Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for October 11, 2017

That makes finding a Mother’s Day card a bit of a challenge.

Make up your mind, Les. Did she leave you in foster care or pawn you off on your Uncle Al? Or maybe I don’t understand exactly what you mean by the phrase “pawned me off”.

Hey we have a duel winner.

Ox is helping to close.

Les is revealing his feelings.

Les is definitely about to expose Ann. This buildup is too much to think otherwise.

Good to see Ox again.

Ox & Ann might make a good couple…

Officer Knox and Ann must’ve had some riffs together.

What I want to know is how Les wound up having a judge order him to make payments to the mother who abandoned him.

Wow. Drapes now magically appear. And round tables where NOBODY is going to look at somebody wearing lingerie.

Lotza clues today.

Like someone else said here yesterday, Less maybe turning on Annw Awful. Incredible but possible. All thanx to Nancy’s sweet comment. Wow.

Well we are finding out a lot about Les’ back story. Similar to how we found out several years back about Toni’s and Jonah’s (although Toni is a sympathetic figure, while Jonah still has not grown up, and depends on his sister, to whom he "pawns’ Shannon off too), but what is interesting is his dad got killed, how? What was the family set-up with the much older brother, Mr. Grey, and how did they all end up in Pittsville? And finally, Japan? I remember that happening as part of her misadventures before, but was that when Les first appeared at the high school, or before? Tons of mystery.

Does anyone think Tiff will bring Gunth over to the party? Or is that wishful thinking on my part?

Les used to resent Ox, since Ox restrained him from some bullying in high school. But now, it seems that Les is pretty much accepting of Ox.

Les: “She abandoned Me at age Six after My Dad was Killed. Left Me in Foster Care.”

A) Maybe Ann had a Nervous Breakdown and was Unable to care for You. Therefore She Had No Choice.

Les: “Moved to Japan, Pawned Me off on Uncle Al.”

B) Ann’s move to Japan was Involuntary. Perhaps She thought it was best that You stayed in the USA, with a Close Relative. That Why She Took You OUT of Foster Care and left You with Her Brother.

Les: “She’s so Cool, She’s Cold.”

C) Kinda Like YOU, Huh?

I would be a bit bitter too

Oh, cry me a river, Les. Just reinforcing, “My life was so unfair, I get to cheat and steal from everyone else because I deserve it.”

That said.

Yes, this is a story and not RL and I do believe folks are correct the strip will do some sort of Les redemption (if not this arc then eventually). But an IRL Les …. no way.

♫ In a mauve room with yellow curtains near the police station… ♪

Finally have Les’s story. However, it doesn’t excuse what he did. He has much to do to atone himself. Will he start by exposing Ann for who she really is? I’m not stature because children are like dogs, always going back to their masters after being beaten.

Les’ mom is so cool that she makes absolute zero feel like a heatwave.

[The Evening’s Self Righteous Rant…] A thing that always intrigues me in my mundane encounters with other people… and which I see here every day… It’s when someone who has demonstrated the ability to grasp subtleties, to think creatively, to analyze with great discernment… when such a someone just goes of the deep end and exaggerates, distorts, swallows nonsense whole and regurgitates it in a fermented state… that I’m always surprised. I ought to be used to it by now, but it is dismaying every time I witness it. Makes me wanna say, “Snap out of it! We both know you’re smarter than that!” Think I’m thinking about you? Maybe. But it’s of no significance if I’m wrong… and worth thinking about if I might be right. [Steps off soap box.]

None of this story makes any sense. Ann Eyefull is a professional store manager (book store, Wienieworld). An experienced manager can always find work somewhere. But now she appears to have become a scam artist, running some kind of floating craps game. There may or may not be more money in it but having to move the game every day or two and finding chumps to host it is a lot of work and places you in danger from the law. So why go there went she can find work elsewhere.

As for Leslie his backstory has so much misery that it’s unbelievable. He’s not just fatherless, but abandoned to foster care, apparently reclaimed before being abandoned again when she moved to Japan, pawned off to an uncle who has no emotional interest in him and somehow being required to pay his mother restitution for some unknown crime. Les was just a bully when he first appeared. You don’t need any of that to become a bully. Besides, if Les were in foster care why would Ann have to pawn him off to anyone else. Les is also being cared for? Where did the story that Les owed his mother money come from. And if Ann was going to dump Les at an early age why didn’t she just go straight to her brother, the mysterious Mr. Grey? It’s like no one was thinking this through when they came up with Leslie’s backstory. It just makes no sense.

Here’s a weird/crazy thought… With Les reacting so positively to Nancy’s compliments, I wonder, should Les expose Ann and protect the Fuse/K2, would Les then consider Nancy his new “mother figure” and, in essence, allow Nancy to “adopt” him?

She did him like Will Smith’s dad on “Fresh Prince”

I offer a guess that the ‘lingerie party’ might be ticketed to guys only. Strip club? Interesting story line potential.

Ice cold

While Gunther hasn’t been mentioned this week, I make a generalization from comments in the past, that there appears to be a divide between those who want Gunther to be Tiffany ‘s hero, and Les to be Tiffany ’s hero. What is disturbing to me right now is that Greg is making it a little too easy to like Les this week. // Part of the “lens” that I am seeing through is that Les is “good looking” (comparatively, at least) while Gunther is not – though Gunther has been gloomy while Les has been cruel that I have seen – and criminal, as suggested by those who have followed this comic more than I. // Where I’m going with this: It is my opinion that Greg is making it too easy for us to want to like Les.

