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Rex Morgan, M.D., 8/26/04

OK, is it the jet lag, or did the art in Rex Morgan, M.D. change while I was away? I can’t pinpoint a day in the archives when everything changed, but things just seem different. The names on the strip are the same, but that doesn’t mean a thing in the seamy underworld of comic sweatshopery. Maybe Wilson and/or Nolan took a night class and wanted to show off some new techniques.

At first, I was a bit put off — I really like the art in this strip — but after squinting at it some it’s growing on me a bit. The polka-dot shadow on Rex’s face in the middle panel look kinda Roy Lichtenstein-esque. In fact, this strip reminds me a lot of “In the Car,” a Lichtenstein I’ve always liked.

(Jeez, look at that, I go to France for a couple of weeks and I’m getting all ooh-la-la-serious-art-referency. I gotta watch some TV.)

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Rex Morgan, M.D., 8/11/04

Sometimes, when people go through a traumatic experience — like being trapped in a cliffside cave by rising floodwaters, say — they reevaluate their priorities and decide to make major changes in their lives. Often they think about going into an entirely different line of work, one that involves helping others.

You know, like medicine. Hey, earth to June: You already run a medical practice. Maybe she’ll insist on treating people for free. That’ll be fun to watch.

I’d like to point out that Mark and June have smudge marks on their faces, which are the universal comics symbol for having gone through some kind of ordeal. Of course, they didn’t have said smudge marks on their face until after they were rescued, which is a bit puzzling. Maybe they got dragged up the side of that cliff face-first.

Finally, take a look at the odd way that June is drawn in first panel, with her turned down mouth and beady eyes. June Morgan and Grace Jones: separated at birth?

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Rex Morgan, M.D., 7/13/04

For my money, Rex Morgan has the best art of all the soap opera strips. It’s very cinematic. The “camera” is always swooping around extremely dramatically, as it does here, from far to near. I like how the close-ups are always at strange angles, often cutting off part of the characters’ faces. This dramatic perspective is appropriate for the current storyline, in which our heroes are trapped in a cave that’s menaced by rising floodwaters, but trust me, when the strip takes weeks to discuss medical malpractice insurance, the art is exactly the same.