Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for March 04, 2021

A lot of you called it that Tara’s cousin was the thief. She’s already broken parole and committed a B&E, so I’m sure she wouldn’t hesitate to add vehicular assault to the list.

And so we’re introduced to Tara’s crazed cousin Stella.

Huh.

Not in on it. ✨

The surprised look on Tara’s face suggests that she is NOT a part of whatever her cousin has been planning. And the VOOM suggests that cousin Stella (funny, since ‘Stella’ means ‘star’) is about to run Tara over…

“STELLLAAAAaaa!” Brando – “A Streetcar Name Desire (1951)”

Stellaaaaaaa! (Is The Fuse on the streetcar line?)

Well, we can start tallying the votes for who called it. Tara does, however, appear to be shocked, so apparently she wasn’t in on whatever skullduggery.

Wow, Greg put his name and date in between panels. Now, if he would have put a license plate on the car…

Stella….

Hmmm

And a long time ago we had a guy with a star cut into his hair.

Since Tara did not recognize the car and that it was her cousin, I am thinking the car may be stolen as well. Tara seemed surprised that it was indeed her cousin. Either Tara was genuinely surprised, or she has a Screen Actor’s Guild card.

Can someone please remind me why running to Utah was a better choice than tipping off the Parole Officer?

Well, today’s Strip clears up quite a few questions.

And I can now see why was going move to Utah.

Cousin Stella appears to be a bit of a “bruiser.”

What’s more, with this robbery (in front of witnesses, yet) Parolee Stella (Starr?) seems to be determined to go to prison.

That could mean Stella’s apartment could be up for grabs for Tara, after Stella goes to jail.

That’s provided “Cousin” doesn’t turn Tara into “roadkill.”

There is still soooo much to sort out in this mess. So stay tuned!

I think we all saw this one coming.

The question is, will Stella wind it up to about 5 grand then pop the clutch?

STELLA don’t VOOM!

This is just the first chapter of Stella almost turn Tara into roadkill. Stay tune folks.

Stella appears to be wearing a face mask ?

Stella is one cold customer. And Tara is quite the hero. I hope she doesn’t leave for Utah.

That Tara chased the thief was silly, nowadays all thieves use weapons and did Tara really think that she can intimidate someone? That was silly and arrogant, and she is about to pay the price for her bad decision! Sorry if I sound cruel but Tara really has the worst ideas!

How did Tara think she could stop the intruder from starting the car? Also how did Stella know where Tara was staying? Hopefully some of this sorts out.

Yep. It is the cousin after all.. Why didn’t she recognize her car or her figure? So she has been scoping The Fuse waiting for a way to get inside and do something to Tara…only to be diverted by Luann and Bernice’s appearances….but noticing that the door was left open, she decided to just rob the place. She did a lousy job and exposed herself by walking into the main area. Her name needs to go into the Dumbest Criminals book.

I’m still hoping Bern gets her college room back and Tara can be a new roommate for Luann. We’ve already seen pretty much everything Bern could do at the DeGroots. Tara has a bigger repertoire.

Looks like I was wrong; I pulled a Bernice and thought the worst of Tara. This strip can deal with some heavy themes, but I’m hoping “point blank hit-and-run” is too much and maybe Luann or Bern will tackle Tara out of the way if Stella goes straight through instead of putting it in reverse. I’ll admit I was getting a bit sick of the stretched out tension over this whole debacle, but I hope nothing drastic happens before Sunday and we’re left an extra day to stew…

No one is surprised except Tara. Maybe this is a chance for the redemption of Tara.!I hope no one gets hurt!

Well, there go all 3 of my guesses. Guess I overthought it, as per usual. : – P

Well I feel vindication, Tara was not “in on it.” I didn’t really doubt that, but GnK specializes and are masterful in what I like to call misdirection plays. Yesterday was masterful, and the week so far has specialized in it relative to her story. I think she will be okay and that the cops, conveniently summoned by practical and calm Bernice, will arrive and take the parole violating cousin in flagrante delicto (crime, not sexual) and will take her away, and Tara, not having a reason to high tail it out of Pittsville, will stay. I hope so anyway. Like her story, love she is innocent, and her edginess.

