And now I am picturing the Rhino with notches on its belt or its bedpost… one for every vehicle run off the road?? And look who’s all smiles in panel two…  yes, Lori Tompkins, that’s who, after a ride or two on the Trail-go-round, and realizing that her life will no longer be held back by that Guy with the Gambling Problem, she is positively aglow!

Ed Carlson?? What kind of a name is that for a bad guy?  Sounds like a high school chemistry teacher from Anoka… oh wait, there is precedence for that, isn’t there?  At least in a certain fictionalized account…

And back in some city in Rwanda, which we know because it’s the same restaurant that brought Mark, Chris (um… Dirty) and Lori together, and because in the background we see a lady carrying her (what- Laundry??) on her head… Nice that these two kids can continue to hang out for days… doing what?? Now that we have the “new Mark,” the mind absolutely races…  two handsome people, on another continent, for all anyone knows who are meant to be together…  yikes… calling Cherry, Calling Cherry- by the way Mark, did you call Cherry?  I know that would be an expensive call, but still…

And now for the plot twist to end all plot twists…  Jacob Hickman!  What the… recall that Jacob Hickman’s truck was found at the bottom of a cliff without him in it… unexploded we presume, but that the “worst was feared” as it pertained to his current location and condition… and now he just turns up how many days (or weeks) later waving to Mark from across the linen tablecloths, like they are old friends.  Of course Mark is famous, depending on the circles traveled, and Jacob, we presume, was expecting him…  OK, then… let’s start writing that story!

With Lori perched on the Doctor’s shoulder, she didn’t have to ask Mark the question… The question to which she already knew the answer…  Yes.  The Rat-Bastard is dead.  C’mon… really?  Name one redeeming quality displayed by the character.  I am having trouble summoning any grief at all.  Relief is more like it.

And where does the story go now?  Lori, remember, you are the one with a future here!  Your Dental Practice! (How random is that…?)  Don’t go all to pieces!  Your life just got better!  Boy what heel I am…

What’s Gnu, Pussycat??  Oh, I know.  Mark has gone from punching bad guys to nursing them back to health.  The explosion should have torn Dirty Dyer asunder from stem to stern, but it seems to only have mottled his complexion slightly, with his butch cut intact and Mark’s giant paw soothing him…  good lord, really??

The Rover is still in hover mode… which I am sure keeps our patient as comfortable as possible as they head to a… Hospital??  I mean they are out in the freakin’ bush, here, people.  It had better be a mud hut with a witch doctor if this story line is to recover any smidgeon of credibility…

Need I remind anyone of the explosion that happened a couple of “days” ago?  No one, I mean NO ONE, gets out of that one alive…  or at least not horribly disfigured…

Yet, here is Mark, selfless to his core, diving in and pulling Dirty from the flaming wreckage.  While Taurus and Lori look on in disbelief, as if to say, “You know Mark, he’s kind of an asshole.  And a poacher.  Let the SOB burn…”

Come to think of it, I don’t think Mark ever called Chris by his chosen Handle…  I guess Mark sees the good in everyone, even lying, thieving, murderous poachers…  Of course, in another time, under another pen, we let bad guys fall to their death…

When last we saw the Trail-mobile, it was all a-hover over the rocky terrain, and now it has maneuvered itself down the sheer face of the cliff that spelled doom for Chris “Dirty” Dyer…

In a more shocking development, Taurus’ face has lost all pigment… He looks ashen compared to Mark’s ruddy glow in panel two… But really Mark, what is it you are running to?  Cooked Chris?  Dyer in the Fryer?  If he pulls Dirty out of the Driver’s Seat unharmed, this story line will have taken a seriously implausible turn, even for the world of comics.  The force of the impact-generated blow would have left him somewhat less than intact…

I have to say, I laughed when I saw this morning’s installment!  Why is it we feel nothing when an unsympathetic character gets what he has coming to him… But honestly I thought we would find “Dirty” Dyer alive and awaiting his reckoning – Trail-Style…  Instead, it appears that the truck was also carrying nitroglycerin or some other highly volatile substance…  Vehicles going nose-down onto a rock simply don’t explode, do they?  Maybe they do…

The car parts flying every which-a-way for good measure…  nice touch.  Don’t think Dirty is walking away from this one…

Well, we certainly can’t utter the time worn phrase, “there’s never a cliff or a canyon when you need one…”  And it’s a good thing there are two Rhinos in play here, otherwise one could never explain how the attack moved from starboard to port in a mere blink of an eye…

Well, Dirty, it was nice meeting you.  At least we won’t have to endure all the bad dialogue and references to wagering any more.  And the cargo of Rhino horn can be turned over to authorities and won’t be making its way into the Asian market to be ground and sold along with false promises of stamina and virility…

And in case anyone is skeptical, here’s a video “proving” that Rhino have a taste for jeep…  or this one…

Really, Dirty?  That’s the best you can muster?  “Those beasts are ramming my truck?” Considering that EVERY statement made in this world is punctuated by an exclamation point, they sort of lose their meaning when the time comes where you really need one…

Certainly it’s only a matter of time before Dirty finds himself impaled on that prodigious horn (has it grown from yesterday??) protruding from the snout of the great beast… only just desserts for such foul play!  Let me remind you that Mark hasn’t returned the punch that Dirty landed some days back…  This is very disturbing.  I sincerely hope that opportunity is not lost.  Mark punching a corpse would not have the same effect…

Well, Dirty, here’s a little payback for ya…  Hoist by your own Petard, as my Grandpa used to say…

The horn on the one in the foreground has got to go a foot or more…  yikes.  Junior is getting a lesson in protecting territory, and judging by the size of Mommy and Daddy, Dirty isn’t going to make it out of this one…