Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for September 01, 2017

Luann picks up on things quickly. ;)

It takes a joker to know a joker I s’pose. (Nice in the second panel it looked like Luann wrote the author’s name and the date.)

O.K. Luann, you made a joke and cannot take it back. Now that you got Tara’s attention, forget what Borenice told you about her and make up your own mind. you will know whether to walk away or be a friend.

Tara’s surface personality is very warm and outgoing. And she’s obviously taken a shine to Luann.

But is it because she sincerely want’s friendship, or does she have some kind of ulterior motives? We’ll just have to wait and see.

When my kids took college chemistry, they had to wear gloves and lab aprons. These two are a little bare-handed for chemicals.

Looks like the winning guessers are those for a quick initial resolution.

But now I really want to see her karate moves or how she can write with both hands. She opens the bottle with her left hand and hugs with her left hand and I do not think it is just the ease of drawing it thus.

Tara is the polar opposite of Bernice.

If Tara and Luann form a close friendship, Luann might find herself caught in a tug-of-war between the other two.

I’m still anticipating that this will turn into a situation where Luann somehow lets Bernice know that she thinks of Tara as kind of a pal, Bernice starts lecturing her, and Luann has to decide between the two…

Often when you mix two toxic chemicals, you get a non-toxic result.

Dez.

Tara is such a touchy type of person, like Dez, that Dez should have an opinion of Tara.

Would this come in as a tie breaking vote if Luann had to choose between Bernice and Tara?

A TJ vote?

I remember the one goof at our lab table. He liked to mix acids to see what happened. One day he re-invented chlorine gas. I only got a whiff, thank God. He was one member of our class who didn’t graduate unless it was a correspondence school.

A perfect dosage of her own medicine, Luann. She got it. Let’s see if she tones down the “Kidding!” Perhaps crack her armor, allow her true self shine through.

This is developing just as I thought, Tara will ingratiate herself with Luann, who will feel sympathetic to her and become a friend. This will enrage Bernice, and therein lies a real problem in the relationship between Luann and Bernice. At least I think that is what is happening.

It all depends on what lesson Tara thinks she learned, doesn’t it? Not to get caught?

First four days of Tara? I loved it! Finally, some resolution to the barracks thief story! It was about time, it was overtime. Today, the story’s a little “iffy.” I would have liked a little “did she or didn’t she” for a couple days more. On the other hand, as long as the cat’s out of the bag, and if she keeps her promise that she “learned her lesson,” I think Tara may be a very good addition to this crew.

Yes, I expect Luann to be suspicious of her for a while. If I were dealing with someone like that, I would be, too. But lack of a repeat offense should go a long way. Too bad, it takes a pretty long time to verify that there has been no repeat offense.

That said, I like that there is now a potential challenge to Bernice in Luann’s life. Is Bernice any better than Tara? We’ve been told that she bent a lot of rules to get at that boy – whom she promptly dumped at the bowling alley. I’m tired of Bernice, and Tara may just be the right replacement!

Whatever “There” is – We are not “There” yet. Kinda suspenseful. I think we have only one more night before the weekend stand-alone comic and possibly another arc…

This looks more like a chemistry lab than a biology lab. I don’t remember mixing chemicals in any of my college biosci labs, but then again, that was a very long time ago.

Tara seems like one of those people who always have to be the center of attention. This can be good or not. Maybe she stole those things to “impress” people and not with any criminal intent. Time will tell. Certainly she a zany enough of a character to be a regular. But a “rrat’s a rat” We’;; have to wait to see how this develops

Tara reminds me of my old roomie. He broke a window, but he immediately paid for it and apologized to management the next morning and to me for doing it. Even good people make dumb moves. Well….in my friend’s case, he did it drunk, but there’s no proof Tara wasn’t (yet).

Now that Luann has equalled Tara in the “Kidding” department, she’ll have to go out and steal something.

Tara’s hairstyle and her joke about explosives reminds me of the case of the little girl who ate dynamite.

