Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for May 15, 2018

Yeah, nothing like a girls’ night out… plus a boy.

She’s had a lot of practice keeping things from Mom.

Luann + Axel’s brother = ❤️?

I sense a disturbance in the Force….

That was set into motion swiftly. ✨

Waiting on the “Axel’s Bro” reveal. ✨

Ah So, Axel’s brother drives him to the Fuse, while Luann Drives Fay to the Fuse. A “Rendezvous,” if you will.

Not a bad plan Fay. Not bad at all.

Until you get caught, and Momma Garcia GROUNDS you Until you’re nineteen…..,

From the Tiffany/Ann arc we learned that one can break the law without consequences and that reporting a crime is irrelevant (if you take the law into your own hands). I hope that the takeaway here is not that one can lie freely to further ones ends and the technique is effective.

Luann is going to need to go to the movie with Fay at this point. If Mom asks more questions, Fay had better find the right moment to say, “Axel – you met Axel – and his brother are attending as well.” Of course the word “Date” cannot be mentioned. Hopefully the movie will have scary or exciting moments when Fay can grab Axel’s arm and transmit some energy. Unfortunately, the plot seems to be headed toward telling lies to Mom that don’t hold up. Who will be the hero to convince Mom that this whole thing is a good thing? Alternately, the focus may redirect to Luann meeting Axel’s brother and good stuff happens.

Check out Fay in all four frames! This sickly little girl shouldn’t get squished on her big night.

Hmm, who will be Axel’s brother? A current or maybe former love interest for Luann?

Okay, it’s official. Luann will either chaperon or drop Fay off but I have the feeling she will feel a duty to chaperon and meet Axel and…his brother. I said it could be Aaron yesterday. Let’s see how that turns out.

And then the mom says, “Just how does going to movie nite at the Fuse help you in drama?” Also, how how is the word “nite” pronounced differently from the word “night”?

I’d be upset at Fay deceiving her mother, but honestly the lady kinda brought it on herself. If you make your kids feel like they can’t talk to you about certain things (as she did when she flipped out in the car) then they’re simply going to not talk to you about those things. Fay may be to young to date, but she IS old enough for her mother to have an honest discussion with her about why, as opposed to simply laying down the law or Fay having to finesse her way into even the smallest compromise (and is being allowed to act in a play with a boy even that much of a compromise anyway?)

Well played Fay, but when your mom has trust in Fay that she want do anything stupid.

Next time, Fay, don’t howl the word “date” into your phone. You’re gonna get caught!

Possibilities: Nil is Axel’s brother. Jack sees him with Luann and gets jealous. Piro is Axel’s brother. Bernice sees him with Luann and gets jealous. Les is Axel’s half-brother. Luann decides she likes him after all. Things get steamy (unlikely). Jack is Axel’s brother. Luann already likes him rather a lot. Things get steamy (likely). Fay and Axel become the chaperones.

Leave Les out of the picture as he said himself told Tiffany; his mother abandoned him with to Mr. Gray ( his uncle) and ran off to Europe.

So where would he have a younger brother?

Luann is in need of a new love interest. I think Axel’s brother will be a new character (sans those prune lips) and we will begin a new arc….

“What’s the movie?”

“Um…something called ‘Barton Fink’.”

Everything in Luanniverse, particularly with Luann in the center, or somehow involved will be complicated and full of surprises. I was thinking that the new “brother” might be someone we knew already, like Jack or Nil (not likely to me an older love interest), but I am starting to lean toward it being someone totally new, who will become a new love interest for Luann. This will complicate things because of course Fay’s mom is going to find out about the “date” with Axel, at the Fuse of all places, and her daughter kept the whole truth from her, so there will be that wrinkle in time, oops Luanniverse (don’t want to get sued by the Mouse). 2 to 1 new interest for Luann and no doubt that no matter what happens Fay and Axel are the prototypical 21st century version of childhood sweethearts. Get used to that Mrs. Garcia.

Call MTV. Set up a casting for Teen Mom 3.

Sweet child but a wee bit dishonest.

I guess even I must have some flaw somewhere, though.

Leaving out some interesting details, Faye? I hate to be in her, and/or, Luann’s shoes WHEN Faye’s mother finds who all were involved in this movie night outing.

