Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for October 09, 2018

too late… seems like her dinner dates with Gunther and dessert date with Leslie are BOTH over

He should just join a monastery now and get it over with.

Oh Dear..he just let it slip, let’s see if she gets it past her initial indignation

Damage: Done. ✨

@TEMPLO S.U.D.: I don’t think the ‘date’ with Les is over. It might be starting earlier than expected, though…

I know Gunthers, I’ve been a Gunther. Some Gunthers get better (I did), some Gunthers go to the dark side

Well…oops indeed

As someone else just pointed out today, Gunther in his own crude way, just kinda indicated to Tiffany that he has feelings for her.

The bad part IS, Tiffany just confirmed that she considered Le$ a good friend. One on equal footing if not pulling ahead of Gunther in the “friendship” department.

Tiffany has forgotten what Le$ did to her in high school. As she has forgotten that Gunther agreed to be her study buddy and he was first to help her when she was down and out last year.

Yeah sure, sure. She doesn’t “owe” Gunther anything for all that. But you would think that Tiffany would cut him a little slack here, and let the poor guy down gently, and not be Judgemental. Considering Gunther once went waaaaaay out of his way to HELP Her when she was depressed and hurting, when he should have told her to jump into a nearby lake.

Tiff’s not happy with what’s happening here & she’s waiting for you to man up! You will remain her “friend since 3rd grade” forevermore if you don’t act now! Speak now or forever be mocked by “the dessert!” You got first shot, don’t waste it!

You won’t have a “second chance to make a first impression.”

well Gunther your mouth is doing that for you.

We see the result of dumping Irma’s furniture. A nice romantic evening, dining in beanbag chairs, balancing your plate in your lap. But isn’t that a nice rug (see lower corner of first panel)?

Gunther: “Pathetic Loser level – Expert”

Don’t ya just hate it when you’re trying to be noble and it gets you in trouble?

Now is when you apologize, Gunther.

He swings….and he misses.

Go ahead, Gunthie, tell her what you want to be. It would’ve been better to do that before wrecking the evening. If she shoves off leaving Les in dry dock, he’s gonna wreck your head. Two wrecks in one night. All in a night’s work, eh, Gunth?

In respect to Judy Garland’s “A Star Is Born”, Tiffany will be the girl that got away (paraphrased). It will haunt Gunther forever, the dweeb. Too bad, so sad.

Like mother, like son!

Gunther’s social inadequacies with women have always been a stumbling block for him. But now, instead of stumbling, the poor boy just fell flat on his face.

It’s my impression that Gunther’s recent campaign against Les was not really to protect Tiffany. It’s all about Gunther’s struggle to establish social adequacy and his fear of being bested by Les. On the way to Irma’s dinner party, Gunther instructed Tiff to ignore Les (an incredibly self centered request asking his date to be rude). In today’s arc,Tiff the part time bimbo did get the last word in: “Oops!” Bingo. I have no idea how this is going to sort out.

It just occurred to me, how else could the dinner have been but buffet style? They have a kitchen table and two bean bag chairs …

How does that foot in your mouth taste Gunther.

I wish both of them would let Tiffany make up her own mind

This sounds a lot like his objections to his mother’s having a love life.

YEEEES! DRAMA!!! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!!!!!!!!!!

He has certainly gunted her, whatever gunt means.

Gunther is anal-retentive, and he has romantic feelings for Tiffany; that is clear now, but she looks at him as a friend. Les is egotistical, but Tiffany looks at him as a friend as well, and does not consider him dangerous. Gunther wants her to feel that way, but that is aided and abetted by jealousy. The deal is she likes both of them, but is not romantic for either of them. She also does not like to have her mind made up for her about how she feels or should feel about either. What will happen remains to be seen, but as I have always seen this as friend triangle, not a romantic one.

Who cares?

Gunther was doing better 5 years ago than he is now.

https://www.gocomics.com/luann/2013/12/31

Gunther is an idiot. He can’t come close to affording Tiffany anyway.

Bottom line is neither of them get the girl. Nor do they deserve to…

At this point Gunther needs a good old fashioned “FROM MISSISSIPPI” slap;STEP 1!!!!!!: when standing across from intended target, in this case Gunther, silently choose left or right hand.STEP 2!!! Open chosen hand, drop hand down to side, draw hand back approximately 1 -2 feet behind bodySTEP 3!!!!!!! As you begin the slap, step forward with opposite foot, adding force and momentum to swing.STEP 4! Complete action by making contact with target. When done correctly the slap WILL send target spinning and possibly upon their gluteus maximus nee buttocks and creting a reaction from onlookers, provoking someone to shout:"DAMN!!! THEY CAME ALL THE UP FROM MISSISSIPPI WITH THAT SLAP!!! That’s good medicine for Gunther right about now…sidenote if already located in the state of Mississippi then said action will orinate from New Orleans or even the Gulf…..good day.

