Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for July 31, 2018

well, that was quick… now the boys’ lives as step-cousins living in the guest house begins

Well, so much for those of us who postulated that we would get a plot twist in Las Vegas. Maybe WE should write this puppy. LOL

…and the world changes but most don’t notice.

Well don’t call them quickie for nothing!!!

Literal months of build-up, for this? Color me unimpressed.

Yet, in a way, I understand the point Greg is conveying. How suddenly, seemingly without warning, Gunther’s whole life has changed.

“Is that all there is? Is that all there is?”

I hope this is Gunther visualizing his checklist, not an actual event.

@ROSETTE: There was a lot of warning. Some guys would have decided to use their computer smarts to get a job so they could afford their own place off campus (and away from a step-relative who makes the guy miserable)…

Gunther needs to learn from Les: Sometime it helps a lot if you don’t give a #%^*

I’m puzzled about one thing: Gunther is supposed to be the studious guy, and Les is supposed to just be a tough guy who could not care at all about anything as tame as ‘book larnin’. Yet it’s Les who escapes what is probably not a great experience for him, either, by reading…

That was fast!

Well in the tradition of the silly comments about Luann crossing her legs in the previous arc shows interest, perhaps intimate, in Jack, does Al’s crossing his legs in this one show interest,perhaps intimate, in Irma? As to the boys, that I have to take time to process. Les is unmoved it seems, Gunther appears lost. So whither where?

So begins the downward Spiral of Gunther Berger. It may soon be that the ONLY time Gunther will even be remotely happy is when he’s attending college classes. Gunther May end up like Piro, looking for a place to “crash” each night instead of going home.

I’d say Gunther could crash at Tiffany’s dorm.

But chances are, Les will already BE there.

My favorite Nerd is DOOMED…..,

Disappointed! And I’m not usually hard to entertain. We could have had months of cartoons around Las Vegas, on all kinds of different levels! How might a homey type like Irma react to Sin City? Would she meet people from Al’s past? And which part of his past—the successful businessman or the con artist? What about family attending? Was his sister invited? Are there other relatives of the same mold? Could Gunther have aced blackjack with his superior math skills? Could this get him in trouble? Would his new cousin get him into all manner of sordid yet memorable adventures? What if people call him by some name other than Al Gray in Irma’s presence?

So much potential just dropped! For this I waited patiently through the dog park?

Leave them to their happiness, not required by us to how they find it.

@LUANN1212: To continue the tradition of comments about things that probably aren’t really important: did anyone notice that Gunther wore a suit to the wedding (gray, even!), while Les wore the same thing he had on when he flew in? And Irma wasn’t in the big, fancy wedding dress of a first-time bride, but she did okay for herself in a decent yellow dress with a bow at her waist. And in the first frame, Irma and Al are smiling at each other. Meanwhile, in the last frame, worried Gunther end escape-into-reading Les don’t look at each other or even sit near enough to discuss how they might try to get along…

I’m thinking in the last frame he’s thinking about what his mother is doing with mr grey now.

I’m only disappointed that he didn’t spring for the Elvis wedding chapel

I have a sneaking hunch that this was the event. Now, off to Gunther’s “work” camp with Leslie.

.

“Arbeit macht frei” (work sets you free) Although probably not for Gunther…

It took a second look to realize what was going on. Boys were there JUST for the wedding and NOTHING ELSE. Moreover, unless this is a dream sequence, it’s all over – Irma is now Mrs. Grey!

No plot twist! Just jam those two boys into the Gulag Guest House, as Mordy likes to put it.

Between what’s going on in Luann, Prickly City, and Dick Tracy, methinks it’s time for a vacation from Go Comics for a few days.

See ya next week!

Now the question is: Will Leslie and Gunther kill each other before the newly-married couple comes back from Vegas?

Not only did that just happen, it happened fast. ✨

Wow. I’m used to this strip engaging in a lot of buildup for minimal payoff (the infamous NYC trip springs to mind) but this is a new low. They got a joke out of it (albeit a visual gag only) but was it worth all the wasted story potential?

@BRD: And that phrase also appeared at the entrance to Dachua, Auschwitz and a number of other ‘work’ camps where the inmates (and the rest of the world) were lulled into thinking that if they worked hard for the Vaterland, that they would be freed. For most of the Jews, Gypsies, Catholics, physically disabled, mentally disabled, Poles, Russians, gay men and others not loved by the Nazis (regarded as ‘untermenschen’, persons who were racially inferior to the superior Aryans), the only ‘freedom’ came in the smoke of the ovens. I won’t bother to complete this thought. You probably already know what I would have said…

I’m surprised that no one has gotten married at The Fuse (I half expected that budget-minded Brad and Toni would have opted for the obvious venue). Oh, well. Move along…

Do I see a hint of a smile on Mr. Grey’s face?

Les… can read????

