Oh, Cherry. The very last thing you need to worry about is Mark in a chemical spill zone. Even while you are talking like a young gal answering a question in a beauty pageant (panel 4), Mark is even now evading the law with his father in a car driven by his friend, Rex Scorpius. They could be in Kentucky by now. In any event, I don’t think you’ll be eating any freshly caught steelhead trout or walleye for a while.
In case you missed this week, Mark fell back on old habits. If, for some reason, you thought that an adventure comic strip that focused on preserving nature and the environment was a proper example of professional and ethical behavior, this week’s strips might alter that perception.
Mark and Happy attended an official press conference run by some caricature of an Ohio state senator. Not to be overlooked, Mark and Happy made their way up front and immediately started throwing accusatory and leading questions at the senator. The over reactive senator felt obliged to call on a squad of transit police—who were present for no apparent reason—to arrest Mark and Happy.
Mark decided he wasn’t leaving peacefully without getting answers to his questions. Thus, he and Happy squared off against the cops, in full view of everybody. Fists met jaws and Mark and Happy quickly fled the building, only to be met by Rex Scorpius and his mother, idling by the curb in his muscle car. How convenient! Seems they somehow knew Mark and Happy would be there, would get in trouble, and would need rescuing. Maybe they were reading the comic strip, too.
The police chased the quartet of scofflaws as they sped away, out of town. Along the way, Happy and Rex’s mom shared a nostalgic moment about the ’70s. The chase culminated in a cinematic car jump across a missing section of bridge. Such an attempt would spell doom to any other vehicle not equipped with a JATO rocket. There you have the week! And here you have the Sunday lesson!
Gawd, another invasive species found in Florida. We need to build a wall down there! Anyway, today we have another clever title panel. The topic is not relevant to the current story this time. In fact, it harkens back to Cherry’s and Georgia’s story about beehives depleted by an invasion of Varroa mites (June 2023). Since Mark and Happy’s train adventure was just “leaving the station” at the time, the following Sunday strip of June 18 was about the impact of trains on wildlife. I wonder if today’s topic suggests that we’ll return to Cherry for a week to see what’s going on with her?
How do you like Rivera’s carefully crafted description, “Mark and Rex’s high-speed car chase…”? I think that what she really means is something like “Mark and Rex’s felonious attempt to evade law enforcement.”
Speaking of the law, I don’t think the laws of physics allows a car to jump up in the air like that from a flat surface. But why am I asking such a pointless question? This is a comic strip! Maybe Rex’s mom really did watch The Dukes of Hazzard back in her glory days.
So, let’s see now:
Nope. Uh-uh. Sorry. Maybe this works if this is some kind of kinky dream Mark is having until Happy shakes him awake to get off the train. Otherwise, all we have here are two scofflaws on the lam, with two accomplices. Nice.
A miracle? I think not. Deus ex machina is more apropos and at least has a long, distinguished history in theater and movies. But an even better description would be “ridiculous plot contrivance.” I mean, the night before—and it was at least one night before—Rex cut out to take his mom to the airport for her new life in California. Here it is, another day, and she’s still in Rex’s car. I can’t wait to find out how this came about, to say nothing of how Rex knew what was going on. Unless the press conference was televised. In any event, this should now make Mark a wanted man in at least two states.
By the way, reader “be ware of eve hill” commented on the synchronized fisticuffs of Happy and Mark in yesterday’s strip. With its comic book sound effects, it brought to my mind the 1960s Batman TV show. Synchronized fighting was one of their shticks, along with written sound effects. Here is a snippet from one episode, with the Dynamic Duo dishing out their own fists o’ justice. The visual sound effects appeared on TV as full-screen cards after the hits, so I couldn’t show it. But you get the idea.
It’s my week for misteaks. Reader Downpuppy corrected a mistake I made yesterday in identifying the volatile senator as a United States senator, especially as the cartoon politician (that’s a joke, kids) had originally identified himself as State Senator Sam Smalls. Somehow, I must have gotten distracted and thought that this hyperactive and performative politician was a US senator. Not sure how that would have happened, but the editorial We regret our error. And remember, this is just comic strip fiction.
