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Monthly Archives: October 2021

Will Mark take the bait?

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So, Mark gets “rescued” by his good ol’ friend, Cliff, who doesn’t take him back to Lost Forest, but to his own new fishing lodge. Where is that, exactly?  Is it possible that Mark would not know about a new fishing lodge built in his own neck of the woods? I suppose that, given his propensity for being away on assignments, that it is possible. Still, to be dropped off at this location suggests they are pretty close neighbors. “De-Bait Team” sounds like on odd name for a fishing lodge, though. A boat, okay.

Once again, this must be the resurrected Cliff McQueen from the old Ed Dodd days, as I mentioned back on October 2nd. My so-called research showed that he was then a park ranger, and later, a Canadian Mountie. But that was then. This is now. And “the war” ain’t WWII, as it was for the ur-Mark. I reckon we’ll just have to assume it is one of our more recent military disasters and leave it at that. Certainly, that fire Mark mentioned was the big fire that became the turning point in the relationships between “Cherry and Mark” and “Cherry and Cliff”.

So, Cliff bears no regrets, no feelings of revenge for getting burned, so to speak? Well, it has been several decades in our timeframe, anyway. At least we can say one thing about the current strip:  All the females and all the males do not look like they are related to each other! Nevertheless, let’s see how this side-trip in the story pans out.  Will Cliff get involved in the mysterious zebra mussel affair, or does he have his own hidden agenda to derail Mark’s investigation? Funny thing about that: That’s exactly what Cliff did in a story back in 2011, when he attempted to stop Mark from searching for the source of a gold band with a Biblical verse Mark found one day. For those interested, you can read a few posts from the former blog of illustrator Shawn Turner (Shawn, Drawn), starting with his November 2011 submission: (http://shawndrawn.blogspot.com/2011/11/mark-trail-grows-cold.html).

The Weekly Recap and Sunday Nature Talk

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“Diner, Diana, and Dinner” pretty much sums up Cherry’s week. In a story break that does honor to the “Diner, Diana, and Dinner” pretty much sums up Cherry’s week. In a story break that does honor to the previous Mark Trail strip’s propensity for jumping from one unfinished scene to another, we find Cherry having a pleasant chat with Jeanette —the owner of the Planet Pancake diner—and apparently recovered from her ethical and procedural defeat at the hands of the Sunny Soleil Society regarding the fate of the bees. And suddenly, in walks Diana Daggers, fresh off her full day of nautical investigation with Mark, and ready to pull the wings off any bees that happen to fly too close to her.

Possibly Daggers got a food recommendation from her motel, which would explain her showing up here. Daggers now joins a growing list of people who find the need to bury their sins or their misery in a stack of hotcakes, covered in the sweetness of their choice. Cherry’s attempt to get past Diana’s mood is futile, so she orders a stack of flapjacks to go, in order to meet a friend.

The friend turns out to be some gal Cherry knows who heads some kind of vigilante garden group that takes matters into its own gloved hands when it comes to anything garden-related. In this case, the job Cherry has asked them to perform is to surreptitiously move the statue-housed bees from the Society’s garden before the pest control company (run by the husband of one of the Society’s board members) shows up and fumigates them to death. However…

…I believe we’ll return to Mark’s story on Monday. The last we saw of Mark, he had abandoned Diana Daggers, but unexpectedly ran into his old friend, Cliff, as he started his walk home. Seems like the story trajectory of both Cherry and Mark are moving along roughly parallel tracks, with some minor convergence:  Both suffered humiliation and defeat; both retreated from the scene; both dealt unsuccessfully with Diana Daggers; and now both find possible support from a friend. But for now, let’s move on to the Sunday nature lesson.

Okay, let’s welcome back the illustrated title panel! It’s a nice tradition to maintain for the Sunday nature strips. No animal today; the lowly mushroom is the topic du jour, and it is an informative overview with regard to the impact of mushrooms in gardens. But, rather than being a mere bit player, it would have been better to have Cherry lead this discussion, based on her credentials. I really don’t know why Rivera does not do this more often.

