Speaking of yesterday, I reckon my subtle, if possibly lame, pun shot right over your heads, as Rivera’s did mine. There don’t appear to be any puns today, thank goodness. Paronomasia aside, we are witnessing Mark getting the treatment again, being steered away from his interview in order to admire a room of mounted animal heads. Looks like we also missed details of the wedding, so it’s not all bad.
I’m guessing that Mark is taken aback in panel 3 by a wall containing something more unusual. It probably isn’t mounted boar heads, as there are one or two on the wall behind Mark. Hmmm … Ah-ha! I think I’ve got it! I bet you do, as well. If I’m right, I also won’t be able to forget this (that’s a hint). After all, I meant what I said and I said what I meant….
“Why the long face, Mark!?” Looks like his jaw got pulled away from his head. I suppose if there was an award for “Bad Acting in a Comic Strip”, today’s entry would be one of the finalists. And maybe also a runner-up for “MostEgregious Padding in a Story.” It’s like one of those terrible infomercials that never seems to quit. And today’s strip lends more support to the theory that Tess is the one running this game.
Nevertheless, we learned one or two things today, namely that Jess is a lonely millionaire, which also explains the outrageous “hunting cabin.” I’m just a slow kid from Virginia, so I’m also glad Rivera put that explanatory text in panel 4, because Tess’s pun shot right over my head.
Will Mark ever get to the real point of the interview, the wild pig hunting group, or will this entire week be devoted to Jess & Tess’s lovey-dovey matrimony? I wonder whether we will have to endure two more days describing their wedding. I can see a celebration as they exit the church to the accompaniment of a 21-shotgun salute by Jess’s fellow hunters, all dressed in formal duck hunter livery. Well, I have to admit that it would certainly be an interesting panel to see!
Jess’s conversation gambit apparently worked. Instead of interviewing Tess about her hog-hunting group, as Mark was assigned to do, he is being led down an irrelevant side road of matrimonial kismet. I suppose there is some justifiable curiosity in knowing about their first meeting. In another context, we might suspect Mark is deliberately playing the role of a gullible and inexperienced reporter in order to disarm Jess and Tess to reveal more than they intended. But so far, we’ve seen no support for that idea. Yeah, I must be projecting, once again.
Okay, I hear what (some of) you are thinking: “Hey, George, you big dummy! Maybe it is Jess that was conned by Tess; not the other way around. Her amnesia is just part of her con so he wouldn’t ask too many questions about her background.She needed a place to hide out and a meal ticket.”
First of all, why is Mark wearing a fur-lined jacket when Jess and Tess are just in shirts? Sure, Mark’s been wearing this jacket the whole time he’s been in San Antonio, but there were no indications of the temperature until this week. It’s probably a small point, but I still find it curious why Jules Rivera would bother. Even in October, the average high is 82; the average low is 59. Maybe Mark has that stupid expression on his face in panel 1 because he’s trying to not look like he’s sweating.
Otherwise, the dialog is unsettling, from Mark’s patronizing instructions in panel 1 to the curious comment by Rivera in panel 4. However, one point that I think bears mentioning here—and I think this is genuinely plot-worthy—is the look of worry on Jess’s face in panel 2, followed up by his attempt to take over the conversation in panel 3. His deer-in-the-headlights expression in that panel suggests he reallydoesn’t want Mark to ask just anything.
Nature note: Is the animal in the tree supposed to be a red fox? It is not native to Texas, but is found mostly in other parts of the state. The gray fox is more common to Texas. The red fox is not really a tree climber like the gray fox is, so the sources say.
First off, I have no idea what Rivera’s comment means in panel 4. As far as I can tell, it’s a non-sequitur.
