Mark is still hoppin’ mad!  My son!  My son!  He’s not your son!  But it’s nice that you think of him that way… By the way, his name is Rusty, and there is another young soul that you might want to be concerned about…

The Old Library… Isn’t that where they are right now??

There has to come a time in every felon’s life when he or she realizes they strayed from the path that had been hoped for them… even families steeped in crime must have expectations of not getting caught and going to jail…

Oh Juanito…  ¡Lo siento mucho!  ¡La plantilla está arriba! Vas a ir a la carcel… 

But there is more to unravel here… What about Becky?  Is Professor Carter in on this or has he been duped?  What other authorities need to get involved?  Or do we just get to wrap this turkey up and go home?

I guess Juanito wants to add ‘resisting arrest’ and ‘assault on a peace officer’ to his rap sheet…

…and as Captain / Officer Jose gets his face rearranged in today’s installment, there is an odd yellow thing that appears in the middle panel…  what is that?

OK, yesterday, Juanito was across the street and under full gait when Captain Jose noticed him and decided that he should give chase…

…and today, by the third panel, he has (literally) placed the long arm of the law on Juanito’s shoulder…  which means that (either) Captain Jose can bend time or Juanito is running in place…

Really?  Mr. American Gothic is going to go after Juanito the Mule?  Where is Raul?  He seems much more up to that task…

And what of the two that Mark punched out?  Looks like Jose II is coming around… and I doubt that he will simply stay down…

As Mark continues to pummel and pontificate, the bad guys can’t even hear him at this point… Difficult to listen when one is knocked out cold…

Three straight days of fisticuffs…  I think we get the point.  Mark doesn’t get enough “release” in his life…

Let’s just say that Mark is not the “forgive and forget” kind of guy…  I am sure he never expected to be face to face with these desperados, and he wastes little time in showing them “how we do things downtown…”  I mean, good heavens, look at the aura that Mark is putting off!  He is PISSED!

This is certainly a two-fer.  Not only do we get to bust an antiquities smuggling ring, but we get to witness payback for a heartless act that left Mark, and us readers, in the dark (aided by mysterious bioluminesce and gypsum) for Months!  Our first introduction to the  r e a l l y  s l o w  roll of story arcs to come…

Well, once again, we have lived for months in the same day in the Trail-time…  I wonder if we will be treated to a sunset?  Do they get to enjoy the rest of their vacation?  I mean, the Trails just got there!!

I am sure that the astute among you noticed that I have not attempted to categorize (correctly at least) this current saga…  I was so fairly convinced that this story would eventually lead us back to Dirty Dyer that I kept the “Dirty’s Revenge” thing going…  Only to be proven (for now at least) wrong.  But this is just as good.  Seriously.  Didn’t see this coming (kudos to you James Allen) and today’s installment (almost) makes up for the weeks upon months of slow-drip plot development…

Funny that Mark encountered and recognized Mr. Big-Arms first in yesterday’s strip, but now has Jefe by the shirt placket, delivering an epic right cross, knocking him into the next frame!  Good that Mark has invested in blue jeans that have a stretch component, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to admire his well developed lower half…  How long has it been since Mark was allowed to punch a bad guy?  Too long, my friends, MUCH too long.

If my high school level spanish taught me anything is that there needs to be agreement between gender and plurality…  It’s MIS amigos!  not mi amigos!  And if we want to be even slightly authentic perhaps a “Vamanos amigos” as opposed to “Let’s go” would have added a nice touch…  making the “mi,” “mis” or “my” superfluous…

So I guess Rusty and Mara were shut out of the front door and Mark and Capt. Jose are fortunate enough to have rolled up to the back, where the bad guys are making their escape…

But Wait!  Mark knows this guy?  Do we?  I will be really embarrassed if I missed this connection, but honestly I am at a loss.  Unless he’s one of the coyote that were seen trafficking humans and blew up the cave entrance (and only exit) in the Chihuahuan desert, trapping Mark, Professor Gabe and Carina?

Bingo!  The arms should have been the clue! I was sort of sniffing at this before but hadn’t made the connection!

Part 2?  Might be Part n… Mark has never been known for his use of the pre-frontal cortex… where reasoning, discretion and executive decision making emanates…

…but still resplendent in his faded red, now pink, chamois cloth shirt and blue jeans (wait… aren’t we in the tropics?) he throws the stoner-van door open and makes his move.  Except, wait…  didn’t Mara and Rusty get the door slammed in their face?  No, Mark, they aren’t “in there…”  Rusty’s phone is, and there will be a talking to about that lack of discretion, but for now, I would say that the kids are relatively safe…

“Captain Jose?”  Do you not have a surname?  Honestly, the writing here is really, ummm, bad.

