Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for July 18, 2021

dreadful

Never over – analyze a frog. They are not that complicated.

She even dresses bland in her Frog Prince dreams… :-/

Princess Tiana she ain’t.

Ah.

Don’t “fault” Luann.

Trust has to be earned.

And once you find someone you can trust, that trust has to appreciated.

Past that last little tidbit along to this Bets gal, if you two ever get on speaking terms, will ya? ;)

Aw, poor frog. I’d blow him a kiss!

Luann’s smarter in her sleep than awake. As we often are.

Luann doesn’t seem to have big trust issues. Lu was warming up with Gunther in his bedroom and Gunther persuaded Luann to escape out the window. Gunther was worried that Les might think he was improper. Luann doesn’t seem as messed up as the other characters.

Nah, you just scare the guys away.

There is so much to mention here, the strip has been spending a lot of recent story on romantic stories between Gun-N-Bets, with Tiffany as a helpful plot device and Bern-N-Nil, with Luann as as a plot device, now get ready it’s about to address Luann. I’m rooting for her as the name character whose primary commentary is not why is she in the story even if she is the name character. Let’s follow the story of Luann.

Luann is smarter in her sleep because the mind is shut down and when your awake your mind never stops thinking.

Monday new arc.

I’m reminded of that old expression “You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince.”

Yes. Short answer, yes.

Luann’s dream sounds more like something Bernice would have. And why is Luann bemoaning not having a boyfriends since she has had more than Bernice, Tiffany and Gunther combined. And donlt tell me this is foreshadowing for the next arc. I’ve had it with romance stories. Let’s have something — anything — else.

Too many questions there, my dear…..

Well it is believed your biggest enemy and obstacle to a life of love, happiness and success—-is staring you in the face when you look in the mirror. Stop over thinking every potentiality and just live in the moment.

A funnier ending would be Luann saying that she shouldn’t have eaten frog’s legs for dinner…

Sure Luann, that’s it

Poor frog. Luann doesn’t even trust a frog. Lol. I think this is really cute and one of the best Sunday strips. Thanks Greg and Karen.

Panel 3 hits the nail on the head!!!!

Affirmative, Luann

Remember what happened in the Disney movie?

I love the frog’s face on the second panel :D

The big question we ALL wonder.

The frog’s fly is open.

And how do I know I won’t turn info a frog, sitting next to you?

Luann doesn’t have a boyfriend because Greg Evans hasn’t written one for her!!

Well, I hope we get more of Luann’s story on Monday, in which case this Sunday strip will tie in with it.

Well, let’s go to the replay of high school…

Every point perfectly valid.

There are worse things than being single, like being with the wrong person.

With an attitude like that, it’s no wonder you can’t find the guy of your dreams.

Dunno. These seem to me like good points. Better not kiss a talking frog and regret it than kiss it and find yourself trapped in who knows what weird situation.

I thought it was Bernice who over-analyzed things. Luann tends to act without thinking… Maybe this strip idea came too late, would have been appropriate back when Bernice had been reduced to hiding behind garbage cans rather than acting like an adult.

Don’t worry Luann, in today’s universe, girls with that attitude, pretty much atrract mature guys.

Ain’t nuthin easy

A talking frog? Luann, you could have been rich.

That and all your other issues are enough to fill a newsstand.

As did Bern and Bets and they managed to overcome it. LuAnn just needs to look at what’s in front of her and be realistic about herself.

We’re really meta today, aren’t we?

All else being equal, wouldn’t you rather have a talking frog?

TJ is waiting off panel with a frying pan ….

Don’t kiss the frog. Pick him up and put him on the talk show circuit.

“….If you turn into a prince what about clothes?….” Does that say something about Luann’s priorities and what a prince is in her mind?

The subconscious mind works with metaphors to hammer out a solution to a problem. The logical, analytical, conscious mind is sometimes slow to catch up.

Well at last we know why Luann has no boyfriend! She’s experiencing trust issues since her breakup with Quil. Sounds like it’s going to take her some more time to get past this. But at least her dream gave her this epiphany. Maybe this will signal a breakthrough for her?

For a moment I thought that Greg’s signature said “Oreo”, and that everything above her head was part of the vanishing dream.

♫ Hello, my baby

Hello, my honey

Hello, my ragtime gal ♫

♫ Send me a kiss by wire

Baby, my heart’s on fire ♫

♫ If you refuse me

Honey, you’ll lose me

Then you’ll be left alone ♫

♫ Oh baby, telephone

And tell me I’m your own ♫

Not to mention the overthinking, friend

Imagination can be a dangerous thing if not haltered!

Yes!

