Home » 2020 (Page 6)

Yearly Archives: 2020

Put a fork in it…

Posted on by | 3 Comments

…it’s done.  Overdone.

content06172020

This has been a blessedly short “story.”  But that’s the point.  We are so bereft of plot under the Allen regime, we are left with dragging nature lessons and factoids through the daily strips.

We experimented with different styles of art during the “Kids Kamping” storyline, and then the best we can do, when it appears that the artistic standards have been re-established (although not clear whether it’s Allen’s actual pen or not) we are reminded that this strip really has nothing to offer.  And it’s not just pining for poachers and flapjacks (although that would be nice) it’s that there’s really nothing worth following here.

Which leads me to this:  Where the hell is Chris “Dirty” Dyer?  Raised from the dead, no compunction about killing, a score to settle.  Why hasn’t he come back into the picture?  We last saw him testing flame throwers on some secluded Caribbean Island while recruiting a man-servant.  And when was the last time we have seen Mark land a left hook?  Policing is under deserved scrutiny these days, but I would think that comic strip vigilantism would be on the rise!

Mark, do you ever grow tired of knowing everything?

Posted on by | 1 Comment

The look on Rusty’s face says it all… Really, Dad?  Yet another topic upon which you can claim expertise?

content06122020

Rusty, you are a patient soul…

content06132020

What, Andy’s been gone a day?  Police won’t even file a missing person report that fast!  It is kind of Cherry to encourage him, though.

content06152020

And here we are back at Cutter’s Bluff, a familiar sight for all avid Trailians.  Not to mention Rex, the ill-tempered grizzly who saved mark from a certain end years ago…

content06162020

So this little lesson should wrap up pretty soon, with the mystery intact since there’s no way for Andy to tell his humans what he was up to…

Piling up…

Posted on by | 2 Comments

…like so much Andy-scat.

Look, If I want to learn new things about nature and such, I would find the Sunday edition of Mark Trail…  The Dailies used to be focused on action and moving a plot forward…

content06102020

…instead we are using Andy clip art from day to day- notice how the shot of Andy is I- (clap hands once) -dentical from day to day, just superimposed onto a new back ground?

content06112020

Ataboy, Rusty.  That’s using the ol’ bean…  Mark’s face has returned to unrecognizable…  And what’s with the lonely log in the fireplace… that’s an interesting metaphor…  Has the flame at Lost Forest gone out, signaling the end (blessedly) of Mark Trail??

The art is back, but the writing…

Posted on by | 1 Comment

…oh the writing!!  And let’s be clear:  Racoons are largely nocturnal creatures… what the hell is one doing out with the Deer and the Robin (which seems to have taken on goliath proportions, even with perspective in mind…)

content06062020

Back home we are pondering the disappearance of Andy…

content06082020

…with everyone except mark pitching in to set the table… while he waxes on about vague stories of wayward pets finding their way home…  Read an article? Sure you did, Cherry… sure you did.  That look on you face in the center panel might as well say, “Shut your pie-hole, Nature Boy, isn’t there a story you should be flagging down somewhere other than Lost Forest?”

“Father” Knows Best

Posted on by | 1 Comment

With Rusty and Cherry holding down the ‘Fretful’ end of the spectrum, Mark feels compelled to dismiss their concerns…

content06052020

I mean, aren’t we going to go look?  Aren’t we going to put the word out?  That tag around Andy’s neck- does it even have any useful information?

And we are off!

Posted on by

Well, that didn’t take long…

content06022020

Trucker Travis, having vocalized his inner monologue, realizes that something is afoot!

content06032020

Well, then, I bet there IS a dog in the back of your Truck!!  Barks like a dog, it’s bound to be a dog.

content06042020

Oh, Andy, this could have been so simple.  But no, you had to run off… Who knows what life has in store for you at this point…  miles from home, running in a random direction.  The story starts… now!