(So, let’s see if I can get through today’s blog without another giraffe!) Okay, I’m sure some of our long-time Mark Trail readers might remember sitting down with one of your kids to read the current Mark Trail strip together while enjoying a glass of milk and freshly baked cookies. It’s a tradition that might still be going on:
Dad: “Well, let’s see what’s happening today with Mark Trail, shall we, Mary? Oh, look. Here he is with his father, defending his journalistic integrity to get to the truth. And isn’t it nice to see the warm bonding and happiness between a father and his son?
Daughter Mary: “Ugh! Oh, Dad. Mark Trail is just a relic from the Cretinous Age of Male Domination, perpetuating vigilante-style machismo in a juvenile display of masturbatory violence.”
Dad: “Huh? Uh, well, no, sweetie—er, can I still call you that? This is the rebooted Mark Trail, deliberately separating itself from the original strip. This Mark Trail is an urban-aware, millennial-conscious take on the old-fashioned male-dominated world view you object to. This is a new Mark Trail.”
Daughter Mary: “Hmm, okay, Dad. I think I can see that, I think. That might explain Mark’s lack of civility and his disregard for law and order. I’ve been looking at it for a few weeks and he certainly hasn’t done much investigating. He’s kind of like a Twitter feed, isn’t he? In fact, all of these characters act stupid. Dad, is this strip supposed to be irony or parody? Are we supposed to root for Mark and his dad beating up cops or are we supposed to see this as a meta-level parody and condemnation of the original Mark Trail?”
Dad: “Well, that’s a pretty good question, daughter. Frankly, I don’t understand it, myself. I think maybe this rebooted Mark Trail is meant for younger people. So, I was kind of hoping you’d be able to tell me!”
Oopsie, for sure. Reader “be ware of eve hill” noticed that I had “accidentally” reposted yesterday’s strip today. I could justify that by saying I was making a point, but I think I just grabbed the wrong one. Hell, they all say the same thing, so waddaya want!? Such irony.
I don’t know if Jules Rivera has no clear understanding about the separation of powers or anything about areas of jurisdiction, but I’m pretty sure that U.S. senators cannot order local transit police to arrest people, especially on such a specious charge. We also have transit police carrying billy clubs! What is this, the 1930s again? Then there is the B-Movie dialog by one cop: “All right, buster, yer comin’ with me!”
So, when is a comic strip like a vinyl record? When it keeps repeating itself. With the record, there is usually a scratch that causes the sticking loop. What is Rivera’s excuse? We now have three consecutive days that essentially repeat the same moment. I don’t know why Rivera is spending so much time paraphrasing the same scene over and over, when she could be moving the story along or at least adding nuance and complexity. For example, why not get the purple press people involved by asking questions or protesting the arrest? Their totally passive appearance and lack of activity give the lie to Senator Smalls’ idea of any kind of a riot-in-the-making.
I noticed that one of the anonymous purple press people (between Mark and Happy) has shed its cocoon and is waking up at a most volatile moment. Hope he has his camera running.
At first I was going to comment on the unlikelihood of a US senator actually reacting this way, but we live in the Reality TV World of the 21st century. The senator’s description of Mark’s questioning may be on target, but his reactions are farfetched. Even for a senator.
Of course, Mark has his “The World Depends on Me!” ego in high gear: “Our environment depends on answering my questions!” Well, I think these two people deserve each other. What I don’t get is why Jules Rivera has Mark act like a street activist, rather than a journalist.
And it seems premature for Mark to be going into Accusation Mode before anybody has heard what the speakers are going to say and before any actual investigation is underway. It’s almost as if Rivera wants to get this story finished as soon as possible, so it’s like she’s skipping half of the chapters.
Where to begin? After the prior week’s high-level interview with tiger-pal Rex Scorpius, followed by Cherry’s phone call of concern and alarm, Mark and Happy spent some time taking pictures of dead fish in a river as evidence of the harm caused by the chemical spill from the train derailment. Then they went to a press conference led by Senator Sam Smalls and immediately dominated it by throwing out a series of leading questions and accusations about deliberate sabotage by train or government officials; accusations that the train was (secretly? recklessly?) carrying dangerous chemicals; and declaring that everybody knew the entire train system was unsafe, anyway. Perhaps Mark was still a bit steamed by his train’s breakdown.
