Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for June 14, 2017

she may not be a psychiatrist yet, but perhaps Tiffany should see Bernice

I hate to break it to you Tiff, but makeup and heels aren’t men magnets, they only attract flies. You just need to be yourself Tiff and to get rid of the garbage. And get a new haircut.

And then there’s that freaky eyebrow thing. Could we see a reverse “Goodbye to Sandra Dee” process?

Wouldn’t the Moony sutdents have to at least hang out with Tiffany for a while, maybe date her once or twice, to decide that she’s not real? I’m just not able to buy into the concept that no one at this college is attracted to her. When was the last time that Team Evans met some actual college guys?

I would like to see Tiff as a mechanical engineer, she should pursue that in case acting doesn’t work out for her.

I have always thought that was a yellow helmet.

He is dumb but has a point on her overmade exterior.Will Tiff transform her looks? He seems to have calmed her down.

In ye olde days, enough hairspray would result in a “Hair Helmet.”

As opposed to Gunther, who is a real… piece of work.

The emotions over the past few days have been entertaining, even if the ultimate outcome was perplexing to figure out. But today, it seems to have deteriorated into pure silliness.

Well, I’m already looking forward to the rest of this week’s episodes, which hopefully will go somewhere.

Well, Now Little Lady, if You talked Less, and I MEAN “LESS” Not ‘Les,’ You might git a Fellar. Why Tarnation, Your Word Balloon is ah Fillin’ Up Half of Panel One!

Now take Old Unca Mordo’s Ad-vice and git Yerself a New ‘do. And Listen to that Young Gunther Fella. He Kin Hep Ya! That Boy’s a-going places, You’ll See! And Stay away from that Lyin,’ Thievin’ no good Skunk, Les Knox, because THAT boy’s got a date with the Hangin’ Tree. Now Don’t worry Your pretty little Head! Everything’s gonna be jest fine!

(Psst, Hey Gunth! Panel Three! Ride ’em Cowboy!)

I bet we’ll see a makeover soon.

Whether or not Gunther’s criticism is appropriate, I’m glad to see that Tiffany’s “helmet” hairstyle is being acknowledged in the strip. I suspect this is leading up to Greg changing her hairstyle in the near future. After all, it’s a lot easier for Tiff to change her hairstyle than to change her personality.

Gunther should watch The Wicker Man (the original 1973 version – not the recent lame “remake”). It could show him what happens to uptight prudish types who (sometimes angrily) criticize others for their “worldly” tendencies.

To wit: If Willow/Tiff can’t romance the virgin, she’ll sacrifice him, with Les’s help. We’ve already seen some of that process underway.

Come to think of it, Gunther’s hair hasn’t moved much lately, either. Kind of like a rusty Brillo® pad…

Boy this scenario is so revealing where people’s heads are at, and that place is not all that great I am afraid. I am just reading another silly post that this means that Gunther must be gay, others that college guys would be falling all over themselves to date Tiffany, others who see her as a dumb floozy, and Gunther as a dumb nerd, none of which get the point, as I see it anyway. After all these years, Tiffany is addressing fundamental personal issues about herself, being honest with someone she clearly trusts, about why her unrealistic expectations are not succeeding in having a serious relationship. She cant’ hide from herself anymore, and that is really a very sad place, and not her fault. Again people seem to ignore her personal situation, which is a mother who left the family—can you imagine how that would make a child feel—and a father who while successful financially is distant to her. They both have parent problems, Gunther’s father is non-existent, and mother is smothering in her love and control, although she may have a new person to love, Mr. Gray, while Tiffany parents are gone, or distant. How this plays out, whether she grows, and begins to let her natural self, a very beautiful one I am sure, come out remains to be seen. Same with Gunther. They are young adults now, so they are coming to terms to things that they where not ready for in Luannverse high school.

It’d help Tiffany if you had more than rocks between your ears.

… aaaand Lucy holds the football for the umpteenth time … aaaaand Charlie Brown runs toward the football for the umpeenth time … aaaaand ….

