Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for April 02, 2012

aaaaaaaaannnnnddddd cue the bag o’ humiliation

Good luck explaining it.

Oh, crap. I suppose this means they won’t be having dessert.

Heartbreak city. I’m sorry, Brad.

In the last panel does Toni look disappointed?

And Brad just found the Lose-Lose situation…The usual outcome of one of TJ’s schemes. Brad seems to be a bit of a slow learner.

Orion

No tie, no open collar, no sense of style!

I had some respect for Brad a few days ago. It is now gone. Gone and may never return.

Brad, your first reaction to TJ’s plan was one of the smartest things you’ve ever done. Then you blew it.

“Then just know this: I believe you’re the woman I’ve always wanted to have in my life. When we’re ready, and I pray we will be… I want you to know that I could never see myself loving anyone but you.” Slam dunk.

Can’t believe he actually went for another one of TJ’s hairbrained schemes.

Brad = Dumb. Really Dumb.

Toni, just when should we about it? Do you need to completely contol this reationship, if this really is a relationship.

Should I wait forever or wll you to finally woman up and move us to something more?

I hate my cordless keyboard…. It SUCKS

He looks like a fool, and she acts like a bitch. And the fans lose most. This is both unrealistic and frustrating to watch.

Well, just as I thought, Toni still isn’t ready, and probably will never be. Her passionate “Brad may be my husband one day” was just hot air to convince her captain to consider giving her job to Brad – out of guilt for her role in getting Brad fired. If she was disappointed she was pranked, what did she expect? She frankly told Brad she refused to consider or discuss marriage. What did she expect? However, Brad, why did the he77 did you listen to your roommate, the idiot? For a short time, it did sound foolproof, but then, this is Toni you are trying to prank? Wrong person to use this prank on, Brad.

I don’t like Toni, much….she takes Brad for granted. She looks mad in the first frame, then stunned in the 3rd one. No matter what, Brad can’t win with her. Serves her right.

One of them is definitely a fool.

I hereby wince. That was painful to read.

You know, this just might work. He told her he still wants her, and that he listened to her not wanting to make long term plans. Greg, you’ve done it again: I’m looking forward to see what happens tomorrow…

Well, Brad, I guess you can forget about any chance of Toni accepting any proposals from you in the future…

Blame it on TJ. She’ll understand completely and then all will be forgiven.

It can still work.

Toni:Where did you come up with an idea like that?Brad:TJ told me to do it.Toni:Okay. I’ll marry you if you kick TJ out of your house and never let him back in ever.Brad:Sounds good to me.

Brad has no control over this relationship. She clearly has the upper hand and plays him like a puppet. No wonder Brad’s mamacita casts a wary eye. Take control back and dump her now, Bradley. It is obvious you will be stuck like this a loooong time.

I personally think it was brave of Brad to try this idea even though TJ was the one who suggested it. NOW he knows exactly how Toni feels about being with him full time….not in the picture. I respect Brad for wanting to marry Toni before they live together, too.It is really obvious that Toni does not want the same type of relationship as does Brad.

Perhaps the two of them should cool the relationship and go out with others for a while. Toni seems to have other issues to work through and perhaps having a little more space may help her work through them.

Good try, Brad! You gambled by using this strategy and it failed. Better to try and fail than not try at all.

I didn’t know they served ‘Can ’O Worms’ at this resturaunt!

You blew it, Brad, big time! When are you going to grow up and stop falling for TJ’s half-assed schemes? Toni appears to have been ready to have THAT conversation, until you blundered in with that “April Fool” crack. You have just set back your cause by an indefinite but long period of time! Way to go….

Please stop on and on. STOP NOW!

facepalm

Actually, it’s Facepalm Monday.

Sorry Brad, but that is not something to joke about.

Way to blow it, Brad – you showed signs of realizing TJ’s so-called “advice” for your relationship with Toni was like a used diaper last week, but you went ahead with this most recent half-baked scheme.

