I dunno, Mark. Does being a (former) comedian mean you can’t also be a survival expert? Does being a nature photographer make you a survival expert? Methinks you are showing your social bias, Mark. Les Stroud is a famous Canadian survival expert who also happens to be a musician and documentary filmmaker. So there!
Anyway, as we all likely suspected, Mark’s post-rescue chat leads up to his BIG IDEA: Start a MEN’S survival skills camp, which reminds me of that mountain STEM retreat created by Sid Stump. I don’t know about you, but I smell trouble, starting with Mark’s restriction to males. I expect Cherry will have something to say about that. Well, she should, right?
Why is Mark repeating information that Cherry already heard “last night” when the three of them were discussing the horsehead, the actor, and the guidebook? Oh right, this recap is just a standard convention used to help readers who forget these details.
Call me crazy, but how lousy does a guidebook have to be to make somebody delirious and confused? Did the guidebook recommend eating whatever mushrooms you can find in the woods? How can somebody be so confused that they couldn’t walk down a path or two until they found somebody’s house, or even find the car they drove in on? I mean, starving in Lost Forest? C’mon! This ain’t the Alaskan wilderness.
Okay, I get it. These are just minor details about reality that get in the way of the story. Plot-wise, the bottom line here is that Mark is talking himself into another one of his crazy ideas for a project he’ll try to sell to Bill Ellis and finally earn some money.
Yes, Mark, you wanted to protect “the little woman” from the ugly reality of what really happened, but you gave in pretty easily! The horrifying details start to spill out. Brrr! There are sure to be nightmares over this nasty business.
And once again, Rivera can’t resist dropping a narration box in panel 4 with a childish pun, even if it makes no (horse) sense.
A slow comic strip day, if not week. I thought we’d have another “here’s what happened” session. Oh well. Cherry hasn’t yet brought up her search for the Kudzu Commando and the need to salvage her reputation. Maybe now is the time, before she gets dressed for work. “Oh great. Then Mark can invite himself into her adventure and take control.” Hey, Mark: Get a job!
Regarding panel 4, is this parody? Satire? It’s like the epilogue of a 1950s family sitcom.
Dragging out this “reunion” interlude seems unnecessary. C’mon, Rivera, let’s just get on with the explanations! There are five days left to tell the Rest of the Story, but why is Mark putting out that silly “sitcom” excuse in panel 3 instead of telling Cherry what actually happened? Seems kind of patronizing to me. And I think Rivera should tell us readers what happened before the ambulance came. Perhaps Rivera is going to use this time to now have Cherry update Mark on what’s going on with the Kudzu Commando. There is time for both explanations.
Art Dept. What’s with the family house/cabin? The logs in panel 2 look like they were drawn on the wall, so to speak. The cabin in panel 3 looks more like a fake theater prop. Of course, the strip is meant to be reprinted in the micro-format of modern newspaper strips, but still…make the effort, Rivera! Oh, just call me cranky today!
Okay, the epilogue to Rusty’s adventure seems to be playing out as expected: Get home, run into Cherry, start in with excuses and then explanations. But I have one question: What’s in the container that Mark is carrying in panel 1? Perhaps he and Rusty stopped by Squirrely Sandy’s bakery in town. Wouldn’t that be a hoot!?
Something to keep in mind is that a lot has happened in one 24-hour period: First, Mark went with Rusty and his friends on that initial fact-finding hunt for a possible alien crash site in Lost Forest (September 25). They came home that evening (October 16) and spent time talking to Cherry about their finds and theories. Rusty went to bed but couldn’t sleep. He decided to go back to the “crash site”, whereupon he and Andy stumbled upon the lost camper Mark had predicted. Mark arrived and expedited the anonymous camper’s medical evacuation. Now they return to meet up with Cherry again, the next morning.
This past week saw the possible conclusion of Rusty’s alien crash search adventure as the lad—in company with faithful house pet, Andy—returned to the abandoned campsite in the middle of the night to uncover more evidence of an alien (Rusty’s hope) or a lost camper (Mark’s deduction). Why Rusty thought a midnight search would uncover more evidence than a daytime search is probably more a matter of drama superseding practicality. But it worked! Rusty and Andy were surprised by sounds and a dark form moving within the bushes. Spooky-wooky!
Mark, discovering Rusty’s exit from the house, lost time getting dressed before he could chase after him, but he arrived at the correct time to put himself between Rusty and the mysterious figure who turned out to be some anonymous crazy guy who had been following the bad tips in Tadd Crass’s camping guidebook. But did we hear from this dude? Nope! Rivera just moved us directly to a scene of an ambulance taking the poor guy away for treatment, as Mark and Rusty philosophized their way back home. While this looks like the end of Rusty’s adventure, one has to wonder: Is Rivera going to give us another week in the cabin where Rusty and Mark explain to Cherry what happened? Is this where we find out who this guy is and how he wound up in Lost Forest? Well, don’t you feel lost; just find your way to the strip below and follow along!
A nice tie-in to Rusty’s midnight search with a night-themed firefly topic! When I was growing up fireflies were very common in our yard and neighborhood. I think we called them lightning bugs. I bet some of you also liked to catch them and put them in a jar with a bit of twig-and-leaf, as if they would enjoy it. Up here in the north I rarely see fireflies. They may be more common in the rural area, but as they tend to like temperate zones, their rarity is not surprising. One surprising thing I discovered is that the female of at least one species of fireflies attracts males only to consume them for their toxic defensive chemicals. Oh, if you are going to follow Mark’s advice about keeping part of your yard “wild”, be sure to avoid using any chemicals in that area.
