Somehow, reading this today reminds me of those modern cartoons you see on education tv, where teamwork is the sole purpose in the lives of the characters. And the only problems are ones that require two or more characters to perform complimentary actions to arrive at a happy ending.

I suppose that is fine for educational purposes, though they make for boring television. And they ruin the point (well, my point) of what cartoons are for. From my Old School point of view, cartoons are for broad laughs, jokes, pratfalls, and hijinks, even adventure. Give me Roadrunner and Coyote, Bugs Bunny, or Dragonball Z any day. But the dreck that passes for cartoons on public tv, as well as whatever you can find on other TV channels should be buried in a deep hole. Tom and Jerry isn’t going to make your kids join The Proud Boys.

Ok, I wandered far off point here, but the alternative, alas, is discussing this storyline. “You’re tall enough.”  Really!?  Last we saw, the statue was at least 15 feet tall. “You’re feisty enough.” Do they want somebody with a short fuse to be mucking around with hundreds of bees?

Nevertheless, Georgia’s point is valid: They need to work in close coordination if they are going to take this on. While Cherry dribbles out important information like a dripping faucet, their mission—should they choose to accept it—is to save the bees within 24 hours, before the ruling junta can destroy them.

I’m looking forward to watching them put their plan into action. In Real Life that means, can Rivera get the rescue executed before Sunday? If not, having to wait two more weeks for action may likely kill any momentum that is building. So, let’s get ‘er done!

So Cherry’s explanation continues into the third day, as the discussion turns into something of a rehash of earlier strips. If the bees are why this secret society exists, as she claims, then why is Cherry wasting time explaining the obvious to the members?

Did somebody say “obvious”!?

Maybe Cherry is taking over Mark’s role of “Mister Obvious”, which would now make her “Miss Obvious” or something more à propos.

But if Cherry is being so obvious, why did Rivera pass up the opportunity to employ the standard Bees-nis pun in panel 4? Perhaps there are some lines even Jules will not cross. Still, looks like it will be Saturday before this group settles on a plan of action.

Maybe we have some good ol’ fashioned Mark Trail story padding as a treat for the long-time Trailheads.

Mischief, indeed. The “Underground Black Rose Garden Club”, is it? What makes it underground, one wonders. Do they invade other people’s gardens by night and fix them? Do they deal in the illicit trade of undocumented roses? Whatever their function, Cherry has vengeance on her mind. So this could explain the clandestine meeting along the trail.

But who wants a box of just plain, cold pancakes, regardless of intentions? Doesn’t even look like the box is insulated to keep the stack warm, either. Georgia strikes me as somebody with the wherewithal to make her own stack, anyway. And it’s not much of a bribe to begin with. Now, wasn’t Georgia walking towards Planet Pancake, anyway? She could just walk on and into the restaurant and get her own stack of hot pancakes with all the butter, honey, and syrup she wanted.

What could make sense of this, coming from the Home Office of Silly Plots, is that the pancakes are a diversion for the the secret mission papers under the stack, as in the old Mission Impossible tv show. Then the pancakes and documents self-destruct after Georgia reads the information. This could provide a better rationale than the idea that Georgia and her group can be had for a simple box of cold flapjacks.

So, is this as far as we go with Cherry’s story for now? Typically, she gets one week to Mark’s two weeks. I’d have liked to see a bit more story development before jumping off. Yet, we can’t expect Diana Daggers to remain in Planet Pancake forever. She’s still an important character in Mark’s storyline. So, we’ll see how things shape up, come Monday. I expect, unlike Dirty Dyer, we’ll be seeing the return of Professor Bee Sharp at some point.

Evening in the neighborhood of Lost Forest as Cherry carefully walks down a path, moving past a tree trunk carved into the shape of a barn owl. Okay, maybe that is the real thing. It is the evening, so it’s a proper time for owls to be out and about, looking for fast food.

