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

Trust me, you don’t want that olive oil.

nothing like sentimental value (heavy on the “mental” part)

AGAAAH! I can’t stand it! I stayed up for this? I’m going to bed. Goodnight Mrs Calabash, where ever you are.

Maybe it’s time to let the characters advance.

“But I like going about in circles.”

Some young men are born with a silver spoon in their mouth, indicating they were born into a wealthy family. Gunther had an olive up his nose indicating he wanted “olive” his mother’s days to be brighter.

I think it might be time to take that chair out and burn it. Cleanse yourself of the past and all light the way for the future. They can invite Brad and Toni and roast marshmallows. Always nice to invite members of the fire dept to impromptu bonfires.

The son has to lead, the question is will he, or will he punt?

As a mother, I do understand where Irma is coming from but it is time to move on. The highchair only adds unnecessary space in a house occupied by two barely past teenage guys. Give it to someone who has a baby or donate it. Give it to Toni? Surely she and Brad will start a family fairly soon.

Gunth, hey listen up. When you carry it out to the truck to move it to the new LesGun estate, trip and fall crushing that chair. Be sure to act sad and all

Irma’s regressing. And if she idolized her son’s baby stuff to that extent, it’s no wonder he’s childish in so many ways. Apparently Peru was an exception to her general rule of wanting him to stay young and innocent.

Apparently G-boy doesn’t have enough income or savings to put his foot down on the “guest house” idea and just rent a place on his own. However, it wouldn’t cost a thing to put his foot down and refuse to rescue the high chair and other childhood stuff to which his mother has a sentimental attachment. If she wants it that much, she can take it and let it take up space in her new home with Al.

“A son’s garbage is a mother’s treasure.” Maybe Bwad and Toni will have good use for it. At the speed Gunther plays the field, Irma will be dead before he has his first child. That is if he only mans up!

It is Friday the 13th. That chair could be destined to have some bad luck…

.

Irma: “Gunthie! What was that crashing noise?”

.

“Nothing, mom – I set the chair in the street for just a second while I was opening the trunk, and a truck hit it.”

Wow, this is disturbing and frankly kind of pathetic. To use an Army saying: she really needs to focus on the 50 meter target here. Worry about what’s happening now instead of what might happen years down the road (and from looking at Gunther, even “might” seems to be overstating his chances of convincing a woman to reproduce with him.)

Irma isn’t mourning Gunther’s babyhood. She’s looking back in sadness on what she’s losing; her sense of mattering to someone who depended on her. As much as she seems to want security (which Al Gray seems to promise), she also wants to feel as if she is important to someone. And that is not going to be the case in the future. But since the future is only supposed to be for the young, no one cares about older people. Time to throw out the babymaker, along with the high chair, right, a slight change on the old saying of throwing the baby out with the bathwater…

Irma, you need to cut the strings.

Irma could use the plant stand. Has Gunther ever even cared for plants?

As if Gunther will ever reproduce!

I remember when my Mother had to move to smaller quarters, she asked me to keep the wagon I had as a little kid. She was really upset (crying) that I didn’t want to make room for it. Mothers’ memories appear to be quite different from guys’ memories. Nevertheless – it is ridiculous for Gunther to take in the high chair. Gunther – please don’t give in to weepy Mom on this one. Irma seems to have no understanding about Gunther’s late start in trying to be an adult. I think Mr. Gray does, however – as he is forcing Gunther to learn to stand his ground against a bully.

I’m starting to wonder which Mom did more damage to her kid – Ann Eiffel or Irma. Right now, Les is performing useful work and getting paid. Yes – Les is an a**hole – but I’m afraid Gunther’s inner straitjacket may have a longer lasting impact than Les’s built-in shoulder chip. But maybe Gunther will bury his nose in textbooks and eventually make good money – possibly attracting a female that’s satisfied with a worker bee.

Cue “Give it away” by Red Hot Chili Peppers. The lyrics seems strangely appropriate!

well, this explains a bit about Gunther

Good Grief! Cut the umbilical cord Mom.

WHY does a middle-aged woman with no small children or grandchildren have a high chair in her kitchen? Quill and Mr. Gray didn’t notice it? Irma needs some help.

It’s time to let the highchair go.

The Solution to Irma’s problem is simple and two-fold. If she want to relive the “baby-days” she should:

1) Offer to Baby Sit Shannon. Brad and Toni could use a much needed break, and an evening with the Bra….., Uh I mean “Kid” should cure Irma of any latent “Maternal Instincts” once and for all.

2) Have Irma shower her affections on Les instead of Gunther. He’s never had too much of that with Ann and he’d probably enjoy it at first. Of course the writers will probably have Gunther get predictably jealous, but hey. One more Good reason for Gunther to get “Angry” and then move out.

#FREEGB!!!

He is like 20 years old! Why is the high chair even still there?

I’m sure this strip use to be about a blond girl with an annoying big brother

@GnK Would it be too much to ask to have tomorrow’s strip provide the “great apron string snipping?” For both of them?

I just noticed that Quill is missing. Did he pack up and move to NYC or back to Australia?

This arc is only marginally less irritating than any plot involving Shannon. Mrs. Berger’s clinginess, possessiveness and inane, tee-hee behavior about her upcoming marriage is not entertaining to view.

Could all this ado about a highchair signal something Brad & Toni? Maybe. Al and Irma? YIKES! Frank & Nancy? Nah! (Although a junior sibling for Gunther or Luann could take the strip in a totally new direction.

