Meanwhile, back home in the Davis/Trail cabin, Andy (panel 1) must either be standing on the dinner table or possess the ability to levitate. Well, who cares about reality or even the laws of physics, anyway? All we have today is Mark talking nonsense: • No, Mark. You did not chase wild horses. You illegally trespassed, helped instigate a prairie fire that destroyed private property, and escaped responsibility. • Disbelieve slides and slide projectors? Again, Mark boasts of his disdain for technology and history. Maybe tomorrow we’ll get to see his after-dinner slide show with the family: “Check this out, family! This picture shows the helicopter that was chasing us as it hit a transformer and set everything on fire! And this next picture shows the smoldering ruins of the company the next day. How neat is that!?!”
This week we returned to the adolescent adventures of Rusty Trail. He is in school and about ready to announce his topic for the upcoming school science fair. But troublemaker and underhanded “friend”, Robbie, neglected to prepare a topic, having wasted his time playing computer games all weekend. Robbie easily cons Rusty into revealing his topic (the axolotl salamander, subject of the prior Sunday), which Robbie then submits to the teacher before Rusty does! Rusty is suitably angry at Robbie for stealing his idea, though he should have been angry at himself for being so gullible. Fortunately, Rusty quickly came up with a better topic—electronic waste—based on his knowledge of Robbie’s game-playing habit.
There were also discussions during the week about the direction and quality of the drawing, so feel free to browse and catch up, if you are interested. There is at least one thought that the style has become more childlike, possibly because of the subject matter; or because Rivera may simply be directing the entire strip towards an even younger audience.
Cartoonists have traditionally maintained physical picture archives of objects they can reference for drawing, tracing, or adapting. In pre-Rivera Mark Trail, James Allen often reused images of Mark’s head, saving time and ensuring consistency of appearance. I don’t know whether they were photocopies pasted onto the drawings or tracings from reference sheets. Same result. But the sameness of the images became a source of criticism by fans. But there’s more:
Pictorial recycling can be infinitely easier when your sources are digital, as we see in today’s strip: The bees buzzing through the panels today are from the same bee images Rivera used in Cherry’s earlier bee stories, simply copied-and-pasted as needed.
Ooh! Rusty is really hot under the collar (an emotion excellently illustrated in panel 1!). But he proves to be a quick thinker and comes up with an idea much more topical and arguably more important—if less cute—than axolotls.
The plot of this storyline starts out as another (pre)teen rivalry between frenemies. We’ve seen in the past how Robbie takes every opportunity to stick it to Rusty. Will this tension continue to be the driving force of this story? Well, of course! I don’t expect we’ll see Robbie giving Rusty a High Five for a quick recovery and a superior topic. Nope. If anything, we can expect some sabotage along the way.
Art Dept. Have you noticed a small but increasing use of digital screentone patterns to suggest shadow (panel 2) or possibly mood (panel 3)? This technique normally replaces the more time-consuming manually-inked crosshatched lines. Rivera normally does not bother creating hazy or shadowy ambiance or even suggesting volume, preferring to use flat shapes and colors. I think it is a positive addition that I hope will eventually make its way onto the characters.
I’m trying to not take credit for making such an obvious prediction for this plot development. I’m guessing 95% of you made the same prediction. So for that other 5%, “I TOLD YOU! AND I WUZ RIGHT!”
Alas, in panel 4 Rusty internalizes: “That little thief!” What kind of kid talks like that?!? Maybe an adult does when talking about a kid. No, somebody like Rusty is more apt to mutter “Thanks-alotl, you g#dd@mn #(@)ing prick! Just wait until lunch, pond scum!” But like network TV, you have to clean up language in comic strips for the delicate minds of people who enjoy getting offended as an excuse to become offensive.
In spite of Rivera’s appreciated upgrading of Rusty’s personality and image from his past incarnation, he is still a gullible, insecure adolescent (like many kids in real life). It’s clear that Robbie is “Eddie” to Rusty’s “Beaver.” How will Rusty get his revenge? It can’t possibly be that the teacher will make them team up…?
Okay, this dialog is not moving the story along; it is merely two kids bickering. I don’t know why Rivera believes Rusty should score a point (“touché”) in his response, since Robbie already admitted he didn’t have any idea of what an axolotl is. So why should Robbie also know its taxonomic classification? Seen in this light, the conversation could be interpreted as “Rusty tries to ridicule Robbie.” In panel 4, Robbie’s body language indicates that it doesn’t seem to be working. Touché, Robbie!
Art Dept. There is a fundamental difference between the drawing of Rusty and that of Robbie. Where Rusty’s head (for example) appears quite naturalistic and animated, Robbie’s smooth head looks like it came from a stylized marionette or a china doll. At least it is a bit more defined than the yellow smiley face. The differences in style and facial definition are off-putting. I could be reading too much into this. What do you think?
Downpuppy’s caustic assessment yesterday of Mark Trail (d)evolving into a child’s comic strip, might be based on more than just the current story. After all, we’ve already had several plots with Rusty over the past three+ years. There seems to be some kind of thinking to filter real drama and danger through the lens of nonsense and goofy characters. Now, as “theater of the absurd” or “social satire” goes, this manner of writing has a long and respected tradition over the past several centuries.
