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Can Cliff help Mark salvage the program?

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I’ve noticed that Viewership and Visitor stats are down for the site. While there are no reasons provided for the reductions, it could be any of several things: a) the posts are too boring; b) they are too long; c) people gave up on the comic strip; or d) all of the above. In addition, I’ve been told that I write too much. I reckon yesterday was one of those days. But I don’t want this to simply be another Mark Trail “snark site” posting one or two biting remarks a day. So, I’ll start by trying to tighten up the prose. I can see that I’m already headed for trouble.

Rivera thankfully spared us from viewing the graphic depiction of tangled fishing line being removed from Connor’s hands. Cliff showed up in time with coffee so Mark can ponder why things are going wrong. He apparently doesn’t understand grammar very well, as he uses “they” and “these guys” when it was only Connor giving him grief. I think Cliff sees through Mark’s lament and suggests the hike to give Mark time to get himself sorted out. Panel 4 suggests he hasn’t figure that out yet. Thoughts?

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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As another week concludes, some of you look forward (I hope) to this modest (okay, verbose) weekly digest as a way to keep abreast of Lost Forest Follies without having to wander through the briars and brambles of its daily treks. But be of good cheer, for I will fear no lanternfly. My baggie and spray protect me. Mark’s grandiose plan for hosting a men’s survival retreat to protect inexperienced dudes from getting victimized by phony survival books (such as the one used by Connor) finally began its inaugural class this week. Huzzah!

Well, almost. Mark’s survival retreat for men got watered down to an Introduction to Fishing seminar, inside the De-Bait Team’s fishing lodge. Rivera skipped us past the plan’s revision and organizing phases, including how it was that the initial class wound up with only three students:  A game warden, lonely because his wife was on vacation; a nattily dressed fellow named Eli who just likes fishing; and Connor, who immediately began a week-long tirade of insulting Mark.

While inside the lodge, Mark figured it was a good place to teach the class how to cast a fishing line (rather than doing this outside). Can we blame Rivera for a lack of fishing experience or is she simply indulging in more Mark Trail Mockery? She focused most of the week on Connor, who managed to entangle his hands in fishing line, while blaming Mark. It was a missed opportunity. Had this happened outside, Connor might have suffered another accident, such as falling into the river and drowning. The week ended with Mark berating himself for thinking up this whole stupid idea. But the drama continues on Monday. Until then . . .

Now this is very interesting. It led me to discover that the European Robin and its American Cousin are not really related, as the American Robin is part of a different genus: Their similarity is cosmetic. The topic was interesting enough for me to do a bit of research. Biology shows that the European Robin (and some other birds) do utilize electromagnetic fields of the earth to help navigate during migration. This process is not fully understood, as far as I can tell, but does not appear to be in doubt. But I saw no mention of animals exhibiting their own electromagnetic fields, or robins using each other’s magnetic field for navigating. Rivera clearly has sources I do not and I’m not a biologist. The literature is complex, so I may just be misreading things. Anybody out there experienced enough to shed any light?

Connor! Connor! Connor!

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Okay, where the heck is Cliff? He should be here helping out, especially when his good buddy, Connor, is having a meltdown. So why would Rivera drop Cliff from this story just after introducing him? Perhaps he is outside, prepping bait and boats.

I suppose there are people who somehow are able to get their hands completely wrapped up in fishing line, even when the line is clearly still looped through the pole. That takes a special skill! But I think the court is still out on whether Connor has PTSD or is just a PITA. Or both. It’s not surprising he has relationship problems. I can’t sympathize too much with Mark’s frustration:  He brought this largely on himself. He also agreed to provide relationship advice to the guys, even though he has no professional experience. And—I presume—he approved of Connor’s participation.

Art Dept. Did you all notice that sometimes Rivera recognizes that light and dark exist, and that objects and figures have volume? Check out panel 3, where Mark and his shirt are cast in shadow. But this isolated, cool bit of three-dimensional illusion only makes the rest of the figures look flatter and starker.

Mark’s fishing class is already underwater and they’re still inside!

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For those coming in late, panel 1 illustrates the second view of a fish (trout, perhaps?), as first discussed this past Wednesday. And as usual, Rivera mocks the image with her Batman TV Show sound effect.

