Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for January 14, 2020

the hallway has ears, Luann & Leslie

I suppose if your parents own the place, you can just stroll back into a restaurant’s kitchen and no one will stop you.

Luann: Nothing doing.

Leslie: You want me to brief you in detail about the latest doings.

Tiffany: The relationship is not of your own doing, is that it?

Luann: It will take some doing to finish this conversation in four panels.

Is Tiffany interested in Gunther?

Luann, if you know nerds like Gunthie and Bets, you know that nerds don’t have sex.;-D

Jealous girl thing multiplied by 2

Oh-My-Gaw.

Tiffany.

I was AFRAID of this possibility and called it yesterday.

Tiffany wandering right in the middle of this train wreck and (GAG) possibly “getting involved.”

Or WORSE, spreading rumors.

So. Will Tiffany get INVOVLVED and/or Spread rumors? She’s done it before in high school along with her friend, Crystal.

Or will Tiffany stand up for her Old Friend Gunther and her New friend Bets, who BOTH helped her get out of a tight spot last year?

What happens the rest of the week may prove once and for all WHICH (If any) of these three characters have “changed.”

Brewing COFFEE and Popping Popcorn……, ;)

“Lu I’m kind of busy right now. Can you take your high school hijinks somewhere else”?

Uh oh…

Gold stars all around, not only for the ones who figured out that Tiffany would overhear this but that Les would figure out what Luann wants to know. And he looks rather angry about it.Now that Tiffany and les have heard and know about Luann’s nosiness into gun and bets love/sex life, we can bet both Tiffany and Les will use this against Luann.

Uh-oh. Is Tiffany another “concerned” female? My, there are THREE concerned females in Gunther’s life. He is so lucky. He leads a charmed life. All three of them are thinking, Uh-oh, am I too late? Did I take the hard-to-get game too far? They all are probably too late. If Bets is his first girl, he will not let her go so easily. Oh girls, let him go. Find YOUR own guys – they are out there.

There is actually one very interesting question generated by this strip…

How DID Luann get her stripes to line up so perfectly between body and sleeves in frame 1????

And so Tiff’s deep-buried interest in Gunny pokes it’s head out of the sand.

To hit the fan – we could have Ann Eiffel walking into The Fuse right now and demanding service.

Bottom line, Luann has no business being in the kitchen. She could get her parents in hot water (no pun intended!!)

“Gun” is now a hot item!

And there it is. The gossip mill is moving to warp speed.

And this is how rumors get started.

By the look on her face, I don’t think Tiff heard the first part of that last sentence.

And Les drops the mic.

Gossip rears its ugly head…

From the look on Tiff’s face the rumor mill is about to go into triple shift overtime

This is so creepy, really.

Lawsuit, not jealousy. Tiffany got taken by Gunther and Bets on the Ebay sales.

Yes

I guess the word violation has no meaning to her or place in her dictionary.

Somehow I think Les would be a lot more crude about it. He wouldn’t use euphemisms.

Yes. She is shocked and she does NOT look happy.

Sigh… time for unnecessary drama

I don’t think Bets will mind if people are talking about her sex life. More publicity is the point of her social media posting. Bets is a little like the Kardashians.

The only people missing from this misunderstanding are Jack, Janet, Crissy, Larry, and The Roper’s.

Oh no! Not the big IT! And at their age?

Tiffany knows Gunther and Bets are dating. She would not be surprised to know they have a normal dating and sexual relationship.

Wooopsie

Read it. Rolling my eyes and getting on with my day

Additional complications in 3… 2… 1…

The gossip game begins…

“There was an old woman who lived on a hill. If she isn’t dead, she lives there still.”

The gossip goes ’round and ’round, and it comes out here…

“Swish swish swish milk.”

Two wake up calls.

I know there are restrictions on certain words for comic strips but I find it odd these young adults won’t say “sex”.

This was exactly what I hoped would happen! I can’t wait to see how Tiffany will react to this misunderstanding. It’s time to see if Gunther is really just a friend to her♡.

They’re all in college, right?

I wonder how long it will be before Jack Tripper and Mr. Roper clear up this misunderstanding.

This is escalating quuickly.

The introduction of Tiffany at this juncture and the message she has taken away from the overheard snippet is the biggest cliff hanger from Greg in quite awhile!