Dunno whether the Evanses mean it ironically or not, but guys really don’t care about the details of makeup or perfumes or fancy shoes (except for a few “specialists” ;) That’s girl stuff. If Tiffany never realized that, she’s more out of it than we thought.

Tiffany’s head is tilted at such a weird angle! So unreal, indeed! It’s almost like she’s…..well, like…..CGI….or something…..

-

Gunther may be positing that she’s not ‘really real’….but I’m sure that all the plastic on her credit cards is!

Tiffany’s looks are not the problem. She has no more idea of how to have a personal relationship than Gunther does. This is why they need to hang out together; not to get into a relationship, but to actually have a friend to talk to. That’s been missing in both of their lives, and it is way past time for them to stop blaming their parents and start taking charge of their lives themselves.

Can Gunther retrain Tiffany into a real person?

Agreed, ARGYTHREE. I think it is quite comical, though, that Gunther makes a statement about her hair almost as if seen from beyond the 4th wall. I wonder if she’ll realise the truth?

I don’t know why people seem to be having a hard time believing this thread. Beautiful women are often lonely. Men expect rejection and don’t approach them.

I’m thinking: " make out" and Gunther is thinking: “make over”.

I’m having some trouble with the continuing thread throughout this arc that Gunther should jump Tiffany’s bones like a real man. Perhaps a real man might recognize that she is having a rare moment of self examination and choose not to take advantage of her vulnerability or interrupt her process. It has been pointed out that Tiffany clutching the pillow to her chest does not suggest “come take me.” Help her work through this – there will be plenty of time to get physical at a more appropriate moment.

Guys see a high maintenance girl and run for the hills. Tiffany’s helmet hair, make up, attire that look like sets, nail polish = high maintenance = drama queen, attention whore, obsessive about her own appearance, narcissists, expensive to date, expensive to buy for on special occasions = beautiful but no thank you. Here is your problem. Can you change? That is the question. Do you like who you are or do you want to change into what the guys want? My advice? Stay with who you are because that’s who you are. One special guy will accept you and love you for who you are.

Tiff has been very patient with Gunther, and helped him set aside his anger for the moment.

But one thing has occurred to me recently: If Tiff goes to more of the parties at the Berger’s and spends time schmoozing with Les, it may provoke some kind of angry outburst from Gunther, and even possibly start a physical ruckus.

I’m not buying this “not met any guys” premise, but playing along … The difference between high school and now, Tiff, is that in those days you were full of yourself and always had some ambitious scheme going. Nobody liked you then, but you were too busy to notice. Now that you’re sitting around in college doing nothing but buying shoes and letting a homeless guy use your room, nobody likes you still, but you’ve got the leisure time to notice. And why aren’t you doing anything these days? Ask the Evanses.

“Material Witness”

“Plenty Of Superficial In The Sea”

“California Del Surreal”

“Trivial Pursuits”

“Realization #6”

“The Too Late For Breakfast Club”

“Don’t You Forget About Tiffy!” ( ♫♪)

“I Used To Know Who Boys Liked, I Used To Be What Guys Want” ( ♪)

“Vapid Transit Authority”

“A Pretty Ugly Situation”

“Reflecting On Surfaces”

“The Princess And The Plea”

“They Don’t Grade On Curves, Anymore”

“Head And Shoulders Above Some Of The Rest”

“The By-Laws Of Average”

“Demotion To A Higher Level”

“The River Runs Skin Deep”

“The Preen Of Denial”

or

“Mirror Cat Manner”

So on and on we go – Gunther never letting the subject go to HIS problem – that he is lonely and needs somebody too. He’ll wind up giving Tiff a hairdo and sending her out to the boys to see how it works. Always steering potential romance away from himself,,,

Amazing, it’s been almost 3 hours since turnover and there are over 70 comments on Luann. That’s gotta be some kind of record.

It WOULD be a turnoff for a guy trying to make out with a girls hair like that.

Darth’s Maul and Vader had the same problem.

Tiff needs to start looking for older men. She clearly is cut out to be a trophy wife.

