Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for August 31, 2017

I’m sure this could be more uncomfortable, but I really don’t see how.

I think Tara is already taking something from Luann: her sense of security as well as comfort level.

“Bernice the boss is your BFF?!” Clearly Tara likes alliteration, but more important than that is the fact that Bernice has a nickname of “The Boss.”

Something tells me there’s more to Tara than meets the accusation.

I am not sure if I like Tara. The same way I feel about Jack. Jack the doofus jock, now the deflector Tara. She is too flippant for my taste. Like nothing gets to her. Is that an armor so nobody hurts her or nobody sees the real her?

It’s not surprising that someone who gets involved with theft but writes it off as just being the result of ‘bad friends’ also has a weird sense of humor. First dynamite, then, ‘look out for your purse’. Luann could use a new friend, but not this one. No kidding…

I get the feeling that Tara is a narcissistic personality. She’s all about herself, with little real empathy for others.

People like that usually have a “shell” personality to hide behind. Some are mercurial like Les. Some are charming, demanding, and manipulative, like Ann. But in Tara’s case, she just a big tease who tries to disarm everyone with her wit.

Honestly, this seems to make Tara more like Ann than anyone else in the strip.

Wow. It’s fun to be wrong about so many things.

Tara writes right handed but uses her left a lot. Perhaps she plays a musical instrument, or can write her name backwards and forwards on a chalkboard at the same time.

And hyper friendly to the point of becoming obnoxious, and interrupting Luann so she can get in the first jab at herself. (Much more fun than the drunk not-a-theory-or-hypotheses wackoid “suggestion” —-can I use the word suggestion?)

Despite my joking post yesterday, I’m now inclined to speculate that Tara will never become an “item” with Pru.

That’s because Pru is very adverse to deliberate wrongdoing, and she’d quickly sense it about Tara, or she’d be warned by Luann or Bernice.

However, if Tara is a narcissist, she may use everything at her disposal to manipulate others. She might be willing to get “involved” with any party if doing so would serve her purposes — just like Ann.

Tara is far more dangerous than Les. She’s on a continual, non-stop high roll.

Les, in contrast, has been toning down his old past and becoming more social – at least, in part, because of Pru’s influence.

Hey, at least she’s an honest thief.

Another guess for tomorrow: Tara says, “Luann – I really would like you to…” (the teacher interrupts and tells them to get to work). Both now staring at the equipment with a blank expression…

Luann should say to Tara, “I know there’s more to this than what everybody has heard. We should go for a soda after class.” Tara got it all out there so she doesn’t have to look at fake smiles from everybody all day. I still think it will be good for both Tara and Luann to have a real talk. Hopefully Luann can show her good heart.

Note the first frame. Luann says Bernice is the R.A. at- (rat). Not a coincidence.

From Yesterday: Eddie Munter was the boss at Borderline Books. Who was always hollering “KIDDING!”

How much of what we’re seeing is a defense mechanism at work, as opposed to what Tara is really thinking/feeling?

She seems passive-aggressive. Is she?

Tara will come to be regarded as a sympathetic character. We’ll learn never to trust her. Hey, Jeane Dixon made a career out of contradictory predictions by calling our attention to the ones she got right and never again mentioning the others, which is to say most of them.

NO! NO! NO! It should rhyme such as Bernice the Police"…………………………….

Unless she meant “Bernice the Master Mind”.

I’ll bet that SallyMargaret could tell us if the way Tara is currently acting is either realistic or typical for some types, and what it says about her personality and character.

I’m annoyed with this Tara girl already, she’s making too many jokes and it’s making me uncomfortable.

I’m sure the residents called her “Bernice the B…”, but I doubt it was “Boss.”

Wow! I’m supposing Bernice could perhaps ironicallly be “sobered into changing”, once she hears of her “Dormineering” reputation….

-

All it took was just for Luann to mention Bernice- And… ‘Violin!’, Tara instantly has to do some ‘damage control’, and set things straight…or at least relieve themselves both of any pressure, and ‘come clean’. More joking may be her way of trying to cope with any awkwardness. So, it seems like Tara is at least trying to “Make The Best Of A Bad Situation”, as the song goes….

It’s obvious that Tara got used. I feel sad for her. Unlike Less, she doesn’t come across as a conniving person. I hope I’m right about her. Borenice needs to calm down a little too. also seems to me that Tara called her out.

“The Drive Of A Convertible”

“Got Any Change?”

“The Prose And Confessions”

“The Telltale Heart Of The Matter”

“Awkward, Of Caution”

“Trivia, And A Purse Suits”

“The Higher, The Diffuser”

“Glisten, Like Thieves” (♬)

“Pale, And ’Fess "

“The Grapevines Of Wrath”

“I Know Why The Mocking Jay Sings Like A Canary In A Cage”

“Don’t Fly Over Spilt Bilk”

“…Don’t Spill While Flying, Either…”

“From Bad, To Purse”

“The Relief Of ‘Talk-’Em’ "

“Big Boss Ma’am”

“The Dormineering Type”

or

“Bernice Springsteen”

and Borenice’s “by the book” behavior isn’t making her any friends, or boy – friends for that matter.

For me, the jury is still out on Tara. We’ll have to see how her story develops and how Lu reacts to it, as well as how her relationship with Bern might change, as a result. That will be interesting.

