Is that genuine respect?

I swear it looks like Rod has aged about 50 years in one afternoon…  maybe the van contains regeneration equipment- alien technology… that returns him to youthful fighting form…

…and don’t sell yourself short Rod, it’s what you DO with that lure that counts…

I repeat, I use a Rod Bassy® Glow in the Dark™ lure…  if you do the same, you’ll catch fish like me

I wonder how many readers are googling this and wondering why Cabela’s or  Bass Pro Shops aren’t carrying this line of product…

And yet no sign of Catfish or anything that would seem to be untoward… This is looking more like a Babe Winkleman or a Ron Schara Production…

And wouldn’t you think that at least one boat would have followed the “leader?” or is it the arrogance of fishermen that makes them think that “they know best?”

OH LOOK- THE CAMERA is back!

Knowing WHERE to fish, what to OFFER and how to PRESENT it is the proverbial three-legged stool…  without all of the legs, fishing remains FISHING when what one really wants to do is to go CATCHING… How Zen is this?  Consider for a moment that a three-legged stool will never wobble, despite the uneven surface it might rest upon.  The stool might not be level, but it won’t wobble…

OK, back to the story.  Not sure what happened to Trail’s Camera, but it’s been replaced with the thoughtful “Hand stroking chin whiskers” maneuver, certain to send a raft of productive thoughts to the Trail brain.  WAIT- Mark is having a private thought without vocalizing? This has to be a first!!

I love how Rod’s round preppy sunglasses perch nicely on the bridge of his prize-fighter nose! And note the minor sneer he offers as he rebuts the implied criticism of Mark’s “You’re changing lures?”  He is a barrel of insecurity…

Is Rod Bassy wearing GLASSES?  Special Glasses?  The kind that can see into the Fish’s SOUL??  With the cap perched jauntily on his head, he almost strikes a grandfatherly profile…

“And Please, Trail, get it right!!- that’s The Rod Bassy Killer® to you…”

And what exactly is he pulling out of the lake?

What is this misshapen thing?

Is it supposed to be a Bass?

Well, this is certainly random…  some sturdy, handsome lass from the casting couch gets 5 seconds of close-up while Rusty (in a striking action pose) is busy talking to no one in particular about his “job…”  what is it about the Trail Universe where none of the characters can ever (apparently) harbor a private thought?  Is that the writers/ artists never took “thought balloon 101” at the Comic Strip Academy?

And why IS Catfish in SUCH A BIG HURRY??  What’s he up to?  Oh, the tension mounts… My vote is still on the Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus…

I wonder if Mark is bothered by Rod Bassy now referring to him only as “Trail.”  Well it works for “Prince” and “Beyonce” and “Madonna” and “Cher,” so why not?

Is it just me, or does that deer have REALLY big ears??

As Mark races of to the fishing hole with Rod Bassy he leaves Rusty in charge of shooting “B-Roll…” Rusty gazes at the Camera with wonder…

But now the plot thickens nicely… “Mr. Catfish” isn’t in the mood to “pose” for any pictures… And the look on Rusty’s face says it all… “Aw shucks, mister, I promised Mark I would take pictures for him…”  Funny how Rusty’s grin can become gap-toothed in a flash… does he shape shift also to make himself appear LESS imposing?  Or is the artist as sick of Rusty as Mark is, and takes little care to “get him right??”  And what is Mr. Catfish up to??  The mind races!!

And again with the flying creatures in the foreground… can we just have one strip that doesn’t feature animals?

Think about that which Mark just asked you.  You realize by now, don’t you, that you aren’t going to set foot in a boat or get on the water, right?  “maybe he’ll get to do some fishing…” yes he will if only to throw his bare hook off the pier while Mark and the “real fisherman” head out to their own “glory holes” in the lake…  How sad that he takes the bait of “will you take some pictures” so readily…

And I don’t recall Mr. Bassy actually agreeing to the imposition of having “Trail” with him in his boat…  The tension mounts!!

