Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for April 21, 2016

I love New York!

It’s always about “the list.”

No, they don’t have an invite. They will be cruelly and mercilessly laughed at. As for the cab driver, somebody at arcamax said he was Peru. To me he looks Italian but there are many people of Italian ancestry in south america. In fact pope Francis (Frances?) is of Italian ancestry.

Its a twin brother. Long lost, separated at birth.

Hey did Luis move to New York from Peru to earn a better living as a cab driver?

They say, “Pride goeth before the fall”But is this pride or just self-satisfied?Still, we know for the plot that this can’t be allSomething surprising will be justified.Nothing very good or very bad lasts very long, they sayAnd so far the city has been a joy to exploreBut at some point things will not go their way.An eagle will settle as well as soar.Will the bouncer be there to raise the ropeOr will their ages bar their way?Will the club disappoint or raise their hopes?Tomorrow or Saturday will need to say.Hopefully, they will not raise a wrong glassWhen the proofs in the proofBest to let it passBut at 18 they may goof while raising the roofJust because a teen is at times a jackass.

Is 18 still the legal drinking age in New York?

Rosa’s uncle fired Luis for letting her stay at that backwoods clinic collecting branches, so he looked up relatives in NYC.

If this is Luis and he somehow accompanies Bernice and Luann into the club, I hope he doesn’t offer them a drink that affects them as much as the one beer seemed to affect Gunther…

somehow I see Lue handling beer better than Bern, seeing how Bern handled the placeb…………. “weed”

Now THAT would be a story!

wow, no people in new york and apparently no traffic or danger….

Sounds good. I’m ready to go…

First and foremost – YOU GO, GIRLS! I do hope this goes well.

It’s good to see Luis – or is that his doppelganger? – again. It looks as if Luis or Luis-D might have been pressed into “guardian angel” service again.

EXCELLENT!!!

Looking forward to Evans’ drawing of the doorman. What’s not to hate?

They will get the boot when they try to get into Club Foote.

I’m thinking the Dynamic Duo actually get into the legendary Club Foote. And Luann sees a familiar face there. A certain someone who’s name begins with a “Q”.

This is going to get VERY interesting very fast…

That’s definitely Luis!

Bravo, ladies! You are practically NYC-ready now! And if the cabbie (Luis or his twin brother, or not) gives you a hard time, you know as honorary New Yorkers how to deal with that, right?Onward, to Club Foote and the List!

Ladies, the FIRST “Rides” are ALWAYS the Easiest.

Let’s See You Get ’Em, LATER for Your “Thrilling” Trip back to the Criminally OVER PRICED “Matchbox” Hotel…..,

That Luis dude sure gets around:^^This is his twin brother, Renaldo! :p

Well, they got this far without being mugged, raped, or killed, maybe there’s some hope for this little vacation.

Oh to be young and doing the simple things again, for the first time.

took a while for GoComics to get back! I’m sure some started going thru withdrawal !

Nice to see the site up again. What happened?

Can anyone tell me who that cab driver looks like. His face is intensely familiar.

Bernice is not at her most appealing, with that pseudo-snobby look.

Ah! Go Comics is back up again. I wonder if it got hit by the bot server attack.

Brd, i find your recollection about Luis to be intriguing!

Certainly, sometimes “small world” situations happen. The best i know of is from a friend’s life. He was a visiting professor from PRC over 30 years ago and decided to travel for a little sightseeing. Steve’s parents hosted him during part of that trip, and introduced him to friends (including a last minute invitation to the wedding of absolutely thrilled people he did not even know).

Steve’s parents’ next door neighbors were close friends, and Lloyd mentioned that his uncle had been a missionary teacher in China when young. He turned out to be a fondly remembered pivotal educator for our friend, and still alive and cognisant in a senior facility a few states away. They called him immediately, so pupil and teacher got to speak together again decades later before the elderly man passed.

