I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who surmised that the De-Bait Team would be involved, as I noted during the pre-dawn fishing trip.

It also seems clear that today’s strip was deliberately composed only to set up the punchline about Mark’s reputation for destroying boats, the same way Capt. Kirk destroyed his uniforms. But it doesn’t move the story along.

Moving on to the art, it has been consistently competent in its layouts and figures this week. However, the image of Duke in panel 4 is bizarre. Duke’s face looks like two different drawings (from different views) were stapled together with little regard for continuity, proportion, or skill. For example, the beard does not fit the face, looking like a fake beard glued on (think O Brother Where Art Thou?). Duke’s mouth—at least, I think that is what the white shape is in the center of the beard—is outrageously large, missing teeth and tongue, and just too big for the top half of the head. Rivera also accidentally elongated Duke’s neck, probably to subconsciously match the relationship of the collar to the beard, as we see in panel 2. In fact, the collar should be up and behind the chin of the opened mouth, along with raising the torso.

Yep, looks like Rivera is really milking this rivalry. Is this really the reason for Rusty’s fascination and determination? I dunno, but if so, it seems like it might be an excuse for Mark to intervene and bring up his childhood rivalry story.

Anyway, Rivera again sticks in an overly large text box that is largely irrelevant . . . and also a bit over-stated. There is only one friend who has openly opposed Rusty’s belief.

Well, Mark, you do mean well. Taking you literally, you are giving them permission to start fighting once the boat ride begins, or maybe when it ends. So, what ethic are you pushing, Mark? Not that I disagree, mind you.

As usual, more thoughts run through my brainpan: Rusty exaggerates Mark’s physical actions, especially in the Rivera Age. Perhaps he recollects events from their pre-Rivera existence.

Moving from story to art, that’s a nice composition in panel 1, though I’d move the woodpecker up a tad to not crowd the scene. Also, the textbox is too wordy and also crowds the composition. We don’t need the “before the cryptid river boat hunt” explanation, as it is clear from the image. Rivera sometimes gets carried away with textboxes, using them to describe self-evident current activity.

Cool! Kid rivalry. Gotta love it! And it’s nice to see this Rusty showing some spunk. It’s kind of like a reincarnation of the famous Markey vs. Cricket Bro’—that is, Rob Bettancourt—rivalry. Hey, that kid even has the same first name!

Gotta add that the art has been much better and consistent, if you are hoping for more representational figures, that is. Of course, the figures lack the modeling techniques (e.g. shading, contoured lines, and proportions) that were popular in past incarnations of the strip.  

But I wonder if Rivera is making an in-joke, having all the dialog today end with exclamation points, as was standard practice in the past incarnations of Mark Trail! Rivera normally avoids that trope. But if you are still suffering the change to Rivera, and you get the strip in your newspaper, you can pencil in the exclamation points for all the dialog in each day’s strip.

Lost Forest is clearly a small community. Jeanette from Planet Pancakes happens to have a kid who’s a friend of Rusty. As we have already seen, this incarnation of Rusty clearly has a more robust social life. And this father-son adventure has clearly turned into something of a classroom field trip or a boy scout jamboree. I reckon this could make Rusty’s search a lot more fun, so maybe this will be a win-win for Team Trail.

But happy-happy does not an adventure make. Something dangerous or completely crazy is bound to happen. Given the fact that this strip tends towards the outrageous rather than the gruesome, I’m going to go with crazy.

Rusty looks even more naturalistic than he often does, whereas Mark looks more cartoony than usual, especially in panel 3. At least most of the family is together (once again, Doc Davis is left out).

I’m not sure where they are right now. They seem to be standing on some kind of inclined wooden platform, with some undefinable structures behind them. Must be a lake or river behind Rusty. Maybe they are going to rent a boat, as Rivera implies in panel 1. Whatever, I’m hoping for some actual excitement here, even crazy stuff. Even an environmental hazard or a cryptid.

Mixed signals from Mark. Poor Rusty, once again treated like a ki . . . oh well, Mark is not exactly building up his kid cred with his attitude and platitudes. Even Rivera, based on her caption boxes, is not exactly pulling for the red-headed kid. We’ll have to wait and see how Mark follows through on this. But maybe (to his own relief), he’ll get “The Call” that will send him off on another assignment.

Still, if Mark thinks snakes (e.g., Ralph the rat snake) and other animals can converse with him, why should he not believe in a Bassigator? Come to think of it, Mark just might get earn some respect from Rusty if he fessed up about Ralph.

Amazing, isn’t it? Mark asks what a Bassigator is, while forming the exact same image in his head that Rusty did, yesterday. Is he deliberately playing Rusty?

And could Mark act any more condescending? In panel 2 Rusty declares he wants to prove the Bassigator is real, only to have Mark in panel 3 first claim he understands (“I see.”), then ask if Rusty wants to prove whether the Bassigator is real. Duh! Perhaps Rivera just made a mistake, since she could have left out Mark’s second sentence and stuck with the first and third statements in panel 3. Leaving it in fortifies the impression that Mark is patronizing Rusty.

How did Mark miss Rusty’s interest in cryptids, or even his attempts to find one in Oregon? Oh, maybe it was because Mark was focused on his current project at the time, and nothing comes between Mark and his Calvins . . . er, project. But, better late than never. Right, Mark?

