Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for March 01, 2016

New poll up: Have you been to New York?

What’s the best kind of drama?1) 30 votes – Other2) 16 votes – Imagined3) 15 votes – Self-Inflicted4) 4 votes – ManufacturedOther: Shakespearean; yo mama’s drama; I don’t want drama, I want stability; someone else’s; Inflicted on others; One which actually leads to a resolution,unlike this strip.; “What is drama but life with the dull bits cut out.”; The kind I can turn off when I get tired of it; the kind I’m not watching; None!; on-stage; Yellow – Mellow-Drama; Greek; Crime Drama; Luann’s Drama; Unexpected; Forget drama. I want comedy!; JERRY!!!!!; What would Aristotle say?; Gunther-and-the-llama drama; Queen

How does Mr. Gray know Prudence was a bartender?

Oh, right, Luanniverse.

Well, this is awkward for Luann’s parents: their daughter breaking up with her Aussie boyfriend who they also like.

Hmmmm. ow did Grey know Quill was leaving?

Better remember to wash that hand, Frank…

Also check to make sure you still have your watch and wallet.

Well, they say when one door closes, another opens… – Unless it’s Sunday. Or the days ending in “ay”, in alternating months with a “Q” in them…

I like Mr G better all the time.

1. I am surprised that Mr. Gray could have applied for a liquor license for the Fuse without the owners knowing about it.2. Isn’t Prudence already working at the Fuse? That’s why she stayed on at the DeGroots after putting on her show.3. It’s a lot easier to find a bartender than a theater director. Keeping Prudence on to run the theater would be a much better use of her skills than keeping her on to tend bar.

“…And One More, For The Road” (♫)“What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted?” (♫)“License To Chill Frosty Mugs”“It’s Almost Five O’Clock”“For Tom Collins And Me”“Happy Hour, Minus One”“Half Past Heartbreak” “His Hour Upon The Stage”“Knowing When To Leave” (♫)“Sunrise, Sunset” (♫)“You Dropped A Bomb On Me…Baby…” (♪)“Rewind, Replay, Erase”“When Opportunity Knocks, Don’t Knock Opportunity "“Easy As Falling Off A Lager”or “What Ales Ya?”

Yeah, in the real world, that’s not legal. Or at least the partly real world of Florida…

Well, at least we now know Prudence is going to be a regular character for a while.

Awwww, I like Quill. Luann deserves a cute guy.

Do I recognize Les?

And just like that Mr. Gray inserts a bar into a previously family-oriented enterprise, while putting a thug o the DeGroot payroll. This gets more interesting all the time!

Welcome to owning a business DeGroots. Employee turn over! Or, wait, was Quill an employee? Or did he just volunteer?

Thanks argythree and flowerlady for repeating what I said.

Mr. Gray is none other than Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Quill can’t stop working at the Fuse, since he’s working there because the Moony Uni drama department uses it as a rehearsal and performance space. So as long as he’s a drama student at Moony, he will have to keep working at the Fuse. Or will he drop out of school to take a job with that traveling play and then never be seen again?

Pru is only there because of Quill, so she should leave too.

I think Mr. Quill is permanently leaving the comic strip.

Hey remember that time Nancy thought Quill was better than Toni?

Who else thinks that Quill had other plans in place before the “Breakup?”

Oh great! Hire Les where they serve liquor… Have to admit however that Pru would be a good bartender. Hope they can find somebody better than Toni’s brother to do the acting.

Greg and Karen Evans certainly have varied the pace of the strip careeningly of late. I think that Quill is gone because the portrayal of his-and-Luann’s breakup was so long, with both characters carefully portrayed with some sympathy as their conflict played out, and in the week since then we have seen new plot possibilities and revelations and character configurations rapid-fire. I am enjoying this.

“Quill is le…” legally not able to run a bar yet, very likely, if he’s only a year or two out of high school.

Pru was offering her time to the Fuse – so hiring her as a bartender would move her to the paid employee ranks.

Why couldn’t Mr Grey, with all his powers of persuasion, find a job for Les in some, uh, organisation?

Does Quill have his green card yet, or is he still on his student visa? His job in the theater department is probably a work-study position, so he’s probably ok that way. The job at the Fuse must be a volunteer position for him to be there.

Mr Gray, can fix anything… except his jack@$$ nephew

What will be Leslie job be at the Fuse 1. Bouncer 2.Bathroom Attendant or 3.DishWasher

Tomorrow’s strip —Quill: I love you, Nancy. Come back home with me.

