Robbie makes an excellent point, of course. None of the other kids showed up with their daddies (who all probably have stable jobs, anyway). Furthermore, the boys won’t be able to cuss or talk about girls with a parent along! But I covered this point yesterday (And that’s a pretty well-drawn Mark in panel 2).
I’m not sure that Rivera ever got around to naming all of the kids. The kid with the Moe haircut seen in panel 1 of yesterday’s strip is Ernie, son of Jeanette, who operates Planet Pancake. I think that the unnamed kid who says “Pfft”(behind Robbie) is selectively recalling events. The reason Mark saved them from the ‘gators is because he was responsible for putting them on the island with the ‘gators (cf January 2023). And there were no other adults around, anyway!
Finally, I hope you see the parallel drawn here with Rusty and Robbie in relation to Mark, right? That is to say, Mark and his own childhood nemesis (later turned grownup nemesis).
Prolog: For a long time, I was puzzled by the fact that there was no “Like” button on my post pages. I had finally forgotten about this until I started seeing “Likes” tabulating on my pages! Huh!? Where did they come from? In the WordPress settings, the Like button setting was enabled, but I still saw nothing. One of my readers even told me she only sees Like on the Comments page. I didn’t see it there, either.
I use MSEdge, so I went through its settings to see if there was anything to change. Nothing. I brought up Chrome and there was the Like button where it should be on the main page! Now I was really puzzled. Why Chrome and not Edge? After a lot of cogitation and throwing CDs at my heavily dented door, I had a wild idea and turned off Adblock just for WordPress. Lo and behold (as they say), the LIKE button now shows up on the daily blog! Man am I getting slow. Well, on to today’s Mark Trail strip:
Okay, put away any excitement for Cherry’s story as we return to Rusty and Mark. The Trails do move in their own, restricted circles. For Mark, it’s people like faux-Prof. Bee Sharp, Diana Daggers, Rob Bettancourt (Cricket Bro) and his brother, and finally his dad. For Cherry there are Georgia, Honest Ernest, Violet Cheshire, and various members of the Sunny Soleil Society. For Rusty, it’s his buds. Yeah, there is some comfort in familiarity, of course, but there is also tedium. At least here, we have Rusty’s friends. Most kids like to spend time with their friends, so it is only natural to see them reappear when the strip focuses on Rusty. So, we give Rusty a pass, but not his mom and dad.
I don’t get the gag in panel 4 about Mark being “worth waiting for.” Those kids were neither expecting Mark nor waiting for him. More sarcasm? Rivera is supposed to be expanding the Trailverse to allow other family members to get some of their own face time. So why does Rivera continue to redirect attention to Mark? Can’t these kids just have their own adventure for once (think of the movie “Stand by Me”), or at least hold Mark back until the kids get into trouble and need to be rescued. It’s time for the kids to start making their own decisions and mistakes.
Were you by chance too busy this week to keep up with Jules Rivera’s Mark Trail? Fear not, dear heart, for having taken on the mantle of daily observer, analyst, and reactor, I can—nay, I must—catch you up. Such is my obligation and pleasure.
This past week the strip turned its focus from Mark to Cherry. Working one day (as is all too common) in the garden of the Sunny Soleil Society, Violet Cheshire interrupted Cherry with a handful of kudzu vine and a written note of scorn. Apparently, somebody left that fragment of invasive weed on her home porch with the note blaming Violet for apparently sponsoring its growth in her home garden. It was signed with a comic book nickname: “The Kudzu Crusader.” Of course, Violet assumed Cherry fashioned this presentation as some kind of childish prank. But Cherry denied being either being the author or perpetrator of this action.
I would have thought that this story would move on from the initial interrogation and response. In fact, most of the week’s strips were wasted on repeating this question-and-denial routine, in slightly different revisions. It wasn’t as if the issue was difficult to understand.
Other than my observation that Violet—surprisingly—expressed no knowledge of kudzu, this story started to languish. By Friday, Violet was finally ready to believe Cherry might be innocent, and now came to think that Cherry was being framed. If somebody wanted to frame Cherry, wouldn’t they have signed her name to the note? But even Cherry began to accept Violet’s illogical “frame Cherry” theory. In Saturday’s strip, Violet was overtaken with Sherlockian zeal, ready to go on the hunt with Cherry as her Watson and find the real Kudzu Crusader.
At last, the story’s excitement level rises to a measurable level! It would be a shame to interrupt the plot at this point and chuck its momentum in the freezer, just to get back to Mark’s ambiguous storyline.
