Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for December 06, 2023

Looks like she’s enjoying it!

no helmet???!!!!!

And just like that, they both jump out of an actual airplane to turn themselves into a human biplane.

Passed out on the tarmac before the plane.

Yay Luann! You go, girl!!!

Well if Luann is writing about this in the past tense it means she survived the jump.

Unless of course, certain fans here are right, Lu didn’t jump and is just making the whole thing up.

OTOH, what would have really been wild if Luann had skydived into Tiff’s Doll-O-Ween party.

Not for me. I hate the sensation of weightlessness or falling. Discovered that riding roller coasters.

This may be the start of Luann getting a life.

One wonder where our eponymous Luann goes from here? Up to recently she has been destined for a role in teaching. Now we see a new Luann being molded as (maybe) an author with a newfound joie de vivre. Such a character would need anew character as a love interest. Alas. None of the male characters fit the bill. I don’t see Quill returning and Piro and Jack just seem to fall short. The rest are committed or have shown interest in others, i.e., Oxford. So I see a new male character on the horizon.

It looks like Luann’s skydiving with Bernice!

Looking good Luann I knew you could do it.

I didn’t know she was doing a tandem. She wasn’t trained to go solo but this wasn’t mentioned.

Nice.

I’d be out cold in the first 4 feet.

… I am peeing in my pants

Can no one just cheer that Luann has finally done this? I’m 76 and always wanted to do skydiving or hang gliding and never did…closest I got was going up in a hot air balloon. For heavens sake, YAY LUANN FOR DOING THIS!!

I’m glad that Luann went through with it. It looks like she is having a great time.

Luann is writing in present tense, so this is an essay for the future.

PAGE 3!!!!!

I’m not convinced she’s really doing this. It seems more like her imaginative writing assignment.

I just did a bit of research, and tandem skydiving students DON’T wear helmets when they jump.

Main chute failure?

At this point, the story appears to be unquestionably a retrospective as told by Luann for her creative writing assignment. Notice that it doesn’t even mention the possibility of any additional jumpers leaving the plane at about the same time and seeing each other as well as experiencing their own sense of flight. Hence, at this point, we just don’t know how much of this is selective subjective memory of Luann’s real experience or if it is entirely the product of her own imagination. We also don’t see any of the paraphernalia that would be needed to make a video recording for Luann to take away with her — which could have been very helpful to her while trying to put the experience into writing. Likewise, this renders moot any questions about helmets or any other practical equipment that might have been needed for an actual jump experience but which could be omitted or glossed over in the retelling of the tale.

Wow, this truly IS Un-luannlike. I’d never think she’d have the courage to jump from a perfectly good airplane.

♫ Woke up this morning with a rip cord in my hand

Whose plane? What plane?

Where the hell did I dive?

Must have been a dream

I don’t believe where I’ve been

Come on, let’s do it again

Do you, you feel like I do?

Do you, you feel like I do? ♪

.

Apologies to Peter Frampton

yay Go Luann!

It’s nice to see Luann so happy! I just hope this is really happening and it’s not like the Bets/Gun dream sequence, when they came back home with their broken vanagon.

Is it just me or does the instructor look a little like Bernice?

I gotta feeling that this whole story is just in Luann’s imagination and it never really happened.

Is this the novella mode?

This stream-of-consciousness works. The best story line in a long time.

I learned on an episode of THE JEFFERSONS that a crash landing is usually a safer bet than a parachute bailout…

LuAnn’s first jump looks a lot more fun than my first one. It was with the military and was a static line jump. I think I came out an inch shorter after the ’chute opened.

So now my question is, who was the figure in the black helmet on December 2?

I hope Luann really jumped, because other than Toni and Brad exchanging wedding vows, this about the only thing that actually did go through.

Luann courageous with the heart of a Lion (⁠☞⁠ ͡⁠°⁠ ͜⁠ʖ⁠ ͡⁠°⁠)⁠☞

At least nobody can complain this week doesn’t feature Luann enough

I think this will end with Luann standing in front of the class reading her story. We will never know if she really jumped.

As easy as falling out of a plane!

Wearing shades during a dive?

Touch down and a new Luann!

I sure hope she made the jump and this isn’t just fiction…

I’m reminded of the joke about paratroopers. A paratrooper is a guy smart enough to handle a parachute, but dumb enough to jump out of an airplane.

Cooooooooooooool!!!!

HOT DIGGETY DOG!!! SHE JUMPED! SHE JUMPED! Something good FINALLY happened for Luanne! Take that, Bernice! Take THAT< Tara! LUANNE JUMPED!

