Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for March 03, 2021

What are these poses Tara’s doing? She looks like she’s doing an interpretive dance.

I guess this means Luann’s parents are going to find out about Tara.

Is Luann ever going to put down that toilet brush?

Yeah, who calls 911 in order to stop a crime when you got a video?

Get the plate number while you’re at it.

It’s even money that Tara may still be in on it.

Sheesh.

The intruder “exits stage right,” just like our three “heroines” weren’t even there.

We may never find out “who” this person is, as it appears he/she/it are about to escape, unpummeled.

But what would truly be the icing on the cake, would be if the “Bistro Bandit” also swipes, Bernice’s car. ;)

Bernice should get a vid of the car and then dial 911.

So far, the intruder is a silhouette. Is Tara going to attack the intruder?

Taking a video and getting the license plate of the car etc IS a good idea. By the time the cops arrive the burglar will be long gone. And what is that pose Tara has in the first panel? That is NOT karate…looks more like she is doing the Michael Jackson THRILLER dance! LOL

Pretty sure argythree and others are going to be upset.

Once again, Luann is portrayed as a dope.

I think it’s Dirk.

Where is Luann’s cell phone? Luann can take the video?

Guess Tara’s Kung Fu moves aren’t useful – just moves she learned i class. Wonder if the burglar snickered while running to his car.

I mentioned that yesterday’s portrayal of Tara’s ninja pose was lame and that Greg knew how to portray anime poses with Bets at comicon. Today’s panel one rendition looks like she’s casting a spell on “the intruder.”

I believe Greg is signaling that Tara is not seriously attacking “the intruder.”

‘Fraid Tara is in on this.

Everything Tara knows about martial arts she learned from TV and the movies: she wants to unleash the “crane kick” from The Karate Kid!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pL6uUYdWbU

¿A Luann no se le ha ocurrido noquearla lanzándole el cepillo de baño a la cabeza?

Whoever it is gets into a car. With a plate. Kinda conspicuous.

This had so many ways of going, but the seeds of doubt started growing when Tara said she was going to Utah. It still teetered a little bit for a few panels, but now it’s obvious: Tara and her cousin are in cahoots, Tara is pretending to “attack” the intruder, but she’s actually running to the car so she can jump in and peel out with her cousin and the money. Maybe she wasn’t lying when she said she was going to Utah, it’s just gonna be on the DeGroot’s dime.

It’s not the way I wanted Luann and Bernice to fix their relationship, honestly, with Luann being betrayed devastated and Bernice comforting her. It’s just tiring when writing tries to use an awful event to make characters put things into perspective; sometimes that’s ultimately what it takes, but the friction Lu and Bern were having should’ve been solved with the discussion of “we’re two really different people, but of course we can still be great friends to each other” and NOT “well, we WERE getting on each other’s nerves, but I guess it’s better than you stealing from me so let’s just sweep our problems under the rug”.

I dunno. If the panel does take a different turn then I’ll be pleasantly surprised, but it’s not like we get GOT-level plot twists in the funnies.

Last thing Luann wants is a 911 call. Bernice is going to get her crucified.

Well, that answers the question about Tara’s supposed martial arts prowess. She made a bunch of big flashy moves that accomplished literally nothing. If she’d just tried to tackle the person she might have slowed them down a bit. I mean, she was so incompetent the commenters here are beginning to openly wonder if she was secretly in on the burglary.

Oh, my God, what is Tara even doing?? Even Miss Piggy’s “hi-yaaa!” routine makes more sense as an attack. This arc is so awful. They shouldn’t try to do stories like….whatever this is. They just don’t know what they’re doing.

With those lame moves Tara is making, it is almost as if she is not trying to pose any real threat to the intruder. Now, the intruder is going to get away in their Belchfire Sports Cabriolet.

Heya is her cousins name not a martial arts scream. Not a ninja pose just spastic running.

