Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for April 06, 2012

Ooooh, Cyrano……………………..

Whup him, Brad!

No, no, Brad. It is YOUR fault for listening to TJ and following through. You are the stupid one and who bungled up. You said " just ask I knew she would." SO why did you go and do it anyway?? Listen to yourself, not TJ.

Brad and Toni should play a gag on TJ. Get him scared that he screwed up big on his plan and ruined their relationship.

Not much zip to the romantic evening. It deflated like Gunther’s adventure.

Tell him where he can put not only the earpiece but the recorder, the surveillance van, the whole megillah! Thenthrow him out on his tukhes!

Blame the messenger.

T.J. simply needs to focus his skills on driving Eiffel insane.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twenty times, and Brad’s kind of a moron.

If the son of God says it, I agree with him.

Brad did bungle up the plan. TJ has many stupid plans, but only TJ himself can sell and operate them. If TJ had a girlfriend just like Toni, they would already be married -unlike Brad. (TJ probably doesn’t want to get married because it’s too easy for him to convince a girl and he’d win every argument in the relationship. – cause TJ is just the king of schemers). -He can convince Brad that any stupid plan will work. He can upsell at WW. He can drive Anne Eiffel crazy but still leave her needing him around. He’s a very smart scheming kind of guy, just very lazy to put it all into action. -Why should he? He’s got Brad and Anne, sometimes others for that.

Never trust TJ. :P

And in the last panel, young Mr DeGroot has died and been transformed into a zombie. Kind of like this strip, really.

I second much of this.

One of Brad’s goals in life is marriage. Why settle for an idea that is second best in his mind. -Hey wanting to go out for burgers at lunch, but settling for chicken cause your friend wants to go out for chicken is one thing -but wanting marriage but settling for some “let’s just be together” plan is another. That changes a life.

Brad needs a girl with the same goals in life. Toni needs to talk out the details and thoughts on marriage so that Brad will know if it’s really in the picture and if it’s worth waiting for Toni to come to that point.

T.J. is a fool. A clever fool, and yet a fool. Brad should just live in the moment and NOT LISTEN whenever TJ has one of those plans of his.

It’s getting illogical and unsympathetic. If we go into limbo here and then move onto another storyline, I’m not sure I’m gonna give a damn about the strip in general. What has been learned here? Anything? Not by the characters…

Brad’s finally wising up!

To complain about a girl who does not come up with a reason to NOT love you/marry you/like you is plain stupid.You need a reason to marry someone. You don’t need a reason NOT to marry someone. Simple as that. Greg, thanks for leting Toni be a sensible human being with a mind of her own.

It’s easy enough to see the light after the harm has been done, Brad. Why did you follow TJ’s dumb plan in the first place? Maybe it’s time for you two to have separate living arrangements.

A little harsh there, Mr. “Christ”. However, I have thought for a VERY LONG TIME that Ms. Daytona needs to vanish out of Brad’s life. She has enough psychological baggage on her to re-sink the TITANIC. He has played it HER way all along, and what has he got in return? A laundry list of everything HE CAN’T DO! Believe it or don’t, Brad, you can do better. Three BILLION women out there? GO FOR IT!

Ohh, it takes a special someone to use misogyny and then gay bash in the same sentence while going under the screen name of Heysoos Christos. I love the irony.

However, I must admit I never looked at the niece in that light. That would be an interesting twist i’ll admit. Right now a good twist might actually help the strip, as recently most of the arcs have been fairly cookie cutter. So to an effect I agree with your statements. I think Toni is becoming a dead end character. This is the second or third time they’ve broached the subject of marriage, and she has rebuffed him each time. Its clear she has limits to her love for him. No man in love would be “happy” with that, he’d just settle for it. Then again, thats real world logic, and we all know that doesn’t apply in Luanns world. I actually think Greg knows his core fans prefer the Toni strips. So actually, he’s stuck. He’s going to alienate us by writing her out, but the strip is called Luann, not Brad/Toni. So he’s going to continue throwing us bones now and then.

