Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for November 07, 2018

Now if it were a play pin, Shannon might have fun help build it. Am I right?

Life interrupts the fantasy.

♫ If I had a hammer

I’d hammer in the morning

I’d hammer in the evening

All over this land … ♪

Speaking of hammers, I see Tj’s sledge hammer in the background of panel 1.

“Princess Tool Bear”? “School Driver”?

“Cold Water” indeed.

It’s a cruel world poor, petulant, pouting princess.

I forget. How old is Shannon supposed to be?

Shannon – I bet Toni would have eagerly accepted a “TJ Remover” if offered.

Next on This Old House Rodger whines to Norm “[t’s not fun anymore!”

A “school” driver? LMAO

Looks like Brad is going to find something more interesting for her to do.

Shannon has just learned about studying for one trade and winding up with another.

That’s life kid get used to it in 15 years

Actually one of the more pleasant arcs in quite a while. But that last panel – I hope that GnK don’t blow it!

Remembering how small the laundry room was, this room seems to have Tardis – like qualities.

As a compromise, Toni could have Shannon make her a screwdriver.

Really? She says school instead of screw? I’m done.

Aw poor little Shannon.

Shannon is a quick study.

I wonder if Toni and Brad are ever going to learn the lesson that indulging a kid all the time is a bad idea. Shannon has got to be one of the most spoiled kids I’ve ever seen: nobody ever seems to just tell her No or put any limits on her behavior. As a result, she just walks all over them and has a short attention span even by child standards. I’ve known plenty of parents of six-year-olds, and none of their kids act like Shannon.

NOTE: I’m not describing just her behavior right here in today’s strip (after all, lots of kids get bored fast) but also the behavior around it, as well as their treatment of it. In the real world this would be a perfect opportunity for a lesson on “you agreed to something, now you have to see it through” or more likely she wouldn’t have been allowed to help in the first place because they knew she’d back out later. But Shannon here gets to do whatever she feels like and nobody says anything to her. It’s like that Twilight Zone episode with the all-powerful kid who has the whole town cowering before him, saying “that’s real good” about everything he does for fear of upsetting him. Though the week is only half-done, so I may yet be pleasantly surprised. Maybe these two are about to finally grow a spine. Fingers crossed!Oh, and well-done to all the people who predicted from the beginning that she’d last 5 minutes before getting bored and quitting.

The realities of understanding adulthood, suck.

That is adulthood. Enjoy being a kid while you can.

You want fun, kid? Wait until the inspector comes in and tells them none of it is up to code and has to be torn out and redone by a professional.

I wonder what’s Shannon’s age could be. 8, 9 years?

I hate this damn kid. With Brad and Toni building a room for her, they’re going to end up stuck with the little brat all the time.

This is going to end with Brad and Toni becoming her legal guardians. Forgot the father’s name. He’s a throwaway character.

Toni seems to not be as good at playing the game as Brad is. Often times with kids it’s all about how you sell it.

This isn’t as fun as you make sound.

Actually, I find Shannon’s declaration to be quite profound on multiple levels. And she KNOWS when she’s being “HAD.” Smart Kid. She just hasn’t learned her tools, yet.

Here, take this, Shannon. This is called a “M.A.L.L.E.T.” Now head over to this place called the “Gulag.” Then you can play “Smash the Sewing Machine.” And don’t fret. You’ll be doing the owner a BIG “favor.” ;)

True of almost every job, ever.

Can it kid! And don’t forget to wipe the sawdust off your feet before going into the house.

Sounds like Shannon is starting to get bored. And, a bored Shannon is a dangerous Shannon. Who knows what she could get into? The remodeling team better call in Aunt Luann.

Knowing someone suffering from Aphasia, Shannon’s malapropisms are getting old. C’mon Greg, time to find a different comedic “tool” for this character.

“Caution: Menial At Work”

“Why I Hate Mundane Mornings”

“You Water Know, By Now”

“One Fluid (Situation), Over The Cuckoo’s Behest”

“Get Well! Soon!”

“You’ve Got Another Drink Comin’ "

“Tools Of The Tirade”

or

“The Thirst That Could Happen”

Shannon’s ‘twisted tongue-isms’ are really no different than the adult mangling of phrases, such as “For all intensive purposes” ("For all intents and purposes "), among others. Hers is just the ‘kid-sized’ version, but in the same vein.

You’re learning, kid…

Except for Shannon’s intentional use of ‘Bwad’ when trying to get Brad’s goat, most of her mispronunciations are along the lines of Ruthie’s in ‘One Big Happy’, and mostly funny…

The menial minion makes me moody.

I resist trying to find a point here, love Shannon, and like to see Brad and Toni, in sort of, but not a Sunday foible set of panels. Let’s see where this goes, or if it’s just cute. There is so much story possibility here.

look at it this way for the kid. She is learning more from Brad and Toni than the deadbeat dad could ever teach. Another surprise could happen (and maybe in the works) we could find out Toni is pregnant. Then you would be surprised that this kid would really want to call home to Brad and Toni. I think they are a family now more so than ever before.

I can do without this story line! Back to something more interesting, please!

It never is as fun as they make it sound.

More Shannon…ZZZ

Shannon needs some friends her own age. She is always with adults.

Shannon is right, this whole story arc isn’t any fun.

I hope the Shannon arc is short – maybe G & K will jump tomorrow. I wanna see Ann Eiffel on a yacht – sweetly asking Tom to bring her another cosmo. Then they get an email – inviting them to dinner at Irma’s. Tiffany is strongly urged (required) to attend. This event would play well in live theater.

Forced labor is rarely fun.

Lucky Brad, he gets to raise another man’s sullen and difficult child. It’s the new normal, I suppose.

It rarely is…

I never understood why the cross braces on the wall were staggered like that in older homes. Newer ones line them up for the drywall.

3

Shannon is bored…. that makes a lot of sense and is quite realistic. Her saying “school” instead of “screw”…. not (IMO) particularly realistic…. unless there is some underlying pathology that Greg is leading us to discover (I sincerely doubt that is the case.). Not much else to say about the plot at the moment.

Yet again, though, I have to complement Sheriff on the green “wash” that has a “watercolor feel” in the background… and the decolorized (hence de-emphasized) background features as well. Quite pleasant to view.

Come on Toni! HumorShannon and take a school driver and then ask her to bring three cold waters so everyone can take a break together. Can’t you see she wants to be included?

I’m always impatient for the Shannon storyline to end and for the other characters to come on. The Shannon story moves SOOOOO SLOWWWW.

“And Shannon grew two inches that day”.

She was picturing constant Attention paid to Her.

Not to the actual Work.

How old is she supposed to be? Seems to me she should be speaking more clearly.

Learn now, Grasshopper. Humility suits the very young and inexperienced.

And Aunt Toni is thirsty.

I grew up thinking the color of certain fishing jigs was ‘shark tooth’ because an adult pronounced it that way. As an adult I asked a woman if she was familiar with the color ‘shark tooth’ and she said, ‘chartreuse?’ and then it hit me and I responded, ‘Yes, chartreuse’. I didn’t have the heart to correct my adult family member who had been mispronouncing it for years.