At last, the sleepover is done with! The family—senza Doc and Andy—have packed up the station wagon and are now on their way…to where? Originally, they were going to Portland, Oregon (with visions of seaside specters dancing in Rusty’s head). But they have to get Mark’s dad first, the “reformed” Happy Trail. However, this detour to pick up Grampy Happy (as Rusty calls him) got more complicated.

It belatedly turned out that Mark’s comrade in crime, Reptilionnaire (who is also Rusty’s favorite reptile rapper), is performing nearby on the same day as the Big Family Cookout Grampy is throwing. Oh no! The Family Trail has yet to resolve this conflict, which has Rusty throwing a hissy fit. What to do? Unless they are all set to fly into Portland from Ft. Lauderdale, this two-week vacation may well get spent in Florida. Anyway, while Mark and the family try to not run over alligators along the highway, we’ll turn our attention to today’s nature chat, recorded before the vacation:

This is, indeed, a good project, and Wallis Annenberg is right to be proud of this project, which apparently won’t be completed until late 2023. And it received significant private donations. I’ve read that plans are to allow people to cross, as well. Sounds like a bad idea to me. I’m not sure how that is supposed to work in terms of not scaring off wildlife or endangering the public.

Anyway, Rivera once again integrates the main subject of the day (the planned crossing) into the title panel, showing her inventiveness. And it’s a bold thing to do, as some newspaper editors remove title panels to make more space for more comics.

The other amazing point here is Mark’s changing wardrobe! Contrary to the usual shirt he wears, day in and day out, while we still see a red first-layer, there is now some variety in the outer layer. And where there’s variety, there’s hope. One hope is that Rivera will completely break the long-standing comic strip convention for leading characters to always wear the same clothes. It’s not as if we won’t be able to recognize them. Heck, if Rivera can create unique title panels for each Sunday, it shouldn’t be too difficult for her to change Mark’s shirt color or even the pattern once in a while.

As this nail-biting adventure ends (okay, I heard some people were biting the heads off nails after reading Mark’s latest adventure), Mark and Diana’s zebra mussel video went viral. Rafael chided Mark for his arrest, then praised it as a plus for both the video and Mark’s popularity (Ed. note:  Wonder if it will help when his case comes to trial). Mark indicated that he is taking his family—and his Dad—to Oregon for a two week vacation.

The zebra mussel adventure had its share of kooky characters, some deserving more attention. Perhaps they will appear in later stories. The issue of zebra mussels is real and worth a story, although the tale Rivera spun was quirky, if incomplete. I think more detail and depth would have been worth a longer story time. Of course, if this was a pre-Rivera Mark Trial story, Mark would be chasing down some loutish fishermen happily moving their boats between lakes, while ignoring zebra mussel procedures. There would also be a pretty sister who helps Mark bring these boobs to justice and falls in love with him, only to be spurned like all other women, as Mark returns to his devoted, but boring, Cherry.

Rivera apparently was riffing on the fact that it actually was cargo ships passing through the Great Lakes that initially imported the zebra mussels. Relocating these ship(s) to Lost Forest seems pretty crazy, at first. Rivera could have sent Mark up to Lake Erie, but then Rivera would not have been able to weave Mark’s and Cherry’s separate storylines together as she likes to do. So, some historical sleight-of-hand took place. It’s nothing that other writers have not done.
Still, there are many imponderables! While you ponder them, check out today’s nature strip:

I grew up on the East Coast and went to the beach many times. We’d always find horseshoe crabs on the beach, many of them expired for one reason or another. Didn’t realize they are only found along the Atlantic coast of North America! But three other species can be found in the waters of S.E. Asia. How interesting that they are not found in most other locations! Although I have not seen this event, horseshoe crabs congregate by the many thousands along the Maryland and Delaware beaches in May and June during full moons and high tides for mating season.

You can skip this recap if you have been following the daily posts. Assuming you have not, pray continue reading.

The week before, we saw Mark, Diana, and Cliff arrested (off-camera, so to speak) for their nautical civil disobedience (something not in their job descriptions). This past week, there was hard time in the local lockup. That is, it was hard time for readers, with three days of inconsequential dialog as the jailbirds waited on their bail. They finished the week with two days of fond good-byes between the gang, having bonded over their protest and temporary incarceration. Even Diana finally heard from her estranged friend, Bee (“Ben”) Sharp, who remotely posted her bail. She was so misty-eyed she actually removed her shades in full frontal facial nudity. It all looked like a long-winded wrap-up for an adventure that seems anything but wrapped up. It is like the sudden endings we’ve seen in Mark Trail adventures before Rivera came along. I was (and still am) hoping for more:  such as an ending that cleans up after itself. But while we’re waiting for Rivera to get her broom and dustpan, let’s check out the Sunday nature strip.

