What began in the Lost Forest community as a widespread skin disease (possibly based on some kind of insecticide) on pets in the area quickly narrowed down to focus on the health of the Trail’s second dog, Sassy. That is to say, Rivera shifted our attention from Doc Davis’s clinic, overrun with sick pets, to the more tranquil Trail cabin. Will this mean that Doc once again gets tossed aside like an old bone for the rest of this story?
You will remember Sassy from the time when. . . well, we’re all pulling for her, right? So most of the week focused on Sassy’s rash, as Mark thumbed through what must have been one of Doc Davis’s vet medical journals to try and find cause and cure. Mark displayed his usual heroic strength in dedicating all of his time to a pursuit for which he is unqualified.  However, just at a moment of private conflict, Mark’s off-again-on-again boss, Bill Ellis, called with a new assignment (I think). Realizing that his Quest to save Sassy was just a self-serving fantasy, Mark sucked it up and returned to the real world of a paying job. Now, if you paid for the Sunday newspaper, you might as well dedicate some of your time to reading Mark’s Sunday nature chat!

Pre-Rivera Sunday strips seemed to focus more on discussions of wildlife and nature. Rivera generally follows suit, but more often she turns Sunday nature strips into PSAs. I’m sure a cave is a decent escape from an encroaching forest fire, but just how common are caves?  Moving upwind from a fire is a good bet, as is circling around a fire, if you can. Most web sites warn that trying to outrun a fire is dangerous, as fires can travel up to 20 mph. Moving downhill is safer than moving uphill. Here is a good reference I ran across: https://scoutingmagazine.org/2016/04/survival-strategies-help-escape-forest-fire/

If you missed the first panel of last Monday’s strip, you missed an interesting visual innuendo. Or not. In any event, if you missed (or skipped) this past week, read on.

Following the usual abrupt ending to a Mark Trail story, we got back to Lost Forest. No sooner did Mark and Cherry escape to the forest for a bit nature appreciation, then we learn that Doc Davis’s vet office was overrun by a multitude of pets suffering a similar rash affliction, but Doc does not know what it is or how they got it. For some reason, he has so far ignored the pets’ owners to see what they might have in common. Instead, he has asked Cherry to come in to help with the paperwork, since he also seems to have no secretary. Furthermore, Mark came charging into the vet practice with some kind of pet (perhaps a pig?) named Sassy, which also seems to be suffering from this rash. One hypothetical I offered is that this may be a result of “collateral damage” from good ol’ boy Honest Ernest, the redneck bug exterminator.

A particularly clever title panel this Sunday! While Mark can be as activist as he wants, I’m cynical enough to believe that this will not happen too often. Mostly, as nobody wants to be hit. I do think most drivers will naturally attempt to swerve, if possible. Some won’t bother. In lightly traveled locations, perhaps it is possible and even relatively safe to follow this advice.

And when did Mark move to England? I notice that the car is pulled over on the left side of the road. That should only happen if you are also driving on the left side of the road. Otherwise, it is extremely dangerous, especially near the top of what appears to be a crest in the road! I don’t think creating an even bigger traffic hazard is the right solution.

(edited to correct an embarrassing lack of proofreading) In case you were too busy this week, let’s review what you missed:  Some time must have passed since a runaway forest fire destroyed the Crypto Event, because the fire appears to be out, and investigators are on site. After an interrogation by an officer of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Mark and Happy Trail were not only cleared of wrongdoing, but made to feel like chumps, out of touch and underpaid. We also learned that the Crypto Brothers somehow got out of town and escaped to what appeared to be Venice Beach, California. But Cherry wants to top off this splendid vacation with Mark by spending some quality time in a rose garden while Happy spends time with Rusty. Poor Rusty!

This story appears to be in the wrap-up stage, but Rusty’s own adventure is unresolved. Perhaps Happy Trail will team up with him and they will make an exciting discovery. Perhaps they will even have enough time to get the Sunday paper and read the nature chat for today.