It’s Easter Happy Easter to All.TJ needs to go hopping down the Bunny Trail!

WOW!!!!!!!!

Ah,,,,,, Brad M’boy, its NOT Your fault, son.

You’re at the Mercy of a Creator that thinks that You being made a FOOL of by TJ Over and Over and OVER again, is ACTUALLY Funny.

Kinda like the Late Creator of Charile Brown That thought that Lucy Yanking the football out from in front of old Charlie a Zillion times was “Really, Really Funny”.

I would suggest to Your Creator Brad, that he put it to a VOTE as to whether or not He should continue having TJ make You and INDEED just about EVERYONE in the VAST Luanniverse look like Chumps.

Unfortunately, the SMALL but NOISY group of “TJ Lovers” out there would only find a way to vote a million times and SKEW the voting results.

Maybe, Just Maybe, Greg will have one of US “Ghost Write” a week of strips.

Maybe one of “us” will be ME. If that day comes, Brady Boy,your problems are SOLVED.

Toni would SUDDENLY be Delightfully SUBMISSIVE.And TJ would MEET a DISERVINGLY, HORRIFIC, GRUESOME, SATISIFYING, and MOST Importantly, PERMANENT End!!!

Well DAMNIT I can DREAM can’t I???

Dang that’s kinda harsh seeing that MOST people don’t know and divorce in 2 years. He is just trying figure out his life just like everyone else and seeing that you a a part of life you know how hard it is to know what to do.

TJ should go into politics. He’s a man full of stupid ideas that he can convince others are really great.

Could TJ be sabotaging Brad and Toni’s relationship on purpose? We know he can be very manipulative.

Another Cyrano Debergirac?(sp?)OK Can we get back to weenie world? I want to see Ann Eyesore fall on her face

So, TJ’s plan didn’t fail, Brad failed. Eep… It’s time for Brad to flush Mr. Know-it-all out of his life.

TJ spent another evening alone waiting for brokebacky firefighter roommate to come home.

It amazes me how many people read this strip and yet seem to despise the characters.

I love ti that TJ doesn’t admit he was wrong..It’s like Sheldon in a “The Big Bang Theory,” episode.“Yea, I could be wrong, but never am.”

It’s sweet that Brad is willing to sign up for the whole maintenance plan, but hey, he’s getting the milk free. Joking aside, he probably needs to ask the important question…not “will you marry me?”, but “am I wasting my time?”

The best post I’ve seen so far today!

“…misogyny and then gay bash…”

Aren’t cheap shots just wonderful?

Boroing and a bit stupid with the ear piece thing didn’t he use that before?

Brad trust in your own intuition and keep TJ out of your Biz…

Man…. you sound a little bitter. Something you want to share, Hillbilly? (Please don’t…)

Brad just needs to ask Toni “WHEN will be the right time to ask? Uh, NEVER?” LOL If she loves him, she owes him an explanation of her reluctance to commit. And send TJ on a vacation to the moon for a while so he can’t further mess things up!! :-P

Brad did not mention to TJ that Toni realized that it was TJ’s plan. I don’t know if he just forgot to mention it or if that was intentional. It leaves them the opening to teach TJ that his advice is worth less that what they paid for it. It usually spells disaster.

We,ve mostly agreed that Toni is older than Brad, but how much older. Other than her brother and Shannon, her family is a mystery. And why would she refuse to even talk about marriage. I’m left wondering if she CAN get married. Perhaps Shannon is her child and her husband ran out on them. She may already be married to an absentee husband and father. It would explain a lot.

TJ, your plans may work for you, but they’re unlikely to work for Brad.

doesn’t tj ever go out? is he tapping anne, or is he just wierd? another thread going nowhere, eh?

It ain’t morning where I am.

Brad is too young to get married. Should live and learn more and meet more women before riveting a chain.

