History ComicStrip / Luann

** Bets broke up with Gunther and quit school to go on a road trip indefinitely.

** Bernice towards Piro. At first she was a StalkerWithACrush, abusing her authority as DA to manipulate him into liking her. The second he returned her affections she ghosted him, saying she didn't feel any sparks. Then years later she saw him do a public reading of a story he'd written about how much she meant to him, at which point she engaged in a heartfelt reunion with him. Afterwards, he sent (through Luann, who was in his creative writing class with him) a letter pleading to meet up and talk, to which she didn't respond. It was only after she saw Tara and Luann competing over his attention that she went up to him and began dropping not-so-subtle hints that he should be spending time with ''her'' instead. Only time will tell how it ends.

* AmbiguousSituation: Whether Gunther and Bets are broken up, or just taking a break is never revealed.

* MySisterIsOffLimits: Bernice has very strong feelings towards her long-lost older brother, to the point of getting angry when she learns that Luann has a crush on him.

* ACupAngst: One of 13-year-old Luann's constant laments was that she was cursed with "[[WeightWoe too much body]] and not enough figure."

* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Luann's obsession with Aaron Hill, in the strip's earlier years; Brad's interest in Toni, before they became an item; Gunther's pining for Luann.

* AllTakeAndNoGive: Toni Daytona's brother Jonah treats her as an on-call free daycare, to the point of demanding that she reschedule any commitments that might prevent her from watching Shannon (including preparations for her own wedding). When Toni finally tried to refuse, stating that Jonah needed to take some responsibility for his own life, he replied that he would have an easier time doing so [[WhatHaveYouDoneForMeLately if he had ever received any help from her]]. It's not limited to his own family members either: upon meeting Nancy and Pru for the first time (and finding out that Nancy's son was engaged to Toni), he ''immediately'' left Shannon with them and hightailed it out the door with the excuse that "Toni will pick her up in a few hours."

* AscendedExtra: When Toni Daytona debuted in early 2002, she was just one of two cute girls with NoNameGiven who sat next to Brad and TJ in their CPR and EMT classes, so there could be a few gags of [[CasanovaWannabe Brad and TJ flirting with them unsuccessfully.]] If anything, Toni's friend (who's never been named and hasn't been seen since the end of the EMT Class, where TJ dropped out) actually had more to do since TJ was more aggressive in flirting and failing with her than Brad was with Toni. Toni turned up again, briefly, near the end of the year at the impromptu mini-parade Brad's family and friends staged for Brad. It wasn't till the next year that Brad (and the readers) learned Toni's name and we got the whole Brad-Toni-Dirk LoveTriangle.

* BeautifulAllAlong: Played relatively straight, but with a ''male'' character, as Gunther drops his glasses and dorky clothing to look more acceptable to others.
** When he really wanted to change his style, he had ''Tiffany'' help him. She was [[PetTheDog surprisingly effective at it]], but he ultimately felt more comfortable as himself.
** Gunther got a further (inadvertent) makeover courtesy of a group of senior citizen ladies touring Peru by bus, the result of which was ditching the button-down shirts for sweatshirts and [[PermaStubble facial stubble]]. The cast's females approve, especially Tiffany.

** Dez also counts as this.
* BigBrotherAttraction: Bernice has very strong feelings towards her long-lost older brother, to the point of getting angry when she learns that Luann has a crush on him.

* BrainlessBeauty: Cheerleader Tiffany is shown as one of the most negative types of this trope, who doesn't try at much of anything and is seen as completely shallow.

* CantHoldHisLiquor: Gunther slurred his words, stumbled around and passed out for six hours after drinking exactly ''one beer''.

* CharacterDevelopment: Brad moves from a lazy, slovenly generic older-brother figure who harasses his sister all the time, to becoming dedicated to firefighting, spending several years of our time (not ComicBookTime) working towards his classes.

* ClingyJealousGirl: Luann to Aaron Hill sometimes. Bernice ''especially'' does this to wheelchair-bound Zane, freaking out if he so much as talks to another girl, and asking him to ''marry her'' while she was still in high school.