I finally figured out the symbols in the lower left panel. At first, I thought they were some kind official seals or warning symbols, but now I see they are merely symbols to reinforce “stop watering” and “more sun.” All in all, today’s strip is useful information. Finally, as instructive the topic is today, I do have to take issue with Mark’s pointing hand, which seems to be the wrong scale and coming from odd angle. In my art student days, I had similar issues, but I more or less resolved them by drawing the entire arm and upper body, extending outside of the panel, so that the angle and proportions of the part of the arm that was visible in the panel would be more realistic with regard to size and placement. Not that I claim any artistic merit of my own. In fact, I believe this idea was suggested to me by one of my teachers.

“Your mission, should you choose to accept it…”

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Mischief, indeed. The “Underground Black Rose Garden Club”, is it? What makes it underground, one wonders. Do they invade other people’s gardens by night and fix them? Do they deal in the illicit trade of undocumented roses? Whatever their function, Cherry has vengeance on her mind. So this could explain the clandestine meeting along the trail.

But who wants a box of just plain, cold pancakes, regardless of intentions? Doesn’t even look like the box is insulated to keep the stack warm, either. Georgia strikes me as somebody with the wherewithal to make her own stack, anyway. And it’s not much of a bribe to begin with. Now, wasn’t Georgia walking towards Planet Pancake, anyway? She could just walk on and into the restaurant and get her own stack of hot pancakes with all the butter, honey, and syrup she wanted.

What could make sense of this, coming from the Home Office of Silly Plots, is that the pancakes are a diversion for the the secret mission papers under the stack, as in the old Mission Impossible tv show. Then the pancakes and documents self-destruct after Georgia reads the information. This could provide a better rationale than the idea that Georgia and her group can be had for a simple box of cold flapjacks.

So, is this as far as we go with Cherry’s story for now? Typically, she gets one week to Mark’s two weeks. I’d have liked to see a bit more story development before jumping off. Yet, we can’t expect Diana Daggers to remain in Planet Pancake forever. She’s still an important character in Mark’s storyline. So, we’ll see how things shape up, come Monday. I expect, unlike Dirty Dyer, we’ll be seeing the return of Professor Bee Sharp at some point.

Who! Who! Who is that?

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Evening in the neighborhood of Lost Forest as Cherry carefully walks down a path, moving past a tree trunk carved into the shape of a barn owl. Okay, maybe that is the real thing. It is the evening, so it’s a proper time for owls to be out and about, looking for fast food.

The real question here is “What the Hey is going on?” Cherry delivers a stack of flapjacks to a woman walking towards her. Sensitive readers might start asking questions at this point, pointing to the woman’s color (which may not be so apparent in the black & white version of the strip). Those are the wrong questions, I believe. Still, why must they meet outside? Is this woman contagious? Is she extremely claustrophobic? Was she thrown out of Planet Pancake in the past for a major indiscretion, such as asking for pancakes with a topping of popcorn? Presumably, this box of hotcakes (which are not likely very hot by now) also contains necessary cutlery and little plastic tubs of butter and syrup. Let’s hope the butter is real, at least. Bon appetite, mademoiselle!

As for who this woman is, I have no idea. A Pokémon cosplay friend, perhaps? Maybe it is Cherry’s beekeeper friend, mentioned a few weeks ago. Well, one thing we can say about the crazy world of Lost Forest Nuovo is that it has its quotient of eccentric characters. You’d almost think we were back in California at the Herp Hacienda. But that’s okay; although sometimes annoying, they are more interesting than the usual stock extras that filled the secondary roles before Rivera came on board.

Tomorrow is Saturday, and we wrap up this exciting week with Cherry’s World and how her storyline has intermingled with Mark’s. Once again, I’m going out on a limb to predict that this comingling will become even more deliberate and fundamental over time. The signs are all there for us to see. See?

I was just leaving, anyway

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Cakes to go?! Do people really order hotcakes to go? Just doesn’t sound like the kind of food I want to have sitting in a bag on the drive home. But what’s this…Diana mooning (or pining for) that narcissist Professor Bee Sharp? If that’ so, why isn’t she back in California? Did they have a disagreement? A lovers’ spat?

