Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for August 23, 2017

you’re quite a party animal, Bernice

Who needs men when we have each other? Wait, that came out wrong.

It’s like that song by Destiny’s Child.

I like the first panel background jokes where Bernice is standing in front of the Human Sexuality section as she asks Luann about Jack, and Luann is front of the History section as asks Bernice about Nil. I kind of wish Evans had picked book sections to go along with Quill and Piro too.

Ever since the New York trip, and Pru pumping Luann up about independence from traditional romantic expectations, Luann has been pretty comfortable being unattached. Even horsing around with Jack has just been for something to do.

But I don’t think that Bernice ever quite got on the same wagon. She chased Piro, ad nauseam, until she sensed something sideways with him. And in this episode, I think her flippant gesture and remark reflect that she’s not as happy about the status quo as is Luann.

“We don’t need guys to chauffeur us around. We can just ride our bisexual.”

Bernice is the Queen of Snark. “Woo & Hoo.” I like it! Yeah the book section labels in the background fit like a glove. Glad the arc with Jack didn’t get serious. Too young for bars (I think they’re 19) – where can Lu & Bern go on the prowl? Bern is definitely a harder target to hit than Lu, who brings out the good in most people.

In spite of the bisexual fantasies of some of the boys in this comment board, I am quite sure that is not the intent of this panel. It will, by the way, be awhile before we get back to the Ann Eiffel arc, but I think we will soon, otherwise a whole new arc would need to be started. On the other hand there was a strong hint, and has been that Ann is bisexual, but I very much doubt that is the intent with Luann and Bernice. They are probably going through what most young women go through with relationships, which is it is hard to find one that works, for a lot of reasons. Which tells me that somehow one of the men mentioned, or maybe whole news ones will come into the picture. At least Luann did not mention Aaron Hill for those who like to go back 20 years.

Greg is on a roll. Perhaps more questions will be answered over the next few days!

Someone yesterday said it wouldn’t be long until the assortment of guys were mentioned . . they were right.

There goes years of my life I’ll never get back.

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. “Carefree, Independent Women,” Riiiiiiight.

You want the TRUTH, Ladies? Face It. Deep, Deep Down inside, YOU Two are Just as Lonely as Tiffany Is. Else the Subject of Guys would have NEVER Come Up.

But its Not Their “Fault,” Folks. This whole “College Set-Up” has been Truly Weird. I mean, Here You Have Interesting, Lovely College Gals (and I’m including Tiffany ), that Guy’s are Barely Interested In?? Gals that Guys hardly ever Walk up and Talk to? College Students Enjoying Their first taste of REAL *Freedom," away from Their Parents, and All They Want to Do is Focus on Their Studies and Careers? That’s NOT Luann, Bernice, or Tiffany. THAT’S, Gunther. And Gunther gets Criticized for It! Things have changed DRASTICALLY since I graduated from College over 4 decades ago. Excuse Me for saying this, but back in “My” day? College was a sort of “Happy Hunting Ground,” for both Sexes.

But You Wanna Know what the Really SAD Part about Today’s Strip Is?

Gunther, WASN’T even MENTIONED.

And “He” has a “History” with BOTH these Ladies. Sad.

“Strange Days,” Indeed……,

Two carefree independent women who flunked the Bechdel test.

Love Bernice’s reaction.

Meanwhile back at the Fuse.

She should really give Jack a chance. He seems to be far more than the dumb jock people think of him as being.

Aah, “Free and independent!”.  The cry of the single guy or gal.  A.k.a.:“Yeah…. that’s the ticket!”.  Not that that should ever be confused with actually being functionally independent as a person (completely a separate thing from “relationship status”- you can always be a highhly functioning person, regardless of that ‘status’).  But nonetheless, it always strikes me as funny, that this usually seems to be the “go-to” fallback position, when we’re free, but open to dating!

OK, still a hopeless romantic—I would like to see her end up with Quill someday.

Hang with Borenice and you will be carefree and independent forever, Luann.

“Undeclared”

“Thelma And Lu-ise”

“Life In The Detached Houses”

“Carbon Copy Dating”

2 Wild And Ca-razzy Gals!"

“Where The Boys Are…n’t…” (♬)

“Piro Don’t Row My Boat!”

