Once again, Cherry is put into a moral quandary: Ethics v. Income. If she comes down too hard on Violet, her apparent sole source of income could dry up. But she has stood up to Violet in the past, confessing to her own actions against Violet and the Sunny Soleil Society. Still, Cherry still has no actual proof. So, caution is the watchword for now.
I bet Cherry didn’t get any grass clippings, either. That might require another midnight raid by the Black Rose Garden Club.
On the other hand, Cherry can avoid the moral quandary, or at least put it on hold, by simply reporting her finding to Doc, who can properly administer the necessary balm to the pets, then carefully school the owners into being more careful where their pets play. Then anonymously report Honest Ernest to the EPA!
Cherry, you are starting to sound as didactic and heavy-handed as Mark. All you needed to say was “Don’t cross the fence, Rusty!” By the time you got to the main point, he was already over and gone. Still, I suppose it was necessary to further the story.
I wonder if Rivera is deliberately spoofing one of the old-time foibles of this strip in panel 3, where Rusty’s thought balloon is “ambiguously” pointing either to him or the chipmunk. So, what is Rusty thinking of: “Spotted the sign by that Ernest guy!” I’m not sure what sign Ernest was “by”, but Rusty is onto something, all right. That diamond shape on the lawn signs appears on the bottles of Honest Ernest’s lawn treatment. Clearly, this property belongs to Ernest and must double as his testing lab.
Maybe that’s also why the chipmunk is stuck on that tree stump. It’s too afraid to cut across the lawn.
Okay, I can see a dog interested in fish. Let’s hope that Cherry brought along a baggie to collect a few clippings so Doc can analyze them for traces of Ernest’s weed killer.
“I think, therefore it’s true” seems to be Cherry’s mantra. Unlike humans, animals normally shy away from that which hurts or attacks them. But not Sassy, who seems to have a fascination for self-destruction—like humans who smoke, eat too many processed foods, or watch Reality TV shows. Isn’t it amazing that Cherry did not already know about this property, apparently situated a short distance away in Lost Forest?!
Cherry said that this is a perfect lawn. Hmmm, I wonder if this will turn out to be a hitherto unrevealed Lost Forest Golf Course run by yet another obnoxious organization or person? Well, there are some decorative trees lining the background and there is a landscaped lake (hazard). Perhaps tomorrow we’ll hear a shout of “FORE!” and observe a golf ball slicing across the fence, narrowly missing our protagonists.
[edited for clarity] Either Cherry’s own storyline is now moving along concurrently with Mark’s (as in, things are happening that we did not observe), or Cherry is just making a rash assumption before the results are in. When we left off, Doc Davis had only proved that Honest Ernest’s lawn treatment chemical cleans dirty coins faster than a carbonated drink could. That doesn’t exactly prove it is the source of the pet rash.
Still, if Cherry wants to find the possibly offending lawn, it seems to me it would be more productive to walk through neighborhoods with lawns.
Okay, action fans! The simple overview is that Mark, Diana, and Rex arrived at the Tiger Touch Center, presided over by Tess Tigress, who was costumed in a fetching tiger dress. She was flanked by two male assistants in matching tiger shirts and caps. Their Hawaiian inspired greeting was brought down by snarky comments from Diana Daggers. This resulted in Tess banning her from the Center, whereupon a put-upon Mark was left to handle production for Rex’s intended on-location show. The understory here (according to my team of literary experts after polishing off a case of beer) is that Diana deliberately created and reinforced this confrontation, resulting in the ban. This meant Rex would have to rely on Mark, something Diana wanted. As you might recall (and as Diana reminded Mark in Saturday’s strip), Diana manipulated Amy Lee into getting Mark to take this assignment so that Diana could convince Mark to help save Rex—being filled with self-doubt and lacking confidence—from the clutches of Tess Tigress and her cult. Quite the story, I think. Yeah, I know, I’ve been carping off and on about how this story sometimes seems to dip into Reality Show memes; but we can’t deny that they are part of our contemporary vocabulary, for better or worse.