A few days ago, I lamented how this has gone from a gag-a-day strip to about a gag-a-month strip. Gunther ’s comments about Tiffany ’s hair is the gag that Greg has been leading up to! The most recent sign of humor in this strip was “Tiff, pick up the puke!” The most recent sign of humor before that was letting Bern and Piro off scot free for their dormitory violations, dropping the barracks thief story like a hot potato, then having Bern and Piro ’s kiss be as cold as ice!

That said, today’s strip is rather humorous. By the by, if Greg is taking votes, I am not in favor of re-doing Tiffany’s looks. I’m not much of a fan of any of the “re-do’s” in this strip. And I think I agree with whoever said it yesterday, that moving the Luann gang from high school to college was not such a good idea, after all.

Last, and certainly least: Congratulations to Greg on topping well over 400 comments yesterday! I think that makes this the Seinfeld of comic strips! All that popularity over a strip (TV show) all about nothing!

In my experience, school classrooms aren’t, in general, the best way for singles to meet each other, because there’s too much attention focused on academics. They’re only slightly better than bars.

I think the best way is to attend meetups, social groups, self-help groups, etc. This means that one has a greater chance of hitting it off due to common interest.

Of course, churches have often served a similar purpose, and very religious people find commonality there. But for less-religious and non-religious people, the special-interest meetups are the best.

The Tiff is self centered and stupid idea seems silly to me. Heck, she passed a mechanical engineering class, or at least she is still taking it. This is not the calling card of the stupid. She works at a job she doesn’t like, and hasn’t been fired or received any complaints from the kids parents. She notices the lives of others, and in fact, advocated for Gunther’s mom. This isn’t the calling card of the self centered. She is developing self understanding also. Nice guys would ask her out.

wonky site again today !

And the tables turn. Now Gunther is giving the advice. I like it.

Wait a minute. Tiff took a Mechanical Engineering course? If that doesn’t prove she had interest in Gunther, nothing will.

Tiffany not real? Spoiler alert!

106 comments.WOW.Greg’s doing something right.

Having Tiffany get past needing the armor of makeup and hairspray has long been a wish of mine. She has an opportunity to hide less now.

So has Gunther finding himself able to once more offer concerned and thoughtful advice to a friend. He has the opportunity to place another before himself.

Today’s strip feels like GIFT!

College guys want something more real? What planet is this?

I’m still waiting for the Gunther-Tiffany epiphany followed by A second sleepover.

So this whole arc has been leading up to Tiff getting a makeover? Like a new hairdo is going to change anything. It didn’t help Bern, she’s still the I-know-everything-you-know-nothing control freak she always was. Tiff needs to drop the I’m-the-Queen-and-everyone-must-worship-at-my-feet attitude. As someone said yesterday, if she’d stop thinking she was in competition with every girl she meets, she might at least have some female friends. Some of them might have brothers, or male friends they’re not into romantically. But no, to Tiff boyfriend=happiness. And she must be exclusive—-the guy can’t be dating other girls like Jack obviously is. (about 18 according to his emo buddy) She has to be the center of everyone’s universe just like she’s the center of her own. A new hairdo ain’t gonna change that.

Watching the ‘hot chick’ get a reality check it sort kind of fun.

You, know, there actually was, and probably still is, a hairspray called Stiff Stuff. Its use was in photo shoots like when wind blowing hair was the needed look but the model could not avoid squinting when a large fan was blowing in her face. It carried a risk of hair breakage, so it was one of the reasons that it was quite normal for a serious studio to have a shower for models to use after a photo shoot.

The best thing about the college years is not Bernice’s comeuppance or Luann’s further blossoming but the burgeoning friendship between Gunther and Tiff. Both have shown depths unseen in HS though they have a long way to go before becoming their adult selves. They work well together and I hope their friendship develops into something more.

