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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.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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Sometimes an investigation comes about obliquely. Such is the case of the contaminated swimming hole. This is like a Classic Mark Trail story. After getting shut out of a swimming afternoon, the Trails retired to Ranger Shaw’s backyard for an impromptu party. Some friendly questioning of Ranger Shaw failed to produce anything useful regarding the source of the lake’s contamination. This inspired Mark to take control of the situation and investigate on his own. Good thing, too, else we’d still be reading about Cherry and Violet looking for her mom’s runaway peacock!

Now, did Mark hop on the case immediately? He might have, but Happy Trail just happened to call and tell him about a new golf course opening up near Lost Forest. Mark immediately saw a connection to the lake contamination. Quick thinking like this saves a lot of unnecessary time spent researching and  scouting the area for possible causes. Since complexity and story depth are not a hallmark of most comic strips, including Mark Trail, we can count on the golf resort being the guilty party.

Anyway, before Mark could do anything on his own, Happy came up from Florida and showed up at the cabin! He invited (most of) the family to a weekend at the new golf resort, which he had just joined and booked rooms for everybody. Golfers can be a bit crazy, I reckon.

But it’s all very convenient for Mark, who now has a legitimate reason for showing up at the golf resort! And Rusty was thrilled to see Happy and get a chance to play in the resort’s water park. That should set him up really swell with his friends.

There may be a strategic reason to put the Peacock discussion here, in the middle of Mark’s two-week storyline rather than during Cherry’s week. But I don’t know what it is. Maybe just a scheduling issue at the comic syndicate. In any event, the composition and execution of the title panel today is well-conceived. The curious focus on reflection is explained in the strip. It’s an effective top-down view that includes different shading techniques that are rare in Rivera’s work.

I was not aware there were feral peacocks in the US, apparently due to careless pet owners and people of questionable character who deliberately release them into the environment. These feral peafowl seem to predominate in Florida (home to all manner of released exotic animals), Texas, and southern California. So if you live in the Midwest or Eastern Seaboard, you are probably not going to see any peacocks, except in a zoo.

And I’ll give Rivera credit today for not even trying to draw a peacock in full plumage. There are some paintings and drawings that pull it off, but in a comic strip’s limited format, it would be most difficult to try.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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It’s hard to be tough on Cherry and her stories. I believe they are deliberately designed to be minimally consequential, such as human interest stories you might find in any B or C section of your local newspaper or any episode from an unlamented sitcom rerun on ME TV.

At first, this seems ironic, given Jules Rivera’s personal belief in strong, independent women. Why isn’t Cherry out there, rooting out real substantive problems and spending less time holding Violet Cheshire’s hand all the time, or foiling Honest Ernest’s incompetence? One possibility could be that Rivera thought it might be a bridge too far to turn Cherry from the homebound “waiting for Mark to return” wife and mother into a mirror image of her husband, Mark.

So Rivera took a middle course, giving Cherry something to do outside of the home, but with manageable hours, less risk, and time to be a mom. At least, there is still an element of nature or wildlife involved in her stories.

Cherry’s current adventure began—where else?—at the Sunny Soleil Society, helping Violet get ready for a Summer Banquet, possibly that same evening. The time was never specifically mentioned, but the storyline suggests it.

Violet was overwrought with planning for the banquet, since her Mother (who actually runs the Society) has high expectations and demands. Since this drama is unfolding the day of the event, Violet’s mother may have a point. Violet is not a young gal by any means, but still has no idea where to find a beauty salon for herself. Cherry brought in her sister, make-up nerd Peach Pitt, to give her the works. Violet remained dubious. Meanwhile, Cherry learned she was expected to build a special cage for the prized peacock (peafowl) belonging to Violet’s mother. But when Cherry went outside to see the bird, the travel cage that Honest Ernest brought over was empty, and the peacock was gone. So was Honest Ernest. We’ll have to wait three weeks to see what happens next.

