Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for August 29, 2024

Awwww.. Shannon made a new friend. Hi Kim!

That woman is REALLY annoying. Brad and Toni were not making out. What is she even talking about?

I’d tell the woman to fly back to her coven.

She probably wished she was making out. Just in general.

Translation: Kim’s mom isn’t getting any, and she feels the need to make that everyone else’s problem.

Making out? That’s an interestig term for sitting next to each other. No telling what she would’ve called it if they’d been sitting on a blanket having a picnic!

An over the top beeyach. Ann Eiffel was way more interesting.

Karen needs a swift kick in her posterior

Look how protective Brad is of Toni, shielding her from the angry mom (I still think she’s drawn more like grandma with those wrinkles). Ahem, angry mom, pay attention. The girls are behaving better than you are. You’re no example.

Woh! What a Karen! Not you, Ms. Evans!

Good. Kids talking to each other.

Notice Brad is standing in front of Toni and holding her hand. I get the impression he is both protecting her and keeping her from going ballistic on the woman.

Gracious. In that final panel, Shannon is supposed to looking friendly, but instead is drawn to be kind of intimidating.

You Know?

It’s times like THIS and “folks” like Witch Hazel here that makes one want to carry around a big old can of bear spray and apply it LIBERALLY.

Yeah, YEAH, I know what you’re saying.

But there ARE some things worth an “assault charge.” ;-)

That woman is a terrible parent! I hope her kid gives her mom a strong stare at dinner.

What an awful “mother”.

Wow. That poor kid. If her mom acts that way in public, her home life must be hell.

I love the protective way Brad has moved in front of Toni.

Is Brad protecting Toni or holding her back from decking Kim’s mom?

I love entitled parent stories on Reddit when the kid winds up yelling, “This is why Dad divorced you!”

There’s enough detail in these characters that I think they will be around for awhile. And there’s the potential for conflict—Shannon and Kim have made friends, but ToniandBrad are not going to want to be friends with Karen and vice versa.

I would rather have seen Fay brought back, maybe even Alex.

Panel 1: The silhouette of the trees in the background makes a nice representation of the dark cloud of vitriol which surrounds this woman..

Kim’s mom won’t let her play with Shannon. I too wonder where this will go. Prediction: the kids do manage to become friends. Kim runs away from home to come live with Brad and Toni. Kim’s mom turns out to be abuser. Jonah doesn’t come home. Brad and Toni end up with both kids.

Isn’t that some friendships begin? I sense an un-holy alliance brewing.

Shannon made a friend, AND she showed real remorse for her actions for once. This just became one of the best storyarcs in a long time.

Helicopter parents are the worst. Seriously, let kids play until there is crying, get the facts, brush them off, and move on.

Maybe when that old bat sees Kim and Shannon having fun together, she’ll finally shut her big mouth!

Hey, G&K—how’s this idea for an arc: Kim’s father (temperamentally, the polar opposite of his wife) finally divorces the b!tch and wins full custody of his daughter. In the interim, he and Shannon share a father-daughter bond, and he asks Brad and Toni if he can legally adopt her. They comply, realizing that the man can provide a more stable environment for the girl (Jonah’s parental “rights” having been terminated by the courts for neglect), and everyone lives happily ever after. And then, Brad and Toni can seriously consider starting their own family.

Yesterday, B&T appeared to have followed good EMT procedure by verifying first that the two children were unharmed and not in conflict. Today, they had opportunity for secondary triage to examine the self-inflicted psychological injury indicated in the rantings of the adult complainant. Readers may observe that the children have continued to demonstrate no injury. Perhaps tomorrow B&T may begin palliative treatment of the exaggerated inappropriate psychological symptoms demonstrated in the other adult. Thankfully in the interim they have maintained their own equanimity in the face of false accusations and verbal assault.

As the old saying goes: “Hate is taught, love is natural.” These kids got it more together than this old Karen. We all know she’s just trying (and failing) to asset dominance due to some insecurity she’s got going on. Keep playing, kids! At least YOUR morals are on straight!

Think what you could be learning from your child!

There’s a contrast of voices here. This woman says they’re “awful role models” yet we see the result of their lives reflected in the once awful Shannon making her first friend. Kinda reminds me of how Luann met Bernice.

By what Kimmie says, her mom must do this ever now an then

Brad and Toni! Stop letting that lady talk to you like that!

Shannon made a friend!!!

Shannon’s new stepmom?

Rut roh.

Methinks Toni is about to go Mama Bear.

No way to know whether the horrid lady is old (had the child as a late pregnancy?) or has dyed her hair white. I had a 21-year-old co-worker with silver-dyed hair: noticing her from the other end of the store, I mistook her for middle-aged.

Same thing with another co-worker in that job the previous year. I thought I saw gray in her hair, despite her looking young; but she might or might not have dyed it that way. She was always manipulating her looks, so who knows.

