Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for July 12, 2024

Oh, there’ll be “Kicking and Screaming” from Brad’s parents alright, Toni.

And it’ll start five minutes after you drop Shannon off on their doorstep.

PS: I HOPE that they were already planning to buy a new bed. ;-)

Nancy’s expression in the second frame says she was kinda railroaded into watching Shannon.

Why on earth did Brad tell his parents they are “maybe” having a baby?

Both Nancy & Frank expression in the second panel is priceless.

It’s nice to see virtual grandparents who are welcoming Shannon.

Good job guys! You tricked Frank & Nancy with the possibility Toni was with child to get some free babysitting from them. You must be proud.

I like Brad and Toni, but this arc isn’t really putting them in the best light.

Bernice is gonna be stoked about this development! ;-)

Frank have a day job?

A dense smug alights over the car!

Everyone tends to forget Shannon has no mom and an absentee dad. She acts the way she does because of that! She knows nobody really wants her, she knows.

You had them at maybe.

I wouldn’t trust Frank and Nancy around Monstro! All they care about is becoming grandparents—no matter how it affects Brad and Toni. Besides, they’ll just dump Shannon on Luann.

The “Hm, oh sure”, is a sign of realizing “What in the hell did I just say”, and did I just commit to something without thinking about what we could be getting into? (And WHY is the brat any of OUR concern?)

“So. It looks like Toni is STILL not pregnant. ***siiiiiiigh*** … Well, at least we have our granddaughter Shannon. Our step-granddaughter Shannon. Our red-headed step-granddaughter Shannon… that lousy P.O.S. Shannon…”

Because they were so distracted by the baby talk that they weren’t really listening. Wait until you call them up to come babysit and they say “What? We never agreed to that.”

You can’t really blame Nancy for disappointment. Grandchildren are very nice.

Shannon is a questionable consolation prize.

(Not that they don’t love her but they already have her.

MORE. MORE. MORE!!)

All this time devoted to the least liked, poorly presented, Scrappy Dooish character here in Shannon. And don’t @ me about it being a little girl, it’s a fictional comic character.

Look at Nancy, bravely containing her joy! Not!

The reason Brad said “maybe” to having a baby is because he and Toni think looking after Shannon will help them decide if they want kids.

Mom & Dad have no idea what they just volunteered for!

I get that Toni’s frustration with her brother and taking of Shannon but she makes a MUCH bigger deal of caring for Shannon than the others. I’ve said it before and I will say it again, she needs therapy. But, I expect my comments to fall on deaf ears; too many people are deadset on blaming Brad for the unspeakable crime of gasp wanting to start a family with his wife.

I don’t think they were listening.

Because Frank and Nancy jumped to conclusions and never let reality really soak in before giving an answer.

I don’t think they heard the part about Shannon.

Are Frank and Nancy aware that this helping out is over the span of a month (or more, knowing Toni’s brother)?

I think the greatest disappointment in my parent’s lives is that we chose not to have children.

Seeing a serious adult like Brad throw a temper tantrum would have been interesting. They convinced them pretty easily, but I have to say that I feel sorry for Frank and Nancy and their desire to become grandparents. At least it’s a sign that Nancy would now be psychologically ready to be called grandmother. My disappointment is that Toni’s aunt continues to be out of the story.

3 weeks no luann time to cha cha

So now, Frank and Nancy believe that Toni MIGHT be pregnant, but Brad and Toni don’t want to say anything yet…. Which means that the presumptive grandparents might go blabbing it around… And this information will come back to Brad and Toni via third-party…

They wanted to have a grandchild not Shannon

I really enjoyed today’s comic strip. Well done and very clever!!

Dad paved the way, by asking the right question! Now, if they need money all they have to do is invite them over and say what do you think of this room? The money will flow!

Save that for in private, Brad…

They deserve what they get. Self-centered fools! Bwa ha ha ha ha…..

Nancy’s all “Yeah, yeah, the brat, okay, whatever, but where’s the baby?”.

Considering this is a comic and logic doesn’t enter here, having different people “caring for” Shannon will provide more humorous situations than not.

They did miss a few words, like " for a few months"

Ah, the ol’ distraction ploy!

I guess the phrase “false alarm” will come into play soon, and the lying and deception can begin. Unless, of course they explain that they meant they are just in the planning stages. I hope Brad thinks his parents deserve the honesty.

That was skillfully done!