Yeah, I know. It would have made sense for Rivera to do a peacock topic for the Sunday page. Maybe she is saving it up for another Sunday. Anyway, for you Mark Trail History aficionados, Mark discussed gila monsters at least twice in the past: Once on February 2, 1969 (Tom Hill) and then again on September 2, 2018 (James Allen). A few points from the older Sundays: Gilas are very sluggish and can go for months without capturing and eating prey, because it stores its food as fat in its stubby tail. Its bite and venom are considered to be extremely painful, though not usually fatal to humans.

You can find Allen’s Sunday page on this site by its date. Hill’s Sunday watercolor is harder to track down. I found it in a Google search using the criterion “Mark Trail comic gila monster”, then clicking on the Images category and scanning the results.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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The ol’ swimming hole is contaminated with wastewater, much to the Trails’ consternation. What to do? The ongoing story this past week saw the Trails move from the closed lake to an impromptu backyard slip n’ slide party and barbeque at the home of Ranger Shaw, the father of Rusty’s sometimes-friend, Robbie. In the backyard sipping iced tea and eating hotdogs, Mark tried to get information from Ranger Shaw about the contamination, only to find out that he claimed to know nothing about its source. This made Mark suspicious, given the weeks he and his colleagues have had to investigate. Mark is right to be suspicious, with Range Shaw’s questionable actions in the past and his seeming inability or unwillingness to help out (e.g. the Grungey Boys’ so-called lawnmower races in Lost Forest).

And wouldn’t you know it, just at this point in time, Mark gets a call from his dad, Happy Trail. Always nice to hear from family, right? Well, there was no discussion of weather, no “How’s Rusty?”, or “When are you all coming down to visit?” Nope, Happy Trail jumped right to the point: “There’s a golf course opening just north of you!” Since Mark has no history of playing golf, we have to wonder why Happy Trail even knew about it or bothered to tell Mark. My guess is that Happy is financially involved in the course and it will wind up being another scam.

Finally, there was some noteworthy art: A nicely drawn foreshortened view of Rusty sliding on Robbie’s slip n’ slide toward the reader; and a less-than-complimentary image of Cherry, seen from the back, in profile (shudder!).

Today’s Title Panel is a clever, well-drawn take on the stereotypical vacation post card. And I’m glad to see fewer images of Mark filling the Sunday strip. Celebrate biodiversity, okay. Fine! But the execution of today’s “biodiversity” doesn’t live up to the definition. In fact, two of the animals here each take up two panels! What about flora? Sea life? And keep in mind that the main purpose of the Mark Trail Sunday strip is already meant to show and educate us on the diversity of wildlife and nature! Call me cynical, but today’s strip smells like deadline pressure.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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Action? Drama? Suspense? Got me. As usual, we haven’t seen any. It’s been a quiet week in Lost Forest (to riff on Garrison Keillor): Mark is home, the hot water is running, and everybody wants to go swimming at the lake. The only problem is that it’s fenced off because of water contamination.

Bad luck for the swimmers, but better luck for Mark (and maybe we readers), because it looks like another home-grown (i.e. non-paying) investigation is in order, as Mark returns to his roots to deal with a local environmental problem. The question, though, is Why?

Why, indeed? The fact that there is a fence and a sign means the authorities know about. What’s Mark going to do? He’s a reporter, not a bacteriologist. In the real world, he’d make a couple of phone calls, write up his findings, and that would be that. Perhaps if there was an actual newspaper in the area, Mark would publish there. But this is Mark’s World. Clearly, there will be something nefarious afoot.

No awards (again) from the Norman Rockwell School of Illustration this week. And we must bide our time until Monday, with today’s nature lesson. Get your notebooks out!

The following Sunday falls on July 6th, so Rivera got her “July 4th”strip out today. We have a fairly orderly, if sometimes corny, set of panels. The customized title panel reminds me of one of those late-night infomercials where you can buy the “Collector’s Edition American Bald Eagle” statue for only two easy payments of $39.99, plus s/h.

The eagle drawings are, indeed, well done. As I’ve mentioned several times before, Rivera uses stock images, such as this photo. Close comparison shows that she free-handed much of it, rather than just performing simple copy-and-pastes. Speaking of using visual rfeferences, when John James Audobon made his detailed bird drawings, he had to shoot the birds in order to have the time and opportunity to pose and draw them. This was a common practice back then.

