Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for May 18, 2017

Last from the bottom

is there a doctor in the bowling alley?

I was hoping Quill would walk in seeing Luann having a ball.

errr, a bawl? Nope. I meant a great time with a jock

When I was a kid, I’d actually dropped one of those old ‘bakelite’ telephones on my foot.

It hurt.

A lot.

Jock really dropped the ball on that one.

Seems to me someone called this a couple of days ago.This spells the end for Lu and Jack.. She’s not a Nil fan. Does she try to go back to Quill?

Welp, fun is over. And our language lands in ‘the gutter’, but for good reason.

…..

I guess Luann just isn’t allowed to have an ordinary, fun time. Some of the nasty posters yesterday who hate Luann will probably be overjoyed at this.

SCHRODINGER’S DOG 8 hours ago: “Things have a way of turning around quickly. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if she cussed him out for something.” Inside info? Luck? Canny sense of how the story arcs go?

@TIGGER: You may not have noticed, but this ‘toon is actually not about politics. So, formatting isn’t the issue.

@SCHRODINGER’S DOG: How did you know so far in advance?

It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye.

They have been mishandling the balls since the moment they got in the bowling alley. We did not see any of them actually use a ball for bowling. Frankly, I am surprised this did not happen back on Monday. The next question is whether Evans goes with real life (the foot is broken) or if Luann’s foot pain was only so Evans could do the “gutter” ball joke.

Let’s all follow the bouncing ball……….

And now our good friend Quick Draw McGraw will interpret Luann’s words in the last panel: “Ooh, that smarts!”

There, precisely why I dislike having those immature, horse-playing college kids running around with half a brain. Luann, if you have more than half a brain, dump Jack. His name should have been Moose. You don’t want to be the Midge to his Moose. The beautiful and smart Midge with a dumb meathead. If you know the story of the adult Archies, Midge did finally dump Moose. The funny thing, though, is Moose became a mayor AND the school custodian. Well, one is more realistic and we know which one. A new adult series just came out – I read the first edition and the secondary characters haven’t made their appearances yet – looking forward to seeing if Moose stays either the mayor or the custodian – my bet is on the custodian because the new series is much closer to the original characters. Anyway, Luann, just do it. Dump Jack-Moose.

@SALLYMARGARET and @ENIGMAFOREVER: Thanks for your very appropriate replies to the @TIGGER comment tonight. I agree with you completely. Since his comment and all the replies will likely vanish by tomorrow, I just wanted to take the opportunity to express my appreciation.

Greg & Karen continue to stay ahead of us. Now Luann needs to go to Urgent Care or ER.

I’ve previously stated my opinion that I do not like Jack because he is a classic dumb jock, and that, accordingly, Luann should dump him.

A few people came to his defense, as they’re entitled to do. But I hope that with this development, my viewpoint will accrue greater popularity.

And also for the record: I like and admire athletes (“jocks”) who are also intelligent and competent people. But I think that the Evanses intended to portray Jack as a stereotypical “dumb jock” as a matter of humor. There’s no need for anyone to come to the defense of athletes, in general, over our criticisms of such a bungling buffoon.

Now Nil is being funny and it’s not funny.

The double date looks like a double bust. However sometimes *$#! like this brings people closer together afterward. Nevertheless I wasn’t rooting for Jack to be the man in Luann’s life. I didn’t want to see a bunch of little cave men running around in diapers.

Jack will have to be more careful when he handles his balls.

Shocking strip. Great visual at K-CHONK. Good laffs from the fans. A break from the politorats.

What is with Bernice and that Laura Petrie outfit she’s wearing?

The thrill of victory, and the agony of de feet. Some of you may be old enough to remember the source of that line.

More like “gutter mouth” than gutter ball.

Yup, that’s a broken foot. See everyone tomorrow at the hospital…

Jack: “So…I guess going out Saturday is out of the question?” (followed by Luann’s “if looks could kill” glare at him)

Yep, that’s a broken foot. I think Jack just ruined his chances

Jock is not much of a Jock or he would be wearing his strap at more than a two year college.

“Let’s have a hand for that young cowboy, and wish him better luck next time…”

Never thought they use the old Flintstones bowling ball dropped on foot gag.

Fort – ah say, FORtunately, I bring along steel-toed bowling shoes for… just such an emergency…

Wow, my comment from last night again does not appear. I wonder what I have been doing wrong. I can’t see any reason to delete it, as it’s a perfectly appropriate comment. Anyway, I do have a different reaction this morning than I did last night, which might be good. Poor Luann has a broken foot for sure, although in comics cartoon characters go through all kinds of trauma, but this is not a slapstick kind of comic, so there should be real injury here. I am also sorry for Jack, he was just acting silly, and suddenly this happens. He is clearly distressed. Which leads to my point: Nil has no reaction to the pain that Luann must be going through, he merely makes a snarky comment. Rather heartless, overly cool, while slurping his drink. Bernice is shocked and has not had a chance to react beyond that to see her friend get hurt, but Nil borders on sociopathy. No empathy whatsoever. What does this really mean?

Someone brought out her trashy side? Mom & dad would be so proud.

So yesterday Bernice “dropped the ball” in just assuming her date with Nil was not working instead of being willing to learn new things and have new experiences. Today, on the other half of the date Jack really DOES drop the ball. Luann’s metatarsals must be a mess. Thank goodness for PT once the bones have mended. I could imagine her character appreciating PT and maybe even finding a new interest.

