Yeah, robot cloning technology! Now that is a cool plot device. Too bad it won’t be used; but heck, this is a comic strip. If Rivera allows Mark to avoid responsibility for breaking the law time and time again, I think we can get behind some robot cloning technology once in a while.
Art Dept. I think we have seen that image of Mark in panel 2 before. Does anybody recall when?
Addendum: I found this example from April 12, 2023. It’s close, but not exact. Don’t these people ever change their clothes!?!
Yes, Rusty apparently didn’t have to actually dig anything up. Did Mark’s heavy-handed “lecturing” cause everything that was ever buried in the immediate vicinity to automatically ooze to the surface? I dunno. Anyway, Rusty already knows something about e-waste, or should. After all, it’s his topic which he picked out. Some glaring inconsistencies! BTW, I noticed they didn’t bring any trash bags to carry stuff back.
Art Dept. If you look closely at those unburied items, you’ll see numerous things lying around in all sorts of weird angles, as well as items clearly out of proportion with neighboring items. Perhaps Rusty and Robbie also buried some furniture from their Barbie Playhouse. It looks like Rivera simply took a bunch of clip-art images and pasted them onto the panel, rotating them every which way. Hardly convincing, Rivera. Maybe the surf was up and she couldn’t wait.
Well now, why would Rusty and Robbie want to mark where they illicitly buried broken game controllers? Why would Rusty want Mark to tag along while he went to retrieve them? Rusty doesn’t strike me as a scaredy-cat or somebody incapable of digging holes.
Rivera has Rusty actually admit his complicity in burying the very items he wants to use in a science project to humiliate Robbie. Again, why? Rusty is showing himself to not be a very clearheaded thinker, even for a 12-year-old kid.
Thus, we see Rusty hoisted with his own petard (to paraphrase Shakespeare) as Mark prepares the dreaded “Dad Lecture.” I’m not looking forward to it, myself.
So, Rusty helped Robbie bury the broken game controllers in the woods!?! Now I’m confused. If Rusty fulfills his plan to get revenge against Robbie in the science fair, he also exposes his own complicity in the deed, right? I reckon he hasn’t thought this through. Let’s see if Mark figures it out. You remember Mark; he’s the guy with the big head (or the petite torso) in panel 1.
Well, of course a bear is going to make a random appearance in Lost Forest, unaware of Mark and Rusty walking along a trail. And of course, Mark and Rusty are going to saunter by, unaware of the bear. Another case of Rivera poking the bear or poking fun at the Mark Trail bear trope?
Wait, you mean to say that Robbie actually buried his broken game components in the woods!?! That seems like a lot of trouble. Why wouldn’t he just dump them in the garbage, like most people? I don’t know if Lost Forest supports hazardous waste management, but if they are not big on composting, then hazardous waste may not even be on their radar.
Art Dept. Close examination of Mark in panel 2 might help explain how those ubiquitous raised arms with pointing fingers often look disconnected. Also, I’ve been getting distracted by these strange sideways mouths (panel 3) I’m seeing. I’m not sure what this oddly drawn depiction means, but it’s been showing up a lot, lately (e.g. Jeanette on 5/21 and 5/22; Violet on 5/24). I also spotted this sideways mouth as far back as January 30, 2023 on Mark, while he experienced a moment of frustration. It could go back further, but I was too lazy to look. Feel free to do it, yourself. All I know is that it isn’t the usual way Rivera draws mouths. Maybe Rivera is experimenting with her drawing style.
Cherry is really into composting, which should not be a surprise, given that her primary avocation (other than raising a revenge-driven adolescent) is gardening and landscaping. This week she showed up at Planet Pancake to beg food scraps from proprietor Jeanette. This included a mini-lecture to Jeanette on composting. Jeanette managed to make it through the talk without falling over, unconscious.
Cherry then admitted that her real purpose was to satisfy a requirement from Violet Cheshire and the Sunny Soleil Society. That was to gather a quota of organic matter for composting in order to obtain their financial backing for Cherry to attend a composting convention (say, can you dig it?!?). But then Cherry spilled the beans to Jeanette that the Society was also getting a tax break for the support, which she was not supposed to reveal to anybody.
Frankly, I don’t know what the big deal is; tax breaks are as common as tax cheats. Nevertheless, Cherry did break the trust, which is certainly going to come back and cause trouble. What a family the Trails are: Mark will break the law when he thinks it helpful; Rusty wants to take revenge against a classmate for duping him; and Cherry can’t keep a trust.