It would be hard to dispute the topical relevance of the bald eagle as the subject of the Sunday nature chat. Rivera makes an interesting link with Franklin’s quote and the Eagle’s near extinction. On the other hand, I don’t believe Franklin’s belief influenced pesticide manufacturers or poachers. There are a few matters of grammatical style we could quibble with here, such as the unnecessary use of quotation marks in a speech balloon and the confusion of using the noun “opportunist” in place of the adjective “opportunistic.” I appreciate Rivera’s position that it is wrong to ascribe human morality to wild animals. As the blue singer Kurt Crandall sings, “Pets ain’t people.” Yet, we keep seeing the consequences of naive people confusing pets and wild animals (such as bison and bears).

In case you missed this week, lots of stuff caught fire! Cricket Bro’s car caught fire after it hit a tree, so Mark and Professor Sharp wound up saving him. Not sure Sharp would have done that on his own. Another forest fire appeared and started burning up the event site. Panic ensued. Cherry and Mark found each other and started looking for Rusty, who was still at the halfpipe when it inconveniently fell apart…on Rusty. While trapped, he saw The Seaside Specter staring down at him. Real or hallucination? Not sure, because it was Mark and Cherry who found him. Maybe. We only saw the aftermath of the rescue, so it remains to be said by Rusty who it was who pulled him out from under the halfpipe ruin. Meanwhile, we are not sure what happened to Happy, or even Cricket Bro’s brother. Finally, it seems Sharp’s attempt to stop the scam failed, as Rivera noted that the Brothers somehow sold lots of monkey NFTs. It’s enough to make you want to stay on this Sunday’s strip for a while longer. Keep your hands in your pockets as you read the Sunday strip!

An interesting take on the goat:  not the usual overview, but a case of ‘applied goatness’, I reckon. The West Coast is going to need a hell of a lot of goats to make a significant contribution to minimizing forest fires. Still, it’s a pretty clever idea. But will they be left on their own in the forests? Will they “go native” or become feral, wild goats?

Greatest “what” of all time? I’m not sure, but it’s something to chew on.

Joseph Nebus wrote a recent “What’s Going On In Mark Trail” blog which succinctly expresses many things I’ve been wading through the past year about Rivera’s take on the strip. And more. It is worth reading.

I still appreciate Rivera’s desire to add more complexity and storylines to the strip, but it can be hard to keep track of things in the constrained format of a comic strip. It’s calls for longer storylines, though readers (in general) seem to prefer quicker, shorter stories. I don’t mind length, as long as it is done to fill in and move the story. This past week saw Professor Sharp’s exposé of the Crypto/NFT scam broadcast during the outdoor celebration as well as Cricket Bro’s violent reaction, resulting in his attempt to literally run over Trail and Sharp. Instead, he crashed his car into a tree, resulting in a fiery explosion. Though Mark’s first thought is rescuing Cricket Bro, what will Sharp do?

Part of the complexity, as we have seen, is former opponents now acting more or less in concert with Trail, though with different motives and objectives. I think the currently popular portmanteau is “frenemy”. Cricket Bro, Diana Daggers, and Professor Bee Sharp have all opposed Mark, but recently played up to him, though Sharp’s relationship is more ambiguous and conflicted. In short, these are all shades of gray, not simply old-school black and white. Like the difference between “Dragnet” and “NYPD Blue.” Mark’s Dad may be the most complex and mysterious character in the strip, if you think about it. I’m hoping we see new opponents, so this doesn’t turn into a version of Batman fighting a circle of the same six villains.

A good Sunday topic, though it should have come out in April, when lawn-seeding time begins. I got over the “perfect lawn” syndrome years ago, just because it is a lot of work. Anyway, I agree with the content today, both philosophically and practically. We live in town, but our back yard is a combination pasture-and-garden. It draws in bees, lots of birds, butterflies, etc. The front yard is more clover than grass and looks just as nice.

