I wonder why Rivera likes to put these 2-D animal cutouts in the foreground of her strips. Is it some kind of code-speak for “This is all fake”? I dunno, it’s just a thought.
But the meetup at a picnic table reminds me of a similar meetup they shared a while back, during the Zeeba Mussels adventure. Mark was meeting Diana to apologize for leaving her boat after a fight. So here we are again, with Mark ready to apologize for another bad decision.
One thing to be thankful for today is that Rivera is not blasting the “Two Fists o’ Justice!” phrase. It’s hard to not think that she is overdoing it, as some kind of put-down.
By the way, I’ve been intrigued by the hamburger joint in the strip. It’s kooky enough to have been based on a real roadside joint. Has anybody seen anything like that? I did a bit of online searching and didn’t come up with anything definitive.
Poor, deluded Mark. So provoking, yet so clueless. There he sits, a reporter without a story, trying to convince himself that, while he got kicked out of an interview because of his aggressive approach, at least he could save face and fight his way past some rent-a-cops.
Aside from not concentrating on his assignment, Mark can’t keep his memory straight either. On the way to this burger pit, he already talked on the phone with Diana and she gave him a pass on the interview debacle. So there’s no reason for him to be feeling sorry for himself.
A question thus arises, is Rivera deliberately making Mark act forgetful, or is she just not too concerned with story continuity?
Back-seat driver Dept: Could Rivera have written a more concise narration box in panel 1: “Mark dreads meeting with his boss after the interview went sideways.” There are just too many “his”, as is!
Another story skedaddled to a conclusion. Cherry and Doc Davis continued their hunt for Banjo Cat, finally locating the feline by accident, in spite of Doc’s futile attempts to lure the cat out with his banjo playing. But Banjo Cat wasn’t done playing them, as it showed itself in the open before taking a run across fields and busy road traffic. Of course Cherry and the Doc pursued. How elderly Doc gets around with a banjo strapped across his back is a wonder. Anyway, wouldn’t you know it, Banjo Cat somehow made its way into the office of the Sunny Soleil Society, where it interrupted Violet playing her now-repaired harp. Would Banjo Cat finally face Violet’s violent wrath?
Of course not! In Rivera’s Trailverse, villains are truly cartoon stereotypes manifestly incompetent or mushy inside. Rivera is the latter type. Perhaps in gratitude for their détente, Banjo Cat went up on its hind legs and plucked feline arpeggios on Violet’s harp. Violet, Cherry, and Doc Davis looked on and all had a nice TV episode-ending laugh.
There is a moral to this story, as Cherry kept repeating: Cats kill birds, so keep your cats inside! But there is also another moral: Weak stories and sketchy art chase away readers, so try harder.
I’m sure most of you have heard or read the discussions about the failure of plastic recycling and the dangers of plastic pollution in the seas. So this is a decent-enough summary for a Sunday strip. If we are clever enough to create so many useful materials out of petroleum we sure should be able to figure out how to clean this stuff up and begin manufacturing plastics that do not become “forever pollution.”
As for Mark, if he is going to stand on his track record of using the “fists o’ justice” for solving problems, the petroleum industry can rest easy. Maybe Rivera can write a story for Mark about going after a local company illegally dumping plastic waste into Lost Forest river (or whatever it’s called). For once, maybe there could even be some actual dangers for Mark to overcome, rather than goofy confrontations with the usual cast of clowns and bunglers.
This is a sad ending to a short, pointless story. Comic relief, no doubt. Still, I am left wondering just how the cat broke into the house. I am also confused by Violet’s sudden turnabout with Banjo Cat, given that her harp was supposedly wrecked a few hours earlier in the day. On the other hand, I have to give Violet credit for so quickly repairing and restringing her wrecked instrument!
But Panel 2 is a slap in the face. Are we to believe a cat decided to stand on its hind legs in order to play the harp? Fiddlesticks! Banjo Cat Apologist Cherry offers up a ridiculous rationale, while Violet is somehow clued-in enough to repeat the “keep cats inside!” mantra that Cherry has been beating us over the head with all week long. All I can say is thank goodness that Doc Davis was able to come up with such a clever and original quip to close out this otherwise lackluster story, even though it contradicts his libertarian sentiments about Banjo Cat earlier in the story.