Now it’s good to use more plastic!? As happened last week, Rivera is once again linking the Sunday topic to the current storyline(s), which is a good idea. And as usual, her customized title panel is spot on. Rivera ingeniously takes advantage of the lanternfly’s wing markings to pick out the strip’s name. I would only add that the spotted lanternfly was first observed on the eastern seaboard but seems to be moving westward.
I think I’m beginning to understand a few things: Violet doesn’t know what kudzu is and calls it an “exotic” vine. I think we might assume she is not from the South or even the Midwest.
According to The Nature Conservancy, kudzu was brought into this country over 100 years ago from Japan and later deliberately promoted during and after the Great Depression to help minimize soil erosion. Little did they know back then! Also, the fact that Cherry has to actually state that she doesn’t like kudzu is like saying penguins don’t like to summer in Miami.
Nevertheless, we’ve had 5 days of Cherry and Violet more or less repeating the same dialog: “Why did you do this, Cherry?” “I didn’t, Violet! Why would somebody want to frame me?” Slow pacing is fine when the plot or information is complex. This is not the case. After the first day, not much new was introduced, making this long sequence unduly boring and unproductive.
Maybe these two should first be more concerned about removing the rest of the kudzu currently in Violet’s home garden, before it starts expanding into the surrounding forest. Then they can go into full Enola Holmes mode to find the true culprit. My money is still on Ernest (or maybe his wife, seeking revenge for the affair!).
Wait. How can a “suspect list” increase when there are no suspects to begin with? Perhaps the term “increase” implies we start with the Sunny Soleil Society?
Anyway, this focus on Cherry seems misplaced, but I’m working from a position of logic, or at least, reasonable assumption. When Cherry says she has no enemies, is she forgetting about Honest Ernest? Well, maybe she does not consider him to be her enemy.
Art Dept. I’ll give Rivera high marks for the drawing of Violet in panel 1. The pose and especially her expression are quite well done and believable, and matching the tone of her comment. It forms an interesting bookend with Cherry’s face in panel 4. It’s still a shame that Rivera does not integrate more interesting design perspectives in the strip like she used to.
Sorry for the lateness of this post. Violet Cheshire’s comment in panel 2 just completely contradicted all of her prior statements about Cherry and the note. I was too flummoxed to continue.
Well, that’s only a half-truth. In reality, I got distracted by other matters. But when I got back to this post, I saw that Violet really did make that statement. So, this wasn’t just a late-night hallucination, after all.
Now in panel 1, we see another bit of illogic: Why should the note attempt to frame Cherry when it wasn’t even signed by Cherry in the first place? If the narration box is meant to be an editorial comment, it reads as if Rivera was being influenced by Violet’s statements! Violet’s passive-aggressive dialog is doing nothing to move the story along, except to extend this pointless issue of Cherry’s personality.
What’s the point here? Is Rivera really concerned about establishing the authorship of the note or more concerned with pushing a “reality TV” melodrama of manufactured confrontation?
I suppose this could be yet another marketing ploy from Cherry’s second-place antagonist, Honest Ernest. We haven’t heard from him for a while. Perhaps he and Violet had a falling out after the revelation of their affair. That could be a driving motive for this anonymous note. Or maybe the prelude for another Honest Ernest toxic chemical creation.
Suddenly Cherry reverts to her “trailer trash” heritage (see the first Rivera-era story: Dec-21-20) as her apparent lack of education comes into full display in panel 4. But is she just being impertinent to Violet the Tramp? How else to explain her crudity? Cherry’s grabbing the note and her reaction in panel 3 (“…there’s no way I wrote this”) is the setup for the upcoming put-down.
But Cherry’s sarcasm in panel 4 is undermined by Rivera’s disappointing derisive response in the same panel, which otherwise provides us with no useful insights into the story. That’s my opinion. Do you have a different interpretation?
From a purely moral basis, even Violet should know that this is not Cherry’s M.O. But I reckon this outburst does fit Violet’s character. Will she apologize? Hah! Did you also think it strange that Cherry felt the need to explain to Violet what kudzu is? I don’t think there is anybody south of the Mason-Dixon Line who doesn’t already know.
Once again, this could be an interesting adventure, but we’ll have to wait and see if it descends into farce and is unresolved. It is interesting to note that Rivera posted a Sunday nature talk on kudzu before it was introduced into the current story.
Really? That’s the worst question to hear from your boss? Not in my experience, at least. But clearly there is something more to this question than a simple “Of course not!” response could satisfy. Cherry does look a bit guilty in panel 4.
