You know as well as I do that in the pre-Rivera Mark Trail strip, we’d be seeing one or more of the women sneaking up to Mark’s tent and reaching for the zipper … to his tent flap, of course. But the current Mark Trail doesn’t seem to be much of a “chick magnet.” And maybe that’s all for the better.  Even the James Bond movies have largely pivoted away from the heroic stud stereotype.

Since the group pitched their tents atop a rise, this has to be one hell of a flood! The dam must have given way.  Which dam, you ask? Well, almost every flood disaster story seems to be based on a dam failing because of too much rain, sending watery doom to the sleeping population in the valley.

In fact, what panel 4 depicts isn’t just water rising to the top of the hill; we see waves and breakers, suggesting a surge of water. I reckon we’ll learn more in time.

I’d be surprised if Venus Verité does not try to get some good photos of their impending doom while Mark scurries around ensuring everybody makes it back to the cars. Oh, wait. The cars are down the hill, right? Given that the flood is cresting the summit where they are camping, escaping in the cars doesn’t sound like a viable option. Good thing at least some of them have experience climbing trees.

The question now is whether Rivera spends a third week in a row on this story or we jump back to Lost Forest and the fashion trash. At least here, we got a good cliff-hanger for once!