As several of you know (or suspect), I try to get into the strip from various ways. I don’t want to simply or exclusively point out the bloopers. I want to shine light on the interesting, inventive, and positive aspects of the strip, as well. Sure, sometimes the weight falls on the former more than the latter. Well, maybe a lot more often than that.

With the peacock’s sudden appearance, will Honest Ernest grab it and thus, bring Cherry’s little side-story to a quick conclusion? It could happen! It could also be her shortest story on record.

Art Dept. The visual juxtaposition between high and low levels becomes an interesting problem when designing panel layouts. In panel 1, the ground appears to have been “tilted” to a degree to show Cherry and Honest Ernest looking up at Rusty. And we have Rivera’s stereotypical silhouettes in the background to suggest other attendees. The space between them and the adjacent downside view in panel 1 get muddied. And the angular alteration of the ground doesn’t work very well because the high and low spatial relationships are also ambiguous. Is Rusty looking down or across? Are Cherry and Ernest really below or more likely just standing on a slightly lower embankment off to the side?

The layout in panel 2 is much more credible. It’s actually done well, as Rusty clearly looks down to a more spatially coherent lower ground. Cherry and Ernest are clearly looking up. If there is any complaint, it would be Rivera’s tendency to use a profile when interacting with people positioned “behind.” I discussed this quirk on 7/30/25 and 7/31/25.

I could quibble about the drawing of Rusty’s and Cherry’s faces, as well, including curiously ambiguous facial anatomy and Cherry’s non-ending dripping from her pool incursion. But I’ll leave that to your own analysis.

Finally, we  have the peacock landing on Honest Ernest’s head. On TV or the big screen, this avian assault would get plenty of chuckles. Or perhaps, shock, as we see Cherry’s reaction. Peacocks may, in fact, jump on you if they feel threatened by you. And I suppose the mere presence of Honest Ernest is threatening enough to just about anybody or any animal.

But the main issue here is the smaller size of the peacock. Perhaps that was done to fit on the head and within the panel better than drawing a more realistically-sized peacock. I don’t know. It just looks odd.