I’ve thought for a long time that Tiffany and Gunther are destined to be together. For me, that belief is edging from the Self Evident category into the realm of Axiomatic. I’ve stated my reasoning a few times, so won’t belabor it, though I know many disagree. But I admit, that I’ve been fascinated by the intense dislike many have for Gunther and that others have for Tiffany. The shade cast their way is often in terms of the worst cultural stereotypes and based on their most superficial qualities. I’m reminded of Jessica Rabbit’s quintessential self-description, “I’m not bad. I’m just drawn that way.” Do we think that Tiffany and Gunther, often described in such scornful terms, are MEANT by the Evanses to be seen so negatively? Or do the powerful expressions of dislike say more about those making such evaluations? There’s been an awful lot of “I’m not a psychiatrist but I play one in the funny papers….” going on. But even those who don’t assume that role are familiar with the psychological notion of projection, no?

Interesting how this arc has gone from last week being focused on Gunther to this week with more focus on Tiffany. Yet the two of them have been together through an evening of interesting events. Although it will be hard for Tiffany to change her basic personality, I hope she will realize her loneliness can be overcome. Gunther appears to have taken her advice about his Mom. I hope she takes his advice about loosening up with the makeup, hair, shoes, perfume, etc and becomes just a girl at college open to new experiences. Not a model. Not a princess.

This is very common problem with girls who were cheerleaders in high school.

Knew a girl in high school with helmet hair. Unsafe to light a match near her:>)

I’ve always hated her hair style. Time for her to get a new one.

Tiff reminds me of my niece. Cheerleader in High School, popular, pretty. 3 kids, 2 failed marriages, and a half dozen failed relationships later, she still doesn’t have her life together. Let’s hope Greg writes Tiff a better life story.

Guys in college today don’t date… they play video games on Friday and Saturday nights.

Gunther isn’t oblivious, here, at least not fully. Tiffany is holding her heart pillow closely (Love wanted)but at the same time, it is her arms across her chest (stay away).Tiffany is lying on a sofa, in front of a guy…mixed message, she’s not really sure what she wants. Love? Companionship? Gunther tells it like it is. “You’re too stiff! You need to loosen up.”He should request that she sit up, sit next to her, hold her hand, let her head rest on his shoulder.But Gunther is scared. He doesn’t understand love. Neither does she. Maybe it’s autism? Gunther may suggest a different hairstyle, something loose and comfy.She may invite him to help. Let’s see.

A LOT has happened in the strip this week so far.

Tiffany finally got Gunther to realize that Mr. Gray is good for his mom.

Gunther behaved protectively toward Tiff, though somewhat immaturely, on the topic of Leslie.

Tiffany trusted Gunther enough to open up about a very painful topic, perhaps for her one of her most painful ones.

Gunther listened – actually listened.

Without anyone pushing him Gunther actually put someone before himself, so gave concerned and thought-out advice, something which has not happened for too long a time.

In doing so, Gunther gave himself the opportunity to grow by recovering one of his past strengths.

Tiffany has been given the opportunity to consider what Gunther has said, and to try out life without the armor of extreme makeup/appearance. A person is less sheltered that way, but also far more mobile (flexible). Hopefully, she listened enough, and is strong enough to try.

AND it was all done with a light touch so that humor sparked, too, in wording and in images.

For character growth this week has enormous potential for both Tiffany and Gunther.

college guys are not that different from high school boys. of course, this is the same universe where freshman in high school look like 4th graders, so…

Happens to a lot of people, they peak in HS and never really go anywhere with their life after HS.

I thought she had several dates with Jack? I don’t think the men ignore her at all. Her daddy issues may prevent her from feeling love from others. She will always feel lonely no matter how much attention she gets from others.

New makeup, didn’t work. New perfume, didn’t work. New shoes, didn’t work. Sitting clueless in a class full of nerdy guys who need to study hard, didn’t work. Has she tried, like, flirting? Or even talking to guys? Parading around looking like a model will get her noticed, but doesn’t mean that guys will be running up to her begging for her attention.

Back in high school, the queen was a tyrant.

After high school most have no contact with former tyrants and to be honest, most who went to college rejected tyranny all along. This is an opportunity for my beloved Tiffany because tyranny is tiring. She’s free to be decent and not doing all that badly as shown by sharing with Gunther, not as a grunt but as a good — albeit grumpy — guy.

Beautiful? EwwwwwW Cheap is more like it!