The real question here is “What the Hey is going on?” Cherry delivers a stack of flapjacks to a woman walking towards her. Sensitive readers might start asking questions at this point, pointing to the woman’s color (which may not be so apparent in the black & white version of the strip). Those are the wrong questions, I believe. Still, why must they meet outside? Is this woman contagious? Is she extremely claustrophobic? Was she thrown out of Planet Pancake in the past for a major indiscretion, such as asking for pancakes with a topping of popcorn? Presumably, this box of hotcakes (which are not likely very hot by now) also contains necessary cutlery and little plastic tubs of butter and syrup. Let’s hope the butter is real, at least. Bon appetite, mademoiselle!

As for who this woman is, I have no idea. A Pokémon cosplay friend, perhaps? Maybe it is Cherry’s beekeeper friend, mentioned a few weeks ago. Well, one thing we can say about the crazy world of Lost Forest Nuovo is that it has its quotient of eccentric characters. You’d almost think we were back in California at the Herp Hacienda. But that’s okay; although sometimes annoying, they are more interesting than the usual stock extras that filled the secondary roles before Rivera came on board.

Tomorrow is Saturday, and we wrap up this exciting week with Cherry’s World and how her storyline has intermingled with Mark’s. Once again, I’m going out on a limb to predict that this comingling will become even more deliberate and fundamental over time. The signs are all there for us to see. See?

Cakes to go?! Do people really order hotcakes to go? Just doesn’t sound like the kind of food I want to have sitting in a bag on the drive home. But what’s this…Diana mooning (or pining for) that narcissist Professor Bee Sharp? If that’ so, why isn’t she back in California? Did they have a disagreement? A lovers’ spat?

I know what you’re thinking: Who is Cherry’s friend? It certainly can’t be the two gals from the SSS, so it must be another new character we’re going to meet. Maybe it isn’t somebody Cherry is too familiar with, since she refers to the person merely as “my friend”, rather than “Charlotte”, “Bill”, “George”, or “Sue.”

Well, it does look like “Pancake Lady” at least wears sensible shoes for her job. They look like trainers or walking shoes. No drama today, but not jokes, either. Just a normal day of commiseration here at good ol’ Planet Pancake.

Yeah, we get it. Diana Daggers is not friendly; not one of the gals, after all. And Cherry is once again rebuffed as she tries to put on a happy face when dealing with potential opposition. I reckon that’s at least a desirable strategy to employ, even if it doesn’t work most of the time. After all, Daggers cannot complain that it was Cherry’s poor attitude that pissed her off. Clearly, though, Diana just downgraded Cherry to Chump of the Year. And Cherry is nonplussed by her remark.

What did Cherry expect? She couldn’t have forgotten Mark’s remarks about Diana Daggers, unless Cherry was automatically discounting his anxiety because of some gender-based undercurrents. Yet, that never came out in the strip, so let’s just forget it and move on, because this looks like another relationship going nowhere.

Rivera likes to employ normal words as sound effects, rather than the usual onomatopoeic expressions we usually see in comics. I think most of remember those archetypal sound effects seen on the TV version of Batman: “WHAM!”, “BAM!”, and “POW!”  However, today we see Diana engaged in an aggressive “Slice, Slice, Slice” pancake action. This type of sound effect is popular with Rivera, who has previously described actions using common verbs and nouns, such as “Stop”, “Skiid!”, “Grip!”, “Sock!”, and “Reverse”. It is kind of cute, in a way, and blatant parody. And it’s something that underscores Rivera’s aim (I believe) to not let the strip take itself too seriously; something the former version of the strip usually did. “Sense of humor” would not be something we would normally use to describe Mark or the strip of old. But I’ll give Allen props for adding some humor here and there and lightening up the mood (e.g. destroying boats), even if it didn’t always make sense. And wasn’t Mark’s “bat cave adventure” little more than a parody of Indiana Jones movies?

Reckon I was right; this is the place to come and commiserate. Just how did Diana find it, though? Perhaps the eatery has a reputation bigger than we think. In any event, I reckon this is the watering hole (so to speak) for the Lost Forest At Large community. So how come there is rarely anybody in here?

