Could this be the moment of truth? Plus, a validation for Rivera!

I appreciate the fact that Rivera was able to telescope Rusty’s departure from the story in such an efficient and encapsulated fashion (panel 1). It’s a technique she should employ more often to keep a story moving along. And how Mark was able to get somebody else to pay for Rusty’s airfare and expenses for doing nothing more than hanging out should earn him an award for his powers of persuasion or maybe just bald-faced deception.

Anyway, Sammy Spotter seems a bit melodramatic, which is to say, annoying. But I love how he and Mark just showed up at the lion mansion without having any special equipment or even an obvious plan. Hmmm, I suppose they will just have to wing it?

In other news: Cherry’s concurrent story of a collection of kittens suddenly appearing from out of the bushes is mirrored in a video I just found on YouTube. Truth and Fiction meet? https://www.youtube.com/shorts/lN2MAvsOEnw

Rusty Resets the Agenda?

Well, the crisis thermostat is really boiling over now! Or maybe it’s freezing over? Heck, I’m just not sure what Rivera is driving at. Is this a real crisis or not?

Instead of hurrying on to solve this really big deal problem (at least for the movie studio), our intrepid group takes the time to drive out of their way to view some old houses. And now they dawdle by the shore, coddling Rusty.

Perhaps after they spend a few hours hiking around the mountains to find a Catalina fox or shrew, they might find the time to take a detour to the “lion house,” only to learn that the missing movie director snuck away to the Bahamas with one of his “production” assistants.