When you see a poster deliberately promoting misinformation, insisting that info and relationships Greg has given us aren’t true, but that the “facts” are something else, and ignoring the motivations and history that certain characters have in order to serve the version they’re promoting – realize that pattern is very familiar, and serves only one purpose. Start looking for an empty bridge and don’t feed it. .Also realize you’re seeing a hand up a sock when the profile (like many others in the past) was created a year ago and has never posted once until today.

TJ’s plan worked. Brad found out where he stood and did not lose the relationship, which was the idea all along. Also, it did plant the marriage bug in Toni’s mind a little deeper. Brad has the right to know where things really stood.

All plans work if executed properly as far as TJ is concerned.

wow…this is not real life, this is a comic strip and while real-life situations are certainly dealt with, most are fairly run-of-the-mill, teen angst.

… DO YOUR HOMEWORK PEOPLE!!!!!

Thanks for the background.

But that’s pretty damn funny too. They said there would be no math!

Brad doesn’t get it….TJ may have screwy plans, but the REAL problem is Toni wanting to be in control. Either he mans up and explains to Toni that this love affair needs to move forward, or he needs to MOVE ON !

PS. Here are correctly formatted links to the homework:Something Interesting about ShannonNow On The Couch, Toni Daytona

This idea was a stupid one and Brad knew it. But Toni forgave him and gave him a goodnight kiss so it wasn’t a complete disaster. It didn’t move their relationship any farther along, but what’s the rush? It’s still good. I don’t often read the comments here because so many are nasty and/or way off mark, IMO. I am especially turned off by the person with a messianic complex.

I once asked someone if I was wasting my time. Now I know – if you have to ask, you are.

Good time to jump to the other characters.

No, dumbest of all is being OK with your relationship finally being in a “stable” place, understanding that your girlfriend appreciates your lack of volatility after her last disastrous relationship, and respecting her reasons for not being ready to discuss marriage – and in spite of all this, still listening to your scheming roommate because you screwed up and forgot Valentine’s Day — even tho your girlfriend (who you’ve already stated isn’t like other women) never made a fuss about it. .Brad needs to decide whether he’s happier with Toni, even not being married, than without her, the same as any woman who’s in a relationship with a man who doesn’t want to get married has to decide whether her life is actually richer with him, or more fulfilled with a ring and some other guy. .About all the outrage of Toni needing to have “control” – are you the guys who were cheerleaders for Dirk? Because Brad’s insisting when he knows she’s not ready is just as “controlling” – especially since his proposal wasn’t fueled by a feverish desire to have kids and settle down five minutes ago, but because he forgot Valentine’s. Sheesh..Greg’s made a mess and created a contradictory picture because he didn’t do his homework. People who are self-sufficient, assertive, overly capable and controlling, as he claims Toni is, generally aren’t on the losing end of emotionally abusive relationships, which are all about further eroding an already damaged victim’s sense of self-esteem and control. But since it’s his world, is it so impossible to accept that someone who managed to evolve beyond a guy like Dirk pushing her around and having control of her life would have to be the one to decide whether she was ready to even discuss marriage? Yeah, it’s a bid on the overcompensation side, but it makes sense the way Greg’s set it up.* *Which is, after all, in the interest of stalling a marriage in the first place, which he knows would kill any interest in them as a couple stone dead.

Brad knows TJ like the back of his hand after being his friend and roomie all this time. If anything, Brad shouldn’t be angry at TJ…he should be angry at himself for getting sucked into this whole thing. When, oh when is Brad going to stop allowing others to manipulate him. Oh….probably about the time Tiffany grows a working brain cell.

I also don’t see her not wanting to discuss marriage as a blatant move for complete control of the relationship, nor, I think, has Greg shown that that’s her intention. Other posters are reading that into her actions – many of those outraged “accusations” have various degrees of misogyny attached to them, which is obviously their baggage, not Greg’s. .“Committed” seems to be a concept that you’ve just redefined. There’s a reason for the saying “do you have a ring and a date?” C’mon, saying that you can “commit” to an engagement without somehow committing to the idea of getting married at a set date, even if it’s 3 years away, is fudging on the whole thing, and it’s more than a little ridiculous. If it’s not going to be more definite than at some vague point in the nebulous future, why bother at all? It seems it’d be trying for some half-assed form of reassurance that your SO wouldn’t leave you, and pathetically trying to pin them down by millimeters at a time. .The purpose of “long engagments” used to be for couples who got engaged after only dating for a few months to really get to know each other. Sometimes a long engagment was so both could graduate from college and at least one could get a job before they married, or if one was in the military, to return from an overseas posting. But because people generally live together now before they start the engagement/marriage ball rolling, a long engagment of more than a year doesn’t serve much of a purpose – not unless you’re fixated on getting married at the Plaza and the only date they have is 5 years in the future.

