Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for October 28, 2020

This is not the brother you’re looking for.

no, that fellow wasn’t been (did Luann fail to tell Bernice Ben had gained some unnecessary weight?)

Bernice is experiencing an anxiety attack- losing control of her life and her self confidence is slipping away. Needs help ASAP.

The mighty Bernice has been brought down to a quivering mass by her own internal demon.

Is Bern having a panic attack!?!? And WHY? We’re all on pin and needles GnK! SO GIVE!!

Check the mail box. Bern did not realize it, but she just walked by Greg’s house. 1028 Klickitat Street…

You are not ok Bernice

Avoidance complex. Verified: Bernice doesn’t even know what Ben looks like.

I suppose she really doesn’t know what Ben looks like now. Isn’t that odd? 8^ O

Ah. So we’re going to get a whole week of GnK priming the curiosity level.

Wow. Apparently Bernice has some issues, maybe mental health issues. Very common, hopefully she seeks help.

Good lord, this girl has issues. And yet she’s studying to be a psychologist so she can tell everybody else how messed-up they are (because her motivation definitely isn’t empathy, that’s for damn sure.)

Is this the real Ben or is Bernice hallucinating?

And Bernice wants to be a counselor? So typical. Those that need help the most themselves . . .

No big deal, Bernice. I felt the same way whenever my in-laws invaded my space, that is until they were exiled to another planet.

Everybody else Bern’s age would just find Ben on FB and have at it.

She hasn’t seen Ben in so long she doesn’t know he no longer looks like a military guy. She wouldn’t recognize him if she passed him but Ben would recognize her. So she IS resentful of him. Does she realize it? She doesn’t want him to know she resents him and his stepsons. It makes her appear childish. She is prideful and likes to appear wise, caring, fair and mature. Inside, she is anything but. Which makes Bernice quite normal. She has to accept she is only human.

Why is she so scared of her brother? She was always so affectionate toward her brother. Now she’s acting like she’s experiencing PTSD due to surfaced latent psychological trauma.

That’s not Ben. So why is Bern so freaked.

Well, the mystery continues. The takeaway so far is:

a) Bernice does not hate Ben or resent him. She’s wandering around asking herself why she won’t see him. So, we can happily scratch the theories that she’s pissed at him for displacing her, or that she thinks he’s freeloading hippie and refused to be in the same house as him. At this point, she can’t even answer her own question!

b) She doesn’t know what he looks like these days. She had not even seen him, nor visited him (or vice versa) since he moved in… why? She was kind and generous to give up her room for his kids. Not even a visit to say, “Welcome to Pitts, Ben. Don’t worry about me… I’m fine (???) and staying with my best friend Luann’s family.” Why?

c) She wants to see him, but hasn’t. Why? And seeing a random stranger who might be Ben (but isn’t) is enough to make her dive behind a garbage can, or any other cover she can find.

Girl has some issues!

Stop. Just STOP.

13 years ago, THIS Same “Bernice” had nowhere near this much apprehension about first meeting her brother Ben.

LOOK: https://www.gocomics.com/luann/2007/01/27

https://www.gocomics.com/luann/2007/01/29

https://www.gocomics.com/luann/2007/01/30

https://www.gocomics.com/luann/2007/01/31

https://www.gocomics.com/luann/2007/02/01

https://www.gocomics.com/luann/2007/02/02

And Bern, got all “territorial” when Luann showed an interest in him.

And NOW, all of a sudden, Bernice is TERRIFIED to see him again??? And in fact, she HASN’T seen him since he’s been back? So she has NO Earthly IDEA of Ben’s brand new look? Yeah, Riiiiiiight!

Like I said before, RETCONNING in Comic Strips and in Sci-fi, NEEDS to be AGAINST the Law!

THAT, and “Amnesia!”

Seriously though, once Bernice gets over her initial SHOCK, she’ll warm to her brother again. Because THIS time around Bern will have Benny AND his kids, all to herself. ;)

So Bernice is very anxious about meeting her brother, so anxious she apparently does not know what he looks like now, but hides in panic encountering some random nebbish. I think the problem is rooted in their family history and has been quietly percolating in Bernice’s reality since Ben was last around. Lets see what is going to happen next.

Interesting. It seems strange that Bernice hadn’t seen her parents in all the time she has been living at Luann’s house where she could have seen her brother. Let’s see, we went through being afraid to get up during the night, making pancakes ( apparently just once), going to the dog park, getting the fish from Jack and being busy with school. In all this time Bernice didn’t see her parents and say hi to her brother. Something is going on here and maybe Luann will have to get to the bottom of it. Let’s set aside about a month for this story line.

It is Ben, Master of Disguise! He sure learned a lot on his travels. Perhaps he might even come back as Knute and really mess with everyone’s minds. (I am kidding.)

Chekov’s Bin.

Nice illustration of phobia, according to wiki: A phobia is a type of anxiety disorder defined by a persistent and excessive fear of an object or situation.

We all talk about all the reasons, but I wonder if there’s an abuse issue between Bernice and Ben. It might explain his being gone in the military..

Okay, that tells you she hasn’t seen Ben in a pretty dang long time.

Looked more like Rob Wilco from Get Fuzzy.

We don’t know what started this behavior but probably was caused by Ben moving in with the twins making Bernice homeless. If she doesn’t see Ben she doesn’t see her parents ,what kind of relationship does she have with her mother and father? She on her own and lost herself confidence. Last year she was a bigwig and now?

