Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for August 18, 2020

oh, hey, Jack

I didn’t know you felt that way. I always thought you two were just friends.

Called it. ✨

…3…2…1 – Enter Jack. This strip should renamed “Obvious” because only the obvious ever happens here.

Just how far did Luann throw that ball?!?

Luann can be fetching at times. ;-)

Bernice, stop trying to make “fetch” a thing!

Opportunity – Jack and Bernice (soulmates) ?

Don’t use Bernice’s first line on an airplane.

Jock, could you maybe try hoisting your shorts up to your nipples? They’re just not high enough. You look so unfashionable.

Pffft. Bernice meets not a new guy but just Jack. Did he bring a friend??

Yes, Luann can be ‘fetching’. (But that’s what she is, Bernice, not what she’s doing…)

Well, Mordy, you were right that Jack showed up. I’m disappointed, though. Hoped it would be someone new, if a guy showed up. What I really hoped was that Luann would get a call from the CEO of Kidz First, telling her they were going to 24/7 child care and offering her an evening job plus a room to live in…

Jack seems to be drawn a bit odd today. Bike shorts and a puff of hair at the back of his head.

Jack: “So where’s Luann?”

Bernice: “Fetching”.

Jack: “Thanks. You look pretty sharp too. But again, where’s Luann?”

Get closer, Jack – Bernice finds you to be “attractive”

Does Jack have a dog? Or does he just cruise dog parks?

So the Obvious™ direction of the strip will be Luann and Bernice fighting over Jack. That’s like fighting over who gets that last merde sandwich.

So help me, my younger brother’s dog trained his baby to fetch! The dog would take a toy in his mouth and fling it as far as he could, and my giggling nephew would crawl after it and bring it back to him.

Were Luann fetching that’s a great line.

Is this a beginning? I’ve called for a Lu & Jack romance, but our titular character seems to be stuck in a high school mentality, whereas Bernice is definitely more serious, and future-focused. Is Jack about to have “a conflic’ of interests?”

Oh, Bernice. You are a glass of 2% milk when Jack would like a big hunk of ice cream with chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and a few sprinkles.

“I don’t have a dog. I’m with Puddles.”

It sounds like Bernice is in one of those tough dog parks where the dog police will go around and check to see if you are there with a dog or not, and if you cannot produce a dog to vouch for you, they throw you out.

Doesn’t the final expression on Bernice’s face say that she finds Jack fetching?

Saw that coming

Bern – one suggestion of you are thinking of getting together with Jack. Get some steel – toed boots.

Okay, so this starts an arc where Luann and Bernice live under the same roof and find themselves competing for Jacks affection. I really hope thats not the direction we are headed here. If so, we are one “Big Man on Campus” reference away from being a Brady Bunch episode.

To confirm Bernice’s interest in Jack, notice she is cross-eyed looking at his manly stubbled chin…

On the Jack type being an unlikely match for the Bernice type…

In my home town a topic of bewildered gossip for several years was the marriage of a big handsome guy-guy to a short, chunky, annoying whiner with a cartoon voice.

She wore lots of nice expensive clothes and he seemed to wear the same suit day after day. That is a model of where his money seemed to go. She did not have a paying job.

But he was clearly smitten, totally devoted after years of marriage. He simply loved her.

Busybody gossips constantly complained that he deserved better.

She was killed in an auto accident. He grieved massively for a few years. Then a new lady joined his church. Pretty, sweet, charming she was. The short of it is that they married and apparently lived happily ever after.

The town busybodies were smugly content that he’d gotten what they long thought he deserved.

Maybe they had a point. But some thought he had what he deserved and wanted twice.

Hi Greg! Is Delta ever going to visit or be part of the three amigos again? No one ever mentions her anymore.

And for those interested in unlikely affectionate alliances, an interesting one seems to be blooming over in 9 Chickweed Lane.

It seems to be headed in an Elective Affinities direction.

What’s really endearing about Jack today is how he reintroduced himself to Puddles, not with a caress but letting Pus sniff him. So appropriate for canine culture. And where’s Maxter?

Everyone likes Jack. He has potential being a vet. Luann could have had him but she seemed to want to be just friends. If for some reason Bernice wants him (she could have gone after him at the bowling alley) it will be interesting to see how Luann reacts when she gets back from fetching.

Jack’s a good fellow.

Jethro and Miss Jane

would be interesting to see Jack and Bernice hitting it off when Luann returns and gets jealous

Is it me or does bernice have a look on her face like she’s enthralled by jack, like she just wants to throw her arms around him and make out—-right there in the park?

Looks like Puddles got some exercise. Yesterday he was on the other side of Bernice.

Yay! Jack is back.

Was that a compliment Bern just gave Jack? Dunno, strange to call a guy “fetching”… :D

Luann must’ve thrown it pretty far.