* CosPlay: Gunther. In the cast's younger days, he loved making costumes for Luann's library readings. Now that they're all grown (or growing) up, the same skill gets him together with cosplay and con enthusiast Bets.
* CousinOliver: Shannon was originally just a BrattyHalfPint that was occasionally babysat by Luann, but was later [[RetCon retconned]] into Toni's niece. Over time she appeared more and more, to the point where now she's essentially being raised by Toni and Brad, even moving in with them and getting her own room (good luck finding a Brad/Toni story since 2018 that doesn't focus mainly on Shannon) while her actual father [[ParentalNeglect hasn't been seen on-panel in years.]] In addition, she's become a regular at Luann's house as well.
* CovertPervert: Dez. You wouldn't know it from her character (besides her being a nudist), but [[https://www.gocomics.com/luann/2016/05/24 she mentioned to Bernice about having naked yoga meditation with a boy she liked]].

* CruelCheerleader: Tiffany played the trope completely straight during the high school years. Bitchy, stupid, shallow, and slutty (as much as permitted in a G-rated comic). Also the most popular girl in school ([[InformedAttribute supposedly]]). It's notable that her CharacterDevelopment didn't begin until long after she was kicked off the squad. A rare case of SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: the school faculty didn't take kindly to one of their cheerleaders mercilessly bullying another student.

* DemotedToExtra: The beauty pageant arc from 2010 (the one introducing Rosa) was the first time Delta played a major role in a storyline in years. And she promptly faded back into the background once it was over. In 2014, she left the strip entirely and hasn't been seen since November of that year. Greg Evans has stated repeatedly that the "perfect" Delta is almost ''impossible'' to write for, owing to her lack of flaws. The more flawed Luann is easier, while Tiffany (who is largely made of personality flaws and hotness) is the simplest.
* DepravedBisexual: Ann Eiffel.

* TheDogIsTheMastermind: PlayedWith and Subverted during the chaperone arc. One of the teachers suspects that Luann was the one who did the anonymous caller due to this trope (which the teacher deconstructs by pointing out that the other teacher is just as applicable for that trope as well). It was Tiffany all along, and Luann only acted like she was the anonymous video recorder to Tiffany in order to trick her into admitting it.

** Gunther is also one of these to an extent.

* ExtremeDoormat: Toni has a very hard time saying no to her brother Jonah (and by extension, Jonah's daughter Shannon). Even when she attempts to stand up to them, she caves in fairly quickly.

* {{Foil}}: [[HateSink Stef]] is one for [[CruelCheerleader high school-aged]] [[RichBitch Tiffany]]. While Tiffany was friends with [[PerkyGoth Crystal]], Stef doesn't appear to have any friends. While Tiffany never had a boyfriend, Stef is rarely seen without her boyfriend Kip. And while Tiffany was an openly cruel AlphaBitch, Stef is more the InnocentlyInsensitive, CondescendingCompassion type.

* InformedAbility: Gunther is allegedly a very good science and math student. He hasn't been seen in a classroom setting in many years and the fact that he's still in college and majoring in engineering would be unknown to anyone who just reads the strips and not the website bios if they started at any time past 2014. He also seems to get dragged to scifi conventions by Bets, who is way more into geek pop culture than he is. Other than being overly attached to his mom, it's completely unclear in what sense Gunther is still supposed to be a "nerd" character - he seems to just be a guy who has sex with his popular girlfriend a lot and has lost most of his other character traits (replaced with his [[SuddenlyAlwaysKnewThat skill as a costume maker]]).

* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Recently introduced character Bets is showing signs of playing this role for Gunther. She's pretty grounded when helping Tiffany get her life and studies together, though.
* ManipulativeBitch: Recurring villain Ann Eiffel. Her main weapons are seduction, CrocodileTears and the threat of a FrivolousLawsuit.

* MeanBoss: Ann Eiffel is one.
** As manager of Borderline Books she was Bernice and Zane's employer, and threatened to fire them if they kept seeing each other. Bernice at first thought she wanted to seduce Zane; Ann actually wanted to seduce Bernice. After making Bernice her personal servant and firing Zane, Ann resorted to outright intimidation, until Borderline's CEO -- who was a friend of Zane -- noticed and transferred Ann to their branch in Japan.
** But that wasn't the last of her. She later showed up as manager of Weenie World, where Brad applied for work after being laid off by the Fire Department. This time, she tried to seduce him, and after finding out about Toni, fired him. Later, TJ started working there to get proof of her abusing employees, and not only made a recording of her saying she cons people and took complete credit for his ideas, but trying to ''sue Toni's five-year-old niece'' for biting her. Ann then attempted to seduce TJ, but he wasn't having any of it.
** Ann refuses to go away: Not only is she Leslie's mom, she's also dating Tiffany's father. [[spoiler:At least she ''was'' dating him, until she tried TheBabyTrap on him and her deception was revealed. She ended up dumped and PutOnABus once more.]]

