Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for January 10, 2020

paint us a better picture of what YOU’RE trying to say, Luann

Luann is coming unglued. ✨

Luann are you possibly getting jealous that Gunther and Bets may have an intimate relationship?

This is a comic strip. No one could be so uptight. The year is 2020.

Luann stop using euphemisms and Bernice stop being a PG-13 character.

I think the Evanses are poking fun at some of the fan speculation that’s been going on.

I, for one, think they probably have had pizza.

Bernice likes seeing Luann exasperated by Gunther and Bets social media. It is pure speculation to what Gun and Bets has been doing.

Let’s keep today’s strip handy to use as a counterargument the next time it’s said that Luann is a mature adult now. Even someone choosing to abstain from sex should be capable of a frank discussion on the matter. It’s a perfectly natural act that billions of people engage in; no need to tiptoe around the subject like a nervous 14-year-old.

Ahem, Bernice. Are you being deliberately obtuse? Luann is talking about the intimacy between a couple beyond the kiss. She is wondering if they’ve done it. I hope your head wasn’t so buried back in high school or now at Moony that you missed the whole “did it” or “done the deed” or “getting laid” or “shagging” or “banging” among so many others talks. SO, for myself, of course they’ve done the deed. Very normal for their age. HOWEVER, knowing how timid, insecure and unconfident Gunther could be, I hesitate. Anyone else, I say of course, but Gunther? Who knows? He might be waiting for Bets to make the move and it is possible she already has and they’ve been doing it.

Kind of amusing how the subject is “approached”…who needs censors when you have Bernice!

Luann Stop thinking about Gun & Bets.

Luann, if you wanna know if Bets and Gun are having sex—-ask them. You’ll likely hear “NOYB” but you should never be afraid to ask.

Bernice is right not to answer a stupid question that only invites rank and unverified speculation…

Full disclosure here: I would probably be doing what Bernice is doing in this conversation, except for the opposite reason. See, she’s afraid of sex and trying to avoid discussing it, but my thing is that I absolutely HATE it when someone tap dances around a subject and tries to rely on euphemisms instead of just speaking their mind. So I play dumb about what they’re getting at. After enough misunderstandings the person gets fed up and just says what they’re trying to say, and we’re all happier for it.

So yeah, I kinda see a bit of myself in Bernice’s actions today.

The bigger question would be WHY Luann wants to know. I’ve been saying it for a while now, as have others. She has the feels for Gunther. It is yet another case of wanting what you cannot have…or can she? Catch him when he falls, Lu.

You’ve got to accentuate illumination,

Eschew obfuscation,

Espouse elucidation,

Don’t mess with Mister In-Between

For those who like things to be explicit, keep in mind, Greg has stated he doesn’t always broach certain topics directly, but leaves it up to the readers to speculate. Yesterday’s picture of them kissing. Was the camera on a timer or did someone else take it? Both hands facing the camera were on each other’s faces and and no selfie stick was showing (nor elongated arms). If a timer was used, it could explain why there was no sparks flying like when he kissed Luann, Bernice or Rosa, it was all a staged event, not spontaneous like with the other three.

So is Bern teasing Luann or does she have a major blockade on discussing sex?

Yeah, everybody’s exercising their hormones except her!!

If it’s not said, it’s not real. Deny, deny, deny!

Well GEE, Luann. Did you and Quill ever “Do it?” You know, have sex? Not question one would care to answer for yourself. So why would ask It about someone else?

A better question is: WHY do you even CARE, anyway? Guns a “Dweeb” remember?

Luann should be careful. Because a casual observer would conclude that she SEEMS to “care” a lot, about a person “folks” claim she doesn’t CARE about.:)

Good facial expressions.

Gunther was living and sleeping with Rosa for weeks !!

America at its best.

I do not recall Luann asking if Gunther and Rosa had “done it” during the extended stay in Peru, so why is she so interested this time?

This subject hits close to home, and I’m too upset to keep coming back. Do you hear me, Evans?

It’s “Luann”. They haven’t done anything.

Poor Lu has sex on the brain!

Bernice’s consistency is admirable. Even when she jokes, she does it by annoying others. For me, Luann’s question is legitimate. It’s the fact that Bernice doesn’t want to discuss about the possibility that seems really weird to me. Why not, Bernice?

I’ll bet they’ve played patty-cake.

Thinking of Gunther having sex is like thinking about your parents having sex.

I’m just glad the girls moved out of the bedroom and into the kitchen.

Why should she want to talk about it. Or why should Luann want to talk about it, for that matter? It’s none of their business.

I don’t understand why Luann is so focused on this topic for so long

Do you think he’s lost his—baby teeth? No, do you think she showed him her—diary? No, do you think she’s touched his—comic book collection?

Luann you had you chance with Gunth stay out of it

Luann it is none of your business

Yes LuAnn.

“…the beast with two backs?”

Doubtful. I doubt he and Rosa ever did either.

Do you think they’re … still using terms from the 1950s? Seriously, “going steady”?

Whoopie!

Ah, the nagging little worm of curiosity. And does our little worm possess the green eyes of the monster. She’s seen Gunther au natural and has brief dalliance with him in the past. Has he gotten into her head? This is an interesting behavior for the Luann strip. Luann has never shown any interest about Jack’s extra curricular activities. She knows Jack can easily make contact with new females and that he’s dating them.

Why is Gunther’s love life gnawing at her? What are GnK thinking for the future of the strip? Will we see Luann broadly hinting to Gunther about his intimacy? What kind of reaction will she get? Over and over, Greg has portrayed Gunther as attractive to females: Luann, Bernice, Tiffany and more explicitly Rosa and Bets.