He! He! Another pun title panel. But what elements make up that title (“Mark Trail”)? Is it what I think it is: the stuff you bring plastic bags for when you take your dog for a walk?
I’m pretty sure we didn’t buy our house because of our pet(s). Never heard of anybody who bought property primarily to accommodate pets. Well, it could happen, I reckon. I am with Mark when it comes to a yard: ditch the grass and go with native plantings. Less maintenance, less cost, and less hassle. And I’m 100% with Mark on the value of spiders. If you see a spider (inside or outside), that means there are insects and other bugs lurking around. Leave the arachnids alone to do their job. They’ll leave on their own when the food source dries up.
Oh, and thanks for your valuable contribution today as a lawn ornament, Cherry. You nailed it!
Okay, I’m sure you all saw this coming. Diana was play-acting—after a fashion—as a troublemaker, in order to deliberately get ejected and ensure Rex had to rely solely on Mark. Mark can then save Rex from what looks like a one-sided infatuation.
Clearly, this pose didn’t take much effort on Diana’s part. She must have learned enough about Tess Tigress to know what would get her angry. And so far, Rex hasn’t tumbled to the true motive for Diana’s ejection. Well, we’ll get back to this story in a week, but after Sunday, it’s time to return to Lost Forest and the Mystery Rash.
As this plays out, Diana ups her role as the sarcastic, cynical sidekick to the point where Tess starts slipping out of her hippie-dippie animal spirit guide persona to something more resembling angry members of the Sunny Soleil Society.
Well, how will this “tiff” get resolved, Mark? Do you quit acting like a city boy on vacation and save the project from sinking? Will Rex step in to calm things down? Again, is this play-acting or did Mark and Rex overlook Diana’s personality (again)?
Here I was, thinking this was going to develop into a classic piece of théâtre de l’absurde, or at least a faint echo. Instead, it seems to be dissolving into just another staged realityTV show. Again, these contrasting and conflicting attitudes could just be a ruse to hide the actual purpose of their visit, so I’ll try to keep my composure intact and reserve judgement. Yeah, right. I can do that…!
I am curious, however, about what is “behind” that floral gateway prop. It looks as if there is nothing but bare ground all around. However, I’m thinking that this vague staging is a deliberate setup by Rivera and that we will see The Big Touch Center Reveal within the next two days.
Mark continues to play the rube. He acts surprised they arrived at the very place they were driving to. Why?
Diana’s role seems to be increasingly limited to playing “the sarcastic sidekick.” However, I can certainly see why Diana has some concerns about Rex, as he looks smitten with Tess. Okay, then. We’ll let this little show play out some more to see how much of this play-acting is really just acting.
That is, will Mark eventually (as in “the nick of time”) shed his Gomer personality and get serious? Will Diana be ready to unlimber her concealed Glock?
Finally, a few remarks on the art. Overall, it is of a consistently decent quality (in spite of the fact that it does not look like Elrod’s old-school art. Panel 3 is curious: Diana’s pose as she approaches Tess is really well done, with a display of relaxed counterpoint that we don’t see so much. On the other hand, Mark’s expression in panel 3 looks like some old geezer who got asked a science question.
“Over-the-top” is good in this case. It would have been a drag if it looked like an actual zoo. The “theater of the absurd” is a standard approach Rivera has used in her stories, and a good approach (as also seen in literature and movies).
Tiger Touch Center must be a fairly exclusive zoo if Tess Tigress really has the time to personally welcome every arriving guest. Kind of like Mr. Roarke on Fantasy Island. And like an island, this place looks to be in the middle of nowhere.
While wet-blanket Mark takes on a pose of indifference, Diana curiously remains a silent and ignored partner. Is this a strategic pose on her part to encourage Rex to bond more with Mark? It seems likely, given her admission to Mark when she picked him up at the airport.
Okay, did these two even go to sleep last night? I could be guilty of talk radio punditry if I pursued this line of questioning any further, so I’ll let you all deal with it.
