Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for October 12, 2023

Seriously? Ox can’t think of a single thing to say to Luann??

Sorta sad that Luann can’t think of anything to say, either.

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Fingers crossed that Gunther can salvage this arc…

Like watching paint dry

What are they doing? I don’t get it.

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I was wondering what Oxford and Luann could talk about. Couldn’t think of anything they had in common. And so they sit around saying nothing.

Poor Ox. I can relate to being like that when I was in high school.

AWKWARD-d-d-d-d! Oxford seems to have no trouble communicating with Tiffany. Luann’s studied indifference and boredom appear to be major character turnoffs to me!

Can’t they even think to talk about the weather or ask each other how their summer was?

We’re probably coming in on their “date” after 10 minutes or so of Luann trying to think of something to say, and Ox answering in a word or two. They’re just waiting it out now. We’ve never seen them interact much, so this seems on target…and the wordlessness says it all.

If you can’t say something nice……

Seems pretty realistic.

Yeah, well, that’s about it.

That silent encounter speaks volumes.

This like a teacher fingernails scraping across the blackboard.

Why is she checking her fingernails like a dude?

Aw

This is her best " date" yet. And Bern is staring at a blank page.

After her doing an impromptu crazy dance with Nil, going into flirt mode with Jack, and getting turned off by Les going into flirt mode… yeah, I’d say this is the best case scenario for males interacting with Luann. At least she won’t be thrown into the nut house with Nil, be given a restraining order by Jack, or have to issue a restraining order to Les. With Ox they’re both just staring into space vacantly, they have so much in common!

Oh dear, I guess this means Gunther’s up next since Bernice mentioned she was including him in this experiment. He’s probably going to talk about his angsty feelings about Bets and the road trip. I guess we should prepare to go, "Yikes! ☉_☉ " Cause, that kind of raw emotional unloading would make the interaction with all the other dudes look like a jolly holiday by comparison.

Ox is the strong, silent type. I wonder if he’s thinking of Tiff.

Silence is golden but it looks like Oxford has no clue as to why he is sitting opposite of Luann on his shift break. I guess he does not know what to say; he may not want to ask about Quill but if I were Oxford perhaps an icebreaker would be what Jack was mentioning on Tuesday: why is Bern staring at us with laser focus and looks a bit angry??? Sadly, I agree with Rockabore, this is the best of the 4 encounters so far, which leaves us with sad, depressed Gunther who has finally emerged from the gulag. Hopefully tomorrow Luann can prod Gunther to open up about his adventures over the summer with Bets and Ruby…….

Two more strips to go and tomorrow’s guest should be Gunther?

Ox is waiting for Luann to start the conversation. It looks like Luann is not curious about Ox. In the panel #3, Luann is being rude to Ox.

Luann’s being pretty blasted rude. Unkind of her, given her own rampant insecurity.

Maybe Luann Degroot is a boring personality that needs to be entertained?

Unfortunately, TJ doesn’t seem to be in the cards for the final.

Maybe Luann should drink coffee with Tara Starr?

the strong silent type

So they can’t talk about school, jobs, or friend gossip? I guess that is supposed to reveal their personalities?

When I was her age, I was almost painfully introverted, but I could still manage small talk. It was considered polite.

These kids had more energy and fun in elementary school, and high school. Now they have their butts glued to a chair, complain a lot, and bore everyone around them. Time for Tiffany to get back into the shower.

Run silent run deep..

If ypu’tr bored with this strip run over to "Heart of the City where the author, Steenz, is taking the characters to a Drag Queen Story Time, and they’re loving it. The story started yesterday. I’m loving it.

So, Ox, how’s your drink?

Exactly what we all expected. But no Bernice, lurking in the background?

It looks like there’s really nothing to say between Luann and Ox. It’s kinda sad, but I’m not surprised, Ox only shows interest in talking to Tiffany or with his old football player friends. This probably doesn’t even surprise Bernice. Tomorrow it will be Gunther’s turn, or at least it should, since he could already be talking to Tiffany. I would love to see Tiffany involved in the conversation and this one last longer than the other four. Or that Quill really will be there as a surprise guest on Saturday.

This makes sense. Ox is one of those “silence is golden” people. He enjoys people’s company.

Riveting. Can we get someone else to start writing this comic please?

Well now.

I think We can safely “deep-six” the idea of ever “shipping” Ox with Lu. Which is too bad because Ox is an A-Okay, Dude.

And for the record? If Tiffany had been sitting there, Ox would have been “Mr. Chatterbox.”

And Congrats to go out to Les Knox for being the only guy this week to REPELL Lu!

(And you KNOW that ain’t gonna change even when Lu meets the last guy this week) ;-)

Funny that a wordless strip inspires so many words in our comments section.