Jack doesn’t recognize Puddles?

Cute today. :)

Puddles is actually Bernice’s *step*dog.

HARK! Dodging every single iceberg floating in the North Atlantic, the good ship “Predictable” commanded by Capt’n Jack, managed to dock safely right next to the USS Contrived Captained by Ms. Bernice Halper. And Look! They are about to exchange romantic “boarding passes!” All that’s left now is Cap’n Crunch played by Luann DeGroot, to show up, get everyone’s cereal all soggy and get all “jealous-like.”

But FEAR not! There’s IS one Wild Card. Luann might not CARE, that Jack and Bernice are talking. In fact, Luann might even encourage a close friendship between Bern and Jack, since Lu loves playing “match-maker.” She might actually end up being happy for her friends. Bernice with a guy would loosen “goody-two shoes” Bernice up considerably and she might even (GASP) turn “normal!” No more morning pancakes for Frank and Nancy! It’s a slim chance, I know. But miracles DO happen. Even in the VAST Luanniverse.

Actually, I take it back. I actually hope Bernice and Jack DO hit it off! No, REALLY. Why? Because if those two, who have very little in common hit it off, it pretty much shoots down Once and for All, the agreement some “folks” have been making about pairing a certain OTHER character up with Gals that he has “nothing in common,” with!

Yessssssss, G&K! DO it! ;)

[DUCKS]

Now that Jack showed up, this plot is about to shift gears!

Did somebody mention Jack yesterday?

With the way Bernice is looking at Jack, is “fetching” a double-entendre?

“To be fetching is to be attractive and beautitful. A fetching woman catches people’s interest.”

OMG!! Jack? And Bernice? This could be delicious on soooo many levels!!!

Bern looks twitter-pated this morning. “Fetching” indeed my fair lass. Bernice is going to tumble and the midnight girl talk should be interesting.

Now! Where’s Luann’s hunk!?!?

Bernice says Luann is “Fetching” like it’s the most obvious thing in the world for Luann to do… So good! And it’s so sweet to see how much Puddles is totally in love with Jack ♡. Bernice smiles at Jack and talks with him with courtesy. Does this mean that she has stopped seeing him as an annoying sport-guy who is trying to take advantage of her naive friend Luann? Finally! About time!

Oh, hell yes! Bernice is glamming on the Jackster!!

Bernice’s pupils are dilated.

Didn’t we all figure Jack would show up?

Someone or something is fetching! There are so many directions this could go. Will Luann return and show sudden interest in Jack? Will she misinterpret the lean over as Jack pets Puddles? Will Jack ask what she’s reading? Will Bernice get tongue-tied and realize she’s attracted to Jack? Will Puddles learn to fetch? Haha!

This could be interesting. Luann’s demand for Bernice to join her in doing something wild and exciting was obviously just a contrived excuse to doll up and go to the dog park to stalk Jack. I hope he asks Bernice out.

Now that made me laugh. Luann is out throwing the ball around while Puddles acts like the Bassett hound he is.

Why oh why is Greg drawing him like Jack LaLane?….no guys dress like that….really off putting

Yes, Luann is fetching… but Bernice is cute too.

I’m going to struggle with a “ship name”…“Luaack”? Yikes. “Juann”?…oh no

Jack, right on cue.

How does Jack know Bernice? They go to different colleges.

Someone has to say it! In the last panel, fur has grown over puddle’s eyes! And, Jacks head is flatter than ever.

Careful, Jack. The last person to kiss Bernice disappeared, a long time ago on a campus far, far away. All that they ever found was a scarf.

Luann must’ve thrown that ball several comic strips down.

Bernice has actually lowered her book and dropped her arms to her side. Don’t get to close Jack.

Whomever called it that Jack would appear, kudos to you!

Oh, lookie… Jack’s hand is moving across Bern’s body and close to her waist…. a male hand has never, ever been that close!! Yikes!!

Right on cue, here’s Jack. Just as we thought. Anyone think something might develop between him and Bernice?

Arrrghhh I wrote a detailed comment last night before I went to bed, but it is nowhere seen here. I was sleepy so maybe I forgot to hit the comment tab, but as Randy Newman says in his famous song, “I don’t think so.” Anyway, and I did comment in Arcamax, but I usually don’t follow up there, that to me anyway the set up is as obvious as an all red billboard, with big black letters, Bernice is attracted to hunky Jack, was actually coming to the dog park in hopes of meeting him, and would, if given the opportunity pursue him if she can work up the courage. Would he be interested in her? I think so, she is far more attractive than some here think, they seem to want to paint as some kind of shrew, and that is projection at it’s worst. He is attracted to pretty girls, and being a hunk they are attracted to him. But he has shown himself, or I should say he is drawn, as being a sensitive hunk, a gentleman, not just some knuckle dragging ape, which again some here like to portray him as being. So yes I think he could be attracted to Bernice, and guess what I hope that happens. Of course that leaves a romantic crises in the offing if Luann realizes that this hunk may like her friend romantically, and likewise, leaving her, again, in the lurch. I have been thinking that this “crises” is exactly where this arc is heading. Pass the popcorn!

