Gray?  Silver??? I don’t get it.

So all’s well that ends well, huh?  Despite this journey into the absurd, it was pretty standard Mark Trail fare, complete with punching.  That (long) story lines are tied together and bad guys are brought back into the picture seems to be a (growing) hallmark of the Allen Era (AE.)

I work with a lot of Allens, or Allans, or Alans.  It’s a frustrating name in that it’s spelled many different ways, can be a first- or a surname, and I have to constantly check to make sure that I am spelling it correctly…  stay warm everyone!

I guess we can add wet nursing to Raul’s many skills, including tearing through markets on his motorcycle and  jumping through unopened windows… Are we going to break out in song here?

How he managed to gain the trust of the youngsters is beyond me, but hey, we’ll probably never mop up all the inconsistencies of this storyline, including first and foremost, how did driver Jose get hooked into taking the kids on a tour in the first place?!  I mean there’s deep undercover, but then there’s plain dumb luck!  Please, please, let this be a wrap!

…

…

And Mark’s not even trying to make a joke here…

OK, so we are on day n of “Mad Mark…”  I have lost track and once again evidence that we can’t not let a good idea go overused and exploited…  Maybe the kids will turn up by Friday?

Mark looks like he’s about to punch out Jose…  which probably wouldn’t be a very good idea… considering he’s a peace officer and all.

Still utterly confused… the kids had the door slammed in their face…  How can they be “inside?”

Mark is still hoppin’ mad!  My son!  My son!  He’s not your son!  But it’s nice that you think of him that way… By the way, his name is Rusty, and there is another young soul that you might want to be concerned about…

The Old Library… Isn’t that where they are right now??

There has to come a time in every felon’s life when he or she realizes they strayed from the path that had been hoped for them… even families steeped in crime must have expectations of not getting caught and going to jail…

Oh Juanito…  ¡Lo siento mucho!  ¡La plantilla está arriba! Vas a ir a la carcel… 

But there is more to unravel here… What about Becky?  Is Professor Carter in on this or has he been duped?  What other authorities need to get involved?  Or do we just get to wrap this turkey up and go home?

I guess Juanito wants to add ‘resisting arrest’ and ‘assault on a peace officer’ to his rap sheet…

…and as Captain / Officer Jose gets his face rearranged in today’s installment, there is an odd yellow thing that appears in the middle panel…  what is that?

OK, yesterday, Juanito was across the street and under full gait when Captain Jose noticed him and decided that he should give chase…

…and today, by the third panel, he has (literally) placed the long arm of the law on Juanito’s shoulder…  which means that (either) Captain Jose can bend time or Juanito is running in place…

Really?  Mr. American Gothic is going to go after Juanito the Mule?  Where is Raul?  He seems much more up to that task…

And what of the two that Mark punched out?  Looks like Jose II is coming around… and I doubt that he will simply stay down…

As Mark continues to pummel and pontificate, the bad guys can’t even hear him at this point… Difficult to listen when one is knocked out cold…

Three straight days of fisticuffs…  I think we get the point.  Mark doesn’t get enough “release” in his life…

Let’s just say that Mark is not the “forgive and forget” kind of guy…  I am sure he never expected to be face to face with these desperados, and he wastes little time in showing them “how we do things downtown…”  I mean, good heavens, look at the aura that Mark is putting off!  He is PISSED!

This is certainly a two-fer.  Not only do we get to bust an antiquities smuggling ring, but we get to witness payback for a heartless act that left Mark, and us readers, in the dark (aided by mysterious bioluminesce and gypsum) for Months!  Our first introduction to the  r e a l l y  s l o w  roll of story arcs to come…

Well, once again, we have lived for months in the same day in the Trail-time…  I wonder if we will be treated to a sunset?  Do they get to enjoy the rest of their vacation?  I mean, the Trails just got there!!