Well, I was afraid of this. The strip loses a character I really like in Quill, and gains Les. I am also not crazy about Pru. She’s too manic, and Les is just reprehensible. I guess there will be some redemption on his part, but not before lots of turmoil. But it’s not my strip to write.

For all the Quill haters that post, I guess you think Les is a good trade?

Are we sure his name’s not actually O’Riley (as in Walter)?

Well, So Long, Pretty-Boy and THANKS for all the FISH! And Please FORGET to Write!

Now Where WERE We?

Mr. Gray applies for a liquor license without consulting the club’s owners, knows intimate developments before anybody else does, and tells Frank and Nancy to hire his delinquent nephew as a “personal favor”.…………………………

Just what kind of clubs were you running in Vegas Mr. Gray? Are you going to bring in a bunch of ‘silent partners’ to ‘invest’ in The Fuse?…………………………If Frank and Nancy aren’t careful, they’re going to end up just names on a deed. To give the club ‘legitimacy’.…………………………Alright, I gotta ask; does anyone else notice Mr. Gray’s face always has that same expressionless, beady-eyed look?

So far so good.Now tell them about your program for newly released convicts and gang mediation.

I think we know more about Les now and maybe we can break his bully exterior. Mr.Gray didn’t say Quill was leaving. We assumed that. Still, he could of known because he dates Gunther’s mother and Quill lives there. Also, Quill, just dumping his commitments to go do things elsewhere. Luann was right, they have needed to break up for a while. Prudence annoys me with her extra perky crazy, but I still like her. Just one of the types of persons I would need to not be around ALL the time. I kind of see where Mr Gray is going with this.

“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.”

- Albert Einstein

End game: the Fuse turns into a seedy, trashy bar with hookers and crime. Mr. Grey muscles in and takes the place. Dirk and Les are henchmen.

Maybe Luann will latch on the Les…..and turn him around. Now THAT would be interesting….

Frank and Nancy will put their collective feet down.

Mr. Gray’s timing is getting spooky.

Wouldn’t a liquor license eliminate their under-drinking age customers?

Mr. Gray would be killer as a mentalist on “Fool Us”.

Luann considered Pru such a threat, and yet if she’s been a bartender that makes her several years older than all the college kids. Discounting the whole ‘she doesn’t like boys anyway" shouldn’t that alone have been a clue for Luann?

Years ago, Mr. Gray once smiled and tore a small fissure in his face. Ever since he has carefully avoided any expression whatsoever.

Is it just me or does Mr. Gray remind you of Raymond Reddington?

“You don’t have to be a meteorologist to know which way the wind is blowing.” Mr. Gray is observant, not a prophet.

Makes you wonder if Mr. Gray is the older version of TJ?

Maybe Pru is Mr. Gray’s “inside man”!

Okay! Radar O’Reilly grew up to be Mr. Gray and reapplied his radar talents.

Liquor licences in this state are hugely expensive, hundreds of thousands of dollars, and very restricted.

Sheriff said that familial relationships could start being very complicated and hard to chart, both the ones that will show up and the ones that are postulated. Certainly, we know that Prudence was in foster care, the unknown backgrounds of TJ and Piro have been dangled before us for years and months, Ben was adopted away, Dez manages to travel and dissapear without any problems, Tiff’s maternal and step-maternal histories are missing, and i am sure that many of you will fill in many more since many of the “kids” have no parentage info provided. Are any of them Mr. Gray’s recently discovered kids? Who do you imagine as sibs or half sibs, cousins? What old characters might resurface this way? What new ones?

No she is surprised about the news about Luann and Quill.

But is he a virgin?

“SHE CAN HELP RUN THE THEATER BECAUSE QUILL IS LES..”….…LESLIE’S HALF BROTHER, AND THAT WOULD BE A CONFLICT OF INTEREST

I figured Pru was at least a few years older than Luann. She was a bartender, so she is over 21. It makes sense to hire her on, and she is totally opposite of Les in personality. I don’t think that is the second favor Mr. Gray wants, so we are still in the dark about it. Bye bye, Quill. Nice knowing you — I think.

I hope this ARC doesn’t resemble an ARC from the movie GoodFellasD

Are we sure Mr. Gray isn’t involved (deeply undercover) with the CIA, FBI, NSA etc? He seems to know a lot about everybody.

Maybe Les will be Luann’s new love ala Beauty and the Beast.

