Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for June 13, 2018

Her schemes are no mistakes, and neither was stealing from her.

Al Gray is finally being brought forward.

Oh look, not only does he block out Les’s balloon, he blocks out his own.

Forget revenge, personal revenge, is good advice.

Maybe Mr. Gray will suggest a conference call with Les, Tiffany and Simone.

Send Tom a letter typed on Simone’s business stationary.

Anything not done, on their own, by a teen with angst.

Is Al coming up with a sting on his sister?

well, that was a nice man-man talk

@TIARELLACLARK – We haven’t heard from you for about 4 days. You’all OK?

I think Uncle Al is going to come up with a plan. From what I observed. I think he has no love for his sister either!

Ann Eiffel says she is innocent and is a victim of a dishonest distributor. Tom Farrell does not believe his daughter. Al Gray does not believe in revenge as a motive.

What legal idea could Mr. Gray come up with to pester his sister?

Simone is concerned about the fake lingerie and appoints Tiffany as her legal U.S. representative to look into the matter.

Forget stupid revenge schemes and dumb tricks. Turn this matter over to the authorities and let them handle it properly. This is a legal matter, and it’s time to stop portraying it as a personal quarrel between Les and Ann and between Tiffany and Tom. There are scores of other affected parties, and it’s time to start thinking about them (and about the scores of future victims whom Ann will next prey upon, if she’s allowed to go free).

Well. Two things here:

1) Les and Uncle Al are FINALLY talking, and BONDING, something they hardly ever did before. THAT is a POSITIVE Step. Now if Al would just start talking to his future step son Gunther, then things would improve greatly and maybe We can learn a bit about Al’s back story.

2) Les is coming across as even more Sullen, more Angrier and an even BIGGER Whiner than Gunther ever was.

Which just proves what I was saying last week. Greg and Karen are slowly turning Les into “Gunther.”

And They’re Overdoing it………, ;)

So, now Les is comfortable opening up about his feelings? Stranger things have happened, I guess….

You guys, all surprised to see Les this way, sharing feelings and all. We never knew Les outside The Fuse and Pittsville High School. We never saw him at home with his uncle. We know Al Gray raised Les. This is their normal. Al sits on his bed and listens to Les gripe (not whine as Mordock likes to label it). He gets Les and understands him because he grew up with his sister and knew what kind of a mother she was. He is trying to guide Les away from Ann’s path. Now I am wondering why and how Ann came to be what she is…and is Al seeing a younger version of Ann in Les and trying to avert a disaster? Al knows Les committed petty crimes which imply he learned things from Ann and has the potential of walking in her life path. He is trying to show Les there is a better way. So he labels Les’s action plan a revenge. Wonder what he will advise Les to do?

Boy I am starting to think the early posters, at least, never raised any kids. I also am thinking that redemption, or forgiveness does not apply in this forum, so if a person who did bad before shows signs of reform, nothing doing with those commenters. Les, and Tiffany are quintessential troubled kids, or maybe young adults if you will. They have lousy parents, single parents. Tiffany used to be a poseur extreme female version, but she has humbled herself, become more human, less all about her, and is willing to let her father make his own bad decisions. Les was a bully, even drawn to be bigger and badder back in high school, but look at how is drawn now, a troubled kid, whose mother has never shown love, a single mom, who has neglected him, and now he has to pay her back, and he definitely does not have a lot of money. Talk about messed up! But he has shared with Gunther similar pain issues on missing parents, both fathers, and Tiffany similar issues with the parents, who allegedly raised them, and he being a boy expressed himself with testosterone, but has he bullied Gunther lately? He did steal from the Fuse, but that would not be surprising from the example that Ann left. And Uncle Al has been nothing but worried sick, in his calm, powerful way, about his nephew. Now he is showing wisdom, care, and communication with him. This is all about the parents, and the two young characters relationship to them. The Souffle scam is like a souffle, full of air, but with little substance, The real meat is elsewhere on the plate.

Les’ “one mistake” ? Come on now, the only “mistake” would be to believe him.

Great sage advice there AL

Uncle Al: You can act like a man! What’s the matter with you? Is this how you turned out, a Hollywood finocchio that cries like a woman?

Les: What can I do?

Uncle Al: Make Ann an offer she can’t refuse.

Les: What is that?

Uncle Al: Assure your mother that either her brains — or her signature — would be on her confession.

Les: Threaten to kill her?

Uncle Al: No, give her the Sicilian message that means she will sleep with the fishes.

Les: What is that?

Uncle Al: It’s this fish movement with the hands like this.

Les: Will that work?

