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The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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It was a tough week for Mark, having been informed by his weather app that a big storm is forming in the area and could cause flash flooding. Seems the camping spot Tess picked out is right in the path. Mark brought this up with Tess, but got off on the wrong foot by putting forward his feelings as justification, before showing the information. This ticked off Tess, who ripped him a new one. She also dismissed his data when it was finally brought up by showing her weather app had no such warnings. Of course, Mark could have simply said he’ll sit this one out. What was there really left to do? He got his interviews, went on some hunts, and ate a bunch of pork chops. But Mark Trail is still under contract with King Features Syndicate, so he will still go, come hell or high water!

The next morning they began packing the car. Reba and Shania were present. Tess and Jess were not yet present on scene. This gave Mark an opportunity to take the two gals aside and give them his gloom-and-doom pep talk, hoping they would agree with him and vote to call the trip off. But Reba reacted the same as Tess. Shania expressed some uncertainty. This was not going as Mark as hoped. Tess will almost certainly learn of Mark’s behind-the-scene treachery.

We’ve already spent several weeks reading Cherry’s adventure and learning about fast fashion and its effects on the environment. So why does Jules Rivera devote a Sunday page to repeating this information? Well, curious readers, Rivera is using the topic to pivot to a more general screed on the pollution effects of plastics and dyes in our oceans. Floating islands of rubbish, discarded clothing, and other garbage certainly do exist and create problems for sea life, shipping, and beaches.

Now, I have no idea what Mark is getting at in the last panel. Style over substance? What substance? Is Mark suggesting that more expensive clothing doesn’t also get discarded and sometimes wind up in landfills and floating garbage pits?

Here we see again Rivera giving mixed signals. Why is Mark holding a model WWI biplane and smiling as he concludes his ominous message? Why is there a deer in panel 4 expressing surprise? Rivera used to brag about how much time and effort she puts into the Sunday page. That certainly isn’t evident in today’s work. It looks rushed and simplistic. Ed Dodd thought it important enough to hire an artist whose only job was to prepare the Sunday page. Unfortunately, I don’t think Rivera gets paid anywhere near enough for that luxury.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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Having survived the afternoon hunt with the Hog Huntin’ Heroines (as published the week before), Mark began this week’s installment writing up his notes at the home of Jess and Tess. Mark pondered the implications of Tess’s “errant” rifle shot that came too close to him and Shania and wondered if Tess was getting careless. He didn’t consider that Tess might be leading up to a final confrontation.

Jess dropped into Mark’s room and ribbed him about his paranoia and reaction to Tess having a little fun with her gun. Still, he invited Mark to a sit-down evening dinner of pigging out on a tableau of pork dishes, compliments of Tess’s shooting. Curiously, Mark got all giddy at seeing the spread, as if he had never seen or eaten pork before. He was actually disappoined that Cherry, Rusty, and Andy could not also be here to see the spread. Things must be more dire at the Trail Cabin than I thought. No wonder he accepts every job that Bill Ellis gives him, no matter how odd or absurd.

As Mark chowed down on chops, Tess invited Mark to an overnight camping/ hunting trip, which caused Mark to pause and ponder his survival chances. Tess slyly watched him calculating. But for some illogical reason, Mark figured that he might as well go in spite of any possible danger, since he’d get to eat more pork when he returned. Of course, Mark could have eaten more pork without going on the trip, but this story requires some drama, dammit! So Mark simply has to go!

Yes, we’ve covered much of this already, but it’s still good information. Funny that Mark doesn’t answer his rhetorical “Is hunting the answer?” to controlling the invasive feral hog problem. Hunting is currently one of the common techniques used. Contraceptives are in the works, but it’s an uphill battle.  

There are two other noteworthy items in Mark’s nature chat today: 1) Mark is carrying a rifle. He didn’t bring one on his latest assignment, nor did he borrow one to use. I don’t believe Rivera has shown him hunting. 2) Mark makes much of the diseases found in feral hogs and the importance of proper cooking techniques to make them safe to eat. Yet, this past week, Mark seemed completely oblivious to the danger, never bringing it up or thinking about it. I wonder why?

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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Two weeks ago Mark went into the field with Tess Tigress to meet her fellow hog hunters, who took turns revealing their hog-hunting origin stories. That week ended with the sighting of a wild hog as the gals prepared to go into action. The actual kill shot took place off-camera, a decision that Rivera repeated this past week and remarked on by one of our newest blog followers. Not showing the actual kill shot could have been an editorial decision by Rivera’s syndicate or Rivera, herself.

This past week saw the hunting party at another location, ready to unlimber their guns in the pursuit of more wild hogs. A good part of the week was something of a jumble with regard to time, sequence, and action, but I’ll try to at least present a general idea. Or you could just read the prior six days of strips (my commentary, optional) and skip this.

When a trio of wild hogs was spotted, Mark got out in front of the hunters to take pictures, but thought better of it and retreated to safety. Then Shania got out in front of the group to get a shot, though Reba warned her to be careful. Apparently she wasn’t and one hog bore down on her.