Might as well be twirling a moustache. Hiyee! What a coincidence that Stella knew where Tara was hiding, and also knew Luann would be leaving the door unlocked tonight. And standing in front of a car to keep it from driving away, yeah, great plan.

I was totally not expecting this because I thought the burglar was a man! Props to everyone who said it was the cousin!

Tara’s jeep was probably parked in front of Fuse and the cousin spotted it.

There are so many questions we will never really get an answer to1. Why didn’t Tara just report her cousin to the parole officer.2. Why didn’t she go to a homeless shelter?3. How did Stella know where Star was?4. How did Stellar know that the side door would be unlocked? Tara criticized Luann for leaving it unlocked. Bernice criticized Luann for leaving it unlocked. The mouse in the cupboard criticized Luann for leaving it open. 5. Who cuts Tara’s hair? She does a terrible job and that dye? Is she using watermelon kool-aid?6. What happened to the silent alarm on the side door. I’m pretty sure any insurance company would insist that all doors be alarmed before offering any coverage. 7. Will show up with the PFD and argue with Toni about having babies?8. Where’s Shannon so we call blame it all on her?9. How many cars are parked beside the door at the Fuse? Won;t the polie become suspicious?10. There is no question 10.

Stella looks more like creepy movie slasher, Jason….

I was right, cousin Stella is wearing a hoodie.

Huh. So Tara’s poor martial arts form wasn’t an act – it’s just that she’s really crappy at karate or whatever it was supposed to be.

Well, even if people called it as the cousin (and many of us did), there’s still a lot of egg going around for our faces.

Not eliminated is that Tara may have been in on the deal. Two days ago, I defended Trilogy by saying that poor drawing style didn’t mean that Tara was not ready for the fight. But Two days later, and after another day of what Tyge called: Tara not seriously attacking the attacker or defending the property.

Right now, I’m with pseudomao who suggests that Tara’s surprise is that Stella is double crossing her (Tara).

Tara may still be innocent, but right now, there’s a lot of shade been cast upon her.

I’ll go 50:50, Tara was in on the heist.

Looks like Tara is doing a Marlon Brando impersonation in “A streetcar named desire”

“Stella, how did you get here?”“I followed you, Tara. You took the 405, to the 110, got off at PCH, and made a right turn at the traffic circle onto Los Coyotes.”

VOOM? Shouldn’t it be more like ‘Vroom.’ Maybe it is an import vehicle!

OMG I would have never thought of the thief to be Tara’s cousin

Now she can do her Marlon Brando in Streetcar Named Desire imitation. “STELLAAAAAAAA!”

Why is Tara surprised? She was packing to leave specifically because she expected her cousin to come after her.

And confronting her “crazy” cousin is a dumb move. Get the license plate number and let the cops chase her down.

STELLAAAAAAA!!!!!

Said part is there are a lot of young people out there like Tara. Stand in front of a person’s car and demand that they listen to them. Then they are offended when they get hurt.

Where is Elaine from “Seinfeld”? Stella-a-a-ah

NOOOOOOO !!!! Her cousin is even crazier than Tara said and wants to kill her! This could become the most tragic way to make a character disappear in the story of this strip! Maybe Tara’s agility will save her, or maybe Luann will push her away and get run over? This story is getting more and more exceptional!

“Stellaaa!! Another one of these damn kids jumped in front of my car!!” — Marty McFly‘s grandfather, 1955

Do we know the size of the city, other than pretty big? (Got to be fairly large to have a university and community college and a few other things we’ve seen.) Sort of wondering how Stella, in a state of poor thinking was able to locate Tara.

Bum bum BUUUUMMMM!!!

