Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for June 13, 2017

now they’re both o’erreactin’

I knew someone who didn’t care if they got good attention or bad attention, so long as they got attention.

Why is Gunth wearing Mr. Gray’s suit?

At least Tiff has let down her facade and is being honest.

Good time to make a move Gunther!

Oh this is heartbreaking! But beautiful, that they’re being real with each other, and both caring enough to open each other’s eyes even if it hurts.

I feel vindicated in one sense (and I snuck a look in Arcamax before I logged into GoComics. They are friends now, not romantically interested in each other, but maybe they should be, but don’t realize it. Tiffany admits she is lonely, for all her preening and competition with Luann and her prickly relationship with Bernice, and Gunther has been so smothered, and is so unsure of himself (how to be a man a woman would want, although he could) that the obvious answer to their mutual issue of no love, loneliness, alienation, all kinds of “tions” are standing right next to each other. Gunther is right to revile Les, the slug, Tiffany is in great need. So?? Who knows? But this is the biggest tease either way.

Her first honest statement since highschool.

Scuz – A scummy or otherwise undesirable person. Leslie is a scuz, but Gunther seems to be making a strong effort to get that designation also.

Tiffany is keeping it real with this one, although to be fair, unless Moony University is in some sort of weird dimension, there might be college boys at the school who are not all that into school. Tiffany tends to limit her selections to boys Luann and her friends are interested in and to be frank, those girls have terrible taste in men. The guys they like are not really Tiffany material or really material for any sane woman. Case in point is Gunther here who has been for the last few years removing every redeeming characteristic he had in high school until he has become an extremely unpleasant person, not fit for any woman. While it seems obvious that Evans is trying to move Gunther and Tiffany into a relationship together, it will only be because Tiffany is able to ignore Gunther’s extraordinary rudeness and pretend he is a much better person than he is.

Well, that stuff is really hittin’ the fan. Tiff finally reveals the true depths of her shallowness. She can’t find anyone at Moony Uni because all the guys are into … SCHOOL. Moony must be like MIT or Cal Tech or something. And poor Gunther must be one of the worst offenders of all. Sorry, Gunth, but Tiff is lonely when she’s around you. Maybe Tiff would have better luck man-hunting if she transferred to the Junior College; there’s probably more guys like Jack there.

Well, I guess a good many of us were wrong. It really is going to be Tiffany and Les. One saving thought: Both agree that Les is “scuz”!

Argy.Bargy2: I was “flattered” yesterday when you said “defenders,” plural, of Gunther. With well over 200 comments daily, it is impossible for me to check them all. But from the sample I have seen, I think I’m the only defender Gunther has. (I sure hope there’s more, the way readers beat up on him) Hat’s off to SallyMargaret, someone else who has had a nice thing to say about him.

Gunther needs to “keep Tiffany company” ALL NIGHT LONG! ;) They have already had “a moment”! ;)

Admittedly, Greg is really teasing us by dragging out this thread… and leaving open at least the slightest possibility that Tiff and Gunther will hit it off. I once thought that way, but have gotten so tired of Gunther’s shortcomings and complexes that I’d rather see Tiff hit it off with Les at this point. But Greg’s the boss, and only he really knows where this is going, especially near-term.

I empathize with Gunther since there are parallels between his life and mine. No, I didn’t make the same decisions he is portrayed as making. But at least I think I understand him. But beating up on him, including what Les did to him in the presence of everybody, in Gunther ‘s own home, that’s no solution, either. To me, it still looks a lot like “blame the victim”!

One more comment: I keep saying Greg likes attractive opposites, or I should say opposites who attract. I cite Crystal and Knute as a reference. Could these be the really serious opposites who realize an obvious obvious? Maybe Kelly Cuoco is not the only babe in entertainment who gets the nerd.