Faced with the obvious, we have to wonder why the De-Bait Team members call Connor a friend. He certainly acts self-absorbed, irrational, and paranoid. Perhaps it will come out that he is also a vet and suffers from PTSD. We’ll see how this develops. That reminds me, just where did Mark’s best friend, Cliff, run off to?

I’m guessing you might be as puzzled as I am as to what those ovals are beneath Connor’s eyes in panel 4. I’ve seen Rivera draw them on other faces before, but I have no idea what they are supposed to represent. Any ideas, people? They’re certainly not Roger McGuinn’s granny glasses.

Cast not your pearls before swine, but first learn to cast!

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Great, we’re done with introductions. Time to fish. For an instructor, Mark doesn’t seem very practical. The last place you want to teach people how to cast a fishing line is inside a building, especially when you have a river just outside! It’s like teaching somebody how to swim while in the desert. C’mon, Mark! You can’t be that dense! I suppose the real question is (see how I avoided the obvious pun?) “Why the heck is Rivera making Mark look like a dope?”

If practicing to cast is the joke-of-the-day, the usual joke clichés are sinkers flying through windows, lamps breaking, and Mark getting pelted by errant casts (it would serve him right, too!). A snarled line is also a valid punch line, but it’s underwhelmingly illustrated here, barely discernable.

Art Dept. Speaking of drawing, the first two panels are well composed, and Mark is nicely drawn (panel 2). But the artwork starts going off the rails in panel 3 with its lopsided perspective and odd proportions. By panel 4, Mark appears to be having a frontal cranial implosion, though it might be justified.

Mark’s not the only thing floundering around here.

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An old-timer once told me “Beware of Evil”, or perhaps it was “be ware of eve hill”. My recollection is hazy, so I’m uncertain. He might have said “Be warm on Eve Hill!”, which is a standard greeting between skiers at a remote mountain lodge in Zuni, Virginia.

Well, dang! Now I forgot my point. No matter, on to today’s exciting installment of Mark Trail.

Hoo-boy! This story is just moving right along … like a car without fuel. So what is the point of all this? Sure, it’s always a good idea to flesh out characters, even the supporting cast. But is Rivera going to take all week to do this?

As for Mark’s fellow woodsman, Ranger Shaw, what’s with his “fill the void” confession? Is he a newlywed? He may not make it to long-term spouse status if he thinks there is an equivalence between his wife and a fish.

Art Dept. The fish drawing looks pretty good. I like this convention of showing the fish “in the water”, which is about the only way you can show a live fish without depicting it leaping out of the water.

One step forward, two steps back

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Okay, so this is now a fishing retreat. What happened to the forest survival idea? I reckon that it must have been abandoned as too grandiose. But we’re backtracking:  Mark already introduced himself yesterday, along with his now absent BFF, Cliff.

It makes sense that Connor signed up for the retreat, but Holy Moly! Apparently, gratitude is not part of his repertoire of social skills. No wonder he has relationship problems.

But I like the fact that the participants all get matching fishing vests, like a uniform. It’s a simple way to create a sense of belonging, right? Did Mark think of that idea or was it maybe Naomi, the female member of the De-Bait Team, who is otherwise not a visible part of this retreat?

Art Dept. I don’t know about you, but I wish Rivera would quit drawing posed, taxidermist animals in the foreground, as if they are some kind of long-running gag of the strip’s tradition for depicting wildlife.

Mark forgets Cliff’s last name.

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Things can move fast in Lost Forest. Last time we saw Mark, he was talking up his plans for the big retreat. Not only did Mark con the De-Bait Team into letting him use their lodge, they already have their first group of … only three paying customers. Holy Cow! How is Mark going to make this retreat idea pay off?

Anyway, where’s the joke here? Did Rivera (or Mark) forget the punchline? Usually, the joke goes something like this: “Teach a man to fish … and he’ll have another way to waste time and money.” Maybe it’s just me. Help me out, people!

Art Dept. It sure looks like Rivera was itchin’ to get out to the beach early, as the artwork in these three panels grows progressively less refined. I’ll leave you with this visual puzzle: What do you think is behind the windows in panel 2?

