Lio by Mark Tatulli for September 11, 2019

Cannot take a hint, can you, Lio? Your hovering heart is conveying something.

Some small animals puff themselves up to scare off bigger threats.

But has Lio’s heart lost heart?

I Quit! I Quit!

‘cause loving you’s a job I don’t need

Lio: “You can’t quit! That’s not in your job description!”

Bad teeth and bad breath!

Not been a good couple of days for you, huh, Lio (see yesterday’s Lio)?

Braunschweiger and Onion with garlic mustard on rye?

I would have to search the archives, but I’m 99% sure I recall a series of strips about 5-6 years ago when Lio decided he was tired of wasting his time begging for Eva’s affections and stopped pursuing her. It drove her nuts that he was no longer showering her with attention and started chasing him.

Smart move girl, get out of the strip and away from this total weirdo.

The heart may have quit… but Lio just found a girl who can transmorph into hideous. That’s like a bright light to a moth.

I thought she was going to eat it.

How can she quit what she never began?…

In panel 3 she looks like the daughter of the “Mouth of Sauron”, from Lord of the Rings, Return of the King: https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=OzBpjv0L&id=F15AAF454838B67C9C4FD082DD7F5FBC53EE9C1F&thid=OIP.OzBpjv0LEr_afWNb_kykGwHaDH&mediaurl=http%3a%2f%2fmedia.tumblr.com%2ff6be2e589ab9baedf28484e1848b3a51%2ftumblr_inline_mlt51l1Mim1qz4rgp.jpg&exph=210&expw=500&q=monster+at+gate+in+lord+of+the+rings+return&simid=608052168554907393&selectedIndex=8

There’s something to put on Sweethearts candy.