Volume 6 – Gradually Graduating

Volume 1 – A Career, A Fire, A Rescue

Behind-the-scene commentary from Greg Evans:
“The 3rd strip here uses a phrase from a movie that had come out 8 years earlier but was still making waves… Read More

Behind-the-scene commentary from Greg Evans:
The 2nd strip here uses a phrase from a movie that had come out 8 years earlier but was still making waves: TITANIC.

Looking back over all these strips, I just saw something that I’d completely forgotten: Brad’s middle name. On Jan. 8, I have him announced at Fire Academy Graduation as “Bradley Michael DeGroot.” If anyone had asked me if Brad had a middle name, I’d have said “no.” But here it is! I know why I chose Michael – it’s my son’s middle name and my brother’s first.

I don’t consider LUANN to be a violent strip, but this story with Dirk sure has a lot of it! In this collection, Brad and Dirk go mano-a-mano. Naturally, Brad loses.

Interestingly, on this site where we’re inviting readers to submit designs for Toni’s wedding dress, I actually drew her in a gown for the Feb. 3 fantasy scene. But don’t let that influence you, ok?

As a kid I was a huge fan of MAD magazine. I loved the little funny stuff that was always tucked around the margins (good work, Sergio!) and buried within the illustrations. From time to time, I like to drop some little bit of eye candy, Easter egg thing into LUANN. In this collection, it’s in the very last strip, dated Feb. 5, 2005. It’s a little nod to the strip CATHY; she married Irving on that date.

Coincidentally, on Oct. 4, I used the generic sales clerk from CATHY in LUANN. My apologies to Cathy Guisewite for stealing her character without asking. Check’s in the mail, Cathy.