Of course, Rivera wants to spring this meetup with Tad Crass as a surprise for us, and that makes perfect sense. It falls in line with Rivera’s habit of character recycling. And for once, we have a character/opponent who has been a factor in two stories, but this is the first time he has had any actual presence in the strip. At least this isn’t another appearance by Rob Bettancourt (aka Cricket Bro).

However, it seems wrong from several points of view. Let me explain:

1. Diana Daggers—reprising her role as driver and frustrated guest character in the strip—sets up an interview between Mark and a big-time land developer in his office, but fails to inform Mark what his name is. Presumably, Crass could have been referenced as Theodore G. Crass, Jr.,  which might not have been so obvious to Mark or us gullible readers.
2. So Mark just sauntered into Tad’s office, without being escorted by Crass’s personal assistant/secretary, assuming he has one.  Maybe Sass isn’t so big-time, after all. He certainly doesn’t much to say, so far.
3. Is that building we see in panel 4 all Sass’s, or does he just rent space? From what Rivera has shown so far, his office could be a converted storage room, based on the double-door entry.

Art Dept. While Rivera can usually handle unusual foreshortenings, such as Mark’s uplifted face in panel 3, she seems to have trouble with three-quarter rear-facing heads. So Mark’s head in panel 2 is really in strong profile, even though his body is turned toward Sass. Speaking of Tad Crass, Rivera’s depiction of him is stiff, flat, and unconvincing. If Crass is into A.I., perhaps Mark is looking at an A.I. depiction of Crass, rather than an actual person. After all, this “Crass” neither spoke nor stood up, as business etiquette demands.