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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As most of you know, I add a title to Mark’s and Cherry’s adventures. This can make it a little easier when searching through prior strips, as the titles show up under the Categories label.  However, I’ve not yet been able to settle on names for either Mark’s or Cherry’s latest adventures. With regard to Cherry, I’m not even sure what the actual point of the story is just yet. My current assumption is that it will still have something to do with an outdoor festival. Moving on to the review:

We returned to Cherry this past week to see her walking through the Sunny Soleil Society’s gardens with Violet, looking for anything that will give Violet a purpose to enjoy the outdoors. She came up with an outdoor winter festival. Violet was excited by the prospect, especially as she saw an opportunity to play her harp (not sure what kind). Walking past the old bee-headed pioneer statue (cf “Sunny and the Bees”), they came upon a little-used hexagonal meeting/performance hall. Thinking it could be useful, they opened the double-doors, only to be knocked tail-over-teakettle by a swarm of bats that had taken refuge inside. The week ended with the two ladies sitting on the ground and commiserating over the shock.

So where does the story go from here? We’ll likely have to wait a few weeks to find out if this is yet another short tale. In the meantime, squander a few minutes of your time on today’s nature exposé.

People older than they want to admit may recall a red fox named Ferdie in an early episode of the animated cartoon series “Caspar the Friendly Ghost.” He and Caspar were friends, until Ferdie met his end at the hands of a hunter. This resulted in Ferdie turning from red to white as he became a ghost fox, a rare species not usually mentioned in discussions on foxes. But he and Casper remained friends, at least as long as the series lasted.

But it was not destined to last. When the series ended, Ferdie the ghost fox fell on hard times as roles for ghost foxes became as hard to find as, well, ghosts. Ferdie was apparently an “extra” in some of the Ghostbuster movies but was not able to get royalties.  A proposed talk show failed to materialize. He turned to drinking but discovered he couldn’t hold his liquor. Ferdie’s depression only increased when he realized that even suicide was no longer possible. Ferdie tried to sue Casper and his animation studio for wrongful death and illegally withholding earnings, but he didn’t stand a ghost of a chance of winning. Ferdie has not been seen in years.

Stepping on your own jokes

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Perhaps Rivera is working on the assumption that if a story has no legs, then give it wings? Earlier I mentioned the statue-and-bees story (cf “Sunny and the Bees”) from 2021. There is, in fact, a similarity in story structure here: a) Violet and Cherry work on a garden project; b) the object of attention (statue, old hall) needs maintenance of some sort; c) when the object is uncovered/opened, the two are strafed by flying pests (bees, bats), resulting in d) Violet wanting to eradicate them. Is Violet going to call on Honest Ernest, like she did before?

Rivera’s gratuitous narration box in panel 3 not only fails to provide anything new or even humorous but makes no sense: Activities (“cleaning out the old hall”) do not go batty; people do. One wonders if today’s strip was designed primarily to make this “joke” or if Rivera felt the need to add a humorous comment because the story, alone, would not stand. Clearly, Cherry’s comment in panel 3 is a good enough ending on its own and even lightly humorous. It’s a more natural “in context” jest than the forced “humor” of the narration box. This kind of overemphasis of the punchline is not unique to Rivera. In fact, several joke-a-day strips often overstate their humor with gratuitous post-punchline comments. A good punchline does not need additional support.

Cherry and Violet demonstrate synchronized running.

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Violet must ruin hats like I do tee shirts. Of course, since Violet is a parody of traditional Southern genteel ladies and culture, she is doomed to regularly experience disappointment, embarrassment, and exposure. Today is no exception.

But does this event signify the ending of their latest adventure, just as it was getting off the ground? Will Violet slink back to the safe confines of her office, leaving Cherry to look on in bemused sympathy? At least Cherry and Mark can exchange their experiences with bats (You’ll need to go back to the December 2015 archives to find the start of Mark’s bat cave story).

A stroll down false-memory lane

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I don’t see where Violet has ever been concerned about the health of bees; her former and recent history show just the opposite (see Monday’s strip). After all, she is the one who wanted the original hive of bees to be exterminated by Honest Ernest. Let’s face it, Violet hates bees! So why would Cherry think that revealing the true fate of the bees would create bad feelings?