“It was then and there that I decided to become a Navy SEAL”.

Way to go, Luann! I’m proud of her for taking risks. Her mom, however, is going to have a duck fit.

A helmet isn’t going to save you if the chute fails to open and you hit the ground at terminal velocity. I wouldn’t wear one either.

Made up story…

HAPPY LANDING!!!

Hey, who cares about the helmet? The fact that Luann actually jumped is AMAZING! Kudos on her for being brave enough to do that!! Way to go Luann!

I sang ‘Spanish Moon’, the Little Feat song.

Luann is going to have some epic hair tangle. Ouch!

How beautiful! Pure joy! Luann hadn’t been this happy in years. It seems like this jump was really what she needed to unlock both her soul and her writing skills. And all this, despite everything, is thanks to Tara. She was terrible in bailed without telling her, but she was the one who got her into skydiving in the first place. I think doing it without her friends gives to the action more depth and importance. Go Luann!

She’s not jumping, she’s writing a story about jumping.

YAAAY for Luann, she did it!!

I also write.

Good for Luann, she will remember this as one of her best experiences.

No way she’s screaming with the wind rushing at her that fast. And I found it difficult to open my mouth that wide.

(What, no…)I wet my pants

Shouldn’t she be wearing a helmet?

These are outstanding panels. Personal growth in physical, emotional and mental dimensions. The demonstration of good writing from Luann based on her willingness to grow as a person and challenger herself.

We need more of this – promoting the good in people.

Ah HO! Count ❤️ing lowly unworthies… Of Course all you lowly unworthies recognize the text after the first sentence as being Straight Outta “Seduction for Fun and Profit”, the International Best Seller by Our Dearest Ann❤️Eiffel. Sultry Ann❤️Eiffel was talking about Something Else Entirely… If you know what The❤️Count means and The❤️Count thinks you do… Well, at least some of you lowly unworthies. AND… Assuming the parachute opens… They Will Have A Safe Landing and… An Ann❤️Eiffel *HAPPY❤️ENDING™!!! See? All the G.I.Bill, Scholarship and Grant bucks supplemented by $$ from the athletic department for ghost writing essays and term papers for the knuckle dragging troglodytes on the football team The Brilliant❤️Count could be awarded an advanced degree or two in English Literature learning all about useless crap like metaphor and symbolism now pays off. Or maybe the movie was just about a big monkey climbing a building with Fay Wray in his paw. Who knows? AND… Bonus… Our Be❤️ed Count also thinks the sky diving instructor with the long, curly red hair has definite potential to be an ❤️Eiffelette!! Yet another Ann❤️Eiffel Happy❤️Ending™! No wonder we ALL ❤️ Ann❤️Eiffel!! And How ‘Bout Dem Bengals, Boy Howdy! The❤️Count knows that you lowly unworthies would ❤️ the Brilliant❤️Count to stay and enlighten you more BUT… Oodles for your Be❤️ed Count to do today including go to Hard Rock Casino and collect the $18.18 The❤️Count won on the aforementioned Bengals game Monday night… wasn’t that a frog strangler, boy howdy. TTFN… Be Safe and Kind to One Another (Like Ann❤️Eiffel and The❤️Count) and Tune In Tomorrow… Same Time… Same Channel … Toodles, Noodles…. Count OUT!

Even better prose than yesterday. GREAT job, G & K!!

I’m reading all the comments and people saying something like if the parachute didn’t open, the helmet would be wearing HER. But I STILL think for liability and insurance, she should be wearing a helmet. Plus, when they land, there is risk of hitting the ground first with your feet, but then toppling over and hitting your head. Maybe on a rock! I mean, if the INSTRUCTOR is wearing a helmet, then the STUDENT/Participant should be required to do so!

Aaaaaand… we have jump out! YES!

Tomorrow’s strip is a solid black rectangle. The end of the Luann comics.

Oh, hm, that’s a little dark, eh?

I was sure Luann would be required to wear a helmet.

ok now i don’t believe it, they reached the climax too fast, unless the rest of the week is her telling everyone how great it was an no one listens, i think it will end with her, still sitting in her car afraid to get out.

My next line would probably be “I soil myself”. I can’t handle heights. My kryptonite

Good for her

No pilot?!!?

…I forget to pull the cord.

My chute doesn’t open. I splat. I die.

Luann this will change your life. My brother was a master jumper. He loved it, and raved about the exhilaration he felt especially in free fall. He always said that once you skydive, you really don’t fear much after that. He was going to get me involved, but he passed from cancer before that happened.

