Look how amazingly disciplined these people are; they go from place to place, yet stand in the exact same positions and poses every time. I’m impressed. I think we can assume at this point that the woman is either the teacher or another chaperone. Wonder if we’ll get to hear from her. I don’t see any guides, however; but this is a comic strip, not a documentary.

Nor is it reality. What we see here is more like experiencing images in those old-fashioned View-Masters with their posed, cliché photos: <Click!> View <Click!> View <Click!> View! If you think Rivera actually presents a cynical view of field trips and education, I wouldn’t disagree.

But tell me what you think Rusty is getting at in panel 4.

Art Dept. The panel drawings today are consistently fine, and the clip-art fits reasonably well into the overall style. That’s a plus. I’m not sure why the other students are still colored in Rivera’s standard anonymous background person purple shade, since they all stand together. Surely Rivera can’t believe we’d get confused. If one of my children were purpled out, I’d be upset!