As for the gratuitous narration box in panel 4, what’s being saved here?  There are times when holding back can be valid (e.g. In a time of personal crisis), but this doesn’t seem like one of those times. Violet may be passive-aggressive, but she is not a child asking about Santa Claus.

Okay, is the squirrel laughing with us or at us!?

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I suppose that if you are trying to expand a (so far) weak storyline, then why not also pack it with pointless prattle that insults the intelligence of readers while killing their brain cells at the same time? This is like the old Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland “Let’s put on a show!” shtick, but without Mickey Rooney or Judy Garland.

As several of you know, I have always believed that expanding Cherry’s personality and role in the strip is one of Rivera’s best contributions. But I’m starting to have second thoughts. Cherry’s storylines seem to be getting more vapid, especially when compared with her earliest adventures. Maybe Cherry is “growing up” from her earlier brashness, but she’s becoming less interesting.

Please convince me that I’m wrong.

Why don’t you come over for dinner? You bring the food.

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Is Cherry on salary with the SSS or is she putting in all this free time as charitable work which she can use to write off taxes? That is, she does have a garden and landscape business. Yet, it seems to be less and less of a necessity. This is odd, considering the fact that Mark has also not had a paying assignment for quite some time.

But I like how in panel 3 Cherry answers her own query she posited in panel 2. This rhetorical trick is popular with politicians, sales staff, and other hucksters, as it saves so much time and keeps the sucker one step behind. Cherry deftly proposes that local Lost Forest businesses should shoulder the burden of support for an activity promoting another private business (The Sunny Soleil Society, which acts on behalf of an HOA). Dang! If Cherry can pull this off, she should run for Mayor.

Could this be the start of a beautiful relationship?

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After all that parody (or was it just satire?), it’s nice to get back to Cherry’s more practical, logical stories that … uh, wait. What’s going on here? Didn’t we cover this, already? Cherry is virtually always outside when we see her. And as for a new foot, well, we can’t see it, because Violet’s dialog balloon is in the way (okay, that comment was just cheap sarcasm. By the way, if this strip originated in France, Rivera would probably have written that Cherry and Violet are starting off on a whole new meter. Sometimes it’s hard to constrain my wit).

Still, it’s heartwarming to see Violet once again getting her comeuppance for her hypocrisy and snobbishness; So what’s her game? All of her talk and actions about wanting to spend more time outside in nature seem disingenuous. Let’s hope we find out before the week is over.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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If you were too busy this week with Thanksgiving, preparing for Winter, preparing to avoid Winter, or just watching as much “MeTV” as you could stomach, then I can fill you in on the past week’s strips.

There was not much in the Action Department; this was a week for Man Talk. Mark arrived at the De-Bait Team’s lodge, where he met up with Duke and Cliff to discuss his idea for a men’s-only nature retreat. Based on the sad plight of the lost-then-found camper (whose name we learned is Connor), Mark expressed strong emotional rage against the bad influence of the error-prone survival guide of Tadd Crass and how it could lead to future disasters for men who live around Lost Forest. Mark must fix that!

Along the way, it came out that Connor was having relationship issues, and it was suggested that it might have led to his unwise decision to escape into Lost Forest. With that untested assumption in place, Duke and Cliff actually suggested Mark should also offer relationship advice to all of the men who are sure to sign up for the retreat (because why else would men want to go camping?) Mark’s off-the-frayed-cuff response about successful relationships was to the effect of “Look good, bring home the bacon, and don’t forget dessert.” The question remains: If this is a sample of their wisdom and experience, what does Mark want from Cliff and Duke?

Meanwhile, I had questions about the underlying purpose of the strip, itself. You’ll have to go back and read the daily posts for the details. With luck, I’ll be totally wrong.

No arguments about this from me. People continue to cuddle up to wild animals as if they are having tea with Bambi and Thumper. It’s foolish and dangerous. That includes putting food scraps on your steps or in your yard for the benefit of raccoons, possums, etc. They start showing up in greater numbers or frequency, leading to potentially bad outcomes for pets and children.

