Yes, Kelly must have been in Mark’s shadow, since we have not seen her since early 2021. Well, we have another change today:  A buffed out Cricket Bro (aka Rob Bettencourt). I’m not sure where he got bulked up, but I’d bet it wasn’t just from eating lots of crickets.

For those curious, Rivera does use the “To be continued” box now and then, but not regularly. In most cases, Rivera simply switches over between Mark’s adventure and Cherry’s without notification. As a general rule, Rivera devotes two or three weeks to Mark before switching to Cherry’s story.

Plotwise, Kelly’s aligning with Bettencourt presents the appearance of confrontation and drama, but to what end? This is just a conference, right? What could go wrong?

Art Dept. While this strip has evolved/devolved into a cartoony simplicity, I’ll give credit to Rivera for Mark’s depiction in panel 1. His lookback pose is quite solid and believable. Mark’s expression is properly curious and suspicious. He has a solidity and plausibility that is normally found lacking. To compare, just take a look at Mark’s depictions in yesterday’s strip. Of course, that gravitas gets left behind when we move on to panel 3.