(click photo to see enlarged image)

The main complaint I have—and one that you’ve seen me make before—is Rivera’s insistence on sticking Mark in as many Sunday panels as possible and over-indulging in poor jokes and puns. Not sure why she thinks this is good, nor who she is aiming this at. It surely isn’t younger people. Maybe it’s directed at the kind of people who buy American Bald Eagle statues for two easy payments.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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Okay, this is another week in review for the slackers, or for people who just forget things too quickly.

Mark learned a valuable lesson this week in journalism: Don’t tell your boss what you are going to do before you do it. While waiting for his plane ride home, Mark presented his idea for an A-I Event Exposé to his boss, Bill Ellis, on the phone. Ellis, taking on the role of a corporate PR suit, nearly dropped a load when he heard Mark’s idea, which included being specific about the persons involved. “NO NAMES! DON’T PRINT ANY NAMES!” Ellis squealed as he worried over lawsuits, which Ellis believes is the second most favorite habit of Silicon Valley moguls. Not only did Ellis nix publishing Mark’s article and robbing him of a paycheck, he told Mark to put it on his own blog, but still keep the names out of it. It looked like Mark happily accepted the rebuke and the need to self-censor, almost bragging about it!

For shame, Mark! This is not the fiery, cross-the-line, rabble-rousing, rock ‘em-sock ‘em nature journalist that we thought we knew. Conspiracy Alert: Who is this obvious fraud? Was the real Mark Trail replaced by some kind of A-I programmed robot? Perhaps we’ll all find out tomorrow after Mark has had his first night back at home with Cherry. Until then, let’s read his Sunday nature chat:

Jules Rivera’s Mark Trail Sunday strip always features a customized title panel. Most of the time, the depiction of the strip’s title is cleverly fashioned through some thematic tie-in. But it’s not always possible. I think this is one of those days, where the title is just a rough, water-based solution.

Anyway, today is at least an informative Sunday strip bringing out some facts on a subject many of us probably don’t think or know about. And that’s the point, right? However, I still dislike two things that are not unique to today’s strip: First, the inclusion of Mark’s image throughout the panels. This was not always the case on the Sunday strips in the pre-Rivera past. I don’t know why Rivera feels the need to panel-bomb Mark’s face so often. Second, Rivera has a habit of ending Sunday strips with a lame joke or cute reference. I’d rather see the final panel devote more information to the current topic.

For example: The barking tree frogs often group in temporary “choral groups” of up to 20-25 in the water to enhance their ability to attract females to mate with. However, the competition to thrive takes a toll on the males, who have to take breaks away from the group after becoming too weak. This gives them time to restore their strength and return. That’s probably necessary because they will mate with multiple females, whereas the females only mate once a season. But an equally interesting question is “How do biologists figure all of this out!?“

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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This week focused on the aftermath of the revelation of a free A-I App undercutting the fundraising purpose the Crypto Bro’s A-I Awards Night Dinner. Investors spent the time throwing objects, yelling, and running around in circles (or perhaps figure-8s). Why? I’m not sure, since the A-I is presented at a very abstract level, like some monolithic entity. It’s the digital boogey-man.

Mark and Kelly Welly watched the chaos unfolding from their table. Mark, inwardly smiling at the event’s collapse, suggested they quickly leave the room. But Kelly took the opportunity to stand up for her sex and trip on the floor, thus exposing her to the footfalls of the panicky investors still running mindlessly around the room. Kelly was surprised to see Mark stop and rescue her from catastrophe and was nonplussed enough to actually question Mark on this point. As he gave his usual “It’s what I do” answer, Kelly laughed at him for his naiveté and ran off, leaving Mark behind. Mark bravely waves it off. Now, why would Jules Rivera play up Kelly as a woman trying to become tough and independent, only to turn her into some kind of 1950s vulnerable and helpless movie gal who trips at the slightest sign of trouble, requiring a strong male hero to rescue her from certain doom? And after she is rescued, she becomes snippy and self-centered, then runs off. Am I misinterpreting anything here?