 At this point, time, space, and sequence get confusing. 1) Shania panicked and ran as hog ran at her. She didn’t shoot hog, but tripped. 2) Reba yelled advice but didn’t shoot. 3) Hog’s movements seemed to slow down for no reason. 4) Mark stood in background, beside Tess. 5) Mark reacted by somehow managing to run and jump in a tree on far side of Shania just in time. 6) Hog’s location unclear. 7) Mark yelled for Shania to grab his hand. She did. 8) Hog seemed to be staring. 8) Tess took a shot, but hit tree Mark and Shania are in. 9) Tess shot again and killed hog (not shown in the strip). 10) Mark and Tess end up on the ground, complaining of Tess’s wild shot. 11) Tess brushes off complaint. 12) No word on the action or whereabouts of the other two hogs seen with this hog.

From Tess’s actions and expressions, I’m thinking that her supposed lack of memory of Mark or her former fake tiger petting zoo may be an act. And she is really setting Mark up for revenge.

WebMD says pumpkin (seed or seed oil) might relieve benign prostatic hyperplasia (enlarged prostrate). The NIH offers a detailed, scientific discussion on medical use of pumpkin seed oil: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8681145/

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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Back at Peach and Olive’s cabin, Cherry was helping them prepare “Upcycle” clothing while Peach was working on a promo video. There is still dissension in the ranks about working with Holly Folly. When Cherry found out that Holly was hooked up with Cricket Bro, she got visibly concerned. But then Holly emailed Peach with an offer to buy her clothing line for a big price. Cherry and Olive noted Holly’s connection to “fast fashion” and its ecological damage as a reason to turn the offer down. Peach was all but ignoring them, because she wants to succeed, is enamored by Holly’s good fortune, and wants a bit of that good fortune for herself. It looks like this could be a real ethical conflict for them to work out, if Rivera doesn’t turn it into just another farce.

The surf must have been pretty good when Rivera knocked out this reheated potato. I think I’m on the right track, based on the unimaginative and roughly drawn title panel. Mark already made a big deal about the land bridge at the start of his Happy Hog Hunting Honeys story. Yeah, land bridges are helpful and good, but they are not Edward Hick’s Peaceable Kingdom, either.

Shucks! Pay no attention to me; I’m just nerding out here.  It’s really fine for Rivera to do some promo work for land bridges. They have a good purpose. But as this land bridge was somewhat covered earlier, Rivera could have spent this time on how one gets a land bridge designed, approved, and paid for. You know, like if you want to get one for your community or region. Another reason for my generally slack opinion today is based on Mark’s face in panel 2, which looks like it was slapped together with some kind of online interactive Mr. Potato Head program. But guess what? I threw out that “Mr. Potato Head” line as an off-the-cuff snark. But then I thought, “Is there really such a site?” Well, of course there is! Silly me. There are several, and they are not as customizable or fun as I had hoped.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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During the week prior to this, we watched as Mark Trail arrived at the home of Tess Tigress (who does not remember Mark Trail at all) to conduct an interview with her and then go along on a wild hog hunt with her Hog Hunting Heroines. But he was continually distracted, first by the size of Tess’s house (because her new husband, Jess, is a millionaire); then by their heartwarming story of how the couple met, fell in love, and went hunting together, for ever after; then by Jess’s large collection of mounted trophy heads. Finally, Mark suited up for an afternoon of hog hunting. He did not bring a weapon.

And in this past week, Mark and Tess arrived on location to meet the other two women in the hunting club. Mark got the chance to question each of the women about how they got into hunting and how they formed their group. There was an understandable similarity of motivation: an unfortunate encounter, requiring the women to take action, especially as the husbands were either away or incapacitated.

This week ended with the group hearing rough sounds in the bushes that (surprise!) turned out to be a wild hog appearing in a clearing. Rivera’s narration box boasted of a “hog-hunting hootenanny!” in the past panel, as the group turned to face a single razorback. Will the women flip a coin or will all join in?

This is at least the second time that Jules Rivera has dedicated a Sunday page to the exploding whale incident. The last time was July 9, 2023. You can find it in my archives. Maybe Rivera forgot about it last  year? Or she has decided to make it an annual event. In any event, today’s strip fortuitously appears on the same date it occurred in 1970. I have to admit, this version is better illustrated and explained then Rivera’s 2023 account.

If you view my July 9 post, check out the comments. Daniel Pellissier conveniently included a YouTube link of a contemporary local news story on the whale detonation!

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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This was Interview Week down at the San Antonio Hunting Lodge of Tess Tigress and her new hubby, Jess. They’re not big on last names down there, I reckon, and it was never offered. Mark started the interview off on the wrong foot by asking how the two of them got together, which redirected the interview away from discussions of the Hog Hunting Heroines (of Bexar County), the reason he flew there. Mark was later invited to view their hunting trophy room, which left him possibly revolted or merely appalled at the number of mounted heads.  Fortunately for Mark, there was no empty plaque on the wall with the label, “Mark Trail: 20__.” When Mark finally got around to asking about the hunting group (this was in Saturday’s strip, by the way), Tess simply said they were going hunting that day and hoped Mark brought along his hunting camo. Which he did. Well, before you bug out, check out today’s hot topic!