So, this is her fantasy sequence before she chickens out?

Utterly Bogus

Lucky for her she’s just a comic strip.

oh, so she’s the… okay, now I get it. thee instructor is the parachute. :J

Her hair is blowing up and over the helmet.

So she actually did it. So much for you doubters. lol

If a wimp like me can do it, Luanne can.

What Luanne wrote is true. I can still recall how time slowed down, and how all fear left me the instant I left the plane.

“That’s nice, Luann, but I wanted you to turn in a story about Piro. And this is several weeks late.”

It’s a dream!

Well done!

Once the chute opens you drift down very peacefully. You can’t tell how high you are until you get close to the trees. I did a solo jump in the 80s. I would not want to tandem jump without having my own parachute attached to me. I jumped from 3000 feet and the descent took about 4 minutes. The only scary part was seeing the person ahead of me leaving the plane.

I tell you, this is the next time-skip. Or time-jump, if you will.

Saturday – Luann sitting at the kitchen table with Frank – she is reading this story to him – then Frank thanks Luann for transferring the jump to him.

Beautiful, Greg.

Splat

“And…whoops! I wet myself…”

Go Luann!

Do you think a helmet is really going to help? It would only be effective if she lands on her head. Even then, a broken neck is the real danger.

For those who have never skydived, here’s my memory. Back in college I made about 12 jumps before I realized how expensive this hobby was and had to quit. The visual on tv and comics such as this is the jumper appears to be floating like a gentle leaf when he leaves the plane – slowly, gently, quietly, and serene. Not true at all! You are literally falling like a rock! Quickly and heavily – not serene at all. For the first few jumps until you get used to it – it IS terrifying.

Next arc should show Tara trying to top Luann by skygliding. But the plane wing cuts off her head like what happened to the French skyglider recently.

Tara somehow survives, like Mike the Headless Chicken and she shows her new ability to function headlessly just to show up Luann.

Poetic license is granted to the writers of Luann so her hair can flow in the wind and we can truly see her exhilarated expression.

So she was wearing a helmet on Saturday to walk to the plane, but not on Monday (still walking to the plane) or today when she jumped out of it? It’s looking more and more likely that Frank is the one who actually jumped, and Luann is just telling his story as if it were her own.

the REAL question is….did this happen, did she actually do it, or is it being typed on her laptop, via her imagination?!

This is what she needed to be a writer, to live life. Her writer’s block came from the fact she’s been a couch potato for most of her life.

Well done Luann!

And later her little twinkie “friends” regretted their decision to NOT go.

I’m really enjoying this change in writing and layout.

The kids back at school will love this. A long line of kids waiting to do ther jump. Business will be jumping. It’s the start of super Luann travels $$$$ leave the little kid stuff behind you.

I thought Luann got the video package. I hope so, even if there is no video equipment visible in today’s strip. But if not, doesn’t mean she didn’t jump.

Where’s Frank? I was promised Frank would make this jump? :-)

Luann: “Let’s go again!”

She did it……..so far so good!

I relax…

I plummet…

I fall…

The chute goes pfft….

I splat!

As a tandem passenger, you are harnessed in front of your instructor. If you wore a hard-shelled helmet, you have the potential of hitting your instructor in the head! For safety reasons, you will not wear a hard-shelled helmet.

I loved skydiving. The anxiety and tension started leaving me as the plane left the ground and it became not a scary possibility but a reality.

I am thinking how lucky I am to have possibly witnessed this personal growth for Luann.This may have been the best arc ever for Luann. I hope it keep going for her.I guess I was tired of the whole silliness of Tiff, Stephanie, Bets and Gun where High school has no end. This was good! Keep it rolling G&K

“I realize at 3000 feet that this could be the biggest mistake of my life”

DEFINITELY DREAMING

“I splat!”

Tandem jumps are weak sauce. Having done the proper classes, several static line jumps and then doing your first free-fall on your own…THAT is what really makes skydiving. Tandem jumps are just going for a ride… mildly cool but not doing anything other than being a passenger.

Why did Luann have BLACK hair on Saturday??? Makes no sense!

She’s plenty hard-headed.

I have a heart attack at the door!

As a person who has skydived, my first jump was a tandem & while my partner wore a helmet, I did not!! It was great & if she did really jump it is something she’ll never forget, a true feeling of accomplishment.

“…..I splat.”

Yeah we wait and see, but it really is sad that so many comments are about this being fake, or Luann being unable (if she was real) to do something outside the box for once in her life.