BTW, I still think Mark’s beard upgrade is cheap. If Rivera doesn’t like to stipple beards, she can just drop the whole beard thing. Mark can sport bandages from shaving with his wilderness survival knife.

A decent paycheck? When’s the last time you even had a paying assignment, Mark?

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When I start to wonder whether the self-parody theory of Mark Trail is just overblown babbling, Rivera publishes something like this. Where to even start? I’ll assume you are all at least as observant and perspicacious as I am (though maybe falling a bit behind my natural wit and talent for irrelevance, as is to be expected).

But just in case there are a few outliers, why in @)#! would Duke assume a nature retreat is the solution for relationship issues? Does Duke know anything about interpersonal issues that “lots of guys like Connor” have with their significant others? What the @)#! do issues with females even have to do with camping, anyway? (“So, I had a fight with Janet, right? I heard that the best way to cope was to go camping in Lost Forest. Ain’t never done that, but Billy gave me his survival guide. It’s printed on toilet paper. ‘Read it as you use it’, it says. Ain’t that a hoot!? So I went camping. Next thing I know, I woke up in a psycho ward! But Janet and me, we’re a pair once again!”)

Really, Rivera? Just what are you trying to accomplish with this line of sexist absurdity, other than to continue to make Mark look like a gullible bonehead?

The art of selling an idea is making the customers sell the idea to themselves.

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Okay, in the Trailverse there appears to be an untold number of men who live in and around Lost Forest who nevertheless seem to have little or no knowledge of woods or camping. Yet, having no knowledge, they might still get inspired by a phony survival book to go camping. This might then result in them winding up in a hospital or morgue, like soon-to-be poster boy, Connor (“this could be you!”).

So fine: If Mark wants to create a training camp to help these dudes, I hope he can find enough clients with the time and ability to pay the costs. But guys who purchase $25 survival books probably don’t have the funds to pay for in-person survival training. Heck, if Mark has any business sense, he’ll call Bill Ellis to get his publishing company to help underwrite the project for the PR and Mark’s articles (Ed. note: “Why am I fantasizing about this, since the strips were already written weeks ago?!“)

Well, it’s too bad that former lost camper and current hospital patient Connor didn’t learn anything from his outdoorsmen friends, Duke and Cliff. Maybe Mark should keep that in mind if he has any plans on using them in his project.

A clear and present danger?

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Mark continues his rant. But how many dead campers have actually been found with Tadd’s book in their backpacks? How many lost or injured survivalists were rescued while clutching his survival guide? Has Mark done any actual research before going on this holy quest of his?

I’m starting to think this storyline is a Mark Trail parody. The whole “male dominant” nature of the comic strip comes under the microscope. Although the de-Bait Team has a female member, she is left out of virtually all interactions with Mark, in favor of the guys. Then there is Mark continually referring to only male campers. Where women do shine is in Cherry’s stories. Kelly Welly, one-time rival reporter, seems to have checked out. Nobody knows what happened to Diana Daggers. This gender bifurcation seems odd coming from a female artist/writer working to modernize this old strip.

But wait, there’s more:  In addition to his ongoing rant, Rivera offers up some sarcastic commentary in panel 4 about Mark and his “big jobs,” reading like a jab at his maturity, with an implied notion that Mark’s quest is overblown. Okay, perhaps I’m projecting here. I’m not a sociologist. Help me out, people! Am I guilty of making mountains out of mole hills? Should we take this at face value?

The bitchin’ session continues.

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Tad (or Tadd) Crass sure must have been pretty popular back in the day. And like Mark, Cliff seems to think that having one career makes you unable to have a second one. Does being a former combat vet make you ineligible to be a fishing guide? Clearly, the members of the De-Bait Team don’t think so.

Well, keeping up with the times, “AI” is the bogeyman to this version of Mark Trail that the Internet was to the prior version of Mark Trail. (from February 2020)

Anyway, if Mark wants to crush Tadd’s AI-based survival guide, he might consider publishing a better one! That would give him a better chance to counter Crass’s book than starting up another boutique survival camp that only a few people can afford to attend. But where would be the story in that?

Art Dept: I won’t spend time on it, but you scan the posts from October 2021 to see what Mark, Cliff, and Duke originally looked like and draw your own conclusions.