As an English education major, I have read many of the classics. Moby Dick was the most difficult book to plow through if all the required reading. I can’t imagine anybody having fun reading it!
I was a literature major in college and couldn’t get past page 50 on Moby Dick. Years later I saw a Woody Allen movie where he said the same thing. I loved that!
i’m not even reading this. It’s not even funny anymore. If I log in, and I see this stuff, I’m moving on until it stops. Long time customer here, but now, bye.
When I was in high school, two novels that were “required reading” were “Sister Carrie” and “The Return of the Native”. Naturally, I was resentful then; today, they are two of my favorites!
This week has been our fantasy, too: living out what we were supposed to do but never, or partly, did. Of course, tales to grandkids and nieces and nephews may reveal the we that never were.
I am thoroughly enjoying the Fantasy arc and the guest artwork. I love all of my kids but I would have paid large money for one like this, since we’re talking fantasy anyway.
Imagine me. It was the first book that totally took me in to the story. I felt that I was one of the crew. It blew my mind and made me look for more books that did the same thing. It’s been a wonderful ongoing journey.
So, is any of this supposed to be interesting? Or just someone completing some sort of school project (this weeks art/storyline)? I just find it grating. Is that the idea?
Yeah, a week of this is too much. The point seems to be that Brad and Toni want kids for silly reazons, but Saturday’s comic drove that home a lot more effectively than this entire week of self-delusion. Sometimes, less is more.
I’m sure of it now. Toni reads “Baldo” and sees Gracie as the ideal daughter, without seeing the deep sadness of a child who, without school, books to read or rules to follow, never knows what to do. I wonder if at the end of these fantasies Toni will sigh sadly because Shannon is not as she dreams and or will hug her for the same reason. Jay Fosgitt really knows how to draw overly happy children.
I hope today being Friday means we’re done with this story arc. Its one gag has been milked for all it’s worth, and then some! Others are more than welcome to disagree, but I’ve been finding it tedious since about Wednesday. (And for those who will predictably ask why I keep coming back to read it, I normally enjoy this strip so I come back every day, hoping — in this case — to see something new.)
A standard extra credit question when I taught HS literature was…What is the single worst piece of literature that ever cost a forest its existence? You guessed it…“Moby Dick”…
Am I the only one thinking that you guys go down more rabbit holes than any commentors in the history of commentors?? How did the whole comment feed get on every classic that you read; didn’t read; liked; thought was too long (so stopped in the middle) and/or loved cause it made you a better human?
Can we talk about the weird Shannon that is weirder than any 6 year old in the history of 6 year olds?? LOL. I am over here smh…
“Jane Eyre” and “Moby Dick.” Two books I could not stand.
I wrote about both on my Substack page in my essay: “How I Learned To Write.”
We had to do “Jane Eyre” in my middle school eighth grade. The book is perfect for 12-year-old middle-class girls who have just discovered that boys want to find out what’s under their dress and play with it. The girls all dream of being Jane Eyre and swept off their feet by a mysterious, chiseled, and wealthy Mr. Rochester. I couldn’t understand why Mr. Rochester didn’t just boot his lunatic wife out of that tower. He was a rich English gentleman in the Regency: he could have gotten away with it. If I hadn’t read the Classic Comics version, I would not have got a 95 in that unit.
With “Moby Dick,” I was done in by three things: first, I sympathized with the whales. I found the humans cruel. Second, the book was too long, with chapter on the biology of whales. Third, whales don’t eat people…they eat plankton.
I have a hard time remembering any book I read in school that I enjoyed. Maybe Hemingway’s “A Farewell to Arms.” Great journalistic description of the disaster at Caporetto in the War to End All Wars on the Italian Front. Nobody remembers that part of the war outside of Italy.
I loved Moby Dick, it was never meant to be happy fun time, but it is great literature, harsh, insightful, and quite realistic. A lot of us have a great white whale we are chasing! ;-)
I’m one of the few people who has read Gravity’s Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon. Talk about a hard book to plow through. My favorite book of all time is The Brothers Karamazov—I’ve read it a half dozen times. Great book, but tough to read: Make a list of all the characters as you read. It does have the greatest stand-alone piece: The Grand Inquisitor.
What’s next? Shannon finshes Med School about the same time she finshes high school? She’s supposed to be anothe Doogie Kamealoha? (Diseny plus remake of Doogie Howser.)