Les wants to be more?

Tiff is interested in getting her muffin buttered, and she knows it’s not going to be Gunthie doing it. Gunthie has just been friendzoned for life.

Helmet-Head demonstrated tact by not rebuking Gunther for his earlier rudeness.

Love her “well,oops” response.

Gunther is fixed in Evan’s mind. He must suffer “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.” How many female characters have dissed Gunther.

It would seem that Gunther is Greg’s Holden Caulfield. Without the hat.

Tiffany killed the messenger. Gunther thinks like an engineer. He thinks you say A and get B response. However he just got the F response.

Well, we all know that “It ain’t over ’til The Fat Lady has dessert.”

2

This is just going from bad to worse. It was unthinking and unkind for Tiffany to schedule the times like she did. And it is obnoxious that Gunther is acting “judgie” and “snarly”. And, it is expected but still frustrating that Les is acting like “playa”.

I am of the mind that Tiffany should walk away from both Gunther and Les for a while. Both are obnoxious.

However, what I fear may be in store is a horrendously cliche “rom-com” style big blow-out argument that ends with both Tiffany and Gunther trading verbal jabs at each other until some unexpected “thing” happens in the argument… and the two of them suddenly kiss and embrace and passions of another sort ensue.

I hope this sort of “romantic comedy” old trope IS NOT what happens… but I am sort of getting that kind of indication here.

I’m glad this is a comic strip… reality is not that clean.

Sorry Gunth, but the evening turned bad when Tiff made two dates (or whatever you want to call them) with two guys in the same house on the same night.

Really Gunther. She put you on hold to make a date with Les. She’s only allowing you two hours of her time. That alone should let you know where your stand.

Get away fast, Gunther. I don’t know where you could go, but GO! You are WAAAAAYYY too easily manipulated and influenced by sleazebag Les. Oh, and take all of you possessions with you, which is pretty much everything in the house, including the beanbags and the area rug! ;)

If Tiff wants to get back at daddy by taking up with old sleazy that’s on her.

I’m really losing my patience with Gunther’s social awkwardness. Reminds me too much of my own, and I know how lonely socially awkward people can feel. So even though Tiffany is 100% right in her reaction, I’m feelin’ Gunth’s pain.

Gunth is in the friend zone and will likely never be a romantic interest to Tiff

Just walk away Gunth… Walk away and your life will be sooo much better…You can wine her and dine her, but that one will never be content.

Wow! Talk about crash-and-burn! Poor Les. But, I am confused since Gunther was adamant he was not interested in Tiff. While Tiff, for her part, sees him differently than she did in HS (he’s more kind to him) but does not appear overtly interested. Now Gunther & Tiff are on a ‘date’ in his new bachelor pad? I have been quite surprised and pleased with the burgeoning friendship between these two and this development does thru things out of wack! I hope Gunther grows the stubble out again, it added character to his…character.

As for Les…well, I can’t tell if he think Tiff will be his lover or if he’s acting that way to tease Gunther (or both). His friendship with Tiff is an off-shoot of their relationship with their parents. Have they considered that if Ann marries Tiff’s father, they will effectively be step-siblings?

tomorrow: Les wonders what all the yelling is about.

Of late, I have been deliberately sparse in my comments on this strip. I am reaching the point where it is becoming difficult to continue caring about the characters.

I’m not sure where the train wreck started. Was it Tiffany planning this double date in their den of despair? Or was it GnK thinking what a wonderful idea it would be to force Gunther and Les to be the new Odd Couple?

I’m pretty sure Luann1212 will, as Mordock999 likes to say, come to the defense of the creative team and reminding me (and others like me) that this is nothing more than a plot device.

But, in addition to this not being a very realistic scenario, any way you would want to look at it, this story line is becoming more and more insufferable every day!

In the meantime, I guess I’ll go back to my doghouse for now and wait for another arc to begin. Shannon, Fay, or even, gasp! Luann!

Remember Luann?

There’s a comic strip called Luann.

Does anybody remember it?

Stepped in it, didn’t he?

I have not seen any real mention of it, but is not anyone here curious about what Tiff originally wanted to tell Gunther? Last Saturday, she started to tell Gunther something…

What happened to the bandage like thing on Gunther’s cheek?