Displaying another interesting nature-based title panel, today’s strip tells us about as much about the kestrel as you’ll find in casual online searches. So Rivera saved us the trouble. In short, it still faithfully upholds the required “Cliff Notes” summary that the Sunday format imposes. However, there are a few more things I picked up from the online Peregrine Fund page:
1. Kestrels can see UV light, which helps them better track prey.
2. Kestrels may be “everywhere” as Mark states, but their populations are declining and experts are not sure why.

Instead of the usual corny dialog in the last panel (that’s a nice drawing of the kestrel there), Rivera could have used it to comment on one or both of those items. So, I saved Rivera the trouble!

Mark’s “big plan” to stall or stop Duck Duck Goose Shipping from helping zebra mussels invade Lost Forest waters turned out to be all wet. Assisted by an ad-hoc group of fair-weather boaters, Mark and his helpers (Diana, Cliff, and “the de-bait team”) tried to blockade the waterway with their fishing boats. They created enough of an interruption for DDG to have police arrest them. Mark’s behavior during the protest was, well, ineffective. So, we ask: “What was the point?”

Moving on to Sunday’s strip, catch your breath with a quiet, conventional subject: Antler Showdowns!

A straight-forward, if average, Sunday “cliff-notes” chat about white-tailed deer. Classic Mark Trail Sunday stuff. However, I think Jules overlooked the apparent “fact” that, after jumping 30 feet, that white tail deer apparently trebled in size! Talk about a defensive move…!

But I think Rivera should dispense with the “two fists o’ justice” references, since Mark doesn’t seem to employ them anymore. That tussle with the two Duck Duck Goose goons wasn’t much of a performance. And it’s likely new viewers will have no idea what Mark means, anyway. So, Jules, either kill the catchphrase or get Mark to live up to his rep!

This past low action-filled week focused on the consequences of Cherry discovering a marimo ball (or maybe two) in a “decorative aquarium”, newly-purchased by Violet Cheshire. Faced with the prospect of revealing to Violet the potential dangers involved (and explaining why zebra mussels are dangerous) with the possible chance Cherry might upset Violet and lose her job, Cherry first consulted with Mark over the phone. In contrast to Mark’s rather excited expressions, he offered sober, calming advice that the situation was no big deal until Violet wanted to get rid of the marimo ball(s). He provided detailed instructions on safe disposal. Reading the room correctly, Cherry simply told Violet that her business would professionally clean the aquarium for free when it came time. This is fine for the short-term, but Cherry did Violet no favors by not educating her. And therein lies the rub, because Violet is not one for taking advice from a hired hand. As Mark apparently found time to talk with Cherry, he appears to have also found time to write about bobcats, as we see below:

A subject having nothing to do with either story line is getting to be an unusual occurrence in the Sunday strips. And I almost missed the “Mark Trail” logo in the title panel, it was so well constructed. One of Rivera’s better designs. I also liked Rivera’s use of “night cam” panels, both for their design contrast and for their visual reinforcement of information about the bobcat’s hunting time.  These two panels in grays show that Rivera could apply a similar look to her dailies, though she clearly prefers to depend on color. However, since newspapers print the dailies in b/w, going with the grays could add more aesthetic options for Mark Trail and give it a depth and solidity it does not normally show in newspapers.

If you missed the strips this past week because you were too busy trying to solve the Asimov Quiz in the newspaper, consider your time well spent. Perhaps. We are undecided whether this was a silly side-trip, a repeated bit of satire, or a hint of further problems down the road. In any event, this past week portrayed a telephone conversation in which Cricket Bro, while on some kind of “dawn surf patrol”, woke Mark up (at some ambiguous part of the morning) to motivate him into joining up to promote and sell NFTs. Mark went into auto-lecture mode explaining his climate change reasons for refusing to buy into the scam, which, unsurprisingly, went over Cricket Bro’s head. CB finally hung up. Now, wasn’t that something? Okay, then here is a follow-up: Sunday’s nature chat.