I’m wondering if Toni will come down to earth and realize that this absurd version of a 6 yr old child is unrealistic. Does she really believe she can raise a child to be this way? Will Brad rearrange her thinking on the matter (if he even knows what she is imagining).
Main Street (Sinclair Lewis) was unbearable for me. I liked Macbeth once I found it described in what I would call ‘proper’ english. Shgakespearean might make for great flowery speeches in plays, but for just trying to get your ideas across, not so much.
lvlax 4 days ago
Tonight was a real eye-opener.. wow!
barbsmithphotos 4 days ago
Lolololol
Mordock999 Premium Member 4 days ago
“I can get ahead on my schoolwork and lay out clothes for a week???”
THAT, ladies and gentlemen IS Bernice!!
At the very least We’re looking Bernice’s future kid. ;-)
Sue Ellen 4 days ago
As an English education major, I have read many of the classics. Moby Dick was the most difficult book to plow through if all the required reading. I can’t imagine anybody having fun reading it!
platinumboy7 4 days ago
Okay, is this the new Luann or are we just in Fantasyland. I vote Fantasyland, but I’m not 100% sure.
kenhense 4 days ago
I was a literature major in college and couldn’t get past page 50 on Moby Dick. Years later I saw a Woody Allen movie where he said the same thing. I loved that!
Joe1962 Premium Member 4 days ago
We seeing a different side to Shannon.
The Humanist Boss 4 days ago
Why did some say Moby Dick is hard to read? is it because of archaic words?
When is the usual art style back?
Caldonia 4 days ago
The whole family needs therapy.
Argythree 4 days ago
Okay, NOBODY expects a kid to be like this!
oldcomicsfan 4 days ago
i’m not even reading this. It’s not even funny anymore. If I log in, and I see this stuff, I’m moving on until it stops. Long time customer here, but now, bye.
Need coffee 4 days ago
Is anyone enjoying this?
wheaters 4 days ago
This is a truly boring thread.
howtheduck 4 days ago
Why is the couch seat so high that Toni’s feet do not touch the floor?
Linnorm 4 days ago
Not that I’m complaining, but why the different artist? Greg and Karen on vacation?
cdoorn98 4 days ago
Almost looks like they’re raising a Bernice.
9thCapricorn 4 days ago
Barf. Hate this version of Shannon. She’s not human.
Rhetorical_Question 4 days ago
Shan android? Brad and Toni having a private moment?
diazch408 4 days ago
This is so cute, and so odd!
Wilkins068 4 days ago
All that stuff Shannon’s tellin em is just somethin to throw em off track while she cooks up another batch of meth in her room
snsurone76 4 days ago
When I was in high school, two novels that were “required reading” were “Sister Carrie” and “The Return of the Native”. Naturally, I was resentful then; today, they are two of my favorites!
pasharuzam Premium Member 4 days ago
This week has been our fantasy, too: living out what we were supposed to do but never, or partly, did. Of course, tales to grandkids and nieces and nephews may reveal the we that never were.
French Persons Premium Member 4 days ago
They don’t want a child. They want a live-in servant/housekeeper.
The Old Wolf 4 days ago
I am thoroughly enjoying the Fantasy arc and the guest artwork. I love all of my kids but I would have paid large money for one like this, since we’re talking fantasy anyway.
kertimjo 4 days ago
Glad it’s not “Last of the Mohicans” – the book’s ending is more devastating than any movie script – not for kids without parent/teacher supervision.
wombat1417 4 days ago
End this.
Batteries 4 days ago
Frazz had a Moby Dick reference, too.
sueb1863 4 days ago
Jonah shows up.
“So! What did you guys decide?”
“Oh – um, we haven’t actually talked about-”
“Great! Here’s her suitcase. See you in a month!”
sbenton7684 4 days ago
Imagine me. It was the first book that totally took me in to the story. I felt that I was one of the crew. It blew my mind and made me look for more books that did the same thing. It’s been a wonderful ongoing journey.
tremaine53 4 days ago
Moby Dick is not hyphenated.
flingwing 4 days ago
The Brothers Karamazov
Namrepus 4 days ago
Getting back to the real Shannon will be a needle scratching on the record moment.
Ellis97 4 days ago
Like I said, Toni has a very active imagination. Not to mention, she’s got some ridiculously high expectations for her potential offspring.
dalemcginnis 4 days ago
will this series ever be over? Don’t think I’ve ever been so sick of a plot lie before
papajim545 4 days ago
I still hate this new artist, and the story line is putrid
Count Olaf Premium Member 4 days ago
Rather than that, maybe Shannon should simply read a good book.