Not that the content of the questions was improper, but the way they were phrased and at whom they were directed seemed misplaced. Mind you, Mark had no specific evidence for some of his questions, since he only arrived the day before and only had pictures of dead fish (that he never bothered to show).
This episode of off-the-cuff ambush-journalism seems a bit unusual for Mark, who—in past stories (such as the zebra mussels assignment)—felt it necessary to actually dig for information before going into action. By that, I don’t mean getting ready for a rough-and-tumble fist fight, as Mark and Happy were ready to do in Saturday’s strip when two cops started moving in to eject them from the press conference for their behavior.
Does Jules Rivera think that research and analysis are too boring or slow-paced to be interesting for readers? I submit that long-term viewer interest in TV shows like the CSI and NCIS franchises emphasized lab work and data analysis as central parts of those shows and were exciting in their own way. Rivera should take note! Speaking of taking note, check out today’s strip:
Rivera continues her creative idea to link Sunday nature topics to the current adventure, whenever possible. And she continues her tradition of customized title panels with this superhero comic book style title panel, as well. But really, now. N95 masks will not protect you against gas. You need, at a minimum, a chemical cartridge respirator mask.
Does Mark Trail think he is hosting a “Gotcha!” television interview program? Does he realize his aggressive behavior is about to make him knock down a miniature 2-D purple person cutout placed in front of him (panel 1)? Has Mark no concern for his fellow journalists?
Aside from Mark’s fusillade of unsubstantiated accusations and his illogical thinking that a senator who just flew into town would even know about any of this, we have the ridiculous picture in panel 4 of Mark and Happy squaring off against two uniformed people who I presume are actual transit police. That is, they have the power of arrest. Once again, Mark decides he is morally justified picking a fight with the cops. Remember, Rex Scorpius only said that authorities tried to burn off the spillage, but it got out of hand. He did not state that they deliberately blew the train up.
Of course, Senator Small’s reaction to Mark’s outburst is also over the top, but perhaps the US Senator is there to symbolize unnamed “authorities” and to also prevent comparisons with, and a possible libel lawsuit from, local New Palestine politicians in the real world.
So, what is the purpose of this theater of the absurd? Why have Mark act and react in the ways we’ve seen him the past few weeks? This is not investigative journalism. His actions fall more in the line of aggressive activism. Maybe Jules Rivera should just have Mark quit his nature journalist job and become a professional global environment activist, where he can be paid to show up at any calamity or problem around the world.
Of course, this is the Mark Trail comic strip, so Mark gets to take center stage and be the one to put Senator Smalls on the spot, while his reporter colleagues are only so much purple wallpaper in the background. Nevertheless, it is a bit disappointing to see Rivera give the impression that the rest of the press corps is composed of compliant sheep. Mark can still be the hard-hitting hero, even if other reporters also get to ask tough questions. It would, I think, add an air of authenticity and put more pressure on the officials. If Mark is the only one asking these questions, he can be dismissed as a crank or arrogant troublemaker.
It’s rather sad to see Mark making accusations based—for the most part—on hearsay. It’s more like “ambush journalism”, akin to throwing out conspiracy theories and demanding other people prove them false. Besides, would a member of Congress really be the best source to confirm this kind of information? But I suppose it is standard procedure to try and embarrass a member of Congress who was here, more likely, for the TV coverage and promotional opportunity.
Art Dept: Today’s strip looks rushed, as characters (e.g. Mark and the Senator) and compositions look rough and clumsily drawn. Perhaps Rivera heard the surf was up and hurried today’s panels.
We have to remember that, although this story is “based on true events”, it ain’t the actual event and this ain’t a documentary. Nevertheless, it is possible that Rivera is taking selected satirical potshots at various Ohio officials and actions. “Sam Smalls”, huh? This is an old literary trick of fashioning a name to represent the character’s personality or function, like “Daddy Warbucks”, the unofficial father of Little Orphan Annie, who was a wealthy industrialist and made his first fortune during WWII.