This is such an obvious misdirection play: Tara and the “burglar” presumably her cousin are in an act to make it appear that Tara is pursuing him/her (more likely her as Tara apparently has mentioned earlier). I mean even the car is there, the person is standing by an open car door looking back at Tara, clearly he/she can hear and see Tara, who is putting on a dance “act.” Over what? Her bag which she set down? And some have said something about cash register receipts. Could be, but I doubt it. Of course Luann is being doofus with her toilet brush cleaner, but Bernice is being sensible, calling the cops. Is Tara a baddie or what? Will we know by Saturday? Odds either way anyone?

The car?

The thief re-fuse-d to stop. With not say she is a Tara-ble actor but all of her hackneyed martial arts moves allowed the perp to escape!

I dunno….1st frame there is something about the legs and shoes that make me think “feminine” for some reason.

Nice car…… Could it be ex-Fuse customer Ann Eiffel returning to grab…..something?

It does remind me of Dirk’s car, though I doubt he’ll appear in this story arc.

Belchfire Sports Cabriolet.

That’s Ducking the issue.

Tara in Crain Kick pose? Daniel LaRusso must be her Sensei.

And all this time, I thought it was Kreese.

If Tara was going to burgle the place, why wouldn’t she have just done it one of the nights she was staying there alone?

Lu, you do still have that toilet brush. Just sayin’….

I have been reading from the first srip. Up to 1998 now and can see why so many here are down on Luann. So annoying. So self centered.

I think she has improved.

And TJ! I get the distrust and animosity..

First Shannon sighting when Luann babysits her as an add on to the baby she sits. And at that time the sitting favor was done for Shannon’s mother.

Yeah, I’m at a loss. Neither a burglar nor Tara’s cousin would have come within sight of three people talking to each other.

Tara was packing up to leave, so perhaps this person was Tara’s ride out of town, and Tara found a way to exit stage right that kept this person’s identity from Lu and Bern. But she has her own Jeep-like vehicle.

To quote the famous philosopher Barbarino, I’m so confused.

Now what if was Nancy, who got wind of things and was teaching the girls a lesson. I could see Luann, Bernice and, possibly, Tara showing up at the house and Nancy and Frank sitting there with Tara’s bag. Surprise, surprise surprise!

OK, what the heck is Tara doing? Just yelling and posing? She doesn’t seem to be having any effect on the burglar who’s just ignoring her. And does she really think yelling Stop is going to do anything?

And they can thank Luann in part for this situation in the first place, who – even though she laughed about the fact that she should have locked the door – still didn’t go and lock the door.

Luann— put that toilet brush down, please. In all this chaos, you’re running the risk of accidentally brushing your teeth…

What kind of karate is that? Miyagi-do or Cobra Kai? …Or more like “Tara-Fake” …?

Another day chasing the specter? This is worse than Scooby Doo!

ok. So thoughts. If it is Tara’s cousin, and she/he (has Tara stated this explicitly, yet?) And Tara are in cahoots, is it purely a coincidence that Luann showed up? Or did Tara call her? Also, Bernice and Tara were both sure quick to forgive and forget past assumptions and actions. I know these questions have probably already been brought up in the 250 posts per day…Finally- how many of you pronounce her name TARE-uh, how many pronounce it TAR-uh, or do you call her TEAR-uh?

It’s probably Ben just checking up on his sister.

Bernice, NO !!!! In this situation calling the police is the worst thing to do! They probably won’t be able to stop the thief (unless Tara immobilizes her), but they’ll want to know why three girls were in a closed restaurant at night.

Too funny. Real thieves are very dangerous and armed to the teeth. The outcome wouldn’t went so well. My guess is Bern’s brother checks on the place and was startled and ran. We’ll never know as he speeds off in his car. Bern’s brother probably followed her to see what’s up. Maybe.

But who was the burglar?

I get a kick out of the toilet brush. I guess The Fuse has no knives in the kitchen.