Seriously, the 10 minutes I just spent reviewing the recent strips is 10 minutes I will never get back…  But I am trying to sort through the names here…  The only one for sure is Juanito the Mule…

From what I can tell, Jose (yes there is another one… like that’s the only name in all of Me-he-co that James Allen could come up with…) But he also goes by Jefe (which, again is spanish for ‘boss’) So is Juanito calling the real boss (at which we get our first full, unshadowed look) Jefe?  While Jose/Jefe calls him ‘Boss?’  Seriously…

Who’s on first?

OK, at least he’s back to being the feckless, clueless, insipid kid we all love to mock and abuse…

And in moves Raul, with nothing more than a dime-store badge!  Although we can’t see what is in his right hand…

…but it’s apparently enough for Juanito!  SLAM goes the door and we avoid a hostage taking opportunity!  Rats!  That would have carried this story line into the summer at least!!

As Mara speaks wisdom and suggests a less risky path, Juanito pops out from the shadows and lays a Cheshire-cat grin on his victims… Hostage situation?  You betcha!

And since when did Rusty sport the blue highlights in his hair??  What- is he a junior Mark Trail?

We can only hope, right?  Happy new year, Campers.  I have been hiding in the tall grass waiting for something to happen, but three’s my limit…

“Great!  You found them!” says Joe, “Well, Raul, I have a very angry and anxious Mark Trail with me…”

Where’s the new library?  Are we suggesting that the only library fell into disrepair and now the poor people of Santa Poco have nowhere to turn when they want to borrow the latest Tom Clancy thriller?  That’s right, Raul.  Fools rush in.  That includes Rusty, Mara and now you…

Suddenly Ol’ Sleepy Joe is on the case… barking orders.  Mark’s expression remains unchanged even as Joe suggests that this might turn into a hostage situation!  I am sure he is conflicted about this… thinking wistfully of carefree days without a stepson in his charge…  Or days when he could smoke a pipe and still stand for Earth and Conservation!

Mark fails again.  But then it was probably not his idea to take Rusty on full time with actual legal custody.  Had to be Cherry.  Mark’s casual approach to ensuring that no harm comes to Rusty is a time-honored trope in the Trailverse…  Rusty has spent more time bound and gagged than any youth in comics history.

Or for your sake, Joe!  Really… Mark leaves the kids in your care and custody and this is what happens!  Raul, yes, one of the best… at what?  Crashing through windows for no reason??

Well Mark,  what did you expect?  You can’t trust anyone these days… everyone is out for a score…

We can only hope that there will be punching before the year is out…  but judging by the look on Mark’s face, he might just plant a hook on Joe’s chin right now!

Well, I am sure that one of us was on top of this development…  Which means that Raul is also undercover and Juanito and Becky are BAD…

Some observations:  Joe looks like Doc (remember him??) from the side… and the look on Professor Carter’s face suggests that he’s been had, and the look on Mark’s face (of utter bemusement) suggests that he’s been here before…  Never mind that his adopted son and disposable character Mara are both walking right into the lair…

Ok, I admit, I am still trying to figure out who is on which side of the ball here…

Raul’s expressions today, bordering on concern for Rusty and Mara’s welfare, have me confused… since he has been, of late, brandishing throwing knives and six-shooters…  So he calls Jose… what, tomorrow?  Next year?  Will that help answer my questions?  Not likely.

As we blow past the Christmas Holiday and into Boxing Day, Kwanza and whatever else get celebrated this time of year, we find ourselves (still…)  wandering through the miasma that qualifies for a Mark Trail plot line…

I guess O’l Rusty doesn’t know how or when to lock his Smart Phone!  10 demerits!

…and I’m not sure what the hell Juanito is afraid of- two pesky kids, a cell phone that has but one contact in it (‘MOM’) or the shadowy boss man who will no doubt be anxious (at least) that his liar is about to be penetrated…

Sneak in and do what, Rusty?  Exactly what is your plan?  This isn’t The House at Pooh Corner, you know… You can’t just leap out from your hiding place and shout, “A-ha!”  And is that Raul in the background, looking to gain positional advantage?

Why am I channeling Scooby Doo at this moment?  Oh, I don’t know… maybe because there hasn’t been an original thought in the Trailverse is quite a while!

So it’s Cherry that is going to put the children’s lives in mortal danger?  Are these “Poachers of Antiquity” really going to add kidnapping and murder to their rap sheets?  Maybe!  We still don’t know who the Boss-Man is…