Home » 2023 » October (Page 2)

Monthly Archives: October 2023

A bromide a day keeps the readers away!

Posted on by | 1 Comment

I must watch myself from acting too much like a Grammar Czar. I am no grammarian and certainly no pedagogue. There is only so much space in a comic strip and brevity is a necessity. What I mean to say is that from here on I will not comment on grammar except in cases that seem to me too significant to ignore. Ugh. That still sounds smug. But be my guest and speak up, if you have your own peeves. At least Rivera does not terminate every sentence with an exclamation point, as was standard in the pre-Rivera Mark Trail days.

Why does Violet speak to Ernest in the way somebody would butter up a person you would otherwise ignore? Well, it was a year ago that Ernest professed his love for Violet, leading to scandal and the apparent breakup of Ernest’s marriage. This past March, Violet professed her continued love for Ernest when she hired him to pave the grounds for a parking lot. Later she got really upset when she discovered the concrete pavement caused flooding problems. Their affair seems to have run its course, at least from Violet’s perspective.

Be sure to check inside Ernest’s work van!

Posted on by

Cherry is a “lawn guy”, like Honest Ernest? Oh, that’s right. She has a landscaping business (aside from her now-forgotten jewelry business). I reckon not many people need landscaping in such a small community. Good thing then, that she is a regular contractor for the Sunny Soleil Society.

I would lose a bet if anybody is surprised that Honest Ernest has showed up again. Honestly, weren’t Violet and Ernest having an affair a short time ago? Perhaps the past tense is appropriate here, though Ernest’s demeanor in panel 2 says “No way!” I suppose Cherry’s list of antagonists is pretty small, even when compared to Mark’s. In fact, I think, with Violet, we may be looking at the entire list, in person. Lost Forest may be a small community, but there has to be other characters Cherry can interact with outside of the Sunny Soleil Society, that is.

In spite of her questionable grammar in panel 3, I’m still perplexed why Cherry has bought into Violet’s unsupported conspiracy that she is being framed. But it’s the hook for the storyline. Is Honest Ernest too obvious a choice to be the Kudzu Crusader?

Let the hunt begin!

Posted on by | 5 Comments

Well, alright! We’re on another hunt. Like husband like wife, Cherry seems to have taken control of Violet’s hunt to discover the identity of the anonymous activist. On a “significance” scale, this rates a little higher than an alien crash.

But how did they discover that kudzu vines had also been distributed throughout their village center? Cherry only learned about this a short while ago (in Trailverse Time). And Violet doesn’t seem like the kind of social creature that would deign to mix with the hoi poloi.

At least one thing I have been pleased about in this strip is Rivera’s more expansive view of Lost Forest and her aim to show it to us. Who knew the locals favored what appears to be a cross between old English and traditional German buildings? Perhaps it points to some “old world” origins of their ancestors.

The Week in Review (“my blather”) and the Sunday Nature Chat

Posted on by | 2 Comments

Did you miss last week’s strips but don’t want to spend time scrolling down to read them (and my commentary)? Then here is a summary: It was a curious week with little action, more ambiguity, and several incredibly bad puns. Okay, maybe that was a bit too summary. Let me try again:

Mark and the boys continued their examination (from the previous week) of a clearing in the woods during their hike to find an alleged alien crash site. An obscure diagram scratched on the ground led one of this blog’s followers to suggest it might be a pagan pentagram, which would have been an interesting plot development. It turned out to be a diamond-shaped perimeter with an extinguished campfire. Still, why draw any diagram on the ground? With only an abandoned rubber horsehead (which Rusty claimed) and some “pink crystals” discovered by Ernie, the boys were undecided about the alien incursion. Mark was more concerned about the alleged fate of the mysterious campers who had abandoned this “failed campsite.” Instead of moving on to search some more, Mark decided the adventure was over (since he naturally assumed command of the hunt) and took the boys to eat pizza at Planet Pancake. There was pizza to be eaten, but Mark spent his time contemplating the fate of the campers. You’ll have to scroll down and read the actual dailies if you wish to experience Rivera’s puns.

As I noted yesterday, I’m drawn to conclude that Rivera presented this Rusty Adventure mainly for the purpose of launching another story for Mark, so it’s likely that Rusty and his friends will now disappear from the strip until needed in the future. We’ll have to wait and see; it’s possible that Rivera will first turn her attention back to Cherry this week, as she and Violet Cheshire prepare to search for the mysterious Kudzu Crusader. Anyway, since you’re here let’s see what Mark has for us today:

For the longest time I’ve encouraged people to not sweep away spiders because they tend to only hang out where there are other creatures you’ll like even less. And spiders consume them, as Mark describes.

The gang eats pizza at a pancake house.

Posted on by | 1 Comment

So Jeanette has expanded her pancake menu to include pizza. Well, both foods are round. Perhaps we’ll even get to see injera on the menu before too long. Like pizza, this round Ethiopian bread can function as both a plate and an eating utensil. But I digress.

Mark is still hung up about that abandoned campsite. Why? I mean, isn’t that what you do when you leave:  You abandon it, unless you are one of those who thinks humans are not really a part of nature and should leave no trace of their presence. Unlike other animals. I’m digressing again.

I have the feeling that Rivera has set us (and Rusty) up once again. It might be that Rusty’s failed alien search adventure was simply a plot device to initiate Mark’s upcoming project: The search for the missing camper.

Robbie is right once again!

Posted on by

Instead of investing in a longer and more involved storyline, as well as the chance to reveal some more personality in the boys, Rivera appears to be making Mark the hatchet man to kill off the search (and this story) at the first likely opportunity: “Oh, an abandoned campsite, boys? Well, fake alien crash. Time to go. This story is over!”

