Home » 2017 (Page 11)
As we continue to share pleasantries and CV’s, a large man in a suit appears in the foreground of panel two. No idea what’s up with that…
Of course you’ve never heard of it, Baldy… clearly your life hasn’t been spent in leisure time activities, communing with Nature… I’d guess you were the product of either the foster system, or an abusive father, or both… Probably didn’t get to go fishing as a youth, which is what set you on your life of crime.
I can honestly say that I am not referring to James Allen when I ask that question… And Mark, why are you so willing to give up your identity and your purpose? To a kidnapping goon? And Bald-headed Goon, what possible connection is there between a visit to an Indian Reservation and being a writer? Dear Lord, this is making my head explode!
But let’s consider that this is not the first time that Mark has had to introduce himself… and he’s always happy to do so. Because it’s always all about him, right? Shocking that Baldo hasn’t heard of Mark… I mean, who hasn’t? And I might be mistaken here, but I don’t think Blondie has uttered a single syllable…
I have never owned a handgun, let alone tried to walk around with one jammed into my waistband… That never looks even remotely comfortable (or feasible in my case…) Not to mention dangerous! But then the criminal element is given to taking risks, otherwise they wouldn’t be doing the things they are doing!
I say one thing for Baldy, he’s got that “evil squint” thing down… can he he even see?? And if this isn’t an argument for having security in place upon entering an airport terminal, I don’t know what is! But it’s still not very obvious what the next move is here… “I want you to rent a car… yea, that’s it… and make it a big one- four doors at least…” I think it’s option 2 from yesterday’s comment (thank you, George) but with the bad guy telling Mark what to rent. I guess two charges of kidnapping/ abduction/ unlawful detainer isn’t much worse than one. Let’s go all in…
Meanwhile Mr. Ponytail is sitting in the plane??
Mark, you have always been a terrible read on people… it’s obvious that these two don’t belong together, but you are so focused on Johnny Lone-Elk and the BFF survey you can’t see what’s right in front of you! And of course Mark had to cross paths with this guy and his hostage… and I guess that Ponytail Man is “getting the plane” while Mr. Clean is doing what now?
Oh, Mark, this guy doesn’t really care how you are doing… that was offered to get your attention, and no more. Can’t you see that he is up to no good? And could he possibly have a gun pointed at Blondie? Well, we are on the street-side of the security system. That wouldn’t be terribly conspicuous, would it? But if the “plan” is to find a new rendezvous point, I can’t imagine how this is going help with that…
I flew a lot in my younger days- as a passenger, and that plane landing is a Boeing 7-2-7. I’d know it anywhere by the high tail fin/stabilizer and the third engine mounted below it. I asked a commercial pilot one time which plane he liked to fly the most, and he said, hands down, the 727. He mentioned that it was the last plane in the air that a pilot actually got to fly. That, and the need for an actual third crew member- a navigator- doomed that plane’s existence and you never see them anymore, except in Mark Trail. Or with our sitting President, back in his hay-day…
And who exactly is the gentleman at the counter in the background engaging with security? By the hunch in his back he looks like he’s up to no good! Couldn’t be our bad guy, involved in some feint, some attempt to “hide in plain (or plane (ha!)) sight,” could it?
Sioux Falls on the eastern edge, Rapid City on the western… I was thrown for a moment by the mountain range in the background of panel two, but reminded myself where we are. But wait… isn’t Mark Trail going to the airport too? Probably flying into Rapid City Regional airport (RAP) through Minneapolis (MSP) from Atlanta (ATL) close to Lost Forest, which is near Sandy Springs, GA. Although the Rapid City skyline, in reality, is not quite as majestic as what is being drawn here…
Judging by its size and scope, something tells me that the Rapid City Regional Airport does not use the latest in Facial Recognition software or anti-terrorism measures… So as dawn breaks on our bad guys, and points are made using “stick-up fingers” for emphasis, we are left to wonder where this is all going…
Facial Recognition Software! But what about your mask, your face, Ponytail Guy?? I guess you kept yours on during the caper? And what about your detainee there? I guess it doesn’t matter that she can make both of you now??
I am trying to re-create the scene in my mind… Billy gets shot, and somehow baldy disarms the shooter so that he can kick the crap out of him? What, no punching? Just kicking? I suppose we’ll have to assume that Billy is dead. Just one of the many nameless rabble of bad guys that move through the world. No matter though, he was probably destined to go back to jail anyway and cost us all money…
But how awesome is it, for now, to have two bad guys, one bald the other with ponytail, right out of Mark Trail Central Casting… Remember the time in the Great Dismal? The Bad Guy with Pony Tail who got himself blown up?? And that the BGwPT was bald and Ponytailed? Ha!
So confused… like I woke up in a strange land where even the English language makes no sense…
You get the plane? Find a place we can hook up?? A Rendezvous location that can accommodate a four-seater? What? Huh?
Guessing that the hairless one is the “professional” get-away driver, and he’s clearly not finished with this particular get-away… How does one advertise if this is one’s chosen profession? Maybe Craig’s List? I’m guessing he’s self employed and doesn’t have a great Dental plan.
And it appears that they are adding kidnapping to their rap sheet. Usually it’s Rusty who is bound and gagged, but this time it’s someone new… For now we’ll call her Blondie, while I continue to struggle categorizing these entries…
I’ll borrow from a comment made recently regarding how many random inputs are being offered up to the readers of this strip. Now we have a couple of nogoodnicks transferring loot into a minivan in a seedy, tenderloin-like district of Rapid City, SD. We are being asked to track on fractals… with seemingly no hope of tying off any of these threads, too many now to even name.
