Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for March 02, 2012

When there’s a crowd at some kind of incident. You only need 1 spark to set the tone for how the crowd will act. As corny as it seemed at first, Gunther’s suggestion to Knute to shout that phrase. Swayed the crowd from indifference to the situation, to turning against Knox. And as far as #77, he looks like he is probably a linebacker on the varsity football team. Probably not the sharpest pencil in the box and possibly has been tutored in the past by Gunther in understanding his studies. I like in the last panel that Rosa has declared him the victor and #77 has a big smile on his face.

FHEO!!!

Think of this as what SHOULD happen in cases like this.

This may shock many of our readers (DaJellyBelly) but this is a comic… Really truly!

DaJellyBelly’s right! Yes it’s a comic, but insights into human behavior are interesting. And it’s gratifying to see the good guy win (for a change).

Better yet, let’s get back to TJ and Ann Eiffel.

I’m happy for Gunther and Rosa, this seems to have worked out in their favor. Only problem with this bully is that he’s been publicly embarrassed and with bullies this often means that they will take the fight private, lying in wait for the opportunity to get their revenge, often with the help of other bullies. Gunther isn’t in the clear by any means yet (assuming this was real :)

Why did you waste so much time reading this comic if it’s such drivel???? Don’t you think you’re a bit old to have to simply read lower grade wording and situations?

Assuming this was real, Gunther will get beat up AND Les will continue disgusting Rosa, he’s not done with her either. Btw, I’ve heard a lot that “A mob has no conscience” .. If DaJellyBelly is correct about “tone of a crowd”, that’s something worth remembering… & Yay! Back to TJ & queenieweenie!

I thought gunth would wear his backpack and then turn abruptly and walk away

Whee! Look at all the sock puppets!Astonishingly, Gunther’s plan has worked! Leslie has given up, Rosa has rushed to him, 77 is beaming with muscular joy. Indeed, only Gunther seems surprised at his victory!

Bullying is now worse than ever. Bullies not only have the halls and alleys but also FB and the internet. The best way to stop them is to deal with them right away, make a big noise, and let them know what they do is pathetic and may trigger another Columbine.

ok, this is a comic strip and not real life. Once you understand that then the rest kinda makes sense.

Gunther used his brains to beat his opponent. This time. There will be a rematch. A less public one. There has to be. My son was bullied in high school and it didn’t stop until he fought back and I was called in to the principals office. The fact that I had requested the meeting in the first place was overlooked.

From that point on my son was watched for bullying. It didn’t stop it all, and I didn’t expect it to. But it did make enough of it obvious so that they could pinpoint and punish the principal offenders. Everyone was suprised at who they were. Normally good kids who just had to feel superior to someone. Shame they picked my son. None of them are superior to him. He has a high i.q. and does very very well. He’s now a hospitalcorpman in the navy. I’m so proud of him.

Big chance from when we had to go to the school to get his glasses that got thrown away while he was beaten in the bathroom. Now he has learned to kick behind himself due to his military training.

I am proud of my boys!!!! They have earned my pride!!!!

Leslie Knox’s mom can’t say that…..

Not bad. Not bad at all. Cyclops ex machina.

Ah yes! Life in the Luanniverse is very different from the real world. Don’t get me wrong. I would also like to see the real world follow suit. The Beatles said it best, “…learn how to love and forget how to hate.”

So awesome it can change the color of Knute’s sleeves from black to white as he moved from the back of the crowd.

And now if Gunther shows up hurt, everyone will know who to blame. I wonder if Rosa will plant one on him tomorrow.

@ DaJellyBelly: #77 would be a lineman’s jersey number, not that of a linebacker. While not all of us are of lesser intellect, the rest of your assessment may be spot on.

I agree.

I’d say hurrah for Greg’s solution. It’s good comics sense to have a happy ending. Doesn’t have to reflect the unhappier elements of life as we may experience it. Even more important, our young people reading these comics may be influenced to act favorably in similar situations. Teaching and learning are often more important in social situations than in the classroom. Unfortunately, even the home can produce bigotry, abuse and apathy instead of promoting support and fairness for marginalized persons. Again, congrats to Greg Evans for giving us teachable moments in the guise of humor.

