Home » A-I, A-I, Oh! » Mark is a good boy. That’s a good boy, Mark…fetch!

Mark is a good boy. That’s a good boy, Mark…fetch!

Posted on by

Ah, home at last! And what a cabin! Every time it gets shown, it changes shape and dimensions. At least, this extended cabin seems more likely to house four people and two dogs.

And we have finally, once and for all, finished with this AI adventure! But based on this story, Cherry is not the only person who isn’t aware of all the AI effects on the environment. Mark could have at least turned his laptop around to give us a peek.

And this is for his own blog, so I don’t get why he knuckles under. Job protection, I must assume.

Art Dept. Have to say I like that pose of Cherry in panel 3. It’s got a certain vibe to it that reminds me a bit of old black & white movies. Can’t say I remember anything in particular, so this is a pretty bland comment. Anybody else get this vibe? Or a different one?

8 thoughts on “Mark is a good boy. That’s a good boy, Mark…fetch!”

    • I actually like her “autobiographic” comic strip blog, where the drawing style is more suited. As for characters from this 2022 strip, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if some of the Trail family and other characters are taken from real life. But I’ll be embarassed to choose which ones. But I’ll go out on the proverbial limb and guess Peach and maybe Honest Ernest. And I think Blackbird may be the inspiration for Ralph, the talking snake.

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Cherry has a giant head and chicken wing arm in the last panel. Not to mention Rivera’s inability to draw human looking necks that don’t stretch like an E.T.

    Like

    • Yes, it’s certainly extended! It reminds a bit of a similar oddity in the way James Allen sometimes drew women, with their heads seemingly nailed to the front of their necks, rather than atop. You might go back and review the Trail’s trip to Mexico, where Rusty got involved in investigating nefarious goings on with his female friend, Mara (ex. 10/19/2018).

      That adventure can be found under the category “Dirty’s Revenge“, which actually encompasses several scenes about Dirty Dyer’s activities, with the Trail’s Mexican adventure (which ran 4/26/18-2/16/19!) sandwiched in between.

      Liked by 1 person

      • A quirk in another artist’s run of the strip has zero to do with how unprofessional and untalented Rivera is. But then you also believe her inability to keep things consistent panel to panel, let alone strip to strip, is “artistic license”. Why are you so eager to defend a four flusher?

        Like

        • Thanks for the responses, Rich grunkle duck! I appreciate most all comments that engage with the strip.

          Your original comment was about parts of the anatomy and mostly the neck, rather than the entire human body. So I responded in kind. It was curious that the juxtaposition was reminiscent of examples in Allen’s work. But, my response was also to indicate that other arists (if not all) have their peculiarities. In that regard, Rivera was not unique.

          While your most recent comment about Rivera’s ability is a common complaint (Rivera not being able to draw the human body), you may mistake style for ability. Rivera can draw naturally enough when she chooses, but chooses not to for the sake of her approach. Most of us agree that her style looks slack, sketchy, and sometimes distorted. It is definitely jarring to compare it to the earliest Mark Trail artists, not that they were all that good, either (i.e. Dodd). But Rivera’s earliest remarks revealed that she felt it was necesarry to break with the traditional “old school” approach in order to push her ideas better. I presented an example of how her approach had to differ, on post of April 16, 2021, putting that day’s dialog onto an earlier James Allen strip.

          If you want to see Rivera’s earliest work in her more “naturalistic” style, check out her first Mark Trail story, which started on October 13, 2020. Or click on the “Woke Mark” category to view the first leg of that story, and then “Happy Trails“, which covers the rest. You can also scan some of Rivera’s early publicity images on the April 21, 2021 page.

          I think the real (still unanswered) question is why did she abandoned her edgier, more naturalistic style for what she produces now? Scanning her strips over the past 5 years, we can see that it has been an ongoing, though not even, metamorphosis.

          As for defending her, I’ll rip her when necessary, but support here where and when I think she has done something innovative or noteworthy. I don’t take out the knives every day, because that is boring and goes nowhere. But if that is what you are mostly interested in, I’ll recommend you patronize Comics Kingdom, where “snark” is always the Soup du jour.

          Otherwise, thanks again for commenting and I hope to hear from you again!

          Like

  3. Where’s Ralph?! He was my favorite character.
    Peach & Ernest are the ones I spotted. They were both in Mark Trail before the surf Joolz was posted in 2022. The other surfer could be Kelly, or any random brunette.
    American Splendor is a pretty good movie, especially the parts where Harvey’s coworkers at the Post Office tell him they enjoy being in his comics.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Yeah, the wife and I liked that movie, too. I have one or two of his books. I, too, miss Ralph the rat snake and wonder why Joolz doesn’t bring him around more. That’s one thing I just don’t get: Rivera had all of these interesting innovative additions early on, but most have been put aside, or they only show up once in a blue moon. Like the different magazine assignments. Good idea, but petered out quickly.

    Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.