For today, Jules Rivera gives us a wildlife present for Father’s Day. Even more than usual, Mark needs to impart his own snarky comments, distracting as they are. Personally, I’d prefer he spent more time with his family instead of mugging in almost every panel. In fact, it would be just fine to limit Mark’s personal appearances to one panel at the start and one at the end.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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What a week this was for Lost Forest race fans! The Grungey Boys Nighttime Lawn Mower Race was once again in progress. Hidden behind some bushes, Rusty, Olive, and family muscle, Dirk, were on hand to view the action. But they did not come as fans. This was the night Rusty would put an end to the destructive actions of the Grungey Boys in Lost Forest! You might say it was a race against slime. Or you might not. Just make up your mind.

Why it’s called a race is unclear, since there was always just one riding lawn mower, always ridden by Honest Ernest. And just how fast does a riding lawn mower go, anyway:  8 mph!? Woo! Do you get the impression that artist Jules Rivera may not be taking this adventure strip—or its readers—seriously?

Still, the race had to be stopped! Being a family strip, rest assured that nobody got hurt, unlike in the old Mark Trail days before Rivera took over. Back then, people really did get hurt and some died. They had a different notion of “family viewing.”

Anyway, Rusty came with a large barrel of water. When the time was right, the three tipped the barrel, pouring the water down the slope. Even though much of the water had to have gotten soaked up by the ground on the way down, apparently enough made it onto the forest floor where Ernest was racing. At first, the water just splashed as Ernest zipped along at 8 mph. But thanks to the scientific process of combining water, silt, and clay particles, the forest floor become saturated and squishy, creating mud. And that’s all it took to stop the races. Really! Honest Ernest and his friends were stymied by the mud and couldn’t figure out what to do. Not real sharp tools, those guys. We ended the week and this “Nickelodeon“-level adventure with Rusty celebrating the scientific success of his cause-and-effect plan. Keep in mind that, in the past, most of Rusty’s plans did not work out, so it’s noteworthy that this one did. But it was a low bar.

Up here in the big city, feral hogs chase away the rabbits and raccoons that keep eating up our garden…so they can eat it up, instead. Okay. Not really. But unless that is feral hog scat spelling Mark Trail in panel 1, it is not one of Rivera’s more creative custom titles. Had to be a tough challenge, though.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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In case you missed some or most of the past week, I’m here to catch you up. Such is my mandate for Sundays.

Mark managed to get an invite from Kelly Welly to Cricket Bro’s phony AI awards event to drum up donor participation, even though we missed the details of how Mark managed the invite, given Kelly’s rival nature. It would have been fun to see, and I can only imagine what transpired. Wait: This is a family strip, right? Then I have no idea. For some reason, Jules Rivera kept those details sub rosa. That should have been worth an entire week of strips!

Throughout the week, Mark was cynical and snarky. Kelly fumed and tried to shush Mark.

As Cricket Bro gave Sid Stump his “surprise” award for Best in Show, a donor guest stood up and blurted out somebody texted that another company was giving away a free AI platform. Bro and Stump froze like proverbial deer in headlights, because this unexpected announcement undercut their scam for donor contributions. They couldn’t stop everybody from leaving with their money intact and no doubt downloading the free AI on the way home. Mark laughed and Kelly Welly—in one of her better performances—started tearing out her hair in shock and frustration. That was on Saturday, and worth your time to view.

Mark gave out with one of his glib snarks, which should mark the end of this adventure. One thing is for sure: We learned next to nothing about AI and the environment.

First of all, the “Crickets are land shrimp” statement is an in-joke. This phrase originated in Jules Rivera’s lead-up to her second Mark Trail adventure (“LA Confidential”), when Mark told Rusty that Crickets were Land Shrimp (March 2021). In the story, Mark’s comment was put in a “BikBok” post by Rusty, which gave Mark 15 minutes of notoriety and an assignment in Palm Springs. Since then, “crickets are land shrimp” has become something of an in-strip meme.

