The plot of this adventure still follows the general outline of the earlier “bat story” I mentioned before. If you are coming in late or just have a memory as leaky as mine, the prior story is catalogued on this site under the name “The Good, The Bat, and The Ernest.”

Well, even though he didn’t get a chance to spray the bats, Honest Ernest did get the bats out of the music pavilion, though we don’t know if the young bats went along with the parents. So Cherry should check to see if any remain behind. Check carefully! Contrary to what Cherry advised (and based on what I’ve read), doctors don’t check for rabies, because symptoms don’t appear right away. Instead, they give you shots. In fact, once symptoms appear, it’s too late for the unfortunate victim. Scary stuff, rabies.

Art Dept. I was immediately struck by the difference in handling today, especially compared with earlier strips this week. The heaviness of the lines gives the strip a whole different look to it. Rivera was never bothered by such details as precise perspective or even straight lines, and the heaviness makes that more apparent. I know that Rivera has often talked about going “old school” and drawing strips by hand, rather than rely only on her digital tablet. I think this is one of those days, but I’m willing to admit that I could be wrong. Regardless, it’s almost as if a different artist drew today’s strip.

As comic strip fans know, “ghosting” (strips drawn by unnamed assistants or other cartoonists) has been a characteristic of comic production since the early 20^th century. Example:  A lot of Mark Trail strips once thought to have been drawn by creator Ed Dodd were almost certainly drawn by his Sunday nature artist, Tom Hill. But I think I’ve stretched my observation far enough, so I’ll just fall back on Rivera changing her drawing tools.