What a drag! Not only did Mark not pass through that wonderful oculus we saw yesterday, but Jules Rivera simply returned to using her standard “portrait tondo” for indirectly displaying the person speaking.

Shockingly, Mark is being especially reckless with his equipment, like an ignorant parent who puts a young child in the front seat. Not only is the backpack unzipped to expose its contents, but it is not even secured to the seat by a seat belt. It belongs in the trunk. Any hard turn, emergency stop, or even a big bump can send that equipment falling or bouncing around the front seat area. Some of that stuff could even interfere with Mark’s ability to safely operate his car. What an amateur!

And just look at this dude!(panel 3) Is he on Speed or Meth!? Egads! Reckless with equipment and sporting a maniacal expression that would scare a drunk driver off the road. All the while, he dispenses contradictory puns, to boot. All bad news. I wouldn’t let Mark come within a hundred yards of me. “Just keep driving, Mark. Maybe the State Police will pull you over, take one look, and lock you up.” So I question why Rivera chooses to make Mark act and look like this. If it isn’t drugs, is he channeling Jim Carey!?

Still, I wonder if Mark took the trouble to call on Ranger Shaw for backup or even just to update him on the situation?

Art Dept. Speaking of the interactive oculus portal, I think this strip would increase in popularity with a bit more of that weirdness. In the early days of animation, the early cartoons of Felix the Cat were inventive journeys into surrealistic fantasy, where any element on the screen, including exclamation points, could be grabbed by Felix and turned into whatever object was needed at the time. It was a dux ex machina strategy that made the animations more fun to watch. A bit of that could certainly improve this strip.