Second point: I’m not a biologist. I did not do well in my college bio class, either, especially when I had to dissect a frog and discovered it was the brother of my pet frog, Oscar. Taxonomy is more complex than before, and still debated. The old Linnaean taxonomy tree has been recut and remade so many times, it makes Japanese bonsai trees look drab. Don’t take my word for this. Look it up!

Shrimp and crickets are certainly both crustaceans, and from what I’ve read, are considered more related to each other than earlier thought, but not siblings. That is, they have common ancestry, but exist in different taxonomic groups. Still, for poetic license, why not?

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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Have we learned anything substantive about AI and the environment in this story? Not much, but like many of Mark’s adventures, environmental education takes second place to the story.

After Mark’s participation in a stacked panel discussion on the merits of AI and the environment, Mark placed a short catchup call with Cherry. Outside of a local Manhattan coffee shop, Mark introduced himself to a woman named Vera, who offered him her unwanted Cricket Protein bar (Don’t get ahead of me!). In any other story, this could have been the opening shot of a seduction attempt. But not in this strip! Turns out Vera is the “handler” for Simon Stump, as in keeping him in line.

It didn’t take much to get Vera to start dissing the “tech gurus” for their shallowness and greed. She didn’t mind dishing the dirt on Simon. Vera might be clearheaded and organized, but probably not the person to hire for a position dealing with confidential information.

As Mark and Vera sat around chatting, she told Mark about an upcoming awards ceremony, which was really a vanity showcase and fundraising event. Thinking that there might be a story to be found there, Mark asked how to get in. Vera suggested hitting up Kelly Welly. This left Mark conflicted, given their rivalry and her position on Cricket Bro’s staff. Of course, this will not likely stop Mark from asking. And that’s the week!

An interesting topic, with a not-so-interesting finale. Is Mark is hinting at some kind of shark pup song in the last panel? In fact, there is a well-known (to parents and toddlers), if repetitive ditty unsurprisingly called “Baby Shark”. I’ll leave it to you to look up.

Oh, here are some other interesting facts about mommy sharks and baby sharks: Some mommy sharks have gestation periods over a year, such as Dogfish sharks (2 yrs) and Frilled sharks (3 yrs). Blue sharks and Whale sharks can give birth to more than 100 live pups at a time. Many sharks only birth a few at a time.  Sand Tiger sharks hatch the eggs of their pups while still inside their uterus. For nourishment, the hatchling pups feast on any unfertilized eggs as well as not-yet-hatched fertilized eggs! So, sleeping in late can have fatal consequences!

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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You say you didn’t get to the strips this past week but want to catch up by spending your Sunday reading about them? Well, sit back, because I’m your huckleberry!

In the fast-paced world of Mark Trail, we have occasion to find solace in the bucolic, casual pace of life in Lost Forest. As has been the habit in Mark Trail stories for decades, as Mark’s adventure (in New York City, the own that never sleeps) came to an end, we immediately jumped back to Lost Forest (the town that never wakes up). The loose storyline of Rusty and Cherry’s sister, Olive Pitt, getting involved in stopping the hijinks of the Grungey Boys latest outrage continued. They have been holding riding lawnmower races in the woods. Rusty is upset at the possible damage to the forest and wildlife.

Because Cherry was heavily involved in overseeing the installation of a new water heater (as if this should take days!), she had no time to fix a proper dinner. So she whipped up some “pizza bites.” At the dinner table, Rusty was preoccupied with how to stop the Grungey Boys, but Mother Cherry tried to redirect his attention to “kids activities.” Typical mom.

Later that night a rainfall turned the ground muddy and gave Rusty an idea. Rusty brought up the idea of mud with Aunt Olive the following morning. So, what is this muddy plan to stop the Grungey Boys’ races? Alas, we may have to wait a fortnight to find out, in case we jump right back to Mark for a few weeks. Well, don’t look at me: This is Mark’s strip!