Do you recognize the arrangement of the speaker and guards on the stage (like a horizontal spearhead or triangle), as well as the self-serving arrogance and narcissism of the speaker? You’ve seen it in this strip a few stories ago. Think on it a bit. I can wait.
The Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Ohio_train_derailment) covers “fake news” and other online rabble-rousing conspiracies surrounding this accident, including fake stories of police arresting journalists to hush up the event. Sound familiar? One reporter was briefly arrested for disorderly conduct at a press conference, I believe, but later released. Will Mark enact this episode?
Okay, time is up. Did you figure out the visual quotation? Here it is, from September 2022: Tess Tigress and her assistants at the Tiger Touch Center.
I haven’t been to a press conference in person, much less one run by a government agency. Do they really have guards (assuming it isn’t the President talking)? The speaker has certainly set a restrictive, question-killing mood, as such persons must always attempt.
Will Mark and Happy try to sneak in a question, such as “And speaking of trains, what about that chemical spill from the train car and the dead fish?” How is Mark going to show his photographic evidence on a smartphone?
The fish are not “all gone”, they are dead. There’s a difference. Dead fish aside, the guys seem to be making dramatic predictions with little hard information. Is this lake adjacent to the train station? Downwind? Panel 1 only says it is “nearby”. How can Happy make such dire predictions on such little evidence?
Mark and Happy are taking pictures of the forest damage in panel 1? Call me old-fashioned, but I was taught to aim my camera in the direction of the object or person I am photographing. Anyway, the Big Picture here is noteworthy (for a comic strip drama): Two nature activists are angry about a train wreck that apparently resulted in a chemical spill, and they want to do something to make sure people know about it and those responsible be held to account.
Forget the real life story. Let’s stick to this fictionalized one. So far, we have an explosion and the testimony of one person, Rex Scorpius (who has exhibited questionable behavior and bad decision-making in the past), who only observed the incident after the fact, and from a distance. Then he skipped out. He did not present Mark and Happy with any physical evidence. Mark and Happy were, in fact, prevented from getting close to the accident early on. Was it for safety’s sake? Security? The fact that there were dead fish is certainly suspect, but it’s a stretch to imply more at this time. There’s not a whole lot to go on. That fish in panel 4 sure looks healthy enough!
There is going to be a press conference “this evening”, so how can Mark continue to claim that the authorities are not getting information out to the public? As far as Happy is concerned, he might be ahead of Rex with regard to his mental faculties. Happy’s outburst about seeking responsibility from City Hall makes little sense, since the local authorities are not responsible for the investigation. Not that they wouldn’t be part of the investigation, but this is a federal case. In short, it seems Rivera is moving the story along really fast, putting conclusions before all of the premises and evidence have even been discovered. We hope to learn more from the press conference and see how Mark and Happy conduct their investigation.
This was a week of fussing over the phone. Cherry saw a news item reporting the train explosion that Mark and Happy witnessed during their forced layover at a train terminal, so she called Mark and tried to force Mark (and Happy, who never really factored into Cherry’s worries, but we’ll assume the best) to come home. Mark spent the week dodging details, claiming he was fine, and pushed his inherent need to “get to the bottom” of the incident and make sure everybody knew what was going on.
I don’t know how long a day is in the Trailverse, but it must be about 30 hours or so. They were already halfway through the day when the explosion occurred. Then they were in a hotel ready to call it day when they went to visit Rex Scorpius (exactly how they got there is unknown, unless they called an Uber or rented a car), who told them what he knew about the train incident. Then back they go to the hotel, to spend time talking with Cherry. Heck of a day.
Mark is sporting a nice beach shirt, rather than his out-of-place red-check flannel. Today’s nature lesson is informative (at least to me!), despite the opening and closing puns. Even they are not as abrasive as past puns.
Didn’t Rivera cover this on Thursday? I mean, this would be acceptable as a “getting back to Mark’s story” filler if we had just spent the week on Cherry’s own adventure, but this is a Friday strip and there hasn’t been any break in continuity.
More of the same back-and-forth, but not moving the story at all. Cherry continues to be worried about train explosions when it’s chemical fumes that are the real danger. Of course, Mark has not bothered to mention that little detail.