Brad blew it— he can try to talk his way out of it by blaming TJ, but Toni won’t accept that…

I think it didn’t hit Toni what Brad said until panel 3. And when it did, she must have been thinking, “April Fools? Does he even plan on asking me, or is this all a joke?” Or something along those lines.

Aaawwwkward!

@Thomas,Kfc,Zac, and ESPECIALLY You Dennis. Good Points Folks!

Theres something Very Very Wrong here. With Toni.

The woman says she loves the guy with ALL heart, tells her boss she may marry that guy and that SAME Guy saves her life and shes STILL RELUCTANT to Marry Him???? Please.

In the REAL World, most NORMAL gals would have said “YES” before the guy could even open his Mouth and would have had the wedding invitations mailed out 4 months ago.

You KNOW what THIS strip needs? And I’ve said it before: MORE NEW Female Characters!Toni, and ESPECIALLY Luann needs some Very Heavy Female Competition to SHAKE them OUT of their Comfort Zones and SPUR them into action!

How ’bout it Greg???

I can just HEAR TJ “April Fool, Brad!” No truer words were ever spoken.

Metro T.J. eliminates another threat to his brokebacky living arrangement.

And as far as Brad & Toni are concerned – Classic Disconnect. Can they – will they – EVER move this “companionship” into a relationship? Let ME have Mordock’s coffee until he needs it next week.

You had your chance, Brad, and you just blew it. Tell her how you feel!

CRAP

Oh, this SO isn’t going to end well.

Oops! This can backfire..

ARRRGH!I can’t believe Brad when through with it!There isn’t a big enough dog house for Toni to throw him in.I wonder how long she’ll keep him in detention.

What? If you ask her to marry you she gets mad and if you tell her it was a joke she gets mad as well?? There’s no pleasing that woman!

Painful.

Brad – you are such a stupid puppet – you disgust me. Your remind me of Beaver Cleaver. Wally Criton was always there to pull his strings and get him to do stupid things, too. Come to think of it, Wally and TJ have similiar success records.

Brads response should have been, “Don’t get angry. How will I know when that time has come if I don’t check back from time to time?” That response would have moved Toni from offensive to defensive. She would have realized her anger was not necessary. Then Brad thought to himself, TJ always has such good ideas…

This is going to be an intersting car ride home. Or, perhaps Toni will request that the Mater dei call her a cab.

I’d say you’re right. Also, that’s the trend nowadays with everything.

What is Brad going to do to TJ. Time to losen a few of Ol’ Smily’s teeth.

EXACTLY, Dave!

There are Too MANY Guys in this strip and not enough Gals!

And I MEAN Gals that would give the existing female characters some MUCH NEEDED Competition.

Ann Eiffel and Tiffany USED to fill THAT role once, but Greg has All But DESTROYED them…..,

Wha’d I tell ya? What did I tell you? Now not only did he forget Valentine’s, he made a joke of a proposal. Dude!!!

Here she is practically scolding him for bringing up something as romantic as marriage; had she been a bit more flexible on expressing herself, he would not have had to back peddle in such a way.

Yeah, Thomas…he just has to tell her. And then tell her he told her, often. It’d take about three minutes. Maybe spread out over three months.

Congratulations, Brad! For the past several months she’s been working on developing trust with you, she was almost there, and now you blow it! Yeah, doggie bag for your head is appropriate.

other than screwing with ann eiffel, has a TJ plan EVER worked?

Toni will understand when she finds out it was TJ’s idea— sort of like when Alice finds out that Ralph’s latest hare-brained scheme was a riff on one of Norton’s misconceptions.

Just remember, Alice married Ralph— still not sure why, but she did.

How can this recent series of panels regarded as funny? Do you imagine and someone making a complete fool of himself is something to laugh about? These must be really desparate times.

Yup he’s an April fool all right. He learns not to keep following TJ’S advice the same way Charlie Brown keeps trying to kick Lucy’s football.

If Mr. Evans wants to lose readers, this plot line of making Brad look stupid and Toni selfish/manipulative would be the way to do it.

