Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for May 14, 2021

well, this is getting… um… somewhere

If she’s going to act like that, she shouldn’t have gone at all.

And it begins!

Given that 1st painting it certainly looks like something Nil would do!

I never understood modern art either….

2nd guessing – BTW, Nil needs a haircut?

Looks like they left thing unsaid the last time they saw each other – at the bowling alley when Jack dropped the bowling ball on Luann’s foot. Good starter, Nil.

Will Nil remove his hat?

Pleasant surprise. We actually change venue – and! The mysterious Nil is once again seen!

(I was afraid this was going to be the Luann-Bernice bash each other show for the whole week)

Looks like I officially won the bet about whether or not Bernice and Jack would share any hugging or kissing whatsoever during his visit.

Snappy dialog today!

The featured comments are made by people who answer their own comments.

Judging by the pictures, the reason Nils doesn’t remove his hat…he’s a cyclops.

In the painting in the first panel, Greg is giving us the finger.

I think Nil is related to Piro. He must be a close cousin.

TGIF! Just two days of this. Or do y’all think this will drag into next week, too?

So is that the middle finger that’s sticking up in that painting?

Bernice, Jack got you agree to go out with a date with Nil and that’s called unsaid.

Time for Nil to open up and reveal a new character back-story? He is a bit of a mystery and has been for too long.

If Nil would have ask Bernice hey you want to go to a art show you most likely would said no and that’s why Nil ask Jack to ask you out for Nil.

Nil is a man of few words… /sarcasm X-D

Interesting how they are both dressed in such buttoned up clothes and how ‘buttoned up’ they are both acting. Wonder if Nil will have a painting about his ‘unsaid’ interest in B?

If this doesn’t go well, I will gladly say this sentence. It starts with “I” and ends with “so.”

Greg is a master of misdirection. Perhaps this is building up to something really big.

Bernice, it really doesn’t matter. Open up and be nice.

Women and men can be friends Bern…maybe Jack thought you would be supportive of a friend?

Nil and Bern = The Goth and The Geek (who thinks she is the brain). Nil is just being himself, an introvert of few words whose art expresses his thoughts. If Bern has questions about this guy then imagine I guess her mind might be blown by Professor Zebo who has to be around there somewhere. Bern might get into an argument with the Prof over the meaning of Nil’s (or another artist’s) work. Just occurred to me that Luann might suddenly have decided to take in art show as well and might turn up tomorrow as well as Zebo….

Why couldn’t Bernice have just verbally asked Nil at least the first question instead of just thinking it?

The strip has given us two apparent losers for Bernice’s attention, Nil and the guy with the scarves (Piro?) I don’t understand why the one was irresistible while Nil is utterly resistible. I’m not sure Piro even knew Bernice existed. However shy Nil may be, he is at least showing interest in Bernice. How many other guys in Bernice’s life have done that?

With the shy Nil and the repressed Bernice doesn’t look promising but stranger things can happen in Luannverse.

I don’t feel that Greg will allow any of these kids to end up as a couple. Makes me think of a pitcher who is throwing a no-hitter in the 7th. inning. Tension becomes the only game in town.

It’s a cheap date, probably. Be sure to tell Frank, he’ll be thrilled! He’ll dance at your wedding. I’m glad we skipped to this part, no more putting up with sneering at Luann. But based on the few things on the wall, this place ain’t exactly the Louvre.

I doubt Bernice did the following but hopefully she did the fake emergency phone call

Surprise – It seems that Bern actually WANTS something to happen. So Friday night/Saturday is somebody gonna try a kiss?

Wait. Is the art show a solo show by Nil? This changes everything! The fact that Jack was unable to go to an opening of his best friend’s show and the fact that Nil asked Jack to invite Bernice for him. This is much more serious than I thought! And Bernice and Nil are really too similar, I hope they can understand each other ♡. I wonder if Piro is in the audience.

So the score is Bernice Nil

and Nil Null and void!

The Unsaid and the Unspoken have much in common.

Bernice, you might as well drop the pretense and be honest, you have nothing to lose.

I wouldn’t be surprised if she found out that Nil never asked Jack to ask her out and Jack just made it up because he wants to fix Nil up with somebody.

It doesn’t make any sense for Nil to be interested in Bernice when he already knows they don’t have much in common.

Will you just enjoy your time out?

“Unsaid,” most certainly.

Yup. “the unsaid”. Needless to say.

Sometimes a duck is just a duck. But a flute with no holes is not a flute. And a doughnut with no hole is a danish..

I am more intrigued by the message of the silhouette in the background and that finger looking thing On that black canvas or window or whatever

I wonder which finger that is. If it’s what I think, it not unsaid.

Wasn’t his left eye that was showing the previous times he was on the strip?

Does Nil have another eye? Two eyes can be helpful at an art show. Another strangely troubled character.

Nil is so deep.

He’s already my favorite character.

Oh, this is going to be painful for Nil.

Bernice a little clueless in the romance department?

Hoo-boy, Bernice actually went through with this “date” thing.

And she’s barely talking to Nil.

Therefore, this “date” is getting off to a Very GOOD start!

Take a break, Cupid. Your services are not needed here!

These two “love birds” might as well start sending out the wedding invitations!

But Bernice’s dad is going have a “problem” though.

