If old readers are dying off, try to attract younger readers, such as primary school-age kids, with puns.
Meeting up with friends at Planet Pancake—where everybody knows your order—is the kind of repetitious activity that seems reasonable, unlike Mark going on different assignments to different places in the country, but still dealing with the same oddballs.
We haven’t seen Georgia and her “Underground Black Rose Garden Club” members for about a year and a half, so it will be interesting to see what comes out of this reunion. I just hope it does not involve anybody connected with the Sunny Soleil Society, or Honest Ernest. They are Cherry’s version of Mark’s constant nemeses, the Crypto Bros and “Professor” Bee Sharp.
As my mentor and predecessor, Dennis Williams has told me more than once, I tend to go on when I write. Guilty as charged. I do, in fact, edit my work, but still …. If you think I have gotten something wrong or just babble on too much, feel free to say so. But I try to leave things unsaid and let you discover them. As a former reader, posting observations, criticism, and questions was a part of the fun.
Okay, on to the matter at hand: This week Rivera finally got the “Something Fishy” adventure (as I am calling it) under way, when Mark agreed to Happy’s father-and-son fishing trip. It took about two weeks of comic strip postings this to get this sorted out. Saturday was the start. Happy had lined up a 2-day train ride that would have taken only a few hours on a plane. Mr. Cheapskate Trail believed that saving about $100.00 was worth a 27-hour train ride that ultimate broke down after 5 hours. So, while they wait for the repairs, Mark can go over today’s topic with Dad. Enjoy!
As usual, Rivera crafted a custom title panel for the Sunday strip. It’s a nice tradition that requires more creativity and work, though cartoonists normally omit the title panel or just use a stock image. One reason for this common omission is that newspapers sometimes delete Sunday title panels in order to squeeze and orient the strips to fit other material on the page.
Today’s topic is a well-known issue, the plight of the bees. Rivera takes a more personal view, focusing more on what we can do, if we are lucky enough to have a home with a yard and not have some dictatorial HOA getting in the way.
Jules Rivera has outdone herself. I don’t mean the panoramic view of the train station, which is reasonably good, even though it looks like an architect’s rendering. I mean the sudden change of time and location. Many of us recall how the pre-RiveraMark Trail could instantly jump from home to some faraway land, whether it be Nepal or some Pacific Island. Are we now in Florida (where Happy lives) or wherever the hell Lost Forest is located?
Now, is riding a train the adventure of a lifetime!? Maybe, if you’re 8 years old or have been secluded in a basement for 30 years. Or does Rivera refer to the fishing trip as the big adventure? I shouldn’t think so for Happy or Mark. So, is Rivera being sarcastic or mocking the story?
Finally—and I don’t mean to nitpick every detail, but I have to do this one: Five hours on a train (dead engine or not) is nothorrendous, unless your destination is only 1 hour away. But I admit that Happy finally does look like an old codger (panel 3)!
Really though, Mark and Happy are on a train going north to Ohio. Now, we don’t know specifically where Lost Forest is located, though it has to be close to Florida. Creator Ed Dodd’s own realLost Forest was in an Atlanta suburb. But this leads me to an alarming finding:
Average travel times fromAtlanta to Cleveland (to pick a location in Ohio):
Ride the train: About 27 1/2 hours. Drive your car: 10 1/2 hours. Fly: Less than 2 hours. Okay, this last estimate may be optimistic.
Maybe Mark was correct to be suspicious. Did we find the small hitch?
The drawing of Mark’s expression in panel 1 (minus the cheap beard) is quite well done and above Rivera’s current standard of comic expressions and minimal shapes. On the other hand, Rivera seems to have not figured out how to draw a senior citizen with authenticity. Old people have more than gray hair, unless Happy has had a face lift.
One another technical note: Rivera has taken the usual curved background shape she often favors for highlighting individuals and continued it behind both Mark and Happy, creating a visual connectivity of the conversation, as if they were adjacent to each other. It is a clever, visual technique that helps put these two into their own conversational space. (This is just another example of the kind of in-depth, hard-hitting analysis I like to present that tries to provide you, dear reader, with more useful context and understanding. Or not.)