She wasn’t that believable as a doormat to Dirk -she was too smart, fun and independent. Now she’s supposed to be working on her issues, but we never see that. All we see is her confident self. Doesn’t add up. Makes her look shallow and controlling. How about we go back to the days when they worked on cars and had fun?

Brad > Here’s a clue = You saved her life, she says she loves you, but won’t discuss marriage…find a new girl. She wants to wear the man’s pants in this…

Mr. Evans…either make this situation better and start heading these two down the aisle, or you will be losing readers faster than you get new ones !

The Honeymooners …Jackie Gleason and Audrey Meadows

Maybe he should have responded with, “I wasn’t looking for a discussion, just a yes or no.”

at some point Brad needs to wonder when Tony will be ready and if not, he needs to cut bait and look for something else. Why is she just leading him on? Women can be mean sometimes, he needs to move on.

’Tis a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,Signifying nothing.

Yeah …. A ploy for living in the Dog House. ha..ha

Hahaha. Oh, Brad.

I must say that I like Greg Evan’s work a lot (saying that to combat the troller types). With that said, I must say I am disappointed in Toni’s “attitude”. She cannot really have it both ways…. a) being grumpy when Brad mentions marriage against HER WILL and b) being grumpy when Brad tries TJs trick of saying it is an April Fool’s Day joke. All this has done is make Toni look angry and unable to be pleased (or even at least neutral) about anything. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++I hate to say it, and I am doubting it is going to be the true story arc… but this brings up feeling to me that suggest Toni was simply using Brad to help her get away from Dirk. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++That would be a sad way to end the Toni/Brad “thing”. But, if Toni is going to be in this mode, it might be nice for Brad to take a break (at least for a while) and explore other options.

Pathetic, why? For saying Brad never thinks for himself? You appear to have been born without a sarcasm detector, but it appears the name-calling gene came though just fine. Give my regards to the rest of the kids on the playground.

Evans did you let the Kardashians write the plot again?!?!

I’m not so angry at Brad here as I am at Toni. Perhaps he’s not the brightest, but least he tried, right? I understand that she’s had a shady dating past and has some serious commitment issues she needs to work out… but to make Brad go through all of that pain with her is selfish and wrong. He deserves to be with someone who is ready to take the same steps he wants (or needs) to take. I hope they are able to resolve this, but the ball is in Toni’s court and she needs to take action fast or else she’ll lose Brad forever.

Brad, when it comes to TJ’s schemes remember: fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me; fool me 17 times, I need help.

I knew this was a BAD IDEA!

Doggie bag? It used to mean a plastic bag of leftovers to feed the dog. But I used it, thinking it appropriate, as something in which you put the “food” that exits the dog. The latter would be appropriate for Brad.

The colorist must be rationing ink these days..

What a shock that Toni didn’t simply fall on the floor laughing!

Just how brain-dead do you need to be to realize that this was a bad idea. Brad – why do you take relationship advice from someone who has never had a relationship?

Tomorrow’s strip: Brad walk’s into the house and TJ asks how the date went. Brad tells TJ he’s not sure as Toni asked the Mater Dei to get her a cab immediately following Brad’s announcement that his proposal of marriage was nothing more than an April Fool’s joke.

You know what I think about this? I think Toni was pulling an April Fool’s joke on Brad by acting upset. She was going to be annoyed, make him worry, and then say April Fool’s and accept. (Which is a horrible thing to do, but imagine how happy he’d be after she accepted). That would be the only explanation why she’d look sad in the last one. It would imply that Brad was joking when she was ready to accept and wasn’t serious about marriage at that point.

Boy Brad sure can be stupid in love sometimes. What the hell is T.J. doing getting his friend to go with scheme like that?

Honestly, I’m with TJ on this. The Brad/Toni relationship has plateaued, and the sooner Brad realizes this the better. For Toni to not even be willing to discuss it should tell Brad all he needs to know. Brad is Mr. Right Now/Safety Blanket until she finds a nicer Dirk. Does anyone doubt Toni would accept Dirk’s proposal in a heartbeat if he demonstrated change? All Brad has to do is say if I’m wasting my time, we can stay friends but we owe it to ourselves to explore other options until you are ready (ie Ann Eiffel).