Uncle Al: No, but it’s a smarter idea than whatever Evans is going to come up with.

I still feel that Al’s been in cahoots with Ann. Mebbe not this time around, but Im bettin’ they got history.

“I’m Mr. Gray, … I solve problems …”

Uncle Al says to Les move over let me come up with a plan to take Ann Eiffel down.

Les calls his mother by her full name?

Leslie, tell us what you did that ONE time.

PSST – Les… When it comes to Ann, try to get her to go out in the sunlight and see what happens. Check Uncle Al’s neck for two puncture wounds about an inch and a half apart. He might not be one of them yet.

You just had to make uncle look Chinese there in that last words of wisdom panel.

What is the difference between stupid and not smart.

Someone pointed out a couple of weeks ago that Les must really resent having to give Ann money for his one act of theft while she steals constantly with no consequences. Everybody is getting on Les, but that would drive me crazy too, having to make regular payments to a thief who didn’t get caught.

Uncle Al gets it. I think he IS going to be “really helpful.” He’s very methodical and doesn’t believe in letting emotions muddy his thinking. I think this is the first time I’ve gotten the impression that Bald Stone Face might have some wisdom.

OK, Uncle Al, it sounds like you might be thinking of a smart solution that will work for Les. We’re all ears! And, maybe you can teach Les a little something. As Don Vito taught his children. Be business people. Treat it as a business. You have a business problem, find a business solution. Kudos to Uncle Al if he comes through with one.

ever notice that when Les gets a little older, gains a little weight and loses his hair he’ll look just like his Uncle Al?

We’re gonna make her an offuh she canna refuse!

He needs to do the long con. But at least he didn´t say that Leslie was dumb, so he is doing right so far.

Uncle Al’s calm demeanor would drive me bonkers!

Never hate your enemies; it clouds your judgment. Could Les be ready for some advice from The Expert?

That’s the way the real world works, Les. Jerks usually win because they don’t play by the rules.

It’s good to see that Les can talk to someone and verbalize his frustration and angst. It’s also good to see the Uncle Al character exhibit a relationship with Les other than a controlling one. Uncles can provide a special niche in a boys life, providing male role models other than their father.

Perhaps Uncle Al can provide a plan for Les other than revenge, but rather a plan for life.

On a side note, we’re apparently seeing the development of the “Al” character into a less one-dimensional one. I wouldn’t be surprised (at some time in the future) if we see an arc develop where some aspect of Al’s former casino life comes back to haunt him and his new family.

Could Al’s plan be a sit-down, face-to-face, or, in Southern idiom, a “come to Jesus meeting” with Ann “Eyefull”?

Not sure how long I’ll keep reading this comic but someone here told me that Luna elicits a lot of comments. Already 100 today – wow!

6

Nice indication of growth by Les, and a nice discourse by Uncle Al.

While Les is visibly angry, it is an understandable anger. And, he is actually talking about it in a relatively reasoned way. For me, this is signifying further maturation in Les. Granted, he (like all of us really) has a ways to go…. but for me, Greg is showing a true progression of his character.

Uncle Al’s comments…. I like them for several reasons:

1. To me, this reads as much more of a “father-son” type of interaction than I thought likely between Uncle Al and Les. My previous impression was that Uncle Al was basically taking care of the financial aspects of Les….. but my impression was that there was limited to no emotional support of Les in the relationship. Today suggests to me that Uncle Al is capable of being more paternal than I anticipated.

2. The “not stupid, but also not smart” comment is also one that I appreciate. Even though there is a potential that Uncle Al could become all “Mafia-esque” in his approach here, I think it is also quite possible that instead he is trying to teach a true morality lesson to Les. The morality lesson is about the inherent “dirtiness” of seeking revenge. From my manner of thinking, revenge may seem like something to seek when you are hurt, but in reality, it actually ends up often sullying your own mind, your own values, and ends up having you feel mean spirited and nasty.

3. The “not smart” comment also has me thinking that Uncle Al has plans to fix this “Ann” situation in a more legitimate, correct fashion.

I could be utterly off base about all of the above…. but that is how I am reading it this morning, but I have not had any coffee yet either, so that may cloud my mental faculties…. which are cloudy enough generally.

Thank you, Greg, for today’s entry of unattractive men.

As much as some people want Al Gray to be a Don Corleone who will fix Ann good, I see some sensitive parenting here. Certainly, Uncle Al has no need for revenge on his sister. Possibly he is interested in restorative justice for those who were bilked, but as he has said – boyfriend Tom would just pay the money. We do know he doesn’t like Ann in the same town. Stay tuned.