The Big “Small Hitch” Reveal didn’t reveal much and suggested more: A train trip and Mark’s “working laptop.” I don’t believe Mark usually takes his laptop or camera with him on jobs, just like the old Mark Trail. Odd, for a photojournalist. What if Happy Trail doesn’t mean “fishing” in a traditional sense? What do you think?
Ah, tension and drama continue to rise as we see our hero facing down the …no, wait. Sorry, I drifted off and started daydreaming about the old Rip Kirby adventure strip, because now that I’m alert, I realize I’m supposed to be writing about Mark and Cherry talking and talking about Daddy’s fishing trip, wrecked boats, and hidden agendas. Okay, got it.
Well, of course there will be a tiny little hitch, as Happy concedes. After all, this is supposed to be an adventure strip, too. I’m not sure what this hitch is, but I’m guessing it won’t be an opportunity for Mark to serve another hitch in the army.
Knowing Rivera’s tendency to rely upon a small cast of goons and grifters, I can’t stop from predicting that this trip will involve some of the same people we’ve seen before. And before. We should learn more by Saturday. Until then, enjoy your own daydreaming.
Yeah, time to milk this old cow once again. The “Mark Trail Destroys Another Boat” meme gives a nostalgic chuckle to old Trailheads reading this strip and helps train-in younger readers to carry the torch of appreciation for, and support for, this already unfunny and tired joke, especially when the strip does the jesting. Along with other self-parodic elements that are a mainstay, perhaps Rivera should rename this strip to something more appropriate, such as “Mock Trail”. Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? Speaking of “ring”, who is Mark talking to in panel 4?
A father-son fishing trip is certainly a fond, traditional bonding rite for parents and children. Well, sometimes it’s not so fond a thing, as we saw earlier with Mark and Rusty. However, in this particular situation, it’s “the old man” and Mark is the boy now grown up (more or less). Mark could imagine himself being Oppie to Happy Trail’s Andy Taylor. I mean, how could you not get a bit wistful watching the opening credits to The Andy Griffith Show with Sheriff Andy walking down a country lane with his son, Oppie, to go cane fishing along the creek? Pure nostalgia. But I digress. I wonder how many days Rivera will use up before we discover whether Mark agrees to the trip.
Anyway, the question of the moment is: Will this trip actually take place or will Mark get a call from Bill Ellis that might upend the fishing trip?
Side Note and Cheap Solicitation: From this blog’s statistics page, it appears we have around 10-20 viewers on any given day. Okay, that’s not very much; certainly not enough to impress anybody, but it’s enough to make me wonder why more people are not commenting, other than the usual cast (for which I am very grateful). Perhaps it’s my haircut. Or maybe it’s my uncanny ability to miss obvious points, such as not being boring. Whatever, I cordially invite other viewers to also participate and leave a comment, be it about the strip, my writing about the strip, or both. No high-level math or a degree in popular culture required. You don’t even have to like the strip, as most of the regular commenters will attest.
Gah!More story-padding! I thought we had enough of this last week. I think the mallard agrees. So, when will the story move on to Florida, already!? And who gets to come along? Last Friday, I mentioned the police notices and likely warrants for stuff Mark did down there a few years ago. This occurred in Jules Rivera’s first Mark Trail adventure. I bet you long-time sufferers, er, readers, may not remember what the strip looked like back then. It really was different in several ways, and for the better, in my opinion. Rivera clearly put her mind and time into the strip, delivering inventive layouts, impactful action, and some serious storytelling. Check out these two submissions from January 20th and 23rd, 2021:
I’m not going to go into the story, as you can pick it up on your own. Just study this a bit. It is really good storytelling art! And definitely not the pedestrian layouts and silly characters we usually see these days. I mean, “screwball” is fine once in a while, right? In fact, in several ways, this first story was sometimes screwy, but presented in a more creative and dramatic style! This even beats anything her predecessors did. I just don’t understand, from today’s standpoint, why Rivera turned from this approach to what we see today. Wouldn’t you rather see this kind of work? I don’t mean the violence, per se. This stuff just drips of adventure.
Unless you like romantic double entendres, not much took place this week. In short, Cherry and Mark took one of their post-assignment nature walks in Lost Forest, apparently looking for the place, opportunity, and mood to behave like birds and bees for a little while. Unfortunately for them, Mark’s phone interrupted the mood and he ensured it was doomed by answering it.
