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I thought Mark hated the nickname “Marky”!

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A father-son fishing trip is certainly a fond, traditional bonding rite for parents and children.  Well, sometimes it’s not so fond a thing, as we saw earlier with Mark and Rusty. However, in this particular situation, it’s “the old man” and Mark is the boy now grown up (more or less). Mark could imagine himself being Oppie to Happy Trail’s Andy Taylor.  I mean, how could you not get a bit wistful watching the opening credits to The Andy Griffith Show with Sheriff Andy walking down a country lane with his son, Oppie, to go cane fishing along the creek? Pure nostalgia. But I digress. I wonder how many days Rivera will use up before we discover whether Mark agrees to the trip.

Anyway, the question of the moment is:  Will this trip actually take place or will Mark get a call from Bill Ellis that might upend the fishing trip?

Side Note and Cheap Solicitation: From this blog’s statistics page, it appears we have around 10-20 viewers on any given day. Okay, that’s not very much; certainly not enough to impress anybody, but it’s enough to make me wonder why more people are not commenting, other than the usual cast (for which I am very grateful). Perhaps it’s my haircut. Or maybe it’s my uncanny ability to miss obvious points, such as not being boring. Whatever, I cordially invite other viewers to also participate and leave a comment, be it about the strip, my writing about the strip, or both. No high-level math or a degree in popular culture required. You don’t even have to like the strip, as most of the regular commenters will attest.

More cutesy stuff

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Gah! More story-padding! I thought we had enough of this last week. I think the mallard agrees. So, when will the story move on to Florida, already!? And who gets to come along?
Last Friday, I mentioned the police notices and likely warrants for stuff Mark did down there a few years ago. This occurred in Jules Rivera’s first Mark Trail adventure. I bet you long-time sufferers, er, readers, may not remember what the strip looked like back then. It really was different in several ways, and for the better, in my opinion. Rivera clearly put her mind and time into the strip, delivering inventive layouts, impactful action, and some serious storytelling. Check out these two submissions from January 20th and 23rd, 2021:

I’m not going to go into the story, as you can pick it up on your own. Just study this a bit. It is really good storytelling art! And definitely not the pedestrian layouts and silly characters we usually see these days. I mean, “screwball” is fine once in a while, right? In fact, in several ways, this first story was sometimes screwy, but presented in a more creative and dramatic style! This even beats anything her predecessors did. I just don’t understand, from today’s standpoint, why Rivera turned from this approach to what we see today. Wouldn’t you rather see this kind of work? I don’t mean the violence, per se. This stuff just drips of adventure.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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Unless you like romantic double entendres, not much took place this week. In short, Cherry and Mark took one of their post-assignment nature walks in Lost Forest, apparently looking for the place, opportunity, and mood to behave like birds and bees for a little while. Unfortunately for them, Mark’s phone interrupted the mood and he ensured it was doomed by answering it.

Happy Trail called and excitedly told Mark they are going on a fishing trip! Woo-hoo! This sounds to me like some kind of take-off on one of Mark’s favorite old scams promising Rusty he’ll take him fishing, but never delivering. In fact, Rivera already mocked that meme last December (see “Father Knows Least”).  Now what will come of Happy’s phone call? Perhaps it will wind up as yet another interrupted activity when Mark gets yet another phone call from Bill Ellis conning him into taking on yet another outlandish assignment.

A very interesting topic today, and new to me, in spite of the fact that I grew up on the East Coast sometimes battling jellyfish on the beach. I like their nickname, “By-the-wind Sailor.” Their other name, velella, comes from a Latin word for sail (“velum”), because of the small, stiff sail on their top, causing them to float whichever way the wind blows.

But Rivera should have made it clearer that they are not true jellyfish, according to a six-year old who said they didn’t look enough like jelly. Just kidding. Actually, they are only related to jellyfish and are really multi-creatured, colonial organisms (Note: The Man-o-War is also not a true jellyfish, but another “colonial organism”, which all sounds just weird to me). The velella have also been found off the coast of Great Britain.

Will Mark let the Catch of the Day slip away?

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OOPS! I forgot to post the strip last night when I wrote this. Guess I was more sleepy than I thought!

Huh? Uh, okay. Is Mark going to throw Cherry under the bus (or back in the cabin) and run for all he’s worth down to Florida, Daddy, and fishing!?

