The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

Rivera brought us back to Lost Forest this past week to catch us up on Cherry’s mini herb basket assembly project and the travails of sisters Olive and Peach. With baskets assembled, the sisters arrived at the local farmers market ready for selling. Cherry introduced her sisters to their older BIG brother, Dirk, who seemed to be unknown to them. Cherry had invited Dirk to come sell his feral hog poetry. (I’m really hoping Dirk will recite some of it before he disappears back into the Trailverse Closet of Bit Characters.)

So how is it that Olive and Peach did not know Dirk, you ask? It was never stated, though it might have been due to a possible early departure from the homestead by Dirk. Maybe Peach and Olive were too young at the time to remember. It’s a mystery.

In any event, this family convergence was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Peach’s ex-boyfriend, Rick. Peach rejected his pleas for forgiveness and reunion, leading to Rick’s increasingly erratic behavior. Brother Dirk finally stepped in to make known his own intentions regarding Rick’s immediate future and health. That sent Rick sullenly on his way. However, Rivera let it be known that the ex-boyfriend probably isn’t heading back to Florida any time soon. And that’s where things stand in Lost Forest.

Rivera gives us another animal talk geographically linked to current stories, along with another inventive title panel. But unless you visit or live in Florida, you will likely only see iguanas in zoos and in homes as pets (a role they are not suited for). The iguana is considered a harmful invasive species in Florida. Their existence there is probably due to people abandoning them, especially when they grow up to 6 feet long! Florida is truly America’s favorite dumping ground for abandoned exotic and dangerous pets, including Burmese pythons, boa constrictors, Nile monitor lizards, African monkeys, Cuban tree frogs, peacocks, caimans, and out-of-state college students. Florida: It’s more than just orange juice and beaches!

The things we do for fame…

Mark doesn’t know about Eco-Rap, in spite of his eco-warrior background? Well, neither did I. Apparently, it goes back to the late 1980s and may have started in the Bay Area of California. But there’s no Wikipedia page for it!  Eco-rap isn’t so much a music style as it is a message. Much of it, as far as I can tell, is youth-based, which is logical and a natural tie-in with Teen Sparkle Magazine, Mark’s current employer.

There is an actual performer named “Mr. Eco”, dressed in yellow and green, who takes his ecology-inspired raps to public schools and posts YouTube videos. So Eco-Rap is not simply a fictional comic strip plot device Rivera created just to shake up Mark’s reality.

There have been some comments here and there about the sometimes hectic and mannerist drawing style of Rivera, where characters sometimes elongate as if they belonged to a Futurist fantasy. And in the traditional black & white format of most newspapers, the inking sometimes looks heavy, scratchy, and difficult to view. I think there are some good explanations and I’ll go into that at another time. That’s not the case for the past several strips. But faithful readers know that, overall, I like Rivera’s drawing, layouts, and willingness to take chances.

I’ll leave any punch lines about Sherman to you, should you care to contribute!