With all of the possible nature topics available at the touch of a keyboard, the best Rivera could come up with is la cucaracha? The cockroach!? I’m thinking even she was not that satisfied with the topic, based on the lackluster title panel she created. Well, we get a few less-than-well-known tidbits of intel, such as that even when squished, they can spread harm. But I don’t know why Mark talks about cockroach nests. Who sees the nests? Aren’t they usually inside the walls? If I ever saw a nest, I’d probably douse it with dish detergent, vinegar, or Elmer’s Glue. Fortunately, I haven’t had to deal with those bugs since my college days.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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Lost Forest Village, as the place is often referred to, cannot be very large, even with outlying homes. Yet, Peach and Olive claim that their merchandise stand at the Farmers Market sells enough to pay their rent. Housing must be cheap over there, or it’s really an “artist’s retreat” village that caters to the comfortably wealthy. This week Peach and Olive also admitted that moving out of Florida (like Jules Rivera also did) was a positive game changer. Based on what we saw on Chedderson’s golf course, they didn’t get away from the alligators.

So, this week we watched Cherry and her sisters selling their products at the farmers market. We didn’t see a lot of action at first. But the sisters were surprised when up popped a real-life fashionista who declared she wanted to buy their entire display! Her use of dated slang seemed to turn Olive off, but Peach nearly fainted with hero worship when she learned the woman is the famous online influencer, Holly Folly! This didn’t faze Cherry one bit, as she trotted out her “country gal” attitude and even imposed herself in between Holly and Peach while they chatted about working together.

By the way, Holly Folly—I’m hoping you’ll recall—was only a minor character in Mark’s mountain-top investigation of Sid Stump’s questionable STEM retreat (“Bear Necessity”). But is Holly sincere or on the con? We may have wait for that answer, as tomorrow we’ll likely go back to check on Mark for a few weeks, unless Rivera changes her publishing routine.

Is Mark giving this talk in his pajamas!? Makes sense, I reckon, given he’s talking about a nocturnal animal that does its playing while we’re sleeping.

Opossums play “dead”, and  humans play “Possum.” Got it! I almost stepped on a big fat possum lounging on my side door stoop one night when I came home. It skedaddled out of the way pretty fast, once it determined that “playing dead” didn’t work on a human who didn’t see it until too late. Still, faking dead is a cool trick, unless you are being tracked by vultures. And I don’t know why, when the immunity genes were passed out, we didn’t get our share for snake venom and rabies.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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All concerns about a woman’s point of view for this assignment appear to have been dropped (Wait: I think I might have said that last week. So, just move on). Mark dropped into San Antonio to meet Tess Tigress. But first, he decided to visit “The Robert L.B. Tobin Land Bridge,” famous for its scenic design and its wide path for humans and wildlife crossing over the highway (Monday). Or maybe it was crossing over a river (Tuesday). Or maybe it was crossing over a highway experiencing a flash flood.

Mark arrived at a large, luxurious A-frame structure on a lake—Tess’s  home—aka, the hunting lodge. After driving along an elaborate driveway, Mark parked in front and knocked on the large glass doors. A man with a pompously large handlebar mustache opened the door announcing that he was Tess’s husband, Jess. This took the wind out of Mark’s sails for a moment, because not only was he surprised Tess was married, he was concerned that Jess might not have known Tess had prior marriages. Shocking, I know. Hell, even I didn’t know that! But who are we to question Mark’s scruples or his information?

Also in Saturday’s strip, Jules Rivera offered up one of her first actual cliffhangers: Tess could not remember ever meeting Mark Trail! Mark was speechless, possibly because Rivera needed the space in the last panel for her narration box, where she prematurely spilled the beans. However, this revelation opens up several possibilities regarding Tess’s memory loss, such as whether it is real or feigned. Maybe we’ll find out, but for now, it’s time for the Sunday nature chat!

Yes, a nasty plant, indeed, along with poison oak and poison sumac. But exactly what happens, Mark? Did you forget to spell it out for the unlucky ones? Poison ivy creates a really awful skin rash that gets worse when you scratch it! It can last for weeks, but is treatable. It’s still a real, real pain. And like Mark said, burning it in your backyard along with wood and yard scraps can be traumatic to your lungs and require a trip to the ER. Wash anything that comes into contact with it. Note that this stuff can grow in yards, too.

Art Dept. I’m sorry, but that raised finger-pointing hand in panel 4 just does not look like it is connected to Mark’s body. The hand is rotated to his right, rather than to his left, as it should be. The placement of the hand, inside the right shoulder, also looks off. It’s as if Mark is holding a hand prop on a stick. This is not a new phenomenon.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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Mark’s salon of villains and troublemakers is relatively limited; less than a dozen over the past 5 years. Several have made multiple appearances:  Professor Bee Sharpe, Cricket Bro (and his brother, Jadsen), Senator Smalls, and Chet Chedderson come to mind. Now we can add Tess Tigress to that list with her second appearance.

