Wow! Mark actually flies into New York City! Gawrsh! That’s some dramatic opening narrative you wrote there, Rivera. You betcha! There are so many exclamation points today that it gave me flashbacks to the writing in the former Mark Trail! 

Also, please notice that I’m taking the high road in my post and avoiding the bad jokes and questionable references that are probably floating around in your heads. And mine. 

But gee whiz! How much of a hillbilly can Rivera make Mark appear to be? It’s like he’s never traveled to any place where people stay up after 10:00 PM. Next thing we’ll learn is how amazed Mark is to find indoor plumbing in his hotel room.

But let’s face it: This is really just more time-killing, mind-numbing filler. What’s the point, anyway? Is Rivera paid by the word, like Dickens? Or is she paid by the strip, so she keeps throwing in pointless submissions instead of developing a better storyline?

Art Dept. Okay, who can figure out the logic of the weirdly changing altitudes of the plane? The anatomically-challenged picture of Mark in panel 2 offers nothing new but might be worth a few words.