Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for May 18, 2018

Keep this up, Fay, and your mother is BOUND to know! (I guess Saturday’s strip will see Axel with his brother.)

Luann chaperones Faye and Axel’s brother chaperones him. I don’t see a problem. Just the fib Faye told her mom.

Repeating myself from a couple of days ago; we may have missed the possibility that Fay’s mother knows her daughter and is right in keeping Fay under her thumb.

After returning from the movie, Fay could tell her Mom that Axel was there, along with his brother. So then the lie becomes that Fay intended for that to happen without disclosing it. In this world full of lies – a pretty small one.

We’ll see if the resolve holds up once the boys arrive. ✨

You can’t know what will happen if you go inside, Fay. That building is alive. Windows magically appear and steps to the door disappear.

Nice one Luann! You may be pleasantly surprised!(Or not!) You may also have more fun than Fay.

Fay, you’re too desperate and involving others in your lies. Not a good start. And boys sense desperation and they flee. Cool it, girl.

Well tomorrow night we either meet Fay’s brother (Plan 1) or Luann takes Fay home (Plan 2). Plan 1 would be much more entertaining – although it seems like some of you would experience righteous joy in Plan 2.

legal maxim: it’s not a lie if you believe it when you say it

aaaaagh!! The suspence is killing me!! When are we going to see axel’s brother?!!

Proud of Luann for standing her ground.

Luann, just call Fay’s mom and let Fay and her mom sort it out….maybe she’ll let Fay stay, maybe not, probably not, but in any case its not your place to make that decision…and Fay’s mom been upfront and pretty clear with you about her daughter’s social life, and at 13, Fay’s mother’s wishes should be respected…how this will work out in a few years down the road with a potentially rebellious teenager…well that’s another story line for another day. Give into Fay now and what’s the lesson here ? The way to get ahead is to lie, dress like a little hooker and have your friends cover for you?

Fay you are heading for trouble fast.

I am not sure why she feels the need to lie to her mother. She let her do drama with Axel and she knows Axel and it will be chaperoned. You would think the mom wouldn’t have much of a problem with that.

@SAY-MY-NAME: I don’t think we will ever see Axel’s brother. Look at what Fay is saying. She’s not saying ’Let’s do this’. She’s saying ‘Let ME do this. In other words, Fay was expecting Luann to just give her a ride and get lost, leaving her alone with Axel and his brother. A 13 year old being ’chaperoned’ by the brother of her date, with no other semi-adult around? Not the smartest move.

C’mon, Luann! Let us have an intriguing storyline for once!

OK – You righteous hypocrites: When your wife asks you, “Is my #** too big?”…………..

@KENHENSE: I really don’t understand you on this. Fay is clearly saying that she expects Luann to get lost and leave her alone with Axel and his brother. And you think that’s ok for a 13-year-old?

Today’s “Jumpstart” is also centered around a misrepresentation, in the form of a failure to tell the whole truth. Is it National Tell The Truth Day today or something? Or is there something in the air that’s causing cartoonists to ponder the question of lies?

Fay… “Life lies in the lies of life.”. Call your Mother now, or I’m leaving – with or without you. My first stop will be based on YOUR decision.

Luann will give in. She knows all too well how Faye is feeling right now. It’ll turn into a double date and Luann will fall for Axel’s big brother.

Boy, the Fuse has been the backdrop to quite a bit of drama lately …..

Now that everyone is commenting about Alex’s brother, I guess Greg will shift to a new arc and keep us waiting for about a month :D

For some reason, I’m expecting a love connection between Luann and the older brother…. which will make Luann tempted to lie to Faye’s mom. Drama and a life lesson will ensue.

It’s not “a date” when friends run into each other at an event. And basically, that’s what this is.

Luann should just tell Fay that if her mother finds out about this, she’s going to fire Luann and end the tutoring.

Who says they will get enough seats together for this “date”? Maybe Fay and Luann will end up sitting together, while Axel and his brother will have to sit elsewhere. :D No date, but they will have shared movie night. It will still give Fay and Axel something to talk about later.

Luann; Faye’s mother may appreciate you “encouraging” Faye to be honest with her, and, Faye will (eventually) will also. But remember when you were Faye’s age, and, trying to arrange situations to meet Aaron Hill.