Maybe another scenario: We spent weeks with an unsolved mystery, only to have Bernie kiss the mystery guy, Piro, only to have that fizzle out. (And yes, I know perfectly well about room 213 – but I consider that a cop-out; we still don’t really know what happened) (only that Bernie and Piro didn’t get in trouble) Maybe all of this is the same thing: We waded through this agonizing arc, only to realize that it, too, was going nowhere.

GUNTHY WAKE UP! SHE’S WAITING FOR YOU, BUT YOU ARE INTO SCHOOL! IT’S NOW OR NEVER, BERNICE’S BROTHER!

SHE’S EXASPERATED WITH YOU NOT SEEING THE OBVIOUS! SHE’S LONELY! LET’S GO, GUNTHY, DON’T LET THE SCUZ WIN! SHE WILL NOT DECLARE HERSELF TO YOU, SHE’S ONLY WAITING FOR YOU! AND YOU KNOW IT!

Desperate times require desperate measures, and these two have already built up a head of steam, so let the passion explode. There’s a nice couch right behind you, guys.

You are right, Tiff – a lot of guys who are kicking down skrilla to the tune of $30K to $70K a year to get an education are doing JUST THAT. If they are bent on getting out of college, they want to get out with no baggage and no stops along the way. Not saying that they can’t be nice and say “Hi” as they walk by…

Similar situation happening over on 9 Chickwood Lane.

Shields are going down, excellent time for a heart to heart. You two had something smoldering a while back – perhaps it can be rekindled. Since you two are so different, you just might balance each other well. Gunther the brains, Tiff the brawn.

Good revelation from Tiff. If some guy is trying to get into her trousers – Tiff can say yes or no or maybe. But with Gunther, it’s like Tiff & Gunth are facing each other on the tennis court and there’s no ball. At his point, however, Gunther should say that he’s really lonely too – and that it’s not really about Les – Gunther is afraid of losing Tiffany. This is his best shot…

Ohhhh wow . . . now we’re getting somewhere. Gunther, this is your chance dude, don’t screw it up.

Say, I GOT It! I Think I Have the Answer! Why Tiff is so “Lonely.” Sure She’s a Beautiful Attractive Young Lady, and every thing is “Fine,” being with Her*UNTIL* She-Opens-Her-Mouth. Then it’s ENDLESS, Non-Stop PRATTLE. On and On and ON about NOTHING. NOTHING But “HER.”

And Before the “Leslie Apologists” Speak Up, Sure I GRANT You that Les was Hanging on to Tiff’s every Word during Dinner, but consider THIS: A Hungry Cat will ALWAYS Tolerate ‘Singing Canary’ until that ‘Hungry Cat’ POUNCES for the KILL.

Now, I Think I’ll Brew a Fresh pot of COFFEE while I wait for the Inevitable, “Aw Les ain’t such a Bad Guy, Tiff can handle HIM,” arguments.

In the Meantime Tiff, and Some ‘Folks’ HERE, Should, if They haven’t Already, take look at the Strips Starting on Set. 24th 2012, and PONDER How the Hell an “Icky Fly” suddenly turned into “FUN.” Because is seems that in addition to that TV, and Tiffany’s Pants, “Continuity” may also have gotten “LOST.”

Something bothers me a little about Gunther’s personality. He can show quite a bit of anger, in contrast to Les’s charm. He’s kind of inadept socially. And he’s being very controlling with Tiff – a girl he flatly rejected some time back – over who he thinks she should or should not be dating. Yet, he has a side that “thinks” he wants a girlfriend, which is why he targeted Bernice for a while.

Well, it occurs to me that I knew a coworker, a few decades ago, who was very much like that. He was married when he hired into the company, but one day his wife cleaned out the house and left him without notice. He later married another very nice woman at our company. But after a couple of years or so, she divorced him for becoming angry and manipulative and storming out in a tantrum when she wouldn’t go along with him about something or other. He was kind of a Gunther wimp, but with his wife he felt he should be the “boss”. He wanted a wife, but he didn’t have the sensitivity to get along with one.