Toni is looking irritated. Brad is holding her back. Nice to see the girls not getting caught up in the hag’s tirade.

Poor Kim, from her sad look it’s easy to understand that her mother must make scenes like this often and that she’s old enough to understand how that’s exaggerated and feels awkward. Fortunately she manages not to follow her bad example. It’s so nice to see that Shannon has made a friend.

Nice to see Shannon making friends!

at what point do they call the police on this woman?

Both Toni and Brad probably have training in diffusing difficult situations, due to their jobs. I’m interested in seeing how the story arc develops, also. It’s also interesting seeing how the comments are developing … with some people angry, and one person even putting in the too common sexual slur against the angry woman (being angry because she hasn’t had enough sex). A good example of how everyone figures they can put in their own two cents … including me, I admit. Best regards to all.

Nice to see Shannon apologized on her own. There is good in her after all.

Now we get to see how Toni will handle the situation.

Karens gonna Karen….

Shannon’s parent isn’t a role model. He needs a role model. He’s a swine.

Karen does have a point. Shannon’s parent is awful role models.

Shannon needs a role model like Ann❤️Eiffel. Dilly! Dilly! Boy Howdy!

They weren’t making out. I honestly hate middle-aged Karens who look like grandmas

Is Brad holding Toni back from slugging this woman?

!00% dyed in the wool, Pure Karen.

Toni needs to put it in its place.

Pot meet kettle — who is she to yell about setting a poor example for the kid? I think Shannon and Kim both have more reason than she does.

Kim’s mom doesn’t care about the facts, she just wants to scream at someone.

Kim’s mom is jealous of those two. With a face like that, she’d have to sneak up on water.

Ah, the Karen, in her native environment…..

while the lady is overexaggerating, the kids are becoming friends. :J

Actually, Shannon is learning a lot from Brad and Toni. She’s learning all the right things, unlike you, you crazy old lady.

I don’t know if anyone has said it yet, but momma could learn a lot from Kim.

I think it’s sad that we all reach an age, fairly soon after this, when saying “you wanna be friends?” is just weird. I’d love to be able to still say that to people without scaring them off.

Isn’t it rude to call rude people Karen? Not all Karen’s are rude!!!

I think maybe somebody’s having a bad day. Okay, so maybe she makes a habit of it.

Ah, the old “I punch you, now we should be friends” bit. How realistic. But, you know, that’s what they tell you in pre-school “say you’re sorry and be friends.” And, you know what, I did that with the kid whose foot I stomped after he cut me in line for the slide. It still doesn’t make sense, but I guess it works. Maybe I’m just a cynical old man.

From the look of her, she appears to be a "late-life mother…and they can be the most overprotective of their precious gift.

Karen.

Kim looks a little like Little Orphan Annie.

Am I alone in thinking that the only correct answer to her would be a simple, gentle, laidback

“F3ck off, Karen”

She is a mom, not a grandma? I wonder why they chose to draw her with white hair. Bleached blonde? Anyway, she is certainly obnoxious, and obviously hadn’t observed Brad and Toni at all. She clearly hadn’t observed the “incident” either — just saw that her little darling was crying and created a narrative based on that alone. She’s someone who has a need to be angry, and to attack people. I’ve known people like this in my life, and they’re very difficult to be around; we had a next door neighbor who was like this. He delighted in finding code violations to report. (We weren’t in an HOA or anything like that, so these were city code infractions. Stupid stuff, like not having the sidewalk section in your driveway apron, even though our street didn’t have a sidewalk.)

But it looks like in spite of that, a friendship might blossom for the girls. If Brad and Toni can hold their nose and put up with the mother, maybe the kids can hang out together more often.

Too bad the girls can’t be friends. I would never let my child be alone with that crazy Momster. T and B could invite Kim over to play but they would still have to deal with the shrill shrew.

My mom’s name is Karen, can we just stop the whole Karen thing?

So it’s her MOM, not her Grandma? Knew it was just a matter of time before the Evans Collective would create a new character that’s just WRONG.

They’re married… does that help you, lady?

If she would shut up long enough, she would find out.

Enough with the old, trite Karen trope. It’s so last year. Today, she’s Anna. Tomorrow, Barbara. And on through Zelda.

Another “Karen”

Yes, she’s learning to resolve differences without fighting. Oh, the horror! That clearly makes her unfit for today’s society.

That harridan needs to check out Matthew 18:3.

I see there are still people who insist on using a first name as an insult and description of cranky outspoken middle aged women. I wonder if they know how stupid using that term makes them look? It’s like they’re just following a bad trend, like sheep, and all it does is make them look like doltish idiots.

There are a LOT of women in our country whose loud and public protests are making a big difference, and it’s unfortunate that women in our society have to shout, or get angry, or cry to make people listen to what they have to say.

