I reckon that Cherry is just not curious enough to stay and watch Cliff and the other contestants. It’s as if, living in a forest, she just don’t excited about watching people roll, saw, and cut logs. Or maybe she is just anxious to hit the tables. Who knows? It’s a shame, however, that today’s panels seem to be used only to set up the old “Mark blows up boats” jibe.

Art Dept. While the story content today is somewhat thin, the strip offers a visually more interesting set of panels. First, the tonal quality is unusual in its appearance. Usually there is none. Rivera rarely emphasizes volume or shading in figures or surroundings. Yes, there has been an increasing use of generic “shading” (e.g. the second panel on Saturday), though not usually linked to any object or light source. Today, you can see how shading is used to distinguish Mark and Rusty standing inside of a building (panel 1); or how Rivera employs shading to give a sense of solidity to Cherry’s and Rusty’s bodies (panel 2). In addition, Rivera uses shading to create shadows falling across the body, suggesting subtle images outside of our view. For example, the odd diagonal shadow across Cherry’s exposed sternum (panel 3) appears to be a shadow cast by that white diagonal brace in panel 1. However, Rivera kind of undercut the reality of her shadows by placing the sun behind the hotel.

Second, Rivera once again draws layouts using different angles and points of view: Panel 1, from below; Panel 2, from above; and Panel 3, straight-on. Pearls Before Swine, for example, rarely deviates from a straight-on, linearity and simple layout of its panels. Why should it? The strip functions to deliver jokes and satire, so fancy layouts might detract from the joke. But Mark Trail is an adventure strip, where atmosphere, tone, and layouts should be much more of a priority. It would be great to have Rivera continue the practice, as these techniques add important visual appeal to the strip.