And as expected, we jumped from Lost Forest to San Antonio, Texas where Mark is on his latest assignment. Mark—nowadays comfortable with brandishing his working relationship with Teen Girl Sparkle—is interviewing the notorious Tess Tigress, who apparently no longer recalls Mark Trail. This is an interesting plot twist which gives us the chance to wonder if she suffered a traumatic injury from Gemma, the rampaging runaway elephant; had her mind altered for some unknown reason by her husband, Jess; or maybe faked her amnesia to mislead Mark for some nefarious purpose.
Once again, Mark conducts an interview from a picnic table. He has done this in prior adventures. Can you think of any? I found two. “Big deal“, I hear you sneer. Okay, you try coming up with different things to talk about after 4 years!
I suppose picnic tables can be convenient and informal. Maybe Rivera just likes drawing picnic tables. And she did a good job of it, too. But why wouldn’t they do the interview inside Tess’s home? They would find more comfortable seating and better access to refreshments, facilities, etc. As Rivera might state in a narration box: Good Question!
Art Dept. I recommend not zooming in on today’s art. Just take it for what you see. . . . . . . oh, you did it, anyway, did you? Don’t blame me for whatever happens to you.
Lost Forest Village, as the place is often referred to, cannot be very large, even with outlying homes. Yet, Peach and Olive claim that their merchandise stand at the Farmers Market sells enough to pay their rent. Housing must be cheap over there, or it’s really an “artist’s retreat” village that caters to the comfortably wealthy. This week Peach and Olive also admitted that moving out of Florida (like Jules Rivera also did) was a positive game changer. Based on what we saw on Chedderson’s golf course, they didn’t get away from the alligators.
So, this week we watched Cherry and her sisters selling their products at the farmers market. We didn’t see a lot of action at first. But the sisters were surprised when up popped a real-life fashionista who declared she wanted to buy their entire display! Her use of dated slang seemed to turn Olive off, but Peach nearly fainted with hero worship when she learned the woman is the famous online influencer, Holly Folly! This didn’t faze Cherry one bit, as she trotted out her “country gal” attitude and even imposed herself in between Holly and Peach while they chatted about working together.
By the way, Holly Folly—I’m hoping you’ll recall—was only a minor character in Mark’s mountain-top investigation of Sid Stump’s questionable STEM retreat (“Bear Necessity”). But is Holly sincere or on the con? We may have wait for that answer, as tomorrow we’ll likely go back to check on Mark for a few weeks, unless Rivera changes her publishing routine.
Is Mark giving this talk in his pajamas!? Makes sense, I reckon, given he’s talking about a nocturnal animal that does its playing while we’re sleeping.
Opossums play “dead”, and humans play “Possum.” Got it! I almost stepped on a big fat possum lounging on my side door stoop one night when I came home. It skedaddled out of the way pretty fast, once it determined that “playing dead” didn’t work on a human who didn’t see it until too late. Still, faking dead is a cool trick, unless you are being tracked by vultures. And I don’t know why, when the immunity genes were passed out, we didn’t get our share for snake venom and rabies.
Well, here it is, already Saturday. And we end the week with a bit of continuity and a smaller bit of humor. I’ll admit that I fail to see the humor. For reasons not yet clear, Rivera turns Cherry into an obnoxious wiseacre, as seen on TV. Totally unlike Cherry, unless there is a character transformation going on. One thing that also struck me in the last panel is how Cherry’s expression and pose resembles Jules Rivera.
Otherwise, I wonder whether Holly is going to screw over Peach and not give her due credit in her new fashion line. Or perpetrate something else equally unfortunate. Why do I think that, you ask? Isn’t Holly being genuine, transparent, and generous? Yes, she sure seems like that. Therefore, something bad is afoot.
Frequent reader and commenter, Daniel Pellissier, wrote on Wednesday “I am trying to envision an environmental/outdoor theme here.” I think Jules Rivera offered a response to Daniel in panel 4. It might be something of a stretch, however.
Is Holly wearing some kind of teardrop headband, or does she just constantly sweat? Whatever the answer is, I’m trying to envision a storyline here and failing. Granted, this is only reaching the end of week 1. That’s fine. I am curious (aren’t we all!?) about what the actual story will be. It seems as if Cherry’s adventures become more and more a kind of soap opera.