And what’s this action: Everybody Dump on Mark Week!? Can that poor slob get any respect from anybody? Rodney Dangerfield has nothing on ol’ Markey Boy. But give Cherry some credit. In spite of what Mark must have told her about his California experiences, Cherry retained her optimistic nature and tried to extend a welcome handshake to Diana. But, sisterhood über alles! Cherry still managed to identify with Diana’s frustration over Mark. It remains for Cherry to go over and have a nice chat about Mark, bees, and the value of good hotcakes.  Maybe Cherry will convince Diana to go over to the Sunny Soleil Society with her and scare the bees wax out of those other women.

I like how Rivera uses the diagonal lines and central axis in panel 1 to reinforce Diana’s dramatic entrance, drawing the attention of Cherry and Jeanette who flank either side of the central axis. They’re like two wings of a medieval triptych. If it was good enough for Van Eyck and Van der Weyden, it should be good enough for Rivera. Okay, I’m showing off again.

But all in all, the artwork is good and effective in supporting the energetic (and sometimes frenetic) nature of the strip, once you get used to Rivera’s style and stop comparing it to Elrod or Allen. That sense of frenzy and energy is not a feeling one gets from the older version of Mark Trail that we all know and still appreciate, which was more akin to a comfy recliner that you had to get out of once in a while to hit somebody that bothered you too much.

Jeanette asks Cherry why she showed up at this “odd” hour. I want to know why a pancake house—normally open for breakfast—is still open during dinner hours. Of course, many people just gotta have their dinner flapjacks, as Cherry apparently does. And to be serious for a moment, Jeannette is only concerned about the late hour of Cherry’s appearance; not her appetite. Pancake restaurants are certainly open as long as any restaurant. I’ve made my share of night appearances at IHop and the Waffle House in my day. But what about poor Rusty? Is he to fend for himself? Must he depend on the skills and attentions of a mostly unseen Doc Davis? Or maybe Rusty’s just hanging out at the corner wood pile with his friends, happy to munch down a Slim Jim.

Unfortunately, as we return to Cherry’s week, instead of story development, we got a filler strip filled with classic misunderstandings and sitcom jokes. Cherry has clearly left the field of combat with the Sunny Soleil Society over the fate of the bees. I reckon we’ll learn more about that this week. This eatery must be the place to go if you need to commiserate. It was good enough for Violet, so it’s good enough for Cherry.

My remaining question is whether we will get to see Dale, since Jules Rivera has seen fit to show Chip in panel 1. I realize this might be an arcane cartoon reference for several of you who did not grow up watching the occasional Disney cartoon on a Sunday night.  If you are in that category, a quick Wikipedia (or YouTube) search for Chip ‘n’ Dale should be illuminating. YouTube Tip: Avoid watching modern and computerized versions and go for the old-school Disney animations (when they were still drawn by hand). They are usually directed by Jack Hannah.

How the Sunny Soleil Society ever put this woman in charge of anything is a mystery. Clearly, she cannot handle stress. From her first violent reaction to Cherry’s petition about native plantings; to Violet’s melt-down at Planet Pancake after Dirk’s feral hogs destroyed the roundabout flower bed Violet installed (after first destroying Cherry’s original plants); and to her current melt-down over the bee swarm, Violet has proven to be one foundation less than a stable house. Doesn’t look like she was even stung!

And are those even killer bees? We have not heard from Cherry, and I expect she is better qualified to identify them than Miss CrankyPants. Thus, Cherry’s sensible solution of hive relocation is met with abject disapproval from the rabid Violet Cheshire. Clearly, she is not a real fan of nature, which has been somewhat obvious for some time. The textbox in panel 3 further suggests that this crisis may culminate in a parting of the ways for these two strong-willed women. After all, Cherry, you still have a business to run, correct?

