Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for July 06, 2011

Ish?!?

Legal is as legal does.

Don’t morally censure, Bwad, just take the money.

TJ is a gigolo?

I’ve got a Brad feeling about this!

TJ, the original Mystery Man.

WHAT ?

A word of explanation from TJ would be in order here! Don’t get yourself into trouble, Brad!

I notice TJ is a shade darker that everyone else. Strikes me as a bit European. If he is Italian it would explain a lot. Might be connected.

My curiosity is piqued! “ish”? What DID he do

If he says it’s ‘wISHy washy’ then you know to toss it. Otherwise, it might not be as bad as you’re all making it out to be.

Perhaps TJ has inherited money from his family and just wanted to live like an ordinary person. Now he wants to help Brad keep his independence. (Maybe he secretely cooks on a cooking network and makes piles of dough.) I think this is very generous of TJ.

Greg, this is an amazing twist, but you realize you have raised more questions than you have answered. You cannot do this and just walk away without giving readers a longer look into the mysterious TJ.

Uh-oh…..this is going to be interesting………. TJ is lots of things, but he is never boring!

@mojitobaby (from yesterday): Good to see you here! Long time no blog.

“legal-ish”?!

Well, I’m STUNNED. But whats the catch, ‘Smiley’? The Money’s counterfit? The money is to be paid back at 250% interest? The Loan is made in EXCHANGE for Brad’s Soul???

Does it cover the burning down the house a while back?

There is no mystery. The money came from TJ’s trust fund that his daddy setup after defrauding a bunch of people and then skipping the country. This makes the money somewhat tainted. But, I don’t have a problem with Brad accepting this money.

Online poker? Offline poker? Certainly won’t be drug sales.

I guess in situations like this it’s best to be gracious and accept the money!

R.O.F.L!!!!!!!

TJ has a generous trust fund from his father. This explained in the strip several years ago.

TJ’s an orphan of parents from Spain or somewhere like that..he was left a few bucks…It would be nice to link to the archived storyline.

Brad was laid off…..don’t they have unemployment benefits in comic land?

So if TJ has money like that, why did they do zero decorations for Christmas as Brad cried broke? As half renter in the house, is he not entitled to decorate as he pleases? And Brad still has not learned about UI. Nor has anybody he knows.

Someone a while back, suggested that TJ is, in secret, a rich kid who likes to live like others.

I always suspected that TJ was the son of a Mafioso or his parents were in w\the witness protection program.

I don’t think that was “legal-ish” but just “ish” as an exclamation of annoyance. It is good to see TJ stepping up, though I’d hope he has been paying his part all allong. The problem with accepting a strings-free gift of money (or even a loan) is that your expendatures may be scrutenized.

And TJ may have a trust fund from his dad (I vaugely remember something, hopefully one of the other old timers has a better memory).

there are two possibilities….either it’s only legal “ish”…or TJ is messing with Brad again

Word!

sure! everybody knows that if you’re Italian you’re a mobster.and if you’re Irish you’re a drunk.or if you’re a white guy from the south, you’re a redneck bigot,or if you’re African-American, you’re an exceptional athleteor if you’re Asian , you are book-smartand so on…it’s called stereotyping..we Americans are so good at it!oops! did it again

Can’t wait to hear about this. Did dad have it right?

Every so often we get tidbits of insight into TJ’s past/situation. I believe we’re about to get another.

“Legal-ish”? Beware!

Ahhh-Haaaaa. We begin to delve into TJ a liiiiitle more. What a great plot device Greg is developing. Does anybody think that Greg provided the whole layoff arc so that he could set up and further develop the mystery of TJ and his background? As for me, “ish” means the government doesn’t know about it – or he’d have to pay income tax on it.

Why isn’t Brad drawing unemployment?

… just hoping this is NOT the time that Greg decides to move along to another story arc!;-)

there’s an application, review and approval process involved in getting uc — depending on the state it can can take quite some time. in my case it was about two months.

Whoa, did not see this coming. Can’t wait to get the whole story.

T.J. has disclosed that his mother is deceased, his father was in prison for three years, then set up a bank account for T.J. before leaving the country to Argentina.for thoose wanting his’ background.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luann_(comic_strip)

Maybe it’s leftover money from the firefighters lunch scheme?

