Volume 34 – A Date!

Volume 34 – A Date!

” My daughter Karen joined me in plotting and writing LUANN in …Read More

Behind-the-scene commentary from Greg Evans:
My daughter Karen joined me in plotting and writing LUANN in June, 2013. Thank goodness, because planning a wedding is not something a man should take on by himself. In this collection, we researched all the various and varied venues that are available for weddings. It’s amazing how many ways and places there are to say “I do.”

Nudity is a tricky thing to portray in a comic strip. Generally, it’s ok to show little kids running around in the buff, as long as no private parts are shown. For the adult guy in the 3-13 strip, I was pushing the boundaries a bit with a full butt-al shot. I couldn’t have gotten away with this if I’d drawn a shapely young female. Somehow, it’s more acceptable to show a tubby nude dude.

Unique to this collection is the 3-15 strip – it’s a Sunday. It’s pretty obvious I spent a lot of time on this, but it got double use: we sold prints of this strip at the National Cartoonists Society booth at the San Diego Comic-Con. The Con theme that year? Star Wars, natch.

I work hard to avoid controversy in LUANN. I don’t do political stuff or express my opinions on any hot button topics. So it was a shock when many readers were put off, even angered, by the “It’s Nine-Eleven” strip of 9-19. That tragic day is truly a sad and painful one. Having Brad pronounce it so joyfully as their wedding date struck many people as insensitive. To me, it seemed like a sweet tribute. But Karen and I talked it over and decided to craft a later story that would alter the date to 12-11. I’m glad we did. The profoundly sorrowful remembrances of 9-11 don’t really provide the right mood for a wedding.

Did you notice my foreshadowing in the second to last strip? I cleverly put Puddles in there because I knew he’d become the ring-bearer at the wedding fifteen months later!!

Ok. No I didn’t.