…. and Mom finally wakes up and realizes that her daughter has been begging for her advice. #selfabsorbed

Maybe Mr Gray reads all their Facebook statuses?

Will Les and TJ become partners in crime at The Fuse? We shall see.

8Interesting on several levels:1. Mr. Gray seems to have already known that Quill was going to leave. Is this him working behind the scene in some nefarious fashion? Is it just information he hears on the side? 2. Quill’s statement “Luann and I broke up. I am leaving The Fuse.” reconfirms to me that Quill was doing the work he was doing at The Fuse primarily as a way to help Luann and Luann’s family. This is why I still feel that everyone who keeps saying Quill was the major factor that “ruined the relationship” because he didn’t focus on Luann… are still not recognizing this possibility…. Quill WAS IMO focused on Luann and Luann’s family… which to me is a caring attitude…. albeit not in the particular way of caring that Luann wanted or cared about…. but he WAS devoted to her and to her family and it shows with all this work he has done. 3. So, while the relationship ended through issues from both Quill and Luann, I still feel many have been overly harsh on Quill’s focus. 4. I wonder what Nancy’s “eyes of surprise” in the last panel mean…. is it simply surprise at the breakup?…. is it shock at losing all of Quill’s help and support?….. is it some sort of recognition that it is “odd and interesting” that Mr. Gray seemed to know of Quill leaving already? 5. Pru has to be at least 21 to be a bartender. I wonder if the idea of the Fuse serving alcohol is also potentially a part of Nancy’s shock?

This guy scares me. I wonder if he has been pulling strings.

I am fond of Deus Ex Machina. Not so fond of Deus Ex Stercoribus.

When you think about it, the story tradition of the person who knows too much even after explanations are given, and the person with impeccable timing are old and have many configurations good and bad, including but not limited to stories about witches, wizards, shamen, wisewomen, saints, mindreaders, demons, vampires, forensic detectives, Miss Marple, Yoda, Radar O’Reilly, Sherlock Holmes, Blacklist, Mentalist, etc.

Mr. Gray knows all…useful man…

Whoa, Mr Gray.. hostile takeover? You applied for a liquor license? with permission I hope?

Mr. Gray seems to be the man who traffics in Knowledge.

Frank and Nancy will be more surprised when they learn who now owns the Fuse. Somehow Mr. Gray took ownership, since he can get a liquor license for it.

A oud was supposed to be AvoidSorry.

Quill is leaving? Why? I thought he is a career oriented theater professional. A real professional keeps personal things out of the body of their work.

Les can’t tend the bar. its like putting the fox in charge of the hen house. as for prudence, she has to o back to her life. - even though it will be for her to decide. what a pleasant surprise awaits Gunther. i’d love to be a fly on that wall!

So Les is Luann’s new romance? Is he the guy who helped TJ or whoever torch his taco stand?

The more I think about it, the more I’m with Gunther that Mr. Gray makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

To expand on my earlier comment, the only regular character in the strip that we’ve seen Pru connect with is Quill, who appears to be leaving (at least for a while). There’s no reason that she shouldn’t go back home to New York, maybe making a cameo appearance when Luann and Bernice go out there with the tickets Luann bought. Unless…

…Pru is in on whatever shady thing Mr. Gray is up to. That would explain how he knows that she’s been a bartender. If I’m right about her being in on what Mr. Gray is up to, Quill comes out as a more sympathetic character for getting used like he did.

Les’ reappearance only adds to the feeling that Mr. Gray is bad news for the DeGroots.

Addendum for Jim. NJ has three types of liquor licences: retail (store, restaurant, nightclub, etc.), wholesale, and manufacturing. There are imposed quotas, and liquor licences have been sold between places like any item of value.

The liquor license issue depends on the laws of the individual state in which the establishment is located. If California is the state in question, then anyone who serves spirits (hard liquor) must purchase and existing license as CA no longer issues new licenses for anything other than beer and wine sales. The cost issues, cited above by another poster, involve finding a license holder who is willing to sell a license for the same type of business. It can be very costly, depending on market factors. However, obtaining a beer and/or wine license is much less expensive as new one are being issued (but still can run in the thousands depending on how much work is needed to complete the entire process, which includes document preparation, possible zoning permits, neighborhood approval, etc.).Also, in most states an agent can apply for the license on behalf of the owners so long as he/she has the actual authority to do so. Actual authority can come from the principal by direct instruction or blanket authority to operate in the best interest of the business. Given the DeGroot’s lack of business acumen in this respect, and that they seem to have given Mr. Gray free reign heretofore, he likely has the actual authority to make an application on their behalf, so long as the laws of the state allow an agent to apply for the liquor license. What people should be wondering about, in my opinion, is not the liquor license or how Mr. Gray knows what he knows about Pru (as de facto manager, he likely has spoken with Pru, off frame, so to speak, and learned something about her background) and Quill (we do not know how much time has passed since the ‘decision’ and the talk afterwards, so any number of people, including Quill, might have filled him in). What is more interesting is that between one and fourteen days (story chronology) have seemingly passed since the breakup and it appears Nancy is just now learning about it. In the past, I believe Luann would have told her mother something so significant fairly quickly, likely the same day it occurred.