Gargoyle 4 days ago
So, is any of this supposed to be interesting? Or just someone completing some sort of school project (this weeks art/storyline)? I just find it grating. Is that the idea?
doodlerjeff 4 days ago
This is just stupid.
Twelve Badgers in a Suit Premium Member 4 days ago
Yeah, a week of this is too much. The point seems to be that Brad and Toni want kids for silly reazons, but Saturday’s comic drove that home a lot more effectively than this entire week of self-delusion. Sometimes, less is more.
myfb1955 4 days ago
When, oh WHEN will this journey be over?
Gary Davis Premium Member 4 days ago
Are you using AI to draw your comics? Stop it, look’s dumb!
Aladar30 Premium Member 4 days ago
I’m sure of it now. Toni reads “Baldo” and sees Gracie as the ideal daughter, without seeing the deep sadness of a child who, without school, books to read or rules to follow, never knows what to do. I wonder if at the end of these fantasies Toni will sigh sadly because Shannon is not as she dreams and or will hug her for the same reason. Jay Fosgitt really knows how to draw overly happy children.
wolfiiig 4 days ago
Call her Ishmael?
PaulSones 4 days ago
Obviously, you’ve never delved into Faulkner.
larryzolcienski 4 days ago
I think this arc is boring.
chrisbar9 4 days ago
I hope today being Friday means we’re done with this story arc. Its one gag has been milked for all it’s worth, and then some! Others are more than welcome to disagree, but I’ve been finding it tedious since about Wednesday. (And for those who will predictably ask why I keep coming back to read it, I normally enjoy this strip so I come back every day, hoping — in this case — to see something new.)
MiseFéin 4 days ago
This is NOT Luann. Skipping this until the real artists return.
lemonbaskt 4 days ago
wheres luann and no shes not with crankshaft
relaw 4 days ago
She said Dick. Heh-heh, heh-heh!
MuddyUSA Premium Member 4 days ago
Well, they get an hour alone…………
Lord King Wazmo Premium Member 4 days ago
Attagirl! Love ya, Shan.
GaryCooper 4 days ago
Why not “Ulysses”?
poppacapsmokeblower 4 days ago
Such a child would be intolerable, even to perfect parents, not to mention unhuman.
waidmann99 4 days ago
Sue Ellen, Moby Dick was the most difficult? Ever read Last of the Mohicans? The Classic comic was great and the movie was OK. But the book? Yikes.
VoodooMom 4 days ago
They can vacate this stupid arc at any time. At best, it’s vacuous, at worst, totally annoying.
BB71 4 days ago
What happened to this comic? Is someone else writing it?
smartgrr 4 days ago
This arc is really, really annoying.
CoreyTaylor1 4 days ago
Can we get back to the real story? Dragging this fantasy out is going to make the return of the brat all the more annoying!
KEA 4 days ago
My dreams are never this good.
Meg: Cute as a Button... The ON is important! 4 days ago
I feel she’s going to get beat up a lot.
nightflight 4 days ago
…….and, next week when they finally wake up, they’ll be the real characters as drawn by Greg.
StoicLion1973 4 days ago
Ok, I’ve had enough of Fantasy Shannon. Let’s back to real Shannon. Like the art, tho; the style reminds me of Frank Cho’s Liberty Meadows.
Dave's Not Here, Man 4 days ago
This is just a truly bizarre dream sequence.
djminor321 4 days ago
I’m waiting for Mr. Roarke to come out and ask them did they enjoy their stay on Fantasy Island.
Ordinary Average Guy 4 days ago
STOP IT GREG, PLEASE!!!
papamac630 4 days ago
rlamb2017 4 days ago
curious if we’ll see other characters in this art style
locake 4 days ago
Brad looks so weird in the first panel. He looks more like a female than Toni does. Glad we only have one more week of the different art style.
eced52 4 days ago
This has to be an alternate universe.
jaymatthews49 Premium Member 4 days ago
I’ve had enough of this. Go back to the regular Luann!
Georgia Reader 4 days ago
Am I the only one thinking that you guys go down more rabbit holes than any commentors in the history of commentors?? How did the whole comment feed get on every classic that you read; didn’t read; liked; thought was too long (so stopped in the middle) and/or loved cause it made you a better human?
