Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for August 26, 2011

FIRST!!!!!!!!!!

Rgh! Brad, you’re just making things worse here… wake up and smell the mustard.

I wonder if weenies are Ms. Eiffel’s thing?

I don’t think Toni is really angry. I think she is disappointed that Brad is so oblivious to the reality of this situation. -- I think Toni needs to pay Nancy a visit and explain to her what is going on at Weenie World concerning her son!

In the first panel A. Eiffel referred to Brad as the weenie, and in the second panel she demonstrated it. Brad didn’t notice, but Toni did!

This feels kind of agonizing to me. I guess this is a portrayal of the kind of thing that can happen when a guy for whom the priority is to “hold down a job”, which Toni said she liked so much about Brad, becomes the victim of a horrible economy and massive layoffs. Something that I guess a lot of people are actually going throughnow. Stuck putting up with being treated badly while doing a job that’s way less sophisticated and satisfying than what he used to do. and is qualified to do.

ah, if toni just moved in with brad, it would a] put her brand on brad and b] end her sexual frustration

Who likes “weenies”? At moments like this, I choose to remember when Toni had dinner with Brad and TJ, and while holding her bread roll provocatively, said “I like to eat Brad”.And don’t nobody tell me that Greg didn’t half giggle when he wrote today’s dialogue.

Once again, Toni has that look of contempt that cats reserve for dogs for being so insufferably stupid. Now that Ann got Brad out of the way, just what is she going to say to Toni? Discuss hair conditioners?

Brad has 2 strikes on him and no balls!

God, Brad is so oblivious. He is behaving like a 16 years old boy around an older woman playing with him, taking her words too literally. Sadly he had so little experience with girls when he was in high school so he really does not know the X species, how they work.

Brad’s sitting at a table with Toni. She’s not eating (doesn’t matter whose dime). Ann has “promoted” Brad.

This does not bode well for Brad…Just wait and see.

notice that they’re both dressed skiimpily — totally not typical for Toni — strong undercurrent here – of competition — maybe Brad is not oblivious but actually enjoying the whole thing.

Eiffel seems a lot more fun than the “oh so pure and responsible” Toni. Maybe the idea of a not so pure woman will become appealing to him. And no doubt that Toni’s existence makes Brad much more attractive to Eiffel than he would be if he were single.

And what would be the significance of the last name Eiffel? (wrong spelling I am sure.) Maybe Brad is not putting up with being treated badly. And maybe his promotion was interesting to him for reasons not related to professional advancement.

and what does “that’s not all you got” mean?

Brad reminds me of a little boy who gets an astronaut suit for Christmas. Was he ever yhis happy when he became a fireman? As a guy, I’m still missing the game here. Is putting him on the drive-up part of trying to win his affection? What does Toni mean in the last frame, “That’s not all you got.”?

It means Chuck that she’s Jealous that someone else likes Brad, and instead of talking to him. It’s the typical Toni Brad thing.. They will go out and about to prove something, when all they needed to do was talk. Will make for some fun strips and reading some colorful posts.

OK there’s such a thing as being clueless and then there’s out right stupidity. Brad just took a sharp right turn into the Land of Idiots. Come on, Greg, Brad isn’t that dumb!

OMIGAW!!!The Lemurs at the zoo are going CRAZY!!!The Police Horses are BRAYING in Their Stalls!!!Dogs in Neighborhoods all over America are BARKING Frantically!!!Is it another Impending Earthquake?An approaching Hurricane?Naw. Its Just Ann Eiffel…..,

Toni should cut Brad off and give him a real education!

Is Ms. Eiffel wearing an “official” Weenie World management uniform? Do all the women at Weenie World dress like Hooter’s girls?

I think this storyline just sucks period. No pun intended. Hopefully there will be a moral in here somewhere at the end of the storyline….

Toni knows this woman wants her man! She needs to drop kick her into the drive up!

Brad is an idiot…

He’s a dim bulb isn’t he?

I’m surprised that no one got what Ms. Eiffel called Toni in the first panel. Not nice!

Toni isn’t jealous, just knows what Ms. Eiffel is like, a manipulative person. Just like her previous boyfriend. Bad memories there.