Wait! Is that old Florida warrant for destruction of private property and evading the police that occurred in Rivera’s first Mark Trail story still in effect? It might make Mark wonder about Dad’s motives. Then again, maybe Happy is going to come up to Lost Forest for fishing and checking out the ol’ log house. If none of this makes sense to you, I recommend you check out the story catalogued under the category “Happy Trails”; scroll to the bottom (it might take a while); then start reading, starting on the October 27, 2020 date.

In any event, Mark has plenty of time till Daddy shows up, so I hope Mark doesn’t disappoint Cherry. It won’t be very long before she just isn’t up for long walks in the forest anymore.

The family ties that bind

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Okay, I think Rivera is finished with Double Entendre Week.  Not that I haven’t enjoyed participating in it. But Happy Trail again? So soon!? This would be the third adventure with Pappy Happy, if that is where this storyline is heading.  Can we just head in a different direction, please?

How about an adventure involving a completely new cast of supporting characters? I’d settle for game poachers.

You could just turn off the phone, Mark.

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Well, just like in nearly every rom-com and sitcom in entertainment history, a moment of passion turns into the moment of passing.  Now we’ll never find out if regular reader Downpuppy’s assertion about the contents of Mark’s and Cherry’s backpacks is correct.

Looks like a cue for the start of another adventure. Any guesses on what it might be about this time?

Let nature take its course?

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So, Mark wants a little sunshine, does he? The two squirrels in panel 1 are an obvious lead-in to the meaning of Mark’s coded phrase in panel 4 and its expected outcome. Maybe now we’ll learn what’s in Mark’s and Cherry’s backpacks. Warning: Parents may need to screen tomorrow’s strip before the kids see it.

A summary for readers who don’t get the Sunday Mark Trail strip.

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Do I know that there are “millions” of lobster cages (a bit of an exaggeration) lost in the ocean trapping animals?” Yeah! You told us last Sunday, Mark! Don’t you remember? Okay, not every newspaper carries the Sunday strip. Our papers do not.

By the way, that’s a nicely drawn panel 1, in detail and in composition. By “happy fish”, we can accept that fish prefer swimming to getting eaten. Even though fish don’t smile, their actions and behavior have been linked by scientists through experiments to positive and negative feelings. Maybe Mark is indulging in a bit of projecting here, but he also converses with a talking snake. So, I reckon he’s entitled.

Is there anything wrong with having a Mark Trail that openly reflects on his personal beliefs (and doubts)? It certainly exhibits a degree of vulnerability usually lacking in prior Mark Trail presentations.

Enjoying some west and wewaxation. Heh Heh Heh Heh Heh.

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Okay, so Rivera combines the nature walk with the post-assignment debriefing. It’s the combo that counts. Anyway, I just hope they don’t trip over those deer decoys. Still, it’s too bad Mark ditched the hip shirt from Sunday for his wear-forever red plaid.

I also see that Mark and Cherry are sporting backpacks. What could they possibly need to carry with them on a simple nature walk, hmmm?

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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If you were busy this past week, let me catch you up. Mark’s water bear resort adventure (category “bear necessities”) ended in the typical Mark Trail style:  Suddenly. On the previous Saturday Mark and Jeb the Journalist celebrated their rescue from “Millie” the bear, due to Andy’s just-in-time appearance. But by Monday, we found him relaxing at home, chatting online with Bill Ellis. Long-time blog follower, Daniel P. commented yesterday that Rivera did not end the story with the traditional Trail flapjack dinner at home. Indeed, Rivera has not done that for most of her stories. There seems to be two new post-adventure memes: One is Mark and Cherry returning from a nice intimate walk through Lost Forest. Perhaps their cabin isn’t soundproofed.

The second ending Rivera uses is what we had this week:  Mark doling out “the rest of the story”, as he summarized the post-adventure status of various dramatis personae involved in his assignment. Perhaps Rivera could merge the old pancake tradition and the newer tell-all tradition:  The Trails can have dinner at Planet Pancake as Mark delivers post-adventure anecdotes to his family. Afterwards, Mark and Cherry can take their walk as Doc Davis and Rusty sit around the cabin, waiting for their next opportunity.

Another good title panel, and the other panels are pretty well-drawn, as well. Were you surprised by Mark’s new sporty attire? It would be great to see him wear something like this or just different clothes from time to time in his daily adventures.

