Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for November 04, 2022

Hi, Vale. Aside from sports, is there anything you like to do?

That guy is hard to take. ✨

At last Luann has left the house! but sadly she’s not meeting new people. In fact these are the last people I care to see in the strip.

It’s Clutch Cargo!!

Again, only 42’people in the whole town

Will we actually see the award ceremony tomorrow? I’m not too hopoeful.

Maybe they’ll make a date for lunch. Or just say “We should do lunch.” (yeah sure)

Maybe lantern jaw will hit on Tara. He already passed on Luann. (Ummm, “lantern jaw?” Is that jaw shaming?)

It looks like only five people entered the contest. Unless those two in the chairs are the judges.

No family or BFFs to see Luann get her award?? How discouraging.

Tara is smug and judgmental towards Lu. But Vale without the help of Lu would never made it this far.

I like Tara; she actually praises and encourages Luann; who else does that? It must be a mighty short list.

I think that Tara has the hots for Luann.

Ox, Jack, and now Vale. Looks like Greg is building an offensive front line for the Minnesota Vikings.

Oh NOOoooooooo. Tara is back. Ugh! Now, what will she DO? And Vale, why even bother submitting if you dislike writing? I suppose you hoped to get the reward money for a free date?

Yay!! Tara’s Baaaaackkk!!

Tara has been flakey – but likable – from the start, when Lu met Tara in chem lab. Here Tara seems warm and engaging. But this Vale character – could anyone like him? And how bad must Luann’s story be – to wind up in third place?

Now that’s a jaw of the gods if ever I saw one!

I think I’ll hang out here instead of ArcaMax, where nobody likes Luann at all…

If Vale hates to write why did he submit a story to this contest? The assignment was for school, or so he said. Sending it into the contest is extra work and he hates work.

Who are the contest judges?* Did Luann pay to entered?

Vale? You are just a flea on the nut of life.

A better question would be, “Who’s the real loser here?”

Tara in the flesh. The answer is Tara because she wrote 23 stories, only to pick put one that won first place. She really works at writing. (Like a Brenda Starr would). Plus, I take it she was being complimentary to Luann in a kind of mildly sarcastic way, making Luann feel good about her own effort. Along comes Vale to bollix up things. Nice to see her.

Will Luann gets disqualified?

So will Tara give Luann her prize money to make up for basically getting her fired?

Lots of people said we’d NEVER see Vale again.. man did they get that wrong! lol

I still think its strange that they’re having any ceremony, considering how embarrassingly cheap their prizes were. It’s like winning one fill up for your car… then dividing it by 3. lol

I wonder if we will now will see more of Tara? I hope so.

.

Why did Vale enter the contest if he hated to write?? Realistically, he would never have even knwn that there was one.

We can at least see there were five contestants. Will Greg be the presenter? A bit of dig, snark, and boast from Tara.

Vale looks like Biff Tannen with a swollen jaw.

I’m so happy to see Tara again ♡. Looks like Bernice isn’t around Luann this time. Good! The difference between Bernice and Tara’s friendship with Luann is easy to see. With Tara around her, Luann is making a big, genuine smile and looks happy and hopeful, because Tara supports her and is happy for her. What Tara says may seem ambiguous, but I think she’s really complimenting her friend for winning an award by writing only one story. She probably also read the story and liked it.

To quote Mark Twain: Everyone wants to have written. No one wants to write.

So does Tara meant she is the real writer because she churned out 23 stories, or Luann is the real writer because she got it in one? The smile on Luann says she thinks it’s the latter.

Point made.

That ugly ape may hate to write, but he loves to cheat!!

I’d say he appears to be the hunter-gatherer type, with critical skills in keeping himself sustained at the expense of others.

And will we have a confrontation over suggestive plagiarism?

It’s great to see Tara’s mind being so big and creative.

If you hate to write, why did you?

Glad to see they dropped the unfair judging angle, but why is Luann looking all twitterpated in panel three? Is she that susceptible to a nicely timed diffusing compliment from the clever Tara (who seems to be able to read Luann like a book…er, I mean story)? Maybe now Tara can lure Luann into some new, fun, self destructive mishap! She’s easy enough to lead.

