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The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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Is this The End? That is, is this the end of Cherry’s latest (miss)adventure? This past week saw Honest Ernest watching Cherry get into her truck to drive home after a full day’s labor. As he walked towards the music hall building—pesticide tank on his back—Ernet continued to fantasize about his illicit love for the married Violet Cheshire, supported by his knight errant’s pursuit of virtue. In this case, gassing a bunch of bats.

But as he prepared to lance his foes, a bright spotlight manned by a shadowy figure caught him unawares. Turns out it was Cherry’s brother, Dirk the Huge, who was there at Cherry’s request to intercept Honest Ernest. Assisted by his own trusty wild hogs, Dirk did not have to bellow, overtly threaten, or physically assault the cowed Ernest. Like Don Corleone, Dirk gave Ernest an offer he couldn’t refuse, which put “CANCELED!” to his chivalric ambitions.

This is the point in the story where it collapsed into Alice’s Wonderland of confusion, with Honest Ernest too confused or fearful to move and the bats heading out for their nightly dinner call. So, it sure looks like the ending of the story, or at least, of the main plot of the story. But we would normally return to Mark’s ongoing story, except that it appeared that the cave rescue adventure also ended. That means we might see a week of Mark and Cherry going on another one of their expurgated “nature” walks as they share their experiences and await a call from Bill Ellis. And it will be high time that Mark started earning money for the family once again!


Anymore “cave shrimp” jokes? Okay, then. What’s in a name? Or names? Why don’t we just keep it simple and refer to this insect as “Rhaphidophoridae.” Then we won’t be confused by all of its cute, if vague, aliases. The general consensus is that Rhaphidophoridae are not endangered; don’t make good pets for your kids; have little, if any, value outside of being occasional food for bats, spiders, and mice; and are mostly considered pests if they wind up in your house. Getting rid of them can be problematic on your own.

Another 2-Fer Post: The Return of Dirk!

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I’m down in Virginia visiting Dad again, which means I get out of synch with things, such as time differentials and remembering to hit the Publish button. Therefore, today’s post includes yesterday’s and today’s strips.

Well, on one hand, I’m surprised again to see that Jules Rivera pulled a big rabbit out of her hat in the form of brother Dirk, the “Hoss” of this here Trailverse. I’m also surprised that Rivera didn’t use the obvious cliché line, “Say hello to my little friends.” Perhaps there is hope? Maybe not, because even without the movie quote, Rivera still can’t resist turning drama into dramedy.

Panel 1: Is this self-parody, having Dirk’s search light make a “BEAM!” sound? Also odd, because yesterday, the sound effect was “FLASH!” like a light that comes on for only an instant.
Panel 1: Why spoil the surprise by putting a wild hog in the panel?
Panel 3: Dirk continues to have the worst beard in the comic strips. It’s worse than the fake beards in “Oh Brother, Where Art Though?” And I stand corrected: That hat looks more like a canvas hat than a fedora.

Note: I think yesterday’s episode was something of a cheat. The profiled silhouette was not sporting any kind of beard. And the hat looks different. But let’s press on to the current strip of this story:

Today’s installment qualifies for a first-class cop-out trophy for its sudden and nonsensical ending. “Hold on!”, I can hear some of you protest. Okay, pretend there are some readers who protest my short, swift denunciation. I could see this story’s apparently swift conclusion as a homage to the non-sequitur style of humor that Monty Python often indulged in (“And now, for something completely different…”). And I could be totally wrong in thinking this is the conclusion to the story, rather than just the end of a chapter.

OTH, perhaps Jules Rivera just got tired of the story and decided to cut it off here. Or maybe she is trying to wrap up this story at the same time as Mark’s current cave rescue adventure appears to be concluding.

At the same time, it’s always interesting when Dirk shows up; even if his contribution is mainly limited to scaring people into submission or retreat. Say, isn’t it curious that Dirk seems to only show up when Mark is busy elsewhere? It’s as if their concurrent appearances would destabilize the immediate vicinity in a cataclysm.

Do you disagree with anything I wrote? Catch something I missed or come up with a new insight? Let us know in the Comments section!