Ranger Shaw on the scene. Is he surprised by the junk on the ground or the site of a raccoon milling about in the daytime? After all, there is no food here to attract its attention. Still, it isn’t unheard of. But I wonder if Mark considers Ranger Shaw a little slow on the uptake. In panel 2, Mark points out the obvious:  “Rusty and I came upon this dumping ground in the woods.” Well, of course it’s in the woods! That’s where they are! Maybe the problem is with Mark, and that would explain the dubious look on Ranger Shaw’s face. At least the story is progressing.

Art Dept. Yes, it must be Flat Day in Lost Forest. But it’s not quite as severe as Edwin Abbott’s book, Flatland, where everybody and thing is a 2D geometric shape. Here, everything and everyone is depicted as if they are either paper cutouts or were pressed with a hot clothes iron. Even the raccoon suffers: Its very heavy outline suggests a “cutout” that belies any volume in its body. In fact, there is virtually no attempt at giving volume to anything else. Why? The only obvious answer is not incompetence so much as stylistic choice. It’s not a unique approach, but it can be jarring. And it conflicts with Rivera’s drawings of the same location in last week’s strips. This visual discomfort is compounded by other oddities, such as Mark’s sideways mouth in panel 3.

I’ve mentioned this “feature” before, and it just looks wrong:  In addition to the facing of the mouth, which almost looks like it is in profile (compare with panel 2), its vertical alignment is also off-centered. You could propose that Mark is expressing a different emotion that requires the new mouth shape, but the rest of the head doesn’t seem to conform. As for Mark’s beard, don’t get me started.