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Monthly Archives: August 2022

Deep Fake

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Thank goodness Rivera is adding more layers of complexity to the story, as well as avoiding the macho driver put-down I wondered about yesterday. I don’t mind being wrong. But I’m glad to see the plot take on some surprising turns, rather than sticking with the original farce of an assignment.

So, the roadside zoo assignment is a blind and Rex is the actual assignment. We’ve been getting a more nuanced view of Diana for the past few stories, beyond the cartoon tough gal image she originally portrayed back in Palm Springs. It seems somewhat incredulous that Amy and Diana just happen to be childhood friends, but still, why not? After all, how incredulous was it that Cricket Bro turned out to be Mark’s childhood nemesis, Rob Bettancourt? Okay, don’t answer that!

Mark’s other editor, Rafael, also knows Diana, which further explains her frequent appearances. Still, I hope this is all of Diana for a while. Mark needs new people to interact with. So does this strip!

Buckle up, readers!

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So, Diana is in charge? At least we know how and why she met Mark at the airport. I’m going to take a wild guess that this is not LAX, since there are so few people in the terminal and there is no way a car could just park right outside, all by itself without getting towed.

I notice that Diana is on the passenger side of the car in panels 3 and 4, opposite Mark. Another big limb here, but I’m thinking that Rivera is setting us up for some misogynistic “I’m a guy so I’ll drive” trope humor.

A good time to go get a snack, folks

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It’s one of those time-wasting submissions today. For some reason, Diana Daggers seems to have become somewhat like Kelley Welly in this rebooted strip, always unexpectedly showing up to interfere in Mark’s assignments, but not getting chased off.

Rivera has introduced at least twenty new secondary characters (those with speaking roles) in the strip, but that seems hard to believe, when we keep seeing the same three or four. Isn’t Rex Scorpius enough of a character? Or is Rivera suggesting it is Mark that needs the character support here? Sure, Daggers has interesting qualities as a supporting character. But over-exposure will almost certainly dilute her edginess.

Houston, you have a problem

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Really!? Really!? Rivera has to make Mark look and sound like a friggin’ dork tourist attending a taping of Austin City Limits. Why? Is there a purpose, other than a cheap laugh?  And once again, we see signs of haste and carelessness in the artwork, from Mark’s flattened and spindly figure in panel 2 (which exhibits all the quality of Bazooka Joe comics) to the sloppily drawn windows in panel 3. Yet, panel 1 is quite decent and a strong contrast to the other two.

I don’t think an international airport would allow trees within a quarter mile of its runways, but they do provide attractive scenery, so the artistic license is appreciated.

As for the big surprise, there was nothing in the assignment that mentioned Diana Daggers showing up (again).  So, where is this Rex Scorpius dude? Or is Daggers now working for him? I know I have argued many times about the validity of satire in this strip, but I admit that it would be nice, once in a while, to have a serious episode, just to break things up a bit. This is not one of those times.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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In case you were too busy to see this past week’s strips, the focus on pet rash was temporarily put aside, as was Mark’s preparations for the Texas Tiger Spa assignment. Instead, Rivera began fleshing out Cherry’s own storyline, which began with returning to work at the Sunny Soleil Society’s garden.

Cherry was just finishing planting native plants when Violet Cheshire turned up with Honest Ernest, who has expanded his business to include lawn care, if by “lawn care”, you mean covering it with chemicals, such as his latest concoction, “Lawn Libation.”  Catchy name.  For millennia libations of oils, water, milk, and other liquids have been poured over sacred objects or grounds as part of various rites and activities.

Anyway, it seems Cherry’s just-completed planting will once again get demolished, this time to put in an “English garden”, meaning a lawn. Well, “garden” is a common English term for a back yard. It’s the wrong word, but it’s too late to do anything about it.

Finally, Cherry acquired a bottle of Ernest’s Lawn Libation and had the prescient suspicion that this liquid might have something (or everything) to do with the pet rash running rampant in town. However, this seems to be rather obvious, don’t you think? Maybe it’s a red herring. Will we get a second week of Cherry’s story, or do we move on to Mark’s Texas tiger assignment? While we wait to see, check out the discussion, below!

Well, a straight-up nature talk on waskily wabbits! Cool. I’m guessing that the title panel is composed of “speed smoke” from the racing hare, as in Warner Brothers, the source of the most famous carrot-eating member of the family Leporidae. We get a lot of rabbits in our backyard garden (an actual garden, not a mere backyard lawn). Thus, we also get various neighborhood cats passing through. Fortunately, no lynx has shown up. Feel free to quibble on details.

Nectar of the gawd awful?

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As far back as the ancient Egyptians, libations have been part of religious and funeral rituals as well as celebrations. Libations composed of oils, water, milk, or even alcoholic liquids were poured onto objects or on to the ground. In spite of Ernest’s “aw shucks” redneck pose, he apparently had enough of an education to create this clever brand name for his otherwise odious concoction.

Thank goodness Cherry has enough common sense to see a possible link with the pet rash problem. Maybe we’ll learn something next week, if Rivera doesn’t drag us to Mark’s tiger spa assignment.

“It’s good for what ails ye…!”

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Honest Ernest is nothing if not motivated and self-confident, whereas Cherry misreads the room, until Violet throws her a lifeline to put her in her place. Cherry ignores the put-down and goes on the attack.

But Ernest— “The man in the yellow suit” —is clearly a better salesman…er… salesperson.

It is what it always is?

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So why would the SSS hire Cherry as well as Honest Ernest for the presumably same job? Or did Cherry mix up her own assignment? Is there a reason for these continued conflicts? Well, a pointless question, perhaps, since this situation is used to move the story along.

Ernest is an interesting character. His very pose in yesterday’s strip is an archetype of his comical arrogance and almost affable, positive attitude.  Until pushed, that is. I hope we’ll learn more about his personality and motives. For one thing, Ernest was at least smart enough to diversity his business with another revenue source.  We’ll just have to see how the story develops.

Bollocks the garden. Just take the cash and run!

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Honestly! Ernest and his chemicals to the rescue. Or fescue? Whatever.

Oh well, back to Cherry’s small world of Big Problems. I’m glad to see that Cherry has a business and something to do other than wait for Mark to come home from his latest adventure. And there’s checking in on Rusty (if he hasn’t run off with the Seaside Specter) and ol’ Doc and his rash crisis. But doesn’t Cherry’s business have any other customers around which an adventure can be built?  What about her secret garden commandos? Surely, there is a story to be found there. Instead, we have the Big Hat and the Big Mouth once again.

The family peels off to their respective duties

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Okay, this reads like some pretty reasonable interactions between real people in real situations. Very good! And the artwork is consistently fine, as well. Panel 1 offers us a picturesque landscape, while panel 2 offers an interesting foreground/background composition that was last used when the Trails were visiting Happy Trail down in Florida.

But good grief! Just what is the focus of Cherry’s storyline? Is it the pet rash or another go-round with the ambiguous Sunny Soleil Society? Of course, Rivera could be expanding the story threads and we will have concurrent storylines with Mark, Cherry, and Doc. That will be a good challenge for us readers, too.

But hasn’t Mark seen the data on the damage that flip-flops can cause to feet? And are you planning to wear flip-flops around the lions, Mark? They do leave your feet terribly vulnerable and are just lousy to try and run in! You might want to keep using them as fly swatters and go with a pair of running shoes.