But as week 1 is just laying groundwork, what about next week? Cherry normally gets just one week in a row before turning over the reins to Mark. So will we have to wait until mid-November to learn more? Hell, I’m still wondering about the peacock and the dinner!
Editor’s Note: A commenter on ComicsKingdom brought up a point that we have discussed in the past, that being Olive’s haircut, especially how it falls to one side or the other. It is an exaggerated version of a mohawk cut known as a deathhawk cut, from its association with goth culture and deathrock music. So it fits with Olive’s personality. Deathrock, by the way, is different from death metal, which my youngest son prefers. So much for music education. Anyway, the point here is that Olive’s hair flops left or right, as needed (check yesterday’s strip). And that’s all there is say about it. So, moving on to today …
When I saw the gal’s name, it all clicked into place: Outgoing, exuberant blonde woman wearing pink with a scarf wrap. Holly Folly was the companion of Professor Bee Sharp in Mark’s adventure where he uncovered a phony mountain retreat run by digital con man Sid Stump (category: “Bear Necessity”).
Seems like the Trail family just can’t get any relief from the small cast of recurring pseudo-villains and troublemakers, even though Holly’s participation in her debut story was generally friendly, if brief.
Rivera trots out another trendy term, “cottagecore”, a word most of you have probably already Googled. I did, and I don’t see anything in these items for sale that bring about a celebration of idealistic rural life or pastoral fashion, especially shirts with geometric designs. But, Holly clearly sees more than I can. I’ll give her that!
I guess they’ve run out of oddballs in Lost Forest Village, so now they’re trucking them in from elsewhere. And I’m not too sure what the spot is on the end of the woman’s nose: An inking mistake, perhaps, or is she on the way to audition for one of the reindeer in a production of “Rudolph: The Musical”?
Perhaps this Amazeballswoman sees something we can’t see in these “fashions,” to want to buy them all. Well, it’s her money. Now I can understand the cynical stare of Olive Pitt. She’s probably thinking something like, “Oh goodie, another poser. Happy to take your money, though.”
“Amazeballs” is slang going back at least as far as a YouTube video in 2008 (according to the Oxford English Dictionary, though the term appears to originate in the US). It’s made the top of the list of the most annoying words more than once. A scorching condemnation analysis appears in a 2012 column in Slate, adding fire to the word’s origins and infamy ( https://tinyurl.com/4eatcs57 ). Like most slang, the word is now considered outdated, except possibly among older hipsters, such as Millennials and Gen Z.
Either rents are cheap in Lost Forest, or it’s become a ritzy artist’s enclave where people come to spend lots of money. Who knows? But, the sisters are working it out, so that’s all that matters. Doesn’t appear that there is any specific story starting this week, just some family time and living the life in Lost Forest.
And that’s okay for a short bit, but we’re not here to simply watch people go about their humdrum lives. That’s why Mary Worth and Arlo & Janis exist. We expect to read impactful stories dealing with environmental issues, and enjoy the occasional bop on the top of some miscreant or doofus.
I’m waiting for those three months to pass by quickly, so Olive can take the gloves off and start kicking booty. But at the rate time seems to pass in Mark Trail, it will be Spring 2026 before Olive makes a move.
(Yes, I ripped off another click-bait headline because I was too tired to think of anything better.)
Today Rivera makes a timely, strategic pivot back to Cherry and her sisters who are once again setting up shop at the local farmers’ market. (The last time they did this, Peach Pitt’s psychotic boyfriend showed up and caused a scene that Cherry’s brother Dirk had to settle) I’m not sure why Cherry is exhausted with setting up jewelry, since it looks like her sister, Olive Pitt, is taking care of it. And it looks as if the t-shirts are already hung, as well. Still, I reckon it’s nice of Cherry to volunteer. No?