Now, my thought is that if Gunther ever married anyone, including Tiff, he could later become hyper-controlling like that, because some of his behavior, to date, fits the pattern. Which means that the marriage could easily blow up and be a loss for the couple and their families. Marrying anyone with deep complexes is an enormous risk.

Les has positively had a dark past, but my gut feel is that his psychology is much less of a risk to Tiff than is Gunther’s.

Aha!

It is NOT who likes whom!

It is who likes WHAT and WHY!

Les and Tiffany share the same favorite person – i.e. Tiffany.

All the guys are into school? Heck, which college are the characters attending – MIT?

Everybody has a reason for doing things and Tiffany’s reason is loneliness. That seems reasonable.

I think, in his own way, Gunther is trying to warn Tiffany there are worse things than loneliness. Sometimes the attention you want is not always the attention you get.

They went to the same school, how could Tiffany possibly ask what Gunther’s problem with Les is? She’s got to know that Les was a bully who actually physically beat up people. And what happened to all those cute football players who helped Tiffany move into her dorm?

Aaaaaaaand suspension of disbelief is broken.

Tomorrow they kiss. Book it.

On the question of accepting a scuzzy companion over no companion, I have a sad understanding of that matter. My sister, now deceased, had a great marriage, a fine career, no material wants. Her very fine husband died in his late thirties of Hodgkin’s disease. She soldiered on, advanced in her career, raised the three kids, by herself. An old acquaintance from her youth moved back to town and courted her with gifts, attention. But. He was a pretty repulsive character. She married him anyway. No surprise, unhappiness followed. Eventually, he died too, of lung and heart problems from a lifetime of heavy smoking. I won’t even touch on the drinking issues. My sister had altered her life to try to please him and mostly only made herself miserable by depriving herself of the friends and activities she had enjoyed all her life. I never asked her why she had married him, but I knew she had to have been smart enough to realize how unwise that was. Other family members, though, did question her in later years about why she had done it. The answer boiled down to loneliness, long years of missing loving attention, and gambling that he would “change” for the sake of their marriage.

“Catch As Catch Can’t”

“One Is The Lonliest Number?” (♬)

“Realization Number 5”

“Scuze Me, While While I Kiss This Guy” (♪)

“All By Myself, In A Crowd”

“Wearing A Mask Of False Bravado…” (♪)

“You Shine A Little Love In My Life…” (♪)

“Love, In A Vacuum”

“An Apartment For The Sun, In A Black Hole”

“A Vacancy At The Lovin’ Arms”

“You Can Call Me The Sanitation Department….Cos I Keep Takin’ Out The Trash”

“The Low Spark Of High Heeled Girls” (♬)

or

“Don’t It Make My Blue Eyes Blue?” (♬)

Tiff couldn’t stand Les when they first met:

http://www.gocomics.com/luann/2012/09/24

First of all, all the guys are more busy with school than Tiffany? I mean, yeah school’s more important but I’m sure there’s some kind of social life. Second of all, even if you are lonely, Tiffany—which I totally get because I feel the same way sometime—don’t fall for the first guy that seems interested in you. Lastly, Gunther really needs to ease up on Tiffany. I just don’t like the way he’s attacking her just because she doesn’t feel the same way about her that she feels about him.

“They’re all into ‘school’” is a mighty feeble excuse for not introducing Tiffany to a student at Moony who is more nearly suitable for her than were any of the Pitts classmates (especially Leslie!). How many thousands of students attend Moony? And none of the guys are interested in dating Tiffany? Sorry, but I’m just not buying it!