I will say that they seem to be good for each other. Tiffany helped Gunther in accept that her mother will be dating, and Gunther seems to be helping Tiffany here. Do they have any romantic attraction to each other? Other than the “moment,” it’s not clear.

I don’t get all the ‘Oh, Tiffany is finally opening up’ comments. This is a rerun! We’ve already been there, at the start of their first college year, with a nearly identical conversation between Gunther and Tiff (minus the last ‘hair’ comment)…

Only, last time nothing much came of it. Could we maybe have something new happen this time? Please?

Seismic-2: I hope I don’t offend. You are interesting; others admire your posts about the strip in general, and I am coming to, as well. I like your response to my comment above, echoing someone else’s comment that moving Luann from high school to college was a bad idea. Your response was that it was a good idea, but poorly executed. Couldn’t agree with you more! // But I fail to agree with your comments on Gunther. Granted, he is portrayed as extremely unlikable in these strips, and that bothers me. But he does seem to have insight, and right now, he’s sharing that insight with Tiffany. Already over 240 comments, I can’t find it again; I think your comment was to the effect of “Tiffany taking advice from Gunther? Give me a break!” (Apologies in advance for the obvious misquote) // I guess what I’m saying is, your comments on the strip, in general, are quite valid. Nevertheless, your comments on Gunther seem quite polarized.

Perhaps my comment really ought to be aimed at Greg: PLEASE stop depicting Gunther as a total jerk! It has polarized your readers! When some people think Les is a better catch than Gunther, you know he’s getting a bad rap! It’s causing some to wonder why you even bother to have Gunther in the strip!

2

With the strange comment about Tiffany’s hair, could it be this whole arc is going to culminate with Tiffany adopting a new hair style? Sigh. I hope that is not the “big payoff” for this arc.

If this “lonely” segment about Tiffany actually leads somewhere interesting, that will be wonderful, but with this longer arc already nearing the end of the week, I am fearful that the expression of loneliness may be all we get and come Monday we will switch to a completely different story.

Is it good that Tiffany is opening up about her feelings of loneliness? Yes. But, I think she could and hopefully will easily find a cadre of friends to hang out and have fun with. I am not sure anymore if Gunther would be a choice for even a strong friendship at this point. I am now swinging in the camp that hopes that Tiffany in particular gets to meet a bunch of new folks and have a bunch of friends. Romantic interests can come later.

Aha! Found it! Seismic-2 said: “If you’ve sunk to taking life advice from Gunther, then truly there is no hope.” This is what I mean by polarization – even downright prejudice against Gunther. // Not that I blame you, though. Greg has gone out of his way to paint Gunther as an extremely unpleasant person these days.

yes… helmet hair…. doesn’t invite the touch . Nor do lips coated with grease and pigments.

BTW… it occurs to me that, just as Tiff has repeatedly been instrumental in pushing Luann to start new relationships, Les may be intended to play the same role for Gunth.

After all, Les was the reason Gunther finally got together with Rosa! Maybe now too, he’ll be the push needed to make Gunther think of taking up the empty space in Tiff’s life himself, just to keep Les from doing so. :)

Tiff is unreal, especially her hair.

He hair stayed the same even when she laid down. That takes a lot of gel and hairspray.

CHEAPSKATE0: As I mentioned in one of my posts above, I believe Gunther was originally meant to be a sympathetic character whom the audience would support. Greg wanted the audience to root for “loser” Gunther to come out a winner and then be a fitting suitor for Luann. However, it didn’t really work, and even though Gunther went through a number of “makeovers” in middle school and high school (in at least one case, as directed by Tiffany!), no Gunther v2.0, Gunther v3.0, etc., really worked. The final effort at rehabilitating the character was to let him room with Quill, who could provide the masculine influence that had been missing in his life. However, even after a year of that (and Rosa’s trying to being him out of his rigid shell) it was still the same old Gunther.