Huston, we have a problem! Bernice’s problem with her brother is way, WAY worse than everyone here was thought!!! Poor thing… she looks so afraid and helpless♡. She really needs to go see a therapist and understand why she reacts this way to even a little tiny bit chance of meet Ben.

Too Shy Bernice.

If I remember correctly, Bernice didn’t know Ben while growing up. He was somewhat of a surprise to her much later. So, she has no emotional ties to him as a sister. Actually, he’s pretty much a stranger to her.

Does anyone else get the impression that Ben might have abused Bernice long ago? It might be the explanation for her present behavior.

Is Bernice going to cry?

I’m still unclear what her issue is.

Boy! She REALLY doesn’t want to see Ben. And she’s obviously not aware of his physical changes.

The fact that you share lots of DNA with someone doesn’t create any kimd of relationship, good, bad or indifferent.

I checked out the arc from 2007 that was mentioned and LOVE the amnesia from G&K in this comic! It’s like Bernice and Ben never met, got pizza, went bowling, drove around talking about everything and became friends. They can just start all over with a new angle – where’s MY life reset button?

Ben is a master of disguise and has the ability to cloud men’s minds! Ben is The Shadow! (Cue maniacal laugh!)

Nope.

On second thought we might have had a fast one pulled on us y Gnk’s art. We saw a figure come out of a house, then Bernice panic, and apparently this figure pass her. Her brother could still be out of panel.

This is another unbearable soap opera like story for this strip. Ugh.

Panel 1: Looks like we know where Greg Evans lives, his name is on the mailbox… Panel 2: Welcome to the neighborhood where they just love purple houses… Panel 3: Bernice has no mouth… Panel 4: Bernice sits on a corn-cob while Lane Meyer from “Better Off Dead” (1985) acts like he doesn’t see her pathetic attempt to hide.

I’m really getting anxious to find out what the problem is

How come puddles has no neck?

I get that she didn’t recognize Ben…but what’s up with Bernice being fearful of Ben?

Close. He is male. Won’t get the ring though….

Greg supporting Recycle Bins now?

“Hmmm, maybe I don’t.”

Seems she really doesn’t want to see and hasn’t seen her brother. Why? Is it him or her? Self image problems? Maybe she has been at the library and not with Jack or anyone. What brought this on? Love the artwork and coloring lately.

I can appreciate Bernice’s attitude. My family is . . . complicated.

I’d like to see these writers come up with something better than “Gaw” for “God.” Nobody says “gaw,” even if they’re pussyfooting around the censors.

Go to a shrink and get some serious help.

How long has Ben been back? Bernice moved in with DeGroots at the end of July our time. It could be 2 weeks Luanntime. There have been several concurrent arcs. It hasn’t been for months she’s avoiding him. The big question is why?

Small house for two parents, grown son, and 2 little kids. Bern should be glad she’s not living there.

But the, she’d been an only child most of her life. Learning to share is hard.

Maybe tomorrow…Bernice will be back in her room…telling Monstro all her problems.

I am not surprised that Bernice has chosen psychology as her field of study. To date, all the people I have met in the field, went into the field to find answers to their problems. Do they find them? No, but they now think they are qualified by a piece of paper to solve the problems of others. Are they? I don’t know, I personally believe that good psychology is nothing more than good common sense and self-responsibility. The rest is BS.

This is a pretty stupid story line.

I DON’T think Ben’s weight is the point here!

Looks just like him!

This has a familiar ring to it.

College Bernice has a history of tying herself in knots and obsessing over things in ways that aren’t normal for someone her age.

I don’t recall that she was so wacko in high school.

I can relate

Bernice needs to get a couple of cats and start living her destiny….spinster cat lady.

So. She has Brotherphobia. Or is that Fratrophobia?

It could be worse. She could have Papaphobia – fear of the Pope.

Oh, Bernice. I am so sorry. I don’t know what brought this on, but honey, you need to talk to somebody. And I’m not talking about Ben or Luann. You could start with Nancy, but I think you really need a shrink. The cynical part of my mind says, “What did he DO to you that makes you afraid of him?” But then, I remember…this is a comic strip.

IIRC, Bernice had something of a crush on her brother when they first met. If I can play armchair headshrinker, I’d guess she never really dealt with those feelings before Ben dipped out (if she had, she’d have found those feelings are common when separated siblings meet for the first time). Now that he’s back, those feelings are back, with a big dose of “THIS IS WRONG” guilt. She’d literally rather lie to everyone in her life (and look like a massive jerk in the process) than face those emotions again.

Well, Bernice does have her own issues to work on. I really wonder where this is going.

She can’t deal with emotional issues and she’s majoring in Psychology?

If Bern feels the need to hide, and lie (or not correct the DeGroots’ assumption about her going to family dinner), then there may be some guilt going on. But why? Girl needs help.

Greg Evans put his signature on the mailbox. Everyone catch that?

Having not seen Ben for years Bern may have built up expectations of what he might be like now and feels like she can never measure up (as a sibling) and it is making her anxious. I think once she sees Ben and his easy going appearance (compared to years ago) she may relax.

Well, no, it isn’t Ben. But we do get further indication of the depth of Bernie’s avoidance of Ben, if not why….

What is wrong with Bernice?

I hope the back story is not a dark one.