I think we should expect a certain amount of consistency and coherency, especially within a sequence of four panels. But that seems missing today. First, Mark is concerned about his safety going out on another hunt with Tess. Good thinking! Next, he acts like a kid who is brushing off that concern and looking forward to eating even more pork following the hunt (in which he might get killed or at least, shot). Finally, Mark’s now visibly upset that a severe storm is coming through that might ruin the hunt where he might “accidentally” get shot or killed by Tess (or even Jess). Meanwhile Jules Rivera keeps dropping big-time hints about Tess’s intentions with her every appearance, hints that Mark is too self-absorbed to see. But maybe I’m reading too much into it.

You know, the way Mark wolfs down those chops makes me think he must live in a cabin full of vegetarians. Or maybe he just hasn’t eaten since leaving Lost Forest. It all just looks so wrong.

Art Dept. Didja notice that Rivera has changed up how she visualizes thought balloons? The last time we saw them (Monday), they appeared like normal dialog balloons. Today, they show up in an unusual but distinctive way, with the tail formed by overlapping circles of decreasing size. It’s different and serves to distinguish itself from the image thought balloons she also uses (see Thursday’s strip).

Well, I’m excited to see how this night hunting turns out; that is, whether Rivera knows much about it. I don’t. In general, most states restrict night hunting to going after predators, but not game. So, if they are hog hunting, there shouldn’t be an issue. OTOH, if Tess is actually hunting Mark Trail, that could be a problem! King Features Syndicate owns the strip, so I don’t think they are going to let Mark suffer a “Dick Cheney” incident. On the other hand, such an “accident” could provide a convenient, if fortuitous, reason for killing off the strip, as well.

Today’s script sounds like a setup plot of a B-Movie, where the intended guest (victim) has an inkling of impending disaster, but feels unable to do anything about it; like leaving the table, packing up, and getting away. And like those movies, Tess and Jess are extravagantly generous and open with their intended victim. And that’s like those old James Bond movies, where the villains are all very (if disingenuously) polite, well-dressed, and focused.

Still, Mark has his interviews and has sketched out his story. Job done! Nothing is keeping him there, except for the opportunity to exclaim “GOLLLLLY!” and chow down on a tableful of pork dishes. Okay, I can’t blame him for that part.

But we should at least expect some consistency with Mark’s dining habits. In panel 1, he eats with his left hand, with a drinking glass to his left. In panel 4, he eats with his right hand and has a different drinking glass on his right. Maybe this inconsistency is due to Mark’s nervousness?  Could also be why he forgot to first cut up that big chunk of meat he’s preparing to shove down his throat. Ah-ha! Maybe that’s the trick: Make Mark feel so nervous he tries to eat too much at once and chokes to death while Tess and Jess pretend to call the paramedics. Or not. But doesn’t everybody like a conspiracy!?

Art Dept. Yes, I know that the dinner table contents look like cartoon clipart pasted into the panel. Maybe it’s only inspired by clipart, or an adaptation of clipart. But let’s be fair here. Allen and his predecessors certainly took advantage of repeating/copying poses and faces, even using clipart for animals, cars, etc. Cartoonists have done this since comic strips began. It’s an accepted practice.

So what is going on here? Is this an attempt to influence Mark’s writing for some unknown reason? And is Mark maintaining his journalistic independence by having dinner with his subject, a person he also has history with? I certainly don’t understand Mark’s comments here; as if a country goober has been buffaloed by his big city betters. But it’s more like small town goober meets big town goober. What’s the point?

Is this just an interlude, another side trip in an otherwise undramatic, mediocre story? At the very least, can we get an attempt to poison Mark!? I mean, Rivera has already made her PSA on eradicating wild hogs about as far as she can go. All for the good, of course. But where does the story go from here? Another hunt with another accidental shooting? More staring at the trophy wall? The only reasonable continuation here is going to turn on whether Tess is faking her amnesia; whether Mark’s appearance breaks her amnesia if it’s real; and how she reacts to it all. It’s the last chance for something dramatic and interesting to take place. Other than to wonder where Tess put the pulled pork, slaw, hot sauce, and buns.

Yes, indeed, readers! Just what would Olive Pitt do in Mark’s place? I think if the hunting situation was the same, but with Olive in the tree, she would clean Tess’s clock after her cheap stunt. The razorback would have company in the back of the truck on the way back.

All that is to say, What’s going on here today? Jess just contradicted what Tess told Mark about the shooting. Is Jess saying that Tess potted that shot near Mark just for fun, so he should just man-up and move on? Or does Jess suggest that Tess’s priorities were perfectly in order when she chose to take a shot at Mark before shooting the hog bearing down on her friend?