And not a moment too soon! For those who might have come to this story a bit late, Rivera expands on her original Sunday zebra mussels chat from August 8, where they were described as hidden travelers on imported “marimo” balls, a popular fish tank accessory that apparently get periodically dumped into toilets and flushed into rivers, enabling their spread. A fair point, by the way. Rivera expanded on this topic over time to highlight the main distribution method of zebra mussels: ships. As others have pointed out, these invasive mollusks also existed in the ballast that ocean-going ships pumped into the Great Lakes (for some reason, Rivera fails to mention ballast in her discussions). And it is also true that private boat owners are also partly responsible for helping to spread zebra mussels by not cleaning their boats between trips. However, since the current story focuses on zebra mussels, why devote another Sunday strip to this topic? I mean, Mark’s point about personal responsibility could easily be worked into the daily strips. I’m guessing this Sunday panel was done several months ago and only now published.

Well, the mailbox was not exactly overwhelmed with responses to my little contest. So unfortunately, nobody had the winning answer for the new car. I may have forgotten to mention that. Well, better luck next time.

Speaking of unfortunate, this past week was like watching a man haunted by his own frustrated sense of justice and need for revenge, and… oh, that is what this past week was, come to think of it. Cherry dropped Mark back off at his fortress of safety (Cliff’s fishing lodge). Aside from some campy innuendoes, Mark spent time this week grumbling about how the world would be so much better if Duck Duck Goose ships quit bringing zebra mussels into the waters of Lost Forest. The week ended with the lightbulb in Mark’s brainpan flashing on as he came up with an idea for frightening either the ship(s) or the ship’s owners into vacating Lost Forest waters. Mark was not talking about stopping boats everywhere; just in his own backyard. Does this make Mark a NIMBY? Well, he certainly knows that he can’t save the entire world in one fell swoop, so maybe cleaning up his own neighborhood is a good enough place to start. But it still looks like “kick the can” down the river. In the meantime, check out today’s Sunday nature chat.

Another clever title panel, based on a not-too-surprising subject. Today’s topic provides the context to Diana Dagger’s remark yesterday about poinsettias being stolen from Mexico in the early 1800s. The name “Poinsettia” certainly shows a Eurocentric bias that ignored its contemporary Mexican roots, so to speak. We can give the Aztec name a pass, but the Mexican name above (or its translation, “Christmas Eve Flower”) is quite nice and a shame to not be retained north of the border. The history of the plant’s distribution, naming, and cultivation is a complex topic. It is possible that the Americans and Europeans were ignorant as to whether Mexicans cultivated the plant. It’s also likely that Poinsett sent back a cultivated version of the plant without making that clear. But just as likely he didn’t care. It became a source of long-running national animosity. A good discussion can be found here: https://www.actahort.org/chronica/pdf/ch5103.pdf#page=23

In case you missed this past week, one of the more interesting events was the extension of Cherry’s save-the-bees storyline for a second week. Yet not too surprising, given how the first week ended. The big climactic confrontation between Cherry (and her pro-bees coalition) versus the Sunny Soleil Society’s anti-bee position—as implemented through their proxy, Honest Ernest—culminated in a rather tawdry yelling match based on hyperbolic claims, rather than the issue at hand. Furthermore, there seemed to be no real incentive in trying to work out a practical compromise. Kind of like Congress, in other words. Mark’s appearance last week and his involvement this week helped ensure this situation devolved into a brief and less-than exciting fight. The whole point of Cherry’s storyline was to save the bees. But, as others have also pointed out, we didn’t get to see bees saved. We didn’t really get to see any ending at all. Why not? Was Rivera riffing on the Trail Tradition of Mark immediately jumping back home once the current danger has been resolved? If so, Rivera jumped the gun. But let’s jump to the hot topic of the day:

At least let’s give Jules Rivera some fist pumps for bringing Mark more into current environmental concerns (as opposed to just the usual poachers, animal kidnappers, and other small-time riffraff), even when she is heavy-handed about it. BTW, the title panel today is a good concept, though I think the burned tree letters look more like tuffs of wheat. Still, the overall effect is dramatic and clear enough.

It is understandable that, living in California, Rivera concentrates on forest fires, as opposed to bringing in additional areas of concern, such as the polar icecaps. I’m not here to be political or nitpick over the numbers. I am not a scientist, though I have watched some on TV. However, while the scientific consensus supports Mark’s overall position, they may not support some of his reasoning.

