Wow… we have to go all the way back to the end of July before we find a daily featuring Mark…  I literally forgot what he looks like… that’s over three months!  The old measure, “Mean Time to Lost Forest” (the average time it took to play out an entire story arc) typically took less time than that!  And what is typical for today’s Trail, the sun doesn’t set on the characters… ever!

And would you refer to your “old Friend” as “Professor?”  Did “The Professor” on Gilligan’s Island have a name?

I guess he did… Although I would never have known that without the help of Das Google!

I guess I just don’t know all there is to know about gang/biker weaponry…

Are these the equivalent of Ninja throwing stars?  Does Raul plan to carve Rusty and Mara into little pieces?  It’s clear now (for the hot second) that Raul is no “friend” of Mark Trail… and that his facial hair and wardrobe choices are putting him into the “Bad Guy” bucket…

What an odd split-screen for the second and third panel…

More bad dialogue greets us this morning…

And why does Mark need to be drawn into this?  Because it’s his name on the strip?

Big “effing” Rats?  Is that what you are implying Raul??  Only this is a family strip?  And we have to watch our language?  Oh please, let’s get ON with this…

Not the mattresses?  I know, a vague and non-sequitur reference, but that’s what jumped to mind…  Sort of like all these random storylines in today’s Mark Trail…

Apparently Raul has x-ray vision… he can see through adobe walls…

Hard to know who’s the bad guy here… everyone seems mighty suspicious!

So as Rusty and Mara go through the wall (down the rabbit hole??) Raul is stumped.

But he takes on a special glee at the notion of luring Mark Trail into the picture…  Now remember, gang, we have been lumber through the daily strip for months now, but it’s only been an hour or two since the kids left the dig site with Joe/Jose…  I mean Mark and Cherry wouldn’t even have had time to, uhmmm, well, you know… OK, Ick.  Sorry.

Sometime the lack of continuity is simply irritating…

Yesterday we ended with a panel showing Raul with a shit-eating-grin, and today we start off with a panicked look, with Raul on the “phone” with “Jose” who, wonder of wonders, is awake:

Never mind (again) that the two communications platforms hail from different eras, that it’s quite unlikely that a cell phone can “talk” to a CB/Shortwave/HAM radio… And never mind that the center panel is plucked, pixel for pixel, stroke for stroke, from a previous strip (I think we call that <fair> re-use…) I am left to wonder again when the syndicate is going to yank the plug on this brain-dead future corpse of a “feature” strip.

Hole In the Wall Gang reference??

How convenient, though…  When in doubt, create another improbable plot twist, a la cave adventures (in the sonoran desert swimming through a blind underwater passage all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, or underneath a bank in a ramshackle, dilapidated western town in the badlands…) or exploding islands and sloop rigged yachts… I guess that’s prerogative of the scribe… the escape is only a pen stroke away.   So go ahead, kiddos, you’re safe as kittens…

In a city where is seems that all the stucco and mud coatings have seen better days, the wall that will trap them looks to be freshly skimmed and painted!

Mara, sometimes it’s the littlest of things… decisions we make that can turn the tide for or against us.  The day you decided to follow the hapless and feckless Rusty Trail into a Mexican alley is the day that you will live to rue…  If they survive this setback!!

Not to mention that cheesy grin in the second panel.  Would you trust this guy?   Oh Hell  no!

Somehow he knows about the dig site…

…but even that is not enough to win the trust of these two plucky tweens…  And off they go around another blind corner!

Raul, he of tiny hands and wandering right eye… is attempting to lure the children in with the oldest of ruses… “I am a friend of your Dad’s!”  OK, then who’s my Daddy?  How do you know him?

Good Lord, how much longer does this drag out?  Christmas?  That’s where my money is…

As Mara comes to her senses… as in, “Why the hell am I following this dimwitted boy?” Rusty tries to justify what was probably a bad move…

Enter Raul… Looks like a baddie, but wait, what?  He’s calling out to the kids like he’s trying to help them…  hmmmm….. what to do??  How about clicking your heels together and getting the heck out of there!

Better get caught up, here… With the dude on chopper in hot pursuit, making mincemeat of the patio furniture…

…our people are racing through the highways and byways of Santa Poco…

…until they make their most serious mistake of all…

…following Rusty’s lead!  Good luck with that.  Taking after his father, though, heading down blind alleyways in search of sanctuary.  We’ll be back in a while after this little chase scene resolves…

As we continue the slow crawl through the streets of Santa Poco…

…it would appear that Raul is in charge…

…it would also appear that Mara’s proportions are growing by the day… her blossoming bodice is becoming a downright distaction.  Rusty’s form, as he chimps along, looks more apelike than human, poised to have his knuckles drag at any moment…

Why does a guy on a chopper cut such a menacing profile?  What is it about the popular culture that puts that notion immediately in our heads?  Didn’t the Rolling Stones hire the Hells Angels to act a security at one of their shows?  OK, that little incident at the Altamont Speedway didn’t turn out so well…

Yes, it’s the biker… What’s his name…  Raul… who is hooked up with Sleepy Joe and the antiquities operation, or is undercover Federales… Who knows?

Yes, the Biker is following you!  Duh!  And it’s also good to know that Mr. Allen can draw the bike and rider from two perspectives.  Or did he just take the image and flip it?

   Yup!

Judging by the Toucan’s flap, we are now moving through the Trailverse at 16 frames per second…

And ‘Backpack Guy’ seems to have Rusty and Mara firmly in his web of deceit…

So let’s all look forward to the next ‘flap’ of this story- a single framer, no doubt, wherein our main characters continue to walk toward the camera, boring even themselves…

Another award winning single panel ‘wonder’ that moves the “story” ahead ever so slightly…

…while Mara’s proportions grow more amazonian by the day (or minute?) …

…enchanted, even.

And while Mara continues to ask herself why and how she ever got hooked up with this dolt, spiders are breakdancing!  And how does ‘Juanito’ know Mara’s name?  Super suspicious!  At least the Earth has stopped tilting!

No, Rusty, the correct response would be… ah… ‘no thanks.’

But then it’s been literally forever since Rusty has been kidnapped… If memory serves, it was when he was tied up in the back of Rod Bassey’s fishing van, after he had discovered the secret to his success…

So whether the kids take the bait and follow backpack guy (c’mon, Mara, at least you are smarter than that…) remains to be seen (tomorrow?  next week?) we can all remember what the strip used to be like, with story lines that actually moved along and a reasonable pace!

I honestly don’t know what Backpack Guy is up to in the first installment below…

…almost like he’s performing an interpretive dance, except with that, one usually doesn’t talk at the same time…  The pigeon appears to be equally confused…

Rusty snarls…  that’s not a good look for you, son… you’ll give yourself away!  Mara keeps her cool, as they are no doubt being led into a trap!

Or perhaps Señor Manos Grandes!  Good heavens!  Look at the size of those paws!  Funny how everyone speaks english… but no matter.

These kids are stone cold liars!  Not even a flinch.  We’re out exploring!   That’s it!  We got bored at the hotel!  Yea… that’s the ticket…