Either Vince has super-sonic hearing, or Mitchum and his henchmen-for-hire did not do a very good job disguising their intentions…  and now Vince knows, and with an over-sized sense of duty, is bent on finding out more… foiling and spoiling their plot, even…

And you are correct, Vince.  A 50-foot shark boat with ‘BRUCE’ boldly emblazoned on the stern will not be very difficult to find…  sort of like Rod Bassy’s Van, thinking they would just melt into the scenery with Rusty bound and gagged in the cargo box…  but I digress…

I love it!  Just look at the bad guys!  Facial hair!  Male Pattern Baldness!  Two of the classic markers for no-good-nicks in the Trailverse!!

And he even uses the term “Eco-Terrorist…”  funny, though, how Mitchum completely avoids any of the necessary context as to why he wants the boat (and Holland) destroyed…  But then that’s probably a quirk of mine- needing to know why…  for these guys, the satisfaction may simply be in the blowing-up and the carnage…  probably tortured small animals growing up…

But oh, Mitchum…  Mitchum… you have crossed the line, haven’t you?  The act of contracting for murder (ordering and presumably paying for a hit) is as indictable as the act itself, and since you aren’t a peace officer, there is a high likelihood that this catches up to you and ends badly…

The story line can stall or move with such pace as to leave the reader scratching his head…  Now who are the people aboard the good ship Bruce??  Is that Mitchum on the left?  Difficult to tell…  And what pray-tell is “this sort of thing…??”  Sounds like we already up to no good.  And it sounds like the crew of the Bruce is up for “anything…”  nothing is too dangerous or dirty for them.

But what on Earth does Vince, his back-ordered Boat Part, his lack of a phone to call and see whether the part is in or not, and his flat-bottom boat in which he can only “punt around the Swamp” have to do with anything??  I Submit to you, dear reader, that Vince must feature in this storyline otherwise we wouldn’t have learned of his name- first and last…

Well, James Allen, touché… Here I thought it was Mitchum already out in the swamp scheming and causing trouble, but no… we have Mike and Vince, two seemingly unrelated characters.  And wonder of wonders- Vince is a person of color- and we aren’t even in Africa!!

Thanks, Mike, for the awesome hand gesture in panel two- not sure we would have known “front” from “back” without it…  Come to think of it, how many times have you asked a store clerk to “go check in back” to see if they are really out of the item you are looking for…  What with today’s perpetual inventory platforms that tick things down at point of sale and auto-magically reorder at a pre-determined point based on demand and time to manufacture and ship, it’s almost a lights-out procedure… but then this is a a random “Repair” shack on the edge of a swamp, so they probably still have to “check in the back…”

I know that boat in Panel two…  the platform off the bow, the barrels!  The shark jaws mounted on the front of the flying bridge!!  I can only guess that it’s Mitchum greeting the boat’s owner- Vince Wilkins… who will no doubt feature prominently in the unfolding drama as Mitchum tries to put a hurt on his boss…

But back to our Main Characters…  I repeat my assertion that Justin Holland got beat up a lot in school, only to become a titan of industry…  brains over brawn I guess…  I mean, look at how he has his shirt buttoned up to the top!  What, no hat with a big floppy brim?  Where’s your sense, man? That sun will pound your mercilessly…

…but everything I have been able to find on the internet suggests that there simply isn’t a lot of open water in the GDS… That, and we now know that the boat’s name is SWAN.  That’s breaking news…

I went back to check to see whether we had seen the stern before, but this turns out to be a new angle on things.  I wanted to make sure that Mark and Cherry hadn’t added that after taking “ownership” of the vessel.  Has kind of a graffiti quality to it…

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Mitchum is smoldering and scheming about a way to bring harm to the man who would dash his dreams on the muddy shoals of the Great Dismal Swamp…  Can you feel the tension?  I can’t…

Am I to understand, then, that Riverway chemical is a private concern?  With exactly two shareholders?  And that there exists a set of documents that would automatically transfer all ownership to the surviving shareholder upon demise of the other?  That’s a fairly precarious setup if ever I saw one…