Gunther is gonna get pounded. I love the big oaf in the blue shirt!! So funny!!

Great Job Gunther.

You actually pulled it off with some “help”.

Now You should celebrate by taking Rosa to DINNER and later to that new “Larynx” Movie.

Oh, by the way, You OWE that “77” guy 50 bucks….,

To Mona Boyer:Excuse my ignorance but what is a hospitalcorpman?Please tell your son thanks for his service.

I thought something was up since I saw the last panel of yesterdays paper and saw Gunther’s eyes. I kinda knew someone bigger than Needlenose was in the crowd.

77 is a fine bovine, isn’t he.

Whew, did we finally make it? Yes, with the backing of a younger, larger, Don Rickles (that’s what #77 looks like to me).Now, Gunther, go somewhere appropriate and kiss the girl.

Yes! I LOVE it when a bully is defeated.

You are reading a COMIC. If you want thing to happen: stop reading, go out in real life, and stop whimpering.

Kiss! Wait, I want to kiss Rosa!

Baboonians?

I know that some of you are disappointed or annoyed with the strip, but I find it a good, decent diversion from Luann/Quill. I like Rosa and I like Gunther. It’s satisfying to see that he may be naive, but he is intelligent and brains can beat brawn…at least in comics.

In this case, that would be marvelously great.

I can’t believe I actually miss the days of Aaron Hill, etc. Or Delta and her bout with cancer.

brains over brawn is always preferable.(and it doesn’t hurt to have a sympathiser on the football team.)

Nabuq, you are so right. Many bullies don’t appear to want to be cruel, they’re just having “fun” by tormenting others. Last night I saw the real-life counterpart of “The Help”, called “Yes Ma’am”, about black domestic workers in the south in the 70s. Again, the people with power were clueless of their own cruelty. And I came up with a definition of “evil”— the dehumanizing of other human beings.Anyone have any input?

the Deus ex Machina appears at last – in a football jersey, yet. Zeus? Or just Moose?

As several of us have said all along………….you can’t handle a bully problem alone, you need backup. And like any other roach, a bully doesn’t like the light of exposure.

Nice Finish!

Tinyman: Usually shortened to Corpman, it is a Navy paramedic. Marines have no such person, so the Navy supplies what in the Army is a medic. Thus the yell, “corpman up!” in Marines instead of the Army’s “medic!”

The weirdest thing is Gunther convincing Leslie to wait until lunch to pound him. Most bullies wouldn’t wait.

Now if they DON’T get back to Ms. Eiffel and TJ after this, I’m gonna be mad!!!

WOW!!!!!! What a suprise turnout on this story line……NOT!!!!!! See Spot run, run Spot run……See Dick and Jane watch Spot run…….yep about the same pace storyline….but this one took up two weeks of our life

Hey!! Isn’t this strip about Luann? I’m confused…..

If you don’t like it, go somewhere else.

For the folks complaining about the length of this arc, I’d just like to remind you that the story of the preparation for the beauty pageant actually ran about six weeks, so I’m happy with anything that ties up in a shorter period than that.

My wife tells our eleven year old son all the time that the girls at school are usually worse than the boys when it comes to bullying.

It starts with rumors and reputation damage and goes from there. That can hurt more than a punch because there is usually no way to protect against it and can follow you through the rest of your school years.

it did for me! bigger guy jumped on me, then an even bigger guy, my friend, stopped it cold.and for those naysayers; this is comic relief of actual high school life, if it bores you enuf to insult and deride, maybe you need to get a life the comics pages may not be for you!

Someone said yesterday that they searched for it & couldn’t find it, so if you know what it means why don’t you share instead of being so uppity & snide.

Saved – by a friendly giant.

Anything is possible. If everyone would stand up against the few that bully, things would change for the better. It truly only takes one to make a difference. The catch is to not be afraid to stand up for what you believe is right.