It’s SUNDAY!  In this action-packed week, the Big NFT Show finally began. We haven’t yet seen the main event in progress; rather, we sat through various interactions of Family Trail members. I reckon all of the action this week probably took place within a 30-minute time frame:

• Mark and Pappy Happy discussed the impending doom when the crowd discovers the scam
• Mark and Cherry traded quips as Rusty was amazed at the large halfpipe in action
• Rusty then got gob-smacked by a trio of cute teens hanging out by the halfpipe until he found the courage to start a conversation with them
• Mark ran into Professor Sharp, who was on his way to reveal the scam-in-progress to the crowd. Mark tried to stop him. Sharp pushed his way into the event DJ’s booth and means to upload his thumb drive for all to hear and see. Can Mark stop him? Should he?

While we all wait for Monday to see what The Professor has to show, let’s look at today’s nature show.

Figured it would be spiders, today. And a web-based title panel is made to order. I used to informally study spiders. Trail is right; they are very helpful to humans, insofar as their pest-eating ability is concerned. In fact, if you find spiders in your house, it usually means there are even less desirable bugs around and the spider(s) is cleaning up for you. So don’t squash them, even if they look scary. Seems our fear of spiders (and snakes) may be an evolutionary holdover, though that is small comfort to people with strong phobias.

Just try to ignore them, unless they are dangling from a thread over your head where you sleep. In that case, you should run like hell, because you are probably a character in a murder mystery novel about to be murdered by a clever fiend who is most likely your uncle, in order to beat you out of your inheritance! Either that or quit wearing mosquito-themed pajamas.

In case you missed this last week, you’re not too far behind. Think of it like missing a week of a soap opera. Yeah, that’s about it. So, Happy Trail and son Mark stressed and opined over the ethics of worthless NFTs, crypto-whatever, and the Douche Brothers’ upcoming Crypto Conference. What would the crowd do if and when they discover the NFTs are worthless? Would they get mad? Golly gee-whiz!
I also penned a few thoughts on the possible aesthetic aims of the strip, itself. But you’re going to have to scroll down to find it. In any event, this week of padded plotting ended with a transition to Cherry taking Daddy Doc Davis to task for stupidly misusing a pressure cooker to make chili. Fascinating. There, that’s the whole nut. While you’re chewing on it, check out today’s nature exposé.

Overall, this is a nicely-drawn and interesting Sunday strip. And we know that Rivera really likes doing the Sunday strips. So, today’s strip tells us that no matter what we do, we @#($! the planet. Or ourselves. Aside from a wide-brimmed hat, is there any kind of sunscreen that is acceptable, since so-called organics are also suspect? But Rivera wants us do to the research!? Hang on there, Jules! Isn’t that what these Sunday strips are for? Why don’t you just tell us what lotion is safe and save us (and the planet) the trouble of making a wrong choice?!  I suppose if the long-term solution is that we just wear hats and still get skin cancer, at least, the Earth will be around for the rest of the animal kingdom.

As for today’s custom title panel, it’s a nice idea, but not a winning solution. I mean, just what is that ectoplasmic title supposed to represent: A giant fart? A jellyfish cape?  Better would be a series of bubbles spelling out the title. Ah, but that would also represent CO₂, which is bad. Hey! How about spelling out the strip’s name with an arrangement of melanoma spots on Mark’s arm?

This part week saw Mark reacting negatively to preparations underway for the impending NFT/Crypto Influencer event. As a scowling Mark walked along a forest trail (a part of the forest not still on fire, that is), a hooded presence made itself known. And that turned out to be Professor Bee Sharp! Sharp went on to explain that he was not here to praise the Crypto Brothers, he was here to bury them.

Sharp’s zeal to publicly bring down the Brothers and their phony crypto scam conflicts with Mark’s need to save his father before the poop hits the new half-pipe ramp. Unfortunately, Sharp is not concerned, and Mark is left with deciding what to do: Save the potential investors and see his dad possibly implicated, or save his Dad and see other people financially bilked by the Brothers. It’s the old Wisdom of Solomon thing. Mark cannot have it both ways, and Sharp is focused on only one solution. Still, there might be a way to accomplish both of their goals. If only they can see it. Until then, let’s see this…

Beaver engineering from space, huh? That has to be a big priority, right? In truth, we are talking about waterways impacted by beavers. Not like you can see the actual beavers happily deforesting patches of woods along the river and creating their own little dam/huts.