For a couple of years various folks have chided the strip for a lack of sexual content among the strip’s single, young adult characters. Fasten your seat belts folks. Things may be heating up in Luanniverse.

It’s not that they’re not being explicit; it’s just that they’re asking the question at all that shows that the Evans still see these characters as high school kids. Adults don’t have this conversation about other adults.

Perusing through comments before I get down here to post mine it is so clear that projection as Bernice would say, is such a unavoidable characteristic of commenting on Luann. We live, love, critique, speculate about, and impress our own thoughts and feelings on the characters and the arcs, and this obvious dance about intimacy is something I personally have speculated on; in fact I wish GnK were adventurous enough to have Bets padding around in Gunther’s robe, or Picard jammies in the “Gulag” per MD. So that is me. Is the fact that Luann is interested in a possible intimate relationship, and Bernice is not willing to talk about it subject to projection, mine or others? Yes, but I don’t have enough to declare that she is envious of the possibility or just curious, or what that means. Maybe just a red herring. Anyway this is my projection for today. -:)

told ya this was REALLY about Luann and her self-image and not G&B. Bernice was totally right in her interpretation back on the first day of this arc.

Luann….flaky as usual…’nuff said

Love! She’s trying to say they’ve made love.

Bets has come…wait…never mind.On the positive side, LuAnn is apparently beginning to think mature thoughts. Bernice? Not so much.

I was thinking she was going into protective sister mode.

Bernice is a prude. LuAnn always looks at Gun when he is doing well with other girls.

I’m with Bernice.

Good call, Bernice.

I wonder if Luann has feelings … for Bets?

wow, jealous much? Maybe she should have dedicated her self more to Gunther. But thats the problem with Friend zoning someone.

Yes, Luann, they’ve had long talks. (Hey, this is supposed to be a “family” cartoon….)

One thing I do like about Bernice is her sense of humor.

7

I actually GREATLY enjoy how Bernice is purposefully finishing Luann’s “hesitant” sentences with hyperbole and silliness!!!!! Bernice is having some gentle fun here and and is perhaps also trying to get Luann to really see what is going on here…..

Namely… that Luann is the kid with a problem at the moment. Everything she has been saying this week suggests very strongly that Luann has either a pretty strong case of a) envy about Bets & Gunther having a relationship, or b) unrecognized jealousy about Gunther.

Now…. before some folks get all irate….. because some folks will think I am “hating” on Luann here…. but to me, that idea is foolish. What on Earth is so uncommon about a person having occasions in their life where they felt a bit of jealousy or a bit of envy? I sure as hell know I have had those feelings on occasion. Just because I recognize these potentials in Luann’s behavior doesn’t mean I hate her.

I think that if Bernice can keep up the gentle prodding of Luann’s dialogue…. it may really become something Luann is really more aware of than she is at the moment…. and can lead to some growth in Luann.

Again, I think Bernice is being a good friend, a good confidant, and actually even a pretty decent amateur counselor this week.

It would be pretty odd for 2 normal 19 or 20 year olds who were dating to NOT be having sex. Some people that age may abstain from sex for various reasons, but it is natural to have sex at that age.

About time for Rosa to make a re-appearance!

Oh, please…….that’s just kooky. What are they, nuns???

“Engaged in coitus.”

“So. So. So. So. So.”

Luann is jealous!

that one question do you think they will get married, and no

News flash Lu. Gun and Bets’ sex life ain’t any of your beeswax.

Big deal. I assumed Gunther and Rose “did it” ages ago.

“Made love” seems like an extremely odd way for a girl in college to put it.

I hope I didn’t sound like this in college.

Not only unglued … she’s unhinged!

A woman and a m CAN be like a dog and a bone; First dog not interested in that particular bone until another dog comes along. Hey am I right?

meh…where’s the Brad and Toni strip?…err..comic?

If Bern is actually that uncomfortable with the subject, I’m afraid she hasn’t been to a movie since The Lion King.

Bern is interested in human behavior from an academic viewpoint based on detached observation, not as gossip about people she knows. The sex lives of her friends are not observable and certainly not of interest (understandably so) in the context of academic psychology.

Seems like to me she’s one of many typical types of almost twenty or twenty-somethings trying too make sense of who they are, where are they at in life, what should they be doing? Is what someone else has something that they want for themselves? Luann’s trying, in a manner of speaking, to find herself through the lens of others around her. Sex is one of those things that is in the forefront of many at that age’s thoughts. Particularly virgins.

I don’t think Bernice has any discomfort or phobia about sex. Her posture and expression in the last panel suggest that it’s just where she draws the line when talking about others.

Sometimes there is just no defense against that kind of heat. Gunther is getting laid.

Can this strip please join the 21st century where nearly all college age people have had sex?

It seems pretty typical for a young woman to speculate on, and want discuss her longtime friend’s romantic life.More interesting to me is Bernice’s uptight, albeit clever avoidance of the issue. Given she’s planning to be a counselor/therapist of some sort, her discomfort with the subject suggests a career change might be in the works.

What is there to discuss? I think it is more about Luann venting her anxieties over the fact that her long time friend may be having experiences that she has yet to have.

Bernice is right… do not go there.

I think Luann needs to have…pizza ;-)

Obviously, Luann hasn’t. :-)

Do not speculate about your Friends having More Fun than you are.

That leads to Jealosy.

Jealosy leads to quoting cheesy Star Wars dialogue.

she needs to get banged

Luann is thinking those thoughts…about other people.

Luann, what is your problem?

Adult Luann is a lot edgier than I remember this strip…..

So Bernie “so”! Thicker than a brick, or at least acting as if….

Good job, Bernice. Luann needs to put a sock in it.