Wednesday, February 29th was Pink Shirt Day which supports stopping bullying. Even though this is a comic, I think this story was done well although a little to long and drawn out. I gather that the message was that other people can help control bullying buy standing up to and calling out the bullies which was done here. Hopefully, the message can be discussed in a positive light and not with “this wouldn’t happen”.

I can testify that the incident portrayed in this strip is very realistic in one sense: the biggest guy defending the littlest guy. I have always been the littlest guy (as well as a geek) and many times the biggest guy around would come to my defense were physically threatened.What’s unrealistic? That any woman would show any genuine interest in the littlest guy. That never happens. We are mere toys to them.

YOU GO GUNTHER!!!(From a guy who was bullied enough in school…)

Wow. I’m amazed at how many people comment on a comic strip. Serious players here.

My interpretation of FHEO is “Friends Helping Each Other.”

Let’s see Rosa give Gunther a great big KISS!!!!

The hero wins!!!

I almost expected Rosa to kiss Les (which is what he wanted) and then to REALLY kiss Gunther to show who she prefers.

I was right – one of his friends came to his rescue – Knute. He threw in a comment and the others followed him. If Gunther hadn’t suggested him to throw in something to discourage Les’ bullying, the crowd would be likely to cheer for a fight -_ which would be the reality_. This is pure fantasy. WOULD be nice if this actually happens.Now that Gunther has been rescured, PLEASE, pretty please, move on to a new arc.

I am an old lady who loves to read the comics. The comments — good and bad — make the experience even more enjoyable.

In the begiining, the whole thread seemed a bit lame, but it really ended up to be very good!! Hafta remember “odorous baboonian” for future use!!

Agree wholeheartedly! His constant carping about how terrible things are in Oregon gets tiresome too.

For His(Her) Eyes Only, which doesn’t really make sense as a comment on today’s strip. He seems to like that one.

Language! What’s scary is that FHEO had to be explained to me but DILLIGAF came to me right away.

Baboonian. XD

This educational tidbit just in: Gunther will be accepted by Oxford!

Rosa is right. Gunther did win. Just like Joshua in War Games said; “The only winning move is not to play the game.”

What happened to Gunthers food? He was wearing some of it in yesterdays strip.

As noted before #77 is an Offensive Linemans number. Most of us played that position because of “Planet Theory” There are only so many guys on the Planet that big and usualy quite intelligent. OK, I did say usually.

Greg: Do not throw 77 away. He’s already too popular. .Have him show up at the library the next time Luann reads The Princess Bride.

Ok, can we get back to Luann and Quill and have the story line last as long as this one with Gunther and Leslie, please?

I agree with most of the comments. In the real world it would not happen like this. Bullies do not like to be embarrassed! Les would wait when it’s quiet and get Gunther when he is by himself! To bad art can’t imitate reality

Hooray! :D

Frauds Help Each Other?

i suppose it would have been nice for gunther to take a more forceful stance and put the bully in his place, but that wouldn’t have been the guy we know. he relied on his greatest resource, his mind and it appears to have paid off. i think it speaks well of gunther that knute did what he did. i doubt leslie has friends who would stand with him.

even so, i wouldn’t have objected if gunther had thrown a nice left-right combo to leslie’s head.

I’m getting so tired of the negative comments on this strip, I’ve decided not to come back.

I wonder if Knutes comment was the tipping point for the crowd. Students are pretty aware of world situations. Bullying is not all that different from terrorism. I would like to think that this group of students saw a mirror of the world situation right there in there own cafeteria and decided that the bullying/terrorism stops right here and now.

Well, I didn’t see that coming….0____o

…Serisouly, I mean WAY to obvious.

Everyones slightly wrong….GUNTHER WILL KISS ROSA!Yes Gunther, You’ve won now claim the Fair Maiden Rosa as your own.~~~~~~I like this story because it was handled w/o violence and,unlike the Headlines of today, no one got shot.

Actually, it is not drivel. I have used this thread to show a group of boys that I am mentoring that while force may be needed, it is always as a last resort, that the intellignet person will always win over the moron.

uh oh! lol

The first appearance of Ox, he’s not around all that much but I’ve always found him an interesting character.