Rivera continues her tradition of title panels customized to each Sunday’s theme, though this week’s title has my head scratching. But then again, maybe beaver tales as a design motif did not work out.

I hope Rivera can afford more time on these Sunday strips. They are good, but there seems to be an over-reliance on the same imaging and compositional techniques each week, with space for more information replaced by a standard personal comment from Mark in the last panel.

Arraigned in yellow bedtime regalia like Nero Wolfe, Rusty read his cryptid book and came across a cryptid called SurfSquatch. Formerly a surfer, the dude paddled into a wave the wrong way and come out as some kind of night-surfing wookie who met and fell in love with another such creature. But like Cinderella, she upped and disappeared, leaving him alone and horny.

Where did she go? Though surfsquatches live along the shore and eat seafood, Rusty’s Surfsquatch decided to search in the forest, whereupon he fell victim to hunger and fatigue. Being lost, he next fell into a cave, where an orchestra of crickets was hopping by. So, he ate them, as they reminded him of shrimp. “Shrimp?!” thought, Rusty, “Why, Dad calls crickets land shrimp!” With that light bulb moment, Rusty got an idea for attracting the Seaside Specter. Rusty sought out cans of cricket protein that Cricket Bro had stored in the house, to use as bait. Not yet explained is what Rusty intends to do if he meets the Seaside Specter. Oh, wait. We saw that, already:  He ran. Well, before you run off, check this out:

Hey, at least Mark is doing something with his time in Oregon, other than playing slap-hands with the Bunco Brothers. I bet Rivera had fun drawing these bugs, too.

But speaking of lady beetles, there is an amateur South Australian band called “The LadyBeatles”, something of a local thing, with a Facebook presence and a YouTube video. They don’t seem to be interested in invading America like their male namesakes did nearly 60 years ago (ye gads!).

Hello, sports fans! Wait, if you really are a sports fan, you’re likely watching a game or a multi-hour pre-game program instead of reading this. That’s okay, I can wait a minute.

Right. So what happened this week, you ask? It was a week of basking in the sun of success for Mark, who overcame smoke, fire, and hostile readers to find and disable the power station that was sending dangerous voltage through downed power lines at the mill.  Not sure what happened to the fire, itself, though one panel suggested firefighters showed up to contain the blaze. Ultimately, an informal grievance committee of lumber mill workers complained to Mark that the Bogus Brothers were taking advantage of them by stinting on working conditions, fire procedures, and safety. They brushed off worker complaints, while even Pappy Happy could do nothing to help them. This started another fire, this time inside of Mark who grew even more concerned for his dad’s financial and legal welfare. Perhaps they would all feel better if they took a break and read today’s nature chat!

Yes, Mark. Go ahead and humiliate your son, just as you so often get humiliated these days. I notice that you did not mention your own (albeit reluctant) prior participation in a Yeti Hunt. Or was that one undertaken by your retired dad? It does get confusing.

Still, today’s Sunday strip seems like some kind of passive-aggressive putdown of Rusty’s ambition to hunt for the Seaside Spector. Why can’t poor Rusty get to enjoy his adventure without The Parents feeling the need to tell him there is no Santa Claus or Easter Bunny!? He’ll grow up to be cynical and anti-parent all too soon, Mark.

So, we finally had our first actual action and adventure episode in the Oregon Vacation story (Don’t blame me for that prose; it was Rivera and her alliteration a few days ago that tempted me). Sure, Rusty’s Seaside Specter hunt looked like it might have been the real deal, but we can’t deny first honors to Mark, can we? Still, I hold out hope Rusty gets his adventure.

This action-packed week saw Mark racing across the smoky, fire-infested grounds of the burning lumber mill to locate the main power supply. Mark shut down the power going to some dangerous downed electric cables that had trapped mill workers (and his dad) from escaping. With Mark surrounded by cheering employees, Cherry made a surprise appearance to hug her hero, as is expected in the Heroic Tradition.