An interesting, if slightly oversold topic on spider ballooning. What Mark talks about (flying on electro-magnetic currents in the air) is still a hypothesis in the scientific community, but it has been demonstrated in the lab. It’s still being tested and evaluated. The reasons for why certain species of spiders (mostly, but not exclusively, young) wind up ballooning are varied.
Survival is one big reason, for sure. It’s important to realize that spiders have virtually no control over where or how far they will go. Most flights do not seem to be very long. Interestingly, back on October 31, 1832, Charles Darwin spotted and captured spiders that had ballooned onto the HMS Beagle some 60 miles from shore. He called them Aeronaut spiders.
I know there are over 3000 species of spiders. I’m not sure what this one is, but I’m glad that, for once, the “animal of the day” isn’t staring or smirking at us. That can’t be said for Cherry, who seems to have taken on the cynical smugness of Garfield.
So, a week is over and we’re off to a rousing mundane start (oh, I can be cynical, as well). But we’ll have to wait. Unless Rivera has changed up her priorities, it means that we return to Mark on Monday, as he gets involved in Rusty’s revenge school science project.
My snarky comment about Cherry’s discussion resembling a student presentation in yesterday’s strip encouraged regular reader Downpuppy to again promote his hypothesis that Mark Trail is transforming into a strip directed towards children, or at least written at that level. That is a real possibility. I originally thought that the idea of “attracting a younger audience,” as was once claimed by Rivera, referred to newer readers under 60, for example. But I think Downpuppy refers to pre-adolescent children. On the other hand, a lot of children in that age range already like adventure and action stories with a lot more danger and a lot more action.
As for today’s installment, the idea that Violet Cheshire would send Cherry to a convention for collecting organic trash for composting is silly (but I do think panel 3 with its burnt-orange background and spot-on narration box is an effective flashback). Since when did Violet become a conservationist, anyway? What would make more sense for this story is for Violet to offer an award (or free trip) to whichever person or family in the community does the most composting over the summer. Yeah, it still sounds boring, but it would at least make more sense. Just think of the intrigue and drama between the contestants!
In any event, it’s not going to go that way. In fact, like Mark’s adventure of the wild horses that had little to do with wild horses, I think composting will also be a sidebar. Instead, this story may be another morality play about keeping confidences, rumors, and Cherry’s continued regression from spirited, self-confident, problem-solving female to TV sitcom, blabby-mouthed bore.
Airhead Jeanette (well, that’s how she is presented here, so don’t blame me!) will almost certainly be spreading the word about those secret tax credits around Lost Forest faster than Rusty can consume a plate of flapjacks! Woohoo, boys and girls! What will happen next? Will Violet get visited by the Income Tax Boogey Man? Tune in again tomorrow for another thrilling chapter of “Lost. Forest. Adventure. Theater!”
Okay, I get it: Cherry wants her own “Sunday Nature Chat”, like Mark. There’s only one Sunday a week and it belongs to Mark, so Cherry must have decided to create her own version by spending almost the entire week discussing the benefits of composting. Too bad Cherry goes on like a kid delivering her science project in school. No wonder Jeanette was fading fast. Luckily, Cherry finally got the point in panel 4. If this story doesn’t pick up soon, lots of eyes are going to start glazing over.
Whoa, some of these faces look like somebody was playing around with a police identikit and wasn’t too careful about matching up the features. Although I thought composting was fairly well known, apparently most of the inhabitants of Lost Forest are not aware. So it looks like we’re going to have a composting morality tale, after all.
How will Cherry encourage more (if any) composting by the denizens of Lost Forest? Maybe the citizens can meet at the local landfill and grab a bunch of organic matter to start their compositing at home. That would help lighten the landfill load, as Cherry put it. But more importantly, it could help reduce the manufacture of methane gas caused by the landfill.
I’m almost certain we’ll see Honest Ernest show up again, possibly as the owner of the local trash collection business, who will resent having citizens save their organic trash, thus robbing him of business.
So, Cherry wants to score some free chum for her composter, eh? But why does she think composting is “a little weird”? It’s been around for about as long as humans have been farming. And, along with recycling, it’s commonplace these days. I hope this isn’t Cherry’s latest crusade <yawn!>.
From the first, I had high hopes for Cherry’s promotion in the Trailverse to “alternate story protagonist.” Her increased facetime is a significant addition to the Mark Trail strip. In the past, Cherry has (literally) fought for the protection and promotion of honey bees, pressured people to stop using harmful chemicals on lawns, warned against the environmental effects of the overuse of concrete pavement, and even gone to bat for bats.
