Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for August 23, 2022

I have an idea, Luann.. Why don’t you create a comic strip about a 13 yr old girl who has lots of love trauma with a boy she’s crushing on. Maybe she has lots of friends and a best friend that’s nice at first but later on ends up super snarky .

It could be a HIT! lol

Genius!

It is traumatic to listen to

Once again Greg builds up to a dramatic scene then walks away from it. No-drama Evans should go back to writing gag-a-day comics.

“Snipe, Snipe, _Here,”_

“Snark, Snark, _There,”_

“And a couple of Ha, Ha, Ha’s!”

“That how Bern spends the time of day,”

“In the Merry Old Land of Blahs!”

Bernie is trying to make up for her snarkiness…

First time I’ve seen LuAnn that inspired in a while.

Is this setting up a “Return of Aaron Hill” ? and who will he fall for? Bernice!!! Now, that would be a story line.

I think she should do the Quill saga as a comic book.

Don’t fall for it, Luann! Bernice is still being super unsupported and superior. How about your psychotic “romance” with Nil. And you don’t have the excuse of being 13 for being that messed up. Bernice isn’t just emotionally pathetic; she’s being lousy in so many ways!

Bern looks nasty smug in the first frame.

“The Traumatic Love Life of a 13 Year Old” and here come the cops.

It’s painful to see Luann remaining so naive. Lu perceived condescension from Bern – but then she jumps like a dog when Bern fakes throwing the ball. We just got through watching that big lummox Vale make a fool out of Luann. It’s time for Lu to leave the Sunday DeGroot nest and pick up some real world smarts.

it is possible she doesn’t know anything?

Luann’s love stories are funny, while Bernice’s are

Well, Luann is not upset about Bernice laughing at her. So why are YOU Luann fans upset? YOU fans are more upset than the subject of Bernice’s supposedly mockery. Go figure. All I can say is Luann knows Bernice better than you do. My take is Luann knows she is not being mean or intent on hurting her feelings. That’s BFF. And now Bernice is giving her ideas on what to do with her recording. If she were not her BFF, she would tell her that her recordings are lame and just leave. No, she stayed and made suggestions on what she could gain from these recordings.

Do it Luann, DO IT!!! For once her BFF is being a BFF and is saying to her something really precious and sincere! Luann can write funny stories, open an account on some social and post them in it, try to submit them to some magazine (printed or digital) and use her creativity, maybe doing even an illustrations for every story♡. This could become a hit book with a movie/theatre adaption and Luann could choose Fay as main character for it. Now I understand Nil, Bernice IS a muse! Even with her sarcasm and annoying behaviour.

The thing is that I think it would do the strip some good for Luann to have a screaming fit and tell Bernice that she never wants to talk to her again. This is actually classic sit-com material. Since they live together it would be difficult to not talk. Eventually Nancy would notice and try to intervene, but this would immediately make things worse because when Luann complains that Bernice all her humiliations in middle school were funny, Nancy would agree. At which point Luann would storm out of the house. “Wjat are you going?” Nancy asks. “I’ll let you know when I get there!”

The next week we see Brad and Toni hanging up “Have you seen this child” posters.

Maybe Luann will become another Danielle Steele or Jackie Collins.

Oh, let’s see… How about “being a scatterbrained slob”?

Yes, Luann, then the entire world could laugh at you, not just Bernice!

Harlequinn had to start somewhere.

When has Luann ever shown any interest in being a writer?

This starts to get heavily meta so it could really bring the comic back to its origin and wrap it up.

Maybe John Lustig would use them.

Inspiration.

“Oh Aaron,” I still have that Aaron Carter album somewhere.

Uh oh, is this a build-up to the CW show “Luann”?

To give the devil her due, Bernice is actually being helpful here, instead of her normal condescending, self.

I have an idea, Luann! Why don’t you write a story about a dimwitted blonde girl, her obnoxious know-it-all friend, her slacker brother, her parents and her cheerleader nemesis? It could big.

A new career suggestion from Bernice for Luann? Writing teen girl angst as humor. Is there a maket for that?

Warning, warning, 4th wall break imminent, breach could occur

I guess if there is anything funny about these recorded diaries it’s that there are no topics other than Aaron Hill.

This storyline reminds me of a great podcast, Mortified. The premise is adults read their diary/journal entries from when they were kids, to a live audience. The new episode is about kids in love/crushes.

Hmm, Greg figured out a way to rewrite his original strips.

I think that is a fabulous idea!! Do it, Luann!

This is too unbelievable, even for a comic strip. The densest person would figure out that these memories are Painful and would stop laughing at them by now.

She was 13, but I was 19. Things didn’t go as I had hoped

Bernice has to get what she deserves by the end of this arc. This is painful to watch. Luann deserves much better than Bernice for a friend.