If I’m reading it correctly, EPA data (https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/global-greenhouse-gas-emissions-data) show energy production (electricity) and land utilization (farming, development) make up the largest economic contributors to climate change, followed by industry, transportation, and others.  So, greedy corporations are not the biggest contributors, but are far from the smallest. In fact, I think governments around the world are the actual biggest contributors, as they pass the laws and policies under which virtually all economic production functions. When there are lax laws, there will be those who take advantage.

This week saw the conclusion of the drawn-out and melodramatic confrontation between Mark and the two “persuaders” sent by the Duck Duck Goose Shipping Company to stop Mark from prying into their business. Well, as far as Mark knows, it’s just about zebra mussels. However, the two goons did not see fit to waste much time talking. One gathers, from their hokey attire and clumsy technique, that discussion is not a part of their job description. While they spent a lot of time banging on the door to Diana’s B&B, demanding access, Cliff and Diana got hot and sweaty inside, and it wasn’t from proximity to each other.  But why the near-panic? The odds were on their side, after all.
When Mark’s testosterone levels reached their max, he decided to open the door, only to be met with a haymaker from the smaller thug, so-named Boffo. Mark returned the compliment, which made a more lasting impression. Diana’s shovel to the head of the second guy must have had a similar result, as the Saturday strip showed our three madcap adventurers speeding away in Mark’s station wagon. What we didn’t see was the time after they downed the invaders. Was there any inspection of the two hoods? Did they snap photos to post on SnapChat? Did they even take the goon’s shoes to slow them down? Not as far as I can tell. Instead, they zipped out of there as if a tsunami was right behind them. Mark and his companions seem to have no larger understanding of the Big Picture at this point. While the gang speeds on to Cliff’s fishing lodge to hide out, let’s take a look at today’s nature strip.

[edited] My guess for the topic today was frogs, but garden clubs won out. I reckon that’s a nice enough lead-in to Cherry’s upcoming week. So, what is all that lightly-drawn vegetation we see in several panels? Are they symbols of future growth? If Jules is doing the coloring for Sundays, then I suppose we must see these as metaphors of representative results of a garden club. Mark, quit being such a Vanity Queen and let Cherry have her own time in the Sunday Spotlight once in a while!

Not to carp too much, but wouldn’t more “action” in these panels (e.g. gardeners doing the activities they are mentioning) be more effective at making Rivera’s points than a bunch of static “photo-op” poses?

Well, Cherry and her gang of green-thumb commandoes have a midnight date with a statue and a bunch of bees. Remember? And I’m looking forward to the action and the fallout!

Well, dear readers, let’s get up-to-date on the events of the past week:  Mark, Cliff, and Diana are holed up in Diana’s B&B, where they have been viewing Mark’s underwater photos of zebra mussel infestation on the Duck Duck Goose cargo ship. Diana focused on her own laptop, perhaps doing research, or maybe checking up on her NFT valuations.

They seem to think their lives could be in danger if Duck Duck Goose Shipping discovers their whereabouts. Mark takes on the role of Crisis Catalyst by assuring everybody that none of the bad guys even knows his name. Of course, the timely “bamming” on the front door announces that dark forces have, indeed, learned about him. With a shovel and their own determination, Mark, Diana, and Cliff intend to make this their own Alamo Moment. For zebra mussels.

It is logical, of course, for them to hunker down and try to solidify their field work with some good investigatory research. But I’m not sure we are seeing that. In fact, Diana urged Mark to quickly upload his photos to some web site where they can be publicly viewed, to protect themselves. This reminds me of the “solution” that the Herp Hacienda Gang used to defeat Cricket Bro’s sitting on Aparna’s animal air tracking app:  They stole it and uploaded it to a public server for anyone to acquire. The fact that Duck Duck Goose’s concerns are completely different from Diana and Mark sets up an interesting plot crossroads, where it is possible both groups will continue to work at cross purposes, unaware of the other’s true motives. We’ll see what happens on Monday, but for now, it’s the Sunday Nature Chat!

As usual, Rivera gives us a nicely designed title panel and a timely subject for the season. The turkeys are well drawn. They are found in neighborhoods and other public places, not just in country fields. I often see them walking around the university campus. Okay, turkeys are an easy subject. I’d like to see Rivera use Sundays to bring reader attention to lesser-known animals and nature topics.