Side note: I bet there are some of you out there who probably think Olive’s punchline in panel 3 would have been better had it stopped at “You sell better when you’re hopped up.” But we here at ThyTrailBeDone like to maintain higher standards, so we abstain from using R-rated humor. Okay. Maybe “standards” is too strong a term. And “higher” is really relative, based on where you are standing and what you are looking at. But it is aspirational!
Getting back to the strip’s current activity, I wonder if is this going to be a continuation of an existing storyline or the start of a new one. The last storyline was about the peacock owned by Violet Cheshire’s mom, which escaped just before a big dinner event for which Cherry had been commissioned to create a cage for said bird. Mark engineered a trap to catch the peacock, which was then taken by Honest Ernest to return to Violet. And that’s pretty much where things stood. So far, no word on the fate of the cage, the dinner event, or the peacock’s impression on the friends of Violet’s mother.
All concerns about a woman’s point of view for this assignment appear to have been dropped (Wait: I think I might have said that last week. So, just move on). Mark dropped into San Antonio to meet Tess Tigress. But first, he decided to visit “The Robert L.B. Tobin Land Bridge,” famous for its scenic design and its wide path for humans and wildlife crossing over the highway (Monday). Or maybe it was crossing over a river (Tuesday). Or maybe it was crossing over a highway experiencing a flash flood.
Mark arrived at a large, luxurious A-frame structure on a lake—Tess’s home—aka, the hunting lodge. After driving along an elaborate driveway, Mark parked in front and knocked on the large glass doors. A man with a pompously large handlebar mustache opened the door announcing that he was Tess’s husband, Jess. This took the wind out of Mark’s sails for a moment, because not only was he surprised Tess was married, he was concerned that Jess might not have known Tess had prior marriages. Shocking, I know. Hell, even I didn’t know that! But who are we to question Mark’s scruples or his information?
Also in Saturday’s strip, Jules Rivera offered up one of her first actual cliffhangers: Tess could not remember ever meeting Mark Trail! Mark was speechless, possibly because Rivera needed the space in the last panel for her narration box, where she prematurely spilled the beans. However, this revelation opens up several possibilities regarding Tess’s memory loss, such as whether it is real or feigned. Maybe we’ll find out, but for now, it’s time for the Sunday nature chat!
Yes, a nasty plant, indeed, along with poison oak and poison sumac. But exactly what happens, Mark? Did you forget to spell it out for the unlucky ones? Poison ivy creates a really awful skin rash that gets worse when you scratch it! It can last for weeks, but is treatable. It’s still a real, real pain. And like Mark said, burning it in your backyard along with wood and yard scraps can be traumatic to your lungs and require a trip to the ER. Wash anything that comes into contact with it. Note that this stuff can grow in yards, too.
Art Dept. I’m sorry, but that raised finger-pointing hand in panel 4 just does not look like it is connected to Mark’s body. The hand is rotated to his right, rather than to his left, as it should be. The placement of the hand, inside the right shoulder, also looks off. It’s as if Mark is holding a hand prop on a stick. This is not a new phenomenon.
Moving the story along, Mark and Tess have their reunion, but it’s all one-sided. Has Tess been brainwashed (e.g., hypnotic therapy)? Drugged? Enmeshed in some kind of personality-stealing cult? That Jess fellow, he certainly looks suspicious with that handlebar mustache of his. I’d claim it was fake, but Rivera seems to have a habit of drawing facial hair that always looks like it was loosely applied with an adhesive.
But, let’s take this at face value for the time being. Is Tess unaware of her own past, or just her past with Mark? Is Jess involved in her transformation or is he just an innocent dupe? I can’t wait to find out.
Art Dept. As we’ve seen, Rivera is anything but consistent. Not sure if this is a deliberate decision or just how things work out. In panel 1, Jess and Tess look like flat paper dolls for some child’s pretend 2-D playhouse. The staging of the panel is unreasonably crowded. For example, why is the car in the scene, since it adds nothing to the plot or the current interaction?