But it seems her stories continue to get sillier and less meaningful. This is ironic, given Rivera’s own socio-political leanings. But Cherry’s last “adventure” was chasing a cat. Ah well, let’s hope something interesting happens in this story.
[edited] Special Order!?! That brings back memories:
Hold the pickle, hold the lettuce Special orders don’t upset us All we ask is that you let us serve it your way
Well, the moving finger points, and having pointed, moves on. Or something like that. That pointing finger has been a popular motif in the Trailverse. Sometimes the forearm looks like it’s actually attached to the intended person.
Anyway, Planet Pancake has once again shape-shifted into a smaller venue. No matter, as it serves its purpose as a point of reference. The name of the business is certainly catchy, as is the sign’s design.
But food scraps? Is Cherry referring to what we would otherwise call “the garbage”, or perhaps, “organic recycle”? I think the Planet Pancake Space Cake Special sounds more appealing. Mounds of syrupy half-eaten pancakes, greasy bacon, and crappy sausage links don’t sound like any kind of meal that even a four-legged animal would want. I admit, I’m stumped where this story is going. So far, so good!
Otherwise, it might be pot luck night at the Trail cabin once again.
Mark returned home from his triumphantdestruction of Tad Crass’s AI data center (and presumably the adjacent office building), while the wild horses issue trotted down the road. With visions of showing off assignment photos to the family that night, his reverie was interrupted when Rusty arrived home from school, fuming like an old animated cartoon tugboat.
Rusty tried to get his Dad involved in his e-waste science project to help take revenge against Robbie for hoodwinking him out of his original topic. Mark agreed to help, but gave Rusty the mixed message that revenge is not a proper path to follow, though throwing “two fists o’ justice” is just fine. Make of that what you will; it might help explain why kids sometimes don’t understand their parents. I’m not sure I understand the difference, either. But I’m also a blockheaded dad.
One final observation: Mark’s face goes through a series of various images and/or shapes during the week, all of which are otherwise flat with no attempt at modeling volume or shadow. Here are some examples.
Compare them with the images of Mark, below, where his image is generally more developed and modeled, using color for volume and highlights in skin and hair. I’ve got no explanation.
In public school I didn’t pay much attention in biology, except for what I needed to pass the class. That’s nothing to brag about. We certainly didn’t get into anything nearly as detailed as this. It was more like hearing about Mendel’s peas, breeding fruit flies, and dissecting frogs. That was decades ago. Possibly taught by one of Mendel’s ancestors (continued below if there is any intervening ad).
I don’t think much was said about evolution except in the most general sense. So this was an interesting topic for me. Most of the records I researched naturally employ contemporary scientific terminology that makes me wish I had taken more biology classes in college. Anyway, they state that, based on fossils, the miacid was superficially similar to modern martens and civets. End.
Mark Trail practices family values!?! Whose family, Ma Barker’s? Mark seems to have no fear of skirting and breaking the law when it suits him. And as much as I like a good action scene, decking somebody with his two fists o’ justice doesn’t automatically infer rightness or truth. And isn’t “revenge” often a method for seeking “justice”? Well, enough of this faux philosophy!
That is sure a weird looking version of the Trail cabin behind the fake Fox in panel 4. But, hah-hah-hah… Rivera once again tries to poke fun at the cliché of wild animals running amok in Mark and Cherry’s front yard. That’s funny, maybe twice a year. The rest of time, Rivera should stick to drawing real animals, if she’s going to bother at all.
Mark provides fatherly advice for taking a serious approach to the topic of electronic waste in our environment, while Rusty provides comic relief. All well and good. But will the environment topic, itself, be treated seriously, or once again used merely as a story prop?
While the real point of the wild horse story in Utah revolved around an A.I. data center, we learned very little about what actually took place with wild animals and we learned even less about why data centers may be bad for people and the environment. That is to say, virtually nothing. Wasted opportunity.
As this is an environmentally-conscious adventure strip, we should expect to see Rusty researching and assembling the project (without slandering Robbie), along with providing some basic discussions of the topic along the way. One could even imagine Robbie viewing the exhibit at the fair and feeling guilty enough to admit to Rusty he was sorry for being careless with his game components. Yeah, right.
Regular reader “Be aware of eve hill” enjoyed the thought balloon of Robbie sticking his tongue out at Rusty in panel 2 of yesterday’s strip. I agree that it is a funny gag. More often I think we are laughing at the strip, itself; so it is nice to be able to laugh along with Rivera for once.
