Volume 19 – Gift Giving Gone Awry

Behind-the-scene commentary from Greg Evans:
” There are 3 things a comic strip cartoonist should avoid in the strip: 1. Sex. 2. Sex. and …Read More

Behind-the-scene commentary from Greg Evans:
There are 3 things a comic strip cartoonist should avoid in the strip: 1. Sex. 2. Sex. and 3. Sex. Actually, religion and politics are in there, too, but they’re comparatively easy to avoid in a strip like mine. But when you have two 20-something, buff firefighters in a relationship, sex becomes the elephant in the room.

With Brad and Toni, I did a lot of innuendo and tip-toeing around. Many commenters at GoComics speculated on the “will they or won’t they” question. People are passionate on both sides. You have those who feel that sex isn’t something that has to wait for marriage. Others believe sex out of wedlock is a no-no. Since my aim in LUANN is to entertain as many people as I can – AND to infuriate as few readers as possible – I’ve deftly avoided a direct confirmation of where Brad and Toni stand. Still, plenty of people make judgements based on how they interpret various scenarios between Brad and Toni.

In this collection, TJ once again comes up with a scheme that ends up getting Brad into hot water. But you can’t blame TJ. He actually did a very generous thing: used his own money to buy Brad a stay at the “uninhibited” Rompabout Resort. Whether or not TJ knew that this was a nudist resort doesn’t matter. Brad should have read the certificate more closely and made his own determination.