Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for October 17, 2017

Ann is compartmentalized and has shown superficial emotions, even after Les fires back that the DeGroots, Pru, and Ox are his family now. Her willingness to exploit her family (Les) is absolutely shameful…kudos to Les for establishing the line and where she stands with him: it’s business and we’re not family. Closure.

man, this is getting nowhere

…my fair lady.

This time the song is sooo obvious.

Good on Les for standing up to mom, I say.

I like it that Les says The Fuse is more family to him than Ann is, and she doesn’t even react to that. I’d like it even more if he really did lock the door in her face…

My God … Les is turning into a responsible human being!

This is gonna get ugly!

We have a winner on the Fuse is family prediction.

Tomorrow Ann says cooperate or jail. She is in this too deep to back out. Her scheduled guests would get sooo mad.

Les will have to agree to not lift a finger against her. And if Ann parked in the handicap space he doesn’t have to say anything.

And it does look like Thursday to get in.

There is goodness in all people. Sometimes one must dig hard and deep to uncover it!

How sweet. The Fuse is more family to Leslie than Ann. This would be a more impressive statement if it weren’t for the fact the only reason Mr. Gray got Leslie the job at the Fuse was so that he could pay back Ann.

Ann started off good in the first frame – and then totally blew it in the second frame. Les could have replied, “Oh yeah? What have YOU done for your family?” Ann only has a pair of nines in this situation and she’s trying to play it like Aces.

Les is standing up to Ann and calling her bluff. Several possibilities:

● She may agree to pay him.

● She may refuse to pay him, and he’ll let her in but resent it greatly.

● He’ll refuse to let her in at first, but she’ll threaten him with jail and he’ll back down. He’d resent that to the max.

But the more he resents her, the more likely he is to expose her improprieties as the event goes on.

It’s taking forever to get to the main event

If she had a pair, he’d be twistin’ ’em right now.

Scene I’d like to see:

After Ann’s arrest, Mr. Gay says Les should continue working at the Fuse and continue to pay off his debt to Ann.

Les instead decides to go into the Marines.

As Les tells Mr. Gray, Mr. Gray starts to take off his coat.

“You going to pick a fight with me?”

Mr. Gray laughs for the first time.

“No, Les. I was going to show off the tattoo.”

I said that the surrounding of love and friendship might affect the relationship , such as it is between Les and Ann, but I was hoping it would improve the relationship possibly, although I had real doubts. Now I may be half right, in that Les is possibly responding to all the love being shown, even with Mrs. Berger, and of course with Nancy, Pru, and Ox. Even Mr. Grey. If so Ann is isolated and bitter even more. As far as the party, well lets see if it goes on, and will it be as dangerous as some seem to think.

Worst arc ever.

It’s been said before, and Vilyehm said it most recently, and I agree: Les needs to join the Marines or something, regardless of the outcome of this arc. Especially if the intent is for Les to become “reformed.” A good long stint of him off-camera, so to speak, would probably do everyone a lot of good. Including Les.

Les is either ’showing signs of humanity’….

-

…or is just ‘a shrewd negotiator, who inherited the mental dexterity of a puppeteer’s manipulative little digits’…..

As of this posting, there are three or four comments about how long this story is taking, and the rest, four dozen or so, are all discussing the ongoing story as if the commenters were actually interested and enjoying the tale. I can imagine a reason or two for the impatience, which has been present at about the same level for as long as I’ve been following these comment forums. Where does this demand for instant gratification come from? I’m of the opinion that getting there is half the fun. Or more than half, in a story well told. I wonder if these are the same people who get half way through a book and then read the last chapter out of impatience for the end? There should be Cliff’s Notes for comic strips, I’m starting to think.

So much for the maternal discount!

“Bridge To Terra-ble”

“One, And London”

“Take The Keys, And Lock ’Er Up….” (♪)

“The Flaming Of The Shrewd”

“One Thing Leads To Another” (♪)

“Red Skies, Tonight” (♪)

“Standoff And On”

“Alamo, Hairy And Burly”

“The Cave Johnson School Of Business”

“Shadow Fighting”

“Box Seats For A Power Play”

“Maestro, On The Strings”

or

“Dance, Puppet! Dance!”

a 5 day “argument over a door” arc. hmm…..