However, the popular tale about the turkey being considered for the national bird (or on a coin) is just fiction. Turns out that Ben Franklin was only making a comparison to the bald eagle in a letter to his daughter, Sarah; but that seems to be as far as it ever got. And by the way, Mark, George Washington never threw silver dollars across the Potomac.

If you are up-to-date on the strips this week, feel free to skip down to the Sunday strip. For those of you who missed some—or most—of this week, Cherry and a surprisingly available Mark were working on all things gardening. A work van pulled up, out of which stepped “Honest Ernest”, a Good Ol’ Boy in yellow coveralls, who turned out to be the exterminator hired to kill the bees in the Sunny Soleil Society’s garden.  In fact, this entire week of strips (about 5 minutes “in Trail Time”) was devoted to Honest Ernest first annoying, then shocking, the Trails (and us) with his phony “aw shucks” patter and sociopathic attitude. The Trails mostly just stood there, mouths agape; though Cherry once again put forth her weak bees defense, repeating her earlier failure to convince Violet and Caroline (Ernest’s wife). Once Ernest left, Cherry recovered enough to reiterate her intentions to raid the garden overnight with the help of her Garden Mafia to remove the bees to safety. Surprise of surprises, Mark offered to help, apparently indifferent to his current zebra mussel assignment.

All in all, there was little action, though the introduction of Honest Ernest is an important angle to the story. Maybe this week could have been compressed into just three or four days, allowing Rivera to use the other days to portray Cherry meeting with her Black Rose Society colleagues as they prepare to raid the garden. But, at least we can see better why Cherry’s defense of the bees went nowhere with the Sunny Soleil Society. It wasn’t just Cherry’s lack of persuasiveness, but the ignorance and delusional attitudes of the social-climbing members of the Sunny Soleil Society. Their pretense of sophistication was revealed by the cynical glibness and threatening attitude of Caroline’s rube of a husband. But, it’s time to move on to the Sunday nature strip. See you in three weeks, Cherry!

As Mark channels his inner “John Lennon” in the last panel (nice pun, Mark!), the Trails serve up a second helping of Sunday Bees; this time, the friendlier domestic version. Rivera’s tradition of making the Sunday title panel thematically link to the current subject continues, as does the tradition of linking the subject to the current storyline. This is not  her best title panel, but it’s still a good tradition. Cherry continues to serve as the Second Banana. Frankly, most of this information has already been discussed in the daily strips. But repetition is generally a good instructional method. So, do you agree that the Sunday strips are generally better drawn than the dailies? Not sure why. Well, we might have a different opinion on the hands.

Gather round the campfire, one and all. It’s time for Uncle George to update you on Mark Trail’s actions this past week. As you may recall from the prior weeks, Mark’s ethical dilemma led him to abandon Diana during their zebra mussel investigation of a cargo ship.  Mark’s old friend Cliff, who piloted the rescue boat, showed up to give him a lift. At Cliff’s fishing lodge, Mark revealed his assignment to Cliff and his military veteran buddies. Not much happened there, but Mark and Cliff decided to seek out Diana and try to restore Mark’s professional relationship and continue the assignment.

But as Mark began his apology to Diana, he and Cliff were suddenly blindsided by Diana’s sudden emotional breakdown and admission that her selfish actions were brought on by troubles back home. Seems her friend(s) and business partner(s) are putting her salary (as a producer, we assume) into a modern investment vehicle known as a Non-Fungible Token (NFT). This highly speculative and unstable commodity is also linked to virtual currency, both of which exist on large server farms that gobble mountains of electricity. All of that usage affects the environment and local utilities. Diana’s anxiety is understandable (But who knew that she had a moral compass?). So what to do? And more importantly, how will Jules Rivera develop this major plot twist? Will it link to people in Mark’s previous assignments? Does it have anything to do with the Duck Duck Goose shipping line? Or will Diana’s troubles simply do a quick fade, like so many past characters of the Trailverse? Maybe we’ll find out in the coming days; but for now, it’s time for the Sunday Nature Chat. Now, who’s up for toasting marshmallows?

Not a surprising subject today. That anti-skunk smell formula is one The Humane Society favors, but comes with a special caveat that Mark forgot to mention: “Caution: Do NOT store this mixture or make it ahead of time, as the mixture could explode if left in a bottle.” That is definitely something to keep in mind. In fact, it is a really good idea to read their entire recommendation: https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/de-skunking-your-dog

Avoiding a skunk is always a good idea. In fact, avoiding all wild animals is always a good idea. In spite of what some blockhead visitors to state and national parks believe, wild animals are not pets or your friends, no matter how cute they look.

