!!

Sure hope Team Evans stays on this arc so we can see Gunther & Rosa (if they get tight, we can call them Runther or Gosa) en route to the village and then watch them set up camp!

Well we agree more or less. I will just have to begrudgingly accept Gunther being forced into becoming “a man”, and then turning around and thanking everyone for making it happen.

Sometimes, that’s the most effective tool for discovering what you’re capable of doing when you don’t know of what you’re capable… when you “have” to. The military uses that technique all the time at “boot camp.”. Well, in a sort of “controlled” environment, at least. :)

Again, I’m not advocating it in this case, but the tool is there.

and there’s a 3rd major source … King Features Syndicate ’Comics Kingdom" available thru many major newspaper sites. There are a few strips there that neither Arcamax nor GoComics host I believe.

Actually, King Features was the site that wanted me to pay/subscribe for their entire portfolio, when all I wanted was one particular strip (Beetle Bailey). Thankfully, some nice folks here directed me toward a local newspaper that carried it and let me access it for free. So I go to that local paper’s site and read it there.

G-man, if you go to Mars, please tell Curiousity “hello” from all of us Earthlings!

BS – Just read “The Ballad of Gunther”. Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! No, really, thanks for putting it together for us. Bet that’s the first song anyone’s written for the G-man. (Is he blushing?)

Or 3G… or “Prince Valliant”….

I still cannot imagine Luann ending up with Gunther. Basically, their plans for their lives have wide distances between them. Luann is just beginning to realize what work school is, while Gunther (who does Not belong in Peru) revels in it. They just do not have all that much in common. ;)

yep, I can see dilbert all the time in the main yahoo page

@IamJayBluE Pennsylvania really is one of the worst for connectivity – not even radio on the I-80 in some places!

The village itself doesn’t have to be modernised for cell reception (if its up, and not in a valley, anyway.) Other people tend to put up coverage regardless – like the ones driving the vans full of medical supplies. I’ve been amused at how far I can get into unsettled jungle and even rainforest with perfect mobile internet… (but not 4g, its true :p)

Also, other modernisation doesn’t correlate with mobile coverage. Again, in part because the people who put up towers don’t always match up with the people living nearby – I’ve been to villages where people didn’t understand cameras, but we had mobile internet and smartphones (but were asked to leave them put away whilst we were in their space.)

But also to some where they do use some of the coverage, even though mostly the other stuff they have isn’t modern meaning “first world.”

Success of groups like the Amish to block off larger areas have more to do with their size in an already poorly covered area -

- but it will be interesting to see what happens!

Going to Mars? That would be this: http://www.mars-one.com/

Except that he would not return to Earth, & Rosa would never see him again.