Stunned them with the thought of a new baby and then slapped Shannon on them before they regain their wits to think about it first. Brilliant!

I love how despite Brad and Toni resenting Jonah for exploiting their family bonds to get free childcare, they both do the same to Brad’s family members without remorse.

This is so cliche’, and an old one at that. Before Tony and Brad had a chance to say anything, Frank and Nancy automatically assumed it was gonna be baby news. Seen it on too many sitcoms.

When does the comic strip called “Luann” return?

Toni definitely makes it sound like she is pregnant when she says "It’s early yet. "You would not say that unless you were a few weeks pregnant, but did not want to announce it yet. So she is basically lying to her in-laws to get them to watch Shannon. Toni is not any better than her brother. She is just as manipulative as Jonah.

A long time ago my mother would send my brother and I to her parents for our summer breaks. Part way through the first year of this we were split up and one sent to one aunt and to other to another and them after about a week we were shuffled off to others. We had 4 aunts and one set of grandparents there and we never saw each other over the break and nobody had to endure us for more than a week at a time. Interesting lessons in family dynamics. And by the end of the second year of this when I was 9 I had learned why my mother fled to San Francisco.

Gee, this must be another one of those episodes where there is some sort of misunderstanding……… Chandler Bing Lives ! ;-)

Frank and Nancy just got stung! Pretty sneaky of Toni and Brad.

You wanted him to kick and scream Toni?

Taking care of Shannon is going viral.

“I married your mother because I wanted children. Imagine my disappointment when you arrived!”

Groucho Marx—HORSE FEATHERS—1932

I see this lasting longer than a month…

Grandparents are likely to be happy to take care of their grandkids, within reason, but the idea of assuming the grandparents are always there for it angers me. We were always responsible and only ONCE did we ask my mother to take care of the kids for a couple of days when we were really stuck for childcare. My layabout brother and his wife got free childcare for years (I think a lot of this might have been my mother avoiding the “empty nest” situation). One time we had planned to do something with my brother and his wife, and both couples were going to arrange childcare so my parents (actually just my mother) would get a break for once. The day before we were to leave, I heard my brother and his wife talking in hushed tones about “Didn’t you arrange something?” and “I thought you were going to do it”. So of course my mother ended up watching my brother’s after all.

Young married couples seem to be often if not constantly being pushed (that might be too strong a word) into having kids by their parents or friends (especially when those friends recently got kids of their own). I remember an ad in a magazine many years ago showing a bunch of young women looking at the reader with a caption that said: “Your friends. They can get you pregnant faster than your husband can.”; the idea being that no woman should be pushed by someone else into having children. The ad was from Planned Parenthood or a similar group, as I recall. My parents never really asked me or my wife, but that could be that my brother was already giving them granddaughters (one niece later commented that her mom failed three different types of birth control). My perception of timing to have kids is no doubt influenced by my parents not having their first (me) until they’d been married 12 years, so in my case it was 7 years for my son, which still seemed pretty quick. Then, my father teased me about having my son when I was “only” 31, where he waited until he was 32, when I was born!

I know we’re talking about fictional characters, but the reactions, mine included, draw a lot from our real lives. Maybe it’s because there was a situation in my family where an aunt and uncle without kids regularly helped with their niece after her mother (sister of the aunt) died. It seemed to work for everyone for different reasons—help for widowed dad, maintaining aunt’s connection to her late sister, extra love and attention for the child. Now I know Jonah is Jonah, but I’m just not seeing what saying no would do in terms of improving his and Shannon’s lives. If they don’t want to do it, then say no with a clear conscience. Maybe what bothers people is that he’s pursuing something glamorous. The big question here is will it be longer than a month? That’s up to the writers..

If I had to watch the brat ,the Law would be laid down.Period!

Would it help if they would write Shannon out of the script. Otherwise I’ll go shelter in ‘Nancy’.

If they want to watch Shannon, they need to make sure to cover everything themselves. Shouldn’t drag Nancy, Frank & Luann into it. You make the decision, you take care of things yourself

They don’t have those same questions for Luann.

There WILL be kicking, screaming and other annoying misbehavior as soon as unlovable brat Shannon shows up. Why would anybody tolerate that rotten kid for five minutes?? Give her back to her father, she’s HIS problem.

Baffled and bamboozled.

Watch what happens next time they drop Shannon off. “We never talked about this!”

Anyone hope for more drama?

Frank and Nancy are a little too eager for grandchildren.