Either Mr Gray is absolutely terrifying or he is extremely passive. Hope it’s the former.

This arc will be with us for years. Annie Awful will MARRY Tommy F, for starters. THEN, when the fertilizer meets the windmill, and the marital assets come under threat, only then will Tommy F wise up, and ditch the witch. What his relationship with his daughter looks like at that point will be anyone’s guess.

Les under-exaggerates his number of mistakes. He was swindling people at The Fuze with “charity” and was bullying/harassing others in school after all.

Brought To You, By:

“The Color Purple III:  What A Maroon!” ….In theaters, now. ….But only for the next five seconds.

“Pretty Ugly”

“Fairly Poor”

“Subtly Overt”

“Hot Diamonds, Ice Cold Ignition”

“Jumbo (Sized Plans, From A Small Time) Shrimp”

“Organized Chaos”

“Solid Breaks”

“These Are The Tears Of A Clown” (♩)

or

“Vigilante Justice Is Hardly Easy”

Heads Up,

KENHENSE

Ken, you seem to have missed the IMPORTANT PART:

https://www.gocomics.com/luann/2014/8/1

YOU WANTED THE LINK; I GAVE YOU THE LINK. That the resource that I used to find WHEN the event happened in the strip became restricted in recent years does not matter. You have the date and the link to use for what you requested, and you can use the calendar under the Luann strip to go to mid and late August of two years before that to find part of the Weenie World stuff you wanted and just work forward and back afterward, which is what I usually have to do myself, anyway, even when I find refs to important strips. If I can do it with my severe eye damage then most other people here can do it, too.

Honestly, if a person works by bracketing events then using the calendar function at Go Comics is a huge help when thinking back, and sometimes a Goggle search will help give general time frames (though some resources are wrong, like one which gives incorrect info for when the locker room video thread happened and I then had to do it all a few weeks back by bracketing with the Go Comics calendar to get people here those dates.

So, SAVE important dates. I have begun to do so.

I feel a life-lesson coming.

Was Les’ “one mistake” getting caught?

Finally and at long last we now need an Edna Mode moment. Pickup a rolled up news paper and sat “My God, pull your self together!”

I like this. Mr. Gray has waited for Les to open up. He doesn’t belittle Les. He points out that revenge is not the way to go (didn’t Tiffany say that?). He is going to model smart for Les.

If the Evans wimp out with the resolution (as they did with the stolen tv), then they really shouldn’t start these kind of story arcs. They will have proven it is beyond their depth and humor.

Ooooh, I think Uncle Al may have a smart idea of two…

Ann Eiffel does not make mistakes she makes bad choices. A choice is a conscience choice to do something a mistake is a miscalculation. I’m with Leslie I want her to suffer consequences. Leslie also did not make a mistake he made a choice glad to see he is suffering consequences it helps people make better choices. Yes this is a comic but I am sick of people making choices & calling them mistakes. I think it would be funny to see Ann suffer consequences!

Oh.. I soooo hope we are about to see Mr Gray help bring down Ann Eiffel.. that’s an arc I could definitely get behind.

If Farrel and Ann Awful do manage to “make it legal”, it means the last chance of getting her off this strip is gone.

Still checking the Meet the Gang page,

And still seeing Fay missing.

Tiffany still has….

When Tiffany was a child, her mom vanished, leaving her to be raised by her distant, business-mogul dad.

Wow. Dad is distant yet lives in Pittsville, or otherwise how did Ann drive right over to meet him?

Jay wrote:

JAYBLUE ABOUT 7 HOURS AGOI can understand this! Every time somebody breaks the Prime Directive, or whenever McHale and his crew show up the Captain, or the Evans Family gets burned by Alderman Davis or from cooperating with “Sweet Daddy”, or whenever the Seven Cataways get stuck on the island, again…and especiallywhen Barney Fife trips on the way to throwing Otis in prison…or when Boss Hogg and the Dukes enjoy a “speed trap song” together at The Boars Nest… I throw my remote at the TV.

END QUOTE

I have a proposal. In this seismically induced straight and narrow approach for only 3D real world verisimilitude in all things 2D or fictional I have a project in which we can cooperate.

Who wants to join me in creating Bullwinkle Moose’s grandmother’s Lutefisk Pie to see if it’s unique aroma really can permanently incapacitate a multitude?

I have a feeling that mysterious Mr. Gray will be drawing on his fifty-times shady background to suggest at this point to Les something smart….

Beware, Ann Eiffel! Big Brother is coming after you!

Uncle Al knows that in his world nothing is just black or white…………….it is GRAY.