Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for December 22, 2015

I wouldn’t trust that woman at all. Why does Luann let Pru boss her around? She doesn’t have to listen to her.

Hmmm…

isn’t it something, when you go on vacation, but then need a vacation from your vacation? – There’s a stiff draft at the back door of Luann’s mind-If only she could close the door….

It looks like Berniece has been reading that girl well all along.

Luann somewhat begs to differ, Dad, and Mom agrees with her daughter.

Yikes… Pru definitely seems suspicious… can’t wait to see what happens next.

“Stressed Side Story”“What, Me Worry?”“Looking For The Strings”“Auld Lang-xiety"“Defeating The Purpose”“One’s Sighs Fits All”“Recuse, An Excess Excuse”“The Evidence Of Circumstance”“Convenient For One Of Us”“Cleaning Up Is Dirty Pool”“If The Shoo Fits”or“Easy Come, Uneasy Go”

ruh-roh

Luann needs a backbone.

Yes, please do get plenty of rest before you start your looong time off from this fledgling business you started.

Luann knows what’s coming, and it’s not going to be good.

I’m 51, I’m still waiting for my parents to take me to Disneyland.

Luann can’t just say, I’m Quill’s girlfriend and I’m staying to help? And Dad needs to go to Pep Boys and buy a new antenna…

Will Quill nobly rebuff Pru (ala Tiffany)? Will Quill realize he wants someone who has more in common and is more independent than Luann? Will Pru and Quill be prepping something for Quill and Luann?

Quill has nothing to say…

Hey!Better now, than later.

I wish Greg didn’t write Frank as such a da**ed idiot. But oh well, he’s consistent about it.

Luann, if you love something, let it go. If it comes back to you, it’s yours. If it doesn’t, hunt it down and kill it.

This is getting tedious. Hopefully it’s just filler to get the story to a happy Christmas scene, and then move on to a new story arc.

Yeees, because Quill – being her BOYFRIEND – certainly isn´t family … Prudence is an issue that needs attending.

She got eyes like some internet meem troll …

Y’know, between Mr. Gray stepping in and taking over, and Pru so politely pushing LuAnn away to monopolize any Quill time. I wonder if The Fuse is going to end up costing the Degroot family more than just money.

“What does Quill have to say about this? I would think if he wanted Luann there, he would let it be known.”^I would think that now is the time (1st and 2nd panels) for Quill to have spoken, as soon as Luann suggested she could stay… and it seems that he has allowed that time to pass…

Frank may not have a clue, but Nancy does. Her expressions indicate that she senses Luann’s feelings of dejection and rejection.I’m am not yet convinced that Pru is being predatory, but I guess we’ll learn more as the week progresses….

It may not even matter (the factor of the ambiguity) at all. It’s probably just in reading the script in her speech balloon itself , that may prompt some to react to her words as if they’re ones of “bossiness”…

“Shoo DeGroot, Don;t bother me!”“For Quilly belongs to little ’ol me!”__________________________________

Pru FEELS! Pru FEELS! Pru FEELS Like a MOANING STAR!!!

First of all, Pru needs to leave the DeGroot home. I would be damned if I am going to let you live with me if I suspect you are after my boy/ girl. Next, it is time for a hard talk with Quill to find out where things stand. I got a feeling the mom is going to step in.

Hee, HEEEEEEEE!! FORGET “Please” and “Thank You.”TODAY’S Magic Words are “Scoot” and “Shoo!!”

Warm up the Airliner!! Old Pretty Boy is about to make a SUDDEN and Hopefully PERMANET “Departure.”

Lu LETS Pru push her around.Grow a pair Lu and assert your claim to Quill.

Yes, but Prudence doesn’t work for Luann, so practically any of Luann’s “argument to stay” would only get either trumped or derailed. - Also, perhaps Frank and Nancy figure that the “theater experts” would be good at squaring things away, and agrees with Prudence that since she and Quill are without family there, that those two can “make the sacrifice” to stay late and work (in reference to Nancy’s tiredness in yesterday’s strip), and probably takes Prudence’s offer at face value…

“…,but for some reason Luann refuses to put up a fight at any stage of this.”_____________________________________

Heh. Mr. Gray pushes the DeGroots around. T.J. pushes the DeGroots around. WELCOME to the Vast Luanniverse where EVERYBODY named DeGroot is a TOOL for EVERYBODY Else….,

That and perhaps also the “insistent gesture” (figuratively speaking) in the middle panel that people may interpret as “bossy”….

Does Luann look stress free?

technically pru is a VOLUNTEER for her parents as we’ve seen no real compensation… and since she’s giving her services, that puts the parents in a bind…

But honestly I don’t think Mr. Evans is going to do something bad to the Luann + Quill coupling right before the holidays, most likely she’ll probably talk about how great a couple Quill and Luann are…

First time I think I’ve seen ‘DeGroot’ use in a rhyme. I assumed it was pronounced as an English name. But I see it and want to pronounce it in Dutch- (deHHHrote)-—‘DeGroot’ was used in WWII as a code, by Dutch people in the work camps when writing home. The Nazis read all mail, and the Dutch knew that Germans would not recognize what they were doing if they signed a letter ‘Ellen DeGroot.’ Broken up differently, it read ‘ellende groot,’ which meant ‘great misery.’