I know what you’re thinking: Who is Cherry’s friend? It certainly can’t be the two gals from the SSS, so it must be another new character we’re going to meet. Maybe it isn’t somebody Cherry is too familiar with, since she refers to the person merely as “my friend”, rather than “Charlotte”, “Bill”, “George”, or “Sue.”

Well, it does look like “Pancake Lady” at least wears sensible shoes for her job. They look like trainers or walking shoes. No drama today, but not jokes, either. Just a normal day of commiseration here at good ol’ Planet Pancake.

Wait? Wait? Don’t tell me!

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Yeah, we get it. Diana Daggers is not friendly; not one of the gals, after all. And Cherry is once again rebuffed as she tries to put on a happy face when dealing with potential opposition. I reckon that’s at least a desirable strategy to employ, even if it doesn’t work most of the time. After all, Daggers cannot complain that it was Cherry’s poor attitude that pissed her off. Clearly, though, Diana just downgraded Cherry to Chump of the Year. And Cherry is nonplussed by her remark.

What did Cherry expect? She couldn’t have forgotten Mark’s remarks about Diana Daggers, unless Cherry was automatically discounting his anxiety because of some gender-based undercurrents. Yet, that never came out in the strip, so let’s just forget it and move on, because this looks like another relationship going nowhere.

Rivera likes to employ normal words as sound effects, rather than the usual onomatopoeic expressions we usually see in comics. I think most of remember those archetypal sound effects seen on the TV version of Batman: “WHAM!”, “BAM!”, and “POW!”  However, today we see Diana engaged in an aggressive “Slice, Slice, Slice” pancake action. This type of sound effect is popular with Rivera, who has previously described actions using common verbs and nouns, such as “Stop”, “Skiid!”, “Grip!”, “Sock!”, and “Reverse”. It is kind of cute, in a way, and blatant parody. And it’s something that underscores Rivera’s aim (I believe) to not let the strip take itself too seriously; something the former version of the strip usually did. “Sense of humor” would not be something we would normally use to describe Mark or the strip of old. But I’ll give Allen props for adding some humor here and there and lightening up the mood (e.g. destroying boats), even if it didn’t always make sense. And wasn’t Mark’s “bat cave adventure” little more than a parody of Indiana Jones movies?

“You wanna be where everybody knows your name…”

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Reckon I was right; this is the place to come and commiserate. Just how did Diana find it, though? Perhaps the eatery has a reputation bigger than we think. In any event, I reckon this is the watering hole (so to speak) for the Lost Forest At Large community. So how come there is rarely anybody in here?

And what’s this action: Everybody Dump on Mark Week!? Can that poor slob get any respect from anybody? Rodney Dangerfield has nothing on ol’ Markey Boy. But give Cherry some credit. In spite of what Mark must have told her about his California experiences, Cherry retained her optimistic nature and tried to extend a welcome handshake to Diana. But, sisterhood über alles! Cherry still managed to identify with Diana’s frustration over Mark. It remains for Cherry to go over and have a nice chat about Mark, bees, and the value of good hotcakes.  Maybe Cherry will convince Diana to go over to the Sunny Soleil Society with her and scare the bees wax out of those other women.

I like how Rivera uses the diagonal lines and central axis in panel 1 to reinforce Diana’s dramatic entrance, drawing the attention of Cherry and Jeanette who flank either side of the central axis. They’re like two wings of a medieval triptych. If it was good enough for Van Eyck and Van der Weyden, it should be good enough for Rivera. Okay, I’m showing off again.

But all in all, the artwork is good and effective in supporting the energetic (and sometimes frenetic) nature of the strip, once you get used to Rivera’s style and stop comparing it to Elrod or Allen. That sense of frenzy and energy is not a feeling one gets from the older version of Mark Trail that we all know and still appreciate, which was more akin to a comfy recliner that you had to get out of once in a while to hit somebody that bothered you too much.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one…!