I wonder where the airline found a jet with 4-across seating and no aisles? ;-)

I hope their honeymoon last longer then the wedding

JFC I thought we would have a whole two weeks dedicated to this wedding.

Seems very descriptive of the two “brothers” – staying on either side of their respective families.

Love it, short and sweet, no fuss.

Now they go back home, where Gunther announces to Les that he’s thought it over and decided that the roommate situation won’t work out and he’s getting his own studio apartment or dorm room on campus.

At least that’s would happen if Gunther were a normal young man faced with the prospect of having to live with the mooching bully who made his high school life a living he**.

She didn’t wear that dress! But since when does anyone with as much $$ as Mr. Grey sit in a middle seat?

I know this seems to have happened quickly, but I think that tells me that the wedding isn’t the story… just a device in the story. The real story is how Gunther will evolve and what will happen to him. Will he have the strength and courage to break free from the lot that “Uncle Al” has assigned him at this point, or will he succumb to it in an effort to stay close (and have access) to his mom? Gunther – Time to decide. I say, go make your own life… preferably with Tiff!

So much for Las Vegas. Unless the 1st and last panels are separated by time.

It’s a comic.It’s not real.Enjoy it for what it is.

In all the frames, the two boys are separated by the happy couple, except the last, where there is two empty seats and Gunther with a shocked look and Les happily reading. I think that the newly weds must be joining the mile high club.

Well, I thought Gunther & Les would at least stay in Vegas for a bit.

I see this relationship taking an intersting turn. Les, will find advantages in having Guther around and Guther will manage to find the good in Les. Buckle up, Buttercup.

Someone is getting some action!!!!

Perhaps the next sub plot is Brad and Toni buying the Berger house?

Roomies with nothing to say to each other. And yet, I think Gunther and Les actually DO kinda get along. “Louie, this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship”

Poor Gunther just looks so alone, dejected and lonely. Not a single word, yet there is so much feeling in these three panels. Look how Ma Berger gazes so loving at Mr. grey, who seems to be adoring her back. Les, as usual is only wrapped up in himself, leaving dear Gunther all alone.

Okay, Gunth, try HARD not to think about what’s occurring on the wedding night. 3:)

Nothing interesting has happened in this strip since the Gunther-Tiff salamander arc!

There’ll be a hot time in the old town tonight! NOT!

There seems to have been a patch to the GoComics responses. Yo can now respond to two different responders to a comment and the notifications will be sent properly. Maybe?

See? You see Gunther? This is what you get for being a Nerdy “Nice Guy” that is “a true friend to all” but once dared raise your voice at your mom. You get to spend the foreseeable future in a tiny house with a bully that once physically abused you and have the “honor” of being his Slave. So let that be a lesson to you!

Or as it says in the Bible:

“The Wages Of Sin, is LES!”

heh heh. Love that last frame.

Mile high club :)

EDIT: diannell had an interesting take earlier on this strip. (S)he wondered if this panel was merely Gunther musing about the upcoming trip. While waiting for their flight to be called, perhaps.

More likely it’s as Schrodinger’s Dog opined: Now we’re shown “the REAL motive” for the whole marriage arc. I.e., to throw Gunther and Les together in Mordy’s gulag.

either Les is shopping at Skymall or he’s reading the Anarchists Cookbook

Was that it? A 4-year build-up to a one-panel wedding? Gunther, you came home from Peru to prevent that??? This non-ceremony was worse than the “Yule Daze” Christmas non-pageant. Please tell me that mini-Elvis will step out of a shower and assure his wife Luann that “It was all a dream, honey,” or that Jonah will watch Shannon as she stares intently into a “Welcome to Las Vegas” snow globe and muse, “I don’t even know if she can hear me, because she sits there, all day long, in her own world, staring at that toy. What’s she thinking about?”

Anyone else notice that Mr. Gray is not smiling and Gunther’s mom is ecstatic? I wonder how many times he’s done the ‘Vegas wedding’ routine…..Hmmmmm

On what planet are there two (2) empty seats on an airplane? Especially on a flight from Vegas to So. Cal?

Gunther is hoping that ‘…Whatever HAPPENS in Vegas, STAYS in Vegas’, but it won’t!! :)

To all those who expected considerably more drama in this week’s arc, hey it’s only Tuesday! In the words of the late, great Yogi Berra, “It ain’t over till it’s over.”

“What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas” at least storywise.

They were supposed to get married in August. Today is still July.

I hope Al at least let Gunther and Les stay for a meal after the wedding.

No comments on Irma’s wedding dress?Gunther changed into a suit for the wedding, but Les is wearing the same clothes in all 3 panels.

Hmmm… Les is a reader.

Maybe the new bride is pregnant! It is possible, if she had Gunther when she was young and Gunther is supposed to be 19/20ish, she would only be a young 40. Plenty of women have babies in their 40’s Silly thought!

Is today’s strip just a poorly conceived “tease”, like the other non-wedding that turned out to be just imaginary (Brad and Toni’s in the 2 September 2016 strip)?

