Mark employs his professional journalist interrogation, er, interview tactics on Ranger Shaw: First, disarm the subject with flattery and politeness; discuss mundane events to build rapport; then finally, slam the subject with hard-hitting questions before he has a chance to prepare a defensive response.
Well, that appears to be the goal, but for some reason, Mark’s odd expression (“Ohh! A bee stung me!”) in panel 3 dilutes the dramatic moment, so Range Shaw seems more concerned about that, then being taken aback by the qestion, itself.
Art Dept. The function and appearance of the current art has been the subject of recent discussion. Intent, ability, purpose all come into play. As regular readers know, we have discussed this topic many times. It is no secret that Rivera’s art has changed over time, where the art now looks like a mashup of storyboard drawing techniques and TV cartoon-inspired simplicity. Or worse.
It wasn’t always this way. Look back at Rivera’s start. The “cool dude Mark” pose is from a series of early publicity images Rivera drew in late 2020, when she took over the strip. The strip, above, from January 2021, is part of Rivera’s first story. You should easily see here a greater attention to detail, naturalism, and even dramatic sequencing in Rivera’s use of a single, continuous landscape to portray a sequence of events over time. In art history circles, this is known as “continuous narration,” so this concept is not original, but it is rare to see in comic strips. It is a grittier style like that sometimes seen in graphic novels. So, considering what we see these days, the question arises: What happened?
The Daily Trail 
I hate to break it to you but she failed as a storyboard artist and professor so acting like “storyboard style” is an defense or explanation is intellectually dishonest. There is no debate. Rivera is an incapable and unprofessional trouble maker who has bombed out of every job she has had and every industry she has been a part of and you are a content desperate blogger who has tries to characterize her doing things like spending months fretting over one man having lawnmower races without any opponents and using a tractor as “artistic license” to mask their own lack of knowledge or know-how.
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Rich
Is Rivera a failed storyboarder? I don’t know, but okay. That happens, but it’s irrelevent, as your other comments about her career. Your logic, once again, fails: Storyboarding style is not premised on whether the artist is a continuingly successful storyboarder. And my comment on that subject was not a defense at all, but merely an observation.
Do you actually know Jules Rivera? You write as if you have had personal or professional contact with her. However, your personal attacks are unwarranted and not acceptable here. That is not what the blog is about.
FINALLY, you still seem incapable of avoiding personal attacks on me (as well as Rivera), in spite of warnings and cautions from me and at least one other commenter here. I have tried to steer you towards just focusing on the strip, itself and on blog content, but you seem unable to do comply without involving personalities.
Therefore, I have no choice but to block your comments. I’ve never had to do that and hope I never will have to again. I don’t know what your hard-on is all about and don’t really care. It’s just no longer welcomed.
But here is a final suggestion for you, as a parting gift of sorts: Start your own anti-Rivera blog. It’s easy and free on several sites. You can swing that club of your as much as you like and not worry about what others say.
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A slide for slipping isn’t a lake for swimming but it will have to do!
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