With the power of a comic strip named after himself, Mark Trail ensured Bill Ellis would give him the assignment that Ellis originally wanted to assign to a female reporter. No complaint was provided from Bill Ellis, suggesting that Mark may have censored that part of the phone conversation. Or Ellis knew what was better for him and remained mum.

Mark began researching his subject: A trio of women on the lookout to kill wild pigs (or boars) destroying private property in Texas. When Mark discovered that the leader of the so-called Texas Hog Hunting Heroines was Tess Tigress—former owner of a fraudulent and abusive tiger petting zoo (also in Texas) and target of an earlier assignment of his—he was taken aback (as we used to say, before gobsmacked became fashionable).

At this point, the remainder of the week was spent with Mark moaning and explaining his reactions to Cherry. Now, she would have already known about Tess Tigress, because of Mark’s earlier assignment. But let’s give Jules Rivera some credit for using this week to review the background on Tess for the benefit of new readers (if any) and old people like me, with failing memories. Or you can call it story padding, as I earlier noted. This background could have been delivered in just a few days, rather than using the entire week. So, maybe it’s a little of both.

As is common for Sunday, Rivera picks a topic that is somehow related to the current storyline. In this case, the Chihuahuan Raven, which can be found in western Texas (as well as New Mexico and Mexico). Rivera provides the usual customized title panel, with the title nicely integrated into the tree. And, unfortunately, we have Rivera’s usual practice of dedicating the concluding panel to a weak joke, rather than giving more information on the raven. For example, the American Birding Association reports that misidentification is common between this bird and the common raven, even by birders. Go figure.

What else? It is found in western Kansas. The Kansas Dept. of Wildlife and Parks reports that they are sometimes killed by humans mistaking them for common crows. Another understandable mistake, I think.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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A “Woman’s Touch” was the theme of the week when Bill Ellis made his usual phone call during Mark and Cherry’s nature walk and love affirmation session. But it turned out that he wanted Cherry’s participation instead of Mark’s. This was a highly unusual idea, using Cherry as the lead in a Bill Ellis assignment. Ellis specifically wanted a female reporter to accompany a trio of female book club members in their mission to eliminate feral hogs from people’s yards.

Somehow, Cherry got the impression that she was expected to also take part in the actual hunting instead of simply reporting on the group’s activities, and Bill Ellis did nothing to dissuade her. Maybe he did infer that. I dunno. But Cherry is no hunter and even got a bit panicky at the thought of hunting feral hogs. So she turned him down. Instead, she suggested Mark would be the person to take on the job. Seeing as how Bill was interested in a woman’s point of view, I’m not sure what Cherry was thinking at that point, but Mark was on board. However, we have yet to hear what Bill Ellis has to say on this last-minute substitution.

Thus, within one week, Jules Rivera tempted us with the novelty of Cherry going on an official assignment instead of Mark, only to pull it away by having Cherry refuse the job. It could have been nice to see Cherry operate in a situation that did not include the Sunny Soleil Society. Still, as I noted, we have not heard the last from Bill Ellis, who may reshape the job to get Cherry on board. We’ll see. But until then, let’s see what aspect of Nature Mark is expounding on today:

Well, yippee yi yo ki yay! We’re back in Texas once again and once again talking about bats. You would not be chastised for thinking that Mark might even own some property out there. Or maybe a bat sanctuary.

Too bad that Rivera didn’t have to mention a particularly popular event down in Austin:
“Texas is home to the largest urban bat colony in the world, consisting of [up to] 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats under the Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, Texas.”

Apparently, these bats collectively leave the dark underside of the bridge every evening from around mid-March to early November and create a spectacular cloud of flying mammals looking for their evening meal. It’s quite the attraction, online sources say.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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The Wheel of Fate spins, and having spun, sometimes goes sideways. This past week saw our happy, giddy, love-smitten Mark & Cherry take one of their post-story nature walks (which have largely replaced the post-story flapjack dinners), where they expressed their near equal devotion to the enjoyment of nature’s bounty and to each other. And that’s fine as far as it goes.  But doing this for an entire week gets a bit much. If the strip ever gets dropped by King Features, maybe the STARS Network can buy it, make it live action, and give it a more hip, racy title: “Cherry & Mark get off on Nature.”

Just when we thought these two might melt into a blob of organically-certified orgasm, Cherry’s phone started ringing. It was Bill Ellis calling, not for Mark, but for her! Bill has an assignment that really needs “a woman’s perspective.” We’ll find out what that means when the story resumes.

