Yes, they are one sorry lot, indeed. Yet, they survived. I’m not sure they made it out of the flood zone if that is the floodwaters just behind them. Props to Jules Rivera, by the way; that’s sure one bedraggled Mark! It’s not clear if any of their equipment or transportation survived the flood; based on the topography, I would assume it has all been washed away or rendered useless.
If true, somebody will have hike into a town to rent a suitable vehicle, assuming everybody didn’t lose their wallets, credit cards, etc. But except for Venus Verité, nobody else is dressed. That’s not good news, either. Well, who knows: Perhaps Jess’s SUV is still to be found and he has the otherwise bad habit of leaving his wallet inside. But then, there is the issue of where the car fob is ….oops.
The flash flood continued this past week and worsened, as Mark finally cajoled the team to move to higher ground. Again. Tess remained a flood denier and it seemed like Shania was just uncertain and angry. At times, the sequence of actions seemed confused. Were they going up? Walking in a circle? Not moving at all? It wasn’t always easy to tell. Jess and Tess were at the tail end of a human chain designed to safely ascend a hill. But once again, the drawings were confusing. You’ll just have to go back and look.
Even though it appeared they were ascending, somehow Tess managed to get swept up in the flood waters. Perhaps it was rising very quickly. But swept away she was, even when she seemed to be floating on top of the water. The moment of truth: WWMD? Well, this is Mark’s strip, of course, so he showed up at the waterline (along with the others), found a large tree branch lying around, and jumped in the water to save Tess. Yet, this week ended with Tess blaming Mark.
Is this the end of the story? Could be. It’s a safe bet that it’s the end of the camping trip, since the team lost everything in the deluge.
Now, I wonder which Bill Ellis magazine this story will appear in? Regular readers know that Jules Rivera used to have Bill Ellis assign a story to one of the several magazines he supervises. Not any longer, it seems. None was mentioned this time around. Still, some of you may appreciate that this is more like the good ol’ days when Mark only interacted with Bill Ellis and his one magazine, Woods & Wildlife. Well, I liked the idea of multiple magazines and editors, as it could have presented an opportunity for different types of assignments and opportunities. Sadly, Rivera never really fleshed out this idea and it gradually disappeared, like so many of Mark’s friends in the past.
Nature webcams can be interesting. We watched the birth and growth of a pair of hummingbirds one summer, up to the point where they literally flew the coop, er, nest, never to return. I suppose I could criticize this public-service announcement by suggesting it would have been handy had Mark listed what the web link was or just explained to those not that web savvy, how to search for it. Other than that, it’s a good Sunday nature subject.
So perhaps we must assume that Mark was trying to think on the run: “Tess is caught in the flood! Quick, pick up that branch. Let’s see…Tell Jess to take this branch of mine to he hold out for me after I collect Tess. No, wait. Too complicated. I’ll jump in with the branch, grab Tess, and have her hold on to it as I swim against the current and drag her out to safety.” Or something like that.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Tess also blamed Mark for the lost and/or ruined equipment, cars, guns, and hog carcasses, and try to sue him for damages. Heck, maybe the trauma will restore her lost memory, as well. This might be a good time for Mark to make an exit, stage right!
“You’re traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of images and text, but of uncertainties. A journey into a changing land whose boundaries are the stuff dreams are made of. That’s the signpost up ahead—your next stop, the Trailverse!” (The spirits ofRod Serling and Raymond Chandler will get me for this mashup.)
Okay, speaking of craziness, I’ll award a gold star to anybody who can explain how “everyone else made it to safety” if everybody else simply came back down the hill to the flood in order to see Tess swept away. Of course, Mark has to rescue her, so there he is in panel 1, walking like an Egyptian. But Tess is floating on top of the water, not in it. Perhaps she happened to land on a branch that is propping her up.
It’s a crazy Twilight Zone world. Mark has conveniently found a branch. Fine, we can go with that. Mark tells Jess to grab the branch while he goes after Tess. Again, the concept is sound. So why is Mark still holding onto the branch in panel 3? And if he is “bounding toward the water to save Tess”, why he is running in a different direction from where Tess is?
The laws of time and space work differently in the Trailverse, perhaps something like a Moebius strip. I hope Venus is getting some good shots for her “Hog Hunting Heroines Horrific Hunt” article. But if Mark spots a giant boat float by with a bunch of animals looking out the side, he’s about to have bigger problems!
Art Dept. No, I don’t know why Mark is looking up in panel 2.
In terms of plot, today’s sequence makes logical sense: For one thing, it appears to be in the correct order, compared to yesterday! There is a flood, people are trapped and trying to escape. Somebody falls into danger. All very standard “disaster movie” fare. No matter how much they walk, they either are not getting far, or that flood is really moving and rising quickly. And from what we know of flash floods, especially in open, dry spaces such as canyons and arroyos, that is a reality.
At the same time, some details undermine the action. For example, panel 3 shows the flood threatening to engulf Tess Tigress, which takes place in panel 4. But the last panel also shows one of the tents, suggesting they have not really made any progress moving up!
Next, the textbox in panel 2 states they are moving “through the surging currents.” I’m confused, but I was under the impression that they were moving away from the surging currents.
Art Dept. That squirrel has got to go! It totally ruins the scene. Although the other layouts are fine, the artwork is really, really sketchy; so much so that in panel 4, the barely-visible head of Venus Verité looks like a painted ball! We’ve been following Jules Rivera’s work long enough to think that she is deliberately drawing expressively, rather than naturalistically. I’m suggesting Rivera’s art—often simplistic, sketchy, even crude—may not be this way from a lack of talent or from lack of trying (eventhough I’ve suggested that from time to time).
Think of a standard song such as Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots are Made for Walking”, sung in a normal pop fashion with easy-to-understand lyrics. Now go listen to the same song interpreted by the band, Megadeath. It’s a completely different vibe. Unless you understood the lyrics, you might not recognize it at all. Clearly, Megadeath’s aim is something other than a straightforward cover of a 1966 pop song. I think that’s what I’m getting at. Okay, so this goofy idea popped into my head. And I could be totally wrong.
The Daily Trail 