Will Mark attempt to patronize Rusty in hopes of getting some brownie points? He certainly looks like he’s trying too hard. I suspect we are seeing some of Rivera’s social politics leaking through the newsprint.

Is this going to be an actual adventure or merely an extended sidebar that will get thrust aside with a phone call or email? I’ve rolled the dice on it being a real story, and it might be if Mark gets involved in Rusty’s quest. But if he doesn’t, the story will likely be a part-time filler, as we saw in the Oregon Trails story, and that’s a shame. It would cool if they both go on Rusty’s adventure and something bigger and more dangerous or criminal surfaces instead.

Well, okay then! Maybe we’re going to get the sequel to the Seaside Spector hunt and see Rusty get another shot at adventure stardom. It’s a bit early to say, but we can hope. Not surprising, the “Bassigator” is a known cryptid figure of the Real World, so to speak. Its nickname is “Buford”. There is even a tourist attraction of a constructed Bassigator in the Abita Mystery House in Abita Springs, LA, assuming it survives the really bad weather.

But why would Mark be gob smacked about Rusty’s cryptid kick? After all, he was already exposed to it during the Oregon pseudo-vacation trip.

(I managed to drive to Virginia from Minnesota last week, always one day ahead of the storms sweeping across the country. It’s a bit chilly and sometimes rainy, but nothing like the mess back in Minnesnowda.)

This is painful to see; not because the art is bad, or the writing is poor. But watching Mark trying to be Rusty’s friendly dad is not easy. And what is also curious is why Rusty and Mark are raking leaves when they live in a log cabin in the woods. Environmentally conscious Mark would not support a yard made up of Kentucky Bluegrass, would he?

Still, I shouldn’t kick too much as I’ve generally applauded Rivera for delving further into Mark’s family than her predecessors normally did and giving them more face time, so to speak. But I’d much rather see Rusty become the star of his own story, more than he was with the seaside cryptid in Oregon, an adventure that failed to gain real traction. James Allen did a good turn with Rusty down in Mexico a few years back, so I hope Rivera will try again.

So, we have learned over time that Rivera likes to put Mark into situations that are not his usual go-to projects. This makes him sometimes look incompetent, blustering, or just plain clueless. In some ways, I think it is a good idea, as it can stretch Mark’s story options. But it can also just make Mark look like a sap, rather than a successful journalist and environmental avenger. Here, Mark continues to play out-of-touch dad. Mark tries to rebuild his relationship with Rusty, while overplaying his hand.

At first, I thought this Rusty-and-Mark situation was just going to be another comedic interlude. Maybe, but we are now into the third week, so I think it qualifies as at least a mini adventure on its own.

This sitcom-ish morality play gives the impression that it is ending on a typically corny bit of self-parody. However, I don’t recall much in the way of heroic action on Mark’s part, lately.

If this was a sitcom, it would cut to commercials, then return for a brief epilog, perhaps Rusty and Mark exiting the theater together, as Rusty tells Mark what a great time he had going to the movies. Or Mark would be chatting up the actions of the superhero, whereupon Rusty would say something really treacly and overly sentimental about Mark. Mark would then ask Rusty if he wants to stop at the ice cream parlor for a cone of Rocky Road…wait. That’s Ozzy Nelson’s trademark.

I’m guessing readers will get the reference here, since I’m not convinced that the younger set is thronging to this updated comic strip. Has anybody seen any stats on readership?

Well, shucks! I reckon that Mark still doesn’t get it. Clearly, he thinks the problem was just the timing. So, taking Rusty fishing later in the day or evening must be the right ticket. When I was around Rusty’s age, dad sometimes took my brother and me to the steel pier at Virginia Beach at night, where we would fish all night long until about dawn. Now, that was an adventure! But getting up at the crack of dawn? I would have been with Rusty on that one!

Perhaps Rivera is channeling TV sitcoms, where the dad has his heart in the right place but is clueless when it comes to raising kids.

Rivera gets knocked for her art, but I think there is more honest emotion and affection in Cherry’s face in panel 3 than you’ll find in any of the pre-Rivera images of Cherry. Of course, consistency is tough, and the awkward image of Mark in panel 1 is not easy to overlook.

I reckon Rivera has finally put to bed the long-running joke we’ve enjoyed of Mark never getting around to taking his son fishing. Seems Rusty has moved on, while Mark—and the rest of us readers—have been stuck in the past. Time to quit looking backwards.

Okay, so Mark is fixated on the obvious and incorrect problem. Didja notice that whenever Mark walks, it’s more like he is marching?

And Rivera is on to Mark’s mental myopia. But from Cherry’s responses, it doesn’t sound at all like she was on that trip. So, who were the other people on the boat? Cliff and some of the de-bait team?

All right, now. The image of a fish floating on top of the water in panel 1 suggests that maybe Rivera has been looking at ancient Egyptian art, like the detail of a tomb wall painting, on the left.

(detail from a portion of a tomb painting stripped from the tomb of Nebamun. Egypt, New Kingdom, c. 1400 B.C.E).

Anyway, it’s clear from Cherry’s own mental imagery that she may also be mistaken in her diagnosis. Either Mark or Cherry could be correct, but as a clueless father, myself, I’m thinking they are both wrong.

What do you think? Leave your answers in the Comments.