How many “stars” can one kid, such as Opie here, meet in one lifetime, without living in Los Angeles? Anyway, it is Earth Day today. Why isn’t Sharp at his event? I reckon that it must have been earlier in the day, since Cherry and Rusty only arrived here after a day of playing tourist in town. It has to be nearing nighttime, which nicely sets up a situation for The Professor to assist Rusty in his Spector Search.
So, I wonder if things will get ugly when Sharp finds out who this woman and child are and who they are staying with.
On the drawing front, you might have complaints, but I think the artwork this week has been a big improvement compared to the slashy, crowded, and sketchy stuff from last week. But it is even starker when the color is removed, which is how newspaper readers see it. I think the artwork would look more polished if Rivera drew the strip with the b&w newspapers in mind. But that doesn’t appear to fit the aesthetic that Rivera has in mind.
The Daily Trail 
The black and white vs. color issue is part of the changing times and technologies that are transforming our legacy strip through this new author. Although our expectations were formed by paper images, the strip’s future viability depends upon younger digital viewers, most of whom rarely touch a newspaper. I assume Comics Kingdom monitors its fiber/digital proportion.
Who knows, ten years from now we may be watching 3D hologram images of the fists of justice, though Mark might have renounced violence by then.
Good points, Daniel. Digital is definitely the prevailing and future delivery system to and for people, especially younger generations. Newspapers, not much. Rivera injects memes and tropes more or less well-known to the younger gens. And that could help explain a lot of the changes. That’s also one reason Rivera rejected the old-school style of her predecessors. But where are the younger viewers seeing this new Mark Trail? Is it being posted to other social media sites? If not, why not? I can’t see people searching out Comics Kingdom for a comic strip they may not even know exists. Anyway, I’m anxious to view those 3-D holograms! Now, I can really get behind VR comic strips, especially animated strips.