@dblbaraje: It is fascinating how many posters here seem to be almost obsessed with the idea of characters being pregnant. Every time Toni and Brad appear, there is a barrage of comments about how she must be pregnant and she’s gonna have to stop being a firefighter now, and how hard it will be for her and Brad to adopt her niece and also raise a baby. A whole independent ‘toon is being created by these posters. During the dog park arc, there was discussion about whether Max the dog was actually female and Puddles would be a father. And now, a pregnant Irma. What’s next????

Schrodinger’s Dog suggests that this whole thing has been a set up to put Gunther and Les together. Now THAT would be disappointing and scary, but possible. I held on to the hopes of a “Dallas” solution where Gunther wakes up to realize that it has all been a dream and Rosa is waiting in the shower for him.

This does not bode well…

Cracked windshield in the cockpit. Plane goes down. Les and Gunther bond while leading passengers out of desert.

3

Interestingly “abrupt” transitions here, IMO. The start of the new arc on Monday, has Gunther having the last remnants of moving out, and today has the arrival, the wedding, and the departure all in a few small panels. So, what is going on?

1. It seems probable that Greg did not have much interest in the “wedding” arc itself between Mr. Grey and Irma. No matter how much most of us were hoping for more “grist” about ’ole Al… it seems Greg wants to keep him “mysterious” for a while longer.

2. Although having three panels show the arrival, the wedding, and the departure strongly suggests that Gunther and Les probably arrived and left in the same day…. it may not necessarily be so. It could be that Greg just did not want to focus on Vegas and perhaps Les and Gunther have been there at least two days if not more before returning. Yes, the clothing Les and Gunther are wearing suggests this is all in the span of a day, but again perhaps not. It does seem a little odd to have had the wedding occur in Vegas with Les and Gunther in attendance for such a short period (and without any meaningful story) when instead Greg could have had a simple ceremony in Pitts and then Al and Irma jet off to Vegas for their honeymoon.

3. The presumption seems to be that the rest of this week with be Les and Gunther “adjusting” to life in (Mordy’s) “Gulag” home. If so…. perhaps the question is now…. "Will Tiffany be invited over to the new “digs” right away?" And, if so, by whom?

4. Or, might we get some days of Irma and Al having their honeymoon? (I tend to think this is doubtful.)

Maybe tomorrow will show that the “wedding” hasn’t happened yet, other than in Gunther’s worried imagination, and the actual Vegas trip is still coming up. The 2 Sep 2016 imaginary wedding was shown to be just that, on the very next day. So stay tuned.

Enough of Gunther and Less. How about Luann and Bernice??

When exactly did Gunther go back to his high-school plaid shirts? Certainly a while ago, but I just noticed. Was it behind the scenes during a hiatus, or did it occur suddenly?

I like the little happy smirks on Al and Irma’s faces on the plane going to Vegas. I guess the Evans are more interested in how Les and Gunther will fare together going forward. If they stay like this (no interaction), maybe it is for the best.

Another example of “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”.

My thought are that rice is to be thrown at weddings, not confetti.

Hmmmm, I like Mr. Grey but I can not help thinking about Ann, their past, and that a wife can not be compelled to witness against her husband, and then I also wonder about Irma’s first husband…

⇧ pipe tobacco

“The presumption seems to be”

Would that be “we might assume” in normal english…?

What do you mean, “Is that all?” There was actually a panel showing something involving the wedding! Remember Luann in “West Side Story,” where the musical itself never appeared in the strip, or the talent show where nobody was actually shown performing, even after Luann and Bernice set up some sort of act? Greg could have just as easily shown just Gunther and Les sitting in a chapel in that second panel.

I cannot believe that this did not go on for at least a week, showing all the ‘joys’ of going thru TSA, the boarding process, and flying cattle class, lost luggage, flight delays or cancellations, oh, so many opportunities for entertainment were missed.

And the totally unbelievable part about being an empty seat, much less two, on a plane.

Did Elvis perform the ceremony?

That was a bit anticlimactic. The Big Las Vegas Wedding Event lasted just one panel, sandwiched between plane rides back and forth for poor Gunny and his nemesis, Leslie?!

Well, onward, back to the Guest House of Horrors!

Well. that about sums it up.

Please please please no post coitus strips of Mr. Grey and Mom on the honeymoon. PLEASE!

Les is finally catching up on all those back issues of “Knife Fight Monthly” and “Switchblade Digest”.

300+ comments, so I’m not sure that this hasn’t already been noted, but the aircraft has no windows. I’ve been on cargo planes that had more windows than this thing.

It’s Greg’s story to tell, how he wished to tell it. No one is forcing anyone to keep reading it if you really have a problem and don’t like his storytelling.

Two new couples: Irma and Hitch & Gunther Unger and Les Madison.

They’re going home in a CT scan, with seats.

That was it? Talk about anticlimactic. I thought we’d get a peek into Al Grey’s past.