Reminds me of the time when…

Posted on by | 1 Comment

…Andy was caught in a “Deer Trap.”  And no one knew where he was!  This would have been the late Summer of 1980, and I would faithfully check in on Andy every morning over my bowl of Wheaties…  and I knew that time wasn’t on Andy’s side, or mine, since I was about to leave home for a new academic year and I realized that the Wisconsin State Journal did not carry Mark Trail!!

content06012020

To my delight, my dear mother began clipping out the dailies and sending them to me on a weekly basis- mounted to typing paper, with (of course) snarky comments in the margins…  In case you wonder where I got this idea, The Daily Trail, I guess it all goes back to that…

And the artwork seems to be back on track… hallelujah!

Any port in a storm, right Andy?

Posted on by

When we last checked in, Andy was eye-balling this panel truck from a distance…  And Rusty had been dispatched by Mark to call Andy in from the storm…

content05272020

…what a difference a few days can make- Andy seeks shelter from the storm, leaps into the box, and voila, he’s made himself an unwitting captive.

content05282020

Trucker Travis closes the doors without taking a good look inside- I mean, why would he?

content05292020

Besides, Andy seems quite comfortable on the hard metal deck and isn’t fazed in the least in the fact that he truck has now started and is moving…

content05302020

So here we go, Ladies and Gents.  Remember- Andy has a tag.  People can read, there’s this thing called the internet…  Yet it will probably be a year before he is reunited with his humans…

Mark’s Home?

Posted on by | 1 Comment

I’m Sorry, unless you show me some form of conveyance document, complete with consideration, the amount of which both parties acknowledge as sufficient, Lost Forest Is The Davis House, as in Doc an Cherry… Not the Trail House, as in Mark.  We have established over the years that Mark has fallen backwards into money and lives at Lost Forest, Schtupping the Owner’s Daughter (we assume) without so much as a farthing leaving his bank account…

content05262020

… But what have we here??  Development?  The bane of any good conservationist?  Especially the kind that is already set and “has his?”  Sort of like Al Gore’s house, which is not exactly Off the Grid…

Next thing you know, Mark will have a beer open…

Posted on by | 2 Comments

…and scene…  Back we are at Lost Forest.  Andy running to?  from?  amok?

content05252020

Mark relaxing as best he can in a hand-made chair… leaning back, checking the weather on his phone.  Is that how he knows that there is a storm coming??  And Rusty, if he is to get more air-time, will have to agree to do more around the place that sit in his room reading the on-line comics…

I think Rusty just grew a foot…

Posted on by | 2 Comments

…no, not that kind… not literally.  Just look how tall he is next to Mark!

content05232020

As Geoff falls out of focus and Mark returns to (more) familiar form, I am reminded of the very beginning of the cave adventure when Mark was free-climbing, all to set up the final scenes in the cave, in order that we couldn’t say, “Hey, where did Mark suddenly get those mad climbing skills?!”  It wasn’t clear, to me at least, that it was Mark doing the climbing.  In fact it might have been the first time Mark was ever presented without a shirt on, unless you  count the time that we was treed by a bear after separating his shoulder…

And In case you all are wondering when the switch-over occurred, from Elrod to Allen, here is the last daily signed by Elrod and the first daily signed by Allen.  Notice how in the latter  the style seems to change panel to panel…  a reminder that Allen has been at this (along with you scribe) for over 6 years…  he’s probably looking for an out…

Who are these people?!

Posted on by | 1 Comment

I have said it before, and I’ll say it again… Hell, I have probably even used this title before…  but really?  Look at the three pictures of Mark Trail.  It could be three different people, but for the annoying and always-available pink chamois-cloth shirt…

content05212020

I don’t know that I ever particularly cared about Mark and his family, but now I have generated actual disdain… I know… Lighten up, Francis…

content05222020

Who if Geoff talking to in the left hand frame?  And Rusty, best ever?  Greatest of All Time?  (That’s what GOAT stands for, you know, when you see it- took me a while figure that one out…)  Mr. Wizard, get me out of here…

Well… certainly didn’t see THAT one coming…

Posted on by | 2 Comments

Now that we are all focused on the Crowleys and their growing family, while also enduring another close-up of Dopey McDope-face…

content05182020

Little Kevin’s dream just came true!

content05192020

But wait, little guy… I am sure there is paperwork to fill out!!  But then I am sure that this isn’t the Crowley’s first rodeo with adoption.  I’m sure it will all work out fine…

content05202020

Now can we just get the hell out of here?  And can we find someone who can draw??  That final panel doesn’t even look like Mark!!

