Well, how interesting! The lions have not only learned how to operate a chest freezer, but they have learned to eat frozen meat. If I was Mark, I’d check if that meat looks like actors. And what happened to the video camera he was looking at yesterday?

Art Dept. The artwork for the lions seems to get more questionable. However, I’m impressed by Mark’s depiction in panel 1, which has some darn good line work and a well-defined expression. Too bad that does not carry through. If only all of the artwork looked that good. However, I am very intrigued that Rivera finally decided to try her hand at introducing shadows on Mark in panel 3. They are not very well integrated into the anatomy, and the effect is too heavy-handed. But, it’s a good start, so I hope she keeps at it and uses it more to define atmosphere, volume, and drama. But don’t ask me about that left hand.

WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON IN THIS STORY?

It is easy for me to  fantasize that this entire story is some kind of con game like Punk’d, where Trail is the designated mark. Allow me to post some observations and hypotheses:

1. Bill Ellis gave Mark a dodgy assignment to find a missing movie director last seen in a house filled with lions. Nobody else is available to do the job. Police can’t handle it. No professional lion tamer or private detective need apply. The assignment specifically requires Mark Trail’s participation, even though he has no qualifications for the assignment and admits to it
2. The location is a “mansion” on an exotic and picturesque island
3. Mark’s contact is a “professional” animal wrangler too afraid to deal with the lions, but declares the untrained Mark Trail can do it. Gullible Mark laps it up
4. There is supposed to be a group of actors sequestered inside the mansion with the lions by the movie director, for the sake of a movie in production, but they are nowhere to be found
5. Mark enters the house and discovers it is filled with inactive lions. He doesn’t seem disturbed by their presence, nor by the lack of actors. Maybe the lions are drugged or just senile.
6. Mark conveniently finds a video camera near the front door, reminiscent of finding the brass lamp in the well house of that great early text adventure game, Colossal Cave
7. Will the video camera provide a series of hints to help Mark locate the movie director? Or maybe it will provide a confession that this entire enterprise is a prank for a new Reality TV show, and Mark is its surprise first guest star!

Rivera takes the easy road to spot Mark for the ongoing bad puns. Well, why not? He’s done it before. I suppose it is logical to think this is director Wesley’s video camera that was left on the floor, as opposed to one of the likewise-missing actors in the house. But did Wingit record himself? Or was he just filming miscellaneous sequences for future use? At least Mark takes the next logical step to view the recording.

Well, I have to say that those lions certainly do look pretty relaxed; the kind of relaxation that comes after a good meal, that is!

Art Dept. One thing that has always puzzled me since Rivera took over the strip is why portions of Mark’s hair (and Cherry’s for that matter) are blue. Is blue the new gray? Does Mark color his hair? This does not resemble any kind of normal highlighting. I do recall seeing this hair convention before in some comic books here and there. Post a comment if you have some information.