It’s a MESS!  We can’t have pictures taken of our MESSY VAN…

“Yea, see, Trail here wants to take a ‘ganda inside the VAN… see… whataya think about THAT??”   I am hearing Edward G Robinson suddenly…

Mr Catfish seems rather, um, small… at least in the center frame.

“So why do they call you ‘Catfish’?”

“Oh, one time I went fishing and I ended up catching a lot of cats…  after many beers, I guess the name just stuck… wow, that’s quite a grip you got there… is it ok that I call you ‘Mr. Trail’?”

What a tease…  now we are back to talking about the inside of his van…  well, OK.

Nice long shot with the mallards in the fore-ground…  How DOES he do that?  And there’s Bluegill and Rusty magically reappearing in the shot…

“But, SERIOUSLY, Mark, my VAN is JUST A MESS!  I’d be SIMPLY MORTIFIED if my fan base knew what slob I am… You saw how I like to keep my Penthouse Apartment neat as a pin, how would a messy van fit in with that??”

I am guessing he wants time to hide all the scuba gear that Catfish straps on when it’s time to go “fishing…”

Ol’ Rod has met his match!  His carefully orchestrated and scripted existence- Enter Tournament- trash talk the competition- catch most fish- trash talk some more- promote the Rod Bassy Killer®- move on to next tournament- repeat, is slowly being unraveled by this seemingly unflappable (some would say obtuse) nature writer named Trail.

“Oh, yeah…  I heard of you…”

You’ll wish you never had, Rod…

INSIDE my VAN?  Are you SERIOUS?  The Rod Bassy PLEASURE MOBILE?  Do you think maybe he’s hiding something?  I am still betting on freeze-dried fish that he produces just in time for weigh-in…  But again, where’s RUSTY?  Must be with Bluegill.  And we’ve yet to meet Bassy’s Hench-man ‘Catfish…’  Do you suppose he’s called that because he lives underwater and chases fish into Rod’s boat?  The possibilities are endless!

Like I said before, the man has anger issues…  And apparently he’s never seen a camera before… Isn’t it rather obvious what “TRAIL <is> DOING?”

That center frame says it all, though, the reason we read and care about this man and his exploits…

After all, it’s the face, the face that haunts… and beckons us back to a by-gone era where diversity doesn’t have a toe-hold, where the world is inhabited and run by people of non-color…

You did what, Mark? Did I miss some conversation?  The “scoop” is that he uses the Rod Bassy Killer®?  That’s not exactly news…

And he DID think that you were accusing him of cheating…

A more emotionally obtuse or impaired man cannot exist on the comics page…

This transition in all of three frames leaves my head spinning…  No, wait, stop!  Where are we!?

That little silhouette on the dock…  could that be RUSTY?  One can only hope!  They are about to get into a boat! And go fishing!  This could be a first!!

Of course I am NOT a betting man, ROD… But that lure of yours is clearly landing you in the tall clover, considering we are being given another long-look at your penthouse crib… Again I am thinking that the tournament must be in the Central Park Reservoir…

And considering that the “secret to his success” is out and has been for some time, what’s really the point of all this??  Oh that’s right, there’s still the fact that Ol’ Rod likes to talk about himself in the third person, which is a dead give-away that he’s the “bad guy.”  Don’t they all do that??  Or maybe this is all too reminiscent of the All Star Wrestling circuit, where men are larger than life and bring drama with them wherever they go!

Now BACK to THE FISHING HOLE!  And WHERE’S RUSTY?!?

…that holy figures were depicted (typically) with a circle or an aura around their heads…    

And see how the “Rod Bassy Killer®” seems to not reflect, but emanate its own light!  So he’s either fishing with an illegal light-up lure, or this is truly the product a divine intervention…

Love the sneer in the last panel.  Rod Bassy is just as smug as can be.  His Ass-holiness is complete!