Panel 2 is an improvement. Jess and Tess take on a more substantive appearance, with actual expressions and a modicum of solidity. Mark’s depiction is also interesting, as if he has been delineated by a good sketch artist. The change of direction in the reflection of the door glass is more for reasons of visual balance than continuity with panel 1. That is, the angle from upper left to lower right leads back towards the center, where Jess and Tess are standing, where Mark is also looking. It’s basic design.
The one thing I think is wrong is Rivera’s narration box in panel 2, giving away the punch line before Tess delivers it. We’ve seen that in everyday situations, like where one person asks about a new mystery movie and some jerk reveals the surprise ending, “Is this the movie where they discover Edgar killed his wife in the park?” If Rivera felt the need to clue us in on the plot twist, she should have been more provocative: “But something is amiss!” or “Tess makes an unexpected confession…”
“Hi, I’m Mark the Journalist” Really!? What happened to “Hi, I’m Mark Trail”? Has Mark’s reputation plummeted so much that he is forced to identify himself in relation to a magazine for teenage girls? In Texas!?
Mark can sure be a real yenta. Why is he so concerned about Jess being husband number five or six? I mean, who cares!? If Mark was really concerned about Jess, wouldn’t he be more interested whether Jess knows about Tess’s corrupt past?
While I’m on this subject, would a bunch of teenage girls really be interested in women who hunt wild pigs? Just wondering how this topic got linked to Teen Girl Sparkle, rather than one of the other 16 magazines in Bill Ellis’s publishing empire. Perhaps Jules Rivera is being lazy or just can’t afford to spend more time on the strip. She came up with the concept of Mark working for different magazines when she took over the strip in 2020, but has more less abandoned that plot device, without really exploring the possibilities.
… but nothing happened on the way over, so it’s all okay. Let’s thank Jules Rivera for clarifying that Mark is driving a rental car, rather than one he owns … or stole. He also didn’t rent a horse, so that’s something! Since Mark didn’t spend the entire week at the bridge, the story moves on.
“That’s like three cabins strapped together!” Mark gulped in his Gomer Pyle response. Seem to be more like four or five cabins by area, depending on what your idea of a hunting cabin is. But it’s Texas, and as many citizens like to brag, almost everything is big in Texas. A quick scan of actual hunting lodges indicates this is not even in the top five for size. Oh, Mark. You really need to get out more often!
This is probably a commercial establishment, set up to handle several groups of hunters at a time. In my state, which features lots of lakes, some people have built summer “cabins” on rural lakes that are bigger and more modern than many houses here in town, complete with grass lawns and cement driveways. I reckon “cabin” is a flexible term.
Art Dept. A defender might point out that the extreme miniaturization of this strip in newspapers is a big reason for Rivera’s very simplistic drawing style, which often borders on the being sketchy. To a certain extent, I agree. But the style of other strips belies that size justification as a primary reason. As I’ve noted in the past, Rivera doessometimes use more dynamic layouts in her panels, as we see in panel 1 and even more in panel 3, with its bird’s eye angle and axonometric view of the cabin. Yet much of the detail in panel 3 is sketchy, except for the cabin, which was drawn with more care. And that static-looking car in panel 1 would look more like it is moving had Rivera added a few “speed lines” behind it.
(This is really for Wednesday, the 15th. I just accidentally posted before the clock turned!)
Photographing the land bridge!? Looks like Mark is shooting pics of wildlife, or what resembles wildlife.
So, is that an actual jackrabbit or just a prop, set beside some fake, two-dimensional bushes? Is that really a cooper’s hawk or just a kite some kid is flying? Well, what do I know? I reckon I’m just being a jackrabbit, er, jackass.
Mark is feeling sorry for himself once again. So sad. We’ll see how long this Pity Parade lasts, before he finally gets on the job. As if we had a choice in the matter.
