Good gravy… should I create a new category called “Rusty Reads?”
It used to be that these turnarounds in Lost Forest consisted of a little slap and tickle, a phone call, and Mark would be off again on another assignment… Now we are subjected to the not so terribly interesting lives of Mark and Cherry, featuring opinions and public service messages…
Not only is this a waste of ink and time…
…but I swear we have been here before…
…Mark whining about online trolling… Hopefully Cherry sees the voodoo warrior doll off camera, and while Mark continues to prattle on about his hurt feelings (wait… he has them now? Oh that’s right- just for himself…) The little guy pops out and spears him in the buttocks!
Struck a nerve, have we?
“Comments?” “Rusty reads the Comments?” Mark sits up straight as an arrow, the Primitive Trailian brain kicks in, all fight or flight…
Awww… Mopey Mark… are people making fun of you on line? Just wait ’til that Raven swoops down and plucks out your eyeball! Then you will know pain! The pain we all feel day to day and we wend our way through you world…
Comics within comics… makes my head hurt.
Jungle Jim, huh? Never heard of it. But Johnny Weissmuller played him on TV… after the Tarzan Role, I guess he was a bit typecast…
Looks to be a fast paced romp! Not!
Ok, enough already!
Anything, anything at all, please. Just remove me from having to witness these lies! Mark! Get on a plane!
I have to wonder, along with how Mark keeps so clean-shaven, is who keeps the Lost Forest grounds so tidy? Is there an army of gnomes that pops out of the woods and cuts and trims and makes sure that all the stones lining the drives are in place? Must be. It’s an otherwise magical place, so I would suggest that as a highly probable explanation.
And is there a happier place on the planet than Lost Forest? Andy bears witness to the joy as he canters along-side Mark and Cherry… Dogs are a great barometer of the mood they are surrounded by… and Andy is beaming!
I mean, just look at her… she just gets thinner and thinner…
“At his age?” Doc (and everyone else in the Trailverse) has been the same age for years (decades) now… Mark and Cherry are the only ones who got the other-than-shit-end of that stick. Rusty locked in perpetual pre-pubescence, Doc a Sept- or Octogenarian… Andy of course is ageless… what is he in dog years? Who cares, really…
As Mark continues to search his true feelings about JJ (Really? We need to let this go…) Cherry is (once again) showing her patience and stamina with what must be a very challenging marriage…
What’s with Andy? Doesn’t he want to go for walkies too? “No,” says the Big Dog… “The porch is just fine…”
Cherry, “Doc” is “Dad” to you… or have you forgotten?
Yup, we all know…
You don’t mess with old Rex…
…and there is always “the telling” after a trip away from the homestead.
But I wonder if there has been time for laundry? Or a change of clothing? Or does Mark have 12 pink chamois cloth shirts in his closet? Someday, just some day, I would appreciate seeing Mark in a different color combo… And Cherry, oh Cherry… that profile you are striking reminds me of those oh so classy (classic?) mud-flaps one sees on a semi-truck, or a duely pickup with a scrotal sack hanging from the trailer hitch…
While we admire the author/artist’s ability to draw nature…
..we really must shake our heads…
Barrels of ink, electronic or otherwise, sacrificed in the name of carrying on a tradition…
…even though the current mantle-bearer continues to fall short of expectations. Blah.
Ah… the familiar… But wait, not so fast!
What the heck is that?! An escaped Circus Lion?? Stay tuned!
If’n you don’t shut up about it, we will turn you in!!
But how will JJ find the money to bring his truck loan current… heck, to even put fuel in his truck? Will word get out that he lost his shit with his clients and threatened their lives? And has the voodoo doll terrorized Rusty and Cherry back at Lost Forest? These, and many other questions will be answered on the next episode of… The Daily Trail.
I think it’s funny that JJ (I think it’s JJ…) vocalizes what was on everyone’s mind…
But I am sure what made it especially awkward was Mark feeling compelled to explain every little nuance about the desert… because for some reason, we seem drawn back to it every other “adventure…”
While they camp, and while there appeared to be a lot of daylight left where they could have put some miles between themselves and their disappointment, we get to eavesdrop on their conversation the next morning…
It still strikes me as odd that they have the pack space to each haul a family-sized dome tent… and if that’s Leola speaking on the right, I think the word you are searching for is dirty, not dingy… dingy would be the fault of your washing machine, most likely…
…getting punched in the face, or getting browbeaten like a 7 year old…
Oh goody… three days and nights on the trail, with nothing to think or talk about other than abject disappointment and the fact that nothing has changed… and the knowledge that nothing will probably ever change…
Do we think that JJ will take off his pack when he goes to sleep? And will Mark ever have to shave?
Out of the mine/cave and back into the light, JJ starts to plead his case…
Why he continues to wear his pack is puzzling… but at least it’s a distinguishing factor when viewing the group in long-angle silhouette… As Mark continues to scold him and remind him of how “irresponsible” we was to do this! Wait ’til mark runs into Dirty Dyer and his flame thrower… I doubt the same sermon is going to have a similar effect…
Enough with the waterworks!
Now let’s just get back to our sad little lives, more keen and wise for the experience!
What’s it been? Less than a week in Trail-time? There are days I wish my own life would slow down a bit! The days, weeks and months melt away a little too quickly these days…
Really?
Well, I guess remorse comes in its many forms… and unless JJ is an accomplished method actor, then I suppose we should take him at his word…
If this story is wrapping up, then I guess we should all be grateful! This one didn’t feel as drawn out as some others… Now we need to snap our fingers and have the Lost-Forestians say farewell and goodbye to Leola and JJ, both of whom we will likely never see again. Heck, Leola didn’t even have a chance to fall for Mark and Mark didn’t have to expound on the fact that he’s a “Happily Married Man…” Small wonders, I guess…
It doesn’t help!! And Mark, your “feeling” face is a might off-putting…
Small cave? Seems large and well-lit to me… I mean, you ARE standing up and seem to have plenty of shoulder room!
OK, let’s wrap this up. Punch lines that last a week are (unfortunately) typical, but nonetheless tedious…
The Daily Trail 