Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for February 21, 2018

Gee, this is going smoothly (not really).

♪♪ “Nah, Nah, Nah!” ♪♪

♪♪ “Nah, Nah, Nah!” ♪♪

♪♪ “Hey, Hey, Hey, Goodbyeeeeeeee!” ♪♪ – Steam

Ann My Lovely, I’m missing You already!

I send You a fruit basket when you get to Prison.

With a file in it…….,

It looks like Les is on Tiffany’s side, and she’s also recording. So maybe things are going according to her plan…

”Whoops! Apocalypse!” ✨

Ye Cats!

Tiff has got Ann on the ropes and it only a minute into round one!

But our young Heroine is doing okay so far! She’s already in a position to get her new friends their money back! Good Show!

And “Trademark Infringement!” Not bad! Looks like those “study buddy” sessions with Gunther paid off!

Now for next phase 2: “Sheraton” revealing her true Identity and getting Ann to stop seeing her Dad. No easy task.

I just gotta say I’m impressed with Tiff’s courage in going up against Ann Alone.

She’s gonna make some guy a wonderful mate someday!

Too bad it’ll probably end up being that hoodlum in panel three…..,

Now, what will Les do? Yes, he says, “Ohh, bribery” but in what sense? Ohhh, I will take it, or Ohhh, another illegal act which I’m not gonna be part of? For Tiffany’s sake – and his own – it’s the latter.

Ann gave in too quickly, I wonder if the real battle will come over Tiff’s dad.

Trademark infringement? Really? With that, the trademark owner has the right to sue the counterfeiter and the counterfeit seller. I am not sure where Tiffany is going to go with this.

Its clear now where Les’s loyalty lies, and that is the parental issue of alienation he has with his mom. This is a way of paying her back for all the years of hurt through her abandonment of him. Plus he likes Tiffany. Not necessarily romantically—that remains to be seen-but as a friend. As for Tiffany she is delivering the knockout punch, or is setting up for it. Trademark infringement! Impressive! Is that a tablet or a recorder, or a tablet that is recording in the last panel. Legally it is not really bribery, since Tiffany is not an officer of the law, but it speaks volumes of where this is going. I think Tiff will get Ann to leave daddy as well. Grifters run when they think they are in trouble, and Ann will once she realizes she is about to be in serious trouble.

Watch your phone!!!

Trademark Infringement? OK…

Feel – good night? Punch her lights out. You have gloves on.

bribery? since when is offering someone a refund a “bribe”…now Tiffany on the other hand is delicately threading on thin ice, well “extortion”, “blackmail” all come to mind, UNLESS of course she was a legal representative of “SOUFFLE”, and given her shopping history, she probably does own half the business….

With this little leap into the next stage of maturity that Tiffany seems to be making (who can analyze unspoken inner life motivations?), this particular episode gives me a supreme sense of cop drama. Let’s see Tiffany move on in life to the offices of Hawaii Five-O, huh? She’s always had the chutzpah.

Offering somebody their money back if they don’t like what they bought is not bribery. We’ll see how much help Les actually is.

So, if Tiffany’s dad marries Ann, and Gunther’s mom marries Ann’s brother, does that mean that if Gunther and Tiffany got together they’d all have to move to Mississippi?

Les has been watching the Gene Wilder Willy Wanna movie.

He’s telling mom, “Stop, don’t, come back.”

With a charge of “trademark infringement,” it sounds like something that is punished by a lawsuit, not jail. Methinks Ann doesn’t have a big stash of money yet, so where does that go. And adverse action by Tiffany may just result in Ann living on Mr. Farrell’s yacht, London, Paris, etc. That would serve Tiffany right. Tiffany wants her daddy to be a sugar daddy for her and no one else. But Tiffany is 19 or 20. So maybe it’s time for Mr. Farrell to have some fun without his daughter.

Apparently Ann thinks she can buy “Sheraton’s” silence with a refund. She doesn’t realize she’s dealing with a caped crusader who also happens to have a personal ax to grind.

Amazing how Anne has an answer for everything.(Oopsie!)

Tiff has poor Ann on the ropes! While the comeback queen Ann had rebuttal for everything that Tiff threw at her.Loving this!

So many possible good ending lines for Tiffany or for Les.

Tiffany: Well this turned out better than how I did at Weinnie World.

Whatever happens, Ann now has to tread carefully, she has been found out. So far, nothing has been brought into this regarding Mr. Farrell, and if Tiff is smart, she won’t bring that up. Remember, Ann knows Tiff as Sheraton St Louis, not Ann’s boyfriend’s daughter. Any way it goes, life is gonna get interesting. As for Les? I’m optimistic he will be helping Tiff. Just as long as he does not slip and call her Tiff in front of Ann.