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Jeanette asks Cherry why she showed up at this “odd” hour. I want to know why a pancake house—normally open for breakfast—is still open during dinner hours. Of course, many people just gotta have their dinner flapjacks, as Cherry apparently does. And to be serious for a moment, Jeannette is only concerned about the late hour of Cherry’s appearance; not her appetite. Pancake restaurants are certainly open as long as any restaurant. I’ve made my share of night appearances at IHop and the Waffle House in my day. But what about poor Rusty? Is he to fend for himself? Must he depend on the skills and attentions of a mostly unseen Doc Davis? Or maybe Rusty’s just hanging out at the corner wood pile with his friends, happy to munch down a Slim Jim.

Unfortunately, as we return to Cherry’s week, instead of story development, we got a filler strip filled with classic misunderstandings and sitcom jokes. Cherry has clearly left the field of combat with the Sunny Soleil Society over the fate of the bees. I reckon we’ll learn more about that this week. This eatery must be the place to go if you need to commiserate. It was good enough for Violet, so it’s good enough for Cherry.

My remaining question is whether we will get to see Dale, since Jules Rivera has seen fit to show Chip in panel 1. I realize this might be an arcane cartoon reference for several of you who did not grow up watching the occasional Disney cartoon on a Sunday night.  If you are in that category, a quick Wikipedia (or YouTube) search for Chip ‘n’ Dale should be illuminating. YouTube Tip: Avoid watching modern and computerized versions and go for the old-school Disney animations (when they were still drawn by hand). They are usually directed by Jack Hannah.

The Weekly Recap and Sunday Nature Talk

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This past week continued with Mark and Diana’s so-called escape from the supposedly dangerous anti-pirate measures the crew of the cargo ship deployed against Mark’s boat and the mysterious fishing boat that had just approached. Not having any idea of who they were, Diana got in a yelling match with that crew as Mark came to the surface. This is when the cargo ship decided to act in self-defense and deployed the water hoses. Surprisingly to Mark and Diana, the crew of the mystery ship told them to race away; they would remain to distract the cargo ship’s crew. Of course, the notion that both ships could simply move away was ignored for the sake of the dramatic plot development.

And that development took up most of the week, focusing on Mark’s inner conflict between his desire to turn about and help the mystery boat and its crew versus his reluctance to take on Diana and force her to comply. In the end, the latter fear won out, leading to Mark’s self-loathing and humiliation (once again). He abandoned Diana and the boat near a shoreline, ignoring Diana’s attempts to get him to return.
As Mark wandered ashore while berating himself and shivering, he was interrupted by the shout of someone who turned out to be an old friend. And that old friend happens to be one of the crew of the mystery fishing boat that stayed behind. Apparently, the boat and crew escaped any real damage from the cargo ship. But Mark, recognizing his friend, must now bring himself to explain his (lack of) action. But, we’ll have to wait a week to see how that story continues. For now, it’s time once again for TheSunday Nature Talk!

Back to the animals, after a quick look into climate change. Looks like freshwater (acquarium?) catfish. So, people keep exotic catfish as pets. But then again, people are such slobs when it comes to responsibility, and Florida must be the home of slobs, based on all of the invasive animals and plants that have been abandoned by pet owners to the wilds of the semi-tropical Florida landscape. Forget Mexico, I’d vote to build a wall between Florida and the rest of the United States to keep them out; the invasive species and the people!

Time to Educate George!

Looking at the title panel, I was struck by the plainness of the name, itself; something Jules Rivera has consistently avoided through her usually inventive designs. Instead, we see a rectangular bar below the name, showing a series of colored sections in a simple repeat pattern. But what is it? It does not appear to be any kind of measuring rod that I could detect, in spite of the fact that it almost coincides with length of the suckermouth catfish above it. And it isn’t a tactical measuring stick used by miniaturist game players, either. As for the suckermouth, Rivera’s drawing does not do it justice. It’s one scary looking fish!

“Of course I trust Daggers with my boat. Why shouldn’t I?”

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Poor Mark, isolated and alone, after abandoning Diana Daggers, with a long walk ahead of him. And who is this “old friend” of Mark’s? Mark Trail has a history of characters that drop in and out of the strip, sometimes with years or decades in between appearances. This might be another one. Now, I cannot say that I’ve been following Mark Trail for many decades, though I’ve read the strip on and off over the years.  Again, it’s too bad that nobody has thought to reprint the Mark Trail strips as has been done for many other comic strips.