He actually followed TJ’s advice….after all this time he should know better!!!

What Brad needs is another woman to show interest in him. Maybe not quite as pretty as Toni, but a real ride-or-die chick. Perhaps a new hire at the fire department. Ain’t nothing like competition to get a woman to act right. We saw it with Ann Eiffel, Brad CAN get somebody else and Toni has to realize it.

Exactly. Man, the story possibilties are endless. I can easily see Toni or Brad meeting someone new. I can see TJ saying if Toni can’t commit to you, time to expand the playing field.

Nah, I’m vehement about pretty much everything.

Do any of Greg’s story lines ever have surprising or satisfying conclusions? No kiss for Rosa was a major disappointment.Tiffany’s Hollywood adventure, Ann abused and left out to hang with no good resolution/

this is sooooo bad. make your girlfriend angry by doing something she asked you NOT to do and then turn it into a joke(?). brad will be lucky if he ONLY lands in the doghouse.

I’m with you

By Jove, Evans, you’ve done it again! Used to be a hundred comments made for a heavy traffic day. Now it’s routine. This highway needs more lanes. Well, at least one for the MOJmobile :-)

I’d actually pay to see that!.

Brad: I’m striking out left and right. Why did I listen to you and come here?TJ: Here, take this cocktail napkin soaked in chloroform…

All I can say for all of you/us being so down on Brad for falling for TJ’s scheme (TJ is still a good and loyal friend anyway, and most of us have friends that others would say, why?) is to wait. This has to be a nice, long story arc

Ok… I’m sorry… but Brad… you two have been together long enough now that if she’s still gonna be so whatever about even bringing up the subject… you need to move on. This bit of hers is annoying now.

AMEN!

Many years ago, I heard that a relationship is doomed if it involves one person (like Toni) staying in it just because they feel sorry for the other (like Brad). Come to think of it, I recall a couple I once knew (named Ione & Bryce) who were in a similar situation…

I said no good would come from this. It’s not a funny April fools joke and she clearly doesn’t buy it. Nice knowing you Toni.

Toni needs to find a happy medium— Dirk was too dominant, and Brad is too submissive. I wonder if Toni would be attracted to Quill; it would sure put Luann in a strange mood!

Now, while all this is going on, Ann Eiffel is probably still standing at the cash register, asking customers if a “maxi-weenie” sounds “yums.”

Work with your hands? Needlework – seems unlikely? Nurse – well I’ve met a few hardbitten, opinionated ones;-) Piecework – seems a little too mild and uninteresting? Pugilist – naw that’s too close to kickboxing. Oh, Art History – bingo – you’re a painter or a curator….

Maybe he should have done the “April fools” as a question too.

I suppose Brad could have done the “April Fools” as a question, but at this point there is probably nothing he can do right. Oh, except refusing any sort of advice from TJ!

Doggy bag? You’re gonna need a body bag, buddy.

I’m telling you she’s gonna leave the table upset and she’s gonna say "so you think marrying me is a joke?!

It would have been far more interesting if the proposal had been for real…

It’s the internet, I lied. You’re two days late on your alimony!

Notice how expectant they look in Panel 2. And interested. Neither look especially upset or dismayed – even though both may have been taken aback by what the other said. My take is that she thinks “He’s really quite funny, even though he was serious about the question.” He thinks, “I guess my April Fool comeback defused her retort about the proposal.” Then it all seems to fall apart in Panel 3. But, they may still laugh about it tomorrow. They REALLY like (love?) each other and can work through these shaky situations – you need to do that in marriage and getting practice during courtship is good experience.

Are we sure this isn’t a dream sequence? A bad dream?

I second.

You’re a day late… it doesn’t work when it’s not on the day. ;-)

WHAT AN IDIOT!