I strongly suspect Greg Evans had come to the conclusion that he had done all he could with the character, and he was getting as tired of Gunther as we were, so he decided to send him off to Peru. I also believe that the whole idea of moving the cast to college at that same time was to write characters out of the strip who had become stale (the goody-two-shoes Delta, as well as the nebbish Gunther) and replace them with a new crowd from Moony Uni and from Luann’s community college. That plan apparently was largely abandoned early in their freshman year, and the focus of the strip quickly turned back mainly to the Pitts kids once again. That’s why it was necessary (or so Team Evans felt!) to bring Gunther back, but instead of bringing him back as the same timid milquetoast he was before, they brought him back as the grouchiest guy on the comics page under the age of 82! His whole high school identity was thrown out, and he regressed to the emotional level of the tykes that Luann and Tiffany tend to at Kidz First. Bad, bad mommy, to spend time with mean Mr. Gray instead of her precious Gunthy! Wah, wah, wah!!! Big mistake, IMHO.

I keep thinking that Tiffany’s hair makes that Don Martin (MAD Magazine) type of absurdist-onomatopoetic noise when it hits something (like a soft couch)! You know … like ’KATONKA!! KERSPLORNKO!!

.

Think So??!!

Here is a question: will Tiffany ever get to the point where her character is comfy “thinking” of herself as a woman who sweats? We have three good friends who often need to come off as being elegant. One is a scream queen. One is breaking into a new field after an unusually long career as a runway and photographic model and still walks some HC. The third was a Miss [industrialized nation, but i will not say which one]. Yet, every single one of the three sees herself as being a “woman who sweats”. It can be an important point to reach. I wonder if Tiffany’s character will get there or be trapped by an unattainable goal of impossible elegance.

I’m still wondering why they’re hanging out in the dorms when Sunday’s strip established that school was out. Do universities let people stay in the dorms over summer break? I mean, Tiffany lives in that town so it’s not like she has nowhere else to go.

@BJSHIPLEY1: While many junior college/state schools don’t even offer dorms, a lot of universities offer year-round classes, so dorms are open during summer even if the majority of students aren’t taking classes. I think it’s not that likely that Tiffany is actually taking a class, but she could be; she is only there because her father insisted on it, so she might decide to speed up her timetable of heading for Hollywood by taking a class during summer.

.

Some universities also offer non-degree classes during summer months, in order to earn extra money to keep the college or university going. People think of universities as if they have tons of money, but since both state legislatures and Congress have cut back on research funds to universities, as well as scholarships, there are increased financial problems for universities. This is part of the reason why tuition is soaring and kids are left with impossible debt. People are convinced it’s because of tenured faculty that is overpaid and underworked, but many tenured faculty have already retired. Increasingly, universities are not offering tenure and are paying amazingly low wages (and no benefits) for ‘instructors’ with PhDs. An awful case occurred with an instructor at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. When she died, she didn’t even have a life insurance policy to pay for her burial, and family was still trying to pay off her education loans. Or so the story said…

Now that you mention it, Tiffany’s hair DOESN’T move. Hmmmm…

If Gunther has any input into Tiffany’s new hair style and makeover, hopefully he does not suggest styles that will make her look like Bernice. Not that Bernice is unattractive, just not having Tiff made up in the image of someone he once thought he could not live without. You just cannot make one person into someone else.

Poor, sweet, innocent Tiffany Farrell, pouring out her woes to Gunther Berger!

Confused, introverted, ever over-thinking Gunther Berger, trying to be helpful to the very sexy blonde lying on the couch in front of him!

The boy is on the verge of a panic attack, I fear.

Maybe one day he will awaken from his testosterone-deficient trance….

Perhaps Gunther will lean over and kiss Tiffany?

Next Gunther will knit her a new hair style?

Also that pillow looks like a red heart. Hidden message for Gunther?

And now Gunther will help her understand.

There’s more to life than boys, Tiff. You be you. Any guy who doesn’t like you just the way you are isn’t worth your time.

“Tiffany, your hair never moves.” Fourth wall broken. :)

If this arc ends without a kiss, I will be very . . . put out.

I’m too lazy today to read all the comments so my apologies if this was referenced already https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs9D4e2SoxA&index=15&list=PLcGyIJMPj5FXMRpGGePM4hf6tJjeEz2kz

4th wall took a dent, last panel