Turns out that Rivera may just just be playing around with the “Mark Crashes Boat” meme, so “Krash!” now means “boat runs into gator!” From the size of the wake behind the boat in panel 1, I think Mark is running at a pretty fast clip, possibly too fast for nighttime boating.

Like many parents, Mark decides a lie is easier than the truth. But what’s the big deal here? The boys are old enough to deal with a bit of reality, unless Mark is worried one of them might turn him into the game wardens for running over an endangered animal. But if Mark wants to maintain that lie, he should be slowing down a bit. Perhaps he isn’t because if he did, they’d see how calm the waters are and then realize that he was telling them porkies. If you don’t know what that phrase means, you can bloody well look it up. I learned about it from an old British cop show.

On the graphic front, Rivera’s art has been pretty consistent in style and quality the past few weeks, in spite of the opinion many have about the quality (or lack thereof) of the art, itself.  But I do share the fear of the art becoming more cartoony over time. Don’t think that’s possible? Check out the panels on the left:

Those panels are from January 2021, just two years ago. Quite a difference, right? Looking back through our archives can be pretty educational. Notice how much more “painterly” the art looks, especially in panel 2, compared to current images. The shirt even looks like a real shirt, the way it lies on the body. Notice how the collars roll and how the shirt pattern tends to flow along the torso, The fire in the background actually creates reflections on Mark’s face. Amazing! But back then, Rivera clearly spent more time on the strip and created lots of creative scenes. Why did it change? I don’t know. My best guess has been the time commitment versus the deadlines.