In the film version of “Far from the Madding Crowd,” Bathsheba is courted by a rich man and by a man of moddest means. She asks the latter what he has to offer her, and he gives an answer. [To be revealed….] She marries the rich man, has ups and downs. Alone again, she knows that her other suitor is still there… and proceeds to marry a dashing and exciting soldier. She mostly has downs. Alone again, after many years, the rejected suitor approaches her. He tells her again what he said before, what he has to offer, that, “At home by the fire, whenever I look up, there you will be. And whenever you look up, there I shall be.” Or approximately that. The Thomas Hardy novel plays it out differently, but with the same resolution. And yes, the story is far more complex than that, but you’ll have to see for yourself if you are curious.

This honesty with each other might be the needed catalyst?

@GREG E Club Foote? Really?

Tiffany has been there with good common sense multiple times when Gunther has been hurting, most recently getting him to better accept his mother’s relationship with Mr. Gray. Is Gunther mature enough to step up with good advice now, or will he at least have a comforting hug for Tiff? Too often in the last few 3D years his go-to has been anger; i hope he manages to get beyond that. Yesterday he still seemed to have a bit of that in his mix, today maybe less so. In the first panel there seems to be some in his posture and expression. In the last it all looks more like bafflement to me. Tiffany is truly hurting! Can he be as good a friend to her in his own way as she has been to him? He seems pretty isolated, but maybe there is some school society he belongs to that socializes at times?

I’m a woman of a certain age and have lived alone most of my adult life. Don’t get me wrong. I love living alone and love my independence. Except for work, I can do what I want with my time. But loneliness does sink in. And I’ve engaged in plenty flirtations over the years. Some of them were mistakes, but I’ve always come through OK when I apply common sense. I still have flirtations, but am not interested in commitment and don’t think I ever will be. Everyone craves some attention now and then. I can certainly understand why Tiffany is missing it now.

Slowly dawning on Tiff: you’re in High School because you have to be, most are in college because they want to be, to learn and earn a living. Not the same environment.

I know Tiff is the typical air-headed bimbo, but she’s always seemed to have plenty of smarts when it comes to men. So why doesn’t she realize part of the reason Les was showering her with so much attention was just to annoy Gunther? When Les tried to put the moves on Rosa, Gunth won that round, so I’m sure Les would think it great payback to take Gunth’s date away from him, in his own house and in front of his mom which is really rubbing Gunth’s nose in it.

I must give up trying, when it comes to this strip. To me, the answer is simple. Don’t overthink the problem, just go at it. Then, see how you feel, tomorrow.

@SCHRODINGER’S DOG: While it’s true that college differs from high school in the way you describe, there is still another reason why this particular turn of events is a bit hard to accept. Yeah, I was one of the ‘into school’ types, working part time and struggling to keep up with school, but there are ALWAYS the ‘legacy’ students. Those are kids just like Tiffany, who really aren’t that into school but are there because their parents or some other significant other in their lives was either a well-known grad of the school, or part of a family that always went to that school and supported it financially. There are undoubtedly a few of those at Mooney (Moony?) U who would be happy to spend time with Tiffany. Since I’ve seen ‘legacy’ kids at every college I attended (I transferred in both undergrad and grad school), at the college where little bro taught and the ones where his kids attended, it’s less than believable that at least one of them wouldn’t be interested in a looker like Tiffany…

Larry’s last name was Finegold; given the era, you can see why he shortened it. Shemp was actually Samuel, but he acquired Shemp because their mother’s accent was so thick, she couldn’t really say “Samuel” in English.

“They’re all into, I dunno, school.” Maybe she’s not denigrating all the guys at Moony Uni—maybe she’s hinting broadly that the guy she is actually interested in— maybe the one standing in front of her— seems to be more into school than he is into her.

Gunther is NOT interested in Tiffany in “that way”. But I think he might kiss her just to distract her from Les. He is that desperate to keep her away from Les.

These two are not attracted to each other at all. Gunther has made it clear to all the women he knows that he has no sexual feelings. Tiffany may have been interested in him at one time, but she has gotten his very clear message that he has not interest in any woman.