Cherry deserves better! Jules, please get Cherry away from these people for a while and into a new situation with new (or different) characters. Come to think of it, we also deserve better.
Howdy, folks! Well, my first reaction today was that I had accidentally called up some kind of grade school education project on “taking care of your pet cat.” It just has that simplistic grade-school look about it…as does Monday’s strip. There are those damned badly-drawn trees again: Note the oddly leaning firs in front and the “hatching” in the rear trees, like cheap props in a school play. Go compare the Monday and Tuesday strips.
I’m trying to account for today’s strip. I think I suggested on Monday that maybe Rivera had somebody ghost that day’s strip, though my logic was not well substantiated. But something is not right, something egregious. This all sounds so ominous, doesn’t it? And let’s face it: This is not the most engaging story Rivera has presented.
Definite story padding going on today, as the first two panels reiterate yesterday’s strip. That means Jules Rivera could have created a single-panel panorama today to spread out the distance between Banjo Cat, Cherry, and Doc Davis, while leaving room for a nice looking landscape. That wouldhave been much better than the cramped view we are getting in panel 3!
However, placing Banjo Cat in the foreground with Cherry and Doc in the background is a common artistic technique to emphasize “what was located” (Banjo Cat), while also showing the distance back to the searchers.
This looks like a reworking of yesterday’s strip! And like biking uphill, the pacing of this story has slowed considerably. I wonder if Cherry and Doc will even make it back to his office before Saturday!
<Sigh!> It can get soooo tiring: I don’t know why Cherry keeps repeating the same PSAMantra to her dad: “Outdoor cats kill wild birds!” I think we got it, Jules.
I forget, what is the point of this story, anyway? Is it really just about securing Banjo Cat in order to protect the birds? That seems a rather pedestrian plot, considering several of Cherry’s earlier adventures. But what about Violet’s broken harp? Does she get to do another cameo in the epilog?
Can we at least just move the story along a bit faster?
Yes, so dreadfully sorry. Cherry, who may have the most potential in this weird family, is stuck. In this family! But she isn’t the only thing stuck here. So is time, I think. Why is it, after seeing Doc strike up “My darling Clementine” in panel 2, that the narration box in panel 3 tells us that Doc has been playing several songs, while he is still singing Clementine!? Is he looping back through his song list for a second go-round? Sometimes, time-and-space baffle me.
Say, if you look closely at the musical notes in panels 2 and 3, you’ll see that the connected notes are always on the same “line”, meaning that these songs are all monotone. No wonder Banjo Cat has apparently run away!
Okay, that’s it for today. I can’t call padding the story on Rivera, as this situation is a central plot device. But it has clearly run its course, so I hope we don’t see it on Wednesday. Until then, I’ll be pickin’ and grinnin’!
Art Dept. I have to wonder whether Rivera actually drew this strip or if somebody filled in as an April Fool’s joke. The drawing is hurky-jerky (as it has been), but at the same time, it is different: more angular and cruder than normal, if that’s possible.
The trees in panel 1, for example, are drawn with all of the subtlety and skill of a person who has never seen trees. One can argue that Rivera’s woods and forests often look flat and simplified, but that has no bearing on what we see here. Go back and see if you can find anything this clumsy and crude.
Banjo Cat also is different: more angular than normal, with a different style and coloring. Here is one example from February. Sure, there could be a different colorist at work, but I think Rivera would notice that. Compare the two heads. Notice how much fuller the head and neck are in Rivera’s example from February. Check out the tails and fur. Different.
Then there are the figure drawings. Doc Davis is not only slimmer than normal, he keeps looking different. In panel 2 Doc’s wide-eyed expression looks like something Stephan Pastis might draw if he was poking fun of this strip. And the less said about that banjo in panel 3, the better.
