Tad may not be Rob Bettancourt, but he could be his brother. He exhibits a similar disdain for the technology that he exploited to scam gullible readers. Mark clearly decided that voicing his disgust with Tad would quickly end the interview and very likely his assignment. It’s a deflection, but not a foul.
I have yet to figure out why Rivera almost always portrays an animal looking directly at us readers. Sure, part of this was originally a parody of the Trailverse Tradition of depicting all manner of animals parading across the panels. But why continue this full-frontal meme?
Anyway, this depiction of Tad is barely more than a sketch. Is he fat, musclebound, or does he just go in for ill-fitting suits?
Of course, Rivera wants to spring this meetup with Tad Crass as a surprise for us, and that makes perfect sense. It falls in line with Rivera’s habit of character recycling. And for once, we have a character/opponent who has been a factor in two stories, but this is the first time he has had any actual presence in the strip. At least this isn’t another appearance by Rob Bettancourt (aka Cricket Bro).
However, it seems wrong from several points of view. Let me explain:
Diana Daggers—reprising her role as driver and frustrated guest character in the strip—sets up an interview between Mark and a big-time land developer in his office, but fails to inform Mark what his name is. Presumably, Crass could have been referenced as Theodore G. Crass, Jr., which might not have been so obvious to Mark or us gullible readers.
So Mark just sauntered into Tad’s office, without being escorted by Crass’s personal assistant/secretary, assuming he has one. Maybe Sass isn’t so big-time, after all. He certainly doesn’t much to say, so far.
Is that building we see in panel 4 all Sass’s, or does he just rent space? From what Rivera has shown so far, his office could be a converted storage room, based on the double-door entry.
Art Dept. While Rivera can usually handle unusual foreshortenings, such as Mark’s uplifted face in panel 3, she seems to have trouble with three-quarter rear-facing heads. So Mark’s head in panel 2 is really in strong profile, even though his body is turned toward Sass. Speaking of Tad Crass, Rivera’s depiction of him is stiff, flat, and unconvincing. If Crass is into A.I., perhaps Mark is looking at an A.I. depiction of Crass, rather than an actual person. After all, this “Crass” neither spoke nor stood up, as business etiquette demands.
We’re back to Mark’s World and some less-than convincing artwork in panel 1. Okay then. In the March 1 strip, Diana mentioned an unnamed land developer anxious to “clear this land of all wildlife.” Is that just horses, or does the threat includes newts, jackrabbits, snakes, birds, scorpions, turtles, and a myriad other animals? Maybe the horses are really a scapegoat for getting rid of prairie dogs.
While we ponder Mark’s thoughts, we observe that he is decked out in his interview clothes, ready to investigate. Wait! Those are his normal clothes! Mark should really impress that land developer, wearing the same clothes he wore yesterday (and the day before, and the day before that, and the…).
Mark’s speculations do seem precipitate, but at least he is thinking beyond the obvious. How about “Where are the horses going to be cleared to?” I mean, there’s a heck of a lot of land out there. One would think that if you have property you want to develop and protect, you hire some professional wranglers to move the horses to some other location, then fence off your property. Unless your property is the size of Ben Cartwright’s Ponderosa Ranch on Bonanza, a property larger than any city in the lower 48 states.
In case you missed it, King Features originally posted Saturday’s strip in glorious black & white, but later reposted it in color. Why that happened is a matter of conjecture; but it was an elucidating experience to see the difference, so I posted both strips for us to see the difference and think about whether Rivera’s drawing technique is based on the expectation of color or can stand on its own.
As for this past week’s strips, we returned to Cherry’s search for the elusive Banjo Cat, because of his indirect responsibility in damaging Violet’s harp. But Cherry was more concerned about the fate of birds at the hands, or claws, of outside cats. It’s a valid point, I suppose. Lo and behold, somebody else suddenly popped up in the bushes. No, it’s not some sexual predator, but Cherry’s dad, Doc Davis, also looking for Banjo.
