Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for March 02, 2021

Good eye, Tara, at spotting and about to karate chop the intruder.

Tara the Ninja Terror! YIKES!

Her heroine name could be Red Starr.

”Stand By For Action~!!” ✨❤️✨

Tara-saves-the-day people for the win!

WOW

Now that is a twist I don’t think anyone saw. Nice one!

Stop, thief!

Will Tara take down the intruder and play it straight, or now that the intruder has cleaned out the register, is this an act by Tara to leave with her cousin with all the dough?

Maybe the invader is Tara’s cousin?

Let ME get this straight.

Tara is leaving town because she can’t deal with her weird-o parole breaking cousin.

Yet Tara’s got guts enough to pounce a potentially dangerous total stranger, bare handed.

Got it.

One, I really wanna meet this cousin now.

And two, I hope Tara sticks around.

It might be entertaining to watch her beat the daylights out of people during the Sunday strips.

Oh.

And it looks like No “pie fight.” ;)

The cleaning Lady/Dude (has long hair), for sure…

Dirty dishes in the sink, a half devoured pie in the cooler, money on the counter… and Luann thinks nobody is going to have a cow about this?

Also it looks like Tara has watched a lot of Kung Fu movies.

Why does our mysterious intruder have a purse, and their back to the three amigos?

Tara has a lot of issues to deal with that or over Luann pay grade.

We can add Karate or Kung Fu to Tara’s list of talents. And, Luann? Are these pies on your tab or freebies, courtesy of your parents?

The "intruder"is obviously gonna just be Luanns mom coming in early to her own place.

I think Greg should have taken more classes in anime action figure drawing. Bets had better ninja poses at comicon!

Still could be Ann Eiffel though odds are on the troubled cousin…

It looks like we won’t have long to wait before finding out whether the intruder is Tara’s cousin or some random thief—unless maybe Tara can’t tell L & B (and us) because she gets knocked out cold. In any case, I think we can safely cross off “security guard,” “Ben,” and “TJ in a hoodie” from the list of possibilities.

And now, what will Luann and Bernice do?

(1) Give chase, albeit with much slower reaction times than Tara’s?

(2) Sit transfixed (or flee) in terror?

(3) Pull out a phone and call 911?

(4) Cut the intruder off by taking a shortcut via the stage to the back hall?

(5) Seize the opportunity to split Tara’s slice of pie?

(6) …?

Looks like Tara will go all “Dark Angel” on the intruder!

Today’s installment requires a mighty suspension of disbelief: Most businesses would not leave money in the till after hours. TJ can’t be THAT stupid about money.

Fun speculations about the intruder (other than Tara’s cousin): Maybe the intruder is none other than Ann “Awful”, who has returned to eke revenge on Nancy for booting her out last year. Or, maybe Bernice’s brother has started a new career as a thief (and Bernice will have more crow to eat after what she unleashed on Tara). Perhaps Rosa has come back from Peru and is raising money for the poor by playing Robin Hood! Or has Tiffany decided to give herself a raise? Hmm…

All I can say is, we’ve got more action here in Luann than over at Dick Tracy!

Yes – I did suspect Tara might have some MMA skills.

I wonder when it was that Tara showed bravery?? When she stole a TV? When she was hiding from her cousin instead of telling the authorities about her? How about, right after she was called brave, as if Bernice could see into the future?

This isn’t an intruder, it’s an ink blot.

(Wasn’t there a character like that in some superhero comic way back?)

Wow, Tara looks like she is going to flatten the intruder. Very gutsy. Anyhow, now its going to be kind of hard for Luann to keep this a secret no matter if Tara stops the thief or not. If she doesn’t Luann is going to have to explaining to Nancy and Frank why she was in the Fuse in the middle of the night with Tara and Bernice and if Tara successfully takes down the thief, something was obviously stolen. Either way the police will have to be involved and I suspect it will be a long, long time before Luann gets her own key to the Fuse again.

STRIKE FIRST

STRIKE HARD

NO MERCY

Perhaps Luann will save the day just like she did back on July 23, 2014, when she amazed the performing arts teacher, Ms. Manezon, by adjusting a few things on stage to save the “Shipoopi” number. Or, if something bad goes down, Luann and Bernie might be spontaneously generating some Shipoopi of their own. Where else but in the Luann comic can you hear something like Shipoopi?

.

https://www.gocomics.com/luann/2014/07/23

Kick boxer Tara Starr!! Don’t touch my stuff!

It’s not Tiffany, it’s an intruder taking an advantage of open door.

With all this talk of bananas, I am thinking Emma Peel of the Avengers will show up to dispatch the invader.

Maybe it’s just Nancy remembering to take home the till? It seems more likely to be someone who knows the girls, standing right behind them in an open room.

Everyone was Kung-fu fighting…

I have a sneaking suspicion that it’s Jonah there trying to “supplement” his income!

I think the ‘intruder’ is just a cleaner. That looks like vacuum cleaner coats in his/ her hand.