Somehow, Cherry blew through six days of comic strip panels just getting the members of the Black Rose Garden Club to agree to help her save the bees from the Sunny Soleil Society’s more fatal plans. Somewhere along the line, the members’ preoccupation with pancakes melted away. Well, Cherry never did get around to stating what her plan was (if she had one), as we will almost certainly put Cherry’s story aside for two weeks while we return to Mark’s adventure. Nevertheless, some progress was made. At least they got out of their tool shed meeting room and started walking to the bee statue.

Now, I give Rivera a lot of credit for trying to give other Trail family members more time in front of the comic strip camera. Running two parallel story lines is not a simple thing, especially in a comic strip. And Rivera has sometimes found ways to link their stories together, even if indirectly. Do you like the fact that Rivera runs parallel storylines? Do you think Cherry and Mark should participate together in the same storyline once in awhile? While you ponder your responses, we’ll move on to the Sunday nature talk!

Well, it’s Hallowe’en, so I suppose bats are an obvious subject. But bats don’t go “bump” in the night, do they, Mark? After all, you told us about their echolocation capabilities, too! Anyway, for old Trailheads who might still be around, it would have been cool to see Professor Gabriel Chavira (the bat researcher from a few years ago) make a cameo appearance in the last panel.

Okay, Mark. It’s all very well to tell us to work together to save the bats. Exactly how do we do that, Mark? Blast more caves in hills? Gabriel would have had something practical to suggest, rather than stand around a smoke-free campfire and sing “Kumbaya”. At least there are no Dracula jokes.

I think we can all agree that conducting an undercover operation using your own personal boat is not the brightest idea; but then again, Mark is not a trained covert agent. It is from oversights such as this, that the best-made plans fail; or even the worst-made plans. While Mark was chatting up the De-Bait Team crowd and convincing himself that his zebra mussel assignment was practically completed, a different discussion took place at the headquarters of the Duck Duck Goose shipping company.

Somehow, the crew of the cargo ship Mark and Diana investigated recorded the registration of Mark’s boat and passed it on to the head office. The boss, one Mr. Chedderson, didn’t appear to know anything about zebra mussels or Mark Trail, but was clearly upset about Mark’s snooping. Chedderson’s scheming assistant offered one of her assets to help ensure Mark’s report would not get published.

What her plans are will have to wait another week, after we follow up on Cherry’s own covert operation to save some bees from extermination. But now, it’s time for the Sunday Nature chat!

Yes, we see helping the ranger plant trees, Rusty! Now, get back to work and dig more holes!

A very clever title panel today. Bravo, Rivera! Trees must certainly be on everybody’s mind in California. But planting more trees is something we should all be able to get behind, both for their place in the world’s ecosystems and for their valuable material contribution to all of our lives. It would be great to see trees planted on large, unused swaths of land, not only for climate reasons, but to provide more resources for wild life that have been negatively affected by dwindling forests.

As for the ending joke, I think we’d be better off planting politicians in potholes, removing two problems at the same time.

This past week saw the follow-up to Mark’s rescue from the long walk home following his abandonment of Diana Daggers, after their escape from the anti-piracy measures of the cargo ship. Mark didn’t agree with abandoning the crew of the good ship De-Bait Team that stayed behind, apparently to give cover for Mark’s escape. As it turned out, the owner of that boat—whose own escape was something Mark did not even bring up later—picked up the shivering Mark. Turns out he is Cliff, an old friend of Mark’s, now suffering from a kind of post-war estrangement.  Instead of taking Mark back to Lost Forest, Cliff took him to his fishing lodge, populated by Cliff’s friends, four ex-military veterans.

As Mark explained his current assignment to them, Naomi—one of the vets—reported on her recent encounter with zebra mussels. Of course, all this suggests that Cliff and his comrades may already be involved in the same problem. If so, it is likely they will form an alliance with Mark to continue the investigation. Are you recalling Mark’s encounter with, and association with, the Herp Hacienda Gang? On the other hand, it could also turn out that they are involved in some shady work of their own that Mark is in danger of exposing. We’ll see how this plays out over the following days; but for now, it’s time for the Sunday Nature Talk!