This provided an opening for a short backstory on Banjo, that being an outdoor cat attracted to Doc’s banjo playing. But Doc Davis exerts no control over Banjo Cat’s comings and goings, accepting them as a philosophical necessity of personal and musical freedom. Okay, Doc may be guilty of anthropomorphizing. But Doc does have a clever theory that playing his banjo will make it easy for them to capture frisky Banjo Cat. We’ll just have to wait a few weeks to find out, as we return to Mark’s horse fantasies tomorrow.
A timely subject for St. Patrick’s Day, or St. Patrick’s Day Weekend, as it has become, with an appropriately-designed and well-drawn title panel. Wikipedia’s article on the four-leaf clover states that the cause of a “fourth leaf” is still a matter of debate, centered on environmental and genetic influences. The article also points to the existence of five- and six-leaf clovers being rarer and highly coveted by collectors. How lucky is it to find one? It may depend on what patch of clover you happen to be searching. In fact, there are places that specifically farm and sell four-leaf clovers, in case you are only interested in results and disdain the joy of the search.
Hoo boy! Is this a printer’s mistake or did Rivera decide to go full-on, old school B&W? If the latter, I don’t think she did herself any favors. The broken harp in panel 1, for example, took time for me (at least) to recognize. I reckon Rivera must not have had a good picture of a harp on hand.
But this is your (or some child’s) opportunity to be Jules Rivera’s colorist for a day! Get out those crayons or water colors, print this strip, and go for it! You could also copy it into a paint program on your PC and do the same thing. That would be closer to what Rivera does, I believe. But why stop there? Print a copy out for every family member and hold your own art show!
[ADDENDUM] Wow, is this ever a great opportunity to compare formats! Apparently (based only on my surmise), the color overlay was accidentally left off when the daily was first posted on ComicsKingdom. Now they have caught up. What do you think? Although the harp in panel 1 is easier to see, I think some of the coloring was rushed. Note the bird. Its entire head and bill are painted in one color, with an unpainted white highlight. That isn’t right, though I’m not sure what type of bird this is. Well, back to what I wrote earlier…
Anyway, this exciting story seems to be racing towards a climatic ending, with Doc Davis coming up with one sure-fire method for capturing Banjo Cat, thus saving the local avian wildlife of Lost Forest (or what’s left). Too bad it will likely be two weeks before we get back to Cherry’s adventure, since she used up her allotted one week time slot without capturing Banjo Cat.
So as I predicted, this story is more like a PSA pretending to be a story.
If Rivera wants to infuse her strip with more and more puns, she might want to mentor under Stephen Pastis for a few months. He’s been doing it for a lot of years now and has a funny series of song-related puns currently running in Pearls.
Does Doc Davis even live with Mark and Cherry anymore? How is this the first time they are talking about the cat? So now we see that Cherry is playing the “Cat Safety” card with Doc, which is interesting, given that Doc is a veterinarian and should already be aware.
Okay, so I’m thinking that this story is really a PSA for helping keep birds safe by encouraging you to keep your cats safe and inside. Shucks, we can wrap this story up tomorrow by having Doc vow to do better as he walks off with Banjo Cat in his arms as he passes a smiling Violet holding up her ruined harp. Various birds fly and tweet overhead, happy to see the last of Banjo Cat as Cherry tosses off another lame one-liner. Then, back to Mark!
Speaking of cats, today’s daily is largely wasted on a joke hardly worthy of Garfield. We learned yesterday that Banjo Cat is Doc’s adopted friend, whatever that implies. But Cherry’s point is well-taken. Cats do kill more than their share of birds.
Historically speaking, cats were domesticated at least 10,000 years ago, so they’ve had lots of time to sharpen their skills. In fact, recognizing a cat’s instinctive need to hunt, ancient Egyptian nobility brought them along as hunting partners and beaters. Below is a detail from a larger wall fragment that originated from the unlocated tomb of Nebamun, a royal scribe living around 1350 BCE. This fragment was part of many that were literally hacked out of his tomb by a tomb robber in the early 1800s and sold to the British Museum.
Being the long-time vet that he is, you’d think Doc Davis would know enough to keep Banjo inside the cabin if he is going to adopt him as a friend and also accessorize him. Little wonder that Cherry’s once-again repeated visual memory of the harp accident (panel 3) becomes a defining moment of shame as she continues to complain. Man, Cherry is really stuck in the moment.
