Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for August 17, 2011

This is not going well.

Slap him, Luann.Just SLAP Him!

Does Luann get combat pay for this?

Luann, give him another chance!!! ask him what is his favorite Rock Band, I feel confidant he will actually answer it!!!!!

but than Again, they might start a fight when Luann says “who?”

Ditto MORDOCK999. Slap the s**t out of him. He needs an “Earth to Gunther” awakening.

Okay, Gunther, this is going too far! Now shape up and get yourself together, boy! Or don’t you want ever to become a man?

Oooh, Luann is such an expert!

Y’know I don’t think this is helping him since he’s having to be conscious of not um-ing, I know that was the biggest pain in the butt about taking public speaking class. Also saying um-ing never seemed to me to be a thing I notice much, plus who knows maybe Rosa likes that about Gunther. Plus, I dunno if Luann is the best person to get relationship advice from in this strip. Like the blind leading the blind.

I think Greg is being Greg.

Gunther is being Gunther

Luann is Luann

Nobody does well under pressure and Gunther was under pressure by Luann to perform. Gunther was also under pressure to perform when he called Rosa to be a “gentleman caller.” He needs to R.E.L.A.X. Stress is eating him up.

Ahh, I remember good female friends working with me in just such circumstances. Invariably, the advice was ALWAYS “be yourself”. As if that helped.Oh yeah, I was a Gunther sort of guy (what’s strange about being a straight seamster?), though I was built like a sportsman because of farm work, and no one could ever successfully physically intimidate me.It only took another few decades to learn how to “be myself”.

Gunther is already a “man” — at least as much as he is ever going to be. No male character in this strip is a man (excepting the few peripheral adults who pop up occasionally). They are all teenagers, and so far, are doomed to remain so forever. If they had aged in anything like real time, Luann would be a grandmother by now.

Charlie Brown never got to kick that football or fly that kite; Beetle Bailey will never retire from the Army; and General Halftrack’s chauffeur Julius will never come out of the closet, despite the repeal of Don’t-Ask-Don’t-Tell. And Gunther will never overcome his shyness and get a girl. The “whys” will be left up to the individual reader.

As long as Greg leaves Gunther twisting in the wind, he avoids alienating either half of his fan base: those who believe he’s straight but shy, and those who believe he’s gay. He also avoids the controversy, criticism, cancellations, and even threats that were heaped upon Lynn Johnson after she had the courage to “out” one of her teenaged male characters in “For Better Or Worse.”

Gunther is not gay. Otherwise he would not be going through all of this. He is painfully shy and he does need to relax. Unfortunately, all of the methods that come to mind should not be mentioned here. Who remembers “One Flew Over The Coockoo’s Nest”?

He was doing so well in person… now the pressure is killing him poor Gunther.

I guess the Cyrano De Bergerac approach won’t work here in the age of electronics. Gunther could have a script. If he doesn’t do any chatting and get’s right to the point (asking for a date), he could have answers for all of her expected responses. It could work.

Just call him “Mr. Priest”, Luann

actually there are young “men” in this strip: brad, TJ, and even knute. they actually engage risk instead of hiding under a rock like quill and gunther.

give it up Luann, from Gunther side anyway, you have to tell and teach Rosa about “leading him” to say the right things………..

“so Gunther, you like movies?” “um, yes” so I guess you should pick me up at 5 PM to see “movie x”, don’t you think?" “um, yes” “looking forward to seeing you, darling, see ya” -—————-Rosa hangs up and Gunther goes “Yessss!!!!!!!”

stop tessing

Thanks for the shout out to speech therapists! Looks like Gunther needs a good lesson on how-to-be-confident-around-the-ladies.

lol

Gunther only has one shirt.

C’mon – don’t tell me you’ve all forgotten your adolescence OR you were ALL type “A” personalities who had it all-together when you were teens, OR you’re lying through your teeth when telling Luann and Gunther what to do when you were their ages. Which IS it?

The important issue will be feet. Can you see that coming?

FEET? Feet don’t fail me now!

The boy has to unbutton the top button, he’ll breathe easier. and it would give future chest hair a fighting chance.

Wow, just the thought of Luann turning Winkerbean makes me both intrigued (mainly for parody purposes) and frightened all at once. I can’t tell which is the more dominant expression but I think the bigger issue is who gets the cancer-death and who becomes the smug Gary-Stu?

I think Luann is still sore from Gunther’s comment yesterday ‘so I pretend you’re a girl, right?’ He’s lucky he didn’t get punched for that!

RE: a couple of days ago. You were right. I did come off as “Dr. Phil”, and I sincerely apologize for the inflammatory words, “God complex”. God knows, we’ve all got plenty to be angry about these days. So, I pray that we all will be able to deal with the issues that anger us with the grace that leads to peace.

I’ve never thought Gunther was gay. Just because he sews doesn’t mean he’s gay. He always seemed to be interested in LuAnn romantically. But he’s just so extremely shy and lacking in confidence around girls. I would believe he has mild Asperger’s Syndrome, but not that he’s gay.

It would be cool if Greg would have a gay teen character in this strip, but I don’t think it’s feasible that it be Gunther. I think having him diagnosed with Asperger’s would make more sense.

oh yeah, you two, Slap the s**t out of him, that’ll really help… Do you want people to do that to you, when you have trouble with doing something??

I pretty much AM Gunther. I know exactly how he feels. Even with girls you’ve known for a long time, you freak out thinking you are going to say the wrong thing and you don’t want to lose what you have managed to gain with said girl. It takes time and patience. And if the girl is worth going for, she will have the patience to bear with your awkwardness.

Yes