Could this be Cliff McQueen, the “former” forest ranger who was once engaged to Cherry Davis before Mark finally won her over? I tried to find an old strip showing him, but nothing turned up in my searches. If somebody has a copy of his portrayal from back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, let me know. However, I suppose it doesn’t really matter all that much, now. But it does make you wonder if they are real friends. Seems that Cliff is now a “firefighter”; and his relationship with the boat “De-Bait Team” is part of his identity.

Today we do not see Diana or Mark’s boat. Perhaps Diana cut and run; or cartoonist Rivera simply focused on the current situation, leaving Diana off to the side for the time being. But it is a nice, if subtle, bit of drama, whether she is there or has left.

Of course, “De-Bait Team” is the boat that followed Mark and Cherry and was “hosed” by the cargo ship as it stayed behind to aid in Mark and Diana’s “dramatic” escape. It appears that neither the boat nor its crew suffered any lasting damage. In fact, it looks like Cliff didn’t even get wet! I reckon that they must have locked themselves in the bridge and simply moved away. Go figure! This doesn’t absolve Mark’s indecisiveness, of course, though it might help settle his current anxieties. Still, Cliff makes a point of mentioning his selfless act as he greets Mark. This should make an interesting conversation, once Mark has moved past his belated recognition of an old friend.

You go, Mark. Salve your wounds. Hug a bear.

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Well, now. Either Mark has attained supernatural powers that allow him to walk on water, or he somehow convinced Diana to move close to shore so he could jump ship. In a way, one can sympathize with Mark, who seems to want to be shut of this entire assignment; but in truth, the assignment has only just begun. So let’s get the obvious points out of the way:

“My panic attack”

The last we saw, Mark was just huffing and puffing from his underwater photography session. But no shivering. Mark is clearly being sarcastic about a panic attack, since he displays no real symptoms. On the other hand, the Mayo Clinic states that part of the condition is based on a strong physical and emotional reaction when there is no real danger present. As noted earlier, the attack by the cargo ship was an easily avoidable event for both ships. There was no real danger to them.

“Mark, get back here! You’ll freeze!”

Wait, Mark and Diana were dressed for a warm, sunny day. Mark didn’t wear a dry suit when he went for his swim. Diana is wearing Daisy Dukes and not much more, for goodness sake! They’ve been racing in their runabout, which would certainly give Mark more chills than wading through the shallows.

Frankly, this “abandon ship” scenario would be more convincing if Jules Rivera had had Mark walk away to a small, uninhabited island, where Diana could then stress over Mark’s isolation and potential vulnerability (he only has a towel, remember!). At least, that would have some plausibility. And he’s going to walk back to the car? I presume that when Diana raced away from the ship, she headed back towards home base.

Brave Sir Markie Ran Away.

I made the Monty Python reference a few days ago, and it bears repeating here. Instead of dealing head-on with the problem of Diana’s decision-making, Mark has decided to run away from the problem and sulk. No, this is definitely not the old Mark Trail. I’m not sure this is even the new Mark Trail, or at least the new Mark Trail that seemed to be evolving over these stories. Mark doesn’t have to be the indomitable, always right, comic strip hero of old. But does he have to be petulant so often? It wouldn’t hurt if he realized that it’s okay to assert control from time to time.

I think we saw this kind of destructive behavior in Mark’s first rebooted adventure, when he took his Dad’s boat and ran off in a temper tantrum, destroying it and everything else in his path. I could understand a bit, as Rivera was just fleshing out the new characterizations while getting her jabs in at male dominance. And Mark was trying to resolve the problem of Dad having a racing boat. But that was then. We are in the now, and Mark is still unsure, seemingly exhausted from trying to figure out if it’s okay to show initiative or assert authority. Maybe he’ll run into a bear he can talk things over with on the way back to the car.

Artwork. Today’s work is well drawn, as it has been the past several days. Rivera has been planting foreground animals, as in the old Mark Trail tradition, to carry some of the old traditions forward. But the most important tradition Trailheads want (aside from changing the artwork) is for Mark to be at least more secure in himself, a bit more decisive. I’m fine with the artwork, but hope for a more quietly confident Mark to appear.