Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for December 24, 2014

Texting “The Night Before Christmas” is going to take a lot of digital pages alright… even considering the character count.

Just email it to me I’ll read it later…I promise.

For those who are constantly telling us that Frank and Nancy are sniping at each other and on the verge of divorce, they sure seem to be doing well in this ’toon.

Those are some big cell phones.

Frank, you are stuck in the past…save the book for your grandchildren when they start coming. Well, today is Christmas Eve! Have a happy Christmas Eve, and for those who celebrate Christmas with the faith-based “Reason for the Season” have a Blessed Holiday! “See” you all on Friday night! ;)

“iScream”“A Warm Kindle Fire”“The Borg Family Vacation”

or “Prisonners Of Their Own Devices”

It looks like the lights have been turned off

Just so they get the message.

“Brouight to you” by… – “Diconnect 4”…"Whomever finds the batteries…wins!!! For all ages, over 4 bars…." “A ‘Melting- Badley’ game…”

That’s a new one on me! I thought I knew most of his works. Read a lot of them… until Cthulhu, et al, started appearing in my nightmares! The fact that I was getting those nightmares scared the &#*t out of me!!!

Rudolph Valentino?

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVE EVERYONE!!

A visit from St Nicholas is a pretty evil poem!   Consider these lines taken at random (and not even made up by me): “The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,/And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath” or “His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry” or even “He was dress’d all in fur, from his head to his foot” so here we have in quick succession product placement, or whatever it is, encouraging smoking, the obviously excessive drinking of hard liquor (we all know what that does to the capillaries around the nose and cheeks) and, in the face of PETA and all things politically correct, the actual wearing of animal skins and not just wearing them, but wearing them to excess; and then apart from those what we might think of as modern sins, there is plenty to disparage from a more traditional perspective—-there’s gluttony with his “round belly/That shook when he laugh’d, like a bowl full of jelly” [euuuuw!]; there’s the parents sloth with their “long winter’s nap”, and one tries hard not to even begin to imagine what sort of lustful things Mama and the narrator were up to, according to their description in the poem they are apparently attired in nothing but, respectively, a “kerchief” and a “cap”, and we won’t even mention all that stuff about exposing stockings.

And then, as one delves deeper into all this iniquity, one starts to wonder just what it was that they “Had just settled our brains” from and why it gave them all those hallucinations of miniature rein-deer and evil little furry men to begin with.   But anyway…Everyone,   HAPPY INSERT-YOUR-HOLIDAY-HERE!!!   Have a wonderful one of whatever it is you celebrate at this time of year!Remember that ultimately the season IS the reason!

Is it just me or is Luann’s mom really hot?

Picky picky picky !!!!!

They so need grandkids. Brad, get on it.

My tradition: glass of red wine, cat curled snoring up next to me, and reading “A Christmas Carol” whilst Sir Patrick Stewart narrates on a 2 CD set.

Forget Brad and Luann, Frank. Read it just for Nancy and you. Much more satisfying, and the kids will never even notice what they’ve missed….

Looks like there will be plenty of ‘fun’ today, too. Too bad so little of it will be in the holiday spirit, though…

Why am I not surprised that Frank wants to do something really boring?

I don’t think today has anything to do with extra relationships. It’s just as likely tomorrow will be a christmas dinner strip with Quill and Toni and what not.

I noticed no one mentioned Quill until just now; I was going to say, clearly, he never shows up unless he’s the plot point. I guess he’s spending the special day with Gunthie’s mom and “Mr Gray” somewhere else.Since Luann has the only functioning home, I would expect them to invite Toni and her niece, TJ, Gunther’s mom and of course, Quill. I wouldn’t think anyone would want to be alone on Christmas Eve, even more than the day.

Hopefully, Frank’s voice sounds just like Christopher Walkens. I would stay awake for that!

Happy Christmas to all & to all a good night!

This technology has been around for awhile; Frank has never noticed this problem previously?

“Nightmare Before Christmas” and “Life of Brian” for me.

Clearly you only want to communicate with those who agree with your views. Won’t bother you in future.

I*"t’s sad because Frank’s marriage is falling apart so he goes into fantasy land, where his kids are still pre-teens. Anything to forget his life crumbling around him."*.

Yeah, right..

“You missed out on all the fun here yesterday… :)” ^* Not to mention, I missed a special appearance by Shatner! (X^D)

"could also be the in-between “phablets” ^Yup, could be! Was just mentioning that above… – I remember too, a while back some of us were talking about that. It’s funny how the “pendulum” swings back and forth between “small” and large", combo devices, and separate….

Yyyyup!!!