Art Dept. I wonder if Rivera likes attending theater, because once again, the scene in panel 1 looks more like actors performing on stage with painted scenery: the decorative flatness of the flora, the simple overlapping placement of bushes and trees, and the generic ambiguity of the distant mountains provide a simple backdrop to the characters on center stage.
Having some down time, Mark wanted to experience some warm, fuzzy family time, but Cherry had a gardening job and Rusty was setting off with his friends to investigate something mysterious in the forest. Mark really wanted more time with Rusty, so he chased him down, getting him to reveal that he and friends are going to inspect a possible “E.T.” sighting. Mark bribed Rusty with the use of his digital camera and a pizza lunch so that he could tag along.
The last time Mark tried to bond with Rusty was when he took him and his friends out on a borrowed boat at night to hunt for the “Bassigator” cryptid but grounded the boat on an island of unusually docile alligators. While Mark fretted, the kids loved it.
For those not in the know, kudzu really is a big problem. There are places, mostly in the south, where it looks like the land is just one big growth of kudzu, shaped like whatever it is growing over. You’re gonna need a hell of a lot of goats to control this stuff.
I thought it was interesting to see that Rivera, who usually likes to have a pun in the final panel, blew this one: “Goats are really the greatest of all time!” Of course Rivera was spelling out the acronym, but that’s like explaining a joke. If you have to spell it out, it isn’t a joke. She should have written “Goats are really the GOAT!” Just my opinion.
Yup, Mark is scamming his own kid with that “too dangerous for you boys” line so he can poke his nose into their business. So, where is that camera? Unlike smart phones, a DSLR is a bit large for a pocket (unless you happen to be Captain Kangaroo). Alas, poor Rusty. He should have trusted his instincts. Nothing says “fun” like having your dad tag along when you go meet your friends.
Phew. Today’s setup and dialog seem like a parody of 1960s TV shows. Maybe Rivera still believes her target audience consists mostly of Boomer Generation readers. Maybe she’s right (though I’ve never found any statistics from her syndicate). After all, who even calls cops “Fuzz” anymore?
I dunno. Is Mark just playing along by humoring Rusty with his aliens search? And why does Rivera deliberately make Mark out to be a clownish hypocrite, then mock him for it (panel 4)? I suppose I shouldn’t be too harsh. As parents, we were sometimes guilty of “Do as I say, not as I do!” behavior.
Still, one can’t get over the notion that Rivera is set against maintaining Mark Trail’s traditional image as a steadfast source of parental rectitude. Since pre-Rivera Mark Trail’s morality was a 1950s-time capsule, that’s probably not too bad of an idea. Maybe we’ll get more clarity on Saturday.
Mark being confused is rather common, isn’t it? But once again, Rusty disses dad about his social shortcomings. Cryptids are so Old News. Kids have (re)discovered alien incursions, previously the interest of corn farmers and Art Bell enthusiasts. Let’s hope this topic leads to a very interesting and fruitful story. At least until Mark gets his usual phone call.
Mark sure seems like a needy dad trying to make up for not being around. I’ll cut him a lot of slack here. Most of us fathers know how it feels! But the pre-Rivera Mark Trail never seemed too concerned about his fatherly duties. At the same time, pre-Rivera Rusty rarely seemed to go anywhere, much less have friends.
Anyway, I sure hope that tiny log structure in the background of panel 1 is just one of the out-buildings on the Trail estate and not meant to be the actual family home. That would be ridiculous.
Finally, Mark must have touched a nerve with Rusty, because his façade of calm quickly evaporated when Mark pressed him for details. I sure hope it is something really interesting. But will Mark stay out of it?
Rusty might get into trouble!? Gosh, Mark! Did you forget to set up a chaperoned play date? What a Millennial you are! Just let the little bastards play. It’s not as if Rusty is still six. Frankly, after that Bassigator Boat disaster, I’m surprised any parents will let their kids come anywhere near your place.
Maybe you can be Cherry’s gardening assistant today, Mark! Then you and Cherry can both get that call from the hospital telling you Rusty broke his arm falling out of a tree in a climbing contest with those other hooligans. Or they might go off on one of those “Stand By Me” adventures. Come to think of it, maybe you should spend the day shadowing Rusty, Mark.
Well, since Mark just got back from his trip, I reckon this would be his first family breakfast since returning. But would it have made any difference if this was the second breakfast? Just wondering.
Anyway, it sounds like Cherry has another job, possibly with a client that is not the Sunny Soleil Society. That’s cool. Poor Mark has to finish his breakfast without the family. But fair’s fair! Mark hasn’t been around for their breakfasts, either. Still, there might be options for Mark.
Such as Doc Davis. He’s part of the family; so where is he? Those pancakes won’t stay warm very long.
