We returned to Lost Forest Combined Public School (to give it a name), where Rusty’s confrontation with Robbie and his Blue Diamond Shrimp became the focus for the week. It started with Rusty showing off the necklace he and Cherry made, decorated with the turquoise stone he had previously showed off at a not-very-successful show-and-tell. This time, the stone was getting positive attention.
Robbie approached Rusty, really steamed at getting into trouble with his dad (Ranger Shaw), who was angry that Robbie bought the shrimp without his permission. (Note that Robbie’s mother was never mentioned!) Rusty told Robbie that it was his own fault and to just shove it (in so many words).
While they were getting into it, Miss Mavis (the teacher who took the class to Washington DC several stories ago) came over to quiet the boys. Robbie whined he was being unfairly maligned. Rusty complained the shrimp are an invasive species and a threat to our way of life. Miss Mavis told Robbie to keep his shrimp in his tank (so to speak) and told Rusty to be more polite (that is, shut up). Rusty’s public stand for Truth, Justice, and Getting Even was undone when Miss Mavis told him that sometimes there can be too much honesty! This gave Rusty pause. He began to question the concept of “too much honesty” and his Dad’s work.
But then the shrimp scat hit the fan when Rusty noticed that Robbie’s mini-shrimp were missing from his aquarium. How could they suddenly disappear, right in the middle of the classroom!? Che disastro! Will Rusty finally get into “Mark Trail, Jr” mode and solve the mystery?
Did you notice? Is it as apparent to you as it is to me? The art today is distinctly different than what Jules Rivera has been publishing. Just check out this week, or the prior week. I’ll wait…
Dare I say it, this looks so much better than the dailies. Quibble more if you will, but if the daily strips could maintain this quality, I think we’d all be happier. I certainly would.
This is the third celebration of the exploding sperm whale of Florence, Oregon. Notice that I am not making any bad puns as Rivera likes to do, such as “They had a whale of a time in Oregon today”, or “Authorities blue a whale up real good!” or even “There was a veritable explosion of Sperm in Florence, Oregon.” Nope. I’m better than that. Content-wise, Rivera spent more effort on building towards her punchline, rather than emphasizing the ecological issues and its unmentioned lessons. And let’s face it; blowing up a whale was a really stupid idea, even if it sounded like fun. But, Rivera’s earlier posts (feel free to search them out in my archives) reveal that this disaster led to the safer solution of just burying dead whales.
