Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for June 24, 2023

Well look at that

Being retired I kind of lose track of the days, so it was only a few hours ago I realized that tonight’s strip would be Saturday, end of the week and the anti-climatic cliff hanger. And with that I got the feeling that Irma was going to show up today. Not that had not be predicted by others. But until now I hadn’t had a feel for what was going on this week. It wasn’t Tiffany skinny dipping with Kip (darn!) or Bets and Gunther breaking up (how tedious). So, yeah, all this was predicted.

Which makes this the perfect time to switch to Luann because the one thing this strip does is avoid high drama!

Cue the DOOM music….

BUSTED!!!!!! lol

Man, this is gonna get good!

Start talking Gunther… ;)

I knew it the inevitable confrontation between the three major protagonists in the Bets/Gunther/Irma arc. It has been set up so carefully, I find it a bit hard for anyone not to see what the lead up to leads up to. It will be significant and I for one will be glad to see the story get down to why the Bets hate, rather than just the Bets hate

Oh dear, it’s as if the doorway is a mirror

If she encounters Irma on the way out, then what? I asked this in yesterday’s strip. I suppose we’ll find out next week!

What will Irma do? Will she sit down with them and try to figure out what is going on? Toss Btres out? Toss them both out? Break down and cry over the blatant disregard for her and Al’s rules?

Tune in Monday crisis fans!

Finally! Now to see what happens next.

It’s the middle of the day? What’s the big deal? Other than that Bets has parked around the corner. That doesn’t look suspicious, does it? ;-)

Time to win or lose your relationship Gunther. If you love Bets show her, if not show you cannot stand up to your mother.

“Hello. Goodbye. Nice seeing you.”

OOPS.

Well lookie here! Will it be WWIii or has Irma known all along. BTW if your sig. other is afraid of his mother, things will NEVER be easy for you. Now is the time to run, Bets, and don’t look back.

FINALLY!!

I love it.

Here’s your hat, what’s your hurry!?!

OOOPSY. Wonder if I will read Irma say, “Oh I already know you’ve sneaking in every night, Bets.”

Now we’ll find out Al and Irma were never the problem.

BUSTED!!!!

Look over there!! Swoosh!

Get out the camera, Bets. Your followers won’t want to miss this.

Gotta hope G & K stay on to this story Monday.

Thus ends a blockbuster romance on a bean bag budget. Just leave the cookies, Irma, we’ll have them later.

It had to happen…this will be good ¯\(☯෴☯)/¯

Kip’s at the pool.

“We were on a break!”

Al’s coming up the walk with the shotgun

Well, knock me over with a feather! Seems like many predicted this, but not me. I hope this turns out to be a “we’re all adults here” conversation with Gunther coming clean and standing up to his mother.

Surprise, now Irma asks Bets why she needed to be sneaking in an out.

Ka – Boom!

Har dee har!!

I was probably wrong in thinking that Gunther and Bets are in crisis, it seems it was just stress and the couple seems strong and stable. That Irma would have busted her at the end was predictable, the thing that shocks me is that she is…, smiling at her!? Did Irma know this from the beginning and has she finally accepted the situation? There won’t be a fight, but a pretty quiet chat between the two? I would like it. But it could also be the angelic smile of someone preparing herself to destroy the enemy.

Gunther was right yesterday. She’s not in the kitchen.

I wonder if Irma was watching the gulag with binoculars while Gunnie was watching the main house with his binoculars? Anyhow, Bets could say she swung by on an Uber to say hi if it is not before 8 or 9 AM. Better get cracking on the ride share app Bets. I guess the kids are fortunate Al is not there, he might go Winston Wolf on Bets if he does not find Gunnie’s and Bets story believable.

My advice: Bets tell Irma what has been going on! If Gunnie backs you, great! If not just walk to your car and never look back!

Go go Billy the bookworm!

(queue dramatic music)

Bets moving to Tiffany Farrell Mansion?

It’s okay, Mom…she was just leaving…

Predicable.

UhOh!!!!!

Gunther’s mom caught Bets before Bets got to Tiffany’s pool to see Kip swimming in it!

Gunther is 19 Luann years old. He is a grown man! He needs to tell his mom that he loves Bets and Bets will be staying with him at his house this summer!

As long as Bets n Gun don’t leave any visible evidence she has been spending extra time there, Gunther’s alibi is that Bets was simply stopping by enroute to a grocery store. If not, then an explosion is about to happen. Les must be putting in a lot of extra hours at the Fuse.

Rhuht Row

How convenient that Gunther’s mom just so happened to arrive home.

I guess it all depends on whether Irma heard what Bets said about the sneaking. I’m sure there will be a few more twists and turns ahead.

It’s going to hit the fan in, 3, 2,

\\//_

Apart time…I think they’re about to get some!

But Bets… where’s your phone? Aren’t you going to document and send this moment to your followers? It’s like it didn’t even happen!

cue the dark ambient music with discordant overtones which, although broadly tonal, is inflected with chromatic and polytonal passages representing the archetypal example of a florid, melodramatic style

Oops . . .

Uh oh…

Nipped

I predict that Bets will be living the summer at Tiff’s lmao

We have to wait for Monday!

“See ya Gun..OHMYGOD Hiiiii- and Buh-byeee”

busted… wait, why is she smiling? :\

ok…maybe not disappointing…

It’s about time. Mom’s know everything that goes on around them!

Okay, hang on.

Before You start Irma, It’s broad daylight. Who’s to say that Bets stayed the entire night, huh?

She might have just dropped by for a brief visit, right?

Bets has dropped by for brief visits before, yet the World kept spinning, Irma “dear.”

Or has Bets been forbidden to even set foot in the Gulag by you Gruesome Grays? THAT would fly in the face of the fact that Tiffany was allowed by YOU guys to STAY as long as she wanted, no questions asked.