But this is quite the novelty. I can find no instance where Cherry has gone on any kind of assignment for Bill Ellis. Of course, there is the chance that this is just another practical joke by Jules Rivera, as we might discover that Bill called to get advice on a wedding present or help with some relationship issue. So, I’m hoping this call is legit. It will be another innovation to the Mark Trail strip, of which there have been several. For those who came in late, let’s review some:

  • Expanded frequency of stories centered on other family members. There have been stories by previous cartoonists that featured Cherry, Rusty, Doc, and even Andy. But Rivera promoted Cherry to co-star status, rather than her former “and featuring” credit.
  • Expanded or reshaped family personalities. As new blog follower Doghouse Reilly noted, Rusty is more like a real kid and less like an introverted, zombie-sock puppet pining to go fishing with Pop. In fact, this Rusty hates fishing! Rivera’s Cherry started as a feisty, elbows-up owner of her own business, with three siblings: a welcome change from the “I’m waiting for Mark” version. Doc shows up infrequently as a reactivated veterinarian and banjo player.
  • A “closed set” of opponents, rivals, and knuckleheads. Rivera has developed a rotating cast of largely incompetent troublemakers for Mark and Cherry. Like villains in the 1960s Batman, not much happens to them when they are disarmed, defeated, or arrested.
  • Parody. At first, Rivera took delight in poking fun at Mark and other traditions of the strip. It was refreshing to see Mark out of his depth or lose a fight. Rivera took the ubiquitous daily animal, and stuck it awkwardly in a corner like a statue, looking at us. However, this has all become normalized and annoying.
  • A dramatic change in the artwork. Aside from complaints about stories, this gets the most bad press. Rivera’s earliest work was edgy, like a graphic novel, with creative perspectives, layouts, and a more representational style. Even a talking snake! The art soon morphed into a more flat, sketchy, and feckless style. There are several likely reasons for the change in artwork. But now is not the time or place for that discussion.

Another contribution from Rivera is the customized title panels on Sundays. Today’s panel is a good, if expected, design. The webbing is heavy-handed and not convincing. The pun is better than average.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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Miss this past week? The polluted lake story finally came to an end. Finally! Rivera even spelled it out, so clumsy doofs like me don’t miss it.

In any event, Mark and Happy worked like high school kids doing class reports the night before they were due. Happy found out that Chedderson had a granddaughter (sporting a similar hair feature) who might shame Chett into doing the right thing once she read their article in Teen Girl Sparkle. That’s a lot of assumptions for somebody he doesn’t even know. But wouldn’t you know it, she does read the magazine and did, in fact, called Gramps to complain. And just like that, Chett Chedderson went on the air and reported that his company would clean the Lost Forest waters. 

I’m not especially satisfied with the perfunctory way the story moved to its conclusion, since it relied on the off chance a young girl would act as Happy predicted. But as we have seen, time and time again, Rivera is not interested in serious storytelling as far as actual drama and sophisticated plots are concerned. Instead, it is all about simple storylines, bad jokes, and weird characters. Not that those are bad techniques that should be excluded, or that the story ideas are bad. It’s fine to include these features, but they shouldn’t be the extent of the plotting. Instead, they all get blended into some kind of story smoothie that lacks seriousness, real drama, or depth.

Looks like the prediction of groundhog/gophers/prairie dogs being the Sunday topic didn’t pan out. But bears, again!? There are thousands of animal species, along with countless natural sights and features, so I don’t know why Rivera keeps returning to bears, both on Sundays and in regular stories. Well, at least it gives Rivera more opportunities to improve her bear drawing, which appears to be working! I’ll also add that today’s strip shows a greater attention to detail and layouts than we’ve seen lately (excluding Mark’s ubiquitous presence).

Still, I’m all in for more diversity/variety in the Sunday topics.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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This was “investigation week” in Lost Forest! That’s one week. The story began in late June. Omitting a few weeks for Cherry’s peacock adventure, the rest of the time was devoted to a backyard party at Ranger Shaw’s house, followed by the “vacation” at Chedderland. That would be around 8 weeks, though I didn’t do an exact count. The point is, little time was spent on anything approaching an investigation. To be fair, it’s not as if the pre-Rivera “Mark Trail” was an orthodox nature reporter, either. We rarely saw him taking photos on assignment, much less writing his stories and articles. 

So this week showed summary views (I presume) of taking water samples, conducting interviews, and working and writing on the laptop. At least, this investigating sequence presents a part of the Tradition we rarely see, even if it was severely truncated. But is it actually the end of the story? I don’t know. Happy Trail did proclaim they were finished. 

Cherry was impressed by Mark and Happy’s energy and father-son bonding. Rusty, acting his age, thought they were nuts for working during a vacation.

I will revise my grade to a “C” on the basis of this last week. I have already commented on what I think was a bad choice in the order of events, as well as over-emphasizing the entire Chedderland experience, which Rivera used to sandwich in a week of Cherry’s peacock story. But the story lacked any real sense of drama, suspense, or seriousness.

Leaving out the obvious and repetitious puns, this is an informative snapshot on a bit of otter anatomy. The link of otters and water pollution certainly ties into Mark’s current adventure, though they have no presence in Mark’s story, as far as we’ve seen.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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The polluted lake story ended yesterday, or so it seems. Of course, we could have another week for the epilog, a standard feature of Rivera’s stories. As for the week, itself, as Cherry’s peacock story appears to have ended, Chet and Brett Chedderson (patiently waiting on the sidelines all week so Mark could help trap the wandering peacock) returned on stage to renew their verbal assaults.

