Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for June 26, 2021

<:+O !!

She loves Gunther?!?!?!?!?!?

Love, exciting & new….

Quit enhancing the atmosphere in the Pagoda of Peace, Tiffany.

Ahhh, i think i said this in a previous strip, she needed to process the emotions she was feeling. They were hitting her all at once.

Give Tiffany credit for her getting Gunter & Betts together.

”Oh, GOD……..,” – Gandhi

So, according to Bets, “Love” means:

1) Turning your boyfriend into a puppet.

2) Separating him from his friends.

3) NEVER considering his feelings.

4) Embarrassing him on social media.

5) Eating his French fries.

6) Stranding him in the parking lot.

And of course,

7) NEVER having to say “You’re Sorry” to him.

Got it.

Gunther?

You’re DOOMED.

Start making funeral arrangements. :(

That was a surprise. Bets has a strange way of showing it, but she has been hurt before.

Sorry, but I’m not buying it. You don’t cruelly Ghost someone for a month when you love them! Maybe she needs some more outfits sewn? =-/

Love is an imaginary dagger.

Oh great…..I guess Bets stays. Whooopeeee :/

Love can be grand.

Fear of commitment and ….

Does this story continue next week or do we move on to a new arc ?

Oh come on people. This is the GnK created Luannaverse. What did you expect? This was intuitively obvious to the most casual observer.

No, I sure didn’t see THAT coming…

The paradox of love…

Her previous experience made Bets shy about love.

Trek-dream-come-true. I guess now they can reenact his Trek-dream for real now. Strike one up for the good guys!!! I’m happy for Gun!!! Good for a change….:) Yes!!!!

Will Bets get a background or will Gunther and Bets leave the strip?

I did not see that coming. Definitely came out of the blue so lets see how this unfolds on Monday, ought to be interesting. I for one thought this was going to be a bad move by Gunther but I’ll admit that I was wrong. Hope springs eternal. In Gunnie’s case I thought eternal misery. I guess now we wait and sit through a Sunday with either Luann and Bern, Shannon tormenting Brad or Frank doing something that will make Nancy roll her eyes.

Wonder if Rosa can make room for Bets down in Peru when she breaks up with Gunther ….?

Huh? Best I can do

What!!! Not what I was expecting. Got to wish them well, but….

So let me get this straight. Bets walked out on Gunther after he said he loved her because — she loved him. She did not speak to him for weeks on end because — she loved him. She did not go rushing into his arms when she saw him at Tiffany’s because — she loved him. Does this make any sense?

Fear of intimacy, and weenies.

Star trek dream? Gunther doesn’t have job. Doesn’t have his place. Doesn’t have a vehicle. Not done with School work yet.

Sigh….even if she says she loves him, she is still BETS. Rosa thought she loved him until he followed her to Peru and realized she was not enough to keep him there and sent him away. They were too different with different life goals. This is just a repeat of Rosa. They like some of the same things but that will prove not to be enough to keep them together.

Like I have been saying, HILARITY ENSUES, and contrary to many here wishing Bets and Gunther gone as a loving pair, LOVE ABOUNDS! TOLD YA’LL SO. Mordy, calm down, change is good. Love being right sometimes.

A perfectly good break-up shot to heck.

¿Bets en realidad ama a Gunther, o se dió cuenta de que sin él no podría hacer un buen disfraz?

No me parece que Bets esté siendo sincera. Toda esta semana ha tenido una expresión de desagrado, y justo ahora la cambia para soltar tal declaración. Creo que Bets sabe bien que con decirle unas cuantas cosas bonitas a Gunther lo puede tener en la palma de su mano.

Well now. I hope Gunth heard that…

Admitting love does not mean committing marriage. These days it is only the expectation of, and the permission for a more intimate relationship.

YES! FINALLY! BETS SAID SHE LOVES GUNTHER! WAHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Now we’re getting somewhere.

Nooooo!