That’s supposed to be “Hiyaaa!” Think of Miss Piggy in the first Muppet Movie.

Fight or Flight. Not a tuff decision for a tuff girl. Go Tara Go!!!

GO, AMAZING TARA!!!! She really is brave♡. Bernice and Luann need to go help her ASAP! Cant wait to see who the mysterious stranger is. Tara’s cousin is still my first choice. But it can be even a thief or some desperate person.

She’s afraid the cousin will try to persuade her to come home, and she doesn’t want to hear about it. That’s why she’s leaping down the hall making the “talk to the hand” gesture.

And Tara takes down the cleaning lady, who has politely been ignoring the young woman asleep in the store room for the last few nights.

I believe this rules out the cousin. The cousin would have surprised them, not the reverse. I wouldn’t be surprised if, despite the grossly exagerated proportions of the silhouette last week, made to fool us, it were Tiffany.

Long hair, handbag, bracelet, entering the Fuse without a care. It has to be someone who has business there and it’s not a male. So it’s either Nancy or Tiff.

If Tara plants a karate kick in Nancy’s back, consequences will be a bit harsher than if she does the same to Tiff’s backside.

HEY!! YAAAAAA!! AHHHHHH!! SOCK!! BIFF!! POW!! BAMM AND HE HITS THE GROUND!!

Maybe this is just some garden variety thief, an opportunist who saw an open door in the middle of the night. How ironic that all this time we thought Tara would be the one to engage in theft but in fact she is being honest (having turned herself around) and now she is going after this one. Perhaps that crow bar was for for prying into cash registers.

Se le ocurrió tarde la idea a Luann, Marvel ya tiene cómics de Shang-Chi

Who could this mysterious stranger be?

After a few minutes of explanation, now Bernice, thinks Tara is the cat’s meow and is ‘brave’? What has she done that is brave?

it is a homeless guy Tara knows that drifted from the strip , Hair ? Knut ? Toni’s EX ?

i think we’re about to meet Tara’s cousin

She just attacked Nancy.

Quick – throw the pie plate like a frisbee!!

I want to know what the shadow at the bar is. Looks like some kind of monkey.

The Silhouette looked awfully feminine last week. Today…not so much.

Gonna say that’s actually Tiff and she forgot something.

ah, there he is

I feel like this whole sequence started by Greg drawing tara in this pose and then building the story around it.

Which of the following statements is a scream of terror and a sigh of contentment? Ready? “AAAAAAAAAAA!” : “AHHHHHHH!”

Tara Bulbas!

Tara the Greatest Crime Fighter.

Any reasonable thief would not do his or her business when there are clearly people there with lights on in the same room, unless cartoon logic.

Shady figure looks like Tiffany with her hand bag.

Modern Marvel Comics are horrible. DC isn’t much better. “Hey, let’s race- and gender-swap legacy characters for ‘diversity’ in a desperate bid to show relevance to AT&T. What’s that? ‘Why not use the well-established, fleshed out and diverse characters from the Milestone Comics imprint that has been part of DC since 1993?’ Shut up! Here’s Black Batman, a character we created less than 6-months ago!”

Yea…go with manga.

I commented in response to BRD that Tara was going after the intruder because he/she (I still think odds are the cousin) took her bag she put down during a previous panel this week. Not the register. It could be that the intruder took the bag, and also cash register receipts but I agree with others that cash register receipts are unlikely. TJ and Nancy and analogues of real individuals, and most store owners (I represented one once who did not follow that advice I begged him to do and eventually I represented him and his wife in bankruptcy and divorce) take the receipts home every night, or at least lock them up in a hard to get to, or break in safe, but in any event Tara shows Ninja like skills, and really focused anger. Again the cousin. My rationale? She is very angry because her cousin, knowing where she is going for a few nights, is taking her property, and menacing her friends, and she is ready to fight to protect both. I really like Tara because of her tough, edgy, but breezy attitude. Go to college and become FBI, she would be a good candidate in my opinion. Or CIA. She is not your normal 19-20 year old girl that is for sure. People who disagree should read that story in the Bible about the woman whom Christ kept from being stoned to death.

I didn’t know Tara’s last name was King! (Avengers joke)

In the first box Tara looks behind Luann and Bern and yells. In the second box Luann and Bern are looking at Tara take on the intruder. Somehow the intruder went from behind Luann to in front of Luann!!??

Tara is not so much brave as dumb. She doesn’t know if the intruder has a gun or other weapon. Unless Tara is in cahoots with the intruder and is helping her rob the Fuse.

So tell me again who the crazy one is here? Asking for a friend…

Will the people stealing a pie and trespassing…catch the intruder? Tune in tomorrow…

Luann and Bernice could take a lesson from Tara. Like trying to quit being soggy noodle people and developing backbones….both mentally and physically. Both of them are continually acting like unconscious victims. Never taking any control over their lives or futures. Never showing any maturity or taking responsibility. As an aside, if my daughter had done the things Luann has been doing in my business, I would kick her out of my house in a heartbeat. Her free ride would be over and maybe she could go to Utah with her friend. It’s sickening how little she respects her parents or the things they do for her.

