Rivera gets knocked for her art, but I think there is more honest emotion and affection in Cherry’s face in panel 3 than you’ll find in any of the pre-Rivera images of Cherry. Of course, consistency is tough, and the awkward image of Mark in panel 1 is not easy to overlook.

I reckon Rivera has finally put to bed the long-running joke we’ve enjoyed of Mark never getting around to taking his son fishing. Seems Rusty has moved on, while Mark—and the rest of us readers—have been stuck in the past. Time to quit looking backwards.