Rivera is having a little joke today. Unique Texas critter? No, she doesn’t mean Mark’s rental car parked on the grass (looks like a late-model Prius, sure to impress Texans) . She doesn’t mean the armadillo, though that is what we are supposed to assume. It’s not unique to Texas, either. HahHahHah! The correct answer is the land bridge, though I’ve never heard of a bridge referred to as a critter. And again, the only thing unique is that it is named “The Robert L.B. Tobin Land Bridge.” I’m sure we’ll learn more about it.
Looks like Rivera is, indeed, letting Mark have his tourist side trip before reporting for work later this week.
Art Dept. The juxtaposition of armadillo, Mark, and his car appear out of whack, due to the vague perspective that makes the armadillo look like it’s just five feet away from Mark. And it certainly is not the South American giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus), which averages around 3 feet, excluding a 20 inch tail.
The other artistic nit I’m picking is that the land bridge is not over a body of water, as Panel 1 suggests, but over the popular Wurzbach Parkway, which is why it’s a land bridge, of course! Now, even if we omit the blue coloring, we are left with an open area that looks nothing like a highway and more like a body of water.
With that Big Gulp of a mouth in panel 3, I was expecting to hear a “YEE-HAWWWW!” It’s good that Mark can compartmentalize and simply enjoy the sights without having to be preoccupied with how things are going to develop on the ground. Plenty of time to think about that, especially if he has to sit on the tarmac for an hour waiting for an open gate.
Rivera does a decent job of replicating the airport entrance and sculpture (based on photos I referenced), including one of the sculpture’s nighttime spotlights on the ground. Maybe that armadillo is rising up to search for the other spots.
I wonder if Rivera will have Mark visit tourist spots like he did in New York, before contacting the hunting heroines? Will Mark embarrass himself inside the Alamo doing Davy Crockett impressions?
Mark’s salon of villains and troublemakers is relatively limited; less than a dozen over the past 5 years. Several have made multiple appearances: Professor Bee Sharpe, Cricket Bro (and his brother, Jadsen), Senator Smalls, and Chet Chedderson come to mind. Now we can add Tess Tigress to that list with her second appearance.
With the power of a comic strip named after himself, Mark Trail ensured Bill Ellis would give him the assignment that Ellis originally wanted to assign to a female reporter. No complaint was provided from Bill Ellis, suggesting that Mark may have censored that part of the phone conversation. Or Ellis knew what was better for him and remained mum.
Mark began researching his subject: A trio of women on the lookout to kill wild pigs (or boars) destroying private property in Texas. When Mark discovered that the leader of the so-called Texas Hog Hunting Heroines was Tess Tigress—former owner of a fraudulent and abusive tiger petting zoo (also in Texas) and target of an earlier assignment of his—he was taken aback (as we used to say, before gobsmacked became fashionable).
At this point, the remainder of the week was spent with Mark moaning and explaining his reactions to Cherry. Now, she would have already known about Tess Tigress, because of Mark’s earlier assignment. But let’s give Jules Riverasome credit for using this week to review the background on Tess for the benefit of new readers (if any) and old people like me, with failing memories. Or you can call it story padding, as I earlier noted. This background could have been delivered in just a few days, rather than using the entire week. So, maybe it’s a little of both.
As is common for Sunday, Rivera picks a topic that is somehow related to the current storyline. In this case, the Chihuahuan Raven, which can be found in western Texas (as well as New Mexico and Mexico). Rivera provides the usual customized title panel, with the title nicely integrated into the tree. And, unfortunately, we have Rivera’s usual practice of dedicating the concluding panel to a weak joke, rather than giving more information on the raven. For example, the American Birding Association reports that misidentification is common between this bird and the common raven, even by birders. Go figure.
What else? It is found in western Kansas. The Kansas Dept. of Wildlife and Parks reports that they are sometimes killed by humans mistaking them for common crows. Another understandable mistake, I think.
The Daily Trail 