His last expression is very well done. Comic art genius.

Some people think Tiffany should date Ox. He is so dull that he can’t think of anything to talk about to a female his own age. Tiffany deserves someone much more interesting than Ox. Being a “nice guy” is not enough for most women. He needs to have a personality.

No dialogue…

Woman don’t look at their nails that way, guys do.

lmao. Yep.

Ox isn’t interested in Luann at all. As far as I’m concerned and aware, he only has eyes for Tiffany. Besides, he’s the strong, silent type of guy. Not really one to engage in a deep conversation right away.

So, how the female acts is totally dependent on actions of male.

“Interesting”, Bern and I say, stroking our invisible goatees.

Well this is a thriller

Gunn? He could not save his relationship. How can he save this arc?

He’s a man of few words. Doesn’t actually know many.

… Ox don’t know… Ox only pawn, in game of life…

“We have so much in common it’s a phenomen-onnnn”

“That’s when you know you’ve found somebody special. When you can just shut the f*** up for a minute and comfortably share silence”…

—Mia, Pulp Fiction

And this is the guy that everyone thinks Tiffany should be paired with??

Let’s ask Bernice a question – what type of effect does it have on your “study” when two of the participants are being required to interact with the daughter of their employer? Hmm?

Interesting that Awks (sic) is similarly disinterested.

Another trying story line…..

who’s that peeking in the window??

This isn’t believable, Ox is a nice guy, he would have started a conversation. Was this to illustrate that they don’t have any connection and that’s why they don’t interact throughout the strip?

Ow.

I’m sad for both.

Disappointing, but I get what GnK are getting across. No chemistry. However, they could at least be sociable and talk about the weather or jobs. If they were in a crowd, I could see not speaking, but sitting alone at a table and not speaking is ignorant. :-/

Ox and Luann are messaging subliminally. Let’s see if Bernice catches on!

At least she’s not checking her phone

Well, we can’t all be scintillating conversationalists.

That is the most intelligent conversation depicted in this cartoon in the last 2 years

Just another absolute arc failure by Karen. Did she ever do a class assignment?

Ox isn’t into conversation. And he does seem to be more interested in Bernice, nearby.

Once again showing that if Luann isn’t sexually attracted to a guy (or using his attraction to her to bolster her own ego) she wants nothing whatsoever to do with him. She can’t even be bothered to make polite conversation.

The Ox is silent…….Luann is even more silent……..

It will be interesting what conclusions Bernise gets from all this. Certainly each interaction is totally different.

A match made in Heaven. :)

Who did Greg and Karen pay to write this moronic arc?

The excitement is overwhelming!!

I am sure there was small talk. It is called reading between the lines. Greg is trying to convey they do not have anything special in common/to talk about. He has a small strip to summarize the general feeling of a conversation. They both seem at ease, just no spark, nothing major to discuss. The end.

this is an ARC?

Companionable silence shows a comfortable relationship.

This surprises me. They usually converse very well…..

I have no idea what data Bernice is collecting, but it has to be something she can quantify. Not something vague like how she thinks Luann relates to certain guys. It would be something like How many times Luann touches her face, or if she crosses her arms, or if she yawns. It has to be something that could be measured and everyone who observed it would agree.

I don’t know about anyone else here, but if I was asked to sit down for a chat with my boss’s daughter, while at work, while on my break, I would be wondering wtf.

Why do they make Luann so unlikeable? She is more boring and obsequeous than Tara, Tiff, or practically everyone else, even Bern and Gunth.

Always thought it was implied Ox was not the sharpest knife in the drawer and had Down’s Syndrome/Autistic which would explain his behavior here.

Okay, that one is a wash.

Tomorrow, Marcel Marceau….

Can you imagine someone discovering the strip for the first time wondering what the joke was? This isn’t a criticism. We get it because we’re longtime readers. But I’m trying to imagine someone coming in cold and wondering what it was all about.

They don’t want to give away their secret, hot love affair. Thus their silence.

Ox is a man of few words.

This is going well

The panels to the left (that you cannot see) -they were talking about the weather. Now they are done and waiting for Bernice to bring in Gunther.

Nothing to say to each other, but if it were Tiffany, I’ll bet he’d have a lot to say. ;)

Ox is so sweet. Surely, they can find something to discuss!

Well, we saw this coming too. G-man to the rescue.

Obviously, Ox (short for Oxford) is the “strong, silent type”; Luann’s speechlessness certainly doesn’t help the awkwardness. That’s why she’s hand-signalling Bernie in panel 3….

You gotta wonder if G&K didn’t properly anticipate the negative reaction to Luann’s behavior here.