Anyway, Banjo Cat did not directly knock down Violet’s harp. Poor Cherry is working her way towards a fictionalized version of her and Violet trying to manually move a poorly-mounted harp, but then losing control after getting surprised by Banjo Cat’s actions. Well, proper loading and transporting procedures would clearly have prevented the accident. But then, many adventure stories begin with an act of carelessness, stupidity, or malice.
So, we are getting a bit of Banjo Cat’s backstory, who so far doesn’t seem to have much history.
New friend or not, I’m not sure today’s daily is worth a three-panel layout, given that the format is often used for dramatic action or panoramic displays. Neither is the case today.
Since we just saw Cherry’s memory replay the harp destruction in yesterday’s strip, today’s repeated flashback seems pointless. Yesterday’s flashback makes sense as a catch-up, since Cherry’s story was interrupted to catch up with Mark’s horse adventure.
Anyway, I’d have thought a 4-panel layout would serve better today: Cherry could voice her reply in panel 3, but without the flashback imagery. Rivera could have used panel 4 to move the story along a bit further. This story does not need any padding.
Did I just write the word “story”? Frankly, I’m not even sure what the story is just yet. Do you know? Is it just about Banjo Cat? Will the story lead to Doc and Violet reconciling over the talent show? Or will it evolve into a reminiscence by Doc Davis about some related event in his own past?
Where is Cherry going to put Banjo Cat if she catches it? Does Doc Davis’ appearance (and his recent on-stage performance) imply that Banjo Cat is a house cat in the Trail compound? I suppose it is possible. Cats are normally solitary and like to hang out in quiet places. Perhaps Banjo Cat and Doc prefer to hang out in Doc’s bedroom, since we rarely see him, as well. Will we get Banjo’s backstory this week?
Art Dept. Speaking of “atmosphere” as I did last week, I really like panel 1. The color and shading impart a real impression of a heavily forested area.
For some reason, Rivera chose to portray Mark this week as some kind of urban fanboy from the 1950s getting to meet Trigger for the first time. This Mark Trail is a Jules Rivera reboot, of course, so Mark’s pre-Rivera experience with horses means bupkis here (There, I got to use that word again!).
DianaDaggers drove Mark to the Happy Hoovez horse sanctuary, an organization set up to rescue mustangs from possible slaughter or government oversight. Weird spelling aside, this organization is concerned with seeing that mustangs get a safe home, along with a dose of birth control (owing to the rapid increase in mustang populations). Or so it claims. Meanwhile, Diana just stood around.
While Clayton (the program’s caretaker) delivered his “what we’re about” speech, Mark spent his time slobbering with excitement over the horses. When Clayton said Mark could offer an apple to one of the horses, Mark almost wet his pants. Hmm, I suppose that could have happened as well, given Mark’s rear-facing final appearance this week.
So, my initial reaction this week was that Rivera was treating this story more seriously than normal, which is good! But that feeling dissipated with her depiction of Mark. Hoo boy.
I read that crows and ravens do not get along. Anyway, it’s a well-drawn and informative Sunday sequence, along with a clever “Mark Trail” bird call title panel. Heck, even the normally cornball joke in the last panel seems to be more relevant and less obnoxious than normal. But I still prefer Mark’s original beard.
Recent reader comments (you can go back and actually read them, folks!) question the alternative spelling (and even the pronunciation) of the horse rescue organization’s name (“Happy Hoovez”). Is Rivera attempting to be too cute? Is she attempting to suggest that the rescue staff is illiterate? Or does she want to suggest that maybe the owner(s) are foreigners and not sure of the spelling? I’ll make an executive decision and claim that that last idea is just bupkis. Still, I left it in so I could use the word bupkis.
I’m not a conspiracy nut, but maybe Rivera has embedded a tell-tale in the spelling, itself: That is, the misspelling (“Hoovez”) warns that something about the organization—like the spelling—is not quite right. That would be a clever plot device, as you might find in a murder mystery.
But I wrote the paragraphs above on Friday. Today’s strip is leading me to think differently.
