Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for December 11, 2016

Interestingly, the three distinguished guests on the right side (Greg, Karen, and I believe that would be Greg’s wife, Betty) have been with the DeGroots since the beginning. Toni showed up in the strip 17 years later, in 2002, but they are sitting on Toni’s side.

anyone got a handkerchief for these tears of joy in my eyes?

@nextframe, happy birthday. How old are you?

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Did Gunther and Bernice arrive together?

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Over at arcamax, Moose442 wondered if that’s the long lost Diane in the upper left. Then CK46 asked if diane was the DeGroot’s next door neighbor.

And that’s that.

It looks like someone of higher rank is sitting next to the captain.

“From This Day, Forward…”

“One And One Are Two”

“Twelve, Eleven, Sixteen”

“I Do, You Do, We Do”

“Whatever We Deny Or Embrace, For Worse Or For Better… " (♪)

“We Belong” (♫)

“A Union With Do’s”

“A Warm Flame, From A Match”

“The Morning Of Refreshing Dew, In The Dawning Of New Love”

“He And She Are Pronounced…”

or

“In The Sea Of Love, You’re Bound To Get Wed”

SO great and glad the end of wedding arc is today !

I’m calling divorce within the year because it’s Luann and it’s Greg Evans

No kiss? :(

It’s neither here nor there, but I wonder if Brad and Toni’s fire station makes those sounds that were in Emergency! whenever they had a fire call.

Squad 51, Station 51, Station 16, Battalion 4…

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! is that Diane?

BTW, the black haired woman in front row “might” be Toni’s friend from way back in January 2002, kind of similar hair

Actually, if you think about it, we’ve “been there” the whole time, and were there wandering the halls of Pitts school, too…. all those silhouettes, all those times? Us !….

In celebration of their wedding and nextframe’s birthday, I am going to have an extra beer.

YAY!!! I Love it!!! Beautiful dress, beautiful wedding, beautiful vows!!! And <I’m> Finally here to witness it!!! Greg, you’ve done a Wonderful job with Toni and Brad’s wedding!!! And now, Brad and Toni, your Real life begins…but party on first!!! :)

@ MJ and Flowergirl: I left responses for you both, towards the end of yesterday’s…

To the right of the Captain is his partner Tony. But could the stranger next to Nancy be the designer of Toni’s dress?Wonderful to see Mrs. Horner.

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssssssss

This frame got Brad looking his very best – no potatohead here! Of course Toni is her usual goddess.

I’m really surprised to see Diane there… maybe she came out of curiosity, wanted to see what kind of girl would marry the old potato head… Probably having second thoughts, now that he’s no longer available.

My biggest downfall is chocolate…specifically Hershey’s milk chocolate Kisses…which I have been munching on since catching up on the wedding arc this evening! And I was only going to eat ten… HA! =-O Time to put up the Kisses (way out of reach of my Irish Setter, Katie!), and wander off to bed before I eat anymore! ’Nite all…enjoy the party! :)

the unironic comments here are the funniest thing about the strip.

The wedding looks perfect. It’s nice to see you and your wife could make it to the wedding Mr. Evans!

This is great! I love the atmospheric background!

Btw is that delta it really looks like her in the first row

There are still a few guests I don’t recognize. The couple sitting next to Nancy could well be her parents, or Frank’s. I’m not sure they’ve ever been mentioned before, but it’s a possibility, and would explain why they’re in the front pew.

The lady with the square-framed glasses between Frank and Nancy is unknown to me, as are the man and woman on either side of the Captain.

The woman in the back row on the left may be Diane, though I don’t know why Brad would have invited her, or how he would have located her, or why she’d choose to attend. Have they stayed in touch all these years? Did she arrive without a +1? Does Toni know about that? I’d think it was a bit weird if someone who’d had a crush on me years ago sent me an invitation to her wedding, and I doubt if I’d go.

Did Pru, Ox and Les get drafted to help with Operation B A T and not get invited to the wedding?

A beautiful wedding shot for a Sunday. One of the beggest events in the Luann strip ever. With so many of the characters that have helped make it great. Am I the only one thatis wondering why Luann isn’t even in the “photo” photo here??? This isn’t the Brad and Toni strip. Luann should at least be the shot somewhere. The Brad & Tone spin off strip with a few cross over characters, ala Funky and CrankShaft isn’t out yet.

Note how Brad fully embraces his wife, but Toni’s hand keeps her husband at bay.

Evans has been remarkably consistent in his portrayal of this relationship.

Next up: Brad and Toni spend their honeymoon night in an exhausted coma.