Art Dept: The one interesting feature today is in panel 1, showing a conventional split screen of Mark and Cherry on the phone. The point of interest is Rivera having Cherry “look across” the split at Mark, as if they are in the same room. In fact, the “looking at each other” seems to have been an emerging gag during the week. The Tuesday panel has the communications split as they talk, but they are not both looking at each other. Mark appears to be “looking back” towards Cherry.
In the Wednesday strip, Mark and Cherry are in separate panels and not really looking across. When we get to Thursday, the split panel is back. Their faces are in a 3/4 pose with their eyes shifting towards each other. We can see the “progression” of visual interaction continue in these two strips; at least, for Cherry, who is practically looking agog at Mark. Okay, maybe I’m stretching the point a bit. Still, it’s a more sophisticated piece of humor than a lame pun plugged into the last panel.
That’s right, kiddos. The Wife and I are driving north Friday morning for a family get-together and general hoo-rah for the weekend. We’ll return later Monday. So, I hope to post my normal BS about Friday’s strip in the Saturday blog. Just so, it is possible that I won’t get to the Monday strip until Tuesday.
Anyway, I hope this won’t cause you too much consternation. We shall return! Some of you may recall that there used to be several blogs that focused exclusively or at least regularly on Mark Trail, but almost all folded, long before Jules Rivera came on board. Comics Curmudgeon and Joseph Nebus’s blogs still infrequently report on the current strip, so I’m afraid you are not left with a lot of options. In the meantime, you can view and/or post about Mark Trail on the Comic Kingdom website, though it obviously lacks the hard-hitting, insightful, and in-depth analysis provided by this site. Okay, I paid myself to say that.
You tell her, Mark! After all, one can’t expect federal organizations like the NTSB, the FBI, or even state transportation investigators to get to the bottom of the complex, if possibly corrupt and unsafe conditions of trains, shipping regulations, and the hazards of moving dangerous chemicals. No, no, no! Not like Mark Trail, freelance nature journalist.
Why, Mark cut his eye teeth reading Casey Jones stories. He’s watched Bullet Train, Wild Wild West, and Runaway Train several times. And he actually just rode on a train that stalled at the location where the mystery train derailed. Somebody tell those boneheaded government employees to go back to the office. They’re not needed. MARK TRAIL is on the job!
I have a feeling this sequence evolved from a TV show or movie, but I can’t place it. I could be wrong. Anyway, all of the excitement seems to be helping Happy Trail, as he is looking younger. But an adventure story can’t be a non-stop roller coaster of action, can it? I mean, there are even a few moments in Jason Bourne and Mission Impossible movies where the characters take a breath, right?
Oh no. Is Rivera once again indulging in self-parody by having Marky wear pajamas with the same pattern (and possibly material) as his wear-forever work shirt?
The pre-Rivera Cherry never bothered Mark in the middle of his adventures, mostly because that version of Mark Trail remained rooted in the 1950s, before cell phones. Why would Cherry think the explosion had anything to do with Mark, anyway? For all she knew, he was on some lake fishing with Happy. I reckon if Mark had been checking in with Cherry all along, Rivera forgot to tell us.
Art Dept: I notice that Rivera likes to use heavy outlining on animals she draws. Why is that? Is it so kids can easily cut their tiny figures out of the newspaper and paste them on the refrigerator? Is it because it is the best method Rivera knows for making the animals stand out for easier viewing? Is it because she is illustrating various species of animals who happen to naturally have heavy outlines for their bodies? Or is it to smooth over the rough edges of a figure that has been digitally copied from another source, then manually cropped to fit the strip?
By the way, there is nothing necessarily wrong with using “clip art” in comics, unless it becomes too intrusive or repetitive. Long-time readers may remember this clip-art habit in earlier Mark Trail artists, where it was images of Mark that were often copied! As I’ve mentioned before, cartoonists have been using clip-art and tracing objects for many decades. Such images are usually fairly easy to distinguish, as they exhibit an unusual level of detail, precision, or style that does not always match the rest of the strip.
The Daily Trail 