I tell ya… Mark ain’t gettin’ no respect, campers…
All about Mark? Well of course it is! His name is on the strip! Always has been! And apparently he will continue to receive the abuse he probably doesn’t really deserve, unless one is in the camp of “all that has gone before must simply be evil, for now we are woke?” In a world were the center has broken and probably will not return, are we to endure conflict at every turn in the “new” Mark Trail? Not sure I need this…
The Daily Trail 
I have to assume Mark will become MARK TRAIL when he leaves lost Forest.
Trail Heads. Need to comment. I’m actually very disappointed with this strip so far. Elrod would roll in his grave. Illustration is pretty awful. Story line odd & bizarre. I no longer look forward to reading it! Aside from Mark Trail being a complete oddball, there is nothing that even suggests a hint of why we have read this for upteain years. Maybe I am being over critical. Bottom line. This is not Mark Trail. This is a strange formation of really odd charterers. Just my opinion.
Mark. I agree that Mark Trail’s earlier artists might not approve of what is happening, though I think James Allen might get it (Does anybody know, by the way?). Anyway, as I have written earlier, I think Rivera is starting with the snarky, if sometimes plaintiff, remarks of long-suffering readers of the traditional strip and responded to them in her reboot. The question, I think, is whether Rivera will continue focusing on the self-parody or eventually settle into the strip and work on its core focus of story lines and Nature. Well, I hope she keeps a bit of the parody, but only as a supplemental feature. She has already written she intends to expand the Trailverse by giving more panel time to Cherry, Rusty, and other characters. That’s fine.
Her “graphic novel” style (as it has been described) and writing should certainly attract new and younger readers. And that’s good, too. There are other comic strips whose style and character appearances changed over time and remained popular.
However, it is less likely new readers will understand the references and jabs at the old Mark Trail, so they will not always appreciate the content or why certain things happen the way they do. (Ironically, that last statement is how many of us —including you, I bet—have sometimes felt reading the old Mark Trail from time to time!)
On the other hand, if Rivera continues to jab Mark Trail too much, she risks losing (more) long-time Trailheads who are trying to get their heads around the new approach, without wanting to feel as if Rivera is making fun of them. I’m not sure if that is her intention, but I bet a number of readers feel that way.
But, I’m anxious to see how the first big story plays out!