This week blew by fast. Well, I had a bad cold for several days, so I might have misinterpreted the passage of time. But once the first breezes of fall start blowing, time just seems to take wing (yeah, I know the days get shorter, but don’t rain on my clichés). Mark held a week-long review with Cherry of what happened after his train adventure suddenly ended. I am overall fine with a more detailed look at consequences, since the pre-Rivera MT period tended to give them short shrift. What do you think? Speaking of things moving fast, it’s amazing how quickly these events resolved, unless it was due to the fact that Mark took four weeks to hike home from Columbus, Ohio. What happened?
Mark was officially cleared of wrongdoing by law enforcement.
Sally Scorpius is shacking up with Happy Trail down in Florida.
Law enforcement discovered Senator Small’s many years of bribes and corruption more quickly than any episode “Law & Order.”
It suddenly dawned on people that, those laws Senator Small pushed through the state senate were designed to undermine, overwork, and endanger train employees.
Somehow, Mark’s livestream rant caught the attention of the EPA, which is going to have the Duck Duck Goose transportation company pay for all of the cleanup costs.
Rex Scorpius is providing personal motivational therapy to “faux professor” Bee Sharp, who is very distraught over his face being used by DDG without his permission. It seems the idea of being the victim (instead of the perpetrator) of fraud was just too much for Sharp.
Mark came home with the wildebeest.
Mark and Cherry’s log cabin house seems to have shrunk (could be optical illusion).
Panel 1 is quite calligraphic, but I have no idea what the underlying figure is. Wait, I see. It’s the Leafy Sea Dragon shown later in the strip. A bit of mixed and unsupported messaging: Why should we always reach for the stars? In fact, in panel 5, Mark argues against going into space in order to segue to the mysteries of terran life forms. Rivera makes a good point about the diversity of interesting life forms on Earth, at least. And looking at enlarged images of tiny creatures is sometimes like seeing extra-terrestrials.
There they are, once again. Cherry and Mark dissing the Midwest and doing a Hallmark-approved hug in front of their trendy “tiny log cabin house”, rather than one of those big, family-sized homes that just cry “Boomers Live Here!” Mark appears to have spared Ohio from having to deal with a wildebeest by bringing it home. Maybe it will become friends with Andy. Or gore him.
Art Dept. I’m disappointed. Owing to Rivera’s greater appreciation for wildlife, I would have expected her depiction of a ruby-throated hummingbird to be a bit more “realistic”, at least in the wings department. This should have been an obvious subject for her creativeness. Instead, the hummer looks like the kind of “frozen” image you see on wildlife paintings and hi-speed camera photos. Ho-humming bird.
Mark is being hypocritical with his criticism of movie studio ethics, given his own willingness to indulge in law breaking and fisticuffs with law enforcement (and not just in this story!). Call me old-fashioned, by I don’t see how this characteristic enhances the Mark Trail brand in any positive way.
Movie and production studios do seem intent upon using AI scans of actors for their own purposes, which has also been one of the key complaints in the current actors’ strike. I would not be surprised if some studio put out a film composed entirely of AI-generated actors, selling it to gullible viewers as a new technological breakthrough, rather than the cynical, money-grubbing scam that it would be. Actually, there is a 12-minute “movie” (more of a trial), completely fashioned with AI (though not using images of actual actors). You can view it here. Frankly, it’s rather primitive and looks like computer game imagery from years ago. But I digress.
We have to remember that this is “Mark’s World”, not the Real World. The very idea that a train spilling toxic chemicals would not have caught the attention of the EPA and other federal officials seems unlikely; just as unlikely that, somehow, somebody at the EPA caught Mark’s livestream report. And now we are to believe that there was a media blackout of the event. In the strip, there were several reporters at Mark and Happy’s fight, er, press conference. According to local news sources (in the Real World), there was no news blackout; just initial “indifference” from national news sources. Apparently, the national news services were focused more on the so-called Chinese Spy Weather Balloon.
I should have found this stuff earlier. An article (“TikTok becomes ground zero for toxic Ohio train derailment news as users push against ‘media blackout’”) by Mikael Thalen for “The Daily Dot” reported that national media gave the event short shrift, Tik Tokers were all over it, noting that locals were reporting lots of dead fish. An interesting TikTok video is linked in the story (think Mark). The TikTok user made a point of stating that officials and media sources mostly just repeated the PR line from the railroad. So, it seems clear where Rivera got at least some of her inspiration and material: https://www.dailydot.com/debug/tiktok-east-palestine-ohio-train-derailment/
The Daily Trail 