I suppose we could interpret this dialog exchange as Rivera promoting Jess as an empty-headed good ol’ boy parody of Texans and hunters. Well, maybe, until we read Rivera’s closing text box: “Don’t mess with Texas!” Now, I’m a tad confused: Is Rivera taking Jess’s side and putting Mark in his place? Is she continuing the parody of Jess by damning him with faint praise? Or is Rivera just trying to be cute with her rhyming, but remaining oblivious to the subtext?

I hope we find out before the Giant Armadillo from Space in panel 4 decides to crush the house and eat Tess, Jess, and Mark for dinner.

Answer to the nerdy grammar quiz: I’m not a professional grammarian, writer, editor, or poet. You probably figured that out some time ago. But something struck me about Rivera’s little rhyme in yesterday’s strip, beyond its simplicity. It was those word endings! So I poked around to look up different types of rhymes. There are several. This particular type is where the word endings are the same for each word, like: bass, lass, morass. This type of rhyme consists of “parallel or adjacent words with the same endings”, or homoioteleuton (ὁμοιοτέλευτον), to use the official (academic) name. This type of rhyme was first codified by Aristotle in his Rhetoric. Hence, the use of the Greek term. Now, did Rivera know this? I see no reason she would, any more than I did. Two-thirds of Rivera’s work was already accomplished with Tess’s name, anyway. Rivera was just lucky enough to hit on a word that rhymed with Tess’s name and still accurately express Mark’s thinking. “Thus endeth the lesson,” as Sean Connery said to Kevin Costner in The Untouchables. I bet you can’t wait to share this really useful information with your family and friends! But for now, on with the show…!

That’s some pretty quick butchering, I think, but needs must. I wonder if Mark is going to quiz Jess on investment options, where he gets his trophies mounted, or if he insists on standing behind Tess when they go hunting together.

All snark aside, it looks like Mark is preparing to take Tess’s husband into his confidence and ask something potentially negative about her: Is she homicidal? Does she really not remember Mark? Did she talk about her Tiger Petting Zoo? It’s quite possible that Tess has kept Jess ignorant about her past by faking her amnesia.

Okay, let’s appreciate the fact that Jules Rivera spends time showing Mark actually working on his journalism now and then, something prior Mark Trail cartoonists tended to leave to our imagination.  And it isn’t just for show, but it works as a technique to advance the story.

Call me a traditionalist, a purist, old-fashioned, or just a frustrated wannabe cartoonist, but I get put off some when Rivera uses a normal dialog balloon to display what would otherwise be thoughts, not spoken words. Thought balloons usually have a series of ellipses or bubbles instead of the usual dialog “tail” pointing to the speaker. But as we can see in panel 2, Rivera likes to use the thought balloon as a memory or imaging reference. Maybe Rivera can come up with a new design or just combine them into one!

Mark is trying to come to terms with the shooting incident. He is conflicted by his impression that Tess is a good shot, but now wonders how she should have almost hit him or Shania. Mark has little real world experience for that belief in Tess’s accuracy, but he’s probably on the right track. His conflicted feelings in panel 3 seem to be leading him to question Tess’s objectives and might lead him to realize Tess is conning him. Or so my theory goes.

Pretentious Nerdy Grammar Quiz: Okay, students. What is notable about Mark’s closing words in panel 3? Your immediate thought is likely correct, but dig a little more. If you figure it out, leave a comment!

I reckon that we won’t learn any more about that clothing deal between Peach Pitt and Holly Folly for another two weeks. Instead, we’re back on site, somewhere in the vicinity of San Antonio, Texas, as Mark tags along with the Hog-Hunting Heroines, led by Tess Tigress.

But first, shall we give a round of thanks to Jules Rivera and her narration box for explaining the action in panel 1? Ummm, probably not.

It looks like Rivera thought it was important to save us from having to see the destruction of an invasive wild pig (or whatever happened afterwards) and rushed us to the next hunting location. Or maybe the comics syndicate put its editorial foot down.

The group is now at some place with a picnic table. Hey, maybe they are going to do some hunting at a local park!

But, what’s this? Tess Tigress, professing no knowledge of her past experience—at least with regard to Mark—had been all smiles, engaging, and friendly. Suddenly, her other side has bubbled up to the surface and issued a dire warning to Mark. But what is this “getting paid” threat about? Bill Ellis sent Mark on assignment for Teen Girl Sparkle. They would be the ones paying Mark. Perhaps the comment was meant to just inflate the significance of the threat.