During the wedding ceremony, just EVERYBODY is going to want to give his daughter away. ;)

I was wishing that G&K would grow the character up. You know, either some science, engineering, or business classes, buff him up in a gym, and give him an update to make him look responsible and attractive to women. I guess not. The character Bernice likes masculine men. She would die of happiness passing by a community college’s automotive repair shop.

Well, I hoped for a style change so we could all be surprised by seeing both of Nils eyes, but the only new thing I could see is his jazz patch.

What a fun date. Like, going-to-the-dentist fun.

So disappointed! I thought Nil would show up with a new look.

Bernice has never learned to just go with the flow. Not everything in life has a deeper meaning.

The ambiguity abounds.

More over-analysis by Berenice. Does this girl have ANY spontaneity to her?

First panel: are you getting flipped off by art? What’s the deeper meaning in that?

I dunno. Maybe Bernice’s should try talking to Nil?

The dynamic duo.

prediction: Bernice will see an art piece and be mesmerized by it…only to find out it’s all about Nil’s feelings for her.

And we thought Tiff was bad at communicating with boys/young men. Haha!

I liked Bern”s outfit from yesterday better.

All these years reading this strip, and I just got the joke on this guys name: Nil. And Zero is in Beetle Bailey.

Bern over analyzing once again. I can relate, I have a tendency to do that myself. One time my wife said " Stop being so logical! "

Life imitating art?! ;-) or art imitating life?

Unsaid…that could mean a lot……of hot……….or not!

Now I understand why people like Betts. She expresses herself verbally quite well!

“one eyed Jacks are wild”

“remove his hat”? Alas, that particular piece of hat etiquette didn’t make a comeback when the Hipsters discovered hats (they think they invented them) and started wearing them…

Got to improve your communication skills if you want to do things with her. Though the title of the Art Show might give her a clue……

I think Jack and Nil really had plans to go to the art show together and something came up for Jack. Nil probably has no more interest in Bernice than she has in him. Jack may have suggested to Nil that Bernice take Jack’s ticket to the show. Not a date for anyone.

Jack probably thinks Bernice really likes Nil because of how eagerly she said YES when Jack asked her if she wanted to go to the art show with Nil. If Jack told Nil of B’s enthusiasm then Nil thinks B like him a lot. Next week could have a lot of awkward conversations between Nil and Bernice, both of them thinking the other one likes them in a romantic way.

“Some things are better left unsaid.”

“Who said that?!?!”

“I’ll never say.”

Bernice isn’t that big a believer in leaving things unsaid. I know it’s true even if “unsaid” is a thing I don’t do.

Nice Mao jacket, Bern.

“Questions 67 & 68…and 69…and 70…and 71…”

“You Don’t Say!”

“Unspoken For”

“Yuppie Bernice”

“Finger Painting”

I’ve had dates like that. Absolutely nothing to say to each other. Awkward.

Bernice art is like sex you see the painting and fall in love with it then after a couple of days of looking at it you want to trade it in for a better model.

This was NOT a date when Nil and Jack had plans to go together. So it is not a date now with Bernice taking the place of Jack. Just two friends going to an art show.

Awwww. Nil is a nice guy, Bernice. Remember: Jack is LUANN’S man!

Generally you look at the art and discuss how it makes you feel.My son and I went to an exhibit. He saw a picture and didn’t think much about it – just people doing stuff. I saw it and for me it was about dreams of the future vs memories of the past. He understood more about it (and me) when I explained what I saw and why I saw it that way, and then he got a better feeling about how things can be seen and represented. Life and experience makes a difference in how you see things.

7

Hmm…. BOTH Nil and Bernice are feeling rather awkwardly non-verbal. I can sympathize with both of them…. sometimes social situations…. even if desired…. can sometimes be tough and awkward… especially for folks who by their natural inclination tend to be more introverted.

I do hope that things smooth over a bit and they are both more talkative on Saturday’s installment.

As many have pondered…. perhaps this IS a gallery showing of at least ONE if not MORE of Nil’s work. If so, it would be both awkward and humorous if tomorrow we saw some abstract painting that Nil created and titled “Bernice”. With it being an abstract… there would be so damn many ways to interpret and misinterpret the painting and its intent…. that it would definitely allow plenty of fodder for “hilarity ensues.”

Over analyzing again! Maybe he’s missing an eye? We’ve never seen it!

Is Nil about to become a regular?

Nils eye is disproportionately large for his face. Weird.

Oh! So that’s Nil. Forgot we’ve seen him before.

Pay attention Bernice. Get out of your head and try to enjoy the art.

It means that Nil has a susceptibility to the “Pretentious” Virus.

Of course we have to see Zebo again.

He’s the long lost son Mrs. Horner gave up for adoption all those forgotten years ago.

Nil is a closet cyclopes

That art piece is mostly “The Unpainted”.

Note Bernice you are doing the “unsaid”.

Bernice wants to know why Nil might have asked Jack to ask her out for him? Maybe it’s same reason why Bern never asked Jack to go anywhere with her, She should be able to recognize that…..the “unsaid”; I think she does.

“Hi. Art show.”

I had to laugh. If I’m being honest, the last “first date” I went on, I was about as talkative as Nil. Was their bowling outing technically their first date?

Tomorrow, Nil asks to pose privately in the nude.

Tomorrow, Nil declares his undying love.

Tomorrow, Nil says “I know what I was feeling, but WHAT WAS I THINKING!”