The Smothers Brothers worked a similar bit once: TOM: “Did you tape it?” DICK: “No.” TOM: “Then I did not do it.”

It would be very Luannish if Axel’s older brother ends up being Luann’s age, and she decided to hang out with them after all.

Uhhhhhhh, Luann? It behooves me to point this out but you’re NOT in ypur car taking Fay home, YET.

The longer the “Stall” the greater the chances You WILL run into Axel AND “brother.”

Who knew that my reading of comics at breakfast would lead to an in depth ethics discussion? This is fascinating.

With all the other guesses flying around, and given that we know next to nothing about his background, what if the “Big-Brother” is TJ

Actually I’m going to guess the big brother is either Jack or the other guy from college that Luann knows (the grumpy art class guy…)

In fact, I can totally see grumpy art class guy being platypus boy’s big bro.

I guess I will chirp in here for my guess on who will be Axel’s brother, Nil. It seems to me that they have a striking resemblance, like what two brothers would have.

That kid is growing up to be a politician.

A thirteen year old brain vs. a nineteen year old one should be no contest. Alas, some adults keep on rationalizing and manipulating their entire lives. I’ll resist being more specific.

Logically, Fay should receive some negative consequence from this deception. Will Greg make it a life lesson for Fay while preserving positive relationships all around. And, can he convince us that Luann would be capable of pulling this off?

PLUS

How will he do that while still managing to introduce Luann to her new heart throb? (I still say it’s Bernice’s recently discovered brother.)

As my mother always told me “The wrong is in doing wrong, not in getting caught.” Come to think of it, she’s 87 and still says that. And you know what? She’s still right.

Do you suppose Axel’s brother will be someone Luann knows? Like maybe the “other kid” in the art class whose name I’ve forgotten.

Wake up and open your eyes, Luann, you have a very awake and cunning problem staring you in the face. I say give her back her makeup and let her cut a swath of destruction and broken hearts through all those unsuspecting little boys. Make their day, Fay!!!!

took a moment to notice Faye’s seductive makeover is all gone.

Yesterday, they were standing just outside the car. Today, they are standing next to the Fuse’s door, and the car seems to have removed itself from the picture.

As a hint for the continuation to be expected, this isn’t a very good sign… ;s

I guess the three people (one shorter than the other two) in shadow visible through the doorway are a bouncer, big brother, and Axel.

Luann’s not happy she’s been “played”.

why do I have the distrubing feeling that the Big brother is going to be Jack?

If the brother is anybody we know, my money is on Nil.

But I think Luann is going to take the responsible course of informing Fay’s mother. Still, she could go several ways about this…

One way would be to actually call the date off and take Fay back home. However, the convenient disappearance of her car indicates that we’re not going that way.

Another way could be to go about halfway between Fay’s degree of trickery and honesty, such as:

‘Mrs. Garcia? Hello, this is Luann. We just got to the Fuse, and I see Axel is here too, with his brother. Considering your reaction to him before, I figured you should know…’

With an intro like that, Mrs. Garcia may just say ‘well, that was before I met him. But now that I know him, and seen him act with Fay, he’s such a nice kid… I guess it’s ok, if you’re there too.’

I miss Dirk

What really bothers me is Faye’s ability to switch personas so easily and flawlessly. Which one is the real one and which one is pretending?

I don’t have a problem with taking fictional characters seriously, but what concerns me is the overwhelming tendency here to prioritize ethical/moral criticism of those characters. Is this Puritan New England of the 17th century or what?

Stick to your guns, Luann.

@JIMTOBIN: There are a bunch of guys with your name who are famous for a variety of reasons (one is an author in Ann Arbor, one was a baseball player). Just out of curiousity, are you an author in Ann Arbor?

…..

Now back to our ‘toon. Yes, this is Puritan New England. Sort of. This comment board is something like a mirror held up to the US, but a less angry version than is reflected back at us from those who post at Darrin Bell’s ’toons, for example.

…..