This lady in the park, though, she’s just over-reacting to seeing her child crying. Maybe by tomorrow the adrenalin will subside and they’ll get her to calm down. Don’t blow it, Toni and Brad – think of it, afternoon play dates (at least three hours) for Shannon at her new friends’ house, complete with a two-legged Doberman for protection LOL!

speaking of awful role models…

I’m finding the new, post “Bedtime with Nancy” Shannon to be a much more likable character.

She takes Karen to a whole new level

The number 1 people I hate the most are Karens

aw shucks the new Luann and Bernice

Note Big Mouth is busy ignoring the kid while she Karens out.

Kim looks a lot like a blond version of comic character “Nancy”. I wonder if she & Aunt Fritzi are still around?

I thought the woman was the kids Grandma…LOL

Kim’s mom’s name Karen?

Uhh lady have you given any thought to what YOUR child might be learning from you?

I think Brad is desperately trying to keep Toni from making a fist.

Witchy-Poo needs to shut her yap….

Mom? More like grandmother or even great-grandmother.

Gee grandma, triggered much ???

Not a real “Karen” until she calls the police.

Nice when kids work out their differences without parental interference. Someone did something right since Shannon is apologizing. And it sounds like Kim’s mom is a bit of a bully, at least judgmental. Kim looks a bit like Nancy. Hope she’s a new friend and character for Shannon.

Yes some folks really get riled up over nothing, Like a few comments they really seem to ENJOY these kind of explosions… I had many customers over the years that right, wrong or no matter what they had to argue and yell to make it appear they were “winning” As a service manager my favorite game was grab a clipboard and take them outside saying I am listening but I have to get some info off a car for one of the mechanics. I’d pretend to be looking at the car and taking notes while listening very carefully, nodding and saying stuff like " I see " or " I can relate to that" after usually a just few minutes they would lose steam and calm down and I could address the issue without further yelling. Doing this took them away from their audience which in turn lost their “Fuel” for yelling… on a side note, back in the ’60s and ’70s My Dad was really into yelling at me when I messed up (and most times I probably deserved it) and he would always throw in somewhere “DO YOU THINK I ENJOY YELLING AT YOU?” I always wanted to yell back at him " YES I THINK YOU REALLY ARE HAVING FUN YELLING…" But I was smart enough to know I’d end up with at least a sore rear end… or WORSE

Looking at the past three days this lady has ONE facial expression – LOUD.

The mom is freaking out and Shannon made a new friend in Kim and Toni is about ready to local on the mom.

time to shut Karen up

Oh, p*ss off Karen. You’re the one being a bad role model for your child.

Perfect example of how kids can show more maturity than (in-age-only) adults.

Okay, okay, so about the hair. Women (and men) bleach their hair to white for a variety of reasons, and many are young. If the person has white hair, it does not indicate they are old. Some do this because they like it as a kind of self-expression, others do it just because they can. Give it a rest.

Mom?

I love Brad’s posture standing in front of and shielding Toni.

I wonder what Ole Yeller would think if they arrive at her house in firefighter suits bearing axes.

Every customer service worker’s poster person, for why they want to quit.

I raised 2 boys and had a major part in 3 girls, all of whom have turned out well. Most of the time the best thing the adults can do is let the kids deal with situations like this. Most of the time they will do just fine. I feel sorry for Kim. Her mom seems to have some major issues.

Maybe she’s thinking about the last time she actually made out with someone. She sure is3 drawn to look fairly old to be the parent of an adolescent.

And by the time Ms. Mother-Of-The-Year finishes lecturing Brad and Toni, Shannon and Kim will have taken over the playground, having the best time ever.

So most readers have decided that the shrieking harpy isn’t really old, she just bleached her hair white?

Sorry people, but to me she looks OLD. The lines on her face, the way she’s dressed……..

Still I suppose if she makes a habit of staying in rage mode most of the time, the frown lines would quickly become permanent.

Today’s strip reminds me of the 2011 movie “Carnage” with Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, and John C. Reilly, who play two sets of parents. If you’ve seen this film, you’ll get it. I Recommend it, with a strong suggestion to pay attention to the visuals at the beginning AND end, even as the credits roll.

Typical.

Brad is holding Toni’s hand. So she won’t punch the windbag.

That’s mom?? She looks more like grandma!

Also why are Brad and Toni just standing there listening to this raving rhymes-with-witch? It’s not rude to interrupt someone who’s treating you like crap.

What were they supposed to do, slide down the slide with her?

Most children are stuck with imperfect parents. My children were lucky they had me. That reduces the imperfection by at least half.

if she doesn’t scare evil thing will….

To see her is to take a sudden chill…..

It’s really rather sweet, Shannon talking kid-talk like a champion.

I love how Brad is shielding Toni from that momma bear.