Happy Trail called and excitedly told Mark they are going on a fishing trip! Woo-hoo! This sounds to me like some kind of take-off on one of Mark’s favorite old scams promising Rusty he’ll take him fishing, but never delivering. In fact, Rivera already mocked that meme last December (see “Father Knows Least”). Now what will come of Happy’s phone call? Perhaps it will wind up as yet another interrupted activity when Mark gets yet another phone call from Bill Ellis conning him into taking on yet another outlandish assignment.
A very interesting topic today, and new to me, in spite of the fact that I grew up on the East Coast sometimes battling jellyfish on the beach. I like their nickname, “By-the-wind Sailor.” Their other name, velella, comes from a Latin word for sail (“velum”), because of the small, stiff sail on their top, causing them to float whichever way the wind blows.
But Rivera should have made it clearer that they are not true jellyfish, according to a six-year old who said they didn’t look enough like jelly. Just kidding. Actually, they are only related to jellyfish and are really multi-creatured, colonial organisms (Note: The Man-o-War is also not a true jellyfish, but another “colonial organism”, which all sounds just weird to me). The velella have also been found off the coast of Great Britain.
OOPS! I forgot to post the strip last night when I wrote this. Guess I was more sleepy than I thought!
Huh? Uh, okay. Is Mark going to throw Cherry under the bus (or back in the cabin) and run for all he’s worth down to Florida, Daddy, and fishing!?
Wait! Is that old Florida warrant for destruction of private property and evading the police that occurred in Rivera’s first Mark Trail story still in effect? It might make Mark wonder about Dad’s motives. Then again, maybe Happy is going to come up to Lost Forest for fishing and checking out the ol’ log house. If none of this makes sense to you, I recommend you check out the story catalogued under the category “Happy Trails”; scroll to the bottom (it might take a while); then start reading, starting on the October 27, 2020 date.
In any event, Mark has plenty of time till Daddy shows up, so I hope Mark doesn’t disappoint Cherry. It won’t be very long before she just isn’t up for long walks in the forest anymore.
Okay, I think Rivera is finished with Double Entendre Week. Not that I haven’t enjoyed participating in it. But Happy Trail again? So soon!? This would be the third adventure with Pappy Happy, if that is where this storyline is heading. Can we just head in a different direction, please?
How about an adventure involving a completely new cast of supporting characters? I’d settle for game poachers.
Well, just like in nearly every rom-com and sitcom in entertainment history, a moment of passion turns into the moment of passing. Now we’ll never find out if regular reader Downpuppy’s assertion about the contents of Mark’s and Cherry’s backpacks is correct.
Looks like a cue for the start of another adventure. Any guesses on what it might be about this time?
So, Mark wants a little sunshine, does he? The two squirrels in panel 1 are an obvious lead-in to the meaning of Mark’s coded phrase in panel 4 and its expected outcome. Maybe now we’ll learn what’s in Mark’s and Cherry’s backpacks. Warning: Parents may need to screen tomorrow’s strip before the kids see it.
Do I know that there are “millions” of lobster cages (a bit of an exaggeration) lost in the ocean trapping animals?” Yeah! You told us last Sunday, Mark! Don’t you remember? Okay, not every newspaper carries the Sunday strip. Our papers do not.
By the way, that’s a nicely drawn panel 1, in detail and in composition. By “happy fish”, we can accept that fish prefer swimming to getting eaten. Even though fish don’t smile, their actions and behavior have been linked by scientists through experiments to positive and negative feelings. Maybe Mark is indulging in a bit of projecting here, but he also converses with a talking snake. So, I reckon he’s entitled.
Is there anything wrong with having a Mark Trail that openly reflects on his personal beliefs (and doubts)? It certainly exhibits a degree of vulnerability usually lacking in prior Mark Trail presentations.
Okay, so Rivera combines the nature walk with the post-assignment debriefing. It’s the combo that counts. Anyway, I just hope they don’t trip over those deer decoys. Still, it’s too bad Mark ditched the hip shirt from Sunday for his wear-forever red plaid.
I also see that Mark and Cherry are sporting backpacks. What could they possibly need to carry with them on a simple nature walk, hmmm?