She loves him? Really? If that’s how she treats someone she “loves” I shudder to think of how she’d treat someone she hated.

Wow! That’s really a good reason to run out on Gunther and Ghost him for weeks, Crazy Bets!

Lets take a poll. Should Gunther….A. Take Bets back? B. Tell her to go jump in a lake? I choose B, what say you?

So yes – there were deeper issues than the pirate party. Bets may have been deciding whether to take this relationship a step forward. The party issue gave Bets cause to back off – Gunther would neither jump on board with Bets’s anger, or alternately stand up to Bets and say this event was just one day of bad weather. Likely Bets has been hurt by a prior love interest that fell short. Also Gunther has had minimal experience in romantic relationships. Seems like it was up to Bets to steer the ship home – which is disturbing to a woman when she has to do all the work to make it happen. Gunther’s declaration of love at the fast food joint was a day late and a dollar short. And what does Bets do with a guy that says “Oysters?” We’ll, maybe under Tiff’s loopy umbrella, Bets – or Gunther – will go ahead and make the next move. If Bets does that – Gunther needs to find his “ON” switch real quick.

@Luann1212:

Here’s why I find it difficult to believe that Bets is being truthful (or, alternately, that Bets defines ‘love’ the same way Gunther does): in the first frame, when Gunther is asking Bets why she ran off when he said ‘I love you’, Bets isn’t looking at him. She’s looking elsewhere, as if she’s trying to think of something to say that will keep Gunther as part of her ‘performing troupe’ for her followers. And in the last frame, when she finally gives her answer to his question, she does it while he’s very distracted and yelling at Tiffany — not when he’s calmly looking at Bets, and certainly not in response to any of his texts or calls…

I think you are hoping so much that the original Bets will emerge and the two of them will live happily ever after that you are ignoring the way she has treated him lately. But I think she is too involved with the fantasy world of ComicCons, cosplay and posting online to relate to real world ‘love’ anymore…

YES!!

Monty Python Tiffany: “I fart in your general direction!”

I am not sure I want to stick around to watch the train wreck!

Oh, such dark thoughts and predictions! Likely this is a first real love for Bets and she doesn’t quite know how to handle it. Gunther Isn’t exactly a man about town, with his only previous GF Rosa, a few years back. Give them a break!

I say turnabout is fair play. Now that Bets has said she “loves” Gunther, he should see how she feels if he walks out on her and does not answer her calls or texts for weeks. Besides, if she loved him, why would she continue to ignore him when he appeared from behind the curtain? Never acknowledged him said hello, KMA, or anything. Just continued to yammer on with Tiff. Something smells bad here, Gunther. Just walk out, you do not need to live your life being controlled and used all the time for someone’s internet habit. You are just a prop for her.

Awww

Nothing says true love like deliberately making the person suffer

OmG, Bets doesnt know what love is based on how she treated him while they were dating. Run Gun!

Whoa. So Bets was just surprised.

I recall saying how this wouldn’t end well. I’m glad to say I was wrong.

Ugh she’s so toxic. Run away!

Love is what the heart wants, it cannot be analyzed or scrutinized or criticized it is the clearest reflection of grace the true gift to mankind!

Where there’s smoke….

Tiffany is sooo jealous!!!!

So if Bets has baggage that made her stay away for a month, are we going to have a name the baby contest?

….think of the hilarity of hiring Shannon to change the diapers.

That answers was totally unexpected… now Bets confessed her feelings. What will happen next?

Oh, boy, Gunther! You have a manipulating, demanding, controlling woman in love with you. Savor the moment.

Whaaaa?

Ugh!

Pretty rare for a strip to do a big plot point on a Saturday; well done!

Bingo! I knew it! She’s afraid of her own feelings.

She’s afraid to love him.

Reasonable. It tends to change your life completely. More variables in the equation to consider.

(music) yeah, you say it best, when you say nothing at all

and then I went and spoiled it all by saying something stupid, like…

This week has made me feel sorry for Tiffany.