Good idea Bern. Pitts finest should be there in about an hour. “When seconds count, the police are just minutes away”.

Well, at least Luann hasn’t lost her iron grip on that toilet brush..

For some god forsaken reason, I’m thinking it’s going to be Nancy.

With something like 600 comments so far since yesterday, of which I have only scanned, I still think the shadowy figure is Shannon’s dad. Back for more thrill packed episodes in how to shirk responsibility for raising one’s child.

Isn’t that a City Health Inspector logo on the car door? Clandestine inspection maybe?

Reminds me of a sign I saw… “In case of fire please exit the building before posting status on social media.”

For some reason I’m thinking Les is involved in this.

Tara is acting and sounding exactly like someone who watched too much of those movies.

I thought at first this might be Luann’s mother, but she wouldn’t run. She’d be yelling at the girls for being there after-hours.

getting a picture of the guy/lady intruder would have been a good idea but 911 is too. I once spotted someone breaking into a cafe at 3AM (smashing the window and going through it) across the st from an apartment I was living in at the time. I called 911 and the cops were there in seconds. the guy had sped away on his bicycle but they knew who it was (repeat offender in the neighborhood) and caught up with him. They work fast.

Well, another of my plot predictions has failed. It evidently is not the cousin.

The way the action is depicted makes it look like a parody where Tara is pretending to chase a “burglar” who is also pretending, but not too well, to run away. Sorry, walk away. I hope that’s the case. Otherwise it’s just pathetic, bad art and bad writing.

It’s easy to see Greg never studied martial arts.

Almost 50 replies…holy crap!

I’m thinking Tifanny left her purse. Or she is kipping at the Fuse herself for some reason – new girlfriend at Dad’s place? Please don’t let it be Anne Eiffle. I am so glad she is gone.

There’s still hope for the “dope”!

I can see this backfiring on them, when they’re asked why they were there at all.Wonder if Tara recognizes the car and knows who it is. And will she stick around for the cops, or run?

So Tara scared off the lurking whoever-he-is with her slick kung-fu-fighting moves, but capped her performance with the good old guaranteed-to-work “STOP!” She’d have hollered “Stop, thief!” but the person hasn’t stolen anything that we know of.

You call 911. I’ll go memorize the license number and keep Tara from catching him.

The silhouette looks like Bernice’s brother

Not looking forward to this becoming an “I told you so” moment from Bernice to Luann.

Last night, 3/2/2021, on “Wheel of Fortune”, contestant “Tara”, looked EXACTLY like our cartoon character!

10 to one she gets in the car with him.

So far each comment thinks Tara is in cahoots with the intruder or the intruder is a random burgler. Anyone suspect it’s Tara’s crazy cousin stalking Tara?

That thief has a heel on their shoe…maybe Tiffany thought she could, er, “borrow” some money from the Fuse to get her through the current semester? Or maybe Ann Eiffel is trying to get rid of the competition for new business (or thinks the owners will think about selling, and cheaply at that)?

Ann Eiffel?

Cops come, want to know WTH The 3 stooges are doing in the Fuse. Parents aka THE OWNERS are called to bail out the 3 who the cops have arrested for B&E+Burglary. End result, the ’rents take away Luanns key

This is a repeat but after looking back over the past two weeks worth of panels here at the FUSE, A LOT of things don’t add up. 1. Tara left the door open. 2. She knew Luann was stopping by. 3. They did not expect Bernice to join the fun. 4. The person entering is most likely Tara’s cousin, carrying what looks like a cylindrical object in the left hand while the right has an obvious bracelet. 5. Once again, the door was left open after Tara, Luann, and Bernice were all there inside. 6. The “thief” reaches behind the counter to grab what?