Well, at least I was right about the hoodie. ;-)

Ah right, in the dark Tara didn’t recognize her cousin nor her car. Well, she has been living with her cousin before but let’s say the car is stolen or bought yesterday. Let’s wait to find out what she was doing here and why and how she learned about the Fuse. But so far it’s really not very good.

Puts it in reverse, backs away a block or so, Tara runs after till out of sight, shrieks really loudly, climbs in, getaway!

so, to recap:

NOT Tiffany

NOT Ben

NOT Nancy

NOT the dozen other nonsensical possibilities raised.

:-/

Does anyone else wonder how the cousin knew where to find Tara? I thought that was the point of Tara’s not sleeping at home.

Vroom would be more like a staring engine. Voom is more like an engine blowing up. Sort of a kin to Boom.

Gotta be seein" TJ and Frank and Nancy coming on to the scene pretty soon.

Tara has confronted an apparent criminal by dancing a series of ballet moves and then planning herself right in front of the suspected criminal’s car. And yet she’s supposedly so unwilling to confront her cousin that she’s ready to skip town?

Called it

You know, that in four years and a bit, Luann will turn big 4-0?

That was either very brave of Tara or dumb for approaching a thief ready to run her over, until her cousin identified herself. Will the police arrive or will the “dynamic duo” pitch in to help? Wonder if Brad monitors the police band?

Now would be a great time for Tara’s friends to provide backup. Not in 20 minutes when the cops show up to the 911 call. Cowards

Why is she so surprised? Does she not recognize Stella’s car? Perhaps it’s a stolen one.

And here I was … thinking Tara was a true master at … KA – RA – TAY !!

Or was it, Ta-Ra-Ra BOOM-De-Ay ??!!! … :)

Second thoughts… IF the police do get there, will they find the backpack in the car, and will we find out if there’s stolen property in there or ? GnK may skip over that, too.

I feel like everyone who is thinking that Tara was in on some sort of heist with Stella really having their judgment clouded by their dislike of Tara.

Wouldn’t she know her cousins car?

Poll(not today’s strip – wise): Who would you like to be Luann’s next boyfriend?a) Aaron Hillb) Guntherc) Jackd) Quill once again, ore) other guy?

AAAHHH! It’s Dirk! He’s returned!!!

6

Interesting, yet really rather odd and strange:

1. How in the hell would Stella have happened to pick “The Fuse” to rob…. which just happens to be where Tara is hiding out? (makes no sense)

2. How were Tara’s weak-kneed “Crane Moves” (sort of an even less successful version of Ralph Machio’s attempts at the the beginning of his learning the routine) supposed to scare away an intruder? (it had no effect)

3. Many speculate Tara is in cahoots with Stella in some scheme, but the surprise that Tara shows seems rather genuine. (so it doesn’t seem likely to be a team effort or even a double-cross)

4. The starting of the engine by Stella in the above makes it seem like she may have very ill intent and perhaps try to run over Tara. (but that seems so very unlike Greg’s style) and the engine’s “VOOM” instead of “Vroom” sound seems a bit odd too.

5. The vehicle appears to be awfully nice and new or at least “newish”. It makes me wonder why Stella would feel the need to “break into” “The Fuse”. (seems an odd way to show her breaking of parole or her evil intent)

So…. net conclusion….. not a lot of the last few days of panels makes a lot of cohesive sense (at least at the moment). There are many other “postulates” people could propose…. most as equally “odd” as the above….. so the conclusion simply is….. who knows what the hell is going on?

A very young ex-girlfriend gave the keys to my friend’s store to someone she had known for three days to “work for her” when she felt ill. She was the only one surprised when hundreds of dollars of merchandise disappeared overnight.

Apparently Cousin Stella is also Emperor Palpatine.. .

Marlon Brando, “Stella, Stella!”