Ann, Ann? PAY the Worthless, Ingrate, PUNK, the 80 bucks and Let’s move forward, Shall We?

And You May Want to remind Him that by not honoring the contract, You could have Him FIRED from His “Family” as You done to several people in the Past. So that by “Ponying up the Dough,” and keeping quiet, YOU are doing “HIM” a Favor.

PS: LES KNOX STOLE THAT "TIP MONEY!!!

Que Mr. Gray, who’s due to make an appearance to check up on “sis” any moment now.

I like that Les is standing up to Ann, and that he stated how the Fuse is more family to him than she is. But Les better be careful. If he locks up the joint, Ann could sue for “breech of contract.” She did contract with Pru and the Fuse owners for that space tonight. Now, I don’t recall if Ann paid them or paid a “retainer” for the use of the Fuse but, if she did, she’d be able to sue. Les, call uncle Al and get the direction from him!

Meanwhile back at the fat dorm.

what a pair!

I’m starting to think we will get to Saturday and still have no idea what Ann’s “event” is.

It should be a natural assumption that Eiffel has no more money than Knox—why else would the lady work in a fast-food restaurant and refuse to pay Knox? But somehow I heretofore assumed a villain like Eiffel is not poor.

Les is the center of this arc, and it is too soon to decide if he will step up. That is the interest and tension in the story, not the details of the lingerie party. As others have noted, the central dilemma is which loyalty trumps – Fuze or Mommy Dearest.

Am I the only one who HATES that his name is Leslie?

Ann has a contract with the Fuse with an agreement that Les would let her in. If he reneges on that contract he and the Fuse will be in big trouble. Ann has not actually done anything wrong YET. Les is wrong at this point.

blackmail on both ends? How will it conclude? This whole arc is not about the Fuse hosting some illegal affair or abuse of the DeGroots or even the reclamation of Les, but about Les and Ann and their tortured relationship.

I used to really hate Les, but ever since his mother was revealed to be Ann (I pity the father for being suckered into having a kid with her), I’ve been rooting for him. I still don’t want him dating Tiff, but I hope his actions will make him look better to the Fuse Family, Mr. Gray included. Geez, that old man needs to wake up…

7

Interesting conundrum today. Les seems to be turning out to be protective of “The Fuse” and his Fuse-Family. He is even suggesting he may take the key and “lock up” instead of letting Ann host whatever maniacal, nefarious event she is planning. But, there is the “rub” so to speak…..

1) If Les tries to lock out Ann, she could easily get Les in “trouble” by telling Pru that HE refused to let her have the “Lingerie Party” as contractually agreed upon.

2) But, Les seems to still be “on board” with whatever the event will be, as long as he gets $80.00 pay. So, Les is potentially “reformING” but not fully “reformED”. At least this is how I am reading this.

Les about to butt horns with the Wicked Witch!

a very odd looking key.

We have learned that the key is going to play a big role, if foreshadowing means anything.

“Well, Ann, if you don’t have to pay me, I no longer have to pay you. Unless you’d like me to call the police…”

I’m still finding it kinda unbelievable that a woman who seems as young as Ann Awful would have a kid as old as Les. Did she give birth at age 11?

Will Ann get inside the door by Saturday?

Ann has played the You OWE me! card to Les. Les is now playing the Exact Same Card to Ann!! It may have been Night-Gaunt49 who mentioned Ann ‘dangling’ that ‘favor’ she felt owed to her – now we see Les doing literal ‘dangling’ of the key!

Also notice – he’s closing the door more than a bit in Panel 3. And he holds the key, therefore the cards here. He knows exactly who he’s dealing with!

Between Tiffany & Ann, there is too much drama in this strip. Where’s the humor?

The key as foreshadowing.

Interesting idea.

The front and rear door both show a lower handle that you press down to unlatch. And the upper modern deadbolt. There is only one key dangling and that would be to the deadbolt.

Would Ann lock the deadbolt while her event was on? That would certainly be against the fire safety code, needing to unlock a door to let people out.

Only having one key for two doors could prove interesting.

Ann being so angry she breaks the key off locking everyone inside could be extremely entertaining to the readers. But not to Ann.

Hey, Annie! I gotchur “work” right here!

No pay, no work! It’s basic Labor Relations, blood relations or not!

Tomorrow: Les swallows the key to keep it from Anne !