Part of me says it’s Tara’s cousin and this is all a set up and/or Tara cleared out some cash from the FUSE to help her out and left it in a purse behind the counter.ORThis is actually a customer who left her purse behind by mistake. She already talked to TJ / Ox / Tiffany by phone and they left it for her. She got there when it was closed but seeing the door was open, just walked in to get it.ORThis is actually Tiffany. About the right height, weight, long hair, etc. She left her purse and was double tracking to get it. She may have a key so when the door was open, seeing the dysfunctional trio, was not going to make a scene.

5

Utterly perplexing today:

1. Tara…. seemed “tough as nails” yesterday…. now she seems to be about 25 steps behind Ralph Machio before Ralphie even STARTED to learn his “big move”.

2. The “villian” seems to take absolutely no notice in the raucous “karate-esque” sounds emanating from Tara. Is the “villian” unaware that Tara is whooping and hollering? Is the “villian” hearing impaired?!?

3. The better option for Luann and Bernice….. ONE OF THEM get a video…. and the OTHER ONE OF THEM calls 911.

This feels like it was way out in left-field today.

Bernice’s brother the burglar? Burglar looks kind of out of shape.

I’m thinking it could be Dirk?? Yep, I’m going with Dirk…in a hoodie.

Is this Tara’s cousin? If so, she may be trying to scare him off before he does something he shouldn’t.

I’m reading a lot of comments, and there’s the “good girl Tara” camp and the “thief Tara” camp. Up until today’s strip, with some hints in yesterday’s strip, “good girl Tara” seemed to be more likely. But today, people are mentioning Tara’s ridiculous dancing poses as stalling because she’s in cahoots with the thief.

But, after some thought. It’s “none of the above”. Nothing makes sense anymore.If it’s good Tara, then yeah, makes zero sense to scare off a thief and then go running outside, yelling “STOP!” Go away or Stop? What? If her backpack was so valuable, she’d be yelling, “Drop that backpack!” and, on instinct, running after the thief as fast as she can instead of posing and wasting time.

But “thief Tara” doesn’t make sense either. Why would she call Luann to come by at night to collect the keys then? If not, and Luann’s appearance was unexpected, then why isn’t she calling her accomplice to delay the heist and getaway for a few more hours, after Luann leaves? Why would she want an accomplice to be there at the exact time when there’s 2 unwanted witnesses around?

Or, if all the stolen money was in her backpack, then she could just leave the backpack in the storage room, so her partner can grab it… why haul it into the main room at all?

What in the heckle is Tara doing? And why would Luann want video of this? Is this the end of the Tara/Luann/Bern saga? Will the story focus on Toni and Brad?

Maybe it’s just Tiffany who forgot her purse!

I’m hoping that in tomorrow’s strip, Luann grabs Bernice’s phone and takes the video she suggested.

Oh please, do none of you get that it has to be Tara’s parole violating cousin? That’s about as obvious as you can get.

Ben does not need that trouble!

Run Tara run.

I think “Him” is Tara’s crooked cousin.

Tara apparently has a Black Belt in Bulshido…

This all is kinda dumb….

Calling 911 means telling the police where tara has been sleeping

Luann is really loooking bad today—dumb as a toilet brush! Tara’s pursuit is unlikely to lead to a capture. Bernie, though I am reluctant to say it, is doing the Smart Thing today….

“Stop!! Come back here and get this invisible pizza I’m holding over my head! Heeya, I’m so brave! Don’t call the cops, Bernice, I’m in hiding, and I’m leaving town, which is super brave.”

Luann is still carrying around that toilet brush. Is she ever going to use it? lol

I’d love to see her Terminator onto the back of his car and hang on like a madwoman.

The disturbing element to me is that a lot of posters continue to emphasize that Tara stole stuff in college and later dissed Luann in art class. The implication is “ once a bad person, always a bad person.” Tara seems like an interesting and fun character – so I maintain hope. However Tara’s MMA moves do look like pretend.

Holy Nightmare! What twisted fate is this? Let’s hope the Calvary rushes in at the last minute for a rescue!!! I think I hear their sirens and see the flashing lights in the distant.

Tara is acting as slow as Shannon in this one!