Several questions here: Is Tiffany now going to join the Luann club and realize they might permanently lose Gunther to Bets? Is Tiffany now going to join Luann and experience an existential angst around life passing them by (i.e., is their social experience clock ticking)? Can Gunther Berger morph from a shy nerd to the hottest ticket in town any faster then this (YOU GO Gun)!?!?

With the story line now shifting to (including?) Tiffany and Les how will this play out with, now three, characters? (We can assume Bernice has been dropped from the mix at this point.)

To many ways this could go to even hazard a guess. :-\

Wow, keeping it classy Evans. Cant we keep sex out of the funnies?

Now that they primed the rumor mill. this is where the friendship between gunther and Luann ends. which will bring tons of drama the the 90210 Er ah I mean Lunnavers.

Alright, this is my stop.

Les sees right through Luann :)

Yes, Gunther and Bets have gone all the way…to Weenie World. Gunther began sweating profusely when he saw the word “weenie.” Bets pretended to get an emergency text on her phone and left him there.

I take it that Tiff will be joining Luann on wanting info?

It figures that Les would be the one to say what everyone else seems too afraid to. Hopefully he shuts down Luann’s little fishing expedition before she embarrasses herself any further. Nosy (and weirdly immature: any obsession over “who’s doing it with whom” tends to end with high school) is not a good look for her.

She’s the main character; she shouldn’t be spending all her time obsessing over everyone else’s exciting lives! We should be following HER exciting life! Which means that Evans needs to give her something worthwhile to do.

Oh God. This is getting pretty ugly.

Wouldn’t surprise me. It’s always the quiet types….

although we came close with quill and L put the breaks on it, I’m pretty sure this is the first time this topic has come up in luanne

Actually I think this is a very Luannverse way of confronting a very normal and even prosaic subject for young adults, sex, doing sex, how do we simply recognize the concept. Luann has the curiousity while Bernice reacts both exactly the way she would. Les is a perfect vehicle with his presumed worldly experience (although I hold to the position he is improving as a person simply by being surrounded by Luannverse) and of course Tiffany is drawn into this whole subject. I am not ready to engage in fevered speculation about why or how each of these characters are going to act/react personally, but what a beautifully drawn setup. I am going to sit back and enjoy this.

Since Tiff is now friends with Bets – she is likely to rat out Luann.

Busted.

BTW… What’s it to Tiffany if Gunther and Bets ARE ‘doing it’?

who woud’da thought that Gunther woud be the center of all this female concern?

Annnnd, they’re off!

This is just how rumors spread like wildfire, Tiffany only heard a 3rd of the conversation.

For once, Les is the voice of reason.

Is being nosey like this about your friends’ personal lives a normal thing to do now a day with young people? I personally find it creepy. I hope it’s just a comic strip thing.

The problem with hearing only part of a conversation…

Les is a keen student of human nature, for sure. Maybe sneaky people have to be.

Prediction – Bets will accuse Gunther of bragging about things that haven’t happened

And it begins…

And…. we see Les segueing into becoming a private investigator. He’s got good instincts! =D

At the end of Panel 2: That is still a very big “IF” there!!

And Tiff hears only a few words, which she turns into the hot gossip she will pass around to all, thus presenting Gunther and Bets with a huge problem

Next thing you know, Tiff will be spreading the rumor that Bets is pregnant. You heard it here first!

Luann is the World’s cutest spy (also the least effective).

uh ow – is this the start of an unsubstantiated rumor???

Whoops. Tiff thinks Gunth belongs to Her.

“Do’in it, doing the Banana splits…!”

Forget it, girl, you can’t con a con-artist.

Bets and Gunther have previous experience with nosy people at the Fuse (re. their 1st date). Hopefully they can handle this brewing rumorfest.

IT? Define “IT.”

Parcheesi? Water polo? Re-enacting James Carville / Mary Matalin Democrat / Republican marital spats?

288 comments? No thanks.

cue the ominous music

How false rumors get started…

Luann is so transparent, so sad. Leslie Knox has her acutely skewered.

But today’s question is, how will Tiffany react to what she’s overheard?

oooo boy…

This could actually improve Les’s relationship with Gunther if he becomes protective of Gunther’s privacy by refusing to give up information. It could wound Luann’s long standing friendship (w/ Gunther) if Les reveals to him that she has been nosing around for information on his personal life.

Switching back to Gunther and Bets and will find them creating a new outfit for Bets.

I’ve always liked Luann, but this a side of her I do not like.