* MrFanservice: Jack, appearing naked ''twice'' in the series.

* ParentalAbandonment: Most characters' parents aren't shown; but are often mentioned. However; TJ's parents are never shown nor mentioned, until 2008 when he heavily implies that they might have abandoned him. Later confirmed.

** Gunther and Rosa.
* ReplacementFlatCharacter: Stef is the [[CruelCheerleader mean cheerleader]] of the comic after Tiffany got character development. As noted under {{Foil}} though, they at least have her be a different kind of AlphaBitch.

** In the week leading up to ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' final comic. Luann pretty much visited Charlie Brown's neighborhood and basically tried to reenact several of his famous scenes as a cute little send off. The Sunday strip of that week, which focused back on the current story arc, even had a poster of Charlie Brown in the background.

* SmugSnake: Ann Eiffel is a textbook example.

* StepfordSmiler: Possible that TJ may be a male example.
* StillBelievesInSanta: If [[https://www.gocomics.com/luann/2022/12/24 this strip]] is any indication, Luann still believes in Santa at age 19-20 (there's no kids to placate: it's just her, her parents and her best friend Bernice living in the house).

* TookALevelInKindness: Toni took this when she finally broke up with Dirk and started dating Brad, no longer playing mind games with him.

* ToxicFriendInfluence: TJ fulfills this role with Brad. He has gotten Brad into trouble with his borderline illegal schemes and other inappropriate behavior. However, he has done other things that were nice, and it's been implied he has ParentalAbandonment issues... doesn't justify the borderline illegal schemes, though. It should be noted that sometimes those schemes crossed over from "borderline illegal" into [[https://www.gocomics.com/luann/1994/12/13 full-on criminal behavior]].

* TheVamp: Ann Eiffel, though she's more G-rated than most examples of this trope.

* WithFriendsLikeThese: Luann occasionally enters into this territory with Bernice and Delta (especially Bernice, who usually gets the last word). Bernice is definitely this to Luann, never once saying a nice thing about her.

* WrenchWench: Toni, in addition to being gorgeous, is idealized further by Brad upon discovering she's as into cars as he is, and works on them. He may have won her over a bit initially with his "is it hot in here?" to her "first-time" story of rebuilding a carb.

* InformedAbility: Gunther is allegedly a very good science and math student. He hasn't been seen in a classroom setting in many years and the fact that he's still in college and majoring in engineering would be unknown to anyone who just reads the strips and not the website bios if they started at any time past 2014. He also seems to get dragged to scifi conventions by Bets, who is way more into geek pop culture than he is. Other than being overly attached to his mom, it's completely unclear in what sense Gunther is still supposed to be a "nerd" character - he seems to just be a guy who has sex with his popular girlfriend a lot and has lost most of his other character traits.

* SlutShaming: [[AlphaBitch Tiffany]] tends to get this from Luann a lot; the go-to insult is some variation on "Tiffany is dating the entire football team." Interestingly enough, Tiffany has less sexual experience than Luann or any of her friends; she's never had a boyfriend or even properly kissed anyone (she gave one person a quick peck on the mouth and another a peck on the cheek, but that's it). Doesn't stop [[{{Jerkass}} Luann]] from constantly implying that Tiffany is the [[ReallyGetsAround village bicycle]] though, even after Tiffany receives some CharacterDevelopment and becomes friendlier with the main characters. Since the 2014 status quo reset, this aspect has largely been dropped; not only is every character except Luann herself [[note]]as well as Bernice, as confirmed by [[https://www.gocomics.com/luann/2022/04/27 this strip]] where she says that "I would never go there" when she feels that she's being suspected of having sex.[[/note]] sexually active, it's treated pretty much exactly as people in the real 21st-century world would react to adult college students having sex with their monogamous romantic partners - in other words, as fully expected and usually unremarkable. The "perpetual virgin Luann" stuff is still going on indefinitely though: unlike everyone else, she treated the idea of Gunther and his girlfriend Bets being sexually active as a huge scandal, and started asking around behind his back to try and confirm if it was actually happening. Most of the people she asked failed to see why it was such a huge deal (while Gunther himself was annoyed at Luann's invasion of his privacy).