Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for January 17, 2024

I think that Bets is having sub-chronic withdrawal symptoms.

You need to decide Bets if you can find place where you and Gunther can find a place together. At this point you are going over the top to keep Gunther and trying to justify it as a noble sacrifice. You have used that but you are hurting. Talk, Talk, if you want a future together, plan it together.

Define happyish.

Oh Sweet Betsy from Pike!

There’s a “Privacy Hut” here, youngins!

SHUT UP and USE IT!!!

It seems awfully self-centered of her to imagine being annoyed by fans. We’ve never seen anything like that before. Presumably most of them live somewhere else…and she’s not Beyonce or Taylor Swift, just a college student who likes cosplay with her boyfriend. If they did meet someone who followed her, she could say “Thank you so much!” and keep going.

Gunther let her off too easy. He is not happy with the binge comfortable. He wants to have the good things they shared before.

Freud said that his job was to restore people with severe mental conditions back to ordinary human misery.

Gunther is suggesting compromising. A very mature but difficult concept for a healthy relationship. Finding the happy medium feels like a art form at times.

How about going to cosmo events without filming and posting everything you do together? Have fun but respect your privacy.

I remember their being asked for autographs at a con. But maybe that was in the book.

So you have a problem, just sleep on it.

This.. is a job for Bernice the therapist.

Gunter’s willing to compromise and he can live with that. Bets seems more like there’s no gray area in between. Its either all the way this way or all the way that way.

I’m thinkin one of them is thinking that they dont belong together. I’m bettin its not Gunter. If I rmember right they’ve allready had that discussion at least once

They should sing “I Want To Be Happy” from the 1920’s musical “No, No, Nanette”.

Happyish. Yeah, that sounds like a great life goal. Gunther is a dope.

Where is this going?

For Gunther it’s a hobby. For Bets an obsession. Respect that and move on.

What say they just give this narcissist, her enablers, her fan base and all that goes with it their own strip. Then, those who revel in this kind of crud could continue to wallow, while the rest could catch up with Luann, the family, the cafe, etc., etc. Seems like there’s much more story there than in this silly little attention freak’s antics.

I really hate any storyline with Bets. The writers had a chance to write her out and they didn’t. The strip is called “Luann” and these peripheral characters shouldn’t have their own stories

We might be headed for a happy ending.

If Bets & Gun continue to go to cons & dress up/cosplay, they are going to be recorded. It will just be by others, be it by other participants for there social media or the convention sponsors for publicity purposes. I don’t blame Bets for being depressed over giving up her digital autonomy in a world where social media is deciding presidencies. Gunther is hopelessly naive at best to expect balance out of this.

Go to conventions, just don’t spend the whole time taking videos. You can do it.

Is she even a student? I think she’s more of a vagrant than she is a student.

So, what will the compromise be?

We’ll have to plot this out on the Happitude Scale that Gunther invented back in high school.

Oh mush!!!

Ever heard of “moderation”?

She’s not a girl who misses much

Do do do do do do, oh yeah

She’s well-acquainted with the touch of the velvet hand

I need a fix ‘cause I’m going down

Happiness is a warm Gun, yes it is

When I hold you in my arms (ooh, oh, yeah)

And I feel my finger on your trigger (ooh, oh, yeah)

Because I know nobody can do me no harm (ooh, oh, yeah)

Because

Happiness is a warm Gun, yes it is

I know how she could make him happy.

Time to move on Gun! Then you’ll find happiness

Can’t you two just enjoy being together in peace?

Gunther and Dez seem to be wise before their time. They could end up as a power couple, except she’s very free spirited and he’s on the stodgy side.

Go on Lassie! Get out of here Lassie! I don’t love you Lassie!

I can understand Bets. She severed all connections with the media when a wave of hate was hitting them. She probably never explained anything even to those followers who she knew personally and with whom she had phone and email contact. The risk of bump into them and having to explain what happened would ruin the pleasure of going to a Con. I also think that the wave of hate left a very bad impression on her and she can no longer trust her former followers. But Gunther is right, she can’t stay like this and keep running away. She has to start doing something again and he finally seems to really be able to help her.

If they’re together 20 years from now, she will regret giving up the excitement. He will not regret giving up the comfy routine. Your comfort zone is nice, but it’s not where memories are made. “Youth is wasted on the young” applies. So does “live fast, die young” (James Dean).

Kiss the girl.

he’s obviously not happy with the comfy routine.

Gunther was happy cosplaying and going to cons. He was not happy with all the being second place to a camera and people who were not even in the room.

Ah, dealing with fame

Rip the band-aid off and break up already.

nothing wrong with contentment

enough already with this teen-age angst crap…think Brad and Toni

Okay, Bets in the last panel is just being a pain now. That statement was meaningless. Gunther saying it was him letting you know that he is okay with still doing a lot of what they did before. Bets saying it back is just a circular argument to keep them stuck. She’s doing something very hard and I get that, but staying stuck like this isn’t healthy and it isn’t going to end well. She needs to actually acknowledge the whole situation so she can then process it and find a way forward.

“Love is that state where another person’s happiness is essential to your own.” (from Stranger in a Strange Land, R.A.Heinlein).

Good luck to these two.

I still want to know what happened to that poor DeGroot family that was trapped in a snow bound cabin before Christmas. Visions of the Donner party come to mind.

when you cannot be happy, be content/when you cannot be happy, be content/ content is compromise/ a middle ground that is wise/ when you cannot be happy, be content

If Gunther would start using his right hand (which is under the covers) he might make her a lot happier. (just saying)

Gunther is willing to compromise. I hope Bets can find middle ground as well.

How about Bets keeps live streaming, but keeps her relationship with Gunther private.

You wanna be happy Gunth? Dump her and run.

Tomorrow Bets will somehow receive all the messages of support from her fans. That will give her the incentive to get back to being her real self.

Robert Heinlein’s definition of love: When another person’s happiness is essential to your own.

Ok…happyish…….

Easy to correc, Bets just ease up on the socials, Gunther likes cosplay. Just make it less invasive. Easy. This is like pulling teeth slowly, excruciating painful.

Happy-for-you is happy.. innit?

I like the comment above from Chaddernaut. Basically it’s a couples compromise: both have to find out that region where they can be comfortable with each others lifestyle choices (and they both like aspects of the “comfy” lifestyle and the “social media and cosplay” lifestyle.") while sharing themselves and the whole of the relationship on agreeable terms. Couples do this all the time, often successfully, I might add

They are working too hard at this. In 52 years with my loving lass, our relationship has never required this much effort.

Happyish is something depressed people would want, Gunther.

Somewhat happy?

Gunther you are interpreting what Bets wants and needs and that wrong.

Hey, just cuddle quietly. Enjoy each other’s warmth for awhile. Maybe watch something neither of you have seen before

This is more sappyish than happyish.

They can do both, they just need to get the balance right.

“There are things which I do which do not make me happy. But if the things which I do make you happy, that will make me happy. That is good enough for me. I do not just say I love you I actually do.”

Bet’s, you’re over thinking this.

Just break up already.

Suffice it to say this arc has reached it’s climax, or soon will. They have it figured out now, so they can just relax and enjoy each other’s company.

Does she want to break up with Gun because they’re not in the same place in life?

Will Tiffany enter the room and come up with a solution for their relationship? She did help them one other time.

Caring about each other’s happiness is a darned good start.

I think settling for “happyish” could work for these star-crossed lovers….

Such an annoying character.

What’s the fella’s name on third base?….What’s the fella’s name on second base!—-I AIN’T ASKING YOU WHO’S ON SECOND!….No,Who’s on first?—I don’t know….THIRD BASE!!!