1

Annoying. It annoys the living hell out of me that Tiffany would be willing to accept a proclaimed “Scuz” because she is lonely. For me, today is the worst of the lot of the last several days of perpetually grumpy Gunther and Tiffany. I had a lot of hope for the arc, but if Tiffany’s character is going to start hanging out with a “Scuz” because she is lonely…. Sigh.

I hope Greg has some grand plan to move out of this line of the story arc. Right now, it is, to me, quite unpleasant.

Normally I would say that Tiffany is an example of the popular (if shallow) girl in high school who experiences a rude awakening in college, where people’s priorities change as they grow up. But we never saw Tiffany all that popular in high school, although she liked to think she was. She was the classic Mean Girl (with other girls) but who also fancied herself as a man magnet, who threw herself at boys who weren’t interested (like Quill). Unless the Evanses were assuming an awful lot of her social life took place off stage, I think her irresistiblity was all in her mind. I don’t doubt that Tiffany has more to her than first impressions would imply, but I’m not surprised that millennial male college students of some depth might not be all that interested in her.

Imagine that. Guy’s that are into school. They will make something of themselves then be able to select the woman that they want instead of the one that wants them just because she is lonely.

The reason that Les wants to score with Tiff is because this is his second chance to take a girl away from Gunther. The first is probably working on kid number 1 with some mountain dweller.

The truth about Tiffany: ALL of her relationships are shallow at best!

I think that some people may be forgetting that confusing vulnerability with invitation is predatory.

Tiffany does not need predatory behavior from Gunther right now and has likely had too much of it earlier, which taught her how to handle a scuz.

Gunther does not need to go predatory now because he not only needs to preserve this friendship which is teaching him so much, but also because he is working through a heck of a lot of long-repressed anger and needs to learn to resist its siren song while solving why he has it.

I still think that he NEEDS a road trip to discover the other side of his family, even if he dislikes them, and that Tiffany would be a real help for such a project since she can get through to him when no one else can.

Hopefully, at some point he can return the favor. The stage is set. Will he find a way to step up?

How can she be lonely? She has HERSELF! Just look at her walls!!!!!!

Wow! 200 comments before noon. Rather than wade through all those, I’ll just add my 2 cents. I think this whole “dinner” arc has gone on a bit too long. But perhaps we’re getting to the meat of it. Hopefully, these two are on the verge of realizing that they need each other.

So Tiffany is complaining the guys at Moony is too focused on their educations to give up time for Tiffany…who clearly went o Moony for the guys, not for education. She was looking for a husband. 1. She needs to target a guy who’s an upperclassman. Find the “One.” 2. Find out which fraternity he is in. 3. Pledge in the guy’s fraternity’s sister sorority. 4. As a sister, she will automatically be invited to his fraternity parties and vice versa. 5. Get her hooks on him. 6. Date him until he is a couple months shy from graduating. 7. Drop hints of an engagement. 8. He proposes. 9. Go to his graduation. 10. Tear up the registration for the next school year. 11. Prepare for the wedding. 12. Invite everyone in Luanniverse to her wedding. Mission accomplished in 12 steps.

To Schrodinger’s Dog: Please see my latest reply under Airman’s post about a different comic! I meant that ’I like’ your letter-switch, as I do enjoy good word-play. So sorry! -CtE

shut up and kiss her!

I’m not much on-board for a Tiffany/Les tango, but there might be some substance to build from. Aside from both growing up without one of their parents, both personalities are rooted in a basic insecurity and the tough front that attempts to protect it. (Maybe the same dynamic applies to Gunther’s personality as well.) Perhaps it would work, but I don’t have a taste for it. A slime is still a slime, and as SallyMargaret observed, potentially dangerous.

Perhaps we’re now getting the Tiffany back story that was mentioned a few months ago. if so, should be interesting, and make Tiffany more well rounded. (so to speak)

Tiff prefers the company of a scuz to being lonely, or to the company of a geek!

