…except for the first panel…  Cherry – what happened, girl??  Your face / neck / shoulder situation is all off…

Let us not be too hard on these two.  Could be that this is nothing new for them, we just never had this vantage point before in the Legacy Mark Trail under Dodd and Elrod.

But what could possibly make Our Hero cross paths with ‘Jefe’? (Which is Spanish for “Boss” or “Chief,” I am told…)  What could lure Mark away from the ardent embrace of his One and Only?  Fear not, he will soon return to the wooden Mark Trail of old, hearing the siren call of adventure, or maybe just the shrill call of the one they call Rusty- “Hey Mark (I mean ‘Dad’) want to do a little fishing??”

OK- news flash- I have it all wrong! Upon re-reading the timeline,  Jefe is the underling and Jose is the Boss!  I am soooo confused!!  …and I need a life!!

With all respect, Mark, that’s a bunch of Malarkey.  Wow… listening to Biden in 2011 is really something when you consider the Hot Mess the world is now, especially with ISIS and Russia ascending and…  but I digress…

Really Mark?  You were thinking about Cherry and the Boy and the Dog while the cortisol was flowing freely and the bullets were piercing your backside??  Nice line.

And such big words we have now…  comforting, reassuring, enabling… Yup, your entire existence is the epitome of being enabled…  now hunch down over that keyboard and write your damn article…

If it seems like Mark was “away” for a while, it’s because he was!  175 days since we saw the octopus eat the crab and we were introduced to “Mississippi” Ken and “How old ARE you anyway?” Kelly… Sorry boys and girls, your faithful scribe had to step away “on business” for a couple of days.  But it’s probably best to take these Lost Forest scenes down in a big swallow…

I see the Beaver Family is still intact-

And I see that Mr. Allen has no compunction about grabbing more stock scenes from the library… misshapen Cherry serving coffee to her adventure-seeking husband…  Nice try at bonding, Rusty.  Mark’s been home less than an hour and he is already dismissing your comments with a verbal shrug…  But it looks like Mark has regaled his family with lusty tales of good vs. evil, etc…  And it appears that Mark is not afraid to call out Terrorism when he sees it…

Yes.  Good to be home with you, Cherry, not that kid… But check out the concerned look on Mark’s face when Cherry suggest they “Step Outside…” Huh?  What?? Why???

Cherry, your man is not brave, he’s a murderer!  Of course I’m sure that Mark’s version of the story is replete with notions of self-defense and they-had-it-coming, I needed to save the planet, etc…  Yes… Happy when the Feds arrived to give you a ride back… but no mention of the boat you destroyed?  No repercussions?  Well, at least all is right again in the Trailverse…  Unless one considers that Andy is on a leash in the first panel…  What- has he become a flight risk in Mark’s absence??

So Rusty the young man has pulled Mark from a watery grave, and while Mark shakes off the cob-webs, at least he remembers what hit him…

But yesterday it was Rusty the little boy calling after his “dad” and running into the water to save him…

I am also happy to see that the new Mark Trail is not “drip-dry” like the old Mark Trail- at least he still has water sheeting off of him in panel three… but his hair is still impervious to water and other forms of messing with it… Still, the least you can do, Mark, is thank your “son” for dragging your enviro-ass out of the water…

I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?  Paralysis??

Say ‘Dad’ one more time!  I dare you, boy!  And I know that we don’t have much to go on in the way of relative size or perspective, but Rusty’s legs are indistinguishable from Mark’s as they go into the water…

Good thing that Mark seems to have natural buoyancy.  All Rusty has to do is grab him by the hair and drag him to shore!!

Much as I appreciate Nature and all She brings, these interludes that focus merely on the eaters and the eaten are a bit trying…

Still, I try to understand how challenging it must be to keep a daily strip alive- punchlines if it’s meant to be funny and gripping, riveting story lines if it’s a serial like Mark Trail…

Still, we do learn a thing or two along the way and I appreciate that opportunity when it presents itself.

So it appears that the Snowshoe Hare, way out of range and in its off-coloring, will live to forage another day and the Fisher Cat will have to move along in search of another meal that will quiet its growling belly.