Hmmm. I wonder if the bro might be Bernice’s half (step? I forget) bro back from where ever and discharged from the service??? There was a spark there as I remember.

The FUZE is becoming jinx city! I see a train wreck coming re this date and once again the FUZE is involved. We already have the lingerie night, Pru’s failed acting camp, the Les-Pru debacle…

I don’t see this turning out well at all. It almost has to be discovered. And I can’t stand Fay’s mother, but she’d be right to be furious at a teacher is encouraging her daughter to deceive her.

I never thought I’d say this but after almost twenty years of following this strip… I’m calling it a day. This is the worst by far in a series of ponderous and dull story arcs and we keep coming back to it – it’s now in its third week? It’s hard to swallow when so many other good and vital characters have exited pursued by a bear – Delta, Rosa, even Dirk. What happened to Tiffany’s story? Where did Knute go?Sure, characters and strips mutate over time but this has really plunged downhill in the last few months.

(1) I am curious if the Evanses want us to believe that Mrs. Garcia helped create Fay’s withdrawn nature. In any case, she seems suddenly much improved. Cure = Luann + Hormones?

(2) Luann is triangulating an issue between Señora García and Fay. Of course, if everyone simply talked to others about their needs and wishes, most of our literature and cinema would go poof.

Fay is building a house of cards … question is, how far will she get till it comes tumbling down?

Fay is more sly than shy and not afraid to lie. She is going to be all over Axel like a mini predator and ready to squeal if anything goes wrong. If this wasn’t a family strip, she’d be pregnant by the time she was 14.

A shout out to ForBearly yesterday. He said, to the effect, that dating leads to one of two results: Breaking up or marriage. He then went on to elaborate that breaking up stinks, but that marrying the wrong person stinks worse.

Oh, how I wish I had had advice like that when I was younger!

I consider Forbearly ’s advice the comment of the year!

Fay could pull off her wonderful date, and then learn that Axel’s parents are moving to another city (deja vu Luann & Aaron Hill).

Sometimes, the imprecision of English is handy.

Bet mom got pregos with Fay when she was her age.

@LOCAKE: I suspect plenty of laissez-faire moms have pregnant teen daughters. No simple answer, but adequate and honest sex information never hurts. But it would be interesting and risk taking of the Evanses to have Fay and Axel go too far. Showing realistic outcomes and Luann’s possible complicity would be fascinating. But I doubt that will happen.

This looks like trouble.

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I am not fond of the continued deception that Fay is conducting. To my manner of thinking, perhaps Mrs. Garcia was more correct than we realized in terms of “protecting” Fay if this is how she has acted earlier in her young life? I am not saying that is a certainty… but at the moment, Fay’s behavior is awfully sneaky.

And, unfortunately, it appears Luann may receive a sizable chunk of the ire that may arise from Mrs. Garcia. But, at least some of it (the “chaperoning”) may not be Luann’s fault (I still think it was problematic for Luann to “coach” Fay how to ask out Axel, before receiving Mrs. Garcia’s permission, but that has no relevance on the car ride at this point.).

Helicopter mamma is ready to load photon torpedoes and fire all phasors!

@KENHENSE: I’ve had allergies all my life, some life-threatening( like allergy to bee and wasp sting) and I’ve had relatives with the same problem. Allergies are about reactions to chemicals, and can sometimes require you to carry medications with you, or limit eating certain foods (like nut allergies), but they don’t make you ‘sickly’ and don’t automatically restrict your social life. They also aren’t a justification for lying to your mother…

@LUANN1212: I was a lot more sympathetic toward Fay (given what seemed to be an overbearing mother) until today’s lie by omission. She can get Luann in a lot of trouble because Mrs. Garcia could interpret this whole episode as Luann going behind her back to interfere in a parent-child issue. Seriously, people have been accused of interfering with child custody over issues like this…

And as Fay smothers the phone in the last panel, she also covers up Luann’s prophetic plea, “Fay? I lost you.”

Wheels! And, “wheels within wheels.” Fay is very quick-witted when she isn’t wallowing in self-loathing or timidity. She is breaking free of the helicopter mom, noticeably. We can only hope that it is for the better in the long run….

Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.

So we leave this day with two schools of thought: Fay is a sweet little girl who tells white lies. Fay is a devious little girl who can lie and use people to get what she wants.