Insults flew from both sides as Happy Trail finally sided with Mark. The result was that the entire Trail family was thrown off the resort, permanently. No doubt, Happy Trail paid a fair amount of money for his charter membership fees, but tried to save face with the “I’ll see my own self out” trope dripping from his lips as they left. Maybe not quite that dramatic! Happy apologized to Mark for not sticking up for him earlier on (i.e. when Mark flew off the handle, accusing the Cheddersons of environmental sabotage, without having done any actual investigation). Then Cherry and Rusty conveniently disappeared from the strip for the last three days as Rivera focused on their father-and-son Hallmark greeting card moment.

And that leaves us with this: What was the point of this story? Was the premise of mysterious lake pollution and a new golf course just an excuse to bring in Happy Trail? The first half of the story, focusing on discovering the source of the lake pollution was just fine, as is. Happy’s appearance could have provided Mark with a colleague to help with an investigation.

But Mark’s plans (and the story) were sidelined and ultimately undermined when Happy Trail revealed the real reason he showed up was to invite them to the new golf club and water park that he just joined (even though he lives in Florida). And that’s when the story began to go sideways. If I was a writing teacher (thank goodness for students I am not!), I’d give the story a D. The focus on water pollution got twisted into a morality play about parenting. The pollution angle became secondary or forgotten. However, this is an adventure strip about nature and human interactions with the environment. It is unique in that regard. If we want to read strips that focused on human relationships, there are plenty of those already available. But there is only one Mark Trail strip. Why waste it on mere humans?

Rivera’s underwater drawings are often better executed and more evocative than what shows up above the water. Take the image of Mark raising his forefinger in panel 4 … Please! Did that come from a “Draw Mark Trail” contest submission!?

Seriously, does Mark/Rivera expect everyday people to run chemical tests on tap water?  Well, it might be a good idea, but Mark should have included some information on where test kits can be obtained. I’m surprised Mark and Cherry don’t have their own side business: Mark Trail’s Tap Water Test Kits.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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Rivera side-slipped us back into Cherry’s Runaway Peacock story, while still on the golf course. As you may recall, she popped up the Saturday before, in the middle of the Trail-Chedderson Slapfest, along with the errant peacock. The fight immediately stopped and the peacock disappeared. Mark volunteered to help Cherry chase it down, the pollution fight, seemingly forgotten.

Then we cut to a scene of Honest Ernest with a butterfly net trying to catch the peacock and failing. Comparisons to “Coyote and Roadrunner” were obvious. At least Rivera showed good taste in what she borrowed from.

When Ernest complained about Mark and Cherry trying to hog credit for catching the bird, they assured him they didn’t care. It didn’t take Mark long to come up with a way to trap the peafowl using sticks, Happy’s golf club, and a granola bar that Cherry happened to have. Exactly how the trap worked is not really explained, but the bird was considerate enough to wander into it. Honest Ernest grabbed the trapped bird and ran off to impress Violet with his capture. Exciting stuff.

The only thing I’ll add is that Rivera may be throwing us a curveball.  The peacock shown and trapped this week did not exhibit the long tail that the (male) peacock originally displayed. Either Rivera forgot that “subtle” distinction when she drew the bird or she is playing off the fact that there are “feral” peacocks loose in this country. So it is possible that they trapped the wrong bird (a female in this case) which will backfire when Honest Ernest returns it and claims credit. This could be the best ending yet for one of Cherry’s stories.

For sure, I thought that Rivera would create her custom title panel using mouse droppings to spell out the title. Seemed obvious to me! Well, I read up on hantavirus and, frankly, I’m pretty bothered, especially as there is no specific treatment (cure) or vaccine against it; and fatality rates go as high as 50%! Uffa! Sure, it may be rare and mostly in western states, but that’s not the same as “non-existent.” We get an occasional mouse, especially in the Winter. I’m doubling the mouse traps this year. Maybe get a cat or two.

I see it now: Mighty Mouse was really a foreign agent, sent here to spread hantavirus under the ruse of “coming to save the day.”

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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This was the week that wasn’t. Was it? It was make or break week for the polluted lake story. Mark and Happy continued with the golfing expedition, along with Chet Chedderson and his son, Brett. Rather than continue with his ruse of just being a guest of his dad so he could covertly investigate the resort, Mark jumped right up to accuse them of deliberate environmental damage, bringing about a heated exchange. This resulted in a fit of desultory face-punching between Bret and Mark, until Cherry suddenly popped onto the scene, more or less accompanied by that errant peacock nobody seems to be able to corral. It wasn’t clear if the peafowl showed up on its own by happenstance, though why a peacock would even want to invade a crowd of humans is unclear. There must be a reason for all this tomfoolery. But it sure looks as if this storyline has crashed and is in serious threat of burning. Why so?

It’s too early for this story to arrive at a conclusion. Plot-wise, it is still in the midway point; or at least, should be. At this point, Mark should be investigating the resort grounds more thoroughly, possibly even at night, as he did with Diana Daggers while investigating a secret data center site in Utah.

Instead, Mark couldn’t keep his mouth shut (as his dad recommended) and let the cat out of the story bag too early before gathering actual evidence. Did Mark find evidence for the assumed runoff? Did he compare onsite fertilizers with the sample that Ranger Shaw had taken from the lake? Did he interview the groundskeeper? No. No. And NO! It would have been simple enough to dramatize all of this over another week or two, building to a dramatic climax.

