The “Athletes’ van”? It looks rather small for the job and not very crowded; which is odd, considering the numerous “medal winners” we saw roaming around the dinner hall (aside from the servers). It’s not clear to me whether this represents the end of the contest or just the end of the first day. It certainly seems like a lot of bother for one day. Keep in mind that the real-world annual Lumberjack World Championship in Hayward, Wisconsin lasts three days.

If this does turn out to be the extent of the contest, what about the Mark and Cliff versus The Grungey Boys rivalry? Well, we did have Mark and Connor’s logrolling. And Cliff lost out to an anonymous competitor that commenter Doghouse Reilly hypothesized might have been one of the other Grungeys. Well, that’s not likely, but it does reinforce the question of when this showdown will occur. It would be extremely careless for Rivera to build up this rivalry, only to gloss over it in the end. Therefore, I think the contest must continue on for more than one day. How is that for shaky logic!? At least, Mark is on the trail once again.

Anyway, what’s with this “luxurious hotel” rhetoric we keep seeing in the narratives? Is Jules Rivera practicing to write ad copy for a travel agency? Then let’s have this van be described as a luxurious athletes’ van, or maybe “an incomparably comfortable van with rich, Corinthian leather.”

Art Dept. One thing I’ve started noticing is the appearance of sparkles or stars around the head of somebody speaking. Today, it is Cliff (panel 3); yesterday, it was Mark (also panel 3). In cartoon history, stars floating around a person’s head indicated that the person just got a good clobbering. This is different. So, if you have any ideas, let us know!