Any other character(s)??? Please! Don’t go there. =8-O

“For Sentimental Reasons” (♬)

“(It’s) Yesterday, Once More” (♬)

“Time In A Bottle” (♬)

“Irma’s Retainer”

“You Get Low Fruit In A High Chair”

“Dotting My Eyes (With Tears) And Crossing Off My Posterities”

“Pitts Deigned”

“I Was A Nose-y Baby”

“I’ll Just Keep It In The Attic, With The Rest Of My Pimentos”

’"It’ll Take Olive My Strength"

or

“The Beginning Achievements Wing Of The Gunther Berger, Engineer, National Museum Of Scienc-y Stuff”

Why dosen’t Irma take the chair, surely there’s enough room in her new home for it to collect dust. She can argue they need it for when the grandchildren come over.

the old high chairs are dangerous. Send it to the scraper. Take a picture of it and keep the memories in the book.

Irma may switch from “clingy mom” to “expectant grandma” as a psychological coping mechanism. This would allow her to keep the high chair in her home; for the “blessed event.”

No parents are likely to take it due to “first baby syndrome.” Everything must be new and rigorously adherent to the up-to-the-second government dictates!

To crying mothers everywhere—I salute you!

Mom needs to chill out. Give her a Xanax.

Hmm. Interesting (strange) new development in the new GoComics update…. times and positions of various comments I have made appear (at least to me) to record atypical times and sometimes reversed positions from what one would expect linearly.

Why doesn’t Gunther have a full ride scholarship? So many problems would be solved. Why doesn’t he get a part-time job?

This is getting ridiculous… and boring.

If the chairs means so much to Irma, she can just take it to Al’s place, i.e. if it is such a high priority item, and use it as a planter.

his mother is creepy. besides the fact the artist simply took Gunthersface and put a wig on it , she is almost oedipus like.

Doomed in the doldrums of domestic drama. Ah, well, the drawing is good. But I have to admit that I look forward to Luann and Bernice once again testing the bonds of celibacy, to Tiffany flaunting her stuff, to Tara posing uninhibited (and unclothed) in the art class, and to Pru and Zebo going on a date, together.

I was an only child and my mother wasn’t this emotional trainwreck. Irma seems to be getting soft in the medulla. Gray better get her to the altar soon or instead of I do she’ll answer “who ordered the veal cutlet?”

We seem to be going thru a series of “character transition” arcs lately. Apparently it’s Gunther and Irma’s turn.

Looks like Karen is in total control.

Consider the male characters in the Luannaverse: Gunther is a weak momma’s boy but at least nice; Les is a budding thug raised in a low-level crime family; Al Grey is a cold, calculating member of that family; Brad is nice but not too bright and still a dufus; Mr Degrit (Luann’s dad if I blew the spelling) is also nice in a very soft way but not particularly accomplished either; Quill seemed normal but GnK took him out of the picture; Ox is nice, big, and not bright… There’s more but get the picture? No male is a stand up, intelligent, stand on his own two feet accomplished man. Granted the Luannaverse is a comic strip and the writing is easier with flawed characters, but I posit the females are written and presented as better people.

Mom, if you’re so sentimental about it, why don’t YOU keep it? You suggested making a planter out of it? So why don’t you do that? Why does Gunther have to?

@RUTH BROWN: Some of us have suggested before that, given Gunther’s computer skills, he could get a part time job that could cover the cost of at least a dorm room (if he doesn’t have a full ride scholarship) or an efficiency apartment. That has been greeted by the Gunther-lovers as an attack on Gunther, though, rather than a solution to his problem. So apparently the only thing that will ‘save’ Gunther from the fate of living with his nemesis is if his mother dies. I guess that will be in the next arc and will please both the Gunther-lovers and the Irma-is-terrible faction…

sick, sick, sick

Any oil squeezed from that olive would of course be extra virgin.

This comment should have been made nine hours ago.

Sorry, I was tired.

tomorrow: realization and resolution? Or resignation?

5

The sentimentality of historical things is a true and strong one at times. In this case, it really should be Irma who keeps the chair. I mean, hell, she is moving in with Al… she should be able to have some of the space for things she wants. I am sure ‘ole Al’s big house can have a corner in a room somewhere for Irma to display a few cherished items from her past life. I am sure that if she gave it some thought that she could make it something cute and special with other “doo-dads” she saved.

I think Greg has done a really good job of showing true and real character emotions involved in the progression and changes that happen in homes here, with a nice, realistic emphasis on the emotional underpinnings that often make such transitions challenging for all involved.

It is not the most enjoyable to read in some ways for these types of transitions, while inevitable, are not always easy. But, it has been written well and is a realistic (and mildly comedic) rendering of this common situation.

The first olive of many, I am sure…

We’ve moved many times: the sentimental pendulum swings “throw it out” to “treasure forever” amd they’re stuck . . .

Oh, this is healthy.

Okay, so the high chair is needed “someday”? Implying that Gunther will father a new Gunthie, or Gunthette. Would the mother be Tiffany? MD, what do you think? Or would it be Rosa? which is my preference. Nah, none of the above.

Irma! Keep that dratted high chair! Let it be Al’s problem!

Gunther, for heaven’s sake, it’s time to cut the umbilical cord!

May I suggest “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up”?

“Your first olive”, meaning that it wasn’t the last one he stuck up his nose