Marriage is a big step. Sure it’s all fun in the begining, but after a while? burping, farting, bad words… and I haven’t even mentioned my habbits yet

Yo, JC, you’re taking this strip a little too seriously.

what a simple stupit comic strip can do to people

LOL, are you TJ in disguise? C’mon, “this time next year” is a definite marriage commitment. It also isn’t a “long” engagement in anyone’s book – the reason you got married at the end of that year is because it generally takes that long to plan a nice wedding of any size. I’m willing to be your fiancee started making plans right after you proposed, right? Therefore “sometime next year” makes absolutely no sense as a reassuring or “easing in” plan if your SO isn’t even ready to discuss marriage.

This is like an episode of I love Lucy, except Brad is Lucy. Or 3’s Company. Classic sitcom stupidity. I think we’ve come to a head- resolution is needed. Brad needs to become a man and think for himself. Dump TJ and talk to Toni.

Not Toni’s daughter— G.Evans firmly established that Shannon is her niece!

Yeah – I remember that. Most of the comments in here are sarcastic and light….FBOFW could be kind of heavy stuff. I thought it was so lame that Elizabeth would marry a guy she paid no attention to back in high school. I always felt she married him because he was “safe” especially after that romance with the pilot guy Warren and Paul…however, the honor of the biggest controversy goes to Lawrence coming out of the closet.

I am with you in this – Mojito has a different take on why Toni is gun-shy about committment – My take on Mojito is she believes in woman’s power – that women have the right to do what they want to do, not led by the guys, etc. I agree with that thinking in some areas…but in relationships, it goes both ways…Brad DO have some rights as the half of the relationship. He does have the right to know where he stands and to know why she shies away and refuses to talk about marriage. He has the right to know if it is just about Dirk or more than that. Toni can’t just control what they will discuss. It is such a one-way street. I would call men whose women are like Toni P-Whipped…and looks like Brad is heading down that path.

first time I’ve actually laughed out loud at this strip in a while. TJ can’t fathom his plans failing and thinks that he just needs to be on a two-way hidden radio with Brad to help him pull off his capers. What a riot! Good one, Greg.

IMO I think a lot of Greg’s storylines aren’t “functional” anyway – Luann and Quill acting like 35 year olds and deliberately not dating because he could go back to Oz in two years is a case in point. So I’m actually expecting a lot of 2 steps forward, 3 steps back obstacles when it comes to Brad and Toni.

TJ is a manipulator.Brad is indecisive.Toni is troubled.Ann is a control freak.Luann is erratic.Gunther has an inferiority complex.Dirk is dominant.Rosa is ambitious.Knute is a joker.Tiffany in narcissistic.Crystal is sarcastic.But this is just MY opinion.

Personally, I think Gunther & Rosa radiate more sexual tension than Brad & Toni…..even Luann & Quill could reach critical mass and explode. I keep thinking, “kiss the girl, Gunther, she’s really hot”………and I wait, and I wait, and I wait. Even cartoons can be frustrating.

“Dirk is an abuser.” I agree – good point!And… Quill is aloof.Bernice is a wet blanket.Delta is driven.

Y’know, about the only couple on this strip who hasn’t pissed people off is the Knute-Crystal pairing. As for Shannon, about a year ago I wrote a detailed analysis proving she’s a midget North Korean spy. So there :/

“bungling”? Does TJ have an underground lair near a volcanoe with maneating sharks guarding it?