I wonder who will finally get Brad to realize what’s happening here. I wonder if it will be Luann…

@lilrabbit – The Buxom is strong in this one and I ain’t complaining.

BTW, didn’t Brad always want the drive-thru when he worked @ WW before? Now’s his chance.

can we start a grease fire in the kitchen already and re-hero-ize Brad!

One way of keeping Toni out of the WW… she can’t keep going thru the drive-thru all day to see Brad. Ann killed 2 birds with one stone. Brad is thankful he’s not doing clean-up and she also got rid of Toni.

Okay Greg, you’ve more than made your point that Brad is naive. Now it’s just painful to read. Hopefully Brad will now disappear to the drivethru and we’ll get to see what Ann REALLY meant when she asked Toni if weenies weren’t her thing (maybe she’s subtly asking Toni if she’s more into women—i.e. Ann)? Could be taken as making a pass at Toni.

But I think Toni is P.O.‘ed enough that once Brad is gone she’ll speak her mind to Ann.

@yankeetexan: Very insightful. Toni is losing the score battle. The question is whether she’ll keep fighting, now that her boyfriend has turned out to be much more childish than she’d hoped. At least she’s got to realize she still has Brad’s heart, if she wants to keep it.

I think it would be golden if Toni gave Brad a big kiss in front of Ann before he goes to the drivethru. That would even the score big time, and drive Ann nuts!

Like two trains coming down the track head on. You know it’s going to be bad you don’t want to watch but you can’t help yourself.

Come on people… while it may be a bit naive that Brad is looking at the “drive-thru” as a promotion… what the hell is he supposed to do at this point? He needs to go work the drive thru. Simple. Eiffel and Toni can have whatever kind of ruckus they will have… but Brad is not doing anything wrong here.

You already have one child to babysit, Toni. Dump this one.

The one thing that bugs me is when you work at a place like that you don’t have the job of “floor sweeper” or “drive thru person”. All the peons basically do all those jobs in some kind of rotation. But yeah, yeah, I know, it’s just a comic.

Totally clueless, Brad. Come on, get a grip on reality here, man! Or for certain, you’re going to lose your grip on Toni.

discrimination, as they were willing to interview based on your data or resume, and turned you down just because your age(or how old you looked, if they never asked your age before they told you that)

@naomi1836: Ann Eiffel = An Eyeful, or someone pleasant to look at.

My only hope is that Brad is not as clueless as we think. In the first frame Brad is slyly looking at Ann as though he knows something is up.

“Not eating, Miss Daytona? Weenies aren’t your thing?”

Did she just imply that Toni might be batting for the other team?

As some people said yesterday, it might be a good idea to read the comments that were written before you post, as your comment/question may already be addressed. Otto guy and Chuck already made the connection between weiners and Toni’s genitalia preferences.

Promoted – It Starts with P, Rhymes with T, That Stands for Trouble! Right here in River City … uh Pittsville. And T stands for Toni, too – so it’s Trouble with Toni ;-(

Brad doesn’t have a clue on what is going on. Not one. The longer Brad keeps this job, the tighter Toni will get. LOL

The next scene may be reminiscent of when Fraiser’s mom met Diane… I’ll catch up on Mon, just about finished packing-got to load the car in garage, then get dressed to leave.

Greg wrote an imaginary Ann-Toni catfight on his blog. Read it!

He can now meet all kinds of new people, Even a whole car load of girls.

Brad has bills to pay and is grateful for being on trash duty. I don’t see him being dense and oblivious so much as I see him being grateful for not having to a job he didn’t like in the first place.Eiffel is toying with him as manipulative bosses do, but still .. for now .. he’s the employee and she’s the boss. She is strutting on the line but hasn’t quite crossed it enough to allow him the upper hand.Toni is a strong woman and can take care of herself. It would be nice to see Brad stand up for her, but he’s in a position where he simply, and literally, can’t afford to. She can though. She should also continue to be impressed by his maturity and desire to keep a job, and especially by his enthusiasim for a job that he considers menial.

Give Greg credit for being good enough at innuendo and hidden meaning to keep young readers entertained with what appears to be innocent dialogue while keeping adult readers intrigued enough to keep the comment writers hooked.