So now, arch-rivals (Sharp and Trail) come together for common cause!? I think the “proper” spot for Professor Bee Sharp’s cameo should have been in the Sunday segment on Killer Bees back in August, to reflect his pugilistic nom de boxe. As for the actual content, today’s panels makes good points about our mutual dependency with the common honeybees and our need to help them.

Still, how about letting Cherry take over the Sunday strip once in awhile? The bees are in her storyline, after all; not Mark’s.

“Diner, Diana, and Dinner” pretty much sums up Cherry’s week. In a story break that does honor to the “Diner, Diana, and Dinner” pretty much sums up Cherry’s week. In a story break that does honor to the previous Mark Trail strip’s propensity for jumping from one unfinished scene to another, we find Cherry having a pleasant chat with Jeanette —the owner of the Planet Pancake diner—and apparently recovered from her ethical and procedural defeat at the hands of the Sunny Soleil Society regarding the fate of the bees. And suddenly, in walks Diana Daggers, fresh off her full day of nautical investigation with Mark, and ready to pull the wings off any bees that happen to fly too close to her.

Possibly Daggers got a food recommendation from her motel, which would explain her showing up here. Daggers now joins a growing list of people who find the need to bury their sins or their misery in a stack of hotcakes, covered in the sweetness of their choice. Cherry’s attempt to get past Diana’s mood is futile, so she orders a stack of flapjacks to go, in order to meet a friend.

The friend turns out to be some gal Cherry knows who heads some kind of vigilante garden group that takes matters into its own gloved hands when it comes to anything garden-related. In this case, the job Cherry has asked them to perform is to surreptitiously move the statue-housed bees from the Society’s garden before the pest control company (run by the husband of one of the Society’s board members) shows up and fumigates them to death. However…

…I believe we’ll return to Mark’s story on Monday. The last we saw of Mark, he had abandoned Diana Daggers, but unexpectedly ran into his old friend, Cliff, as he started his walk home. Seems like the story trajectory of both Cherry and Mark are moving along roughly parallel tracks, with some minor convergence:  Both suffered humiliation and defeat; both retreated from the scene; both dealt unsuccessfully with Diana Daggers; and now both find possible support from a friend. But for now, let’s move on to the Sunday nature lesson.

Okay, let’s welcome back the illustrated title panel! It’s a nice tradition to maintain for the Sunday nature strips. No animal today; the lowly mushroom is the topic du jour, and it is an informative overview with regard to the impact of mushrooms in gardens. But, rather than being a mere bit player, it would have been better to have Cherry lead this discussion, based on her credentials. I really don’t know why Rivera does not do this more often.

I finally figured out the symbols in the lower left panel. At first, I thought they were some kind official seals or warning symbols, but now I see they are merely symbols to reinforce “stop watering” and “more sun.” All in all, today’s strip is useful information. Finally, as instructive the topic is today, I do have to take issue with Mark’s pointing hand, which seems to be the wrong scale and coming from odd angle. In my art student days, I had similar issues, but I more or less resolved them by drawing the entire arm and upper body, extending outside of the panel, so that the angle and proportions of the part of the arm that was visible in the panel would be more realistic with regard to size and placement. Not that I claim any artistic merit of my own. In fact, I believe this idea was suggested to me by one of my teachers.

This past week continued with Mark and Diana’s so-called escape from the supposedly dangerous anti-pirate measures the crew of the cargo ship deployed against Mark’s boat and the mysterious fishing boat that had just approached. Not having any idea of who they were, Diana got in a yelling match with that crew as Mark came to the surface. This is when the cargo ship decided to act in self-defense and deployed the water hoses. Surprisingly to Mark and Diana, the crew of the mystery ship told them to race away; they would remain to distract the cargo ship’s crew. Of course, the notion that both ships could simply move away was ignored for the sake of the dramatic plot development.

And that development took up most of the week, focusing on Mark’s inner conflict between his desire to turn about and help the mystery boat and its crew versus his reluctance to take on Diana and force her to comply. In the end, the latter fear won out, leading to Mark’s self-loathing and humiliation (once again). He abandoned Diana and the boat near a shoreline, ignoring Diana’s attempts to get him to return.
As Mark wandered ashore while berating himself and shivering, he was interrupted by the shout of someone who turned out to be an old friend. And that old friend happens to be one of the crew of the mystery fishing boat that stayed behind. Apparently, the boat and crew escaped any real damage from the cargo ship. But Mark, recognizing his friend, must now bring himself to explain his (lack of) action. But, we’ll have to wait a week to see how that story continues. For now, it’s time once again for TheSunday Nature Talk!