My friend Vicky was a shy, obese young woman who always wore black. ONE day, after having been insulted by a drunken acquaintance, she showed up at a party, wearing colorful clothes, forced herself to talk and be part of things, instead of a watcher. She was the life of the party, and was not forcing anything within an hour. She never went back. In fact she got the determination to join a gym. lost over 100 lbs, and despite being in her late 50’s is still a real hottie! And more importantly, an awesome PERSON.

Sometimes all you need is a figurative push, to inspire you, even if it comes from a bad place, to galvanize your attitude to change yourself. It triggers determination.

This seems to be a very important milestone in her life…a turning point. I think this is a great arc!

She smiles.

For all you people who are obsessed about the frickin black helmet………

Did you ever stop to think that maybe Luann just decided to not wear it?? They are removable you know.

For that matter, the instructors helmet was white in Saturday’s strip, and now it’s black. No one going to nit-pick about that? Maybe insist that isn’t really the flight instructor, it’s Bernice?

After reading more of the other comments I am wondering if the jump did happen. That she is not wearing a helmet is troubling. I fear that only in her imagination would this happen.

All this fuss about helmet colors – Black and white art does not necessarily determine actual colors. Greg sets that down in the base art before color. It may be just how he wants to play black against white for compositional reasons.

Good for you Luie! It’s always scary trying something new and different

Way to go, Luann. You did it! And Greg had better not pull some cute stunt and muck up her joy.

I don’t think I’ve ever been so wrapped up in a comic strip. Except for the day Farley died.

My ears whistle trying to equalize the air pressure

She did for herself

this is really great stuff!

I go splat.

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of EarthAnd danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirthOf sun-split clouds, – and done a hundred thingsYou have not dreamed of … John Gillespie McGee. from “High Flight”

When I did my dive, it was a tandem dive. My instructor wore a helmet but I did not, just goggles.The feeling of accomplishment is great for Luann, she’ll never forget the experience and hopefully her self confidence will soar like she’s doing!!!

The fact Luann lived to write a creative description of dive assures me she did not end up as splatter, bug on a windshield. Whew, suspense was killing me!

GOOD FOR LUANN! I spite of all her self absorbed friends she did something for herself.

It only hurts when you land.

Tandum jumps can be very cool, fun, memorable and training is minimal for them……

I have to go to the bathroom

WHEEEE!!! And here comes the RUSH! Go Luann!

This is one of my favorite storylines so far. I think this is going to be life changing for Luanne.

I will be very disappointed if this turns out to be a Gunther-like dream sequence.

I’m going with, she hasn’t actually jumped. She’s still standing in the lobby of the office, daydreaming about doing it. Nothing once she realized she was going alone fit Luann’s usual SOP. The “landing” will be when the instructor wakes her up, “Luann? Luann? Are you okay? Are you ready to get on the plane?”

Watch that first step, it’s a doozy.

372 comments as I write. Ann Eiffel level of response without a villain in sight. So nice.

Yay!! :)

This is what she needs to become a great writer…

“(♪♫) Boy, the shows that genius made…

Shows on TV’s hit parade,

Viewers like us, we had it made,

We loved his shows!"

Norman Lear, legendary TV producer, 1922-2023.

Norman, you will surely be missed.

R. I. P.

I’m so happy she did it!!!

Is this really happening???

I went skydiving when I turned 25. It was a fun, exciting experience, but it did not change me or my life in any way.

Airborne.

Kinda gave me goosebumps a little bit!

E-Ticket ride!

Good for Luann! She did it! This could be life-changing.

She did it! And she’s having fun.

Can’t remember a time Luann looked so happy.

Ground control to Major Tom………….

“My mind races…”

Does that mean Luann’s a “fast thinker”? d;o)

I hope Luann makes it out ok!

tomorrow: Luann lands, then pukes. :-/

Now let’s see Luann do a solo jump

Anyone think the Evanses researched this?

Can it be that Luann has finally found her “writer’s voice”?

I’m so happy I cried.

Soar like a bird! —Along with “Curly Joe” (or should that be Curly Jo?)!

—In your dreams, Lulu. But at least this fantasy happens to be articulate, for a change….

The first (and only) time I did a tandem skydiving jump, I remember how calm I felt standing on the landing gear ready to step off, and how intense was the adrenaline rush the moment I felt my foot lose contact with the airplane. The wind made the goggles slip up to the bottom of my eyes so I couldn’t see the instructor signaling me to pull the cord, so he did – too late to avoid parachuting through a cloud.