Save the noise for the moment of strike. Warning is not good practice.

If anybody gets hurt – requiring medical help – then Luann will have even more ‘splaining to do.

God, this story line has been going on forever. Tara was a mistake from the start. She cannot leave soon enough.

Seems the intruder has taken Tara’s backpack as neither Luann nor Bernice had bags. Wonder what’s in the backpack that was worth following her for. Hope Tara didn’t take anything of her cousin’s. Not surprised Tara knows some form of martial arts.

7

An interesting and bit surprising turn of events today. The “look” of the comic today is almost “Marvel-esque” in drawing style too.

So, who the hell is the intruder?

A) The evil cousin? (my thoughts…. a good probability)

B) An UNKNOWN intruder/robber? (my thoughts…. seems a little too improbable that a robbery by an unknown person would occur at the time when the dynamic trio were there)

C) Ben? (my thoughts… seems too improbable…. likely did not follow Bernice, would not carry about what looks like a purse, would not likely act so “stealthy”)

D) Mrs. Degroot? (my thoughts…. potentially more plausible, but in my mind still highly unlikely as I would think she would turn on lights and would wonder about the lights already on)

E) Jack? (my thoughts…. extremely doubtful… doesn’t seem anything like his manner)

F) Another “The Fuse” worker just coming in to do some adjustments or something? (a potential…. but I still feel a relatively low potential).

G) Another unpredictable “Other”? (probably my second favorite option after the evil cousin).

Funny, I’d always regarded “Ahhhhh” as an expression of contentment.

I’m convinced that the intruder is Bernice’s brother, mostly from the long hair.

I agree. Where I live we have two Deputy Sheriffs who give it all they’ve got, but they’re spread way too thin. It can take 45 minutes for a response. We’re our own 911.

T.J. is going to wonder why he is getting beaten by Tara for taking the extra cash in the register to the bank or to his safe.

Is that Tara’s cousin? It can’t be anyone we know. They’d make their presence known and ask why the girls are there after hours.

300-plus comments must be a record.

It will be innocuous

Let’s get ready to RRRRRUUUUUUMMMMMMMBBBBBBBLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

To make Tara’s assault look more believable, tomorrow’s toon could show the intruder on the ground with (pain) stars radiating. Of course what next? Calling the police gets Luann into trouble. Maybe Tara tells the intruder she is calling the police – but he gets a chance to escape. After all that, Tara and Bern can politely decline the yuky banana pie.

That profile looks like Tiffany to me.

Didn’t know that Cynthia Rothrock is Tara’s mom, did you?

Everybody, it’s Kung Fu Tara!

It’s hard to make sense of The Fuse because pie cases or walls (llike today) show up randomly. For that matter I don’t understand having a side door while you would want a back door to access garbage cans or unload produce trucks.

Another thing, having built up a dramatic situation involving the threat of real danger to the characters Greg immediately backs away. The intruder could have tried to rob the girls, stolen one of their cars, assaulted them, or attempts to rape them. Instead he sneaks around to steal Tara’s back pack. Back when Greg won an award he was writing things like Brad v. Dirk which had actual menace and potential for injury. Today Greg’s writing has gone full-on Nerf™.

Tiffany forgot her purse. Now Tara will be living at Tiff’s house. Tara will help with Tiff’s college lessons – for room and board. win win

wow. How unimaginative some readers must be that they can’t see beyond a limited cast of characters.

Huh. Was this planned? https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/banana-cream-pie-day/

Looks like they decided on Key Lime instead of banana…

That hair is a clue…

Zap! Pow! Smash!!!!

The intruder has been in shadow because the writers want it to be a surprise. If it was Tara’s cousin that wouldn’t be a surprise so it’s somebody we aren’t expecting.

i think it’s Tiffany who came back to get her purse that she forgot, as someone else suggested.

Teasing us just a Bit Closer to the Big Reveal.

Did the intruder use Tara’s bag to hold the haul or did the intruder only want Tara’s bag, if that is what’s being carried? Tara’s pose is farcical more than fierce.

Wowie, kids! Tara springs into action like a genuine superheroine! —-This is just part of why we need to have her stick around in the strip indefinitely.

Whether the mysterious shadow turns out to be her cousin, or Ben, or someone entirely new, Tara’s Defense is most memorable already….

The real question at hand: What the hell kinda shoes is Tara wearing?

I’m still trying to process the comments about Luann and Bernice being ‘soggy noodle people’. Every time I try to think about it, though, I just get hungry. Excuse me…

What is she doing? Chasing them with ballet?

It is Ben stealing food for his kids, or it’s Tara practicing her donkey battle cry. OR. It’s Tiffany dragging Ox into the back room to properly thank him for coming to her rescue.