Mark and Cliff seem to be in a different competition area from where Cherry and Rusty are waiting in vain. I reckon that chopping wood wasn’t Mark’s favorite activity as Cherry claimed. One would think that after being married for however many years they care to claim, that Cherry would have a better understanding of Mark’s likes. Clearly, he prefers boxing … with his cowboy hat, no less!

If you think panel 1 looks like fan art from a 12-year old and that Mark looks like a real goofball in panel 2, I’d agree. It’s the “why” that is intriguing. In the Trailverse, we have a non-traditional woodsman olympics, held in a location with buildings of conflicting scales, where Mark has no idea which events he signed up for or when they are scheduled to take place. 

As far as why this boxing event exists in a woodsman olympics, it should be apparent that Rivera put Mark into this situation where she can trade off of (or make fun of) Mark and his “fists o’ justice.” It’s a simple way to inject more “action” into the plot, even if it is unrelated to the story; much like various action scenes in movies discussed in Saturday’s voluminous comments.

Regarding this contest, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Mark matched up against Grungey Boy Honest Ernest. But you know what would be really interesting: To see Mark matched up against Cliff!