Pru needs to shoo, so Lu won’t have to stew. And Frank needs a clue.

I’m really hoping that this is because Pru and Quill are plotting to find the perfect Christmas present for Luann and want her out of the way for that reason.

Say good bye to tha guy…..talks funny

Pru’s exactly the type of person I don’t care for. A firm, “I’m staying” would have taken care of it for Luann.

You’re ALL wrong. You’ll see.

And just how is she going to fight this if Quill is not interested enough?

Actually Sue…. Pru is not an employee… she is a volunteer. And, actually Luann is not an “owner” of the Fuse… her parents are. But, I do get your meaning.

7While a lot of people are saying Pru is “bossy” and definitely out to get “her hands on Quilly”…. the actual work and effort we have seen from Pru does not show either action with any certainty.What we can say thus far is that Pru has been kind and considerate to the DeGroots on numerous levels… including trying to let Luann have some family time with her parents, not to mention giving the DeGroots a “show” and a lot of Pru’s own time. And what can we say thus far about Luann? Well, she is behaving in a way that models one of the great female comedians…. Lucille Ball. Luann is feeling all out of sorts because she thinks Pru is “out to get her man!” So, what is Greg going to do?!? Will he take this story and make it more comedic and slap-stick? Will he make it go high drama? Will he ride the line in-between and stay ambiguous? In my opinion…. I would prefer and hope that Greg either goes “comedic” route or he goes the “drama” route. Both paths could be enormously interesting and great to read and watch. I am also hoping he does NOT perpetually stay with the ambiguous route. A little ambiguity (vacillations) in the story are fine… but I hope the story does not stay stuck in ambiguity for months. *******************On a slightly different note…. I have said this before, but I will state it again…. if this were the “real world” I would (if I were Frank, and actually had a clue as to what my daughter were thinking) tell Luann that no boyfriend… hell, no person…. is worth being with if you cannot trust them. If Quill is or became a two-timing philanderer with Pru (presuming she had the intentions to steal him away)…. I would say to Luann…. “Good Riddance!” and “If he is not trustworthy, he is not worth your time. You [Luann] are far better than that.”

Haha! Now, with all I stated above…. I also have to state…. I hope Quilly is a two-timing philanderer and I hope that Pru does try to “steal” him away! I would be happy to have Quill exit…. stage Left!I think Luann could have a much more interesting boyfriend. But, again, that is just my opinion.

Whatever Pru’s designs are, shame on Quill who by now knows how sensitive Luann is and what an effort she’s making to try to stay cool… rather than supporting Luann and showing affection to her in front of Pru, which it should be obvious to him that thats what Luann clearly needs right now, he’s not only oblivious to her feelings but seems conspired against her along with Pru. Not a worthy BF at all and Luann should dump him

Frank should have stayed to clean up, or at least to see how the clean-up was progressing, since it’s his business, and furthermore he really hasn’t done any work to be “tired” from. Of course, if he were at all interested in the actual business, then this performance would be followed by another one tomorrow, and the day after that, every day through the holiday season, instead of closing down until New Year. But of course the strip is meant to have no real resemblance to the actual world we live in, so carry on…

That’s quite right. It’s about the story, not life by real people. That’s what story is about. But it does tell us about ourselves.

Either You trust Your man or you don’t.

I gather from the 1st panel that Pru is staying in Pitt until after new years. Is she going to prepare a “Times Square” for New Year’s Eve? And what about The Fuse’s Christmas party?

Quill have anything to say about it?

Quill and Pru will be sweeping together. Poor Luann, left out of the fun.

Yeah; I don’t get that at all.

Luann sure looks sick in the back seat, sort of like something unsettling is occurring in her life and relationship with Quill, but she can’t control it, and it involves someone who has come in and taken over so much of her comfort zone. It may not be as bad as it looks, both for her, and for those of us who want her to be happy within the strip story, but part of the genius of the strip is we just don’t know yet. I opt for optimistic, but her love life has not been all that successful up to now. So I do have some shivery reservations

Cleaning up NOW?New Year’s is ten days away.Does something Pru in Stinkville?

No one ever needs to “fight for a man”, or a woman. Quill is capable of deciding who he wants to be with. If he wants to be with Luann, there is nothing Pru can do to change that.

Don’t trust and don’t like Pru. Luann needs to fight for her man!

So this Quill guy is supposed to be Luann’s boyfriend? He’s just a casual acquaintance who took her out on Halloween. Other than that, he’s barely spoken to her in months. And even then, only as a casual friend.I think this girlfriend/boyfriend thing between Luann and Quill is all in her head.(/snark)

I don’t think Quill heard any of this conversation. He may be in another part of the building and have no idea what Pru is doing. We don’t even know that it was Quill who called her that night at the DeGroots. Pru could have been pretending it was Quill to annoy Luann.