This whole wedding thing was very nicely done. Kudos to Mr. Evans

I do have to acknowledge an error on my part in my comments on yesterday’s strip. I claimed that neither Brad nor Toni actually made any vows or promises to each other. But of course, I’m wrong: Brad said he would “love [her] forever”. Toni does not reciprocate.

And in today’s strip, it is Brad who spontaneously offers, “I really do”, while Toni agrees with him, without repeating the word “do”, as in, for instance, “So do I”, or “I do too”.

So it’s on to the wedding reception and then the honeymoon in Oxnard.

When will the Honeymoon video go up for sale?

So. What’s Greg gonna do tomorrow???

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Nice and simple. In the back row on the right are three people drawn in a more real-life fashion. One is Karen, one is Greg. But, who is the big-haired blonde woman to the right of Greg? Is that Mrs. Evans?

Gotta love it!

so where’s Luann?

“And as my son Matthew would say… Let’s have a party.” – George Banks (Father of the Bride)

Just before this scene, she whispered those bonding three little words into Brad’s ear, “California community property.”

Aaaand we’ll see them again in a month,all bleary- eyed and wore out.

Where’s Delta?

Of course, Toni’s brother will have a gig or something, and pass Shannon off on Toni and Brad as they leave for their honeymoon.

“CAN YOU KISS ALREADY?”

great to see reg and Karen in the audience, you deserve to be there. that was a triumph for you both. however, WHERE’S LUANN? she soulda been next to Nancy and Frank!

that’s me back behind Bernice! Wooohooo!!!

We had exes at our wedding. They were people with whom we had stayed in touch, though, and both were in other relationships. Mine remains a safe friend, but not one encountered often.

Nice way to wrap it up today with the ‘I do’s’. Cool to see Greg, Karen and Mrs Evans in attendance. And a tear rolling down Nancy’s face, with Frank & Nancy holding hands. Sweet!

Bravo Zulu Brad & Toni! Live long and prosper!

Brad looks as if he’s sort of morphing into TJ.

I thought Luann’s friends weren’t invited, but I see Gunther and Bernice.

That must be the Captain’s wife sitting next to him? I wonder if anyone has figured that out. Thanks for pointing out that the cartoonist and daughter are also drawn in. -:)

I miss the Luann / Bernice / Delta trio. Overall, I just miss Delta.

I loved Toni & Brad’s arc. I can’t wait for pitter patter of little ones. <3 Hope we’ll get to see that arc in their story as well.

Gunther and Bernice are there!

AAAGGGGHHHH! WILL THIS STUPID WEDDING NEVER BE OVER?????

Are we there yet?

Greg and Karen have to sit on Toni’s side to fill out her group.

Only two people crying? (Mrs Degroot and me?)

Beautiful Wedding, glad we are all invited to it!

I hope Les in not in charge of the gift table. Guests should not bring their gifts to a wedding. Too easy for them to get “misplaced”.

She is not pushing him away. He had both hands on her left arm and we don’t know where her right arms is.

I watched my great grandson go through this last night & my husband & I were the last couple left dancing on the dance floor with 54 yrs. I wish them the same.

It occurred to me last night. Brad couldn’t attract a girl like Toni in real life. I suspect that this ‘arc’ has simply been Brad’s ‘dream’ while in a coma or after a bad drug ‘trip’. Soon, he’ll wake and realize it was all a dream, and he can go back to being his usual awkward self.

Yeah!!! Congratulations! ❤️

Yes the reception see the three disgusting guess get drunck

I’m going into a sappiness coma! Somebody get me 30 CCs of cynacism, stat!

Good arc. Don’t expect to see anything like it again in this decade. Rosa is gone and probably won’t return and Tiffany and Gunther will never get married, Luann and Bernice aren’t even in the on deck circle. Greg has cleaned house, swept away some of the well established favorites and replaced them with new low-impact strangers who nobody knows or cares about.

And there it is…savor it for tomorrow the story will have changed some. Marriage happens, here is an example.

Luann’s parents, early august 1994 strips

Time for a spinoff!

hope the strip wont stop now

Aahhhh!

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1) Thanks for pointing out the presence of Diane and the Evans’ family (there was more empty room on the Daytona side.)

2) Why does the firefighter still have soot on his face?

3) Lovely drawing, to put a star between their lips!

4) Ok, now let’s get at that cake. Wedding cake—mmmmmm.

me too, Jack, me too

Purely by coincidence i learning today that these are increasingly popular among individuals who work in heat like firefighters, in industries using chemicals that would damage metals, who are athletes who have finger swelling problems, those with arthritis, etc. According to my source this year silcon rings’ popularity spread into the general population.