Rivera focused 11 days of the strip to Mark’s interview with Tad Crass. Too bad only about 3 days were dedicated to the actual interview (sort of), which quickly went south when Tad exploded over Mark’s aggressive questioning. The six days of this week fixated on Mark’s physical altercation with security staff that Tad called in to throw Mark out of the building. As Mark got away, a phone call to Diana Daggers revealed that she fully expected this to happen, since she told Mark that Tad always gets mad at journalists and throws them out. Okay, fine. So what, then? Mark never got anywhere with his interview, and it seems as if he was not meant to. Is there an ulterior motive for Diana’s sending in Mark?
Just so, their growth and longevity may also benefit from the lack of human contact in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, a more than 1000 sq. mi. area off limits to humans. Still, we can hope the scientists find something useful for humans with regard to cancer.
The ancient Latin phrase above (it had a legal significance even in the time of Cicero) generally translates as “who benefits?” (my Latin teachers would criticize this casual definition, I’m sure) Anyway, I believe the expression applies here, as Mark discovers that Diana Daggers fully expected the altercation because of who Mark is and because of how Tad acts.
What is the point, then? How does a failed interview and fight benefit anybody? Will Tad Crass swear out a police complaint against Mark? Maybe Diana is using Mark to flush Tad out in the open so he’ll say something that hurts him. Still, has Tad Crass done anything illegal, aside from possibly bribing some government officials to help him relocate mustangs running on his property? Surely, Diana is not that interested in just rooting out government corruption. Cui bono?
Art Dept. Hey, how about that statue in panel 1? Well, check it out! Why it has highlights on both sides of the body—while no highlights exist elsewhere in the panel—is a mystery. Then again, this comic strip almost always avoids depicting any kind of atmosphere, where every day is almost always warm and bright. In fact, we rarely see anybody or anything even cast shadows! Clearly, atmosphere is not of central importance to Rivera.
Well, that was good fun, reading your votes and comments. I’m glad to see the additional proposals, as well. But so far, it appears that Rivera is milking this travesty of a confrontation for all that it’s worth.
“And puts his other two feet on the ground!” – how many feet does Mark have? Is he a secret centaur?!
It must be more than two, as Rivera has Mark Trail step on his third foot <ahem!> to ruin another important interview early on. He always seems like an over-excited idealist (or 12-year old), even to the point of breaking the law and fighting with (or fleeing from) law enforcement. Why? Sure, Mark has always had recourse to fistfights in the past, but usually directed against crooks, poachers, and other bad guys. With Rivera, Mark’s environmental activism is hands-on. Is Rivera trying to turn Mark Trail into one of Edward Abby’sMonkey Wrench Gang? That could partially explain Rivera’s treatment of the character and stories. But it is sometimes difficult to see the underlying serious intent, as the overt parody and absurdities overshadow it.
Art Dept. It’s as if Rivera is not even trying, though I think that is incorrect. Still, the art can look haphazard, even deliberately distorted. Those guards in panel 1 apparently grew two extra feet (or Mark shrank). One guard seemed to be levitating in Wednesday’s episode. Further, Mark merely has to wave his hands in panel 3 and two guards go flying, as if Mark was a Wing Chung master like Ip Man, the trainer of Bruce Lee. Are we experiencing Mark’s own idealized view of reality? That could even help explain the weird characters and the often distorted and flattened figures. Unfortunately, there is no context to support that hypothesis.
But let’s don’t be partisan about this. Some of you may recall that there was lots of dislike and snarky comments directed towards James Allen during his tenure, not only for his frequent copy-and-paste artwork, but also for drawn-out and meandering stories (e.g. the bat cave story and the bank robbers/kidnapping/cave travel story) and post-adventure patronizing dialog between family members.
Hey, gang! Hurry and get you votes in now to select which option below you think will most likely conclude this week’s exciting action. (One vote per person, please.)
Mark drops his hands and pleads “Can’t we just get along?!” Instead, he gets handcuffed and arrested, as Tad Crass laughs.
Mark uses bothFists O’ Justice to knock down the guards. Tad Crass flees through a secret door, but gets permanently lost after following an AI-generated map.