Thus, we got a brief, but noteworthy, Mark Trail Saves the Day adventure, the kind that might have appeared in a vintage Mark Trail story. I think this is also the first solo Mark Trail adventure since Jules Rivera took over.  I’m glad to see that Rivera gave Mark that opportunity as well as a win that for once was not obscured by satire, goofiness, or chicanery. Hmm, well it was a bit goofy. Anyway, before you click off, let’s jump to today’s nature chat!

Okay, that’s about a minute.
This is one of the best arguments for vegetarianism.
Oh, bugger!
Shouldn’t Rob Bettencourt have been the one to present this topic?
Looks like Mark finally sold out to Cricket Bro, just like Dad!
It’s what’s for dinner.
I’d gladly pay you Tuesday for a cricket burger today.

Crickets don’t look like hot dogs. Hot dogs look like sausage. Make cricket sausage!

I’ve been yakking a lot this week, so I’ll keep this summary brief (based on my normal standards, that is).

Mark and the two “Crypto Bros” drove to the burning lumber mill. The brothers stood around while Mark yelled a lot and finally ran down the slope to get employees out of the burning lumber mill. Mark must have figured they were too dumb to evacuate on their own. Mark discovered that Dad had beat him to the mill (just like he beat Mark to Portland!) and was up in a watch tower. Mark modified his priorities to include “saving Dad”, because Mark must save people, regardless of whether they can save themselves or even need saving. In spite of the fire, Mark climbed the tower. Meanwhile, the brothers remained up the slope. As the drama heats up, we pause for the Sunday chat.

Mark presses another case for recognition of the effects of “climate change.” I’m not getting into the philosophic/political side of that, because I have a brain. And this is a comic strip blog.

Certainly, Mark’s little testimonial is not going to sway a denier or skeptic. Not sure it’s meant to, anyway. Mark’s bland “Let’s hold hands and not breath” comment might incentivize younger people to get involved, but that’s about it. Perhaps Mark should start getting more emotionally charged on Sundays, as he does in his daily strips.

Compared to prior weeks, this week was rather conventional, if unexciting. That will be taken as an insult by many (or most) readers, who keep hoping for more adventure. As a point of comparison, you might agree that the reprinted pet monkey story in the Mark Trail Vintage section on Comics Kingdom is little more than a maudlin collection of sappy clichés wrapped around improbable, if predictable, events. Hardly a ripping yarn from Dodd. Rivera likes to create her own clichés within storylines that favor outrageous characters, sometimes silly plots (like the current story), and satire that doesn’t always hit the mark. Some readers have contributed additional descriptions, such as lame, pointless, and infantile.

For the strips this week, we have Cherry taking Rusty on a day trip into downtown Portland for something fun to do. They did things Cherry thought were interesting, but Rusty was having none of it. In desperation, Cherry dragged Rusty into a comic store, though Rusty fretted over being made fun of for his weak super-hero knowledge. Wah! Wah! Anyway, two things occurred after they entered the store:  one predictable and one not so predictable. You decide which is which!

One:  Professor Bee Sharp suddenly popped into view from another room in the store, having overheard Rusty’s interest in the Seaside Specter. Not realizing who Cherry and Rusty are, Sharp offered Rusty some advice on trapping the Seaside Specter, then left.

Two:  Mark called Cherry to inform her of the fire emergency at the lumber mill. For some reason, Cherry believes they must return immediately. Why? While you ponder the possible reasons, direct your attention to today’s nature discussion.

Reader Charlie Oliver, who has reported on Pokémon references in Mark Trail might appreciate the pseudo-Pokémon reference in today’s otherwise straight-forward presentation on the porcupine. Instead of flooding our senses with lots of disparate porcupine data, Mark focuses only on the quills and their function. At first, I thought this was being lazy, but I get it:  Mark wants to inform pet owners of the potential danger and how to avoid a trip to the vet. Point made.

Once again, a week filled with suspense, drama, and action!

Wait, sorry. I was thinking of the Vintage Phantom comic strip posted on ComicsKingdom, not the current Mark Trail adventure. I’m certainly not thinking of that stupid pet monkey adventure in the Vintage Mark Trail reprints. either.