Do lobstermen read the comics? I have never heard of “ghost fishing”, so I did the usual online “high-school paper” research. While all of what Rivers wrote here plays out, it’s too bad she didn’t have room to note some initiatives to clean up this mess:  There is the NOAA Marine Debris Program to provide locations and means for professional fishermen to safely dispose of old, obsolete gear. There are also several NGOs involved in providing technologies for safe retrieval of ghost gear in our seas and oceans. All of that deals with the larger issue of ghost gear involved in general, large-scale fishing, such as the loss or abandonment of fishing nets. And the global quantity is unknown.

Rivera brings the adventure to a close, but I’m confused.

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The composition of panel 3 is well-designed, but since when did the Trails use venetian blinds!? Ugh.

Anyway, I have to turn to you, dear reader. I’m pretty sure Rivera deliberately makes Bill Ellis look and sound like a clueless corporate suit most of the time. But what the hell is Ellis (who looks like a marionette half the time) talking about when he mentions “those campers”? Can’t be the group of slackers and grifters at the Retreat, some of whom actually wanted to kill Mark.

And please tell me, dear reader, what Rivera is alluding to when she refers to Andy as Mark’s “Best Boy”, which we all know is an electrical or lighting assistant on film sets. I don’t get it.

You think this is something? Wait for the big Saturday Close!

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Well, I have to give Rivera some credit for at least depicting Mark with signs of recent violence and damage. As I recall, the former version of Mark Trail usually got by with just a bit of mussed hair in most of his physical encounters (there were a few exceptions). Too bad Mark didn’t get his trampy beard scraped off in all of that excitement.

Okay, we’ve heard about several of the participants in Mark’s latest folly, but nothing much of Sid Stump, Holly Folly, or the Psycho Bros, perhaps the two who really should be locked up.

In closing, a request to Jules Rivera: No more third-rate puns, please! Can you at least paws them for a while?

Rivera continues to wrap up the loose ends

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Okay. I stand corrected, again. Rivera actually is going against tradition and trying to shine a light on the story’s aftermath.  Good for her! In this case, I hope it is not a hint about Mark’s next adventure, for reasons I have explained previously.

Now are we to believe that Sharp and Chedderson allowed Mark to hang around the hospital room so he could listen in while they put together an unethical and possibly illegal deal? Sorry, I’m not buying it. Mark would have had to be snooping to get this information. But Mark isn’t that kind of guy, is he? Well, he is a reporter, after all, so of course he would snoop!

In the end, it was just about another techno fruitcake

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Once again, Bill Ellis seems to have not even read Mark’s report, unless Mark omitted the shenanigans that took place on this adventure. And Mark is being very modest with Ellis. Why?

Mark must have a short—or selective—memory. Sid Stump’s knock-down temper tantrum when Mark asked about emergency care following the cliff collapse seems to have dropped by the wayside, as did Jeb Jeder’s own testimony on Stump. For that matter, it was never explained just why all of Mark’s previous “villains” happened to show up at this resort. That includes the Shipping Magnate and his assistant, both of whom made an appearance and quickly disappeared from the story.

As far as Mark’s warnings about AI are concerned, frankly, the evidence is not there. Sure, Jeb went on and on, but in the end, he wound up doubting his own research. And Mark is hardly a technology expert.

The debriefing continues!

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“Honey? This ad in True Tech magazine sounds like an interesting vacation idea: ‘Plan a stay at Sid Stump’s Bet Your Life Resort!’”

“But Dear, that sounds a bit extreme, doesn’t it? It must be a joke. Right?”

“Aw, Pat, don’t be such a downer. Just listen to this description!”

‘– Enjoy morning runs (whether you want to or not) as you try to avoid wild bears scrounging the resort grounds looking for food scraps and people slower than you!
— Experience excitement and romance hiking on the Cliffs of Broken Hearts and Legs!
— Have a chance to take lunch or get into an impromptu fight with our founder and resident sociopath, Sid Stump.
— Explore the potential of Man-versus-Nature as you try to make your way through our King-of-The-Forest obstacle course without getting crushed by boulders toppled by our good-natured staff or eaten by bears hoping you trip on the root traps scattered around the forest floor.
–It’s a once-in-a-lifetime and possibly last-in-a-lifetime vacation you won’t forget!’”