Back to the animals, after a quick look into climate change. Looks like freshwater (acquarium?) catfish. So, people keep exotic catfish as pets. But then again, people are such slobs when it comes to responsibility, and Florida must be the home of slobs, based on all of the invasive animals and plants that have been abandoned by pet owners to the wilds of the semi-tropical Florida landscape. Forget Mexico, I’d vote to build a wall between Florida and the rest of the United States to keep them out; the invasive species and the people!

Time to Educate George!

Looking at the title panel, I was struck by the plainness of the name, itself; something Jules Rivera has consistently avoided through her usually inventive designs. Instead, we see a rectangular bar below the name, showing a series of colored sections in a simple repeat pattern. But what is it? It does not appear to be any kind of measuring rod that I could detect, in spite of the fact that it almost coincides with length of the suckermouth catfish above it. And it isn’t a tactical measuring stick used by miniaturist game players, either. As for the suckermouth, Rivera’s drawing does not do it justice. It’s one scary looking fish!

This week continued the initial investigation of Trail & Daggers as they hunted for the elusive snipe…er snark; or was it a snail darter? Oh right, it was the insidious zebra mussel. So, Mark musseled his way to the front so that he could do the dangerous work of swimming underwater, alongside a moving cargo ship to take evidentiary photos. Daggers believes this ship is linked to one of the dangerous companies supposedly bringing in zebra mussels. For most of the time, nobody on the cargo ship seems to have noticed Mark and Diana’s fishing boat floating alongside them. That would soon change.

As Mark somehow made his way along the hull of the moving cargo ship while underwater with only a snorkel and no swimming fins, he still managed to take photographs of what he must have thought were zebra mussels, but looked more like barnacles. Meanwhile back in the boat, Diana Daggers only belatedly noticed that they had been shadowed by another boat, fast approaching.

As Mark surfaced, Diana was having words with one of the crew of this mysterious boat, and it looked as if there might be trouble. There was, but from another source. Some crew of the cargo ship finally noticed the two small boats along their starboard side, and started threatening them with “pirate deterrents” if they didn’t immediately depart. This is where things got even stranger.

Keep in mind that they were all in open waters, on a river. Mark’s boat and the other fishing boat could have just agreed with the demands of the cargo ship and turned their boats around to leave. Instead, the crew of the heretofore shadowy fishing boat suddenly acted friendly and told Mark and Diana to escape while they distracted the cargo ship’s crew, acting as a defensive screen. Thus, as Mark and Diana raced away, the cargo ship deployed fire hoses shooting water every which way, but mostly into the screening fishing boat.  

Was there any reason for this boat to stay behind and take this punishment? I don’t think so; it’s not as if the cargo ship’s crew were going to open fire on them. Of course, the cargo ship was well within its rights to at least wave off the two fishing boats. The boats were violating the cargo ship’s legal right of way and putting themselves into harm’s way. I’m not sure of the legality or even practicality of deploying pirate deterrents, but hey, this is an adventure story! There’s no drama if the two fishing boats just apologized and moved out of the way after a polite request. So, we have drama. But does the drama make sense? Will Mark turn back to help the crew of the other boat?

We’ll have to wait a week to find out, as Monday should see us return to the exciting conclusion to the debate between Cherry and the Sunny Soleil Society regarding the future of the local bee population.  But for now, it’s time for Sunday’s nature chat!

At last! As readers know, I’ve been hoping to see Rivera turn her Sunday focus to another aspect of Nature, rather than the usual “Our friend, The Grubworm” subjects. So climate change gets the nod this week.  That’s fine, too.

For once, I think Rivera was stymied on how to depict the title panel when the subject is an effect and not an animal. I suppose she could have tried using clouds, smoke, or water currents. Maybe she did and it just didn’t work very well.

Other than showing a bunch of birds, how about a panel showing a before-and-after image of a bird habitat damaged by climate change? That could help make Mark’s case; and I’m not sure the penultimate panel makes that point clearly enough. Also, call me picky (I’ve been called a lot worse), but it seems to me if you are going to talk about actions birds take to help the environment, how about showing a few birds engaged in these actions, rather than just a bunch of “clip art” style examples where the birds are not doing anything?

In any event, Mark certainly looks fatigued, doesn’t he? I’m sure that’s the point.