Can we talk about the weird Shannon that is weirder than any 6 year old in the history of 6 year olds?? LOL. I am over here smh…
Carlson-Ghost Premium Member 4 days ago
Somehow i can’t imagine any firefighter’s fantasy (male or female) would be their child reading Moby Dick! (Or anyone’s really…)
AwelCruiz 4 days ago
So when does the strip become funny again?
pearlyqim 4 days ago
No good story lines for quite a while!!
Kiwiwriter47 4 days ago
“Jane Eyre” and “Moby Dick.” Two books I could not stand.
I wrote about both on my Substack page in my essay: “How I Learned To Write.”
We had to do “Jane Eyre” in my middle school eighth grade. The book is perfect for 12-year-old middle-class girls who have just discovered that boys want to find out what’s under their dress and play with it. The girls all dream of being Jane Eyre and swept off their feet by a mysterious, chiseled, and wealthy Mr. Rochester. I couldn’t understand why Mr. Rochester didn’t just boot his lunatic wife out of that tower. He was a rich English gentleman in the Regency: he could have gotten away with it. If I hadn’t read the Classic Comics version, I would not have got a 95 in that unit.
With “Moby Dick,” I was done in by three things: first, I sympathized with the whales. I found the humans cruel. Second, the book was too long, with chapter on the biology of whales. Third, whales don’t eat people…they eat plankton.
I have a hard time remembering any book I read in school that I enjoyed. Maybe Hemingway’s “A Farewell to Arms.” Great journalistic description of the disaster at Caporetto in the War to End All Wars on the Italian Front. Nobody remembers that part of the war outside of Italy.
my1friend 4 days ago
Brad has a full head of hair, looks good
lnrokr55 4 days ago
I loved Moby Dick, it was never meant to be happy fun time, but it is great literature, harsh, insightful, and quite realistic. A lot of us have a great white whale we are chasing! ;-)
lanainutahdesert 4 days ago
I’m one of the few people who has read Gravity’s Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon. Talk about a hard book to plow through. My favorite book of all time is The Brothers Karamazov—I’ve read it a half dozen times. Great book, but tough to read: Make a list of all the characters as you read. It does have the greatest stand-alone piece: The Grand Inquisitor.
The Quiet One 4 days ago
It’s time we get back to reality.
Murph1908 4 days ago
This is it. It’s the arc that gets me to remove Luann from my daily read list. It’s been coming for a while.
Teto85 Premium Member 4 days ago
Moby Dick was based on a real incident. Look it up.
BLUEBONNETS Premium Member 4 days ago
“Call me fishmeal.” … MAD Magazine
continental_line 4 days ago
Me? I’m happy when what my grandniece does what she is supposed to without reminding her.
geneking7320 4 days ago
I haven’t read all the comments since the guest artist started but I have a question:Has anyone noticed how obnoxious Shannon is NOT recently?
WilliamVollmer 4 days ago
What’s next? Shannon finshes Med School about the same time she finshes high school? She’s supposed to be anothe Doogie Kamealoha? (Diseny plus remake of Doogie Howser.)
Sheriff Mordecai Premium Member 4 days ago
All these references to weighty literature … and here we are commenting about a comic strip. Pretty good bookends in readers’ tastes. No pun intended.
Nemenut 4 days ago
“Moby WHAT???”… Harry Wormwood
leighabc123 4 days ago
One more day of perfect Shannon. Then the real Shannon will come back!
Dragoncat 4 days ago
This Shannon must really, really, REALLY love a challenge.
Imagine if they suggested reading Harry Potter or Game of Thrones…
RSH 4 days ago
I’m wondering if Toni will come down to earth and realize that this absurd version of a 6 yr old child is unrealistic. Does she really believe she can raise a child to be this way? Will Brad rearrange her thinking on the matter (if he even knows what she is imagining).
David Huie Green ForceIsAUsefulFiction 4 days ago
Oh joy!!
pamela welch Premium Member 4 days ago
If these 2 ever do get around to having a child; they’re in for a rude awakening! LOLOL
kstewskis 4 days ago
I kinda feel like I’m reading about a “mini-Bernice” but with a much more joyful personality! :D
Otis Rufus Driftwood 4 days ago
So they imagine Shannon as a Caucasian Gracie Bermudez?
wfhite 3 days ago
This MUST be a dream sequence.
EXCALABUR 3 days ago
Please get this storyline over!
JB10000Lakes 3 days ago
Main Street (Sinclair Lewis) was unbearable for me. I liked Macbeth once I found it described in what I would call ‘proper’ english. Shgakespearean might make for great flowery speeches in plays, but for just trying to get your ideas across, not so much.