First, I’m not surprised it’s the cousin. Tara has never said what “breaking parole” entailed. Perhaps stealing cars? No way the cousin could afford a newish car unless she’s dealing drugs or part of a burglary ring. Is Tara involved? NO WAY! Tara moved out and is leaving town to get away from her, AND was totally surprised when she found out it was her cousin. Note that the cousin was wearing a mask. Why wear a mask, if she was planning on breaking into and robbing the Fuse where Tara is staying? She could have been cruising, looking for a place to burgle and happened across the fuse, saw the open door and decided to take advantage of an opportunity. The big question: Will the police arrive before the cousin leaves? Probably not, so will Tara tell them its her cousin if they don’t? Since she’s been afraid to confront the cousin in the past there may be a reason to be afraid to tell on her now.

Ok. Jack! Jump in from out of nowhere and save the day! Except that would eliminate all sorts of involved story tangents that I’m sure we are going to experience.

Wait, Tara lived with her cousin until very recently. And yet she didn’t recognize Stella, or her car?

Stella Starr? Stellar!

Oh please. This isn’t the MCU.

I was right! Last week I said that the shadowy figure was Tara’s cousin.

Yawn.

I knew it! Tara’s crazy cousin has shown up, and bad things are about to happen!

Nice illustrative touch: Stella by Starlight.

I guess the answer to the mystery was the most obvious (that the hulking female looking form was the parole breaking cousin). I thought Greg might be going for misdirection.

So Tara is standing in Front of a car of an unknown criminal? Tara has no idea if the burglar has a gun. This is the dumbest thing ever. Tara is not brave, just dumb.

As Harry Mudd said, “STELLA! … Dear!” … :)

This could be impactful

Now, if only Gunther would have shown up with his backpack.

I doubt if Frank, Nancy or TJ ever learn about any of this. It will all be resolved while the owners of the Fuse are sleeping. Nancy doesn’t seem to notice or care that Luann and Bernice are out late at night.

Cue Marlon Brando

Wait! I may be thinking logically, but whose bag was taken? Did Tara have a car? Confused!

Wow! Raise your hand if you didn’t see THAT coming! Anyone? I didn’t think so.

Tara might learn what we in the Surface Navy called “The Law of Gross Tonnage”.

I did not expect Stella.

Can I ask a possibly stupid question. No one knew Tara was sleeping at the Fuse except Luann, how did the evil cousin know to go there. I can’t imagine she was stalking Luann or Bernice to have followed one or both of them to the Fuse. Did I miss something in this arc.

It’s about time for Ox to show up and snatch Stella right out the window!

I like all the speculations but this is going to be one of those times when a new story starts and we eventually see Luann and Bernice doing a wrap up explanation of what events took place.

“♪♫ When you squeal on Stella Starr

She does not care who you are

Anything her heart desires

She’ll steal from you!"

If Tara gets hit by the car, Lu & Bern may have to take care of her for a while. Then we may learn a lot about Tara that we didn’t know before.

This is when it is legal to shoot them through the windshield.

When I was 20, I was pretty clueless.But I’d like to think I wasn’t clueless enough to stand in front of a fleeing burglar’s car and order them not to start it.Dunno whether Tara the Scamp would be savvy enough to know better, or her bogus martial-arts moves shows how clueless she really is.

Knew it!

At least Bernice, the only adult in the room apparently, called 911, so I foresee that the cops will show up any moment now. Well, that could take weeks in comic-time.

Is Tara going to get hit tomorrow?

Damn Greg Evans is upping the drama here. Will Stella run down Tara?

Well, looks like we’re finally meeting Tara’s crazy cousin.

I notice quite a few references to “A Streetcar Named Desire” today, so here’s a tip: If you ever meet a woman named Stella, she will already have heard enough of those not to consider another one clever.

Stella?

Yes Stella! VROOOM!

BUMP!

Alas, Tara, we barely knew thee.

Luann! Please, help me! Call an ambulance! —No, don’t just shoot a video, I’m dying here!

She (or the mask) looks a bit like Mr Gray…

Stanley Kowalski called.

Tomorrow: Stella offers to teach JPW how to recognize different car models.

:-/