While “the little woman and the brat” were left behind, The Four and a Half Men (Isn’t Mark more than just one man?) drove out to a bird/animal rescue center to which the Bird-Brain Brothers provide minor financial support. Presumably this support is to put a smiley face on their NFT business. They also hope the trip will distract Mark into thinking they’re good guys at heart and not trying to fleece Happy Trail or screw over his business.

But is Mark getting himself involved in something that is not really his business? And isn’t he supposed to be on a family vacation? No wonder he left Cherry behind!

Anyway, the only other notable event of the week is that the secret lumber mill Jadsen owns appears to be on fire and he doesn’t know how to respond to it. So, he turned to Mark for advice. I think Rivera has the right slant on NFT crackpots.

Enjoy today’s Sunday nature talk and have a nice Easter, however you observe it.

Dang! I think a beaver must have eaten my Easter basket, because I can’t find it anywhere!

For those who missed this exciting week, allow me to summarize it for you as succinctly as possible: Nothing happened.
Well, in terms of action or story development, nothing happened. Instead, the week was spent with Pappy Happy and the Bunco Brothers trying to convince a skeptical, if confused, Mark about the validity and viability of their need to work with NFTs and their originators in order to attract NFT Influencers and gain their support to sell Cricket Powder. Got it? Sounds like a crock? Of course it does!

And Mark almost came to blows with Cricket Bro over a lame joke/insult. That part sounds rather topical, doesn’t it? Except that these strips are submitted many weeks in advance, so it is just an interesting happenstance. Cherry’s just-in-time arrival on the scene Saturday silenced the nattering nabobs, freezing them in place while demonstrating once again that…uh, that is to say, men don’t like to be caught out by women acting in ways they likely think women act. Of course, squabbling and name-calling are signs of weakness!  But once again, Mark is out of his depth and unable to respond properly or take charge of the situation. Best he makes a tactical retreat and reconsiders his options. One of those options has to be the Sunday nature lesson:

Aside from Mark’s silly closing question (and by the way, beavers don’t need chainsaws. They do just fine), logging is certainly a contentious problem in Oregon, where it has been the state’s leading money-maker and export. The official Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) states that “cars and trucks are the number one source of air pollution in Oregon.” But are they biased?

Other sources support Rivera’s position (feel free to repeat my Google searching). No doubt, it depends upon how you slice and present the data. And the difference seems to be minor. No matter what, logging is still a significant factor. But it also has a significant impact on local and state economies. The politics of the industry are equally complex and protected. While new trees are planted to replace old ones, they may not have the durability or capability to absorb/synthesize carbon dioxide the way old growth trees do. Still, the more trees that can be planted, the better. Not just for their visual appeal, but because they contribute to scrubbing CO₂ out of the environment.

It’s a sunny, but windy Saturday (as I write this recap). I should be working on my Italian or even taking a walk. Instead, I’m writing this and studying Italian. Probably not a good idea for either. But here we go…

Here began what I hoped would be (and still hope will be) the highlight of this current storyline:  Rusty’s hunt for the Seaside Specter. This week we saw Rusty take off in the woods at night, on his own, only to be corralled by a pursuing Cherry. She insisted he bring along a walkie-talkie while she “hung around” the woods, looking for edible mushrooms. Rusty continued on his path, hardly going very far when he saw something down the path that he immediately thought might be the specter. He fumbled with his pack to don the mask his Aunt Olive lent him (to protect his eyes). After putting it on, he started complaining about his eyes(!) and then everything went bad. He hollered for Mommy, who immediately showed up and suggested they return to the house to eat mushrooms and have a rethink. What a disappointment.

Is this the end of Rusty’s adventure? I hope not, because the other so-called storyline with Mark, Dad, and the Goofball Bros is less an adventure and more of a business meeting (YAWN!).  And heaven forbid if one of those Bozo Bros volunteers to accompany Rusty on another attempted hunt. Yet, I suppose it could add some madcap action to a story that still has not gotten off the ground. Something needs to happen, and soon. But we won’t know anything until at least Monday. For now, time to relish the Sunday nature chat. (BTW, I did go biking this morning, so there!)