But now we understand that Mitchum DOES have skin in the game and that he is not merely a toady in the grand scheme of things…  But it does suggest that Justin has the final word on any decision making that goes on, and therefore stands to quash the dreams of this Young Turk…

But who am I to criticize?  Swamp Murder appears to be somewhat On-Trend to Trend-forward, as this story in the NY Post would suggest…

See how fast that smile on Ol’ Mitch disappears once Justin Holland is out of the room…  He’s a phony, through and through…  as for the Stewardess, oh, I mean ‘Flight Attendant…’ I swear her face must hurt by the end of the day…  Not that she wasn’t pleasant or friendly, but her smile still haunts me 12 hours later…  Just huge and fake and all teeth and gums and everything…  She’s like most of them though, never figuring on having to do this thankless job for as long as she has, she’s staring down the tunnel toward a modest retirement with flying privileges but never any empty flights or seats to take advantage of them…  But I digress…

So, Mitch…  Is it really the company’s money you are worried about?  Do you have some of you own skin in this game??  Drink your coffee, bide your time, scheme your schemes.  Time to check in with your REAL boss…

There’s something not quite right about this whole setup.  Justin certainly cuts a wimpy profile, even as he shape-shifts in the second panel, and he seems almost intimidated by “Mitchum…”

“Just making sure we are on the same page…”  I understand that a person who has invested time and energy into a project doesn’t want to see it unplugged for any reason, but I get the sense that there are other forces at play here…  Promises made and that need to be kept otherwise Mitchum could find himself in a world of hurt…  I think there are bad guys behind the scenes that have something on “Ol’ Mitch” and would be very disappointed to find out that the Mine is being called into question…  Oh, the plot thickens!!

Five letters- R-E-L-A-X.  RELAX.

But look  how chipper Mitchum is when he points the map of the swamp and the result of the “land deal” he mastered…  Sorry to break it to you, kid, but this isn’t YOUR COMPANY.  Whatever labors you invest, whatever fruits result for harvest, everything belongs to the COMPANY.  Until your name is on the building, it’s entirely up to management and the capricious whims of the Board how and whether you will be rewarded…  unless you can scrounge the capital to buy the land and build the mining facility yourself, you have very little say in anything that goes on here, despite your enthusiasm and talent…

And good heavens…  look at how long Mitchum’s right arm is in panel one…  It’s almost unnatural…

Not that people should report to the boss’s office and stand at attention, but what exactly is ‘Mitchum’ communicating here??  “Yeah, I’ll come to your office, Justin, but I don’t have to show you any respect…”  Recall that he is just “back from vacation” and maybe hasn’t completely “returned?”

But faithful readers will recognize the Mitchum Archetype right away- we last saw him in the Senator Hudson Mason/ Johnny Walker combination- The person who would be in charge is being manipulated by a crafty underling…

But how comforting to have the phrase “a little fishing” thrown in…  and how funny for Mitchum to have already figured out Mark’s motivation- although not so surprising, since Mark is about as deep as a kiddy-pool and nearly as transparent…

…where comics have no sound, we sometimes wonder what these characters sound like, right??  For whatever reason I am assigning the voice of “Droopy Dog” to Mr. Holland, CEO of Riverway Chemical…  especially the last line in the second panel, “some local people…” really seems to fit, especially with the seemingly benign facial expressions being offered up…

Wow, Mark, you are really IN the Swamp??  Currently?  Why that’s extraordinary!  I happen to own it!  Do you have my permission?  Have you been scouted by one of my lackeys?  I plan to mine every last ounce of titanium from this pristine and somewhat virgin ecosystem because you know why?  All I care about is ME.  That’s right, not anyone else, not future generations, not any friggin’ turtles or alligators that might call the swamp home…  They mean NOTHING to ME!!   Muuuaaaaahhaahhaahhaaa!!!!