And Mark is SOOOO pleased with himself, having cracked the case in less than three days…  This is lightening, deadline fueled journalism being witnessed here!!

Really?  And the speed with which Mr Bassy switches out moods is alarming, suggesting that he may be a talented fisher-person, but at the same time rather unbalanced and unhinged… anger issues, itching for a fight, one could say…  It would certainly explain that nose…

But as always “Mark the unflappable” manages to fit in a life lesson or two without the unsuspecting reader even knowing it!  “Remember, Rod, it’s often times not WHAT you say, it’s HOW you say it…” “Oh, yeah, I guess you are right!”

“I use the Rod Bassy Killer®…”  but what’s with Mark interviewing Rod in a high-rise penthouse?  Where is the fishing tournament anyway? The Central Park Reservoir?

And what has been done with Rusty?  Left him in the care of ol’ Bluegill?  Who is no doubt filling his young mind with thoughts of fishing greatness, made more delicious by the impending disappointment when the tournament rules do not allow minors in the boats…

…do what they taught you back in J-school (outdoor writing, 201) …play to your subject’s vanities, that’s the door to all intrigue… Get him to talk about himself, surely there will be a nugget you can capture and print out of context…

I still love that Mark throws the old Leica 35mm camera around his neck.  While Rusty has moved onto cameras that have “memory cards,” Mark is slowly but surely working down his inventory of carefully stored and maintained Kodachrome 64 film… but he will have to start developing the pictures himself, even manufacturing his own chemicals as the world moves on without him…

I also love that “Mr. Bassy” resembles a prize-fighter.  That nose suggests that he has been in his share of scrapes- perhaps over right-to-fish altercations… note the sneer he offers up as he admits to having “heard about” Mark Trail…  As if his secret dream isn’t to actually be interviewed by the same and featured in “Woods and Wildlife” Magazine…

“Oh boy, you guys, we’re about to see a side of Mark we don’t usually see: Mark Trail, hard-hitting journalist! Rod Bassy is the king of the professional bass fishing circuit. Women want him; men want to be him. Mr Bassy, what’s the secret to your success? “Well, I’m a better fisherman than the others!” It seems that way! Well, I think I got what I came for, let me just take a few pictures of you in your stately home for the cover. This interview will appear in June’s Woods and Wildlife Magazine, and on our website at woodsandwildlifemagazine.biz just as soon as we can find someone who knows how to make a website.”

– it would seem that Josh (the Curmudgeon) and I are on the same page…

…how many plot lines involve FISHING???  I mean what the ___?  And if there are any people shooting animals they are poachers or otherwise evil?  What does Trail, Inc. have against fish?  That they are relatively non-sympathetic targets for man’s domination?  Or that without fish, there wouldn’t be anything to write about??? Or is this part of a subliminal plot by the Christian Right that says fishing is the only truly virtuous pastime (Fishermen Apostles turned fishers of men…) But maybe I over-think this whole thing…  Now back to the story…

A smiling Bluegill (virtuous, remember) declares Rod Bassy a “Real Jerk.”  That’s fairly strong language, Mister… Especially in front of my impressionable Ward, Rusty.  So Rod Bassy is the “Fallen one” who has probably traded his soul for the life he now enjoys, giving him repeated opportunities to say, “In your face, Bluegill!” as he hoists another winning sack of fish…

And who knew that there was a fishing “community?”  Is this another special interest group that politicians will pander to? Boy this just keeps getting better and better!!

I am speechless.  How could I not have anticipated that one???

I still like how mark removes the headrests from his vehicles (which have shoulder harnesses, so we know that they are of a post 60’s vintage…)

But, the effects of being raised in isolation continue to take their toll on Rusty as he offers up, “NEAT!” A word that is so “not-in” that it hasn’t even had a chance to come back around again…

And did Bluegill change his name legally?  Like ‘Cher’ or ‘Madonna,’ does he have but a single name on his Fishing License??