Gunther? DON’T SAY ONE WORD! Just pack and prepare to head for the manse. Tiffany won’t object to you staying there, seeing that she OWES you about three dozen FAVORS going all the way to 2015. And she’ll welcome a good friend and cook. Besides, Tiff will need you to render first aid when Stef catches her making hanky-panky with Kip, and goes all “Psycho Cheerleader,” on her.

Been a long time since We’ve had a “Cliff-Hanger Saturday.”

Looking forward to next week. ;-)

Let down, your guard, honey

Just about the time you think that it’s alright

Breakdown, takedown, you’re busted (Bob Seger)

Will Gunther have the balls to stand up to mom? Tune in tomorrow

They look happy!

Middle aged woman living in sin with judgemental prude arrives / so what?

Oops! , or why didn’t you tell me you were visiting?

A kiss is just a kiss……

I think this might be a situation where the kids misjudge the mom. I don’t see mom going through the roof, but she might be hurt that her Gunther would think so.

you know what is going to hit the fan now. and we have to wait until monday.

Maybe Betts and Gunther both move in with Tiffany!

I’m surprised at the number of readers that think Gunther and Bets should have an independent life, free from parental influence. As late as Feb. 4th of this year it was indicated that no one is paying rent. Neither of our smitten couple has been shown to have an income stream. Yet, somehow, both are paying university tuition and Bets can afford a dorm room. If they want to be independent, they should move out and provide for themselves.

Irma is going to be really sad that Gunther has been deceiving her, but this will be a perfect time for an honest conversation about why they have been treating Bets so badly.

Tell mom the girl is preggies. Then when you say “just kidding” she’ll be relieved enough to accept the sneaky other stuff. Worth a try.

…or will Irma tell Gunther he’s gonna be a brother…now THAT’s a curve ball…

Like I said, everyone will end up at Tif’s house until her Dad gets back. Should be a great summer. Someone has to lose their pimples.

Dun-dun-DUNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!

Some strips have soundtracks to them, in one’s mind.

Irma could be there to invite them to dinner. She surely knew what was going on.

It’s lunchtime, midday. Maybe Irma (unsuspecting) is there for some totally different reason. Gun and Bets (especially) need to try to not act guilty i.e. as if the gulag is some kind of prison cell where no one enters or leaves.

Respect Irma and Al’s position whether you agree with it or not. Remember it’s their house and Gunther isn’t paying anything to live there. My parents did not approve when my wife and I were dating and we moved in together but we had our own place, if we stayed overnight at their house we slept in separate rooms simply because we respected their beliefs.

A cliffhanger of a Saturday strip! Find out what happens on Monday

…when we swap to a Shannon Is Annoying Week, bwahaha!

Ooooooooooooppppppppppppppppppppppssss!

Rutrow

She’s the devil mom!!

Oops.

Like Irma didn’t already know…

Can’t claim she just drop in because her car would be parked out front instead of blocks away.

Such a chaste, little kiss after they have been banging each others’ lights out for weeks. Now, when Kip gets too friendly with Tiffany, Stef is going to get even by luring Gunther into her web and taking him to new heights that he has never known.

Mom watches her feed…

I don’t recall any arc in which Irma and Al explicitly stated that they didn’t want Bets staying over at the Gulag, though it has been implied. They didn’t have a problem with Tiffany; somehow they knew that she was occupying Les’s room (without him in it). I just remember the dinner at Al and Irma’s where they were essentially ignoring Bets who was there and showering Tiff (who wasn’t there) with adoration. Having Bets stay over is a retaliation on Gun’s part and a way of asserting himself and his independence (over Irma), in addition to just wanting her there.

As the stinky brown mass hits the rotating blades…

Irma is going to be upset and demanding an explanation. She is NOT just suddenly going to be accepting!

This just got interesting!

rut row!

Well, at least that part of my prediction was right.

Oh…So!!!

Throw her out, big mouth and all!

This WOULD have to be on a Saturday! The Evans couple know how to draw up a cliffhanger. Got a feeling they’ll play if off as “she’s just visiting and was just leaving” or something. Still wish Gunther’s mom would cut the cord already…

I can’t wait for the twist: Evans drops the plot or maybe doesn’t.

oh, i didn’t know you were here tiffany.

So, what’s the big deal? A girl can’t visit her boyfriend? Even a mom knows that. (at least, that’s how it appears) Just hope she didn’t hear girlie’s comment!)

I bet this arc is going to be put on hold leaving the followers hanging.

Hilarity ensues as reality slaps the kids upside the head.

Well it’s about time!

This is so easy. Irma is one of Bet’s followers.

maybe irma secretly adores bets or is racist… gunther needs a backbone. he’s an adult

I guess Betsy will be staying at the Manse after all.

If one of Bet’s ‘followers’ was mom, she would know already.

something just hit the fam.

I wonder if Erma knew, or if this was a stumble upon moment?

If Bets hadn’t let herself get caught saying the words, sneaking out, then Irma would probably just believe she came to visit. She is Gunther’s girlfriend. I don’t think that they said she couldn’t visit.

Crash!

Uh-oh.

oh, hi, Irma

Open mouth, insert foot.

Uh-oh! Irma at the door is such a bad twist of fate. But it does open a variety of possible new future developments in the Gunther-Bets saga….

OOPS!

BOING!

Why am I suddenly interested in seeing Bets in a bathing suit?

Gunth’s mom is probably okay with their relationship, maybe even happy.

I don’t know what’s going to happen here but I do know what would’ve happened if that was me in that situation. I would be looking for somewhere else to live.

Whooooo an interracial kiss?!?!?! the 1960’s censors here triggering the Civil Defense siren yet?

Cue theme song from DRAGNET