One guard says “Oh, you’re that Mark Trail? Sorry, sir. We’re big fans!Can we get an autograph?” Tad Crass screams at the guards as Mark takes out his Sharpie.
Andy, the Saint Bernard, suddenly appears in the room and chases the guards away.
Tad Crass tries to bribe Mark with a mustang. Unfortunately, it works.
Tad panics, pulls out a revolver, and shoots Mark Trail. Kelly Welly takes over the strip. Distraught and unemployed, Cherry becomes an alcoholic; Rusty flees to joins a cult; and Doc Davis still searches for Banjo Cat.
There used to be a weekly live show on a local public radio station here called “Mark Trail Theater” where locals would act out the week’s strips. It was a kind of tongue-in-cheek spoof, with overly-dramatic “acting.” But it was all in good fun.
It’s a different thing altogether when the strip spoofs itself. Now, I don’t wish to be hypocritical, because in the past I’ve supported several of Rivera’s jabs at TrailVerse Traditions. Sometimes you have to cut down some old trees to make room for the new ones. On the other hand, there is a danger of going too far, where parody becomes the paramount feature, overtaking the strip. That seems to be what is going on here.
When pre-Rivera Mark got into a bought of fisticuffs, it was usually in dramatic situations involving typical bad-guy villains who wanted to get Mark out of the way. Getting into fistfights with rent-a-cops is not at all the same thing, even if the rent-a-cop started it. There is nothing really dramatic going on here; it’s more a sequence of overreaching, overreaction, and overdoing it. The fact that Rivera spends at least two days on this one action changes what used to simply be a hands-on solution to an immediate problem into a spotlighted plot feature, complete with Rivera’s commentary to make sure you don’t miss her point. “I’ve got two fists o’ justice for ya!” is the kind of hokey dialog you might hear in an old Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, but without his unique delivery.
I must lead a sheltered life. I don’t hold a phone that way, and I doubt anybody else holds a phone like that, unless it is someone standing up in a restaurant asking “Did anybody drop their phone?”
Apparently, it was necessary for the security guard to pose, statue-like, so Mark could conveniently grab his phone. I’d have thought/hoped that Rivera could have come up with a more realistic or, at least, more imaginative scenario. For example, the guard could have put the phone in his back pocket, whereupon Mark would have lifted it back out as the guard turned.
While Mark watches, the guard “walks” his fist over to Mark’s face (panel 3), reminiscent of slow-moving alien villains in cheap 1950s sci-fi movies. Well, Mark is quite polite to wait long enough for physical contact, which is reinforced by some top-rate Rivera Commentary (panel 4). A truly considerate dude is our Mark, and I hope the guard appreciates it, as I expect Mark will return the gesture on Wednesday.
Art Dept. Aside from the rather decently-drawn image of Mark in panel 3, I’m left wondering what happened with the rest.
Yeah, I know. Sometimes it’s just too easy to pick this apart, like any of the regulars over on the CK will certainly do. Well, just in case they are lax, feel free to submit your own observations. But why Rivera decided to post a recap of Saturday’s strip today seems cynical. Even old-time Trailheads should be able to remember what happened two days ago. And any Trailhead could have read my Sunday weekly recap, in case they needed a refresher. Rivera should have known all this and chose to push the story ahead.
Anyway, I’d rather point out that Tad Sass’s desk is actually just a big box. A conventional Big-Time Operator would usually sit behind a large, tastefully-carved desk of East Indian rosewood, Burmese teak, tropical walnut, or some other exotic wood, thus presenting an image that breathes tradition, money, and power. But Tad Sass seems like any other tasteless parvenu; and his idea of a desk shouting “power and money” is possibly just be a solid chunk of mahogany. Or if he is just a phony, the desk is probably a plywood box with mahogany veneer.
I hope this story gets back on track, just as soon as Mark gets over his attack of constipation (panel 3).
In developing this story about wild horses supposedly running amok in Salt Lake City, Jules Rivera has Mark working for Diana Daggers, head of Instigator Magazine. Her point of view has already been established and Mark’s job is to get conformation and create lots of reaction. Her point of view presumes a greedy, uncaring land developer suborning Bureau of Land Management agents to remove free-range mustangs running across land he has purchased. There are additional rumors that the mustangs may be ill-treated in captivity and sold for slaughter to companies that sell horse meat for human consumption.