Yes, G&K are making her the butt of this joke.

That’s in addition to her bending over backwards to let Gunther get away.

How contrary to her actions is that statement.

Makes perfect sense.

We’re never going to get rid of her now, are we? SIGH

Bet’s ILY seems to be the answer to Gunther’s question. Cut to the heart of the matter like Alexander’s sword going through the Gordian Knot.

There’s a lesson to be learned here: Never discount an idea just because it is obvious.

Tiffany FTW. I can hear George Peppard saying “I love it when a plan comes together”.

And it’s official. Luann is the comic strip equivalent of the Norman Rockwell painting The Problem We All Live With. Greg and Karen Evans, well done.

I’m crying

Look at all the wrong guessers who were so sure!

Maybe it should be cannabis smoke instead…

Parto_the_P has perhaps the best take on all this! “Bets is in the very classic place of loving Gunther, but not being IN love with Gunther.” Plus he makes a good argument for this statement. If that is the case I have to give GnK a lot more cleverness credits than I gave them in the past.

I believe Bets! She could have left a few days ago! She could have left during all Tiffany’s shenanigans! Bets does love Gunther.

A good comic strip today. Very amusing.

So finally we have it. Bets loves Gun and Gun loves Bets. Shuck the oysters. Light the love lamp (lavender scented of course).

Now what for this odd couple? So far it has been presented as a social dom-sub relationship.

Sorry, but it just doesn’t seem viable as a lasting comic strip couple! “First comes love. Then comes marriage? Then comes Bets with a baby carriage?” More likely we’d see “Gun” with the baby carriage.

The only way to rationally continue this would be in a “can’t we just be friends” relationship. (Girls are good at that.)

If this is Bets way of saying ‘I care for you enough to realize you deserve someone better than me’, then I’d have to agree with her.

This doesn’t work. It would make sense if she had just run off. She didn’t. She ran off and ghosted him for 3 weeks.

Is today’s strip meant to be a cliffhanger, a teaser or the end of the line? As in: Are there any “if’s” or “but’s” coming next week. Maybe from Gunther even.

I despise Bets. There, I said it!

Unlike hilarity, over-analysis ensues.

“It’s like the saying” Bets explains, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

“I love you SO much Gunther, that you can never see me again.”

Bets walks out, Tiffany continues to prattle, Gunther re-examines his life.

If by “love” you mean bossing someone around, trying to isolate him from his friends and being super clingy, then of course you love him.

Sounds like, Continued next week…

Much good.

A common goal and task would help bring Gunther and Bets back together— That goal could be beating the crap out of Tiffany.

And it gets stupid, as Bets’ actions don’t make sense for a person who is in love (running away and ignoring Gunther for weeks). But they have to get back to happy somehow after every story and they usually do it quickly. So usually, after weeks of a story dragging on, they always wrap it up like they did today. They are in love and we might see something about their engagement in the future. Monday will probably be something about Shannon and the $300 refund and apology promise from Tiffany will have never existed. You just have to get used to the disjointed story lines if you like the drawings in this comic strip.

Time to leave and go eat some oysters and let nature take its course.

So Tiffany’s “ploy” succeeded, and now he’s yelling at her. Geez – what’s she gotta do to get some gratitude and respect? Of the two women, Tiffany is the better person. The “love” of Bets comes with a stiff price.

Bets has fear of commitments?

Sunday: Shannon . ( need I say more?) :-p

Oh no! Gunther is doomed!!!!! He clearly loves her and unless she changes a lot he will be dominated for as long as this relationship lasts. So sad.

