If this was Mark or Cherry, we’d be pretty pissed, I think. But I think it fits right into a kid’s imagination. Now, as far as what Rusty sees, I suppose the reality is it could just be a malformed tree or some other inanimate object; actually, the Seaside Specter; or worse, somebody pretending to be the Seaside Specter, which would humiliate Rusty. I’m hoping it isn’t one of those boring people back in the house thinking this would be a fun prank to play on the kid.

The art has been okay the past several days, though I’m still not sold on this flattened style, where there is virtually no effort at shading, hatching, or other techniques to suggest solidity or even light and dark. This visualization becomes even starker when the strips are viewed in their B&W newspaper format. The online coloring really influences the panels in a way that softens the starkness of the lines. I suppose a good question is whether Rivera envisions this comic strip as inherently B&W or as a color strip that has to be unfortunately printed in B&W.