Art Dept. The customized title panel might have been more effective with a darker background. Nevertheless, this is an interesting topic drawn in Rivera’s usual sparse style.
In standard Mark Trail fashion, details and explanations get tossed aside as we jump directly into the epilog of this “adventure.” A shame that it turned out to be frustrating in several ways:
For starters, our mystery camper is notTadd (or Tad?) Crass, but some fanboy, whose name we never learned.
Second, we get no information on how or why this person wound up here. How was it possible for him to get lost in the first place? Even an ambulance was able to find the location without the apparent convenience of a road or address!
Was he really just under some mental duress? We never learned what is wrong with this fellow.
Next, we never learn why he was hiding in the shrubs. Was he being pursued? If he was lost, why wasn’t he at least in the open shouting for help or setting out signs for planes that pass overhead? Why not just hiking along a path until he finds something or someone?
Next, what did the horsehead mask have to do with him or the camping trip, other than act as a reference to Tadd Crass’s old TV show? From a plot standpoint, I reckon it was there to help Rusty make a connection and give him something decent to do for a change.
Finally, what was the point of this adventure? It wasn’t just to make that X-Files reference in panel 4, was it? That fellow could have had a very interesting backstory to tell us, leading up to this moment. What was the actual reason for the Tadd Crass details?
This could have just been a search for a lost camper. So having the Tadd Crass tie-in could add more interest if that part of the story was allowed to play out. Perhaps this “ending” is another red herring and the story will continue with Mark (once again) visiting somebody in the hospital to hear their story.
As a dad, I suppose Mark has a point for his protective behavior here, what with him putting the arm on that guy, who be Tad Crass or a die-hard fan (check out his shirt). Has he been surviving on magic mushrooms in Lost Forest?
I’m guessing that Tad’s characterization is a paraphrase of the “Chuck Noland” character played by Tom Hanks in Cast Away. So the horse head substitutes for Wilson, the basketball? Maybe I’m projecting a bit.
But as I feared, we have another weirdo coming out of the bush. I think Mark could start a successful business running a halfway home for lost nut jobs. Speaking of business, when is he going to get back to work? The Sunny Soleil Society must pay Cherry pretty well.
On Saturday’s strip we might find Mr. Lost Camper settling down to tell his story. Or maybe Mark gets the guy into a hospital. But we’ve now had three weeks dedicated to Rusty’s story. Will Rivera jump back on Monday for a week with Cherry or will she allow this adventure to continue?
Not sure we needed a recap of yesterday’s strip. The narration box crowds the panel and dilutes the action. Anyway, like father like son? There are some parallels between this story and Mark’s adventure in the nearby hills investigating bear incursions in the phony mountain retreat run by tech-guru-and-would-be-“King of the Forest” Sid Stump (began Feb 18, 2023).
Mark’s Adventure
Rusty’s Adventure
Investigate bear incursions in mountain retreat and find missing reporter.
Investigate alien incursion in Lost forest and locate alien or alien ship wreckage.
Mark uncovers evidence why bears are invading the retreat site.
Rusty and friends uncover evidence of some kind of presence in Lost Forest.
Mark goes into forest to search for missing reporter, aware that bears are likely present
Rusty’s research suggests Mark’s hypothesis of a missing and hurt camper might be correct. Decides to investigate in the middle of the night.
Mark surprised by bearded reporter Jebediah, appearing out of the bushes, hiding from a bear.
Rusty is surprised to find the “missing camper”, also bearded, appearing in the bushes.
Big bear chases Mark and Jebediah
Mark chases after Rusty
Just a coincidence? Or part of a deep-state conspiracy to simplify story development?
Why does Rivera continue to call this person a creature, when it is clearly a person? Perhaps it is meant to be understood from Rusty’s still-limited understanding. But I also do not understand Rusty’s reaction: “I just wanted to find some aliens! Shoo! Go away!” Aside from the old-school Mark Trail grammar, is Rusty talking to the guy in the bushes? Why shoo him away? Also noted: Why are there two small “Arf!” barks lettered at the base of the bushes in panel 1? Could there be a creature off-scene that we cannot yet see?
Well, I can’t wait to hear this guy’s story. Should be a doozy.
ADDENDUM: In panel 3 Rusty looks like a marionette.
Okay, are we to suppose Mark likes to cross-dress or can we just say he grabbed the first coat he saw and ran with it? Moving on, you would think that “after all this time” Rusty would have spent enough time in the woods that Mark would have a bit more trust and not be such a worry wort.
Still, you must build suspense however you can. In fact, panel 3 is actually a nicely designed dramatic composition, though perhaps it deserves a more significant threat level. But once again, Mark is hoofing it through the woods with his flashlight raised to the sky, as if checking for flying squirrels or alien spacecraft. I suppose we have to believe he is simply pumping his arms as he runs to the rescue. Will he trip over another tree root like he did when running from a bear?
Speaking of animals, that must be a nine-banded armadillo in panel 2, the only species known to inhabit the United States, at least in the south. See?! Anybody can sound smart with some good online searching. But it sure looks oddly placed in the panel, don’t you think?
Art Dept. As much as panel 3 has that from-below viewpoint that heightens Mark’s tension and suspense, Mark’s pose and overall appearance in panel 1 is somehow reminiscent of comic book characters from the 1940s, though it escapes me where I’ve seen it. Batman? Dick Tracy? Terry and the Pirates? Rats, does anybody have an idea? Maybe I’m just totally off base. Except for the last panel (and that armadillo), I think today’s strip is actually really visually interesting.
The Daily Trail 