He might not even have known our friend was alive; many scholarly individuals — including all the visiting profs we knew then — had very difficult experiences during the revolution.

If this is Luis then a conversation together could be an extremely important growth experience for Luann and Bernie. They might get to even meet a family which differs greatly from their own. Tonight’s (in Luanniverse) most important surprise could be this man!

This might apply to Luann if her town is in this size range. What is a suburban town in some areas is a small city in some others:1000 safest mid-sized towns and small cities in the United States:

http://www.safewise.com/safest-cities-america

I do not know if they list more in a different spot.

Hah! Brilliant memory/sleuthing.

9Wow! Is this actually Luis… Luis from Gunther’s journey in Peru?!?Somehow, I doubt it is him, but the character looks just like him, so it has allowed me to consider a wide array of possibilities. I am not sure which is most likely:1. Perhaps Greg is simply using the “Luis” sort of character as a stock character so that he can have a face that he can reuse in a variety of ways in the comc. Many other comics do this (reuse prior drawings…. I know that both “Dinette Set” and “Basic Instructions” have both often recycled old drawings and even some whole comics through their respective lifespans).2. Perhaps Luis is a “secret operative” working for the Pitt Parent Teacher Council to keep an eye on and keep safe the graduates of Pitt High School as they migrate into their adulthood.3. Perhaps Luis is a sort of literary construct where he is meant to represent a “guide” or a “channeler”. Perhaps he will show up briefly for each of the main characters of Luann and be with them as they each experience some sort of transformative event in their lives. In many ways he served this role for Gunther, as he stumbled into his current, more “adult” self. Perhaps Luis signals some sort of transformative event will occur that reshapes Luann or Bernice or both of them? Regardless, it was great fun seeing the “Luis” character return. Even if he ends up being a stock character and this time he is named something else, it is still an interesting turn of events. Oh, one more thing…. with GoComics being down for such a long time today…. perhaps Luis being a “secret operative” is not something I should have mentioned! Who knows how far and wide his “operative” duties may extend.

Brd, WOW! Thank you for posting that story. It is great fun!

Oh, my, some (or just one extra needy) wannabe-14-year-olds (or actual 12 to 14 year olds) are back to posting “Notice me, notice me” little things that they think are startling.

Awesosme!

Jim, i was told by people who know better than i that TWO things happened today which coukd have been involved. One was a large timed bot attack on certain servers. Those are sometimes originated by people showing off, sometimes possibly by certain governments or groups, but increasingly are by people who hold access for ransom. At least reliable sources have told me that. The other thing is that Verizon had a major difficulty today which the company is saying was sabotage while the strikers are saying that it was due to inexperienced people doing their jobs. Either is possible, and internet service had to be rerouted around it. Again, so i was told by reliable sources. Errors in interpretation will be my own.

Robert Service poems are a wonderful way to remember someone! There are two we regularly read in late October, and last year we introduced a great-niece and great-nephew to them.

Puzz, i am smiling in a friendly way while i reply

;-p. Pffffffffffft!

Thanks, Puzz! It was very sleepy headed doggerel but was fun for my addled pate.

Now I know this is fiction, you never get a cab that quickly in New York.

Minnesota is in mourning now. Production cancelled.

NPR posted that he was ill enough for emergency medical care six days ago, and he told people later that it was influenza.

-Thanks so much for the great story about what possibly happened to Gunther.

And thanks for letting us know about Prince, which is really a shock. The others we’ve lost recently were a lot older. We are losing so many…

Yeah, the Frank Nelson character from Gasoline Alley too! Thank you, JPuzzleWhiz…. for remembering that one too!

You can always tell the tourists…

Before Sliders jumped the shark, the running gag was that, regardless of what reality the gang appeared in, there was always this Russian guy who was a cabbie…

I was wrong about the subway being the scene of today’s strip. Didn’t know Greg had the universal Luis cabbie up his big sleeve.