I don’t suppose Rivera is going to win over viewers sliding in some social gender typing, and I’m not sure it scientifically applies here. However, I don’t think Rivera cares. The term “crab” is not really fluid, just too often used. I’ll stand corrected on that, if necessary.

Mark’s discussion of crab evolution is interesting and something new to me. I also found it interesting (with some futhter reading) that young crabs go through lots of molting stages on the way to adulthood. The process takes a long time and is neither simple nor free from danger. In fact, while attempting to escape from its old shell, a molting crab can be caught betwixt the shell and the deep blue sea and die! Crabs also have a complex and populous taxonomy, with some 7000 species, if I’m reading the data correctly.

Cherry, Mark, and an unseen Rusty spend the week flying cross country to Portland, OR. Along the way, Mark is fixated on the mysterious stepbrother of Cricket Bro, who goes by the gold-plated twit’s name of Jadsen Sterling; so much so, that he leaves a slice of pie Cherry brought along unfinished, as he searches the Internet for information on Sterling’s business interests.
After the Trails enter the terminal, a person who looks like a younger brother of Svengooli appears, identifies himself as Jadsen, and says he is their ride. What ever happened to the actual vacation, itself, seems to have been put aside. Rusty, who had been invisible for the flight, made a brief appearance (I think) in a long shot of the Trails’ arrival in the terminal. That’s pretty much the activity for the week. I won’t rehash the details of my diatribe on the art, though I probably should have just posted them all here, instead. You can scroll down to read the prior posts, if you like. Even though I do have concerns, I still support the strip’s general direction. I still believe that many of the changes Rivera has brought into the strip are a positive contribution (including the imagery), but they are endangered by the appearance of artistic inconsistency, sometimes weak plotting, and an over-indulgence in self-parody. We’ll have to see how Rivera—now in her second year—manages to overcome them. That’s assuming she also believes there are issues to resolve. Otherwise, on to the Sunday strip, which seems to enjoy more consistent output:

Okay, if Mark is only talking about the Western Gray Squirrel, I’ll buy the “forest” argument, because just every other kind of squirrel can be found just about everywhere, including cities, suburbs, and my wife’s bird feeders. The art in the Sunday panels tends to have a more consistent quality than the dailies. A practical reason for this is the size of the Sunday panels, both in the original format and published format, is larger than the dailies. But that’s not the whole story.  Part of the difference is that Sunday panels are not linked to the dailies, so story continuity is not an issue. Also, I’m not going too far out on a limb here to think that Rivera might simply enjoy drawing Sunday more than the dailies. 

The family melodrama continues, as Cherry abandons Mark so he can have a hear-to-heart with Happy about NFTs. Turns out Happy Trail got himself into an NFT business arrangement with the stepbrother of Rob Bettancourt (aka Cricket Bro). Mark is going through his “disaster déjà vu” meltdown again. How is it that the Trails keep getting involved with these weirdos in California (and now, Oregon)? It’s not like they’re just down the road. I like the concept of overlapping storylines; it has a better ring of authenticity than the usual linear approach with the clean breaks. I think the only people who have not resurfaced are the members of the Herp Hacienda Gang (Reptilionnaire, excepting).

Unless you have a squad of writers and artists who do the actual daily work that bears your signature (and I think we can all name a few of those strips), then you have your work cut out for you. I know Rivera is capable of creative, quality work, as we can see in her earlier panels. And even now, I think that still comes through, as these two panels from Tuesday show. What I like here are: 1) the “lookback” view as we see Cherry exit towards us and looking back at Mark; and the 2) alternate “lookback view”, as we now view Cherry more or less from Mark’s point of view. There is a nice balance between people and space. Rivera keeps implied motion moving in the first panel by arranging the figures so that Cherry is exiting off to the right, as Westerners implicitly follow. This is continued in panel 2. It might not seem like a big deal, but all of these bits contribute to the overall composition and flow. That kind of planning and drawing takes time and effort to put together. I don’t know what KFS pays Rivera, but they should pay her enough to hire an assistant. Then maybe Rivera can spend more time on the drawing.