After Dick Tracy wraps up the Mr. Bribery arc, Luann features Miss Bribery.

Go Tiffany!

Those who remember Luann’s Pooh Bear panties (and who could possibly forget them) will recognize Tiff’s strategy. Capture an incriminating (or embarrassing) video and use it to blackmail the target. It didn’t work with Luann and I fear it won’t work with Ann.

Well whaddya know, there is indeed a Souffle lingerie although it doesn’t sell and chemises. Just bras and panties.

Actually bribery is the act of offering compensation to prevent detection or avoid punishment. However Ann may have slipped by saying “ok” an in acknowledging that she knows her product is fake. On thing is for sure, Les is being entertained.

Good forTiffany!!!

So Tiffany is now Elle Woods? Guess daddy will send her to law school…

Ann will win when she has Tiff’s dad threaten to cut her off financially if Tiff pursues this.

We’ve just learned Tiff’s future career. Quite a woman, she is. She’ll make a wonderful partner for some lucky guy in the future.

Ann has an answer for nearly every contingency.  She’s been at this stuff for too long to ever be thwarted so quickly….or deterred so easily….  So, the question is, will Tiffany be as resillient,  as cunning,  and more tactically successful?

“Hush, Puppy!”

“A Bouquet For A Blushing Bribe”

“Surrey, With The Infringement On Top” (♬)

“The Policy Of Untruth” (♬)

“Everything Counts, In Large (Or Small) Amounts” (♬)

“Enjoy The Silence!” (♬)

“Hush Little Baby, Don’t Say A Word!  Mama’s Gonna Buy You Off, With A Herd!” (♪)

“Who? Wad? Where? When? And How!”

“Luka Stardreamer Battles Dark Vagrant”

“You Can Keep The Cash….Just Trade-mark!”

“What’s Your Deal?”

“Boat-loads, Against The Currency” 

“A Pirate Seeks The Bribery Coast”

or

“Terms Of Ensnarement”

Like it or not, TJ was, at one point, a “circumstantial antagonist”-  or at least a “charming deuteragonist”.   There are many similarities between TJ’s squaring off with Ann (TJ, to Ann:  “You can’t con a con!”), and Tiffany’s encounter.  But….will there be any differences?

“The maximum penalty for first-time offenders trafficking in counterfeit goods is 10 years in prison and a $2 million fine. For second-time offenders, the penalty is 20 years and a $5 million fine. In addition, if a corporation traffics in counterfeit goods, it can be subject to a fine of $15 million.”

http://consumer.findlaw.com/consumer-transactions/buying-counterfeit-goods-laws-and-resources.html

Les looks like he’s waiting for the cat fight to begin! “Let’s get ready to ruuuummmmble!”

Les looks like he’s waiting for the cat fight to begin! “Let’s get ready to ruuuummmmble!”

“The handshake seals the contract from the contact

There’s no turning back

The turning point of a career in Korea, being insincere

The holiday was fun packed

The contract still intact

◆

The grabbing hands

Grab all they can

All for themselves after all

◆

It’s a competitive world

Everything counts in large amounts

◆

The graph on the wall

Tells the story of it all

Picture it now

See just how the lies and deceit

Gained a little more power

Confidence taken in by a sun tan and a grin….."

(“Everything Counts”, by Depeche Mode")

What’s Ma Berger going to say when she finds out that her sister-in-law is going to jail? What a tangled web!

It looks like Tiffany is nailing Ann. Next she’ll find out her father was her partner getting the fake stuff.

It looks like Tiffany is nailing Ann. Next she’ll find out her father was her partner getting the fake stuff.

It looks like Tiffany is nailing Ann. Next she’ll find out her father was her partner getting the fake stuff.

Looks like Ann is on her way back to Japan for a refresher course – or would Bangladesh be her next destination?

Pretty clever, but not very smart…

5

I am surprised that Ann “confessed” so readily. I would have thought she had one or even several back-up plans for such a contingency. What does this now guide me to consider….

1) Is Ann actually panicking and is too flustered to think through a more careful response about her swindling?

2) This seems a VERY fast response here…. so is this swindling serving simply as a fast moving vehicle to get to the real “meat” of the story…. Tiffany and her Dad and Ann…. the relationships/lack of relationships between the three?