But if Rivera follows her usual formula, Monday will see a return to Mark’s new assignment. We won’t be hearing from Cherry for another two weeks, at least; unless she makes a guest appearance for Mark’s departure. Might be more interesting to see Mark make his “See ya later” comments to Rusty or Doc (remember him?). That would give Rivera the chance to indulge in some more Mark Trail satire, as she can have Rusty say “Can we go fishing up the creek for bass when you get back, Dad?” And it would give Trailheads another opportunity to chuckle and snark at that old Mark Trail trope.

Of course, I’m not sure this 21^st century version of Rusty has fished since he was young enough to fill in for Opie Taylor. He’d more likely call out “Hey Dad, you were supposed to get me that %@*#$? autograph of Professor Bee Sharp the last time you left, REMEMBER %@*#?$!! This time I want a picture of you and Diana Daggers. Don’t come home without it!”

I suppose we had to have one comic strip day where everybody got to chuckle at Violet’s reaction, because now, Cherry decides caution is the proper road to salvation from the bee attack. I don’t think that Violet would lock the door of the Sunny Soleil Society’s building before Cherry could get in, would she? In her panic-driven state, anything is possible, especially when you think killer bees are going to destroy you. But it looks like neither of them thought to hide under the tarp they pulled off of the statue and wait for the bees to settle down. Well, panic is not a proper mental state for logical thinking. So, why did Cherry not think about it, given that she seems to have a more grounded handle on the situation?

And did we really need a day’s worth of panels just to show that Cherry decided it was also a good idea to get away from a bunch of angry bees? I spoke of story padding and did not think we had seen any. Until now.

Uh-oh, images of the old Romper Room children’s TV show just invaded my potted plant of a brain. That’s what I get for staying up late. I’m not sure why, but it must be the bees, because one segment of that show consisted of a segment called: Mr. Do Bee, a person dress up in a “giant bee costume” who instructed children on what they should and should not do. Instruction was given in pairs of simple imperative statements, such as:

Do bee a story pusher!
Don’t bee a story padder!
Do be do be do.

Okay, the third line kind of slipped out.

Panic is an unfortunate, imprecise, and desperate reaction we humans experience in the very places and times where it is least useful. It is the “survival instinct” run amok, as it were. And it is easy to chuckle and nod our heads at Violet’s predicament, as we view this flight of panic as if it was a comic strip version of The Birds. Of course, Violet Cheshire is imperious, shallow, self-absorbed, and a poser. But she’s not above getting her hands dirty, as we saw in her first meeting with Cherry.

With all that, there are more deserving villains in the Trailverse than Violet, so I suspect that she is simply overreacting (as is her nature) and we’ll find that these are not the infamous killer bees, but simply a horde of honey bees who didn’t much care to be disturbed. And we can understand the bees’ reaction to Violet and their aim to move her as far away from their home as they can. Nevertheless, we should not pass up an opportunity to laugh at any misfortune of pretentious snobs. We can’t see Cherry in these panels (as the proper focus today is on Violet and the bees), but I’m sure she is enjoying the situation. I suspect that in tomorrow’s strip Cherry will put an end to this farce by telling Violet that they are just common honey bees.

From a visual point of view, I think Rivera has done a pretty good job drawing the bees these past two days, though I think she could have blurred the wings of the close-up bees, like the way we see hummingbirds, for example. Drawing those smidgy bees takes a lot of time, even though Rivera is working digitally and can (and did) copy some of her bee images. But there’s enough variety to make the copying less obvious.

And I dig those horizontal bands in the middle column, though I think it is more for the sense of tension the colors provide. Yet that is a weakness for the obvious reason that the comic strip is black & white in newspapers. Furthermore, if these bands (or lines) were meant to suggest a sense of urgency or panic, wouldn’t diagonal lines be a more obvious way to go about it? As far as the newspaper version goes, the lines are fairly faint, but consistently drawn, suggesting more a general swarming and flight. What do you think?

