Hoo boy.  

I’ve read posts from Rivera that imply she doesn’t make a lot of money from this strip. Of course, the main way to earn more money is to increase readership by getting into more newspapers and generating additional financial streams. To do that, Mark Trail has to appeal to more readers. Rivera’s current strategy does not seem to be paying off. I’m going to suggest that Rivera change her approach in a few ways to give some respect back to Mark Trail and maybe put more bucks into her bank:

1. Eliminate the continual self-mocking and corniness. A little goes a long way and their novelty wore off long ago.
2. Put more effort into the drawing. That is, take it more seriously. Rivera’s earliest work was very good.
3. Put more realistic drama and danger into the strip. Make the stories real adventures. If Rivera wants to employ a light touch here and there, that’s fine. It need not always be deadly serious. Borrow and adapt plots from good stories. It’s a common practice among writers.
4. Mark does not need to return to his goody-two shoes persona. If Rivera wishes to continue his eco-vigilante profile, there needs to be some offsets, whether they be moral conflicts Mark has to work through or more legal consequences.  There have been a few such instances in the past, and I encourage her to make those consequences more consequential.

Rivera has made numerous improvements to the strip, and I have highlighted them many times. But they get pushed aside by the strip’s failings. With regard to the drawing, there is no reason to return to the old-school illustration style of Ed Dodd (as many Trailheads would like), nor mirror the kind of lifeless drawing seen in some contemporary soap opera strips. Rivera’s original drawing style (i.e. September 2020) had plenty of naturalism—even if it was stylized—and an appealing, contemporary edge to it.