Okay, Mark does have a habit of ending the careers of people: Tess Tigress, Sid Stump (I think), Senator Smalls, and Tad Crass all come to mind. None were specifically for revenge, with the possible exception of Tad Crass. Mark’s technique seems to be consistent: Goad the targets enough so they make a fatal mistake and destroy themselves.
This could turn out to be a memorable father-son discussion.
From the looks of things, it’s likely that Rivera is going to drag this conversation into Saturday. And frankly, I don’t want to see Rusty’s Revenge Face all week long, so I hope Mark can quickly settle things down and get this story moving along. I don’t know what Rivera is making Rusty think, regarding what Mark can to do. But so far, this story is running along the line I suggested back on May 7 … and that’s a bummer, because I’m not a storyteller.
Nevertheless, there are some real issues that may or may not get explored here, such as … uh, wait. Given the fact that real and important issues were mostly just implied or given lip service in the wild horses adventure, it’s doubtful things will be different this time around.
Anyway, where is Cherry? She hasn’t been seen in the strip since early April, when she, Doc Davis, and Violet Cheshire had a good laugh over the antics of Banjo Cat.
Hmmm, are they outside of the cabin or inside? I ask because Mark still has his jacket on, not that we know what season this takes place in. Maybe they just like to keep a cool cabin.
Now remember, dear readers, this is (supposed to be) Rusty’s adventure, so don’t expect the usual nail-biting suspense and drama of one of Mark’s stories, though that could happen. But it won’t. Anyway, Mark usually ingratiates himself into Rusty’s adventures, even if Rusty is naïve enough to sometimes invite him in on his own, as he does here. Poor Rusty.
Okay, will Daddy Trail wisely counsel Rust on the dangers of seeking revenge or will he simply say “Sounds great! Where do we begin?”
Art Dept. Now isn’t that a great image of Rusty in panel 4? I’m serious. Strongly defined expression, good facial proportions, and even decent lines. The green color is an effective background, along with those “emotion rays” (for wont of a better name) shooting out from behind Rusty, a motif frequently used by Rivera, but going back to Japanese anime at least as old as the Samurai Pizza Cats of the early 1990s.
Meanwhile, back home in the Davis/Trail cabin, Andy (panel 1) must either be standing on the dinner table or possess the ability to levitate. Well, who cares about reality or even the laws of physics, anyway? All we have today is Mark talking nonsense: • No, Mark. You did not chase wild horses. You illegally trespassed, helped instigate a prairie fire that destroyed private property, and escaped responsibility. • Disbelieve slides and slide projectors? Again, Mark boasts of his disdain for technology and history. Maybe tomorrow we’ll get to see his after-dinner slide show with the family: “Check this out, family! This picture shows the helicopter that was chasing us as it hit a transformer and set everything on fire! And this next picture shows the smoldering ruins of the company the next day. How neat is that!?!”
This week we returned to the adolescent adventures of Rusty Trail. He is in school and about ready to announce his topic for the upcoming school science fair. But troublemaker and underhanded “friend”, Robbie, neglected to prepare a topic, having wasted his time playing computer games all weekend. Robbie easily cons Rusty into revealing his topic (the axolotl salamander, subject of the prior Sunday), which Robbie then submits to the teacher before Rusty does! Rusty is suitably angry at Robbie for stealing his idea, though he should have been angry at himself for being so gullible. Fortunately, Rusty quickly came up with a better topic—electronic waste—based on his knowledge of Robbie’s game-playing habit.
There were also discussions during the week about the direction and quality of the drawing, so feel free to browse and catch up, if you are interested. There is at least one thought that the style has become more childlike, possibly because of the subject matter; or because Rivera may simply be directing the entire strip towards an even younger audience.
Cartoonists have traditionally maintained physical picture archives of objects they can reference for drawing, tracing, or adapting. In pre-Rivera Mark Trail, James Allen often reused images of Mark’s head, saving time and ensuring consistency of appearance. I don’t know whether they were photocopies pasted onto the drawings or tracings from reference sheets. Same result. But the sameness of the images became a source of criticism by fans. But there’s more:
Pictorial recycling can be infinitely easier when your sources are digital, as we see in today’s strip: The bees buzzing through the panels today are from the same bee images Rivera used in Cherry’s earlier bee stories, simply copied-and-pasted as needed.
The Daily Trail 