6

So, Jack shows up….

1. Let us remember that Luann has previously ONLY wanted to be friends with Jack.

2. Let us also notice now that Bernice’s eyes in the last panel give the impression that Bernice is finding looking at Jack is pleasant for her.

3. Let us also notice how Bernice states “Fetching” which has dual meanings potentially today…. a) an actual description of Luann’s current behavior and b) a descriptor by Bernice that perhaps subconsciously is representing her own positive feelings about her view (of Jack)).

So, if the above set-up is accurate….

4. Might Jack also experience a “positive attraction” for Bernice? No indication of yes or no at the moment.

5. If yes, and Jack does experience the feelings of a “positive attraction”… and both Jack and Bernice become aware of these potential positive feelings with each other….

Does Luann come back into the picture and a) stay oblivious to Jack and Bernice’s growing interest and attraction, b) notice the attraction and be happy for Bernice because Luann truly only wants to be friends with Jack, or c) notice the attraction between Bernice and Jack and have feelings of potential jealousy arise?

We shall have to wait and see.

Bernice and Jack as a couple…. not sure yet…. but it could be a good pairing. However, I still like Piro, and wish he would return to the comic as well.

Bernice and Jack . . . hmmm, interesting.

After enlarging the the last frame, it DOES look like Bernice is taking a good look at Jack and beginning to smile.

Jack is a self-admitted player with eclectic tastes. There’s a good chance he’ll make a play for Bern.

Brainiac and Beefcake! A match made in (comic strip) heaven.

I think Bern has just found that Jack is..fetching. The mental drawn to the physical, the attraction of opposites..

Is Bernice using Puddles to pick up a guy.

Aw, come on. You guys are nuts if you think Bern is going to be interested in Jack. Not gonna happen. They’re all just friends. No. There’s gonna be a new guy in the mix. Mark my words. You can pay me later.

If Jack is going to become a serious relationship of Bernice or Luann (or anyone in the strip, actually) Greg needs to seriously consider putting him through the Brad Physical Transformation machine that was used during Brad’s courtship of Toni. Jack looks stuck visually in his parody crude dumb jock phase from early on. Now it’s time to draw a more realistic head and perhaps make him look a little less like he’s on steroids.

Jack’s pants are too too tight! It’s not suitable for a family audience – isn’t there anyone on the internet responsible for censoring these images? I thought this was a family strip, as I have all my kids read it daily and I need to start re-thinking if I should have them see Jack’s too-tight pants!!

Yesterday ’s thought was “wish Jack would be at the park with Luann” and here we are. Now if only I could manifest things in my own life…. lol

I think Bernice and Jack would make a good match. Jack is way more than a dumb jock without aspirations to make more of himself.

Maybe Luann is chatting with someone else or she’s crawling under a bush somewhere to get the ball and returns a little rumpled and soiled only to find Jack chatting with Bern…. not the outcome she had hoped for.

The ball must have rolled down the hill, around the corner, through the shrubs, into the alligator pond.

Looks like Jack is wearing spandex cycling shorts.

Yes, Luann can be very fetching at times.

Just for the record, “fetching” is a correct word when talking about “fetch” – to go get something and bring it back. A quick look at online dictionaries shows that several, including Merriam-Webster and Oxford, confirm this. Yes, “fetching” is also an adjective meaning attractive, but it’s perfectly correct to say that someone is “fetching” a toy, a ball, a book, or whatever.

This is who i want luann to end up with.

Do any of these kids recognize real priorities? I’m too out of touch with the generation, but Greg must have his finger on someone’s pulse. Teachers should know what makes them tick, they’re trapped in a students’ world. But, Tiffany gets my vote as a potential success. She can face a challenge with intensity, and go after it like a hard nosed gum shoe from the ’30’s. Bulldog Farrell, private eye or corporate spy.

The fetching Luann is fetching.

And so it begins. Jack develops an interest in Bernie, who is too cautious to do much. But Luann is stripped of yet another potential boyfriend. Jack digs the studious type. Sorry, Luann. “Cute blonde” doesn’t cut it….

The guy whose name starts with “B” is too old for Luann. As far as the one whose name starts with “L,” I think LuAnn would rather poke needles in her eyes.

But there is the guy whose name starts with “O.” I think there is more to him than we’ve seen.

Now starts a VERY long Bernice is in love arc.