I don’t like where this is going.

Play to your strengths always….

Bernice needs to get a life of her own?

Perhaps Luann will switch to a literary major and pursue the next “Great American Novel.”

Bernice says, “Write what you know.” How can Greg, the author, stay credible on the thinking and world of teenage girls? They all look alike to me: skinny, tee shirts, long hair, and plugged into their cell phones.

Luann knows what her real feelings are about the Aaron Hill issue. Bernice is trying to convince Luann that her feelings are not valid. That she does not really feel what she feels. That is not what a friend does.

Now we see the “left turn” Greg intended all along.

Ah the friendship is intact, no surprise. I know I always kind of snark about story versus personality; when I went back to graduate school to get my ABD in Adult and Higher Education they always talked about context, and I guess it stuck. But looking at the strip the way it works for one is the best way, although of course we have all kinds of varying views.

I hope this gets dropped, and fades into nothing like many other story lines from the past. We don’t need to see Luann trying to become a writer, failing at it (because G&K can’t possibly let Luann succeed at anything) and then have to listen to Bernice mock, criticize, and otherwise disparage her efforts.

I see why everyone is being so positive about this idea, however, one point does bother me. What is funny about teen love, infatuations, etc.? They don’t feel funny when it is or becomes negative. Just a thought; if Bernice wants to be a therapist, instead of laughing, talk about the affect on Luann and help her to form better relationships in the future. As I said, just a thought.

There are a lot of viewers who weren’t born when this strip started 30+ years ago and know nothing of the characters’ backstories. Maybe this will be a review of sorts.

“Love trauma”? If you use the word “trauma” to describe the experience of liking someone who doesn’t like you back (something that literally everyone on Earth has had to deal with), you must be either incredibly lacking in emotional resilience, or had an insanely pampered life. Or both.

I think it would be difficult for Luann to write a teenage romance comedy given that she doesn’t think any of it is funny. That would have to be the starting place. it’s hard to know where this arc is going anyway; there’s no focus except for these tapes.

What would you want to bet that LuAnn’s deepest secrets will soon become public knowledge, thanks to Bernice’s gossip to her friends (assuming she has any)

Bernice face says it all smug,

I guess Argythree was right yesterday when he intimated that Luann’s problems were caused by “love” trauma in her tweens and early teens. After all she just admitted it in today’s strip.

I wonder if this wasn’t what Greg told Karen when he handed the strip management over to her? “Write what you know!”

what finally happened to Aaron??

One point I have an issue with, here…

In panel 3, Bernice says " ‘Write what you know’! What do you know more about than love trauma?" and Luann responds, “Absolutely nothing!”

Maybe not “more than,” but Luann does know something about other topics, such as theater set design, she’s good with kids (the incident with Tara’s archery talk notwithstanding), and she did a good job mentoring Fay. She is also a fair mechanic, as she showed when she helped Jack change a tire.

Uhh Bernice last time I checked your love life wasn’t all that.

I was really hoping Luann would tell Bernice off and put her in her place!

This is just like going to the circus and watching the trapeze artists, it just keeps swinging back and forth with an occasional somersault into the net. I am sincerely hoping this ends on Saturday because Luann and Bernice are really boring. Luann because she is so easily led and never wises up, and Bernice because she never minds her own business. Just because she’s gets a sadistic kick out of Luann’s love miseries doesn’t mean anyone else will.

Definitely a possibility here … Luann a Tutor and a writer, yep, it could work. Go to it, kid … :-)

Bernice’s last line should be “You should write what you know! What do you know?” Then, Luann’s response of “Absolutely nothing!” makes sense.

It worked well for Taylor Swift….

Look! She’s smiling. She’s actually going to do it. I hope it will bring her insight and perspective about the past.

Not true as Luann knows about set dressing.

I saw the below posted online today and was shocked at how much of it applies to the way Bernice treats Luann on a daily basis:

Ten truths of an NPD (Narcissistic Personality Disorder) person

Yes, they know what they’re doing

No, you cannot change them

Yes, they know that they’re hurting you

No, they will not apologize for it

Yes, they can control it, just like they do in public

No, they’re not capable of empathy or remorse

Yes, they could stop if they wanted to

No, they don’t love you, even if they say they do

Yes, they are capable of unconscionable manipulation

No, they don’t care about how their words or behavior affects you or your life

This arc is begining to sound like Luann is going to write something like Diary of a Wimpy Kid or Big Nate , which I hate to tell Greg, but they have already been done.

She would make a great stand-up comedian

Love trauma, then love hangover?!!

It will be like the movie “Groundhog Day”. repeat, repeat, repeat.

Must art always come from pain and not joy?

Turn your negatives into positives. Good strategy.