As usual, Rivera created a customized title panel that works pretty well this week. On the other hand, the content is nice, but simple. I don’t know why the duck in panel 4 has a heavy outline. Is it to reinforce the spatial separation from the mother duck and chicks in the background? Well, it makes the male duck look flat.

I’m not sure if it is worth noting, but the colorful plumage of wood ducks is limited to the males, as it is for many other bird species. That’s for mating purposes, of course. It’s curious that we humans turned that around and made women the traditional “attracting” gender. Although the wood duck population has increased over recent years, it is the second most hunted duck species, after mallards.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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Fingers are crossed that yesterday was the performative end of the Mark Trail and the AI conference story. I named it “AI, AI, Oh!” (a terrible pun, itself!), which you can see at the bottom of each post. Heck, maybe I should start naming these stories using the format “Mark Trail and the ###” the way old adventure stories were often titled. That would give it a bit of the old tradition, which Trailheads like, right? Yeah, it won’t change the strip, itself. But have you seen the Vintage Mark Trail strips on Comics Kingdom, featuring Ed Dodd’s work in the 1970s? Hoo-boy.  At least we can all agree that the characters look like normal people and the scenery doesn’t look like it came from a high school play.

This past week saw the highlight (such as it was) and conclusion of this “Going Green with AI” panel talk, where very little substance was actually imparted to a pro-AI audience. As with the prior week, the content focused primarily on Cricket Bro and Crypto Bro throwing out snarky comments at Mark. To his credit, Mark did try to counter with a few focused comments on AI and the environment, but artist Jules Rivera seemed more interested in a Jerry Springer-style show.

In the end, there just wasn’t much substance, which was a lost opportunity for education. I guess Mark’s nature teaching is still relegated to Sundays. Like right now.

Okay. Bobcats are all over the Lower 48. They eat small animals. Everybody should build a barn for their pets, along with a fence. Got it. Another good thing to know: They don’t normally attack humans, unless they feel threatened (which seems to be the standard criterion of most wild animals).

Nevertheless, trying to pick up a cute, young bobcat (and they are cute) is liable to result in serious harm to the human foolish enough to try it. One reason is that a mother bobcat can cause serious damage. And they can carry rabies. We’ve already seen enough examples of reckless human behavior occurring in national parks with tourists who think Yogi Bear is real or that the bison are just big, laid back fur coats with legs. They are called wild animals for a reason, as all Trailhead readers know.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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The Main Event began this week, with Kelly Welly “moderating” the panel consisting of just three people: Cricket Bro, his brother Jadsen (aka Crypto Bro), and Mark. Kelly announced that the topic of discussion is “Going Green With AI”, which is about all of the moderating Kelly did for the week, other than to slam Mark a bit in her introduction. I suppose she’s entitled.

Cricket Bro spoke first, denying any value to going green and thus, undercutting the “green” vendors that Mark interviewed , as well as the point of the convention. Naturally, Mark jumped in for the defense, and the rest of the week was just a back-and-forth contest between two hard positions.

While Cricket Bro and Crypto Bro kept dumping on Mark, Mark kept trying to calm the situation and talk rationally. A few catcalls from the audience suggested that they might be a bit biased against Mark. Mark kept his composure and decided to try a gambit and take one of the insults and affirm it. This silenced the audience, which is where we ended the week. How will Mark turn this attack on its head? Post your suggestions, if you’re brave enough to withstand ridicule if you’re wrong. Otherwise, cower in silence until we return to this chat.

Alert! In case you have not been on the Comics Kingdom site for a while, they have begun restoring the Vintage Mark Trail strips. This should especially please Mark the Contrarian Commenter. I haven’t had time to see how far back they go, but they are currently running strips from 1974. If you do a regular “Mark Trail” search, you will find links to both strips. Have fun!

I reckon I’ve fallen behind in my Star Wars Universe viewing, but I don’t recall a Hellbender in it. Do you? I did find references to salamanders, in general. Perhaps that explains the faux “Star Wars” style Mark Trail title panel and Mark’s Jedi clothing. I happily await further edification from any of you! Well, May the 4th be with you!