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.
Read Moby Dick for the first time in high school. Easy to recommend it to almost anyone, especially eager-reader kids middle school through high school. It is a true adventure story a page turner. The visual imagery of book puts you right there with the action. Early on there was a comparison of sizes to whales to traditional library & publisher book sizes (folio, quarto and octavo) was unexpected and charming. At least, to a person that grew up in a used book store :p
lvlax 5 months ago
Tonight was a real eye-opener.. wow!
barbsmithphotos 5 months ago
Lolololol
Mordock999 Premium Member 5 months 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 5 months 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 5 months ago
Okay, is this the new Luann or are we just in Fantasyland. I vote Fantasyland, but I’m not 100% sure.
kenhense 5 months 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 5 months ago
We seeing a different side to Shannon.
The Humanist 5 months 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 5 months ago
The whole family needs therapy.
Argythree 5 months ago
Okay, NOBODY expects a kid to be like this!
oldcomicsfan 5 months 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 5 months ago
Is anyone enjoying this?
wheaters 5 months ago
This is a truly boring thread.
howtheduck 5 months ago
Why is the couch seat so high that Toni’s feet do not touch the floor?
Linnorm 5 months ago
Not that I’m complaining, but why the different artist? Greg and Karen on vacation?
cdoorn98 5 months ago
Almost looks like they’re raising a Bernice.
9thCapricorn 5 months ago
Barf. Hate this version of Shannon. She’s not human.
Rhetorical_Question 5 months ago
Shan android? Brad and Toni having a private moment?
diazch408 5 months ago
This is so cute, and so odd!
Wilkins068 5 months 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 5 months 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 5 months 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 5 months ago
They don’t want a child. They want a live-in servant/housekeeper.
The Old Wolf 5 months 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 5 months 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 5 months ago
End this.
Batteries 5 months ago
Frazz had a Moby Dick reference, too.
sueb1863 5 months 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 5 months 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 5 months ago
Moby Dick is not hyphenated.
flingwing 5 months ago
The Brothers Karamazov
Namrepus 5 months ago
Getting back to the real Shannon will be a needle scratching on the record moment.
Ellis97 5 months 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 5 months ago
will this series ever be over? Don’t think I’ve ever been so sick of a plot lie before
papajim545 5 months ago
I still hate this new artist, and the story line is putrid
Count Olaf Premium Member 5 months ago
Rather than that, maybe Shannon should simply read a good book.
Gargoyle 5 months 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 5 months ago
This is just stupid.
Twelve Badgers in a Suit Premium Member 5 months 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 5 months ago
When, oh WHEN will this journey be over?
Gary Davis Premium Member 5 months ago
Are you using AI to draw your comics? Stop it, look’s dumb!
Aladar30 Premium Member 5 months 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 5 months ago
Call her Ishmael?
PaulSones 5 months ago
Obviously, you’ve never delved into Faulkner.
larryzolcienski 5 months ago
I think this arc is boring.
chrisbar9 5 months 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.)
Mise Féin 5 months ago
This is NOT Luann. Skipping this until the real artists return.
lemonbaskt 5 months ago
wheres luann and no shes not with crankshaft
relaw 5 months ago
She said Dick. Heh-heh, heh-heh!
MuddyUSA Premium Member 5 months ago
Well, they get an hour alone…………
Lord King Wazmo Premium Member 5 months ago
Attagirl! Love ya, Shan.
GaryCooper 5 months ago
Why not “Ulysses”?
poppacapsmokeblower 5 months ago
Such a child would be intolerable, even to perfect parents, not to mention unhuman.
waidmann99 5 months 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 5 months ago
They can vacate this stupid arc at any time. At best, it’s vacuous, at worst, totally annoying.
BB71 5 months ago
What happened to this comic? Is someone else writing it?
smartgrr 5 months ago
This arc is really, really annoying.
CoreyTaylor1 5 months 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 5 months ago
My dreams are never this good.
Skeptical Meg 5 months ago
I feel she’s going to get beat up a lot.
nightflight 5 months ago
…….and, next week when they finally wake up, they’ll be the real characters as drawn by Greg.
StoicLion1973 5 months 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 5 months ago
This is just a truly bizarre dream sequence.
djminor321 5 months ago
I’m waiting for Mr. Roarke to come out and ask them did they enjoy their stay on Fantasy Island.
Ordinary Average Guy 5 months ago
STOP IT GREG, PLEASE!!!
papamac630 5 months ago
rlamb2017 5 months ago
curious if we’ll see other characters in this art style
locake 5 months 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 5 months ago
This has to be an alternate universe.
jaymatthews49 Premium Member 5 months ago
I’ve had enough of this. Go back to the regular Luann!
Georgia Reader 5 months 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 5 months ago
Somehow i can’t imagine any firefighter’s fantasy (male or female) would be their child reading Moby Dick! (Or anyone’s really…)
TimeLordSoundwave 5 months ago
So when does the strip become funny again?
pearlyqim 5 months ago
No good story lines for quite a while!!
Kiwiwriter47 5 months 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 5 months ago
Brad has a full head of hair, looks good
lnrokr55 5 months 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 5 months 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 5 months ago
It’s time we get back to reality.
Murph1908 5 months 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 5 months ago
Moby Dick was based on a real incident. Look it up.
BLUEBONNETS Premium Member 5 months ago
“Call me fishmeal.” … MAD Magazine
continental_line 5 months ago
Me? I’m happy when what my grandniece does what she is supposed to without reminding her.
geneking7320 5 months 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 5 months 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 5 months 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 5 months ago
“Moby WHAT???”… Harry Wormwood
leighabc123 5 months ago
One more day of perfect Shannon. Then the real Shannon will come back!
Dragoncat 5 months ago
This Shannon must really, really, REALLY love a challenge.
Imagine if they suggested reading Harry Potter or Game of Thrones…
RSH 5 months 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 LoveJoyAndPeace 5 months ago
Oh joy!!
pamela welch Premium Member 5 months ago
If these 2 ever do get around to having a child; they’re in for a rude awakening! LOLOL
kstewskis 5 months ago
I kinda feel like I’m reading about a “mini-Bernice” but with a much more joyful personality! :D
Otis Rufus Driftwood 5 months ago
So they imagine Shannon as a Caucasian Gracie Bermudez?
wfhite 5 months ago
This MUST be a dream sequence.
EXCALABUR 5 months ago
Please get this storyline over!
JB10000Lakes 5 months 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.
Padraigin Premium Member 5 months ago
Read Moby Dick for the first time in high school. Easy to recommend it to almost anyone, especially eager-reader kids middle school through high school. It is a true adventure story a page turner. The visual imagery of book puts you right there with the action. Early on there was a comparison of sizes to whales to traditional library & publisher book sizes (folio, quarto and octavo) was unexpected and charming. At least, to a person that grew up in a used book store :p