I would have wanted another lab partner than Tara. Why did everyone in the room except Luann have a partner before class started?

too much exposition too quickly?

Tara certainly doesn’t seem to have any remorse about anything. Actually, sort of an odd sense of humor.

Tara is a definitely change from Faye the Meek (whom I like).

“KIDDING! "? Twice? Will Tara turn out to be Knute’s sister? Or his soon-to-be soulmate?

Hmmm….not sure about Tara. I’ve known people like her. You’ve just met them, you don’t really know anything about them, and right away they start making….I really don’t know what to call it. Strange comments? Outlandish comments? Then they holler “KIDDING!” That gets old really fast. Soon no one will believe anything she says. She could say the room was on fire, and everyone would just go "Yeah, right. We know, you’re ‘kidding.’ "

I knew a guy who would pull crap like that all the time. He’d tell you his dog died, and when people would start to express sympathy, he’d yell, “KIDDING! I don’t have a dog!” Then he’d stand there and laugh at the “gullible idiots.” That kind of backfired on him big time. Once he claimed he couldn’t breath, clutched his chest, and fell to the floor. No one believed him until his face started turning blue. Almost didn’t get the ambulance there in time.

I’ll venture that Tara’s open disclaimer of her past is Greg wanting to move past it and have it NOT play much role in the future of the character.

I find this a bit unrealistic that she would so readily admit to someone she’s just met that she is a thief. There is more to the story.

Well, Luann did mention Bernice, of all people, right after Tara mentioned Mooney U., likely out of nervousness. Tara put two-and-two together and immediately went into a gushing ’let’s get this over with’ mode to Luann – also out of nervousness.

Tara may keep putting on a Kidding vibe – but rather than laughing it off, she’s cried about her experience more so.

Tara doesn’t seem meek like someone who would be a follower. I think she was probably the ringleader and is blaming her bad choices on other people.

Time for a Dez break.

I went to the GoComics page and put Dez into the search field. I read all 85 comic strips.

No last name. No major. From New York City. Ailing grandfather. World traveler. Weird teas and a Destiny Deck.

Anybody remember anything else that is not on the Meet the Gang page?

Tara and Les should team up and go on a crime spree….or maybe, Les is the bad friend of whom Tara speaks.

Let’s see if Tara eventually talks Luann into doing Abysmally, Stupid Stuff and leaves Her “holding the bag,” like Old Smiley does with Brad.

Then, Let’s Sit back, RELAX, and see if the “TJ/Les Apologists” are as quick to come to Tara’s defense as “they” do with the guys.

So far, it ain’t looking too Good, as a number of these gentle “folk” are quite ready to Burn Tara at the Stake……,

there is not adequate expressions (or the ability to convey them in print) to tell if she is bragging or being sarcastic, either way…..not the sign of someone you want to get too friendly with. If she were innocent of wrong doing she would be more subdued, it seems…..and sincere in wanting to be understood…..she seems like a Twit!

Luann has an opportunity here to see Bernice from someone else’s POV.

It will be interesting over time to see if Tara is more like Rebecca Buck of Tank Girl, or Poolan Devi of Bandit Queen.

When she shows up at the underwear party, we’ll know what the end-game is … strip the place bare. (Pun only slightly intended.)

I seriously doubt this is what’s really intended, but the feeling Tara’s giving me is frankly borderline manic. She seems to be shouting in class, going off on extended excited tangents about herself, repeatedly making extremely uncomfortable jokes while showing no sign of recognizing the discomfort of the person she’s talking to.

For what’s intended, I’m torn between her being a bad guy making light of what she’s done or acting awkwardly because of shame. I’m kind of leaning towards bad guy, so she’s probably a living saint.

If Tara could stop joking and sensationalizing everything maybe a different story from her end would emerge. We have two more days of this week to unravel her story.

We may see Tara open up a bit more, perhaps with some tears…

Crfor ap I hate the GoComics blog, or whatever you call this. It made me sign-in again, or on FB, which I did, and there my comment came under my FB name. But even there I don’t see it. DavidDaniels1. Let me just say I think Tara is a good kid, who made a mistake, as young people are wont to do sometimes, regrets it, and jokes about it as a defense mechanism, as some have suggested. I think the bigger thing is that she and Luann will become fast friends anyway, which will raise a huge problem between bleeding heart Luann, and far more judgmental Bernice.

What College does Luann attend? I thought she and Bernice attended “Moony Uni”.

Airman still undergoing repairs, but I try to monitor the action. Seems Tara has a little different drawing style, but Tiffany is still the hottie in this strip. Bio 101? Would that put them in the second semester of their freshman year?

Luann is too young for it, but i guess that Pru, Toni, Brad and TJ may be millenials. If so, Reggie Watts put a link to a generic millenial ad for them:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=KG_i7oWzTyU

“Bernice the Boss”? Well, at least Tara has got one thing right (although “Bernie the Boss” sounds better, IMO).

But, seriously, who’s kidding?

I suspect Tara needs and wants friends. So when she sees she is scaring someone off she’ll change her tone.

The professor obviously doesn’t pay attention to his students. I suspect Tara is as bad a student as Luann.

next up: turnabout is fair play!