Taking anyone or anything for granted is a serious wrong that needs righting…  Is there any end to the lessons that we can learn from Mark Trail!?!

Even though that was meant as a rhetorical question, I’d have to say no, there is not.  Witness the brilliance of one Rusty Trail featured in today’s installment- one meant to fill our brains with all manner of outdoor knowledge…

That’s right, Rusty, we do always see more bugs during the summer months…  because at least where I live it’s too friggin’ cold for anything to be alive outdoors during the winter!!

But it’s just difficult for me to do so…  not sure why, but it just is…

“Yup, makes me think of my own wife, who I abandon on weekends to come spend nights in my ancestral swamp-home…  but she understands- that there needs to be “Vince time” and nothing gets in the way of that!  But won’t I have a story for her when I get back home this time…  normally nothing goes on and I have little or nothing to share- your coming here really got the Ol’ Swamp rockin’…” he would seem to be saying…

Go ahead, Justin, you do that.  While you are there, check into what Mitchum paid for the swamp land…  you might have to think twice about your plans to donate it…

I am having trouble accounting for the number and the size of the figures on the dock… The voice that would be Justin’s is coming from the largest figure- what? did he grow suddenly as his eco-intentions were made known to the Swamp Gods?

And who are all the people?  Counting Vince (oh, Vince we hardly got to know you…) there should only be four people, and while the figures are small, none of them appears to be Cherry…  and who is driving the boat?  Is that the “Bruce,” taken into custody along with Mitchum and BGwB?

Finally a plug for W&W Magazine…  I sense we are going to be at Lost Forest tomorrow!

…and from the Comics Curmudgeon:

Mark Trail would like to remind you that you can be duped and held at gunpoint by your closest friend, live in terror of your life for days, see a man blown to bits in an explosion, and have your company’s finances thrown into disarray, and just walk back to your office like nothing happened, like the world’s the same as it ever was! Don’t worry, some good press in Woods and Wildlife Magazine will smooth this whole thing over.

And how exactly does a person donate property to a “Swamp?”  Is there a swamp-monster?  A Swamp-Keeper?  A Swamp-Trust?  Well, it turns out that there is…  Well at least there is The Trust for Public Land, which has among its projects 1,400 acres of the Great Dismal…

Oh, whither thou goest now, Mr. Trail?  The end of a story, especially a pot-boiler like this one, is always a bit of a letdown…  I shall miss Justin’s sad, sad face… the way he can switch it on and off, like today, going from panel two to panel three.  Do you suppose he practices his expressions in the mirror in the Executive Washroom??

As far as we can tell from the dialogue, pithy as it is from time to time, there might have been less than an arm’s-length transaction between Mitchum and his “cousin,” or somehow they were in cahoots and therefore would have benefited at the cost of Riverway (née Petroxx) and its other stakeholders, but to just scuttle a project without the consent of the Board (assuming there is one) is highly irregular…

But who is this “cousin?”  And why would he care necessarily?  He sold the land to Mitchum, so presumably he “got his…”  It’s just so frustrating when the world of business (legitimate, mostly) runs into the mind of Mark Trail and his creators.  Easy enough to have Mark square off against people engaged in poaching or other illegal activities, but when we try to work the everyday into the story line, it all gets terribly confusing!!

So, let’s do another quick cut back to Lost Forest, catch up on what’s been going on there and see what else materializes…  I don’t envy James Allen.  Let’s hope his plot generator hasn’t lost power…

…to  the scene where the bad guys are taken into custody- on Mark’s word, of course…  I wonder if there will even be a trial.  When does the insurance adjuster get a call to inspect what’s left of the SWAN??  So many details that I am glad we will not have to endure…

So sad, Justin, so very sad… That there are those who put profit ahead of people and relationships!  Strange how you were able to rise to such a prominent level in the Corporate Firmament without leaving a single enemy in your wake.  Certainly possible, but not very likely… that is unless you were deposited into your seat as a result of family…  but no mention of that, so we shall have to wonder.  And wonder whether the mine project will now be scuttled in favor of maintaining the pristine nature of the Great Dismal…

Oh Justin…  really?  How does it feel to be a walking caricature in a cartoon??  Hard to tell if he’s sweating or if he’s broken out in hives…  But think about it, Justin… This isn’t over…  far from it!  You will have to testify against Mitchum and live in fear the rest of your life that he’s going to get out and come after YOU!  The person who spoiled all his dreams!!!

How much blood has been let here, anyway??  That is unless Vince slit BGwB’s throat??  Why don’t you try loosening your shirt collar, big guy? Let a little more blood up to your cranium!

Good thing, too.  We’ve been on the Great Dismal through quite a few moon phases and as much as I love a good eco-mystery (wait, is there any other kind here??) it’s time to move on.  So yes, Honey, Baby, blechhh…  thank you for saving my ass, again, what would I do without you?

I can hardly wait to see the next story where we bring the entire trail brood along- Rusty included just to see what trouble we can find!

And I wouldn’t turn your back on him, Mark…  save the honey-ka-fuddling for later, you have two baddies on board and unless they are tied up, they are not going to just lay down… Oh wait, that’s right.  This is the Trailverse.  When bad guys get hooked, they lay flat like a halibut…  And Justin…  Where’s Justin?  He was about as useful as a brick to a drowning man.  Watch him emerge and pick up where Mitchum left off…  that would be AWESOME…

OK, this doesn’t even make sense…  “A Bow and Arrows??” on a boat?  Just propped up in the corner like that?  How about a rope?  There’s usually plenty of that on board…  or is it a tie-back to the very brief encounter with Mitch, the fellow who came by to engage in a little “Target Practice???”  And good Lord, she’d have to be as fast as Oliver Queen in order to pick up said bow, notch an arrow, draw, aim and fire…  all in one fluid motion…

And apparently a pretty good shot if indeed she only meant to wing him and not to impale…  But a glancing blow like that?? Would that really elicit the howl that Mitchum is emitting?  Whatever.  This is just silly.  Still it IS Cherry to the rescue.  A meme in the making if ever I saw one…

Such drama!  Mercury in Retrograde, Full Moon, Cherry is in all three panels of today’s installment… our evil-doer is getting more evil by the second (I mean it really looks like he’s going to shoot Mark…) and we are left hanging again…

But let us not lose heart, dear readers.  Mark is Immortal.  We know that.  He hasn’t aged a lick in 60 years (or however long he’s been around) and do we really think some overzealous capitalist is going to get the best of him??  I think not!!  Or at least I hope not…  hang in there; tomorrow’s another day!!