If you were busy this past week, let me catch you up. Mark’s water bear resort adventure (category “bear necessities”) ended in the typical Mark Trail style: Suddenly. On the previous Saturday Mark and Jeb the Journalist celebrated their rescue from “Millie” the bear, due to Andy’s just-in-time appearance. But by Monday, we found him relaxing at home, chatting online with Bill Ellis. Long-time blog follower, Daniel P. commented yesterday that Rivera did not end the story with the traditional Trailflapjack dinner at home. Indeed, Rivera has not done that for most of her stories. There seems to be two new post-adventure memes: One is Mark and Cherry returning from a nice intimate walk through Lost Forest. Perhaps their cabin isn’t soundproofed.
The second ending Rivera uses is what we had this week: Mark doling out “the rest of the story”, as he summarized the post-adventure status of various dramatis personae involved in his assignment. Perhaps Rivera could merge the old pancake tradition and the newer tell-all tradition: The Trails can have dinner at Planet Pancake as Mark delivers post-adventure anecdotes to his family. Afterwards, Mark and Cherry can take their walk as Doc Davis and Rusty sit around the cabin, waiting for their next opportunity.
Another good title panel, and the other panels are pretty well-drawn, as well. Were you surprised by Mark’s new sporty attire? It would be great to see him wear something like this or just different clothes from time to time in his daily adventures.
Do lobstermen read the comics? I have never heard of “ghost fishing”, so I did the usual online “high-school paper” research. While all of what Rivers wrote here plays out, it’s too bad she didn’t have room to note some initiatives to clean up this mess: There is the NOAA Marine Debris Program to provide locations and means for professional fishermen to safely dispose of old, obsolete gear. There are also several NGOs involved in providing technologies for safe retrieval of ghost gear in our seas and oceans. All of that deals with the larger issue of ghost gear involved in general, large-scale fishing, such as the loss or abandonment of fishing nets. And the global quantity is unknown.
The composition of panel 3 is well-designed, but since when did the Trails use venetian blinds!? Ugh.
Anyway, I have to turn to you, dear reader. I’m pretty sure Rivera deliberately makes Bill Ellis look and sound like a clueless corporate suit most of the time. But what the hell is Ellis (who looks like a marionette half the time) talking about when he mentions “those campers”? Can’t be the group of slackers and grifters at the Retreat, some of whom actually wanted to kill Mark.
And please tell me, dear reader, what Rivera is alluding to when she refers to Andy as Mark’s “Best Boy”, which we all know is an electrical or lighting assistant on film sets. I don’t get it.
Well, I have to give Rivera some credit for at least depicting Mark with signs of recent violence and damage. As I recall, the former version of Mark Trail usually got by with just a bit of mussed hair in most of his physical encounters (there were a few exceptions). Too bad Mark didn’t get his trampy beard scraped off in all of that excitement.
Okay, we’ve heard about several of the participants in Mark’s latest folly, but nothing much of Sid Stump, Holly Folly, or the Psycho Bros, perhaps the two who really should be locked up.
In closing, a request to Jules Rivera: No more third-rate puns, please! Can you at least paws them for a while?
Okay. I stand corrected, again. Rivera actually is going against tradition and trying to shine a light on the story’s aftermath. Good for her! In this case, I hope it is not a hint about Mark’s next adventure, for reasons I have explained previously.
Now are we to believe that Sharp and Chedderson allowed Mark to hang around the hospital room so he could listen in while they put together an unethical and possibly illegal deal? Sorry, I’m not buying it. Mark would have had to be snooping to get this information. But Mark isn’t that kind of guy, is he? Well, he is a reporter, after all, so of course he would snoop!
Once again, Bill Ellis seems to have not even read Mark’s report, unless Mark omitted the shenanigans that took place on this adventure. And Mark is being very modest with Ellis. Why?
Mark must have a short—or selective—memory. Sid Stump’s knock-down temper tantrum when Mark asked about emergency care following the cliff collapse seems to have dropped by the wayside, as did Jeb Jeder’s own testimony on Stump. For that matter, it was never explained just why all of Mark’s previous “villains” happened to show up at this resort. That includes the Shipping Magnate and his assistant, both of whom made an appearance and quickly disappeared from the story.
As far as Mark’s warnings about AI are concerned, frankly, the evidence is not there. Sure, Jeb went on and on, but in the end, he wound up doubting his own research. And Mark is hardly a technology expert.
The Daily Trail 