At least she admits to her mistakes so far.

I didn’t know Luann was left-handed.

Why are they mixing chemicals in a Bio 101 lab?

Two thoughts: first, I won’t miss Bernice if she has a snit over any Luann/Tara friendship and shuns Luann. Second, maybe Tara could be TJ’s first girlfriend.

With Luann joking back, it’s becoming obvious that Tara is getting under her skin. And they may be headed into into a close friendship, which Tara clearly wants.

But where will this friendship take Luann? Into expanding her horizons in positive ways… or down some dark primrose path? As Tara’s ambidextrous inclinations indicate, things could go either way.

“You Dropped A Bond On Me” (♬)

“Same Old Nu-cleus"

“Electricity? Biology? ….Seems To Me, It’s Chemistry…..” (♪)

“She’s Binding Me With Science!….” (♪)

“Peptide Rally”

“To No Covalence?”

“Atom And Even”

“The Whizzer Of Osmosis”

“To Each, Their Hormone”

“Don’t Take That Serotonin With Me!”

“Well, They Don’t Grow On Petris, You Know”

“Busy As A Beaker”

“Surely, You Ingest!”

“Live, And Let Liver”

“Intestine, The Nick Of Time”

“And You Can Take That To The Pancreas!”

“Handle ’Em With Kidney Gloves”

or

“You’ve Got Some Gall!”

A replacement Delta? I wonder how Luann will tell Bernice about her new ‘friend’.

Luann now juxtaposed between two new friends: shy Faye and outgoing Tara.

Chemicals and beakers. Isn’t this a Biology class?

Meanwhile back at the…..

Luann’s smile in Panel 4 looks a little – apprehensive – but a little more hopeful, too. It’s cool when a new friendship sets out!

8

Very interesting circumstances this week. I am actually very much liking Tara as a character. It is interesting that even though she is a “criminal” of sorts, that she is very likable. Perhaps that is Greg’s intent? Perhaps he is having some sort of arc that shows how a person can make an idiotic error in judgement and still be a nice, good person at heart? If so, it is an interesting and enjoyable turn of events.

You know, I’ve got a “feeling” about Tara, here.

We may not be looking so much to Tara driving a Wedge between the Friendship of Luann and Bernice, as We may Actually be Seeing Tara, as a Replacement for Delta.

At least sometime in the near future……,

Taking up with thieves are we??? I suppose in some later strips we’ll get a better explanation about the thievery.

I don’t care if we learn more about the theft. I take Tara’s explanation at face value.

No one has attacked today’s strip yet for being boring, or speculated about lesbianism. May our good luck continue!

I think this is how ‘Nair’ was invented.

At least three people mentioned earlier that I got Nil and Piro mixed up. Good catch! I confess that I did. To me, the boys that Bernice “saw” (since “dated” doesn’t really apply) were, at best, forgettable. And that is what I did – I forgot them!

I was one of many, though certainly not most, people who were drawn in by the barracks thief mystery. At that time, when it appeared that all Greg was doing was shoving boys in front of Luann and Bernice, especially when it appeared that the mystery was to be dropped like a hot potato, I pretty much stopped reading the strip at that time.

I also confess to being one of those who was rather offended by the way both the readers – and Greg – were treating Gunther. Again, I left off reading the strip.

But this Tara thing – in spite of her self-acknowledged checkered past – I find that I actually like her. With the possible exception of Faye, Tara may be one of the more compelling females in this strip!

And I really like JPuzzleWhiz ’s response to an earlier comment of mine: Les may actually commit a crime and try to pin it on Tara. I really like that idea. And Les seems to be the kind of guy who would do such a thing. That could be the jumpstart this strip really needs!

does a beaker foam over before the weekend?