Looks like an old drawing where Brad and Luann’s hands have been redrawn to hold something more tech modern. They could have been holding gameboys or something like that in a previous edition.

(Tab 7:) They usually keep those in the “big kid” parts of the store. I’m not allowed to go back there… I’d never leave….. (X^D)– Actually, the Mrs. is really the one who’d get lost .. we’ve been looking at a new printer, and our phones and TV are “getting up there”, so we went to go look around… they have some nice stuff coming out, and every time I look at those 27,000 inch “ Jumbotrons”, and think about the internet/smart TV capabilities, I keep thinking about “what coulda been”… (LOL!!) – Don’t get me wrong, though, I just like looking at the stuff…. I don’t like spending for it, ha ha!!!

“It’s a shame I’m not an avid TV watcher…”^LOL! – I also hear the new thing now is “curved screen” televisions. So, apparently, a “flat screen” is no longer “good for you”….and we’ve been “:doing it all wrong” for a long time…and apparently watching DVDs and TV shows “the wrong way”….

“Didn’t you say Frank was a secret Navy Seal?”.No, I said SEAL.And I’m obviously joking while driving home the point that life isn’t just about excitement..“At least my stories are supported by the strips themselves. But you can believe what you want, that’s what makes this fun.”.It IS fun but sad you live in such a dark, dreary world that you can only envision the worst possible interpretation.

Forgot to say “I hear ya”, when it comes to library computers. I live near a branch that has pretty good ones, but every so often, you get set to go in and use their system, and it’s the one day that the machines decide to “take a vacation”, ha ha!!! Or some “goofball error” kicks someone out of the queue, and your name gets stuck, and you’d have to keep going up to the desk, etc. to get in the system to get a turn….

Suggesting that someone take advantage of the Comics Sherpa is neither an insult nor an invitation to leave. There are folks who post regularly at the Pooch Café site who also upload their own comic on the Sherpa page. It’s a way to do more than comment on an interpretation of someone else’s work, and instead bring your vision to life.

I’ll be off-line tomorrow, so “Merry Christmas” to all Luann commenters & readers! May your snow be fresh, your coffee strong, and all the puddles on your floor canine.

P.S. If anyone gets an unwanted fruitcake, send it my way. (Unless it’s name is Knute.)

“If only good things happen to the protagonists then there is zero tension. That makes for a boring strip. Evans needs to raise the stakes.”.Yes, I know because you can’t stand the concept of life without excitement and misery.And you think Evans has a problem.

Frankly (no pun) I think everyone has missed the point here! Reading the story is one of the best things about Christmas. If those 2 kids can NOT put their stupid phones down for 30 minutes, they don’t deserve the caring parents and times together given to them.So…Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good night!

I’m a member of a writer’s group, and most of them have been published (not me). We read and critique each other’s short fiction. I write mysteries; many of them write sf, crime or mainstream fiction.-The most successful ways my fellow writers ‘raise tension’ have nothing to do with bad things happening to individual protagonists. -The antagonist can be a war, a theft or other crime that the protagonist is called in to solve, invasion of one country by another, economic collapse that leads to job loss and homelessness, etcetera. The story lies in how the protagonists deal with challenging issue. Sometimes they do well. Sometimes not.

One of our writer’s group members is working on a story that has a publisher interested. The challenge faced by the main character is actually the onset of her own mental illness, and how she manages to survive the sudden intrusion into her ordinary life of terror, voices that tell her to kill herself, and so on. The tension level is believable and very gripping. The writer has not yet figured out how to end this story. There is nothing boring about it.

Brad and Luann already seem to have some high-end technology at their disposal; what more could they possible be wanting from the working stiff dad that they ignore?

That’s because the Sugar Plum Fairies will burst forth at Mid-Night and begin to dance, as the Tin Soldiers begin their march to “Take over The World”, said in the voice of “The Brain” from the cartoon Pinky and the Brain.

“I want …. something bad happening to a protagonist.”.Yes, you do.Perhaps you can convince Evans to kill off Luann for your amusement.Or a would-be cop-killer to kill Toni for your amusement.Maybe Gunther could be crippled by West Nile virus. (It hit my son, so why not Gunther for your amusement?)Maybe an aged entertainer will drug and abduct Shannon for your desire for an exciting story.Maybe Dirk will go mad and kill Bernice and Tiffany and a few hundred others at college for your reading pleasure..Who cares about the people who enjoy the comics to get away from all that?