Ok, which is it, Mark?  “Super typhoon” or “Super Cyclone” (panel 4)? It’s all Potatoes and Potahtoes. Typhoons (Pacific Northwest), cyclones (South Pacific and Indian oceans), and hurricanes (mid-Atlantic and Eastern/Central Pacific oceans) are geographic synonyms. The term “cyclone” was coined in the 19th century by an English sea captain studying tropical storms in India. The term “typhoon” has a confusing origin, with the Chinese using a similar word for such storms as far back as 1124 CE, though “typhon” was used in France at least as early as 1504. And “hurricane” was derived from a Spanish term, which was taken from the name of a Caribbean god of evil, which evolved from the ancient Mayan god of winds and storms (“Hurricán”). Etymology is very cool.

Figured out the flags, didn’t you?

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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We first met Chet Chedderson as an unscrupulous shipping magnate in the Zeeba Mussels story ( 8/12/21-2/4/22), as he tried to prevent Mark from investigating and reporting on the occurrence of invasive zebra mussels arriving in American waters on the hulls of his tankers. Chedderson even went as far as hiring thugs to beat up Mark. Mark doesn’t seem to hold much of a grudge. So Chet became this strip’s symbol of corporate greed and environmental indifference. After a brief, unmemorable cameo in another adventure, he is here again, taking on the role of a rich dude building a golf resort without regard for the local environment. His son is merely a projection of his father. But this is all quite in keeping with traditional Mark Trail bad guys, insofar as their personalities are superficial and stereotypical. Golfing aside, it’s the kind of story that might have come from Allen, Elrod, or even Dodd.

A common complaint about Rivera’s stories is their weak plotting and absurdities. That can hardly be denied when seen in toto. I mean, lions in a house (e.g. snakes on a plane)!? It might be less so, here. For the most part, the story has followed a logical and coherent path: Mark discovers pollution from an unknown source in a favorite lake; a follow-up interview with the local forestry ranger proves uninformative; Mark learns about a new golf course and begins to think of runoff pollution; he “coincidentally” gets invited to spend time at the golf course; and discovers that Chet Chedderson is the developer. Of course, there are silly bits meant to keep the flow going and expand the storyline, such as the resort’s water park that Rusty explores, and Happy Trail being the person who invited Mark (and family) to the golf resort because he just happens to be a member of the new club. Overall, it’s a better than average storyline for Markey. But will it hold up?

We spent this week watching Mark and Happy deal with an alligator crossing the fairway while Chet and Brett whined and complained. Mark berated them about interfering with local nature habitats by building the golf course too close to the gator’s home. Then Mark helped the reptile get to its watery destination. This gator scenario will surely further convince Mark of the Cheddersons’ complicity in the lake pollution and embolden him to take more dramatic action. Or so I hope.

Alligators. Hardly a surprising subject, but as often as Rivera can, she relates the current subject to the current story or story location. The alligator literature says that gators do not normally attack humans unless provoked or reacting from a defensive posture. I’d still keep my distance. They are quite different from crocodiles, which will actively attack humans without provocation, often killing and consuming them. The Nile Crocodile (even feared in ancient Egypt) and the Freshwater Crocodile (S.E. Asia and Australia) have the highest annual body counts (in the hundreds). I never much thought about crocodiles when I was a young lad visiting Egypt and happily relaxed in low-hulled boat ferries crossing the Nile. But now? They scare the bejeebers out of me just thinking about them. You can look up “Crocodile Attack” in Wikipedia for more unsavory details.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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This is the week that was…wet. As in water parks. As in what looks like a second week with Cherry. On its own, it’s a bit unusual. But this week is not on her dime, is it? Or maybe it is. I mean, this is supposedly the story of Mark’s informal investigation of water pollution in a local swimming lake. Yet, we have had two weeks of Cherry and Rusty at the water park! (Oh, the trivia I get into. Do I even have a life?)

I think what we have is Jules Rivera “shaking up” her usual time allotments (2+ wks for Mark versus 1 wk for Cherry). So this week was really Cherry’s story slip-sliding into Mark’s. For those who came in late: The prize peacock belonging to Violet Cheshire’s mother (never “mom”!) escaped from the Sunny Soleil Society, leading to Cherry and Honest Ernest having to find it in time for a big-deal summer party. While Rusty was looking for more water slides, Honest Ernest phoned Cherry for help. Cherry had the day off, but since she’s been something of a nonentity the past several weeks, she relented and agreed to help Ernest, especially as she and Rusty spotted the peacock running around the resort.

Ernest arrived at the park. As the two conversed, the peacock suddenly ambushed Ernest by jumping on his head. Ernest was so upset that the peacock was able to escape once again. Meanwhile, Rusty had returned, shivering from the cold water of his latest slide. For reasons unknown to me, Cherry was getting very flustered and phoned Mark to make sure he was okay. I reckon all of the stress—from Rusty going on dodgy slides to getting herself talked into helping Ernest on her day off—was taking its toll. So she clearly needed a steady head and support.