3) If this is really simply the way to get to the story about Tiffany/Dad/Ann…. how will the “swindling” aspect here be resolved? It seems that for the story arc about her Dad, Tiffany AND Ann would likely both remain present in Greg’s story to flesh out the details more easily.

You have got to be kidding—Eiffel is ignorant enough and credulous enough to believe Tiffany’s name is actually Sheraton?

I don’t think there would be litigation. All Tiffany wanted to do was recover her friends’ wasted money.

I don’t suppose I’m the first to think Tiffany’s hair looks like a helmet.

Is Tiff recording this? Is Les? Video evidence is much better than word-of-mouth.

I guess that Tiff is now going to contact the actual manufacturer and get them to take legal action. Or is she going to take legal action herself? The simple act of having a recording isn’t enough without legal action to prove Ann is a fake. The recording would have to be very detailed. Ann would have to be identified as well as declaring that she is selling actual “whatever brand” clothing. There are millions of fake bags and watches at hundreds of flea markets.

I don’t see how any of this will make Tiffany’s dad leave Ann. That is TIff’s main goal. She also wanted to get her friend’s monies refunded but those purchases were at least 2 weeks ago. I don’t know of any place that will take back underwear.

It is also a federal crime – and felony – to sell counterfeit goods. Nor will it help Annie to claim that she did not know they were fake. The law is clear on that point. There was never any risk for Tiffany in exposing her. And I do think that Tiff’s dad would be a major idiot to keep dating Eiffel.

Surprise career for Tiffany? Undercover Cop.

Why would Ann have so much cash on hand? Most women do not pay for a $200 purchase with cash. They would use a credit card.

Glad for the faster exposition. (Last year Valentine’s Day was spread out over a month!)There are other witnesses besides Tiffany. We know of 3 and Les witnessed the scam and held the “registration sheet.” Pru is evidence of Ann’s lack of character, because of the lies she bought. I think Ann’s in a little deeper than expected.Of course, I expect more twists and turns.

Some possible complications:

1) Since the sales are at The Fuse, she could try implicating them.2) She could claim that Tiffany’s dad knows about it or provided financial backing for it.3) She could implicate her son in it.

Good lord, is that all the denial Ann is going to give?!?

“You’re a scammer!”

“Am not!”“Are too!”“Oh, well so what if I am?”

Seriously, if that’s all the fight she’s willing to put up, why bother scamming in the first place?

It’s bribery if she didn’t buy anything.

I don’t see Tiffany’s end game here. Unless there’s an officer hiding somewhere collecting evidence. Just jumping out and yelling “gotcha” won’t do the trick.

“Look, hon” and “Now, scram” are both terms to diminish Tiffany’s credibility, treat her like a child, swat her like a bug. But the child is about to kick her in the shins and the bug is about to bite her on the butt. Daddy, who looks like George Hamilton, will come to his daughter’s defense, and all will be happy.

Tiffany you little sweet thing your good hope you don’t get hurt over this

Leslie Knox, son of Ann Eiffel, seems to be enjoying watching Sheraton St. Louis, the undercover Tiffster, take down Mommie Dearest almost as much as I do!

Scamming, trademark infringement, bribery, and terminal snootiness!

Since the subject of money has been broached, how will Ann react to Tiff’s demand for more to cover her friends’ purchases? Resistance, or throwing it at her? LOL

Yeah, this is headed for blackmail to get her out of town

The laws may have changed. I do not think that they have, so; US Customs Service should/could look at this as a case of possession of counterfeit and forged goods. Found guilty of such, 5-10 years in Federal custody on EACH count of an indictment [yep that means each individual piece of phony lingerie, folks] and if Ann Eiffel is not actually a US citizen deportation following the time duration of her sentence. Several nations are known to participate in the knock off scam, most of them in Asian countries but some in Africa and South America. Phony Eagles memorabilia from ‘game worn’ jerseys to autographed footballs have started to show up at local flea markets and discount sporting goods stores, ever since the team won the Superbowl. So it is not just women’s fashion, it is a huge money making scam that we the public participate in everytime we get an ‘unbelievable bargain’ on an alleged brand name item.

Trademark infringement? An unpaid parking ticket is more of a crime than that! You can’t even get arrested for trademark infringement.

My guess is that Tiffany is recording everything so that she can drag in the police as well as have video evidence for her dad, so she can break up that relationship. Unless her dad already knows and doesn’t care. :P

When in doubt, try the Al Capone route: Income Tax evasion.

Dang that’s a lotta comments!I figured she do this in front of all the ladies, prevent them from spending all their money!

Dang that’s a lotta comments!I figured she do this in front of all the ladies, prevent them from spending all their money!