There have already been instances of ‘something bad happening’ that was unpredictable, and we got a chance to see how the characters responded. -When Toni was falling from a ladder while fighting a fire, Brad caught her, at significant cost to his own health. Was it predictable that Toni could fall from a ladder while on the job? Not necessarily.-Was it predictable that Brad would impulsively catch her, from what was previously known about Brad? Not really.-Then there’s the instance in which Brad, who was not yet a firefighter, was goaded by Bernice into rescuing her boyfriend from a fire, and Brad really didn’t have fire fighter training. (He was a paramedic, but not certified to enter a building on fire.)-It wasn’t predictable that he would do that, or that he and the boyfriend would survive.-You might assume that characters getting divorced would be an exciting development. That’s only if you, or someone you are close to, hasn’t been through that kind of event. There’s a lot of personal misery (and sometimes there’s violence), but basically, what goes on is not really of interest to people who aren’t involved (unless they like pure soap opera).-Have you ever followed the comic Buni? Nothing good ever happens to Buni. Ever.THAT’S boring….

Evidently you missed the strip from a couple of days ago, when Nancy implied that her and Frank could teach Luann a few thing about human sexuality, while looking for classes to take.

Oh, gotcha!! – (responding to addendum:) “Home, Sweet Home!!!”

I read that as teaching “ancient history” because they are old, as a suggested class, and not in response to her implication.

“You missed the part where Frank called their sex life “ancient history” with an annoyed look on his face.”.No, Frank only mentioned knowledge of ancient history as HIS way of saying he was old.The look of passion on his wife’s face indicated she considered their sex life to be impressive and instructional. (not that she really intended to put on a display for their child)Misreading should be avoided.

“I just wanted a divorce between two unhappy people or TJ to go to jail for his crimes against humanity.”.So there are limits on how much suffereing you desire?That’s a pleasant surprise." I don’t want the characters to die".Like Satan working on Job who could do anything short of killing him and his loving wife?“killing them off to get reactions from the rest of the cast would be great.”*.Oh joy!.“Ever watch The Wonder Years?”.Sadly, no. From your endorsement, I’m sure I would have loved it..“You need highs and lows in a good story.”.Art comes in many forms..“Luann is all highs, all the time.”*.Or else you don’t recognize them.Luann worries about her future.She worries about her friends.She worries about her latest boyfriend.Social or economic survival is not guaranteed..“the readers expect change.”.Changes like going to college, friends leaving even though they keep in touch, change like former bad guys becoming friendlier, former boyfriends becoming gone or just friends, learning she has talents she hadn’t ever noticed, changing the lives of children she meets?No, those aren’t acceptable changes to you. Not enough car chases.

”While Frank is calling himself old, he is also calling Nancy old.”.That would be the result were it not the fact he considers her timelessly young, beautiful and desirable (which she is)..“Again, that’s assuming he’s not commenting on their sex life which makes a lot more sense, considering she just mentioned that.”.Except that she didn’t mention that. And the knowledge that Frank doesn’t like to talk about such things around his daughter, resulting in it not making any sense..”The “we’re old” remark comes out of left field, but saying their sex life is ancient history makes perfect sense,”.It might make perfect sense if she acted more like it is not current events and greatly enjoyed.And if it were something he was shown to feel comfortable discussing in front of his daughter, which he wasn’t..”it’s a classic trope of syndicated comic married life. The Lockhorns mention that once a week.”.So because one other comic strip indicates this, that means all are locked into it?If fifty others indicated it, that wouldn’t mean it was a factor in the Luann Universe.They aren’t the ones needing to grow up..“No, before you ask, the Lockhorns cannot get divorced, they are stuck in a timeloop.”.Why would I ask that?I don’t care what goes on in universes I don’t enter.-“ The look of passion on his wife’s face indicated she considered their sex life to be impressive and instructional..“Or sarcasm. Or hope that for one fleeting moment, they could have a sex life like the one they had when they first got together. Sadly, Frank brought her back to reality.”.Once again, you are bringing elements into the story from a different universe — most likely your own, at a guess — which aren’t really shown in this one.Nancy isn’t sarcastic.Nancy isn’t sad.Nancy wasn’t crushed because her sometimes clueless beloved missed his cue. (She’ll clue him in later, walk him through it, so to speak.)-“ Misreading should be avoided.-“It happens, but I forgive you.”.Thereby showing there’s some good even in the worst, even in the misreaders.Good for you. I hope you have a good Christmas somehow and shed some of that negativity. It’s a real downer, dude, even though you like downers.

Merry Christmas…

You guys are killing me with the cell phone/tablets/phablets comments. LOL!

Luann and Brad are testing Quill and Toni..They are not thinking of sugarplums..Other things dance through their heads.

Luann and Brad are

Quill and Toni..They are not thinking of sugarplums..Other things dance through their heads.

http://www.andrewsmcmeel.com/books/detail?sku=9781449437664

Maybe he needs to read a Christmas Charil instead.