Methinks a certain couple of writers have no idea about the social lives of college students. It’s probably too late to enlighten them, so expect this comic strip to continue to go downhill.

It would be nice to have an arc devoted to Tiffany and her sense of self esteem. She would have lots of girlfriends if she didn’t always act like she’s competing with them for a guy. Guys probably feel threatened around her because she’s always ‘on the make’. They too want friends in the regular sense. She wants to be an actress because she sees it as a way to get attention. She may have no interest in theater whatsoever. Alone vs lonely… two different things, but probably they are the same for her. Tiffany hasn’t explored herself and isn’t comfortable doing anything by herself.

Tiffany is really in a bind. Her main assets are her hot bod and suggestive looks, but she apparently won’t put out. Guys who are mainly interested in that will last only for one or two dates. But she really craves attention. Guys who could be interested in her as a person will find out real quick that there’s not much “there” there, except a need for constant flattery. Only scuz losers like Les will have the patience to pretend to be interested in her before making their move.

Tiff needs some counseling…and Guth needs some anger management

Think Les is in her bedroom closet, having broken in before she and Gunther made it to her dorm? That would be an interesting twist.

Tiffany wants somebody to be into “her” but it works both ways, i.e. she has to be into “him”… as a person. Luann and Quill broke up because she was too needy. People without a direction in life can be very needy. Luann is trying to establish direction. Still, she has this aspect in common with Tiffany (though Tiffany is much worse). She wouldn’t feel the need to compete with Tiffany on her level if she didn’t.

Methinks this strip would get more interesting if Tiffany gets a “mean girls” gang or “boy-crazy” gang…I could see the arcs starring Tiffany and her Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams and Lacey Chabert. Throw in a Tina Fey, the university dean. Fun. AND her mean girls go after Gunther…and Tiffany goes after them like a mama bear. Only Tiffany can be mean to her own friends, nobody else.

And now with unrecognized soulmate Gunther, stoical Tiffany at last in frustration blurts out the ugly truth. She is a very lonely girl, one of those who are so pretty that they scare off most men, who feel they cannot possibly come up to her standards….

Don’t just stand there, Gunny-boy! Comfort the girl!

This is now or never Gunther. Kiss her!!

Loneliness doesn’t depend on numbers and it’s painful.

Tiffany has created her own distance and been punished by her success. Yet the kids keep breaching her walls. Gunther and she can scale each other’s walls. (No, not those walls — the ones which isolate us.) She and Leslie can help each other become human, real humans (except for the ink and paper or pixels on screens part, of course).

This is quite possibly the best strip they have ever done.

There are over 400 comments, because today’s strip went in a completely opposite direction to what the fans were predicting (i.e., hoping for) yesterday: (A) They said Tiffany meant Gunther, not Les, when she said someone else made someone happy at dinner. She didn’t. (B) They said Tiffany would turn and give Gunther a big kiss. She didn’t. Not even a tiny one. © They said surely Tiffany wasn’t interested in Les, and she would likely throw away his phone number. Wrong.

To make a more interesting story, Team Evans went in a direction completely opposite to what the fans expected (and wanted), and that’s a good thing, because this direction is more interesting than the story that the fans were demanding. (We shall have to see whether it is immediately abandoned and goes that other way, though.) It’s too bad that to justify this turn of events, they chose to rely on a totally implausible explanation (Tiffany has to be interested in Les, because in all of Moony, there’s nobody who’s interested in a relationship with her). Sorry, but that stretches the suspension of disbelief beyond the breaking point.

Back in November of 2013, there was a day that had 1,268 comments. The next day that even came remotely close, was April 3rd of 2013, when Brad accepted Toni’s proposal. At the end of the day, the number climbed to 726. After GoComics had a server fiasco last year, many of the comments disappeared. Today, there are only 504 comments remaining.

SPOILER ALERT

.

Gunther moves in yet another direction than the one fans expect…