Brad’s come clean.
Sitcom and comic-strip stupidity. In a situation like that, all you have to do is, early on say, “I was KIDDING! You didn’t really take me SERIOUSLY, did you? Ha ha…ha…” But that would eliminate about 1/3 of sitcom and comic-strip storylines.
And who fed Brad and Luann’s parents the gullibility pills, anyway? Fire fighters, paramedics, etc. save people’s lives all the time, and yet parades are quite few and far between, aren’t they? Brad should try major-league professional sports if he wants a parade.
Oh, and Luann…if there had been a parade, I hope that you’d have gotten horse crap on those shoes!
Anyone see today’s strip? Good way to incorporate real life events.
I am glad to see that TJ actually did organize a little parade rather than usurp an already-planned city 9-11 parade like I thought he was going to.
Considering that 9-11-01 was what inspired Brad to become a fire fighter in the first place, it was a nice way to come full circle, and, IMO, one of the better 9-11-themed comics.
Good job, Brad, but next time, follow proper proceedures!
But if Brad waited Zane may have died. Am I the only one on Brad’s side?
I love how this turned out. TJ did a totally cool thing, and Brad did a totally cool thing–despite his not following proper procedures–and I’m glad it’s having a happy ending.
Couldn’t Brad have alerted one of the “real” fire fighters that there was a man inside and let them go in and rescue him? I think that that’s what he’s “supposed” to do. Of course, he’d also have had to tackle Bernice to keep her from going back in. IMO, Bernice was the real problem–trying to pull a disabled man out of a tiny, high window rather than finding a phone to call for help. I think Brad went in mre to save Bernice’s life than anything else.
They must have really cut corners when building that bookstore! Faulty wiring, no circuit breakers, and it went up like it was made of newspaper–not to mention the lack of a phone in the manager’s office!
Of course, you’ve got to wonder…did Ms. Eiffel see a frayed cord or something on that paper shredder as she was packing up and think, “Well, not my problem!”?
The real firefighters didn’t show up until after he went in. He and the other EMT were setting up, waiting for the others to arrive.
AHA!!! The true culprit emerges!
I don’t know about where Luann lives, but medic units are not routinely dispatched with fire calls here in Baltimore, at least not until the second alarm.
I confess, the “Floats!” bit had me smiling for waaaaayyyy too long 
I really wanted to find the Onion article from about a year ago about the author of Luann, and his struggle to find an appropriate way to deal with 9-11 in the strip. It looks like it’s been pulled from the Onion’s archive, though–for copywrite reasons? Anyway, did anybody else see that spoof?
Too bad that the web archive page doesn’t include the original photos that went with the story. For me, the funniest part was a picture of Greg Evans’s supposed cartoon doodles in his idea book. IIRC, there’s a picture of the hot bitchy girl (Luann’s rival?) bending over with a pair of extremely short cutoffs (so that her panties are showing) and over her shoulder she’s saying something like, “spank me, Greg!”
That would be Tiffany, I believe.