Did Mark even use his vaunted compass? Did they get waylaid, lost, or confused in their hiking? Who knows? But Mark acts as if he was in charge all along, arrogantly trying to control the situation with his patronizing “father knows best” judgement in panel 4 with Rusty filling in the punch line. And didn’t Rusty and Mark already have pancakes that very morning!? Well, I could be wrong about all this. Today’s strip could just be a setup for a surprise plot twist that shows itself on Saturday. This is the right place and time for one!

Competing hypotheses.

Posted on by

The first place the kids find some trash and it automatically becomes the alien crash site? Well, the clearing is shaped like a circle (think flying saucer or alien crop circle)!

While the boys enjoy their alien adventure, Mark finds it very suspicious that a person or persons unknown might have built a campsite and campfire in a clearing. Wow! Who could imagine such a thing!?

Isn’t this the same thing Mark, Happy, Rex Scorpius, and his mother all did when they were on the run from the police? If these mystery campers were anything like them, they’d have to be long gone by now!

The gang continues to stand around and mutter

Posted on by

Commenter Daniel P proffered an intriguing hypothesis that the design scratched into the ground in yesterday’s strip (panel 4) was a pentagram, suggesting that some kind of pagan ritual (that would include the horse head) could have taken place. But today, it looks more like a diamond to me, with the remains of a campfire in the middle. Not terribly interesting, but the pagan pentagram idea sure sounds a lot more intriguing for this story.
Tip: If you click on any part of the strip, it will automatically zoom in. Click the back button to exit the zoom.

Hmmm, nothing much said about that ground diagram, and that Eastern Mole in panel 1 sure seems to want to get somewhere else (it could wind up as our Sunday subject). But instead of an intriguing or even dangerous adventure, all we’re getting so far is a bunch of juvenile jokes, and not just from the juveniles. I think panel 4 is a record low for Rivera.

Maybe the comics syndicate would have been better off letting Rivera start a “Young Mark Trail” strip where he is just a teen and already getting involved in journalistic investigations and the environment. The type of storytelling and humor Rivera likes to use would more appropriately fit that format. She would probably attract a larger, younger audience, as well. Then somebody else could take this over. Win-Win. Hear that, King Features Syndicate?

Mark ponders the possibilities!

Posted on by | 3 Comments

So, they must have actually traversed more of Lost Forest than I figured. This might have been one case where a narration box in one of the earlier dailies stating something like “And some hours later…” would have been informative for once, rather than hosting another pointless pun.

Mark’s internal cogitations about the source and point of the mask are helpful, but inconsistent. A prank? Possible! Someone lost? A non sequitur. Better to ask “Was it left behind after a costume party in the woods?”

But a more dramatic hypothesis would be “Perhaps the mask was used in a bank heist and the robbers are nearby!” Yikes! Now that would be a fundamentally more significant and dangerous proposition. We might expect that to be the case in a pre-Rivera Mark Trail adventure. In any event, Mark, better safe than sorry, so turn the kids around and head to the pizza parlor, while you can!

Analyzing a clue

Posted on by

“In [Mark’s] search for an alien crash site…” Uh, just whose search is this? Last I saw, Mark invited himself into this adventure. Jules Rivera seems to once again be taking the boys for granted, as if they are only grist for the mill of Mark’s unending search for glory. To put it even more cynically, Rivera seems bent on trying to trivialize Mark Trail’s purpose and existence. It is both unbecoming and sad.

Okay, then. Taking Rivera’s question literally (panel 1), what else did Mark find that was strange? By my own armchair reckoning, Mark hasn’t found anything, strange or common, because the horsehead mask was found by Robbie! Robbie might be a pain in the ass, but he has the right idea (panel 3):  Keep searching!

Last week Mark remarked (like that pun, Jules!?) that he thought something was going on at this location. Are they going to look around for clues of the alleged mask dropper? And what will they find?

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

Posted on by

The age-old conspiracy theory of visitors from a distant planet surfaces in Rusty’s latest adventure. Online sources claimed that an extraterrestrial incursion and crash occurred somewhere in Lost Forest, though the specific crash location was not mentioned. Certainly, an unfortunate oversight by the excited poster, I’m sure. Yet, this omission didn’t matter to Rusty and his friends who still insisted on initiating an expedition to locate the wreckage. And really, who would not be tempted? This could be a fun mystery, even if it isn’t about the environment.

Mark bribed Rusty into letting him come along with the gang. Rusty’s main rival, Robbie, objected, but the other boys overruled him. So off they went, guided by Mark and his trustworthy pocket compass. But here, Mark failed to teach the kids that a compass—on its own—is not a “finder” but merely a “direction locator”, thereby spreading misinformation that could lead to possible problems for the boys in the future. A negative mark for woodsman Mark Trail!

By Wednesday’s strip, the actual hiking began with an abandoned horsehead mask found on the trail in Friday’s strip. It didn’t appear that the gang had hiked very far or very long. In any event, the Saturday strip had Rusty thinking that the alien crash story was fake and he was ready to go home. Yet Mark was not so easily defeated and thought that something funny was going on, which required more investigation. I think Mark has an idea this was a prank and who the prankster might be. Do you? While you ponder this, let’s get in some nature education:

Sharks can be social animals and have BFFs. Okay, that’s nice to know. They’re not always lone killers, lurking just under the surface for female surfers trying to catch a wave.  

Do sharks behave like us? Apparently so, but we sometimes use the term “shark” to refer to seedy characters (e.g., loan sharks) who take advantage of people, usually in dire straits. Or the term can refer to a member of a New York street gang that has a tendency to dance and sing in poor neighborhoods.

But I don’t get Mark’s final comment, other than as a bad pun.