For the sake of the plot this week, Rivera ensured that Mark did not know the name of the person he was to interview until they met for the first time. That person turned out to be Tad Crass, the former comedian-turned-author of a notorious AI-based camping survival guide that was a significant plot device in the earlier “Rusty and the alien invasion” story (If you missed that adventure, you can search for it using the above-quoted title). This put Mark on the defensive, a poor way to start an interview!
Anyway, meeting Crass greatly affected Mark, who was torn between questioning him about his dangerous camping guide and asking about his position on the wild horses. In a near-repeat of his engaging interview with a US senator involved in the Ohio train derailment story, Mark’s aggressive, accusatory questioning once again led to a quickly-terminated interview. Crass, getting angry and defensive, called in security to (illegally) confiscate Mark’s recorder and throw him out.
“Bighorn sheep are known for their horns.” Who knew!? Mark forgot to mention that low numbers of Bighorn Sheep are also due to overhunting and animal predation. The National Wildlife Federation reports that males can weigh more than 350 lbs. and carry horns that weigh up to 30 lbs. Females normally top out at 130 lbs. No wonder that, when males smash into each other at 40 mph, the sound of their impact can carry for a mile.
Heh! Heh! I should get an award for prescience, don’t you think!? Come to think of it, if I was prescient, I’d already know, right? Not only is Tad Crass reacting like Senator Small, he must have hired the Senator’s security force, or the railroad police, as well. And like the Senator and police, they want to shut Mark up and take his phone. But this time, Mark didn’t have time to pull out a fake. (“Something Fishy” adventure)
Yet, how do we know Crass has convinced the BLM to round up mustangs to benefit his property? I know that environmental and animal rights groups claim that the BLM sometimes works with private companies to deliberately corral mustangs into isolated areas where they are not well cared for, all to make public grazing lands more accessible to large ranchers. The BLM states otherwise. Anyway, we’re not here to take sides.
The point is that Rivera is making this the focus of Mark’s adventure, but is she attempting to explore the opposing viewpoint? So far, no. What we have here is Mark making accusations for which no corroborative evidence has yet been produced. In Ohio Mark at least noted dead fish in a river near the chemical spill from the train derailment before going to the press conference. Well, based on panel 4, I wonder if we’re we going to get a repeat of the Ohio press conference police smack-down?
Art Dept. The drawing is getting pretty sloppy, as if hastily done.
Did Mark just wake up from a nap (Panel 1)? Mark’s interview quickly descends into antagonism and insults. I think it was Senator Small in Ohio who was also pretty upset with Mark’s questions and wanted him arrested. Seems like Mark just can’t get through an interview without a fight.
Seems to be some confusion: In Thursday’s strip, we’re told that Tad’s company was located next to where the BLM rounds up mustangs. In today’s strip, Mark says it’s the BLM that decided to start rounding up horses near Tad’s property. Which is it, then? I think that matters.
Did Diana Daggers misrepresent to Crass what Mark was going to ask about? Shouldn’t Mark have interviewed the BLM first to get their take on the situation? If the BLM is, indeed, rounding up mustangs next to Crass’s property, what’s the problem? The BLM have to settle the captured horses on protected grazing property, as is their federal mandate. Therefore, there would be no problems for Tad. So what’s missing here?
Mark puts his “gotcha” journalistic technique into action. Tad’s talk (heh! Heh! That’s almost a pun!) is the kind of simplistic, sarcastic drivel that TV villains like to use. I’m stuck understanding why the location of Tad’s property next to a BLM holding area makes any kind of difference, since these holding areas are generally required to have perimeter fencing.
Wouldn’t a real CEO have the company’s PR Rep on hand to field most of the questions, hand out a bunch of literature, and basically try to gaslight Mark? This idiot (No, I mean Tad!) simply admits he’s going to do something unethical and very likely illegal, while being recorded. I can’t wait to see how this interview continues!
The Daily Trail 