“Man Allayed, Jack"

“She Called ‘Go!’… Nil Annoyed…”

“Where There’s A Quill, There’s A Quay”

“A Load Of Unloading”

“Cargo/Nerve Decoder”

“Take A Penny, Leave A Penny”

“Hot Leads Turn To Cold Trails”

“In The Pendant, Is A Treasure”

“Indiividually Wrapped”

“Where The Wild Things Aren’t”

or

“What Is The Price Of Free?”

I have seen some responses to the CASUAL MENTION of guys these two young women are anything BUT serious about. Some get it. They realize it is just touching base on a topic that is nothing more than recreational, that Luann and Bernice have (THANKFULLY) graduated beyond the high school girl romance-romance take and moved on to casual recreation including casual dating. This is a casual mention of casual dating to update the readership on that and on Luann’s foot. Nothing more. Casual, casual, casual…

Young men have discussions about young women and dating or “dating”, but a big difference is that the female discussions tend to be more accurate. At one point in our early twenties a group of us decided to compare how many young men said they had been involved with us versus how many really were. 90% of the claimants were lying. For one of us, someone who was working a minimum of 48 hours per week, sometimes also working part time jobs, and highly involved in three charities there were so many claims of dating or “dating” by young men that she would never have had time to do the things she really was doing, or even to eat or sleep. I suspect that a character written like Tiff might, perhaps unbeknown to her, have a problem with this, just as Pru had Les’s false claims of dating.

Meanwhile, Mordy, watch out! There is a self-proclaimed mind-reader who gets jealous of people who make even easy accurate predictions. Personally, i figure this one was pretty predictable because they are two friends touching base on each others’ lives who are not in relationships serious enough to explicitly share. Besides, the Evanses periodically update the readership.

Bisexual? Romance simmering between B and L? Come on. They are just best friends sharing a moment. Get your minds out of the gutter. Stop trying to reading something into innocent moments or remarks.

Lots of “hands” there Luann. Really BIG hands in fact.

Okay, maybe it is time for

(trademarked by Jimm? ;-D). How many strange scenarios can people come up with which tie together multiple ongoing threads and strip mysteries?

How about the two of you act your age and drink some wine? You’re both like 35 by now….

7

Time for a pipe and coffee break….. and my analysis of Luann:

Very nice interplay between Bernice and Luann today! I do enjoy Greg’s “suggestion” of some of the “behind the scenes” thoughts of Bernice and Luann by the categories of books being displayed as each speaks. Very, very clever if it was done intentionally (I presume it was.). Onto questions and ideas….

1. The presumption regarding Jack…. from Luann’s response, she seems satisfied with a non-romantic friendship with Jack. While, I think that Jack could be an interesting and nice suitor for Luann, regular friendship is great too.

2. The presumption regarding Nil…. it appears that Bernice is nonplussed about Nil, and does not show any particular interest in further investigating a friendship or a romantic relationship. For me, this is a bit sad, because I find the interplay between Bernice and Nil to be one that is ripe with interesting possibilities to explore at least as friends. Perhaps Greg will bring them back together as friends at some point.

3. The presumption (a joyous presumption, I may add) regarding Quill…. he is GONE and my opinion is GOOD RIDDANCE!!!!!! I hope that Greg has “volcano-ized” him forever!

4. The presumption regarding Piro… it appears that Bernice has gotten over her somewhat obsessive infatuation with Piro… which is a good thing for her. I do hope that Greg may consider having Piro return and perhaps still have the development or exploration of romance between Bernice and Piro. I find them a very intriguing potential romantic couple.

Pipe and coffee have been consumed…. back to work for me…. but, if I take another break, I will take a stab at a Whackazoid Theory.

Alcohol has been shown to be useless. No aid to the body, just damage. Heart, liver and brain.

Anyone who gets bored with the lives of modern teen girls depicted here can read about Fannie Quigley. Try the trimmed URL below, or one without the questionmark at the end if this does not work:

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/fannie-quigley-alaska-gold-rush?

Bernice’s “WOO HOO” and finger twirling….tells me she wants a guy in her life. Which probably is not going to happen anytime soon.