And who in the Hell is “Billy?” Was he left for dead, is he able to talk and give up the caper, of which these two are so proud? What exactly is Mark Trail going to walk into this time?? And how cute is it that the featured species is mommy and daddy rat and their brood?
Let’s not get all mussed up in front of the kid, OK Honey??
Such awkwardness… Cherry gets all moon-faced and and wraps her arms around Mark. And it would seem that Mark is either sick of driving after that long trip with Rusty or he’s actually thinking about the family budget- Airport parking rates can add up, especially when he’s likely to be in South Dakota for a couple of months… Make sure you pack enough underwear, Mark!!
OK, enough with the prattle… besides, what on earth is that deer in the first panel doing, looking straight up?? Very strange behavior. But then, I’m not a deer.
Well, have fun on your trip Mark. I have a feeling this time we won’t be wondering what’s going on “back at the ranch…” Oh, that’s right, Mark is going to a Ranch… and a Ghost Town. Oooooooooo……
This is once again becoming excruciating. It’s like James Allen has a “See and Say” pulls the cord, and watches as the arm spins… What kind of animal will I feature today? Doesn’t matter what’s indigenous where… tomorrow we will probably be blessed with Polar Bear!
Sure! Let’s go to Mexico! I’m sure no one will be mad at us there! Let’s make sure we get a complete set of “Make America Great Again” hats… that will be awesome!!
Yeah… some gear. I can see Rusty bobbing about above a reef when a large tide pulls him out to sea… careful Rusty- this is all an elaborate plan to take you out of the picture!
We’ve heard this one before… the promise of a “trip…” Just you and Rusty… Right, Mark?
What a lame-o excuse though, “sometimes my trips can get a little hectic.” What the heck does that mean?? In the words of Obi Wan, Rusty, “Your destiny lies along a different path” than Mark’s. You need to stay home and be marauded by Dirty Dyer… thought we forgot about him, huh? Nope, Dirty’s coming to do a little hunting of his own…
…you know, like in one of those Wild West shows that used to travel about… He’s really from Camden, NJ but grew tired of life in the shadows of tall buildings, so after he got his film degree, he moved to the Great Plains where he found his true identity with the First Nations People and they accepted him, not unlike Dustin Hoffman’s Character in Little Big Man, from which he found inspiration while learning to make films…
The comics-time continuum has snapped back to real time, as we are asked to endure the entire ride home from the fishing grounds… Maybe we get to see something different next week…
Poor Rusty. Even from a distant, moving vehicle we can see that he is staring out his window, rapidly losing interest in the topic that he started… That’ll learn ya, boy!
So, you got that? Nature just feeds on itself in one big, virtuous cycle… How fitting that the raven is overlooking the proceedings today. Perched expectantly in a Magnolia tree, a sign that may prairie dogs will soon meet their fate, if not Cherry at the hands of Dirty Dyer… remember him??
Prairie dogs exist to feed and house the rest of the animal kingdom? Do they know this? Why aren’t they doing something about it? Nature sure can be cruel…
At least the vehicles that mark drives now have headrests and seatbelts… unlike the International SUV’s of yore- bench front seat, no head restraint, and no shoulder (or even seat) belts…
Ahh, poor Rusty lad… realizing that he will always come in second place to whatever Mark is doing, or about to do… that he will only ever fit in on the margin of what is Mark’s raison d’etre.
So, with that pouty face locked into and burned onto our retinas, let’s hope that Mark is on the plane to SD next. But I suppose Rusty deserves an answer to his question, so we will have to endure the ride back to Lost Forest just a little longer, kids…
As we make the fishing trip last another day, we are witness to the riveting repartee between Mark and his adopted son…
And once again we are reminded that Mark leads a life that is utterly devoid of deadlines and real commitments, given that he continues to live rent free under the roof of one Doc Davis, father of Cherry Trail (nee Davis) which Mark expects to inherit, through his wife, in order that he never know what a mortgage payment looks like… OK maybe I ride that note a little long and hard, but it’s always struck me that Mark has little visible means of support, yet never has to make the difficult choices that I’m sure many of us do…
…and Rusty’s face is one of them… You know, if they’d take him somewhere for a proper haircut, rather than subject him to (I’m assuming) Doc’s amature attempts, that would be a start…
But to know whether Mark’s grammar is correct (and it usually is) one has to make a decision as to whether the word than is a conjunction or a preposition. “You have caught more <fish> than I have, Rusty!” If we consider the case for conjunction, then Mark is correct in using the subjective form of the personal pronoun I, but if we consider than a preposition, then he ought to be using the objective form, me. Further, in the conjunction case, I, could Mark have simply ended his exclamation without the word have? As in “You’ve caught more than I, Rusty!” That doesn’t “sound” correct. But the biggest dilemma has to do with Cherry’s seemingly ineffective attempts to home-school the young shut-in… He needs to understand that his use of the word till as a replacement for until is incorrect! A till, of course, is a placae where money is stored, whereas ’til would be a usable form of until, if we are to accept such sloppiness in our diction.
At any rate, Mark is satisfied that he has fulfilled his fatherly duties for the year, so we are not likely to be in touch with Rusty for a while now… savor the moment.
Oh, the fox went out on a chase one night, Prayed for the moon to give him light, He’d many a mile to go that night, before he reached the town-o… Huh. I guess it’s “Chilly Night” but but we always sang “Chase one night…”
Well, I’m certainly glad that we have that all sorted… at least now we know that the work on the reservation will be sanctioned…
But let’s meet the furry little ferret…
Cute little guy, but apparently hell on earth for prairie dogs…
The Daily Trail 
