A Word of Advice For Toni

Cidu Bill on Nov 27th 2009

toni.gif
Run. As far as you can, and quickly as you can. You’ll be happier with steroid-abuser Dirk than with momma’s-boy Brad and his mother.

Filed in Bill Bickel, Greg Evans, Luann, comic strips, comics, humor | 20 responses so far

20 Responses to “A Word of Advice For Toni”

  1. Less reality, more fantasy, no baby blues Nov 27th 2009 at 11:14 pm 1

    Well, at least the sexual politics will be better than in Marvin, where the main character imagined sexually repressing his mother, bathing his father and was aroused by shitty diapers. Anyone who thinks the last sentence was joke should check the Comics Curmudgeon.

  2. Kit Nov 27th 2009 at 11:45 pm 2

    I haven’t been following this story arc . . . are Brad and Toni getting serious? And wasn’t Mom the one who was supportive about the Toni-inspired tattoo?

  3. PeterW Nov 28th 2009 at 12:18 am 3

    Brad and Toni got serious when she jumped him in the park. And sealed the deal while letting TJ’s rice burn.

  4. Elyrest Nov 28th 2009 at 12:23 am 4

    I don’t think Brad is a momma’s boy, but I do think his Mom, Nancy, is acting quite bitchy to Toni. I don’t really get it as Toni has been quite good for Brad. I’ve never understood a mother treating prospective mates for her son poorly. Wasn’t the Mom in exactly the same position once? You’d think she’d know better. My Mom always treated my brother’s girlfriends and later wives great - she always said that’s how my grandmother (Dad’s mom) treated her.

  5. Cidu Bill Nov 28th 2009 at 12:30 am 5

    I stick with “momma’s boy” until he’s willing to tell his mother he’s an adult and that he expects her to treat the woman he loves with respect.

  6. Charlene Nov 28th 2009 at 12:35 am 6

    I’m still waiting for the revelation that Quill isn’t really Australian - his comment that they celebrated Thanksgiving in Australia (they don’t and never have) sealed it for me.

  7. solarrhino Nov 28th 2009 at 02:12 am 7

    Look at Quill and TJ’s enormous foreheads and strange clenched-teeth smiles. No doubt their from the same mysterious unworldly place.

  8. solarrhino Nov 28th 2009 at 02:13 am 8

    D’oh! “they’re”, not “their”.

  9. Kit Nov 28th 2009 at 05:20 am 9

    Whoa! She jumped him in the park? When did this happen?

  10. Ooten Aboot Nov 28th 2009 at 06:28 am 10

    So, Charlene, this website http://www.thanksgiving.org.au/ must be an elaborate fake. When is the next meeting of the Australian Thanksgiving Truth Seekers?

  11. Chyron HR Nov 28th 2009 at 09:30 am 11

    The National Day of Thanksgiving is a unique opportunity for Australians to celebrate and give thanks for our God given heritage as a nation and to demonstrate the God given values(…)

    Right. That’s totally a mainstream national holiday in Australia. And the reason all those Australians keep saying that Greg Evans was wrong about them celebrating Thanksgiving is because they’re part of a conspiracy. A conspiracy to deny the existence of a holiday that everybody supposedly celebrates.

  12. HeroSteve Nov 28th 2009 at 09:52 am 12

    Based on Brad’s Mom’s comments from earlier strips, she doesn’t trust Toni because she thinks Toni seeks excitement. She sees her son as stable and responsible (mostly), and expects Toni to get bored with Brad.

    Also, in the storyline when Dirk punched Brad, his Mom said that something bad happens to Brad every time Toni is around. At the time, it was a justified statement - previously, Mom caught Dirk putting Brad in a headlock while Toni was there. Toni was also still involved with Dirk.

    Later in the story, Dirk violated his restraining order against Brad, and Brad called the police in spite of Toni’s protests.

    After that, even Brad made Toni work a little harder to regain his trust.

    So in summary, Brad and Toni have moved on, but Mom is holding a grudge. Given the history, it’s understandable. However, Brad will need to address it soon.

  13. Mitch4 Nov 28th 2009 at 10:41 am 13

    On Comics.com the discussion thread for Luann seems to usually be one of the most active, and in large part fairly juvenile — as though populated with coevals of the title character, perpetual highschoolers. But the discussion of this Thanksgiving dinner series there has been along similar lines to the thread here… except that the opprobrium is being directed against Nancy (the mother) for her smothering rather than Brad (the momma’s boy) for giving in to it.