But why is Mark so mystified about the trip to a roadside zoo? Doesn’t Mark remember that this particular zoo is the reason he is here in the first place!? Well, at least he no longer sports that dorky bandana around his neck.
I won’t claim that this past week was a snoozer by any means; it was more like narcissistic arrogance. Even though Rex Scorpius had already told Mark he was tired and just wanted to go home and sleep, Mark acted as if Rex’s departure was an unsolved mystery that he needed to resolve. At least, that is the excuse Mark gave to Diana Daggers (remember her?) as he wandered over to Rex’s trailer and snooped around.
Assuming he had the right to do so, Mark started peeking through a window, only to discover that Rex was talking to his dog on the phone. Accidentally making a noise—as all peeping toms are required to do in TV shows and comic strips—Rex discovered Mark’s creepy activity. But Mark quickly distracted Rex by admitting that he, too, was a closet pet caller. So they decided to have a “four-way” conversation. Afterwards, Rex opened up about his depression and disillusionment. It was touching, in a way, if you define touching as something resembling getting hit on the head by a 2×4. Before we, hopefully, head out on Monday to the tiger zoo, let’s spend a few minutes reading Sunday’s nature lesson!
Pretty lame joke, Mark! Don’t quit your day job. Today’s strip seems more like a random collection of factoids with no overarching point to make, other than highlighting (no pun intended) another Texas lifeform. The National Wildlife Federation website claims that the nine-banded armadillo is, in fact, the only armadillo species in the U.S., and found throughout the southwest and even in the southeast. With regard to road-awareness, slowing down isn’t the only issue. When surprised, these “little armored” mammals tend to jump several feet straight up in the air, turning them into unintended highway suicide commandos!
No reason to get into the science of canine perception of images on small-scale video screens, just as there was no reason to fret over the “universal translator” in StarTrek. They are necessary plot devices to help move the story along.
It is also surprisingly silly to assume that Rex could not have brought his dog with him while doing his show. I’m sure that kind of thing happens all the time. In fact, my minimal research confirms it is quite common. And how many times have we seen Mark “chat” with Andy on his smartphone? Irrelevant, as this is just another plot device, put here to provoke male bonding.
This is still a bit creepy. Yeah, the two dudes are bonding over their dogs and their messed-up lives. To Mark’s (the commenter, not the guy in the flannel shirt) point, this contemporary interaction would likely have never occurred in vintageMark Trail, simply because it would be looked on as something only females did. But in the Gen Z World, that is not the case. Change is sometimes hard for us, especially when the change is dramatic and surprising. Like personal pronouns.
This is all getting very creepy. Mark says he is not spying on Rex, but then pretty much shows that he has been spying with his stupid suggestion of a four-way pet call. Is Rivera being sarcastic in panel 4 about making friends, I wonder? I sure hope so. If I was Rex, I’d send Mark packing back to Hicksville. If I read Joseph Nebus correctly in his “Another Blog Meanwhile“, he suggests that Rivera is attempting to emulate a Jack Elrod style of writing through her use of certain words—especially interjections—and putting greater emphasis on exaggerated poses. She is doing that.
Nebus’s hypothesis is that this look-back might be a deliberate appeal toold school Trailheads and might help them appreciate the strip again if they look at it with this idea in mind. It’s a tempting idea.`
I think most Trailheads would agree to the general assessment of the pre-Rivera version of Mark Trail as a person and world caught in a time freeze of the 1950s with often hokey stories, simple morals, and TV-style action. As Nebus rightly says, a lot of readers enjoyed the strip specifically for reasons like these. Certainly, online commenters enjoyed poking fun at the old Mark Trail. As I wrote many months ago, this could be a major reason they dislike Rivera’s version: Because it could appear to be a deliberate parody, a continuous snarking, of Mark Trail (the comic strip), thus usurping their fun. Just a thought. Yet, I do think Rivera’s vision is larger than simply poking fun at a legacy strip and its long-time readers.
I still think Mark is acting very creepy in this story.