Could someone link to the original Ann vs. Bern story arc? I wanna review.

I agree with many of these comments! One thing is still bugging me, though – why is Brad spending so much time with Toni while he is on the job and supposedly not on break? If we saw more of him taking his job seriously (no matter how little it is on his career path), it would be easier to sympathize with Toni’s or Brad’s situation. Not that I don’t on some level, but just because he has a somewhat evil boss doesn’t mean he shouldn’t do his job. (Unless it is implied that he works hard in general, and is only taking a break for a few minutes, but I’m not getting that right now. He’s been hanging out with Toni for what feels like 30 min. or so in the comic world.)

I think not. The reason Toni has her hackles up is Ann reminds her of DIRK! She wants her gone. It is not Brad she is fuming about – it is Ann the manipulator. Dirk tried to control Toni just the same way Ann is trying to control Brad and Toni doesn’t like it. Brad rescued Toni from Dirk. Now it is Toni’s turn to return the favor and rescue Brad from Ann.

all the sexual inuendos…the phallic symbols like Miss Eiffel and Brad the weenie…

or maybe her attention is drawn by Aqualungwho watches through the railing as they play

I thought Brad grew up and isn’t a dud anymore? He should realize that Eiffel is messing with him and that a career in Weenie World is not what he needs. He needs to be called back from lay off.

Or Rosa & Gunther – that’s still on tenterhooks.

Brad’s regressing behavior and lack of self-respect disgust me, but somehow, I can’t blame him; he lost a job that he naturally thought he was going to retire from, and is now back to working a dead-end job. Couple that with a struggling economy where jobs are more scarce than water in the desert and it’s easy to value your job more than anything else, regardless of what the job is, and you begin to lose your identity, which is clearly what’s happening to Brad right now. These setbacks, and these “promotions”, have clearly clouded his judgement and are causing him to lose sight of what’s more important, like his relationship with Toni. Otherwise, considering how Brad was the exact opposite of what he’s like now before he was laid off, I don’t think he would have tolerated Eiffel’s disrespect towards him or Toni for a second.

Let’s just hope that Brad comes to realize this before he loses both Toni and his job.

This hurts to read for the time being (really, Brad? I thought you had grown up by now…) but I believe in happy endings. Ann may have won the battle, but she isn’t going to win the fight. I hope first and foremost that Brad is smart enough to realize what’s going on at some point in the next few weeks. In the meantime, Toni is under pressure — she will realize what Brad really means to her, that she has to commit or else she could lose him. She’s not the only hot babe vying for his attention (even if Ann is a manipulative fraud). I’d LOVE it if WW burned down, Brad saved the day with his firefighting skills, and got re-hired on as a fire fighter. Ann would take the brunt of the blame for the burning, get sent back to Tokyo, and Toni would realize how much Brad really means to her. Win for everyone! (Well, except Ann…)

@mallardjusted; no need to be snarky – people do put personal stuff in comic strip comments now & then. It depends on how much they put, and this wasn’t much.

Unrelated to the plot…is it just me, or does Toni’s tat look weird here?

pardon my rather dated pun, but i don’t think that brad is going to have “the toni” much longer (it’s a reference to a home perm product we boomers would know)

I finally registered here because I am so angry at Brad!He actually seems to be getting more dense over the years. I’d like to punch him.Which leads me to a question:How does time flow in this comic strip?!Some things DO change, there ARE story arcs, yet every September, Luann is in the same grade again. Like “Groundhog Day”A few years ago—-in the real world—-Luann passed her driver’s test, and god a car!But that was NEVER mentioned again!Anyone else remember that?!Are we dealing with a multitude of parallel realities here? Or what?I wish the strip’s author would be bold, brave, and creative enough to let these kids go to community college and/or hold down some more real jobs.

Brad is going to lose Toni, AND his job…

I think that’s Greg’s point – little bit of social commentary there. After Brad got laid off, his dad said “They’re laying off firefighters now?! What’s next, school teachers?” – followed by “Oh, wait. They did that already”.

Its a cartoon strip people! Quit over-analyzing it like its an actual TV soap opera!

Duh Brad she is trying to get Toni away from you.