Okay, it was late when I put this blog together. Perhaps I should have waited until the morning, but I tend to do this at night. In any event, I saved the blog but forgot to “publish” it, so it just sat in the Draft folder all day long. As a result, Monday and Tuesday strips appear in today’s blog. Sheesh!

We continue for another week with Mark. Cherry’s story has faded for the time being; it paused in its tracks three weeks ago. Maybe it will resume next week.

Moving on to Monday’s submission, Mark’s Fist o’ Justice must be out of practice, so Sid Stump still stands and tries to deliver (but how about that alliteration, folks!?). Is this really a fight to the death as Rivera prompts in panel 1? I have to red-flag that narration box!

What are we to make of that melodramatic vocabulary? Perhaps Rivera is trying for satire (masculinity), or maybe just slipping into parody (of the Trailverse). Either way, it’s over the top. Still, Rivera has a yen for portraying tech gurus as childish, amoral knaves. For that, she is very adept. But a steady diet of this buffoonery is like eating too much. After a while, you just want to push the plate away.

OKAY! OKAY! STOP THE PRESSES! Have we moved to an alternate universe? As much as I try to stay neutral, sometimes I just lose it:

1. Where did that cliff come from?
2. How did that boulder just happen to be positioned by the cliff side?
3. Who made that terrible bear drawing in panel 4? Phew! It’s not even up to Rivera’s standards.
4. Where did “Brave Sir Robin” (aka Jebediah Jeter) get to?

You can make up your own mind whether Mark is trying to hit Stump in panel 1 or trying to get Stump to dance.