Finally, in the prior incarnation of Mark Trail, Trailheads sometimes criticized occasional padding of storylines with pointless dialog and dragging out scenes far too long. Can we make the same claim here? I think the situation is more complicated:  The bee incident ties into last Sunday’s killer bees strip and makes an obvious visual/written reference to Mark’s villains (Profess Bee Sharp and Diana Daggers) in his own storyline. Cherry’s adventure has not so much ended, as taken a different turn. In a good piece of classical music there are usually variations in tempo, intensity, and theme. So I’ll make the musical analogy that this week’s strips are like a divertimento, a lighter piece of music that could be played as an interlude between more serious works. We’ll see how that analogy plays out.

Okay, I’m sure everybody is wondering:  What the #@(!? Is that thing on top of the statue? To me, it looks like a set of Samsonite luggage that somebody opened, or maybe a collection of seat cushions. Who is this person, then? It appears to be somebody dressed in typical 18^th century frontier clothing, holding a telescope in his left hand and something not quite defined in his right. Perhaps a folded map or AAA TripTik? Well, it must be my imagination running away with me, because the statue in panel 3 reminds me more of the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz. Even that unidentified object in its right hand looks more like a small ax.

I searched online for natural bee hives and found a variety of really oddly-shaped structures, in a variety of locations, some of them similar to the one on the statue. Unlike the hysterical Violet (who is, after all, following Mark’s advice about avoiding bee attacks), Cherry seems unfazed by the swarm. I’m also thinking that these must not be the dreaded killer bees of Sunday’s fame. There goes another one of my outlandish theories.

Still, Cherry is right to question the hive on top of the statue. It certainly seems like a most unlikely location. I suppose it makes for some good press, er, storytelling, though it would have been more interesting to see the bee hive growing under the frontiersman’s crotch.

Two mysteries remain: Who is the subject of the statue? Who, if anybody, affected to have a bee hive placed on top of said statue? A beekeeping web site notes that bees are partial to some kind of odd color combo of yellow and ultraviolet. And they are partial to fast-moving objects! So, looks like Cherry’s decision to hold fast while Violet runs off with her yellow hat was a good idea.

Wait a minute…Violet + yellow hat! Is this a coincidence or is Rivera a lot more subtle than people give her credit for? The BIG OBJECTION to this otherwise absurd notion on my part is that we are not sure if Rivera is responsible for the colors used in the dailies. Does anybody know for sure? I have read that KFS has staff doing the colorization of the dailies, but not necessarily under the direction of the strip artists. I am trying to find out, but it does make any kind of analysis (or goofy theory-making) based on color something of a shaky foundation. I’ve often wondered about this colorizing, since it is not normally done for daily publications, as we all know. Like Ted Turner’s colorization of old movies, it seems to be more of a marketing tactic.

Monarch v. Viceroy… hmmmm. Didn’t know about that one. Note the cross-hatch in the veins on the Viceroy!

Last year I planted some Milkweed (at least that’s what my neighbor is telling me, since I didn’t save the tag…) It didn’t do much last year, but this year grew tall and flowered profusely, much to the delight of Monarchs and other pollinators. It’s amazing how they find their favorite plants, despite being located so randomly…

With all the drought and fires this summer, I am sure that insects will enjoy any port in this “storm.”

Nothing like a dose of conscience to ruin a take-down! And it’s super funny how quickly Cherry is associated, without even a moment’s thought or question, with feral hogs…

Can you just here the “ding” that goes along with Jeanette the waitress/proprietor’s wink? I love the reference to flapjacks and coffee, even as Violet, with her chapeau back on, is going to have the worst gluten hangover of her life!! And where are the rest of the customers? Does ‘Planet Pancake’ survive on only the drive-by patronage of the Trails and (with) whomever they happen to be quarreling (with)? Along with offering to help put the round-about back in order, is Cherry going to pick up the tab?

Welcome, Readers! I will be out of town this coming Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Until I return, the Scarecrow—by virtue of his highly superior…er, that is, Dennis—by virtue of his starting this blog, shall post in my stead. Be sure to take notes, Readers, as there may be a quiz after I return. But until then, on with the show!