Puzz corrects: “Pride goeth before Destruction.”But what if the option is now reconstruction?With Luis driving, it’s a valid deductionThat learning and growth are in store.

They are only 18; that is well shownWith all the voids seen in youth not yet grownPerhaps Luis will help some wisdom be sownIn brain vacuums that nature abhores

Or perhaps the surprise will be found in the listIf the teens do not know that club performing existsLuann can try improv with all of its risksAnd score — since she is not a bore.

We still might find them turned away From that club in a city where night is like dayTo rely on new skills for finding their wayBut we all learn new things from hard choresYes, we all learn new things from hard chores.

What if the “Luis” character is a recurring portent in various locales … appearing whenever something / someone is needed to guide the characters, leading to a previously unforeseen plot direction?

Must have been a long ride on the subway. Looks like it’s now morning.

except not malicious. There must be a literature device that alludes to such a character.

BS – Great story, hadn’t heard it before. But, since you weren’t there and G’man lost his memory, how do you know about it? Are you a psychiiatrist restoring his recollection of traumatic events?

…famous last words.

Yep, Greg has done a number of celebrity cameos:.Clay Aiken, Jay Leno, Ben Affleck, Barack Obama, Luke Perry, Bill Gates and Ricky Martin.

You left out the most important cameo:

Thank you. The funny thing is that i need to be tired to create these, and today i am tired.

It’s got to be Luis. It would be tacky for Greg to use a character in a generic way (i.e. a driver). Besides, Luis wasn’t just a driver. He played a role in Gunther’s ‘education’. Maybe this is a link to Rosa in Peru.

HAHAHAHAHA

I don’t get all the hate on Quill. I never found him boring. And I get bored VERY easily.

I am waiting for this to be a club where being on the list means that you have to perform, perhaps an improv club, perhaps a comedy club, or one with singing. They give Luann’s name plus guest and she is told she needs to be side stage in 5.

What a song title! I am laughing!

Basically being in the city requires some common sense, But it is not the ‘Fear City’ that an old ‘Daily News" headline had back in the late 70’s. There are of course places you do not go after dark, and some neighborhoods you simply stay out of as much as possible. But any major city would require that. But for example. the Skyline Ballroom is a few blocks walk from the subway station in a residential neighborhood. Felt perfectly safe going to a concert and coming home after 12 AM, to the subway, and then crossing the Hudson with the PATH to Hoboken, to get my car in the all night lot in Jersey… Total parking fee all night, $17.00 , Trains into NYC and subway. about $10.00 one way. Yes, going back was late, but since a group of people had all gone to the concert we went to, many were going back on the same train. there was about 25 of us all walking back to the subway from the venue. We all got on train and trickled down so to speak as we went back up town. The PATH station was fairly deserted, but at least 9 of us were still crossing into Jersey. Got the car and went home. Great night too!

Either they’re on the list as “Sue Anne & Beatrice,” or Luann is on the list but Bernice is not…

sorry, you seeing more than what is is…………… she is taller, face thinner, and more sure of herself than the Rosa that we saw last

okay, Luis clone is a joke by Evanses. Any other theory seems preposterous.

It’s that “new” math, but it’s still based on the dismal system…

Try doing it in base eight.

Well hello Luis, small world!

I am comparing it by those around her plus there are certain ways a cartoonist does posture and faces that are used to convey something specific that if you tried to replicated same mannerism in real life does not come across same way ………………. I can just as easily say that the 2 guys behind Lue look like clark kent and Bruce Wayne :P

.. of all the cabs in all the world…

I looked. To me she’s different. Her facial features are not much like Rosa’s despite the hair.

I bet luis tries to set luann up with a friend of his. And the friend will turn out to be gunther!

Spoiler: VIPs [the strip’s] Various Insulters [will be] Pissed

… How did you remember that? We saw him that one time.

…That looks exactly (or close at least) like the driver that Gunther had when he was leaving Peru. Maybe it’s just a certain “look” that some guys have. XD