BLECH! Maybe Rivera really dislikes Mark Trail. Or its readers. I can’t recall a more disparaging, demeaning sequence.
Clayton, Caretaker and apparent head wrangler of Happy Hoovez, defines his NPO’s mission, which coincides with BLM’s (no, not that BLM!). I hesitate to suggest at this point that Rivera implies that the Bureau of Land Management is not about protecting mustangs as well as the land. But is Clayton all talk and no hat (like Tess Tigress and her faux tiger petting zoo)? Is he fronting a fraudulent organization secretly selling horses for slaughter, in violation of BLM regulations? It’s too early in the story to start making these presumptions, but innuendo sells, right?
And while the artwork is not terrible at this point, it is rather bland. We could discuss the depiction of Mark’s overly-starched kerchief or the ever-changing size of Artemis. But again, innuendo is so much easier and saves me from having to actually think.
Mark has been strategically placed in panel 1 to keep this strip family-friendly. It is just an oversight, I’m sure, that led Rivera to focus more on Artemis, herself, and less on the proportional relationship of the horse to Clayton in panel 1. No matter, as Rivera straightened out the visual ambiguities in panel 3.
[Edit] Mark expresses his ignorance of horses in general or maybe just the mustangs. I suppose that with Rivera’s reboot, Mark’s pre-Rivera past experience with horses (as noted by a comment from Downpuppy a few days ago) has been wiped clean for the sake of this story. Otherwise, Rivera seems to be maintaining a more serious approach than has been usual in past adventures. That’s good, but how long will this last?
Nice to get those comments! I’m back home, so my posts should appear more regularly. In a touch of irony, regular reader Downpuppy made a pithy comment regarding Mark’s missing cowboy hat that I poked fun of. Apparently not wearing a hat in Utah can lead to a bad end. Consider me educated on that topic!
Clayton the Wild Horse Caretaker (who wisely wears a hat!) lays out his case for Mark. For possibly the first time, we have evidence of Mark Trail actually working as a journalist, recording Clayton’s testimony! I’m willing to give Mark a pass today regarding his response in panel 4. It’s not necessarily a pun, nor an obvious joke. It could be a sincere reaction.
It seems that Jake is less concerned about the issue of the wild horses’ geographic ancestry or the BLM’s periodic roundup of the horses than he is about the horses’ ultimate care.
Art Dept. After five days, the black bar between the panels has disappeared. A shame; its appearance held promise and the hope of millions that Mark would finally get to wallop the living #(@! out of some malefactor.
So today we have Mark being made to act like a school kid on his first field trip, playing dress-up and spouting inanities. Rivera’s apparent predisposition to using punch-line panels like normal gag-a-day strips is disappointing. It suggests that Rivera just cannot maintain any kind of serious position, even within the panels of a single day. When you take a serious adventure strip and convert it into a semi-serious, absurdist adventure strip, it just seems unnecessary to obstruct continuity with corniness. It’s like putting sugar in a bowl of frosted flakes.
Tuesday’s strip does not improve things. Mark is still made to act the clown, once again upsetting any notion of seriousness with schoolyard puns. Of course, it doesn’t help that the artwork appears slipshod. Even Clayton’s body seems to expand (panel 2) and contract (panel 3) for no reason. I could say more, but I’d rather you do that.
Art Dept. Did anybody else notice the thick black vertical line appearing between the panels? I looked back and they started in every daily strip starting February 29. I have no idea why they are present. Anybody have a guess?
I know; I just belatedly posted last week’s Sunday blog, and here I am posting the next one! Well, it’s been a somewhat chaotic time these past few weeks. As I’m back once again on the road Monday morning to return home, things may likely get a bit chaotic for a few more days. Please excuse the mess and try to stay with me! 😀 It might be easier for me to again collate several days into one post. We’ll see how things go.
Anyway, this past week Mark was picked up and driven to his assignment by Diana Daggers, who turns out to be the owner of the magazine that hired him for this job. Daggers admitted that she needed a “loose cannon” and Mark came immediately to mind. Frankly, that was my impression of her at one time. Dagger’s position on the wild horse controversy is clearly on the side of “wild horses” being as American as apple pie, and that corrupt businesses and government officials are deliberately mistreating and misrepresenting the horses for personal and commercial gain. Daggers wants Mark to push that angle in his investigation and subsequent article. This coincides with Mark’s own feelings, so these two should get along, right?
