Patty Craves Forgiveness in Any Form; Mark and Cherry Meld Faces

1/9/09

As anticipated, Mark's early return has thrown a wrench in Patty's confession plans, and now all she can do is wait for Mark and Cherry to reclaim their respective jawlines and exchange pleasantries with the rest of the family. Mark's face in panel two suggests that he may have walked away with a little more chin than he brought to the hug; it's a problem that will take presidence over all non-face-related issues this morning.

Patty is one mea cupla over the standard apology limit for this situation -- whatever she's done is seriously eating away at her conscience. In no way does that excuse her grating pleas for atonement. I'm just saying, it's bad.

Don't Make that Face at Us, Mark.

12/18/08

It's hard to tell if that really is Mark revising his escape plan in the first panel. He's got the preference for khakis. He's got that familiar pubic hair dangling off the middle of his head. It's gotta be Mark. It's just a little harder to tell than usual.

"Harder to tell than usual" is a common theme in every panel of this installment. It's hard to tell why dog tracks would indicate that Mark couldn't be too far away. It's even harder to gauge Sue's location or size in the third panel as she massages Pop on his so-so-busted tractor. Above all, it's hardest to tell when Pop will realize that time has erased every spark of physical and mental acuity in his fragile denim body. If I had to take a guess, that moment of clarity will come after he sticks a few more inches of hand into that sputtering engine.