But speaking of Nature and all She brings, there’s been a story in the local press about a charter school, the Gaia Democratic School that recently made the news for taking a field trip to an adult pleasure emporium…   the “Smitten Kitten…” a self-described “progressive sex toy store for everyone.”  Apparently ‘everyone’ includes 10 and 11 year old children capping a month-long sex education unit taught by the school’s director.  I guess this shows that not everyone is ready for “Nature and all She brings…”

I’d look confused too, if I was to find myself complete out of range and in my winter coat…

True that the Snowshoe Hare’s coat turns from white to brown in the summer, but it takes 10 weeks to do so, leaving it without protective coloring in the spring and fall…

And it appears that the tree climbing predator from last week is the Fisher Cat… with what appears to be a nasty disposition and a taste for human flesh…  and also seriously out of range…

What’s with all the shacking up in the Trailverse??  Mark called Lost Forest “home” long before he put a ring on Cherry’s finger.

Wallace Wood.  There’s a “solid” name for you…

That last gesture by Mark, the finger on the tip of Cherry’s nose, is so cloying and sweet I’ll soon be calling for an insulin shot… geeesh…

And I needn’t remind long time readers of Mark Trail – that there have been more public and private displays of affection in the last 3 or 4 months than in the entire 50 year history of the strip.  But life must be grand for these two… other than getting shot at, blown up, tied up, or placed in danger by Editor Bill Ellis, they really are living the dream aren’t they??

As we mix the old with the new-  Besides the suit, the tie and the horn-rimmed glasses… Even the phrase “New York Office of Woods and Wildlife Magazine” suggests a bygone era- The “Time-Life Building,” for example… and how even the name-sake periodical can no longer afford the rent…

But there’s Editor Bill Ellis, watching TV! On a fancy Flat screen!  Talking to himself!  Life must be good at the Ol’ W&W… Whatever family fortune started this must have placed money permanently and irrevocably in trust to keep this enterprise afloat.  No way it has the readership, the ad revenue, the “stuff” to keep going on its own…

Great Dismal Swamp, huh?  Well, I am prepared to learn… A recent lightning strike set off a fire that scorched 6,500 acres, but what else is going on?  What would people be protesting?  SOS!  SAVE our SWAMP!!

And what’s with the stuffed Elephant, Bill?  Did you receive that from that rich Russian guy who fancies miniature African wildlife?

This can’t be the end of the Longbow and Target Lesson, can it?  Four shots?  Well, that’s ok, I guess, this was getting a little tedious…

Anslee?  Let’s see… Mitch could be married to a minor, since Anslee Busby is Miss Cumming (county in Georgia) Fair Outstanding Teen and also 2014 Teen Miss Georgia…  and the name Anslee is in the Urban Dictionary* suggests utter perfection pertaining to inner and outer beauty…

*The girl that most people dream of. Every one wishes they looked like her because of how pretty and skinny and perfect she is. She has lots of friends that all love her for what’s inside but she has a pretty awesome outside as well. If you don’t now or are not friends with an Anslee then there is something wrong with you.

Anslee: hey I’m free tonight, anyone want to hang?
Everybody: ME! No me! No me over here!

Something I discovered on Netflix, it’s just good enough to watch, but easy enough to forget…  Arrow features a guy names Oliver Queen who is “marooned” on an island off the coast of China, but is inhabited by a mercenary outfit bent on starting WWIII.  There he learns all manner of survival and fighting skills…  and stops being the feckless billionaire scion and becomes what will be a force for good once he returns to civilization… Anyway, as the name implies, he has mad archery skills, much like Mitch here…

Mitch is a bit of a show-off, though, isn’t he?  Where on earth does this go?  Sort of a quick climax, don’t you think??

I guess that’s what counts as diversity in the Trailverse…

Oh Mark, it’s so nice when you turn all falsely modest for all our benefit…  Even the smallest amount of self-awareness would tell you that sometimes you shine too brightly for the rest of us…

… the Adult fun can continue.  No sign of the lad, apparently Longbow is a grown-up activity.