Here is Less in a nutshell.

https://www.gocomics.com/luann/2014/01/29

I’m starting to like the “new” Tiffany more and more.

When you “assume” something it make an ass out of u and me. ;-)

Perhaps Tiffany has been viewing both Gunther and Les as friends for so long that her plan for coming over and visiting both sequentially was to get advice for going on a date with Jack? Perhaps she views Gunther and Les in only a “brotherly” way now.

Think of it… Gunther and Les are already step-relatives of some sort. And with Ann working to possibly marry Tom “Cat” Ferrell, Les and Tiffany would be step-siblings. In the end… they will all be step-related.

This would be too step-kinky for Greg ( I hope )…. so the “brotherly” affection must be what this is building up to having be the new norm.

….. Although not directly applicable, the potential step-related-ness of our dynamic triad inspired these lyrics to reverberate in my mind (attempting to sing in a rich baritone, but sounding more akin to a raspy hedgehog):

“…Still, they’re cousins,Identical cousins and you’ll find,They laugh alike, they walk alike,At times they even talk alike… "

(partial lyrics of the theme song from the Patty Duke Show)

Ruefully stated:

It may be only a pipe dream, but I would relish a return to an arc involving Gunther that does not directly or indirectly involve Les, Irma, or Al.

Gunther’s problem is that his approach to relationships is totally detached and theoretical. It was the same thing with Bernice: he got it into his head that she’d be a good girlfriend for him because in theory they had matching personalities. Then he seemed to view that one potential relationship as his last and only chance at getting a girlfriend, and couldn’t bear to unlatch himself even when it was clear she wasn’t interested and it wasn’t a good match anyway.

What Gunther needs to do is work on himself so that when a relationship can happen organically and naturally, he’ll be ready. Step one is moving out and getting his own place away from Irma, Mr. Gray, and especially Les.

How many thousands of young women attend Moony Uni? Why has Gunther not met any of them yet? No, he has to bounce back and forth between Bernice and Tiffany, because this strip’s heart is still in junior high, whatever the setting may actually be.

What Gunther almost deserves: Tiffany goes to Les’s room, and leaves at 8:00 AM. Gunther has been sitting in his bean bag chair all night. Tiff heads for the front door exit, turns around to face Gunther, pops a cherry in her mouth,spits out the stem in Gunther’s direction, slams the door and leaves. All this to say, “Don’t treat a big girl like a little girl.”

Les played Gunther like a Fiddle.

@Pipe Tobacco: Seriously, why would Tiffany need anyone’s advise on whether to date Jack, let alone the advice of two other guys? She’s been making decisions about who to date on her own for a long time…

Tiffany’s weight is starting to look good on her. She’s gone from the petite, little Tinkerbell, the cheerleader to something more like Mae West, the full figured love goddess. Now she has to get rid of another 120 pounds in the form of Gunther. Get ready, Big Momma is back in town.

Gunther is in effect telling Tiffany that he doesn’t take her very seriously as an adult, since she needs him to direct her choice in men because she obviously is incapable of making her own decisions.

And it’s 1..2..3 strikes strikes you’re out. Tiffany is a wild one and Gunther is just way too tame. Gunther you need to man up and enjoy the “strawberry shortcake” in front of you or be ready to spend the night sulking about missing your chance.

Well, only one option left now. Go and tuck in your tail and back off. Let her make up her own mind. Wasn’t it enough that she even wanted to do another dinner date initially. Not thinking long turn pal. Just except what she offers and support her still as she needs you. Down the road she’ll remember that and may just look you up to settle in the future. But no, you want everything your way right now. Oh well let the destruction begin of a wonderful friendship. Way to blow it pal, you need to mature more to be able to be with her.

Gunther is almost making Les’ case for him.

Oh Gunther, you’ve put your foot in it now!

I know this is a family strip and all, but is it possible that this arc will go “there?” Is Les really that much of a scumbag? Will Tiff be wearing a t-shirt that says #metoo?

Gunther has now shown that he can be possessive and Tiff, with her new found self confidence, is wanting to call her own shots the way she used to.

Well, well… I guess Les IS more.

Some people take these comic strips wayyyyyyyy too seriously… wow

As the Tiffster said, “Well, oops.” Gunther has self-destructed yet again. Is there any chance he could save this situation?

They have way too many clothes on, and the lights are too bright. Remedy those things and hit the bean bags. Then call up Les and tell him that Tiff is ready for seconds and will be late.

Why would you make two dates on the same night unless you are a player.