I’m sorry, Jules, but this is pretty rank stuff, visually and textually.I went over the implausibility of the wind blowing papers from inside the house to the outside when there is no cross-current. Rivera could have just had Mark move to the window in order to better read the paper and then have a gust of wind blow it out of his hands. That would at least be plausible.
And just how do we know that this production schedule is an important clue to the whereabouts of Wingit? In panel 3, the narration box states that Mark has caught up to the paper, yet he is still inside of the house, looking out the window. In panel 4, a recumbent lioness has somehow managed to snag the schedule. How did lions get outside of the house and why are they just hanging around the yard? The notion that police would not get involved in a situation like this is totally unrealistic.
Art Dept. There isn’t much to be said on the positive side and I do not think I need to belabor the obvious. The real question is why Rivera puts out this kind of stuff when it is clear she can do much better. Sure, her syndicate is probably not paying her much money. I get that. Mark Trail is not pulling in the kind of readership and earnings that Garfield or even Luann does, nor even the endless reprints of Peanuts. So, is the lack of quality meant to be some kind of protest by Rivera? Or maybe just her indifference? That seems self-destructive.
Perhaps there is no financial incentive for her to spend more time on the strip. That depends on her contract, of course. It might even be that the syndicate, itself, doesn’t care one way or the other, for its own reasons. I certainly don’t know. It’s a shame, because there are many good ideas and approaches that Rivera has already initiated or could implement.
The Daily Trail 
George, agree completely. As far as the Art Dept goes, I would imagine there are some Very talented young illustrators out there who are hungry for work and could actually do some fantastic art depicting the essence of Mark Trail. Also, I would guess there are young hungry writers who could team up to write a coherent dialog with a start and ending. They could team up! My idea is the syndicate which puts this out has a contest. I think it would be a great idea. Jules could go back to whatever she used to do and we might actually enjoy reading the strip again.
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I like the idea. And you are correct, of course, about the amount of available talent. I think it is a matter of money being put into it.
My own theory is that, if she had a good writing assistant, she could spend the extra time renewing her original style, with its more creative compositions, representational imagery, and “graphic novel” tone.
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Good point. However, in my opinion her original style was lame. And getting worse every week. I’ll go back to my original thesis. The ONLY ones who follow Mark Trail are old farts like me. She has lost us. Kids are not going to look at this strip. I have no idea who looks at this strip now. She is mailing it in every day. I cannot believe the readership is high. Artwork (as you say George) is God awful and the story line would bore a 6 year old. She took a classic Strip and turned it into an absolute unreadable lame joke of what it once was. There, I think that was my most honest critique to date. To those who are in thralled with Jules strip please comment. As always, I will be a reader of your well thought out blog. I thank you for that!
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