# When did newspaper comics get explicit (let alone iits luann) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-strips\ **Created:** [September 8, 2023, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-newspaper-comics-get-explicit-let-alone-iits-luann/989766 "2023-09-08T08:53:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-newspaper-comics-get-explicit-let-alone-iits-luann/989766/1 "2023-09-08T08:53:19Z")
ok one of the recent stories here is what passes for a typical story in the infamous Luann Tiffany, the resident mean girl inherited a mansion that she stays at occasionally Well one of her college frenemes talked her into letting her BF stay with her at this mansion … he’s a hunk she’s crushing and drooling etc, and finds out that shes a needy wench whos not a very nice person (even worse than shes shown in the strip) and is slowly plotting to steal him Now since the GF is a gymnast the writer decided to show why he’s with her and well if this one had been in the papers when I was younger … > **[Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for September 07, 2023 | GoComics.com](https://www.gocomics.com/luann/2023/09/07)** > > September 07, 2023 Now I don’t know if this one is in the papers or just on the website but I don’t think this one will be in the school magazines … ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-newspaper-comics-get-explicit-let-alone-iits-luann/989766/2 "2023-09-08T10:58:53Z")
Well, but the linked strip is _not_ explicit. What’s going on is left _implicit_; we’re not shown or told exactly what it is. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-newspaper-comics-get-explicit-let-alone-iits-luann/989766/3 "2023-09-08T11:05:28Z")
The Sun newspaper in the UK is a mainstream tabloid and it did (does?) run a comic strip that features sex and nudity [George and Lynne](http://georgeandlynne.com/) (sort of NSFW but pretty mild) ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-newspaper-comics-get-explicit-let-alone-iits-luann/989766/4 "2023-09-08T11:20:23Z")
They’re college students in their late teens/early twenties. You think nobody’s getting laid? Maybe we should call the **Comic Strip Censors** from Pearls Before Swine. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-newspaper-comics-get-explicit-let-alone-iits-luann/989766/5 "2023-09-08T11:45:17Z")
This is one of those jokes where you are led to believe it’s something dirty, but it turns out to be innocent. “How many women can do this?” She’s doing handstands. No sex. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-newspaper-comics-get-explicit-let-alone-iits-luann/989766/6 "2023-09-08T11:58:06Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > This is one of those jokes where you are led to believe it’s something dirty, but it turns out to be innocent. Yeah, one of those classic “Three’s Company” style misunderstandings. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-newspaper-comics-get-explicit-let-alone-iits-luann/989766/7 "2023-09-08T12:16:53Z")
Maybe she’s doing shadow puppets. Girls who can do that are really popular. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-newspaper-comics-get-explicit-let-alone-iits-luann/989766/8 "2023-09-08T12:33:16Z")
Tiffany did not inherit the mansion. Her father’s still alive and kicking, although very rarely there. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-newspaper-comics-get-explicit-let-alone-iits-luann/989766/9 "2023-09-08T14:57:22Z")
The OP kinda oversold the raunchiness of the strip. It’s classic comedic sexual insinuation that can logically apply to a host of less lascivious activities. (Like watching the submarine races). ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-newspaper-comics-get-explicit-let-alone-iits-luann/989766/10 "2023-09-08T15:48:36Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Well, but the linked strip is _not_ explicit. What’s going on is left _implicit_; we’re not shown or told exactly what it is. I agree. Plus, how many kids are still reading comic strips? I think the audience is mostly adults at this point. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-newspaper-comics-get-explicit-let-alone-iits-luann/989766/11 "2023-09-08T15:51:56Z")
November 13, 1976. After a weeklong buildup, _Doonesbury_ shows Joanie Caucus (at that time a mid-30s divorcee in law school) and future husband Rick Redfern in bed together. Thirty newspapers refused to run the strip. > **[Doonesbury Decades: A Timeline Of Turning Points](https://www.npr.org/2010/10/26/130809883/doonesbury-decades-a-timeline-of-turning-points)** > > The beloved, irreverent comic strip marks its 40th birthday on Oct. 26, 2010. We asked David Stanford, duty officer at Doonesbury Town Hall, to help us relive some of the cartoon's most memorable moments. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-newspaper-comics-get-explicit-let-alone-iits-luann/989766/12 "2023-09-08T18:44:26Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > This is one of those jokes where you are led to believe it’s something dirty, but it turns out to be innocent. > > “How many women can do this?” > > She’s doing handstands. No sex. I was thinking she was doing splits. But nothing more than that. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-newspaper-comics-get-explicit-let-alone-iits-luann/989766/13 "2023-09-09T16:38:57Z")
I follow Luann, and the OP got a couple of the details a little wrong. Tiffany isn’t the “resident mean girl” anymore, and hasn’t been for years. She gained some depression weight when she went to college and realized she wasn’t the high school “queen bee” anymore. She also gained some depth, and has actually become a much nicer person. Stef (the girlfriend of said “hunk”) has taken the “mean girl” role now–she’s self-absorbed, narcissistic, and generally a pain in the neck. Her hunky boyfriend Kip is actually one of the best-grounded characters in the strip (though he does have a blind spot for Stef). I didn’t see Tiff as trying to steal Kip. She’s attracted to him, yes, but she spent a lot of time trying to avoid him while he was staying at her place. And besides, this is college. Nobody’s engaged. Stef’s a twit, and Kip would be better off with Tiff anyway, if he could stop thinking with his small head long enough to realize it. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2023, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-newspaper-comics-get-explicit-let-alone-iits-luann/989766/14 "2023-09-10T00:54:20Z")
I had to check [The Comics Curmudgeon](https://joshreads.com/) to see if Josh has raked this over the coals of snarkitude. Nope, not yet… but his Commenting Community Cohort [has](https://joshreads.com/2023/09/children-animals-etc/#above-comments): > I had to put on my pearls to read this just to have something to clutch. > Is it possible it’s all a misunderstanding and she’s showing him the moves she learned at Cheer Camp? > Please let the twist be that Kip’s loyalty to Stef is because she’s the only girl willing to indulge his pegging-only lifestyle-femdom fantasies. > The next time you’re engaged in sexual congress with a woman, try suddenly yelling ‘LOVE IT!’ in the same tone of voice as a Karate Kid villain watching his minion kick Ralph Macchio’s ass, then report back what happens. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2023, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-newspaper-comics-get-explicit-let-alone-iits-luann/989766/15 "2023-09-11T09:35:39Z")
Lol those are great ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2023, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-newspaper-comics-get-explicit-let-alone-iits-luann/989766/16 "2023-09-11T12:03:18Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I had to check [The Comics Curmudgeon](https://joshreads.com/) to see if Josh has raked this over the coals of snarkitude. I don’t think he covers Luann. It only comes up during vacation weeks when Uncle Lumpy takes over (same story with Sally Forth) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2023, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-newspaper-comics-get-explicit-let-alone-iits-luann/989766/17 "2023-09-11T22:05:02Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > …a host of less lascivious activities. (Like watching the submarine races). Oh, is that what the kids are calling it nowadays? ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2023, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-newspaper-comics-get-explicit-let-alone-iits-luann/989766/18 "2023-09-11T22:16:30Z")
I recall reading a Far Side book in which Gary Larson commented on [this early panel that was censored](https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/14v68v/even_spiders_are_scared_of_spiders_my_favorite/) - because the one spider had his silk scared out of him. Seems pretty mild today, but I think of it regularly when I see strips referring to bodily functions and excrement. Not sure it reflects better humor.