Here you are again with the jokes, Mark? You should stick to what you are good at. Er, I’ll get back to you on that. But I hear you write pretty good nature articles. Never seen one, though.
The 17-year cycle is not for all species of cicadas, and not all cicadas follow that exact pattern, as some of them appear annually. But a swarm of the periodic cicadas is probably something you want to avoid, especially walking or in a car.
Can’t say much about the title panel this week. I would have expected to see swarms of cicadas in the sky, spelling out Mark Trail. Today’s panel looks rather bland, compared to many of Rivera’s Sunday panels.
I’m looking forward to getting back home over the next several days. It’s been great spending time with my Dad (98) and my siblings, but I need to return to my normal, lazy lifestyle, where my younger sibs won’t make me feel like I’m Dad! But for now, it’s time to get back to Mark and his dealings with Diana Dagger and the wild (or feral) horses of Salt Lake City.
I’m not sure Mark (or Rivera) has this figured out correctly, but I’m willing to take the hit if it’s me. Drop a comment if you think I’m wrong. What is the three-way deal here? According to Diana and Mark’s reasoning, the developers are working hand-in-hand with corrupt government agents of the Bureau of Land Management, not against each other. So, Mark’s participation would make it essentially a 2:1 fight, right? Or do we include the horses as the third leg of this wobbly stool? That interpretation would tie in with the three encircled images in panel 1.
Okay. Daggers figures Mark is unpredictable and reactive enough to “get the story” on the horses and their unethical treatment. I suppose Mark’s actions in the Ohio train wreck, alone, provide plenty of evidence for that conclusion. Mark now seems a bit uncertain and uncomfortable getting tagged this way. Does Mark not recognize his own work ethos?
As usual, Rivera’s closing comment in panel 4 unfortunately seems misplaced. Should Mark spend time now self-assessing his career choice (not his “life” choice)? Of course not! Why should Mark worry about Diana’s “loose cannon” description, when it is clearly correct? Mark should own it and be proud of his fixated determination to get the story and get it published, no matter what. Advocacy journalists don’t stand around (very long) waiting to interview hack press agents and spokespersons. That passive technique isn’t going to accomplish anything.
Apologies! I wrote this 2/25/24 Sunday blog early Sunday morning, whereupon I forgot to post it; so, it remained in my draft folder until an inquiry from a reader inspired me to take a look. Hoo boy! I’ll blame it on my being away from home and out of my usual element. So much for easily adapting to changing circumstances! Though it probably won’t mean much, I’m still posting the Sunday blog to ensure some continuity in the record. SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE MONDAY POST.
Greetings! Our return to Cherry’s day this past week started with Cherry trimming trees but getting called by Violet to help with moving her harp into her office. Seems she feels the need to get in more practice. Cherry used the opportunity to get in a few digs about Violet getting upstaged in the talent show by Doc Davis and Bango Cat. Violet was not amused, but kept complaining about how difficult it was to move the harp, even with Cherry’s help. That might have been because the instrument was mounted on a too–small dolly. But wouldn’t you know, Banjo Cat suddenly appeared and surprised the two gals so much that they lost their balance and wrecked the harp. The week ended with Violet even angrier with Banjo Cat and ordered Cherry to capture her.
The pacing seems to have been deliberately drawn out to ensure that Cherry could deliver her passive-aggressive comments and “jokes.” The artwork was pretty sketchy, not the relatively finer style Rivera has been lately showing in Mark’s story. How come? Maybe Rivera wrote and drew Cherry’s story very quickly, so she could give more time to Mark’s story. Just a thought.
Rivera once again presents a Sunday nature topic based on the location of Mark’s current adventure. As such, it is a good topic, developed well, and without being too hokey. I’m glad to see that Rivera has again used her imagination and design skills to come up with another original title panel.
Did you catch Mark’s age reference in the last panel? I think he refers to the age of the comic strip, itself, which is now about 77 years old (“nearly 80 years”).
The Daily Trail 