    My take blames Nancy for what seems like, after just a little analysis, an antimale and antisex viewpoint. She assumes her son, like all men, is “just after one thing”, which he could disprove only by going after a very dowdy or otherwise unattractive and unsexy girlfriend. The fact that Toni is pretty and sexy makes her a bimbo in Nancy’s eyes, sweeping aside Toni’s intelligence, sweetness, independence, and career prospects.

  14. David Nov 28th 2009 at 11:27 pm 14

    In one strip, quite a few years ago, Nancy was talking to Luann, and telling her how many boyfriends she’d had before she ever met Luann and Brad’s dad, one died in Vietnam, one became a priest, and so on. The point being that she’d been around, dated a lot of guys, and that’s a good thing.

    The other thing, when did the really hot, smart neighbor girl disappear? Brad lusted after her for years, but became a tongue -tied idiot whenever he had a chance to talk to her. Turned out she used him a few times to experiment on what happens when you expose a monosyllabic moron to culture. IIRC, Nancy pointed out to Brad what she was doing, but didn’t get terribly bent out of shape about it. And if she’s OK with TJ, she should be OK if Brad decided to date a bisexual, polygamous alpaca.

  15. WackySayings Nov 29th 2009 at 01:04 am 15

    yes, Nancy told Luann that she had 19 boyfriends before she got Married to Frank(number 20), also on August 2003 she told Brad that she had trust on him in seeing if Toni was a nice girl, not just a bimbo(where did that trust go?).

    The saddest part is that As Far as we know, Dirk has been the only Boyfriend Toni had, so Nancy is assuming too much that “all Toni’s past BFs are jerks”, plus from what I see from Toni’s reaction to Nancy “coldness”; Nancy is going on dangerous ground, as many times women who are or were in abusive relationships get very hurt and depressed when others try to put them downas people who do not deserve anything good (Nancy thinking that she is a Bimbo who only wants adventures and jerks, and not nice, polite and ordinary men like Brad, and that Toni will eventually hurt Brad by leaving him so Toni does not deserve Brad)

  16. Slager Nov 29th 2009 at 02:30 am 16

    I’m glad that this strip is getting some discussion here. I know it’s a bit ridiculous for me to get worked up over something as trivial as a comic strip, but every Luann I’ve read these past two weeks have made me a little angry. The mother’s (Nancy, we all agree) animosity towards Toni seems woefully unfounded, and uncalled for. And Toni has no reason to be ‘cold’ in return except that Nancy is being so ‘cold’. I don’t know if I’m more upset at the character or the contrivances of the plot. Anyway. Yes, assuming that a woman will leave a man just because she’s a hottiepants is pretty sexist. I’m interested to see who gets their comeuppance in this storyline.

  17. Tullia Nov 29th 2009 at 12:52 pm 17

    So why isn’t Brad helping his girlfriend clean up?

    Since I don’t read Luann, all I’m getting from this thread (and others previous) is “nice hot girl falls for plain schlub who’s also nice.” While Brad doesn’t seem NEAR as bad as Anthony, nor Toni as potentially interesting as Elizabeth, it still feels a little like deja vu all over again. Or … ?

  18. Kate C Nov 29th 2009 at 02:25 pm 18

    Tullia–Really? I think think is much, much more interesting that Elizabeth. She’s a firefighter, she has a sense of humor, she’s interested in her work. Yeah, there’s an element of hot-babe-and-nerd (plus, for too long, too many of Toni’s stories revolved around Dirk).

    I find Brad pretty obnoxious, but not even near as bad as Anthony. At worst, Brad is just extremely immature and bratty. Plus, I think he’s kind of cute.

  19. Mitch4 Nov 29th 2009 at 03:52 pm 19

    I wasn’t sure who that Elizabeth and Anthony were, that Kate C and Tullia are discussing, but a search soon found this long, involved, closely-reasoned diatribe

    http://shaenon.livejournal.com/29475.html

    from the brilliant Shaenon K. Garrity.
    — I read this LJ entry with more attention than called for by the low interest I take in FBoFW because I thought it might give some clues to understanding Garrity’s mysterious Skin Horse. And perhaps it did, though from the discussion of her projects it dates from before she was doing SH.

  20. AMC Dec 2nd 2009 at 12:30 pm 20

    Here is what will happen - Brad’s dad will suffer a heart attack. Toni will save him, and her relationship with Brad’s mom will thaw.

    I’ve got a $100 on it in Vegas at the Comic Book at the Belagio. If you haven’t been there, it’s great. Big overstuffed chairs, newspaper comic sections from all over the country lining the walls, and hot cocktail waitresses bringing you drinks as long as you’re placing bets….

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