I am sure that the astute among you noticed that I have not attempted to categorize (correctly at least) this current saga…  I was so fairly convinced that this story would eventually lead us back to Dirty Dyer that I kept the “Dirty’s Revenge” thing going…  Only to be proven (for now at least) wrong.  But this is just as good.  Seriously.  Didn’t see this coming (kudos to you James Allen) and today’s installment (almost) makes up for the weeks upon months of slow-drip plot development…

Funny that Mark encountered and recognized Mr. Big-Arms first in yesterday’s strip, but now has Jefe by the shirt placket, delivering an epic right cross, knocking him into the next frame!  Good that Mark has invested in blue jeans that have a stretch component, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to admire his well developed lower half…  How long has it been since Mark was allowed to punch a bad guy?  Too long, my friends, MUCH too long.

If my high school level spanish taught me anything is that there needs to be agreement between gender and plurality…  It’s MIS amigos!  not mi amigos!  And if we want to be even slightly authentic perhaps a “Vamanos amigos” as opposed to “Let’s go” would have added a nice touch…  making the “mi,” “mis” or “my” superfluous…

So I guess Rusty and Mara were shut out of the front door and Mark and Capt. Jose are fortunate enough to have rolled up to the back, where the bad guys are making their escape…

But Wait!  Mark knows this guy?  Do we?  I will be really embarrassed if I missed this connection, but honestly I am at a loss.  Unless he’s one of the coyote that were seen trafficking humans and blew up the cave entrance (and only exit) in the Chihuahuan desert, trapping Mark, Professor Gabe and Carina?

Bingo!  The arms should have been the clue! I was sort of sniffing at this before but hadn’t made the connection!

Part 2?  Might be Part n… Mark has never been known for his use of the pre-frontal cortex… where reasoning, discretion and executive decision making emanates…

…but still resplendent in his faded red, now pink, chamois cloth shirt and blue jeans (wait… aren’t we in the tropics?) he throws the stoner-van door open and makes his move.  Except, wait…  didn’t Mara and Rusty get the door slammed in their face?  No, Mark, they aren’t “in there…”  Rusty’s phone is, and there will be a talking to about that lack of discretion, but for now, I would say that the kids are relatively safe…

“Captain Jose?”  Do you not have a surname?  Honestly, the writing here is really, ummm, bad.

Seriously, the 10 minutes I just spent reviewing the recent strips is 10 minutes I will never get back…  But I am trying to sort through the names here…  The only one for sure is Juanito the Mule…

From what I can tell, Jose (yes there is another one… like that’s the only name in all of Me-he-co that James Allen could come up with…) But he also goes by Jefe (which, again is spanish for ‘boss’) So is Juanito calling the real boss (at which we get our first full, unshadowed look) Jefe?  While Jose/Jefe calls him ‘Boss?’  Seriously…

Who’s on first?

OK, at least he’s back to being the feckless, clueless, insipid kid we all love to mock and abuse…

And in moves Raul, with nothing more than a dime-store badge!  Although we can’t see what is in his right hand…

…but it’s apparently enough for Juanito!  SLAM goes the door and we avoid a hostage taking opportunity!  Rats!  That would have carried this story line into the summer at least!!

As Mara speaks wisdom and suggests a less risky path, Juanito pops out from the shadows and lays a Cheshire-cat grin on his victims… Hostage situation?  You betcha!

And since when did Rusty sport the blue highlights in his hair??  What- is he a junior Mark Trail?

We can only hope, right?  Happy new year, Campers.  I have been hiding in the tall grass waiting for something to happen, but three’s my limit…

“Great!  You found them!” says Joe, “Well, Raul, I have a very angry and anxious Mark Trail with me…”

Where’s the new library?  Are we suggesting that the only library fell into disrepair and now the poor people of Santa Poco have nowhere to turn when they want to borrow the latest Tom Clancy thriller?  That’s right, Raul.  Fools rush in.  That includes Rusty, Mara and now you…

Suddenly Ol’ Sleepy Joe is on the case… barking orders.  Mark’s expression remains unchanged even as Joe suggests that this might turn into a hostage situation!  I am sure he is conflicted about this… thinking wistfully of carefree days without a stepson in his charge…  Or days when he could smoke a pipe and still stand for Earth and Conservation!