One has to ask whether this disputed plot of land is the only place both projects could possibly use. I mean, there’s a fair bit of open land out there. Of course, that piece of real estate would be linked to existing demographic and business requirements. But is it the only such piece of available land? I’m guessing this is an irrelevant distraction to the story.

The storyline is not really whether there are other possible sites that could be used. It is who gets this site. The outcome on that is not in doubt, of course. Well, it would be significant if Tad Crass won in the end, meaning Mark Trail lost. Yeah, it would take a lot of guts for Jules Rivera to write that kind of story; but it would make an instructive, teachable moment to explore how Mark deals with defeat. It could even give Rivera’s incarnation of the Mark Trail adventure strip a much needed integrity boost by exposing its lead character as not the invincible, all-wins-and-no-losses guy he is presented as.

Winning all the time makes for boring entertainment. When there’s no real doubt or possibility of loss, there’s no real suspense. Whoever that guy is in the doorway (and gee! I just wonder who it could be!?), it really won’t matter. But if it is really Tad Crass, perhaps he will disqualify Mark and Cliff from the Olympics and send them packing back to Lost Forest. If only….