Finally! Jules Rivera managed to get Mark out of the cabin and on the road again. And right off the bat, Happy Trail calls for one of Peach Pitt’s custom t-shirts. I wonder if that farmers’ market is open every day or did Mark leave on the right day? <Sigh!> I think I’m spinning my wheels today.

Art Dept. I’m not sure what to think of Mark’s auto in panel 1. It looks like Jules Rivera is experimenting with a woodcut style drawing, based on the blocky feel to the car; the use of flat, heavy “hatch” lines that thin out on one end (e.g. radiator), and contrasting with thin parallel lines on the side of the car. The window glass doesn’t come off very well, and the zip lines behind the car to denote movement are too short. However, I wish Rivera would have extended this woodcut style to the entire panel.

Now, the use of popup portrait bubbles is a device Rivera often uses to highlight somebody from inside of a structure when the view is external. It’s a good technique, though I think also putting Mark in his own bubble is overkill. Yes, it adds a visual symmetry with Happy, but it makes the panel more crowded and lessens the impact of Happy’s bubble.  Mark could have been shown inside the car. However, I’ll give Rivera extra credit for drawing Mark’s seat belt! It’s an easy detail to forget or omit in this situation.

Mark is optimistic and naïve to think an 11 year-old kid would miss dad for a few days. But as I feared, Jules Rivera is using the entire week to get Mark out of the house and on the road; apparently, to work on her comic strip humor chops.

And what’s with all of (at least 5) the bags (panel 1)!? I thought Mark was the only one making the trip. It’s only going to be a few days; a week at most. Hell, a few years ago I spent an entire month in England with the contents of one backpack, so I can’t figure out what he’s bringing along.  Surely it can’t be clothes, since he always wears the same outfit. Well, he might have a closet full of red plaid board shirts, for all we know.

Perhaps, as a professional wildlife and nature photojournalist, Mark tries to be prepared for the chance to ply his trade as the opportunity presents itself, so he’s bring along some equipment. Or, this is a clever ruse to sneak out of the house with all of the junk food in the kitchen cabinet.

Oh dear, looks like Jules Rivera is going to use up an entire week of strips just to get Mark out of the cabin. And it isn’t as if there is any substantive dialog here where Mark and Cherry actually engage in an informative and educational discussion on Internet scams and how catfishing suckers people. Nope! All we’ve gotten so far are gag strips pretending to be a storyline.

I don’t even know why Mark is yelling in panel 2, since Cherry is directly in front of him.

Art Dept. To reinforce my theory of “Blah! Blah! Blah! Laziness” going on, compare the compositions in today’s panels with yesterday’s. See any parallels? Well, at least Rivera kept the lines inside the panels today.

Art Dept. Okay, I think we have to call foul on the wall, specifically the logs on the right side of the door. If we can see the ends of the logs on the left side of the door (which makes sense, as our frame of reference is to the right of the door), there is no way we should see the ends of the logs on the right-hand side. Jules Rivera should know this. Also, Cherry’s speech balloon in panel 1 looks detached only because Jules Rivera (or a staff artist) colored over the balloon’s tail.

Rivera’s Cherry displays a kind of independence that was not normally present in the days before Rivera took over. With that kind of trust, I’m not sure why Mark needed to be vague about his travel (panel 2), though it will certainly be spelled out tomorrow. Perhaps it was necessary in order to give Cherry the spotlight for her friendly dig in panel 3. Mark get the jab; but shouldn’t he look a bit more bothered and concerned? Anyway, I hope tomorrow is enough time for explanations, and Mark will get out of town the day after.

Now, this story—as we understand it so far—can rightfully be criticized for having nothing really to do with the environment, animals, or water pollution. The same can always be said for numerous stories before Rivera came on. We could argue that this adds more depth and complexity to Mark’s character. But we haven’t see a lot of real conservation-oriented stories lately; so it would be great if Mark put his family life aside for a while and tackle something on which his fame and reputation actually depend. After all, this is not Mary Worth!

Here we go again! Mark had to help Dad (Happy Trail) out before, when he got conned in an NFT scam run by the Crypto Bros out in Oregon. Now, Happy may be getting scammed by an online romance crook. Is it time to put Happy’s money into a supervised trust and appoint a guardian? That could be done, but it would also be the end of the story. So, nope! And Mark is not going to tell Niecy “Dad’s an adult and it’s his money to do with as he wants. If it makes him feel good to give away all of the money he intended to leave me, then the hell with him!”

On a serious note, Internet scams are a recurring issue for senior citizens who may not be that discriminating or knowledgeable about emails scams, fake websites, popups, and other online hazards. Hell, you don’t have to be a senior citizen to be taken in by online crooks and pranksters. We all like to think we’re too wise and too smart to fall for that stuff. It’s a vanity that online crooks exploit.

Anyway, it’s a good thing that Niecy is contacting Mark to update him on the situation down there; though it’s going to be a nearly impossible job if Niecy or Happy expect Mark to recover the funds already transferred. There are practical things they should do right away if this is an online racket. But we’ll just have to wait and see where this story goes.

And “where it goes” is the most important concern for us: how Jules Rivera treats this issue. Will it remain a major plot device for the story or will it be cast aside as the story shifts in another direction?

As the cutout of a Northern Bobwhite curiously sits out in the open (panel 1), Mark answers his phone. I was at least partially correct about who would be calling. Not quite actual family, but extended family, I reckon. Most of you may recall that Niecy is the daughter of Jolly Roger, neighbor and friend of Happy Trails. Their troubled past was part of the drama in Mark’s first adventure when Jules Rivera took over. It’s a story worth reading and especially viewing, as it displays what I consider Rivera’s best art on the strip. If you get distracted by the slightly different take on Niecy, don’t worry. The appearance of many comic strip characters evolved over the years. However, the initial version of Niecy Rogers certainly looked a few years older, as in grown up!

Well, it looks like another non-paying adventure is lining up on Mark. I hope he got a sizable check for that non-story on Tad Crass.