“Well, okay, I guess. Do they have child care?”

I call ‘em as I see ‘em

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He shoots, he scores! (feel free to add your own sports meme) Just as I thought:  a typical ending for a Mark Trail Adventure. Will we learn what happened to Jeb, Sid, and the supporting cast of bums?

Otherwise, I like the composition and concept behind panel 1, with the Bill Ellis call-out. Unfortunately, the unnecessary narration box ruins the scene, since Bill Ellis’ discussion could have been placed there, and the mallard and side yard would not be obscured. Several of you readers (well, at least one or two) have often complained of Rivera’s overuse of narration boxes. Apparently, she is not reading or listening.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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This past week the fight between nut-job Sid Stump and Mark “Don’t call me Markey” Trail continued. An invisible cliff suddenly materialized around Stump and Trail as they duked it out. In addition, a very large boulder just happened to show up on the edge of the cliff. Jared and Cricket Bro rushed up to push it over onto Mark. But things didn’t work out that way.

The fight suddenly came to a halt when Millie, the so-named and so-presumed friendly bear, turned out to not be as jovial and hail-well-met as journalist Jebediah Jeter thought. Everybody found a reason to quickly be someplace else. As if there wasn’t enough “suddenness”, when the bear came bearing down on Mark and Jeb, Andy the St. Bernard suddenly teleported into the chase to to put a stop to it!  I have to say (along with many others) that this was not a high point in Rivera’s animal drawing career. The bear, specifically, looks comical, even inept.

Are we now at the end of another adventure? In the pre-Rivera era of Mark Trail, I would say Yes! Mark’s adventures often ended abruptly with little attempt to tie up loose ends before his sudden reappearance back home in Lost Forest. So while we wait for Monday’s strip, let’s check in with the Sunday submission.

Okay, we have a pretty nice “classic” Sunday nature presentation with Mark, and another good title panel. Clearly, the animals shown here are very well depicted, especially compared to the cartoonish depictions of the bear in the daily strips. Why is that?

I’m not sure. Maybe Rivera puts more time in on the Sunday pages and just hacks out the dailies. Doing an adventure strip take a lot of time and research. As regular Trailheads know, the prior Mark Trail artists all used assistants for such tasks as lettering, backgrounds, Sunday strips, and writing (in Allen’s case). As far as I am aware, Rivera does not employ assistants. I think that is a mistake, but I don’t know if it is because of finances, personal preference, or something else. Still, there is a problem in consistency of quality in the dailies, even taking Rivera’s style into consideration. And I still don’t like the Ernest T. Bass beard.

Here I come, to save the day!

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So, Andy jumps in (as in dux ex machina) and saves the day by scaring away Millie the attacking bear. Yesterday we saw Jeb tripping over the proverbial tree root while chased by the bear. Was this a one-off? Oh, no!

Even Mark has had his share of run-ins with bears and tripping. From May 13, 2014 we see Mark demonstrating the technique. In fact, through April and May 2014 Mark seemed to experience one fall after another, trying to escape this bad news bear. Wish I had found find this strip yesterday.

I don’t have to be fast, just faster than you!

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I’m starting (?) to sound and think like commenters on CK. Clearly, Rivera thought it was worth the effort to use two comment boxes (panels 3 and 4) to make a joke at the expense of adding anything to the narrative. She needn’t have bothered, since the bear drawings, alone, should elicit more laughter than any joke she could publish. Compared to what Rivera normally publishes on Sundays, the bear we see here looks like it could have been drawn by Rivera’s pre-teen niece. No insult intended to her niece.

Hoo boy, in this case, I’m rooting for the bear.

Still, where is he-man Stump to show everybody why he is King of the Forest? Shouldn’t he be here, fighting off the bear to save (and humiliate) Mark and Jebediah?

The life and times of Grizzly Jeter continues

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Mark should know about angry bears; his backstory is replete with bad bear experiences, including the pet bear that Cherry Davis played with in Lost Forest when Mark first met her.

However, Mark should be more worried about possible dementia. He seems to have not heard—or remembered—the statements that Jeb has made about befriending a bear in the woods (going back to April 28).

At least Mark has the good sense to keep away from dangerous wild animals, unlike the many tourists in our national parks who want to take selfies beside bison, moose, and bears.