Cliff sounds like one of those Internet commercials that crop up on virtually every web site you visit. However, if I have been interpreting things correctly, then I’m in agreement with Jules Rivera that it would be hard to find a more exciting event than a nature walk. Certainly more exciting than hearing about Cliff working hard on himself. Sounds kind of gross, actually.

Today’s strip begins with an incomplete reprise or recap of Saturday’s strip. But then does something different: Panel 2 revises panel 2 from Saturday by including Cliff’s cryptic self-affirmation statement. Then Rivera throws in a time-wasting panel 3 in which she needlessly teases us what Cliff’s exciting news might be, even though Cliff already announced it on Saturday. I thought Rivera was already aware of what the term “cliff hanger” means. Today’s strip should have been published on Saturday, ending with the cliff-hanger question that would be answered if the original Saturday strip was published today. That is how it should have been done.

But what we have, instead, is jumbled up and confusing. It is like watching your parents wrap your Christmas presents on the dinner table in front of you on Christmas Eve.

Art Dept. Two things: I have no idea what kind of phone case Mark is using, but it looks like it was designed for a masochist. It exaggerates the corners in a way that doesn’t even match the phone in Saturday’s strip. I can’t think of a reason a case like that should even exist.

Second, I like the the layout in panel 3, a compositional scheme Rivera has used many time. It’s an effective way to emphasize the landscape while still including the characters, but smaller and in the background. Reminds me of Chinese landscape painting in that one regard. However, unlike the competently designed and executed layout in panel 1, the flora and fauna in panel 3 lack authenticity. That bush in front is close enough to show us more detail instead of a bland, flat “bush” shape. The bird, even more! It looks lifeless, lacking adequate detail, but looking more like a decorative object you’d find in a gift shop.