Yes, Mark, even though we have never seen cherry’s ears out from under that henna’d mop, I am sure she has them and that they work just fine.  Your repeating Mitch’s advice only makes you look like a control freak…  And of course she scores a bulls-eye.  Remember how Cherry demonstrated her rifling skills for Wes??  Girl’s got aim!  In a zombie apocalypse I’d for sure want her around!

Nice shootin’, Mitch!  The target in panel one looks to be fairly crudely drawn and in the wrong color scheme, but all is right in panel three with the arrow buried deep!  I like what Mr. Allen did with the dialogue- kept Mitch talking all through his demonstration and he still managed to hit the bull’s-eye!  Are you just showing off now?  I suppose that makes this a little more fun…

Notice how none of Mark’s friends are even the slightest bit portly or unkempt?

From the Master:

I got a lot of unsolicited feedback last week when I ignored Mark’s suggestion to Cherry that, after he finished fishing with Rusty, “maybe we could have target practice with the longbow.” Much of this feedback implied that “longbow” was a euphemism for something, probably something sexual in nature, and I refused to acknowledge these suggestions, for obvious reasons. Anyway, I’ll bet today’s strip sure has all you sickos feeling pretty foolish! Nothing erotic going on in today’s strip, just a couple of dudes talking about aligning their bodies and “release.” Mark originally proposed this as an activity he and Cherry could do together, but she’s actually nowhere to be seen, thank goodness.

Well, there has to be a character beyond the family fold to introduce drama; around which to fabricate a new story line…  and it might as well be Mitch Wilson.  Damned if he doesn’t look like Dirty Dyer’s long lost brother, or at least has the same taste in hair and eyebrow coloring…

But yes, such an honor to be called to the Lost Forest Preserve, to give of one’s time, to provide what might otherwise be considered a professional service, free of charge, all to the greater benefit of the Davis/ Trail clan…

Readers of this page and this strip will know two things:  1)  It’s only of late that Rusty has actually been able to wet a line…  for years going on decades, Mark toyed with the lad’s very core in making promises he could not keep- Mark would return from an “adventure,” promise to take Rusty fishing, and then be called away on an assignment before he could make good on his promise…  and in our own sick way, readers sort of reveled in that disappointment and pain… 2)  Now that Rusty DOES get to go fishing, he has as hot a hand as can be imagined… almost a fishing prodigy- savant, if you will- whether it be Snook or Tarpon or Trout, the kid’s got game…  who the heck needs school when he could probably go on the circuit and earn a living right now…

So yes, in the Trailverse, no one goes “fishing” and gets skunked…  it’s all about “catching.”  Life is good…

Not that I ever doubted, but here’s a link to further explain what Mark is up to…  But this tip would suggest that there is an abundance of decaying fish and resulting oils discharged in to the water post spawn…  but I really don’t know what I am talking about here, since I only just learned this on the internet and don’t know thing one about fly fishing…

One thing I do know, however, is what a fly fishing vs. a spin-casting rod and reel look like, and Rusty is using the latter, not the former, which is sort of cruel, Mark…  Good lord… at least give the boy the tools he needs to be successful…  but still, life in Lost Forest is a perpetual holiday, isn’t it?  Is Rusty Home-schooled?  Does he even show up on a census?  Is there any proof in the public record that he exists at all??

That’s about all I have to offer today…

Enjoy the scenery, everyone.

“Will you be taking the Jeep today, sir?  I have anticipated your desire to take Master Rusty fishing, and have loaded your gear. Shall I bring you your luncheon Creekside or shall I prepare the noon meal in the main dining room??”  Ever get the feeling that there is a hidden staff at Lost Forest?  They never seem to have to do any actual chores… they just eat, sleep, fish, talk, ride, explore… but never do we see them cooking, cleaning, mucking, roofing…

Well, we can certainly see that we are in the 21^st century now…  I am pretty sure Mark has never before instructed his adopted son to “buckle-up…”

OK, I can take the first part of this scene literally, but I am sure we have stumbled upon Mark talking dirty to Cherry in the last part…

“Target Practice?”  with the “Long Bow?”  Oh goodness… the mind boggles…  I am glad that Cherry is all in on the coming activities, and now she has a few hours to prepare the “target…”