As the artwork continues to disappoint, we see examples of where we might recognize the old Mark Trail, such as panel 3 below:
Whatever has befallen James Allen, I sincerely hope he makes it back someday…
Pulling the Ol’ “Dave Thomas” (of Wendy’s fame) card, eh? He was a famous orphan who grew up to support orphan related causes…
Pick o’ the litter, huh? My money’s on the sad lad who is getting picked on…
The Daily Trail 
You know where this story line comes from, right? A little wide-eyed cute boy and the orphan angle? I believe Allen is paying homage to a comic strip popular back in the 50’s and 60’s named “Dondi”. I’m fan of comic strips, especially the old ones. Don’t know why it didn’t hit me right away. So I Googled the strip and found the Wikipedia page: And on the “Dondi” page is a sample Sunday strip, showing Dondi FISHING! How cool is that!?
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