Oopsie! Cherry thought she was being clever with her sneaky plan to get her plantings redone, but put her cloven hoof in her mouth, instead. Surely, Cherry will be quick to come up with a believable response to her gaff, such as “A friend of mine saw the hogs attacking the roundabout when she was driving home from the movies. She slowed down but was too afraid to stop.” Or something like that.

Still, it sure looks like Violet Cheshire came out of her funk pretty quickly, don’t you think? Could she have been setting a trap for Cherry, all along? It is certainly hard to imagine that she would not consider Cherry as Prime Suspect Number 1. It is beginning to look like another mental chess game where Violet is playing the black pieces and has lulled Cherry into advancing too far, too quickly.

Still, what if Violet had not been sitting for days at Planet Pancake? What was Cherry’s Plan A? Clearly, this situation was a spur-of-the-moment opportunity (at least from Cherry’s point of view). But if this entire sequence was a trap, Cherry may soon be wishing she was somewhere else. At the very least, it would help make sense of what is going on.

Did I miss a week of strips some place? Cherry really wants to cheer up her arch-nemesis?! And here is Violet, unloading on Cherry like the two of them are BFFs from the time when “BFF” was a new expression. So, Violet peremptorily destroyed Cherry’s original installation, then put in her own. Then Cherry secretly destroyed it. Now, Violet is bawling to Cherry as if she has forgotten all of this history between them.

I sure as hell do not understand what is going on here, folks. Call me unenlightened, a nincompoop, a total blockhead. Just don’t call me early. Well, the least Cherry could do here is give Violet a big slap upside the head and tell her to get a grip. Maybe two slaps, just to make sure.

Violet is suddenly stuck on how to repair the roundabout garden when all she has to do is prep the ground and replant the same stuff she did the last time. I expect that we are supposed to see this as a premise for the upcoming kowtowing of Violet Cheshire, in which she pleads with Cherry to fix the roundabout and save her job. I hope Cherry remembers to first get an approved contract for payment!

But getting back to the bigger question:  While we stare in shock and disgust at the Picasso-inspired, pancake-stuffed face of Violet in the fourth panel, we might ask: “What would Mark do!?” But that is clearly the wrong question. This is Cherry’s story, not Mark’s. And given his own current inability to deal with crises, we’re better off waiting to see how Cherry saves the day and her business. Mark may want to take notes.

Okay, so we know now that this is not “the next day”, but a few days after. What’s been going until now is yet unknown. For example, Cherry does not seem bothered by her still unresolved problems with the Sunny Soleil Society. It’s as if Dirk’s hogs consumed all of her anger. But it isn’t bringing back her plantings or saving her company.

As for Violet, her face looks stuffed with pancakes (or attacked by a swarm of angry wasps) and she certainly looks like someone who has been on a bender for a long time. She definitely does not match up with her original arrogant presence. I think she might be in a better mood if she had some bacon to go along with those pancakes; and maybe some syrup or fruit, as well. I know that I would certainly be pretty glum eating pancakes with no topping. In fact, I’d skip them in that case.

Now, is Violet wearing that hat or not!? Yesterday, it looked like it was draped over the booth; panel 1 today shows it on, panel 2 is ambiguous, and panel 4 shows it on again. I must be standing in the wrong position, I reckon.

So why is Cherry concerned about the state of her current nemesis? You’d think she would be happy to see Violet in such a disreputable state. And what, exactly, is Violet’s problem? That is, why is she taking this personally? According to her original profile, she should be angry and scheming, preparing her response to the only obvious suspect. Instead, she seems to be turning into a weepy, pathetic pancake junky. I suppose, as another critic suggested, this may turn out to be a device to draw Cherry in and make her feel sorry for Violet. Is this, indeed, a clever trap set by Violet or has she really gone over the edge? Will Cherry catch the scam in time or will she bond with Violet and work out a mutually agreeable solution? It certainly does appear that Violet has the “evil eye” fixed on Cherry’s back in panel 4.