Here’s an idea- just start running old Dodd-Elrod strips on a daily basis.  The sense of relief would be palpable across the Trailverse.  This latest story has everyone a little twitchy…

Confession is good for the Soul!

Posted on by | 1 Comment

Eric begins his long confession and ultimate redemption:  3 days worth!  But why is Kevin looking so guilty?

content05142020

Eric continues:

content05152020

“Decided to come back?”  I think it was the fire, ma’am, that made Rusty and Kevin decide to come back…  And do you really think you wouldn’t have noticed a falling, flaming tree on your own?

content05162020

Because that’s what kids do these days… shake hands!  I think a friendly shoulder punch or back slap might have been more typical…

Good thing that the ‘Rona hasn’t invaded the Trailverse, otherwise the whole camping trip would have been called off…  Now there’s an  idea… Mark Trail, Sheltering In Place, Day 100…

Enough with the close-ups!!

Posted on by | 1 Comment

As we enter the long “Minnesota Good-bye” portion of our story, we are, unfortunately, treated to full frames worth of our story-specific characters…

content05122020

I always though it was Rusty that would make the most seasoned of us cringe and turn away, but Mr. Crowley’s face is hideous!  Not to mention Mrs. Crowley’s grammar!  How about “Saved our lives?”  “Our and Eric’s?”  Really?

content05132020

And what exactly is covering Kevin’s head?  Is that hair?  Hard to believe that Mr. Crowley would tousle it, Heaven knows what is growing in there…

 

 

From Raging Inferno to…

Posted on by | 1 Comment

Perhaps it’s just me, but I believe we were to have the impression that the lighting strike combined with a drought produced forest fire of epic proportion…

content05092020

…but no, apparently not…

content05112020

…it was brought under control by four dudes from the Forest service…  So, given the relative lack of severity, what exactly did they all “make it out of” anyway?

Swamp Thing??

Posted on by | 3 Comments

Or Zombie Apocalypse??  The first frame looks a little foreboding if you ask me… 

content05082020

…And of course it’s ALL_ABOUT_KEVIN… Good Lord.

Is this where we get off?  The end of the story?  I’d say “yes!” except that means we have to warm to the notion that there is another, and another after that…  Funny how I used to feel anticipation at the end of a story arc… now I just feel dread.

Oh man… Way behind!!

Posted on by | 1 Comment

As we return to our story, we are really picking up some steam!

content05042020

OK,  maybe not.

content05052020

Everyone seems to be well versed in the various directions found on a compass face…  How about, “Let’s get back to the car, away from the fire??”  But I don’t see Mark in the last panel…

content05062020

Well, I guess everyone knows everyone else, at least by their last names…  And buddy, don’t make promises you can’t keep!  Fires and Pandemics are hard to “control,” as we have learned of late!

content05072020

It’s called an airplane, dumb-ass…  Yea, heaven forbid you should suit up and meet the fire head-on…

A trickle to save them?

Posted on by | 1 Comment

By the looks of it, the stream can be hopped over by even a child… Is Mark suggesting that it’s going to stop a raging forest fire??

content05022020

I am tired of Kevin, the freckle-faced Opey wanna-be…  now fawning in supplication to Mark…  and his supposed expertise…

Yup, Better get back!!!

Posted on by | 3 Comments

It’s only when one considers this strip in groupings that we realize just how tired and lazy the dialogue is…

content04292020

“We had better get back…”

content04302020

Oh thank goodness, we are all about to be accounted for…

content05012020

“Need to head back…”  Really?  Gee, that would never have occurred to me…