The trust she needs is of her own feelings. She just hasn’t met him yet.

I wonder why Luann might think she has trust issues. It’s not like her BBF flat out lied to her face and later told her to leave.

That’s a lot to unpack. Maybe Bernice can help~

There’s actually another lesson for Luann to learn here. There have been essays written about the problems with young women taking lessons from how to deal with romance and relationships from fairy tales (sitting around waiting for their prince to come, passively doing what they’re told until they get their reward). Maybe Luann has grown past that and is understandably skeptical of a smooth line from a frog. There were some hilarious post-fairy tales that came out when I was a children’s librarian called Sleeping Ugly (think Fractured Fairy Tales) and Princess Smartypants, which turned the conventions of fairy tales on their heads. I wonder whether Luann read any of those?

Lots of issues there..

Nothing wrong with being a critical thinker!

Looks like Greg is having all his characters peer through their fingers, one at a time, but I have never thought Luann had trust issues. She seems accepting and trusting with her friends and family. She’s is willing to help a friend in need, as long as it has some aspect of “frisky risky”. I think this is all a prelude to the return of Aaron.

Wait! Did she clean her room?!

This’ll be one of the last comments I post here due to gocomics’ new policies. In this instance, Luann is NOT displaying “trust issues.” She is absolutely right to question the narrative presented based on logic and critical reasoning. If only more young people approached relationships this way, maybe fewer would later fail and we’d have fewer broken families and fewer damaged kids. H377, maybe we should approach everything this way. Maybe the whole world would be less broken!

No Luann, I’d say you don’t have a boyfriend because of lack of “screen time” in your own strip. See you in the background somewhere of Bernice’s story next week.

The absurdities of fairy tales deconstructed.

Pretty good analysis, though.

I’m going to claim partial victory with my comment from yesterday. “Bernice and Luann will begin their long anticipated discussion about the state of everyone’s relationships.” Today we see dreaming about the state of her own relationship, or lack thereof. I also opined that the Luann character seems to be in a “waiting for Prince Charming to come rescue her” mode. Someone once said, “You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince.” 8^ )

Not to mention she’d get warts

Remember what happened in the Disney version?

If she put as much energy into her “career” and cleaning her room, she might be more attractive to a partner because she would feel better about herself and more confident. So far she is aimless and generally acting helpless and immature and lazy. Time for a real university, along with her friends. Isn’t she the only one in community college stil?

Is that why? Partially. On top of that, she is too high maintenance. And too one-way. Ready to take, but not to give.

Didn’t Luann have a boyfriend who ditched her for his carrier? That might make her more wary onw.

Smart girl

They’re making me feel bad for Luann. I know I know – I always make fun of her silly ways but this is sad. They’ve had her playing comic relief for a really long time it seems. Maybe an opportunity to intern staging a play will come around…with some stage hands….and actors…..

MAD Magazine used to run a series called “Fairy Tale Scenes We’d Like To See”. A number of them were based upon “The Frog Prince”.

Could be part of it……

Monday: Back to Les at The Gulag? or more “kissy face” with Bernice? stay tooned !!!

Trust issues are just one reason among many as to why you don’t have a boyfriend, Luann.

You don’t have a boyfriend because you are not interested in sex.

Take PUD to obedience class You might meet your Prince

No, LuAnn. You’re a loon!

A little whimsy is very welcome. Has anyone invoked one of the greatest and most talented frogs of all time………Michigan J. Frog?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkjsN-J27aU

No. It’s because you have a very accurate Frogdar.

Luann not trusting a tqlking frog that suddenly appears before her is not a sign of “Trust Issues” but of self-preservation. How much different is a talking frog to a stranger asked a small girl to come into his house and he will give her candy. There is good reasons to not trust strangers z(frog or man)

That might be a good thing, Luann.

As a comic, she appears very attractive. Babe, don’t try so hard… poop occurs!

To paraphrase…sometimes a frog is just a frog

My comment from yesterday seems to have anticipated today’s strip. And for a Sunday, it is kind of tying into the arc. Maybe Luann will be the next to couple up. She appears to want a relationship now.

Gotta be at least a “contributing factor,” Luann. (Though you were right not to do a frog kiss in your adventure.)

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if Luann stopped looking at potential suitors through frog-colored glasses? :-/

Let me put in a plug for a book in which the whole “frog prince” story is treated seriously by smart people. One of the fractured fantasy stories of the Twenty Kingdoms: John Moore’s The Unhandsome Prince https://www.amazon.ca/Unhandsome-Prince-John-Moore-ebook/dp/B081GCZDDR

Raisins are why I have trust issues.

Apart from that, having a talking frog might be a better investment than a prince.