However, one thing missing here is the target of the alleged satire. Is it the legacy Mark Trail strip, itself? In part, I think so. Since she started in 2020, Rivera has been rocking the boat of Mark’s 1950s morale certainty and immunity. But that can only go so far and for so long. Continued, ad infinitum, this trick becomes a parody of itself, as the original strip and its original readers fade into the past. So the satirical references get lost. Then the strip continues as a trivial pastiche looking for an audience. And I think that is where we are. What to do? There is virtually no sense of actual drama or danger to be found. Everything is a put-up joke. Real conservation and ecological issues are resolved by actions too dumbed down or unbelievable to be meaningful.
I think if Rivera and the comics syndicate want to attract more youth, then maybe start molding the strip along the lines of computer adventure/action games, rather than Pokémon or Dora the Explorer.
Hoo-boy, what happened here? Frankly, panel 1 is just embarrassing, and panel 2 isn’t a lot better. I’m trying to come up with any explanation, but I’m drawing a blank. Hmm, that blank would be better.
Otherwise, I just hope that the plot doesn’t develop the way it seems to be going. You know, where Rusty is naïve enough to tell Robbie what he wants to do, and Robbie submits Rusty’s idea to the teacher before Rusty can. Then it’s all complain, complain, complain to Mom. So Mark hears about it and decides to take matters into his own hands by breaking into Robbie’s garage and destroying the kid’s project after knocking out Robbie’s dad. What’s that, you say? That wasn’t what you were thinking? Okay, some of the details might not be fully fleshed out.
One thing that Rivera gets more or less “right” is Rusty, at least in comparison to his traditional persona. Traditional Rusty was mostly a cypher, a one-dimensional character, even when showcased in a few stories by James Allen. Rivera’s Rusty is more complex, with mixed emotions, high energy, and a definite outgoing personality sometimes undone by a propensity to get himself into trouble. In short, he’s a real member of the Trail family! If anything, he is probably more like a typical precocious kid in any number of TV sitcoms. Still, at least he has a life and his own personality.
Art Dept. Even though Rivera normally eschews atmospheric effects, they are used to good effect here. In Panel 1 Rusty and Robbie are spotlighted, while the rest of the room fades into shadow. To reinforce this focus, the surrounding students are backgrounded in purple, an effect Rivera has used many times in the past for the same effect. In other words, panel 1 provides the context in which the two “friends” are sitting and talking, so that panels 2 and 3 are more comprehensible. Self-obvious, perhaps; but I think Rivera did a good job in panel 1.
Every wonder why the main characters in comics wear the same clothes, day after day? Hmm….
I might have been a bit harsh in my recent posts, maybe even too sarcastic. Perhaps I keep my expectations too high?
This past week we saw the conclusion to the Horsin’ Around story. The strips for this week revealed a series of unusually expeditious actions, such as the Happy Hooves rescue ranch (somehow) already proposing to buy the land from Tad Crass and convert it into another wild horse sanctuary. Neighbors, upset at the spread of the large grass fire that that consumed the data center, are already preparing to press for stricter zoning laws, presumably to prevent the erection of data centers.
The story more or less falls apart, as it implies the entire location (including the office structure) was destroyed, though it was never mentioned or shown. No word on the whereabouts of the helicopter. No appearance by Tad Crass! No legal repercussions against Mark or Diana for the trespassing that precipitated the fiery climax. And Bill Ellis seems gleeful at getting the opportunity to publish this debacle; which is odd, since Diana Daggers runs a rag called Instigator Magazine that should have first publishing rights.
And hasn’t Diana Daggers turned into a big disappointment? I’m sure many of us, based on her initial appearance, thought she might just be a recurring take-charge, badass nemesis. Certainly, the original version of Daggers could have handled Tad Crass and his AI data center problem without anybody’s help. Now, she’s just a facilitator for Mark’s bull-in-a-china-shop problem-solving technique. Hmmm, maybe I haven’t been all that harsh, after all.
I’ve discovered is that these cute pink or white axolotls are the “captive” and “pet” versions bred in captivity to the point that they are now genetically diverging from their wild siblings. Wild axolotls are dark, as shown above. They do not mix, or at least, should not. In fact, owning one is illegal in different countries and some American states. Like other domestic animals, domestic axolotls should never be abandoned in public lakes or waterways. Which probably means they will.
Phew! Is that stink coming from the fire or the story? Not that it matters much. Data centers don’t have to be secret, because they are not illegal. Clearly, the fire was also not secret, based on all of those so-called neighbors, fire engines, and police that showed up afterward. Or was Diana being ironic!?!
But thank the ancient gods and Mudbrick Makers’ union of Ur that this story is finally over; not that it was in any way the worst story we’ve seen. I suppose Diana Daggers can happily fold her magazine, now that her manipulation of Mark Trail has succeeded and Tad Crass’s artificial intelligence project (whatever it was) has been rendered impotent. So score Diana Daggers: 2 and Deluded Males: 0.
The Daily Trail 