Pru takes what she wants and leaves a trail of wreakage. Qu will not last long as part of her life.

Pru should have INSISTED!

Meh!

Maybe the start of 2016 should be the start of a new, no-Quill, phase in Luann’s life. Move on, Lu. There are thousands of guys at Pitt CC, so why not meet some of them? You are likely to find a better match than Quill was. Luann’s problem is that ever since she was in junior high she has been totally obsessed with the notion of having a boyfriend, and less concerned with who it actually is. Stop being clingy and look around you, Luann. There is no need to feel you are destined to go through the rest of your life with a guy on whom you developed a crush in the tenth grade!

Why did she leave? Prudence isn’t her boss!

This comment area desperately needs a villain character again. I nominate BuckarooDave3 – he’s the orneriest hombre this side of Kilimanjaro.

She shouldn’t be such a wimp!

All right, where the heck is Quill in all this? If anyone talked to MY girlfriend like that, I’d read her a few selections from the Riot Act.Unless Luann is NOT Quill’s GF any more…

I am probably wrong here. However, it could be that Pru is getting rid of the DeGroots so she and Quill can work on a special Christmas gift for Luann.It just feels as though team Evans is deliberately misdirecting us.

Either she’s up to no good, or she’s helping Quill with a surprise Christmas present for Luann.

!I rarely LOL at anything on the internet, but I did this time.

Luann, you gotta speak up for yourself! Be more assertive, or you’ll be pushed aside the rest of your life!

That will be twice that she’s Only A Maid of Honor, Never a Bride… (she’s supposed to be Toni’s MOH, too…)

Dad’s oblivious.

You are right in that would be a true gift for Luann.

Haha! Very true! Which of you is Luann and which is Tiffany?

But the problem w/ scenario 1 is that Quill is a student at Mooney, likely to stay there until he graduates. Moreover, he has (it seems) committed himself to the FUSE and therefore to working w/ the DeGroots. How awkward it would be if he broke things off with their daughter in the process. It would make for strained relations going forward.

I wonder if Knute’s camera will be a “double device” and catch a moment, in the background, between Pru and Quill..

Prudence isn’t attracted to males.That’s why she’s doing favors for Luann, to win her heart..It’s really quite sweet.(And, yes, I’m making up unsubstantiated details. Why should only neganthropes be allowed to do it?)

Nancy ‘sees’ everything. Frank is totally oblivious. Hopefully in the next few days we will find out what Quill is really made of. If he is as sleazy and superficial as Pru is made out to be then perhaps he should be sent packing…

This is also interesting because Luann’s initial impression of Pru was of how likeable she was. Now ‘likeable’ Pru seems to be pushing everyone around.

@TheAirman

" . . . my Sunday comments and crossed that bridge. Many are labeled troll for their comments, but this is the forum for various opinions. I’m willing to take the heat, stand by my convictions, explain my position, respect others’ opinions, and enjoy a lively debate without attacking those who disagree with me. It’s only a cartoon, but for some reason, it inspires a lot of insightful and interest".

People are interested because the responses tell the basic attitude of the writer.For example, your basic attitude expressed Sunday is that children should be thrown away if they need adult attention in a manner which restricts the adult in any manner..Folks respond to this idea as they would to most forms of child sacrifice.(We’re spoiled that way.)

This isn’t prudent.

(Nancy’s noticing:) Yes, and this too…

Apparently Dad has an enlarged stupid gland too.(Check Luann Again)

Or maybe Dad is relieved that Lu and Q aren’t alone in The Fuse, “cleaning up”? (Think: Prop Room).

Implausible, I deleted my last two comments because, as I said, that bridge has been crossed. You are right….it was meant to be a warning. I do not advocate “throw away” kids, but marriage is tough enough in the first 5 years, and Toni and Brad, with no legal right to Shannon better be aware of the problems that could result. They both work, who will watch the girl? If she has a medical problem, do they have medical power of attorney? Can they sign permission slips at school? Is she covered by any kind of insurance? Are they going to be baby sitters, or legal guardians? Will they have any privacy? Will Brad ever say, “She’s YOUR relative, not mine?” Will I ever comment on this again? I hope not.

SPOILER ALERT

And panic finally sets in…

-So I guess I’m Tiffany

So does this mean you’re actually a good looking blonde woman?

- He thinks he knows exactly what is going on in Tiffany’s head.

There are two posters at ArcaMax who think they know exactly what’s going on in Luann’s head. They seem to think that she’s all about being possessive of Quill, rather than trying her best not to let him know that she’s afraid she’s lost him…

No way in H a real life Luann would go home.

“That’s pretty harsh…I took it as a warning, make sure you’re just as invested in the kids as the person you want to be with, else things will go badly. It’s a good warning, because the kids will always be #1.”.You can take it that way, but it is unreasonable to convert “Lose the kid,” to, “Be sure you care enough for the kid to make her Number 1 in your lives.”.If my response to the idea of throwing children away in the interest of marital bliss seems harsh, we all have our priorities and mine aren’t yours or Airman’s. I can live with that.