Jim, w my eye i might have deleted the note that of the three types in NJ, any use thst is not manufacturing or wholesale has the costly retail licences which are covered by quotas, too, hence BYOB (if liquor is desired) being typical w fine dining here.

But we already know that the strip is not in the tristate region here because Luann woukd have already used the trains to go to NYC, in fact, they woukd use the train for any place on Metro or Amtrak within several hours of travel, and woukd not have airline tickets for those places, too, so i guess we all know that they are not in large parts of New England or the MidAtlantic, either.

Uh oh, girl on the rebound and a “bad boy”.

JPN001, yes, Luann is getting more separation from her mother, and relying more on others for support and advice. That realization can hit a parent like a ton of bricks multiple times during the maturation of the child. To the child it just feels as natural as it actually is.

Will someone tell me what is the definition of the word, “comics”? Luann isn’t the cute comic strip that I remember it to be!

Too much agida! Luann needs to stop the poor me attitude, find interesting things to do in her own life (like finish college) and support Quill in his career which is based on crucial opportunities and being in the right place at the right time. One delayed trip to NYC does not a relationship break for women with confidence and self esteem!

Right!

@Nermal M“Will Les and TJ become partners in crime at The Fuse? We shall see”.TJ will lead Les down the strait and narrow path.(He says with a straight face.)

Man these last few strips have really made Quill unlikable. Good riddance!

I was interpreting Mr. Gray as saying something about “Quill is le … gally unable to run a bar because of his age.”

-In a #3 washtub filled with four 60 pound sacks of cement

LOL!!! But I don’t think clown feet would fit in a standard washtub….

I think Nancy’s had the hots for Quill since day one, and now, with Luann out of the way….it’s time for the cougar to play!

-I agree with your conclusion that Mr. Gray was about to say that Quill was leaving…

It doesn’t seem in character for the uptight Degroots to sell alchol. Oh well.

And I feel really sorry for Prudence! (Who looks too young to have been a bartender for long.) Now “St. Patrick Daze” will never run on Broadway!

It was a joke!

Now Quilly, Quilly, Quilly———tell the truth. You and Luann did not “break up.” -She dumped you as well she should have.

And Nancy looks Shaken, not stirred

You write:Penn and Teller probably already work for Mr. Gray.

Ah, is that why they used to visit Bell Labs in Murray Hill, NJ? They were collecting info for Mr. Gray? Hey, they are magicians, so who is to say they can not communicate with the 2D world?

In that case, I would advise barbecue sauce instead of suntan lotion…-

Unless you are chicken in which case Hoisin Sauce tastes even better than many barbecue sauces.

I have to say Mr. Gray is so awesome he is scary.

Plus let me add and get out (back to work, ugh!!) he clearly plans to stay around, maybe really marry Gunther’s mom, if she will have him.

For the heck of it i looked up the subscriber numbers on Go Comics. Most are in the single thousands or ten thousands. Two of the nation’s most famous and popular ones are Peanuts which is in the 140,000s, and Nonsequitor which is in the 130,000s. Luann is up close to their range, approaching 110,000. So, despite the people who complain, it sure looks like they are doing something very, very right!

Quill’s abrupt announcement of his abrupt departure and breakup with Luann have startled Nancy and shaken up the comfy “family” of The Fuse. Mr. Gray was seemingly about to announce Quill’s news (panel 2) before he was interrupted by Quill himself. I am still not satisfied we know all we need to know about Mr. Gray. He remains a shady, gray character.But these events do leave plenty of room for new story development and twists and turns….

Who was the ‘Grey Wizard’? Has he arrived here?

I stand or sit corrected.