OK, let’s count ways:  (1) There is a high-rise, city-style office building on the edge of the swamp- replete with mangrove and wildlife… (2)  Mark has the direct dial number of the CEO of a Multinational Chemical Conglomerate… (3)  Justin Holland is in the office and answers his own phone… and (4)  he answers it like someone who works in a call center…

…oh and (5) Justin has heard of Mark Trail and actually reads his articles (of course, why hasn’t or wouldn’t he??) and (6) Mark is so secure in his own skin that he can make business calls wearing nothing more than a smile…  OK, one might make the case that he has his trunks on, but I ask the reader to imagine otherwise!  And what exactly are you doing with your left hand, Mark??

Finally, what’s up with Justin?  Huge head, small body, narrow shoulders, not exactly painting the archetype of the eco-villain, now is he??  Probably got beat up a lot when he was a kid…

… emphasis on the gagging …  Time we made time getting up the canal – we have a date with destiny – with Justin Holland of Riverway Chemical.  I just wonder, though, is the “h” hard or soft in “Hollland?”  Upon which sylla’ble do we place the empha’sis?

And who is that watching the Trails?  Is this Papua New Guinea?  Some type of indigenous tribesman?  15 minutes from Elizabeth City??  Or is this Swamp People meets Mark Trail??

OK, I was wrong.  Not the first time and it won’t be my last…  I searched this time for “alligator nest” and viola- here’s what we are talking about…  So the bear went to the mound looking for a tasty snack of gestating Alligator… (mmm… crunchy on the outside, soft and gooey in the middle…) And yes, The Mother Alligator took exception to that…  Oh Mark, How could I have ever doubted you??  My hat is in my hand…

“HA HA HA …”  that’s a fairly robotic laugh…  I prefer the highly punctuated “HA!” as in, “WOW!” or “COOL!”  But then I have always suspected that Mark is an Android, devoid of the “feelings” circuit  that would allow him to express and modulate emotion beyond what he is apparently capable of doing…

The only reference to “Alligator Mound” is an Indian burial mound in Granville, Ohio… and what on earth would that Alligator, painted Boat Motor Green, have to do with the haystack?  His head would barely fit inside, if in fact you are suggesting that he was using it as a hiding place…

As for Alligators attacking Black Bears…  right…  best I could find is an animated scuffle from animal planet which is 100% CG…

OK, whatever…  carry on.

Who?  Mark?  James Allen?  The whole Mark Trail enterprise?  When Allen took over the helm and began to apply his vision to the Mark Trail comic legacy, he quickly introduced us to a cranky  Black Bear with a sore foot who then promptly treed Mark Trail… only to be bested by Mark’s cunning and apparent dominion over nature by forcing a confrontation with Rex the ill-tempered Grizzly, over by Cutter’s Bluff…

But with the Cherry peep-show over, we have to get back to business, and business is all about Nature and Nature is all about preservation and halting evil, profit-motivated people from destroying it!

But wait- what’s in that haystack that looks like a beaver lodge, except that a beaver wouldn’t build a lodge on dry land…  they are hard-wired to try to dam up the entire waterway…  how curious…

Have another, Cherry, you are on Vacation!  First one of your life, so why not make the most of it?  And what kind of “drunk self” are you?  Which of the seven dwarfs do you become?  Sleepy? Happy? Dopey? Grumpy? Randy?  Oh, that’s right, that wasn’t one of them…

And leave it to Mark to wax encyclopedic on the topic of Butterfly diversity in the Great Dismal…  Fascinating.  Truly fascinating.

At least they are back to calling each other something other than “Honey…”

Hang onto that tiller.  Trim those, um, sails…  Only you Mark Trail could be thinking of the endangered environment at a time like this!!  Have to say, though, that since Mark has affirmed (and re-affirmed) his love for Cherry, he seems to have found his bowflex as well… nice pecs, dude!

Mark, you doofus, it’s not the scenery that she is remarking on!  Dim and dense to the end, I suppose…

And Cherry, what hideth beneath the flannels of Lost Forest?!  I guess it took a trip to the Great Dismal Swamp to find out…