Yet, talking to Mark, Cherry expressed the hope that her day was going better than Marks, thus contradicting the very reason she called (as far as I could tell)! In an attempt to downplay his own developing situation, Mark casually mentioned an alligator on the course interrupting play.

Such is the summary for the week. At least there was some action!

Andy finally made an appearance, if only for a brief cameo. I reckon that the cane toad is yet another case study of good intentions gone awry. Their eggs are laid in long jellied strips, housing up to 25,000 eggs. But only about 0.5% reach adulthood. I read the cane frog’s article in Wikipedia (the source of information for all of us half-baked experts!). The science backs up Mark’s warning about what happens to dogs that lick or bite cane toads. It’s yet another reason to avoid moving to Florida.

But it isn’t just animals that can get poisoned. Some humans have died, apparently thinking they were consuming a normal toad! <Bleh!> Best read the article for the other interesting tidbits. Well, go on…hop to it!

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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Rivera shifted the story’s focus this week from the golf course to the water park. As Mark and Happy walked off with the Cheddersons for a round of golf, Cherry and Rusty went to the water park where Rusty tried out the “stingray spinner” water slide (what we used to call a snake slide in my youth). Turns out the pool (or pond) contained actual stingrays put there (according to the staff) to make the experience more exciting. But for whom? The concept of using actual stingrays in a pool designed for family entertainment sounds just a tad reckless, wouldn’t you say? Earlier this week, some readers discussed a now-defunct amusement park in New Jersey that bragged about its dangerous rides. So, reckless? Sure. More importantly, does it make any sense to include this “stingray” diversion in the story, or was it just thrown in to be weird? Or is it meant to reveal something of the character of Chet Chedderson?

Cherry yanked Rusty out of the water and berated one of the teenaged pool staff, to little avail. But right then, Cherry got a phone call from Honest Ernest whining about her not helping find the lost peacock. Cherry reminded Ernest that she had the day off, so it was now his job.

Rivera is not one to waste an opportunity for a traditional “but just then…!” opportunity, so as she ended the call, the missing peacock suddenly appeared near the pool. Will Cherry call Ernest back and tell him to come get it, or will she and Rusty go chasing after the peafowl all over the resort? Well, gang, maybe we’ll have some real suspense, at last!  

And you thought getting stung by jelly fish was bad (Well, I sure do)! Looks like reader comments on stingrays discussed on Friday were not enough to replace the Sunday topic, so Rivera still had her say. But today’s topic is not really so much about the rays as the consequences of human interaction with them. And it looks to be no fun at all. I read that sometimes the blade of a stinger gets embedded in a person unlucky enough to get stabbed, requiring surgery to remove it. Ugh! Maybe wading in the surf with sandals is a better option.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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On the links or in the rough? It’s difficult to tell. Jules Rivera’s notion of a golf course looks more like a DIY obstacle course with flags. After Happy Trail’s surprise invitation to spend time at the new golf resort, the Trails (minus Doc Davis) decided to stand outside the building for the entire week, chatting. Rusty was interested in the water park, yet spent all of his time just filling in the background. As did Cherry, who was apparently placed for eye candy appeal for Trailheads who are otherwise tearing out the rest of their hair over this story.

While Mark (who wore his backpack all week) and Happy (who did not) bantered about Mark’s journalistic interest in the resort, up popped Brett Chedderson, son of the resort owner, Chet Chedderson. Then Chet, himself, suddenly appeared. You remember good ol’ Chet, the shipping magnate with the zebra mussels infestation? This impromptu meetup sparked a short-lived conversation when Mark tried to question Chet about the lake pollution; but he was cut off by Cherry and Happy, for reasons unknown. Were they bothered by golfing rules of decorum? Did they fear for their lives? Were they afraid to see Mark get involved in another fight and land in jail?

As we finally arrived at Saturday’s strip, Rusty and Cherry were still hanging around. Chet invited Mark and Happy to a foursome of golf. In spite of his earlier lack of family support, Mark was even more determined to investigate! Cherry better start go-go dancing to keep the readership returning!

First of all, I don’t golf. I don’t even watch it. While all that Rivera/Mark says is true, it isn’t the full story, as I’ve been learning. In city/suburb settings, golf courses can provide some useful greenspace, given that parks can, as well. Golf courses are becoming more concerned about their environmental impact and are working to mitigate their negative impact. Results will vary. Some of the techniques I read discuss: better water handling through precision irrigation techniques and water recycling. Some golf courses use partially-treated effluent (treated wastewater), where the thick turf grass helps trap smaller waste particles allowing cleaner water to soak back the ground water. They are also investing in drought-resistent grasses (though Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah should probably cut back on courses!); some are using more native grasses where applicable (obviously for borders and roughs). Some are creating protected wildlife corridors along course boundaries. Some are looking for less harmful chemicals or replacements. Some are investing in renewable energy. Of course, not all courses are making all of these changes, and there are probably many holdouts. But it does appear to be a growing awareness, due in part to the cost savings over traditional course maintenance practices. Once again, money talks. But it’s better than no talking.