Could the “mixing of toxic chemicals” joke be a metaphor for what might happen if Bernice finds that Luann and Tara become friends? Tara is very likable, even if she was a bit of a criminal. And she seems remorseful and determined to finish college, Plus she is a cute, affectionate redhead, who is warm and funny. Luann will fall for her (as a FRIEND) like a ton of bricks probably. Bernice will not like it would be the prediction. There could be other scenarios as well, but whichever, Luann will probably have to take a stand for or against Tara, and I bet its for.

Could it be possible that Tara is guilty of having friends over that actually did the stealing? Is it possible that her “dumb” friends stole the TV and snacks and took it to her room? She would be guilty of not notifying security on her friends? I wonder because, if someone stole a TV and broke into a vending machine at my school, they would be arrested.

I am puzzled by the idea that Tara could be seen as a replacement for Delta. Originally, Delta was kind of a fun character (like when she went swimsuit shopping with Luann, who would refuse to even let Delta see her is a suit). Over time, though, Delta not only morphed into a social activist (not necessarily a bad thing on its own, just not very funny), but she became preachy and judgmental towards those who didn’t similarly volunteer AND she often recruited others to do good works while she herself didn’t participate. I don’t see any resemblance between any of these actions, and what we’ve seen of Tara so far…

some people think that a friendship with Tara would come between Bernice and Luann. I doubt that. Bernice did say that Tara was a likeable person. Luann will definitely tell Bernice of her encounter and Tara knows that; she’s admitted wrong doing; she wants friends. I don’t see a conflict.

Argy.Bargy2: Tara as a replacement for Delta? I agree with you. The two aren’t even in the same league. But I toy with the idea of Tara as a replacement for Bernice on a couple, perhaps superficial areas. One, Luann and Bernice don’t go to the same school anymore. At some point, their lives must diverge. It’s called “life.” Two, on a personal level, I have lost interest in Bernice, if for no other reason than she’s controlling, condescending, and just plain obnoxious! I’m still rather ticked by the way she flaunted the rules – and her position as an RA – just to get at a boy! Who needs a friend like that?

NightGaunt49: The barracks thief story as merely “ancillary”? For you, maybe. For me, and others, it was an interesting story, and what drew me into Luann. I respect your opinion – and often, we are on the same side (especially in Prickly City). But for me, and others, the barracks thief was perhaps the most riveting thing that has happened in this strip. I’m just not able to express myself on how I feel that something as important as the stolen TV and vending machines was reduced to little more than an excuse to shove a boy in front of Bernice.

And I’m really fascinated by Rinzler ‘s idea, above, that maybe Tara didn’t even do it, though she was with those who had. While another commentator has mentioned that we already know definitively that it was Tara and no one else, still, all of this, and today’s “confession,” it’s all just too easy. Surely, there is even more to the barracks thief story than we currently have. And just as it has taken Greg, what is it, a year, to get back to Tara, so maybe there’s still something up his sleave for what some of us still consider the great unsolved mystery of Luann.

Mixing two toxic chemicals is not necessarily a bad thing. Hydroxyl Hydride and Ethanol are both toxic, but when combined, especially with a few trace impurities, they make a FINE beverage!

Two legends of entertainment lost:

Richard Anderson, who portrayed Oscar Goldman on “The Six Million Dollar Man” and “The Bionic Woman,” as well as Lt. Steve Drumm on the final season of “Perry Mason,” passed away yesterday at 91.

“Sit-down comedian” Shelley Berman passed away earlier today at the age of 92.

R.I.P. to a pair of greats.

This sparring match between the two new Lab Partners could develop into a remarkable friendship, or into Death Match 2017! At this point, neither has actually drawn blood….

Only one more day till another Shannon strip !!!!!

Somehow this is going to creep into the fuse/lingerie story.

Run Luanne run!

Luann may introduce Tara to Pru. If Pru talks about Ann’s lingerie party – Tara might know what that is about. Tara is maybe a “Streetheart.”

OK, Rule #1: You don’t touch me unless we’re good friends and I’ve indicated that it’s OK. It’s a little too early for Tara to just grab Luann. Being a little too friendly there.