-I was actually thinking of Gandalf the Grey…

This is mostly for Seismic-2…. I tried to reply directly to your comment, but my reply button was not functioning:You state that Quill has to keep working at The Fuse because of the Moony U connection. You could be right. However, in the way I was thinking through what has transpired is thus:I would tend to have thought Moony U’s use of the Fuse would have been relatively short term. I envision that the donated lighting was going to be thrown out as a part of a remodel of Moony U’s stage system. The way I was thinking things through is that Moony’s upgrade could be done or close to done and that the Moony U theater students would be back to using the on-campus theater full time. If this were to be the case, then Quill would not need to be at The Fuse for his theater major… unless he wanted to be… like if he chose to continue helping the DeGroots out. With today’s statement, it appears that (to me) the breakup with Luann has Quill feeling uncomfortable with his work and wanting out of The Fuse…. understandable…. but a bit abrupt.

Argy… while I sympathize with your thoughts about anyone being a workaholic… to me, I feel you have overemphasized this potential aspect of Quill’s actions to the point where you feel quite angry towards his character. Again, I can understand it. But, I do not have that level of anger towards Quill nor really any characters in Luann. I tend to see all of them as “good” characters (well, perhaps not Les, but even he could become “good”). All of them are indeed flawed and imperfect, but I come to the comic presuming each is trying to do good. My analysis in these comments is often focused on discussing what I feel may be flaws and/or motivations in their behavior that make their actions less good than they themselves are perceiving.

I keep mulling over the idea of The Fuse serving alcohol…. while I enjoy having a drink or two or three on occasion… to me, the young adult friendly The Fuse being a boozier sort of young adult establishment seems a difficult fit with some of the other The Fuse objectives…. the art space, the coffee bar, the theater… etc. I do realize many of those types of establishments do exist with a bar attached…. but it just doesn’t seem a good fit for The Fuse, IMO. I could see a potential for beer and wine “special events” at The Fuse. I have no idea, but is a true liquor license required for an occasional beer/wine special event too? Or just for a day-to-day “bar” type establishment?

Dun, dun, duuuuuuuh.

Reed wrote:Perhaps it is replacement parents he needs, not a girlfriend. Much like Pru.

I find that a very intriguing concept in relation to Quill and to whom he became attached.

It might also wind up applying for a father figure for Les.

These are all college students Pru’s 21 or over?

“…Quill is le…” perhaps Quill is Leslies brother.

rick mcdermott GoComics PRO Member said, about 8 hours ago let us all hope this is goodbye to quill.

^^Amen!

This strip is like Medusa, except that reading it does not turn you into salt (lol)^^Medusa turned people into stone

Brdshtt GoComics PRO Member said, about 6 hours ago

@willy52

“Frank and Nancy will put their collective feet down.”

…

In a #3 washtub filled with four 60 pound sacks of cement

LOL

I don’t hate Quill, I just prefer that be confined to the Phantom Zone of charming accents.

Stargate meets The Godfather.

^That tells me nothing… I’ve never watched either one. Although, I can see a resemblance with “Fat Marlon Brando” (As in Fat Elvis)

It’s time for Quill to say goodbye. Nancy and Frank will probably miss him.

Personally, I find this bit about Quill and Luann breaking up to be depressing. I’ve been following the strip daily for a while now, and Quill hasn’t been doing anything particularly idiotic. Yet we are supposed to think Luann is such a big girl for breaking up with him? Make one mistake and you’re through with this girl? She is so immature still.

Luann was jealous. She didn’t believe Quill when he told her there was nothing between him and Pru. She is simply too immature for a relationship. The split is good for both of them. So whatever happened to Luann the comic strip being funny?

The Dick Tracy figure is 34534

If you go to the alphabetic listing and click open the info windows from the names the readership members for each is present.

There are a mere 13 strips on GoComics which have a subscribed readership of over 100,000. While these numbers do not reflect the additional readership from people who just come to the site without an account, I would surmise that those readers are going to be in roughly the same proportion relative to each other and wouldn’t shift the ranking by much.Here they are:

1. Calvin & Hobbes (299,217)2. B.C. (166,315)3. Garfield (157,596)4. Pearls Before Swine (146,959)5. Peanuts (143,115)6. Wizard of Id (139,901)7. Non Sequitur (137,317)8. Foxtrot (129,638)9. Pickles (128,465)10. For Better or For Worse (125,753)11. Get Fuzzy (124,284)12. Luann (109,619)13. Doonesbury (102,684)

So this strip is in pretty good company.

SPOILER 2.0

Many weird events. A man wonders how another can know in advance, and a lady vanishes….