And now for something relatively different… an animal not seen before or part of the story. Interesting that the moth has such a long transformative period, yet such a short time to make its moth-mark in the world. And who would have figured scales on a moth? But that large 3-5” wingspan is quite something. I have to admit that after reading these Sunday panels, I almost always feel inspired to find out more information.

Did you miss the dailies this past week? Well, we can’t all be lucky. This was our second week at the Happy and Jolly cookout in which a series of disconnected vignettes continued to appear:

• We saw Rusty talk cryptid tactics with Aunt Olive.
• There was just one mention of the Portland vacation.
• We witnessed Mark reduced to self-inflicted agonies when he discovered that his hated boyhood job of shilling for his dad in TV commercials taken over by a monkey dressed as “Markey”.
• Happy and Jolly are now also on the NFT bandwagon.
• Reptilionnaire, having appeared once the week before, has utterly vanished.

Other than my posting a few queries about Rivera’s evolving aesthetics, I think that about summarizes the past week. Let’s hope for a brighter future while we explore the Sunday nature chat:

It’s always about you, isn’t it Mark? I’m surprised that the owls in the title panel weren’t saying “WHOO?” But you have to take front-and-center, even in the Sunday nature panels.

Okay, we have a summary report of another owl. Of course, having gotten interested, I did a small bit of “research” (i.e. Wikipedia) and discovered that when the barred owl is not chasing out the spotted owl, they sometimes cohabit and create a hybrid type called a “sparred owl.”

Hmm, looks like Rivera covered the barred owl back in February 2021 and the burrowing owl in May 2021. Clearly, Rivera has a fixation on these nocturnal birds. Perhaps, dare I say it, Rivera is a night owl?

For those readers who missed the daily episodes, our story continues to focus on the travails of young Rusty Trail, stoically enduring a family cookout while his musical hero, Reptilionnaire, performs down the road. We daily readers shared his anguish, suffering through family reunion moments and the usual banal dialog one hears at family get-togethers. But the week ended up with Rusty (and his parents) very much surprised when Reptilionnaire showed up with his pet ‘gator and musical assistant. Good thing Rusty was not holding any of Happy’s potato salad, as his jumping would surely have sent it flying in all directions.

Meanwhile, Happy Trail has clearly tried to make amends for his prior bad decisions and crappy attitude and is once again friends with Jolly Roger. And it turns out that Happy arranged for Reptilionnaire to drop by. So this could be a good place to end Rusty’s mini-adventure, but I believe there will be more. But not, I hope, a week of Reptilionnaire ingratiating himself into the Trail family.

Don’t forget this story is supposed to be about a vacation in Portland, Oregon and Rusty’s chance to search for The Seaside Specter. Recall that under Allen’s authorship, Rusty got involved in a smuggling adventure in Mexico with potentially disastrous consequences. While I appreciate very much that Rivera makes Rusty a more believable adolescent, let’s get him into some drama and action. Being a kid didn’t stop Little Orphan Annie from tangling with all manner of dangers. Mark Trail is supposed to be an adventure strip, not a clone of For Better or Worse.

Before we see how the week unfolds, take a sip of coffee and peruse the Sunday nature chat.

Gee, so vultures circle around carrion, huh? Does that explain today’s title panel? Okay, there’s more to make fun of, but I’ll leave it to others. If vultures don’t circle around dying animals, why do they bother circling at all? Didn’t get that answer. Interestingly, in most Sunday strips the animals take center stage, but today, Mark seems to get the main face time, with vultures playing backup. I’d rather see more vulture close-ups, Mark.

Here are a few other interesting points I discovered: 1) Because of the strong acids in vulture stomachs, they are immune to lethal diseases such as anthrax and botulism, a great reason for humans to let vultures do their job. 2) The sense of smell in Turkey vultures is more important than their sight in detecting carrion and determining its food-worthiness, even up to a mile in the air! Now that is nothing to sniff at! Play, you Goth Kids!