@Penandra: Greg has a long history of not giving us proper explanations. We still don’t know why Dirk wears sunglasses and a ski cap, or why he had to leave.

It might be nice to see Brad get accepted into the police academy or parmedics school. He also has some auto mechanic skills.

Strange that the only glimpses I remember of seeing Brad actually at work were 1) when he rescued his dad from a tree 2) when he and Toni did the talking RC firetruck shows 3) the time he caught Toni falling and 4) several times when he and Toni were talking or cleaning at the firehouse. If he never actually fought fires it might explain why he was first to go…

TJ and Elwood are brothers?

Greg, you really annoy the heck out of me for never delving into TJ’s history! He’s rich? The heck how?!!

i’d take it…but i wouldn’t like it !!!

I see Luann and TJ together in the far future…

I doubt that Greg will leave us hanging. Will you Greg? This definitely needs further delving into.

Maybe TJ’s a burglar……

I was already surprised when couch potato Brad transformed into responsible Brad, lost weight, became a firefighter, and won Toni. If he becomes a police officer (even if it’s as a motor pool mechanic), it will be even more impressive. And then I think it will be Toni bugging Brad to pop the question to her. Strange how Dirk never thanked Brad for saving his life after Dirk crashed his sportscar, and Brad never thanked Dirk for saving his mom’s life when the bookcase fell on her. They still owe each other. Now if we can only get Brad to stop dropping chunks of food from his mouth while he eats…

I vaguely remember something about TJ’s father leaving him money. It could be that there is a trust fund, but that TJ doesn’t use it on a regular basis. Helping a friend, especially a friend whose family has been very nice, is totally something TJ would do. In Texas, it can take up to a month for unemployment payments to start. I am sure it varies by state.

Wiselad (the 5th person to comment on this strip) had it right. TJ’s a gigolo; that would explain the “Legal-ish.” Not just anyone’s gigolo, though. He’s ELWOOD’S gigolo!

Hey! I just thought of something else! What if Dirk paid TJ the $300 to mess with some paperwork to get him into the police academy even though he has a criminal record. It’s more than questionably illegal, but that would be a cool plot point.

Sorry, $3000, not $300.

We may finally learn more about TJ.

TJ would have helped more simply by offering to pay 2 or 3 times his current rent..An envelope of cash is sure to scare Brad.

It seems to me a past strip mentioned TJ’s father or some part of his family being from Central or South America.

If the money is from the trust fund that TJ’s father set up for him, it could well be shady in origin. (Money gained long ago In Italy or Argentina?). Perhaps that is the real meaning of the “ish.” Thus it may not be quite as ominous as it sounds. Perhaps no different from the rent money that TJ has already been paying...We need the archives!!

My vote is that TJ has a secret crush on Brad, and has for years now. Hey, it’s the 21st century. It could happen!

The “ish” part bothers me. Besides, Brad doesn’t really need the money until his 12 weeks of state unemployment are exhausted, and then only if he doesn’t qualify for the federal extension.

I just learned that in texting jargon, ISH can mean "insert sarcasm here. Does the fact that it’s in a square box mean anything.? A whisper, an aside, or fill it in yourself.

For goodness sake Brad, consider it a loan that you can pay back in the future. What other options do you have?

love the way:—brad’s eyebrows almost go thru the ceiling! and—the addition of “ish” to the word “legal” changes the mood entirely!

@cjswan…; I assumed tj was hispanic. No??

@nighthawks;no no no – if you’re Italian, you sing opera; if you’re Irish, you have red hair; if you’re a white guy, your skin is actually pink; if you’re a black guy, you have dark skin; and if you have beige/ gold skin, you speak Chinese (considering the number of Chinese people on this planet, statistically that statement has a very good chance of being accurate).I’m a Canadian. And I made up all these stereotypes all by myself.

Ish? Now I’m scared.

Okay, I need a little background on TJ’s character.When did his character first start, parents, does he work?

I KNEW IT!!

Leave it to Tj to make or ruin your day…lol

If that’s real, legal money… tjyoumylove