Luann has ‘excepted’ no man in her life ….so she will SOON meet the love of her life. I’m hoping that Fay has an older brother. Little sister and big brother and a Luann romance would make a good arc.

@TUTTIBUG5-

Greg’s already done that with Bernices’ brother.

Boooooooooooooorrrrrrrrriiiiiiinnnnnnnggggggggggggggggg!!

Every Hoo down in Hoo-Ville liked going “Woo!” a lot. But Bernice, who lived just north of Hoo-VIlle, did not…

For many women, including those who ultimately prefer commitment with a male partner, bisexual tendencies and practices, while young, are a natural part of their psychology. The following Wikipedia article includes results of a 1986 study:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisexuality

It states: “… They also found that [male-female] marriages with a bisexual female were happier than heterosexual unions, observed less instance of hidden infidelity, and ended in divorce less frequently.” The article also states that women with high sex drive are more likely to be bisexual, which may explain part of why they often have a good sex life with their husbands.

Also, consider how affectionate most women are, toward each other, compared to straight men with each other. The genders are naturally very different in this regard.

If bisexuality is natural to many seemingly “straight” women, I don’t think that principle applies broadly to men. It’s long been very well known that bisexual males who marry a woman are notoriously unfaithful. They may marry a woman in an attempt to have some “normalcy” in their social lives, but in practice seem to be predominately gay. An honest gay man would just accept a gay lifestyle, instead of stringing along some woman into what might become a disastrous marriage.

But for those posters who think that some men have a prurient preoccupation with bisexual females, I’d suggest that this “preoccupation” is based on an instinctual knowledge that such women often turn out to be the very best lovers and life partners.

So the humor that Namrepus and I expressed here is not “sick” or having our minds in the “gutter”. It’s completely healthy jesting about the potentials of the women in this strip, whether all of them ever actually act on such impulses or not.

On this day, 8/23/17, nothing happened.

With the mention of all the guys (except Gunther) it would seem almost a set-up that they will appear again soon. I just hope they don’t appear in Zebo’s class again. I don’t see why any of them, including Luann, really need another art class at this point in school unless that is their major or minor. Bernice appears less than thrilled she is without a man in her life right now. Which makes me wonder if Greg is up to something that will bring back Piro or Nil or both into her world.

I would speculate that it will take awhile for Bernice to learn that happiness is generated more from our inner being than from anything external and as ephemeral as your latest crush.

We are carefree, independent, and dateless women!

I thought Jack made a great love interest, if not a buddy, for Luann. They seemed to have a great time at the bowling alley. For some reason some on this board seem to think Luann should experiment with a same sex relationship. While common enough for a co-ed and there were times Luann looked a little butch, I cannot see a relationship other then friendship between her and Bernice. I am curious though. Did Luann and Quill go all the way? If not was it Luann who hit the brakes? Luann is a sweet young lady, who falls in love easily, but never takes it beyond close friendship. I’m wondering if she falls in love with being in love and not with the boy in question.

Realizing that you, as a woman, can be carefree and independent is definitely something to celebrate.

Luann must have some Deadpool-level healing powers, because I’m pretty sure a broken foot doesn’t heal that fast in real life. Doesn’t it take at least 3 months or so? And the strip where she broke it wasn’t all that long ago.But I guess when the plot point has served its purpose there’s no need for it anymore, logic be damned.Still, not as bad as 9 Chickweed Lane, where that Chinese lady suddenly owned an airline mid-flight, or when she went from barely having learned English to somehow being intimately familiar with our language’s most obscure slang and cultural references.

So, Luann expresses that she is accepting, even happy with, her manlessness. Bernice, less so (woo and hoo, with gestures). This could mark a new departure for Luann (the strip as well as the character); or, it could be just brave talk, signifying nothing….

Depends on hoo you want to woo.

Woo has another meaning, a siren song for the false, fake and ephemerally empty.

ladies, just a thought, but if you want a man to stick around, try “putting out”

Remember W. C. Fields’s reply to being told where in China he was.

Consierge. “Wuhu!”

Fields.“Don’t let this carnation fool you.”

Yippee and skippee…