Tomorrow’s arc could find Luann having a soda with Bernice discussing the evening. Luann’s foot would be in a cast.

Funny how Luann takes on this Dr. Seuss-like appearance at the moment of impact…

OUCH!!!!

I foresee Jack the jock swooping her off her (good) foot and carrying her to Urgent Care. As he does, they lock eyes and Luann realizes he is the tru-jock for her.

♪♪ “Oh When those Bowling Balls start droppin,”

“You can BET, Luann will be Hoppin’! "

“In that Old Bowling Alley back Hoooooome!!” ♪♪

Even if that foot isn’t broken, it’s going to swell up something fierce.

Everyone is bagging on poor Jack, saying this is the end of his whateveritis with Luann. I beg to disagree. It all depends on how he reacts—on what he does next. If he doesn’t panic and doesn’t play around, but takes responsibility and takes care of her in a competent and mature way, they could actually become close.

I can see it now, they are married and little LuJack asks them, how did you know you were right for each other. Jack says, “I dropped a bowling ball on her foot and all I could think was, I wish it had fallen on my foot instead.” Luann says, “He dropped a bowling ball on my foot and he took care of me for the next two months till it healed.”

4

Not the turn of events I was hoping for. But, what I am currently hoping for is that the bowling ball only hit Luann’s foot in a glancing fashion, and while we can tell it sure as hell smarted…. hopefully there is no significant damage or broken bones. That is what I am hoping for, as I do not think it will be enjoyable to have Luann on crutches for the next several weeks in the story.

From the point of view of what happened, obviously, Jack made a mistake here. But, I do not feel this necessarily negates hims as a potential continuing boyfriend (or at least friend) for Luann.

Although I know it was meant for comedic purposes, I am not overly fond of the lack of reaction from Bernice and the sarcastic reply by Nil. Again, yes, I know it is the comedic “punchline” for today’s comic, but for me, it is rather unkind and not what I would have expected from the two of them. Hopefully tomorrow, we will see both of them (Bernice & Nil) and also Jack, being concerned for Luann. But, also again, I am hoping no real damage or breakage has occurred for Luann.

Might not result in serious damage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SemiD6wLuJE

Nothing like a little bit of accidental domestic violence…

You know, they have balls with large holes. Just saying.

Get rid of Jack and Nil and bring back Zane and Aaron Hill. ;)

Wow, what a WEIRD day in the comments section! Not only is there wildly exaggerated political devisiveness, but some are expecting the same people who everyone treats as knowledgeable strip historians to not have learned anything from that immerson, and others are figuring that an ACCIDENT can cause a huge rift between people, while others (perhaps never suddenly injured) figure characters are potty-mouthed if they cuss in such a situation. What is in the air today?

LuANN!

Matches his fat head!

And this is why hanging out with stupid people is a bad idea: sure, it’s all goofy fun and games for a while, but eventually their lack of common sense gets someone hurt. So long, Jack+Luann. It was fun while it lasted.

I’m starting to get a feeling that this comic’s dual character (gag-a-day silliness vs character-growth storylines) sometimes generates too much internal friction.

When you introduce characters as primitive comedic stereotypes (Tiffany and Jack being the main victims of this syndrome) and have no intention of letting them grow, to the extent of dragging them back to first base by force whenever a storyline does require of them to make some progress, this is going to lead to frustrating inconsistencies with a readership who by now really want to see them portrayed as realistic, and growth-capable.

I think the Evanses will have to give some serious thought to which way to weight their story going forward, because they can’t have it both ways much longer.

Annie, that is a reasonable comment, except that for many of us growth was NOT linear. I know it was not for me. I woukd make some progress then regress a bit, then make a little more progress much of the time, so when that happens in the strip it reads true for me.

It appears the Mods have tidied the place up a bit. It is Implausible for someone to think that this is the forum for political junk, and ReallyBad for newcomers here to think that is what this forum is about. Getting everyone’s ire up is ReallyBad 2…

TIGGER the chigger has been ejected.

While has had some good lines this week, he’s just another white boy in a nearly all white strip. Bring back Delta for a little diversity in Luann’s world.

Delta was a favorite of mine, too, though i can understand the Evanses’ point that she grew into such a moral character that it became hard to write any comedy around her. Maybe diversity with some new characters?

@BEB01 AND SUKIECRANDAL: Both Des and TJ represent people other than those who are white.

Oh that had to hurt

Bernice will probably take this as an opportunity to lecture Luann and Jack that if they had been less shallow and had devoted themselves to bowling and not clowning around, that this would not have happened. Nil will probably just continue to sit there. I hope there is some compassionate person who will at least call 911, and maybe even try to comfort Luann…

I take it that Nil’s trenchant remark refers to the language provoked from Luann by the accident. She will need a cast and/or walking boot for a while; maybe Jack will carry her around campus from class to class….

great now Luann’s going to have a foot cast for the next month or 2

It is EXTREMELY irritating to read posts that refer to another post THAT IS NO LONGER THERE!!!!

Gutter ball and gutter mouth!

I think the next strip(s) will have the four of them in the emergency room with Luann, and that the ultimate take home message for Bernice and Luann over this outing, which was supposed to teach Bernice to “go with the flow” will be that of “expect the unexpected”.

PS. I know from personal experience the pain of a foot fracture.

Hope for the best, expect the worst, and take what comes.

Jack looks a bit shocked at the words Luann knows and uses.

Holy cow. I’ve never heard her use that kinda language before.