Mark’s overly suspicious mind turns him into a peeping tom, invading Rex’s privacy. Mark is making a lot of assumptions on virtually no evidence, while ignoring the actual evidence given him (that is, Rex’s desire to retire early to get enough sleep for an early morning gym visit).
For example, why does Mark seem to think that Rex snuck off to do something secretive, when Rex exited in full view of the crew, while also snubbing Mark’s overtures? And what business is it of Mark’s, anyway?
Wait. How can Rex call his dog on the phone? Is there a human taking care of Buzz who can answer the phone? Or is Buzz a modern-day Lassie, capable of understanding humans and performing human actions?
What part of Rex’s exit statement (“I gotta get to bed early”) did Mark not understand? And did Mark really miss the cues about how uninterested Rex was in spending time with him right now? Yet, Mark seems impervious to the feelings of other people. He doesn’t know Rex, but still claims to know enough that Rex needs a friend.
I’m not sure why Rivera is manipulating Mark’s personality to make him seem like a clueless, arrogant oaf (so he seems to me). In a way, he is presented as an altered manifestation of Honest Ernest, right down to the know-it-all pose in panel 4. As for Diana Daggers, what the hell happened to her? She used to be a tough gal, ready to pound anybody’s head who threatened her charge. But now, every new appearance by her seems to show less and less action and more and more passivity. I think there is enough room in this strip for two strong people (on the same side, I presume). Diana and Mark had more chemistry when they were rivals. Why dilute one of the more interesting rivalries in the strip?
Ahh, I think a second week of Cherry and Doc would go over a lot better. I must be missing something here, because I just don’t get this part of Mark’s story. What’s the point of spending more time in this scenario? Why is Jimmy Songbird singing a song “for Markand his friends”? First, most of the people here likely have no idea who Mark is. And more importantly, Mark had absolutely nothing to do with corralling the geese! If I was the crew, I’d be pissed off.
And Mark says he hasn’t seen Rex since he left the set. How could he have seen Rex, since Rex left the set! Sheesh! Mark really needs to get his shit together and quit wasting time ogling music stars. Perhaps he should take a page from Rex’s playbook and get a good night’s sleep. I could use one.
In case you somehow missed this week’s strips or <sniff!> my postings, you could scroll down and enjoy my barely coherent analyses and grade-school humor. Or you can simply read the following summary and get on with your life.
This is a Cherry Week, so we return to the mysterious animal rash spreading throughout the Lost Forest community. Cherry showed up at Doc’s veterinary office with his prescribed healthy lunch and a bottle of lawn treatment she got from Honest Ernest. Suspicious that it might be the cause of the rash, Doc and Cherry spent the rest of the week evaluating the chemical. Apparently, this lawn treatment has some “corrosive” quality to it, as it quickly cleaned a penny faster than a bottle of soda pop could. Is Honest Ernest’s home brew the cause of the shared rash? It might be difficult to establish a solid link unless Honest Ernest’s lawn business is very popular, or these pets roam free and hang out together.
Now, will we get a second week for Cherry or will we return to Mark and the Tiger Cult? Ponder that mystery as you view the Sunday nature lesson, below.
Close readers of the Sunday strip should notice that Rivera tends to discuss animals and natural events that are related to the area where Mark’s current story is happening. I think that is a really good idea, as it also provides the opportunity to explore more aspects of that area’s ecology. This is an informative topic, though I don’t think the artwork is up to Rivera’s usual “Sunday” standard. For example, she could have drawn the scorpion and its meal options larger, with more detail (panel 4). They look too sketchy to me.
That the only dangerous scorpion exists in Arizona makes me feel queasy. Years ago, I spent a few weeks in Arizona visiting relatives. One morning, as I got dressed, I got STUNG (not bit!) by a scorpion that had gotten into one of my hiking shoes. This happened inside a house, mind you. Happily, it was not the dangerous species. But I was pretty nervous and depressed for a few days. I would add to Mark’s advice to not simply wear proper shoes or boots, but to shake them out each time you prepare to put them on!
The Daily Trail 