Sale- half off on last season’s fractions.

the drapery could be a temporary addition to suit the supposed event.

FYI, for those who use the handy “widgets” a GoComics member wrote to expand and index the comments:

The comment tree expanding widget HAS BEEN UPDATED and works great!!! Saves a LOT of time! You can access the new updated version here: http://worldofdt.info/gchelp.html

No wonder Les has anger issues.

Technical Note: I really like how the ‘greg 10-11’ matches the perspective of the wall (at least as shown by the window – also drawn in perspective). Very nice.

So … Ann E. is not just “so cool, she’s cold.” So, does that mean she’s like Killer Frost??!!

(Les:) “All in all, it’s just another brick I want to pick up and hurl….” (♪)

-

If this were happening in the height of the fake talk shows, you could almost hear Jerry or Maury salivating…

“You’re As Cold As Ice” (♪)

“One And One Make Sub-Zero”

“Your Aunt Artie Called!”

“Love In The Ice Age” (♬)

“Jumpin’ Jack Frost” (♬)

“She’s A Killer Queen..” (♪)

“Why I Don’t Sing The Blues” (♬)

“Got To Make The Worst Of A Bad Situation” (♬)

“Pretty Ugly"

“Simply Complicated”

“Flash In Ja-pan”

“You Can Go Your Own Way…” (♪)

“Runaway Child, Running Wild” (♬)

“Shadows In The Land Of The Rising Sun”

or

“Can You Be Less Pacific, Please?”

8

I am intrigued that we have been able to learn considerably more about Les’ backstory today. It really helps us to understand more how Les has become who he is currently in the comic.

Several today have mentioned an apparent “incongruity” in that Les was in foster care and also “pawned off” to his Uncle. I am of the camp that does not see this as an incongruity. I think it is very possible that initially Les may have been placed into foster care. Through some hard work, or through some “pretend” work, or through happenstance Ann was able to take back custody of Les, and then at some later date, she was able to get Uncle Al to become Les’ caregiver whether again by a) legitimate means or b) manipulative means.

I can understand Les’ resentment of his mother. For a young kid, especially one who may not know all the intimate details of the various places he has been…. his own “story” about what happened will almost assuredly involve at least some resentment. Now, that Les is a young adult, it will be interesting to see how he proceeds…. will he a) summon up all the fortitude he can muster and strive to take the road of doing right and good things, or b) will he foster his resentment and use it as justification to become even more nefarious as he further proceeds into adulthood?

Very interesting.

Interesting (to me anyhow) thought… is Les being able to sound a) legitimate in his “cool she’s cold” comment, or b) sarcastic in his “cool she’s cold” comment?

Of course, we the READERS all know Les means it sarcastically, but what way is Les saying it to Ox? To me it is interesting because then I wonder if Ox’s “Awsome!” is a) an appropriate response, or b) incorrect because he does not perceive the sarcasm.

Maybe he’s setting mom up for a police sting and “raid.” Nevertheless, it won’t look good for the Fuse and DeGroots.

Once again, Leslie spoke truth.

That family brought the Fuse into this world, they can take it out.

Will Nancy and Anne fight over who should be the “mother figure” to Les? Stay Tooned !

closing the drapes and putting chairs around tables; hard to imagine that as a set up for a lingerie party (which I would assume is the underwear version of a Tupperware party). Les looks like her has done this before and thus knows what’s going on. Somehow I just don’t think he’s going to cover for his mom anymore.

So, Les has mommy abandonment issues and Tiffany has daddy "abandonment for new girlfriend issues. Hmmm….sounds like an new arc pattern to me!

Ox is not on but hopefully he will soon.

Oxford (who may be a little innocent but is certainly not stupid) adds his contribution to the Positive Reinforcement of Leslie Knox, son and willy-nilly accomplice of Ann Eiffel. Leslie is fatherless, and does not, in the conventional, demonstrative sense, love his cold, distant, and manipulative mother, either. In some ways, his situation mirrors that of Tiffany Farrell (which I suppose is why these two particular storylines are being interwoven)….

At least we’re starting to understand how Les became the school bully. He is starting to mature… one little bit at a time. And Luann’s parents may be just the kind of parental figures he’s been needing all along.

Not to say that Mr. Gray hasn’t been doing what he can. He’s had to deal with having Ann Eifel as a sister long before having to look after Les.

Ox might be wanting to turn Anne into Stiffler’s mom.

Les gets reformed but he goes away for two years.

Marines.

Winds up on Special Unit for combating illegal gambling.

I wish Greg would block comments on his strip. I rarely read the comments on Luann because so many people say really harsh things from their tower of sanctimony. I cringe while reading nearly every comment I read on this strip because commenters are judgmental, make snap decisions on just a little bit of information, are fickle, and seem to hate nearly everyone in the strip. They seem to want everyone to fail and sink into their worst behavior and are almost disappointed when that doesn’t happen.

Well, to be fair, she moved to Japan because her bosses sent her there.