Well, we have 5 more days for Jules to answer these questions before we suffer another two weeks of Mark Losing It in LA-LA-Land.

Here we are, back in the not-quite-so-weird world of Cherry and the Butterfly Bushes. And to ensure we remember, we have a Monarch to set the stage and mark the scale from where we stand, watching Cherry pull up to the diner once again for her morning fix.

But wait! What do we see here? Not the smiling, Jeanette wearing her “My Favorite Martian” antennae; but a downtrodden Violet Cheshire, glumly working on a plate of pancakes. Well, maybe glum. It’s hard to tell if she is glum, desperate, or just pissed. But it isn’t hard to figure out that she has seen the results of Dirk’s feral hogs. That might be the interpretation of the textbox in panel 3. Volet looks like she slept in that shirt and just woke up. Where is her sophisticated pose?

It could be that Violet is reacting to Cherry’s voice as it fills the diner. With her Kentucky Derby hat draped over the back of the booth, it’s hard to visualize this is the same arrogant and manicured danger that she was the last time we saw Violet. In fact, I would not recognize her at all, except for Cherry’s amazing powers of observation! Anyway, I’d like to have one of those coffee mugs with the outer space logo. They look pretty cool.

Have to say that I like this devil-may-care version of Cherry much more than the more limited, shallower version we’ve been used to. I do believe that Cherry’s descent into “background character” grew over time, because her earliest appearances showed a more active, independent person. In recent years, she seems to have drifted (ie get pushed) into a kind of lifeless, supporting cast role. So it’s a real plus to see that she is getting stories of her own now.

Well, I reckon Tuesday we’ll start to find out what is going on with Violet. Who knows, maybe something will come out in her explanation to Cherry that will draw them closer to each other. You think? Or will she turn around and start throwing silverware and plates at Cherry?

Well, it certainly looks like they were able to stop the hogs before they consumed everything. And it certainly looks like a disaster! Not sure if any of the people standing by are part of the Sunny Soleil Society. At least I don’t see anybody wearing a flamboyant “Easter” hat.

However, I don’t get today’s moral. What is the “hard lesson” Cherry learned today: Crime does not pay? You reap what you sow? Don’t leave tire tracks at the scene of the crime? From the state of the road, I’m guessing that all of those black dots on the road represent bush residue, falling away from the swine as they are driven away in Dirk’s truck. It certainly cannot be a new drawing technique by Rivera to suggest shading.

As any reader of the strip knows by now, Rivera is not given to suggesting volume or darkness using hatching, dots, or other such drawing techniques. Instead, she tends towards defining flat planes and shapes, using color to suggest light and volume. This is one reason why the black & white publications of her strips sometime look harsh or incomplete.  But Rivera is used to working and publishing on the Internet, which has no publishing limitations. And maybe it’s part of Rivera’s breaking from the older artistic conventions used in the prior incarnation of the strip.

Getting back to the story, I’m still left puzzled by what I’m reading. Once again, Rivera seems to be paraphrasing a popular quote in the text box of the last panel (“Never lay shrubs before a swine”). Cast like a moral from Aesop, it almost surely comes from that famous piece of Biblical advice (Matthew 7:6): “… neither cast ye your pearls before swine….” But I was wrong before, so enlighten me, dear readers, if my recollection is faulty or completely ignorant. Still, I’m willing to bet this is not a Pokémon reference!

Finally, let’s talk about roads. Now, perhaps they don’t have many roundabouts where Jules Rivera lives. However, a roundabout is meant to incorporate roads that cross each other to facilitate safer driving and resolve problem intersections. In this case, the roundabout borders a crossing road. If this is a traffic roundabout, it has to be the most ineptly and worthless roundabout I’ve ever seen. If this is a pedestrian roundabout, then why? And why does it lay open to that road?

Okay, this completes a week back with Cherry. If Rivera keeps to form, we are bound to return to Crazy Land and Mark’s outrageous activities.