And I am concerned about all those who are so intent on the idea that this whole thing is simply a setup for Luann to meet yet another guy she will go crazy over and forget her responsibility to Fay. That is as one-dimensional as the ’you-must-be-punished-severely approach to Fay. I want Luann to keep being the grown up and not turn into her high school self again. And I want Fay to stop playing everybody…

@FLASH GORDON: Conveniently, everyone assumes the chaperone would be Axel’s OLDER brother. What if it’s his twin, or even a kid so much younger that his ‘chaperone’ function involves keeping Axel too busy with minding him that he can’t get involved with a girl? THAT would be hilarious, and a kick in the behind to those who insist that this whole thing is just set up so that Luann meets her ‘next soul mate’…

The dating trends nowadays have me completely confused. Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I was a young teenager of 13 or 14, I didn’t even WANT to go on a date, and wouldn’t have been allowed to if I did. I went out with groups of several of my friends, male and female, and nobody was “with” anybody else – we all just went and had fun. So it astonishes me when I hear that 13-year-olds are going on “dates.” But at any age, when a child starts dating, the parents are right to be very much on guard to see how things go. This is the time when the child has to show that they can be trusted and allowed further privileges. To start lying right off the bat is wrong. Even when I went out with my friends, I had to say WHO I was with, WHERE we were going, and WHEN we would be back. If I had lied, I would have been in trouble, and rightly so. Especially at age 13 or 14! As I got older, my parents were less restrictive, but I still had to tell the truth about the basics. I’m not talking about a tiny white lie, for instance, that we ended up at Taco Bell instead of the library (that actually was accidental, because we didn’t know the library closed early on Friday!) But if we had gone, not to Taco Bell, but to someone’s house who had older siblings there drinking, for instance, would have been a different situation, not a good one. But what we did showed that we did have good judgment in deciding what to do when a situation change. But the situation with Luann and Fay is a big lie, pretending not to have a date when you do have one. That’s the opinion of this ole gal, anyway, who is glad she doesn’t have to worry about these things anymore! And I’m not saying I don’t enjoy the storyline – it’s certainly opened my eyes to the changes in the world! :-)

People are overlooking the fact that, not only did Fay lie (or omit telling the truth) to her mother and Luann, she did the same thing to Axel. She started to tell him that her mother didn’t know she was going to see him, and turned it into a statement about her mother not knowing how to chaperone. Not a good way to start a relationship, lying…

A small sign has been added to the open door.

Think it contains the word “lingerie?”

I bookmarked this page because I see it as a nice comic to use in my business and business law classes at City Colleges of Chicago on ethics and the law. The law requires you to tell the true, but ethical systems, not necessarily so much. Ethics is relative, although right is right, which is the issue anyway. I won’t get into a long discussion on that, but I do want to make two comments, late I know but it has been a hellacious day: (1) I hope we see the brother, and they have the date anyway, Fay wanted this so much, as did Axel, and 2, everyone is dying to see who the brother is (thanks Greg, jeez); (3) for those Luann haters, isn’t Luann acting responsibly just as she has been raised. She is turning into Nancy.

To me, the issue with dishonesty is not whether we have done it ourselves in the past, as if that somehow justifies it, or mitigates it. Part of the issue with lying is the expectation that the recipient believe it. If you lie to me, fully expecting me to accept it as truth, then you misuse my trust in your integrity and you assume I am blind enough to believe you.

A real world twist: What if Axel gets physical on Fay, while his brother is focusing on the movie? Hard to expect Fay to fend him off. But at that point, Luann is in a big bind. So this is a case where one little secret can grow into Godzilla.

@VILYEHM: Maybe the small sign on the door has something to do with the bigger sign on the building that talks about “Movie Nite”…

@KENHENSE: Yeah, the possibility of a negative outcome is obviously one of the reasons why some of us have not been cheering Fay on and debating whether Luann will fall madly in love with Axel’s brother…

Deceit, whether by omission or by commission (lying), is still deceit. And when the deceiver is a 13-year old girl and the deceivee is her mother, it’s wrong. Luann should know this.

What if Axel’s big bro is Jack?? They could be Step brothers

It will be Aaron, why else bring him or this whole storyline up?

Is Fay supposed to be like Tiffany was in the early years? Is this Greg and Karen’s way of reminding us that we now actually like Tiffany?