Some people are “praising” Tara over being a “prolific writer” and for winning first place in this “contest.” A few others are “high fiving” Vale over his second place win.

Keep in mind one thing: Neither of these two would have gotten those “wins” if it hadn’t been for Luann.

A while back, Tara was well on her way to Utah to escape her evil cousin Stella. Luann, (And eventually Frank and Nancy) gave Tara safe haven to stay in Pitts. And is was Luann who encourage Vale to actually start writing.

Instead of helping, if Lu had waved goodbye to Tara as she headed off to Utah, or told Vale he’d be better off being a plumber than a writer, Lu might have won first place.

”Actions have Consequences.”

Especially for the Good Guys in this Strip.

Tara is back! Thumbs up for intelligent women.

NIce to see good sportsmanship on display today!

If I were you, dude, I’d not do any bragging as all you’re good at is getting others to do the writing for you.

“Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards.” – Robert A. Heinlein

I see that Vale is still wearing his letterman’s sweater.

Yay Tara is back!

LuAnn. She clinched a prized on the first try!

Victors all.

The Tara character could be a positively interesting character in the strip. Adventuresome. A bit of a risk taker with diverse interests. She has a habit of disappearing for no good reason. There was this:

https://www.gocomics.com/luann/2018/12/06 – Tara missing school after that wild party where Jack had to rescue Luann.

And there was another instance where Luann, Bernice and Desdemona went on a Wilderness Trip:

https://www.gocomics.com/luann/2019/07/02

I’m entirely surprised. Tara is a VERY gracious winner!! She managed to make Luann feel GREAT about getting second place. Then the Lunk showed up!

Tara, the diplomat!

Actually they are ALL writers. Even Vale! Tara clearly loves and enjoys writing. She must feel passionate about it to do so I hope of it. It’s not that “she picked the perfect one to submit”. She’s just being modest and trying to make Luann feel good about her success, which is admirable. In reality, probably any number of her stories might have been good enough for first place. Luann clearly shows talent to win Third Place. It’s quite an accomplishment for a first try out and she has every right to be proud of herself. However I remains to be seen if she truly has the chops and the passion for writing. Only by practicing and writing A LOT will she be able to grow her talent into that of being a true writer. Vale seems to have a lot of natural talent for writing even though he has done little of it to date. Al his detractors need to keep in mind that, while Luann did give him THE IDEA for Van Gogh’s diary ( and kudos to her once again for being an inspiring tutor) nothing she read aloud to Berniece was actually lifted from her own words or even her own writing style. Therefore, even though he used the assignment they worked on as inspiration, he did not “steal” from her unless he used her exact words at length. So it would seem Vale has some natural talent, which Luann awakened and his English teacher encouraged and he was motivated enough to submit. All three are winners with real potential to become better writers.

Should be Tara feels so passionate to write so much.

Having trouble typing today. Had a bad reaction to something so fingers covered in bandaids, bacitracin and plastic gloves!!!!

Tara may be irresponsible and only thinks 5-minutes ahead but she’s a fun character. I think she and Luann make unlikely friends.

I dated a girl like Tara once…pretty, great bod, redhead, a little whacky….other great memories that I can’t share here without getting banned….sigh.

You are the real writer, Tara. Winning a contest with the one story she wrote doesn’t make her a writer. Writing makes you a writer.

If this was their top three, I don’t want to know about the other entries.

Panel 3: Luann is only smiling because Vale’s hand is on her butt.

:o(

The Top Three, all gathered together in one place, to exchange barbs! What a coinky-dink!

And, Luann’s expression in panel 3? Can you say, archetypical Dumb Blonde?

Clutch Cargo on steroids or the T-virus.

That jaw belongs on a DICK TRACY villain

Hmmmm…Anyone notice something? Breakin at Tiffany’s mansion and then Tara appears. Reminds me of the breakin at The Fuze (the theater part) and then there is Tara. Hmmm….