“With friends like these …” as the cliché goes. Sure, they’re just kids with undeveloped brains and too much emotions, so perhaps we (or I) shouldn’t be too hard on their prior betrayal of Rusty. As a quick review (because I tend to forget, as well), we have (L to R) Robbie, Ian, and Ernie in panel 1. Perhaps this information will matter at some point in the future (Wednesday night at a bar’s trivia contest?), though I’m not really sure.

Still, I’m perplexed, mixed up, probosculated. These are kids who presumably have been growing up in and around Lost Forest. Yet, Jules Rivera portrays them as if they are a bunch of city kids anxious to try out their “scout knowledge” in Raw Nature, hiking into the woods to find Rusty. But I’ll give them points for relying on manual skills rather than taking the expedient route of just calling Rusty on his smartphone, like 99% of kids would do.

That dedication—if my interpretation proves true—should be something Rivera makes a big deal out of as part of her push for more appreciation of Nature. In fact, I’m half expecting the boys to start looking for footprints and other physical signs of Rusty’s presence. Maybe they’ll be able to follow the sound of screams if Rusty gets too friendly with Rocky the Raccoon and winds up with a big bite on his hand.