Come on gang. You knew this would happen.. I read this strip for the comments. The strip is designed to produce comments. The strip doesn’t have to make sense. The characters don’t have to be realistic. The entire “did she pay” was a great example. The detail was not important. The conflict was important. The conflict had to continue. The details didn’t matter, just the conflict. Romance is important. Romance produces a lot of comments. Heck, a lot of the comments are even “Gun + Tiff” as a romantic partner. This strip will continue to provide romantic entanglements. We still have Bern and her ongoing romance to get back to also. Hey, think the cops will ever find the hit and run driver? Maybe Bern will be called to testify. Luann will explain that she allowed her friend to live in the restaurant and Bern was spying on her because Bern thought she was having a secret affair with a guy Bern was interested in. So officer, that’s what happened. Bern was spying on me and followed me to the restaurant and my friend, the one I didn’t tell anyone about, was there with my permission. My friends relative? She just showed up out of the blue…..

It is possible that Bets, on seeing Gunther equally displeased with Tiff’s antics, realizes that there is nothing to be jealous of. I think Tiff means well but she sees romance the way she fantasizes about it not the way it really is between two people.

I think everyone here gets a little bit of what they want. Tiff didn’t like the fact that she got an A on a romance related business concept that actually broke up a couple. By mending this fence the way SHE wanted to do it she gets a little satisfaction. She’s not after Gunther as a romantic partner nor is Gunther after her. Bets realizes this and now it is safe for her to go back with G. the issue of the apology and refund is a separate one.

I read this at 1:30 and I needed time to process it. Does she actually love him or does she love him only because he’s telling Tiffany off?

WOW! Did not see that coming.

Bets said the “magic words.”

WHAT?!?! Well, I’ll give it to Greg. Didn’t see that coming. Don’t like it… at all, but definitely surprised. Good job.

If Bets definition of love is being bossy, controlling, and manipulative, then Gunther is in trouble.

Tiffany was getting it right when she exited from the table. But Tiff just can’t stay out of the action – a habit from her old high school prima donna days.

A new arc Monday would leave everybody with their pants on the floor.

I can relate to this situation, and glad Evans went this route. When my wife and I started dating, she cooled it off after the first couple of weeks. She said she was scaring herself over how quick she was falling for me. Been very happily married now for 15 years.

yay!! cool beans

Darn. I was hoping he could get away from her, but I guess not.

YES!!!

Wait…

It doesn’t matter if she said it to Gunther as well, it’s not going to go well between them in the long run. Poor Gunther :(

Who cares.

Yay!

While I haven’t read every one of the hundreds of today’s messages I think people who are looking at body language or eye expressions are missing a joke, which is that Tiffany’s lavender (potion No. 9) incense gives the appearance at least of causing Bets to declare her love for Gunther. In any case I don’t think Bets’s eye movement suggest calculation, just awareness of the incense.

WTF. I love you, so I abandoned you in a parking lot at night.

I love you so I ghosted you for weeks and would not return your calls or texts.

I love you so I made you question everything about us with no explanation.

Gunther, please get up and just walk away. If not, I hope you enjoy the emotional abuse you will get.

Oh, my! Tiffany is overdoing it a bit. Good distraction for Gunther while Bets either contemplates his question (or is smelling the lavender) and finally gives him the answer I’ll bet no one saw coming! Now is this going to be accepted by Gunther? Will there be any further explanation for her seemingly unloving actions, well detailed by Mordock999? Saturday Cliffhanger! ;-)

Options for what Bets really means:

1. “I love you like a brother”2. “I love you as my french fry supplier”3. “I love you for what you do for my online ratings”4. “I love you as long as you are paying”5. “I love you, now please tell Vito you canceled the contract”6. “I love you since my first choice Dirk dumped me yesterday”

Of course she is. I knew that was true from the moment that she left. She wasn’t ready when he said it. She hadn’t really understood or examined her own feelings on the matter.

Some people are terrified of their own emotions. Bets seems to be one of those people. She can get over it, but it does not make for smooth sailing in a relationship. Counselling is advised if Gunther sticks it out.

The best thing Tiffany should do right now is leave Bets and Gunther alone.

Bets loves Gunther.

She’s just not good at it.