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https://qalo.com

Yes, I suppose that’s the captain’s husband sitting to his left.

The aunt who raised Toni and Jonah— is she sitting beside the DeGroot’s with a friend, or by the captain, with a friend (possibly Toni’s EMT friend)? And the woman seated beside Mrs. Horner is from her assisted living home?

Missed prognostications:1) No one was wheeled to the altar (my miss)

2) Dirk did not interrupt the wedding

3) The captain did not officiate. (my miss)

4) Puddles has not made a mess (yet)

5) The firetruck did not get a flat tire or get into an accident.

Please continue with any predictions I’ve forgotten.

I’m thinking back to that panel where Toni and Brad were bounding up the stairs to the clerk’s office and the clouds and birds were sailing in the sky, and it seemed so perfect and many of us were disappointed that it wasn’t really happening (in strip domain). But we gave up that euphoric scene to be able to have this. Toni is truly enjoying the moment which shows that she has ‘evolved’ from her earlier desire to just be married and have it over with.

Ok, I’ll admit it. This got me tearing up some. Hard to believe that former slob ended up with such a great woman! WooHoo!

It will be interesting to see how many comments the actual wedding gets in comparison to Toni’s proposal to Brad on April 3, 2013. At one time, that day garnered 726 comments, and, as of this moment, is now down to 530. I wonder if today’s will make the 530.

A splendid conclusion to the great Wedding Arc!

And it is nice to see so many in the audience identified by our long-memoried commentators. Karen, Greg, and Betty deserve their invitations (but from whom?), and the former bit-players like the captain’s partner, Toni’s EMT training pal, and Diane get to make little reprises, too.

And BTW, some churches/chapels, etc., do have tiered (or stadium-style) seating. The nearby parish in an adjacent suburb to mine which I have occasionally attended is one example….

The remainder of the strip’s characters will show up as catering staff or members of a band.

And we’ll spend a good part of the coming week introducing everyone, including the “shadow people” in the back row.Maybe we’ll find out how it is that Brad ’s first crush, Diane , wrangled an invitation.

Oh, well. I guessed wrong. :)

Wait. Is that Bernice and Gunther? I thought they weren’t going to be invited…

Airman, just above the holiday card (Notice Tiff and Gunther!) is this:

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QUOTE. TCC: While retiring characters may not be the right way to put it, but some have gone away — long time crush Aaron Hill, Delta is away at school and Rosa is in Peru — how do you decide who goes away for a bit?

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GE: Karen and I spent a lot of time pondering this. Once we decided to leave high school, we had a problem: where do all the characters go? It would be unrealistic if they ALL ended up at the same college. It was clear that they’d need to be scattered, that some new characters would be introduced and that some characters would “retire.” But who? Delta was always a hard character to write because she’s too good (giving a minority character negative traits is always problematic). She was shown has having big aspirations so it seemed logical that she’d leave Luann’s little world. Gunther felt like a one-note character who’d outlived his usefulness so we wrote a story in which he followed Rosa to Peru — and was never heard from again. But when we got to showing them on the jet, we both realized that Gunther had suddenly become interesting and we needed to follow his story. Aaron Hill had definitely run his course. With a relationship story you eventually have to either consummate it or end it. You can’t keep up the “will they/won’t they” thing forever. END QUOTE

http://thecelebritycafe.com/2016/11/interview-greg-evans-creator-of-comic-strip-luann/

Am I the only one who’s curious why the strip’s namesake is not in the frame? Where is LuAnn?

Lovely wedding!!

SPOILER

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“Event” ends, and new life begins…

Congratulations Toni and Brad. What a lovely panel, I get the feels looking at it.

I had no idea the lifelike woman seating next to Greg is his wife, Betty. hope you enjoyed the wedding too, Mrs. Evans. Good to know you at last!

I’ve been looking for other instances where Greg and Karen are portrayed in the script or as characters. Has there been any? I’ve only found this drawn as characters: http://www.sdcomicfest.org/greg-evans-and-karen-evans/

Bernice and Gunner did get an invitation after all

I just hope this strip doesn’t end like the other ones. I get hooked, and then it is over with little notice.

So her friends DID get invited.

I noticed that as well

TOLD you Gunth and Bern would be there! Somehow…? I thought they weren’t invited.

Beautiful!

Diane? What’s she doing there?

I see Gunther and Bernice made it.

Diane is in there