Let’s see them work it out on their own, alone, together.

Didn’t see this coming. So, when’s the wedding?

So, did Gun hear her, or not?

Tiff actually provided the best possible and well timed distraction.

Love can be scary.

Hoping this isn’t a “ fear of being in love “ trope or STL, that would be lazy story writing.

Now we have a “counter” “L-bomb”! Gunther-make her SWEAT!

Penny drops

Sooo…what else is in that lavender incense? Whatever it is it changes a persons’ personality instantly! (Or maybe Bets is highly susceptible to lavender!) LOL!

Hilarity does not ensue…

If there is only one thing I’ve learned in 78 years of life so far, its that love is strange.

This is great. So many people wrong and annoyed!

Gunther: “You love me?? But, But …. where did you go … ??” Betts: “I was nervous. I forgot to tell you. I had to go home and turn off the coffee pot. I didn’t have enough money to leave you cab fare. My prom dress didn’t come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake. A terrible flood. Locusts!”

Not crazy about Bets. She is not good to him and Gunther should have better. I think Tiffany would be a better choice!

This is a chance for Gunther and Bets to move forward if the Evens choose to they can mature the characters (as young adults havethe habit of doing) Claiming that Gunther is never the alpha based on his limited relationship history ignores the fact that he has grown since leaving high school. He needs to stand up to Bets and state his expectations moving forward

Skipper from Penguins of Madagascar: “wait a minute…back up.”

I’m afraid I’ve never been a fan of Bets.

Well, this sucks. This is worse than Ann Awful.

I think the Love Boat just hit the rocks. Tiff’s Scent of Lavender clouds the issue between Gunther and Bets, but Bets has made a very odd declaration of love. After the way she’s treated Gunny, her explanation is “because I love you”?

This is one of those Twists of Plot from the Evans Team that leave us wondering….

Like Noah said to the animals, “It’s been long enough, let’s get off this arc.”

Lavender Incense is going to send him into a Asthma attack.

This is all part of Gunther’s growth & maturity for his eventual spouse. His eventual spouse is being an annoyance right now, though.

A mike drop moment; except no one ordered the incense.

Woohoo! When two characters in another strip got married, I sent a wedding-related card to the cartoonist. Got a lovely letter back. :)

Ummm, no. Ghosting the one you love makes zero sense. If Bets can’t commit to a conversation, how can she commit to a relationship? If a normal person was ghosted after declaring their love, I think after a few days they’d be glad to have dodged that bullet. I was hoping that Bets was gone: G&K destroyed her character.

This strip is basically positive in tone. If you follow it in detail, good triumphs over evil, although it can take a long time and with a lot of twists and turns (Anne Eiffel, Dirk the Jerk, and even Tiffany).

We’ve already seen one unlikely couple (Brad and Toni) go to the altar. And look how long it took them.

Why not Gunther and Bets?

Look how this plotline of two characters who do NOT bear the name of the strip have the readers enthralled and riveted. It’s like how Snoopy and Woodstock took over “Peanuts” from Charlie Brown.

Tomorrow we’ll see a full Sunday panel strip of Luann with her family (to remind us of what this strip is about) and next week will be Gunther and Bets.

Probably not the week after that, though. Remember Bernice and Nils?

This would be a big fat no. You turned your back on him, left him stranded, ghosted him for over a month and now you want to say you love him? That ain’t love.

That’s the lavender incense talking.

Bets’ “confession” is, as the kids say, pretty sus. She knows she can’t Keep him if she doesn’t say it, so like any abuser, she’ll come out with “But I love you, baby” only when she’s in trouble or to invoke compliance.

Ugh, no.

Finally! I think Bets and Gunther are a great couple. She brings out the good things about him.

So, good good. Now lets get Bets a therapist to help her with her control issues, and someone to hand Gunther a pair and they might not end up in a co dependency fueled nightmarescape.

Ummm…ok. Feeling the runaway bride vibe from this young woman.