I’m not sure what is more cringeworthy: Mark with his nose bent out of shape as he stands on his moral high ground sputtering on about steroids, or Rivera with her attempt to reach Millennials and Gen Z’ers by involving this hipster who apparently works for Cricket Bro’s organization and talks the talk.
Anyway, I’m surprised Mark accepted her gift. I’d have thought Mark would eat crickets in their normal state, not pulverized into an energy bar.
The storyline still isn’t going anywhere. Is Mark going to get dragged back into Cricket Bro’s business? Or will Kelly Welly show up in the next few minutes to commit Mark to some other foolish action?
Clearly, it seems more and more that Rivera is drawing the wrong strip. She is so fascinated with the “comic” element of comic strips that she can hardly resist the daily gag format, which would be fine in a comic strip that is supposed to be comical; not when it is unintentionally comical, like when Mark’s smartphone changes size from panel 2 to panel 4. Or with Cherry apparently talking to the squirrel. Or when the cabin keeps changing dimensions and adding new features never before seen, like the balcony in panel 1. Where did that come from? Is there a new second floor? And finally, we get the common Rivera pun in panel 4. If Rivera is going to keep doing this Pearls Before Swine pun gimmick, there needs to be somebody in panel 4 waving a club in Mark’s direction.
In any event, we seem to be in the usual week-long, post-story autopsy that follows on the end of an adventure (and I use that term loosely). Since Mark was on an official assignment, we should expect Mark to check in with Bill Ellis before this week ends.
Perish forbid that you would think like I do, but I hope we’d agree that Rivera has dropped the ball on one of her more interesting contributions to the Mark Trail reboot: The magazine empire that Bill Ellis now works for, with a variety of different magazines having different editors. They provided the assignments for Mark, rather than just Bill. The diversity of magazines with different reader interests should have made for some interesting assignments. Rivera tried this for a few years, but seems to have dropped it. Now we’re back to Bill Ellis handing out assignments <yawn!>. I’d like to be wrong on that.
There is—or was—actually a place called the Green Room Café in Midtown East, Manhattan, but data says it is permanently closed. There are several other places in the City that have “Green Room” as part of their name, but I’m not sure if they are connected with each other. If anybody can clear this up, feel free to share that information in a comment.
Wait! The caption in panel 1 says that Mark is inside the Green Room Café. If that is the case, then is all of that greenery just a wall mural?
Yet, Mark is desperate for the outdoors. He finished his roundtable talk and should be free to fly home. Why isn’t he?
We get to watch Mark manually dislocate his head in panel 1. And I’m struck by the irony of his plea in panel 2. Mark moans over concrete, but the building behind him is brick. And there seems to be a good bit of greenery right beside where he is standing, with a big (gray?) squirrel checking him out. Unless that is just a mural, as I noted above.
As for asking Cherry to turn her phone camera around? Is Mark really interested in trees now or whether any water heater dudes are just hanging around? I suspect that this phone call is just an excuse to check up on Cherry to see if she is still deeply involved with the water heater project.
<AAGH! I must resist having these disreputable thoughts. That’s what comes from staying up too late.> In any event, we are glad to see that Cherry knows how to get her snark on, as she gently needles Mark. That’s a pun, folks. Get it? Pine Tree, pine needles, needle. HAH! Rivera missed that one!
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.
Ah, another one of Rivera’s “To be continued” signs in panel 4. You might normally think this signals a break in the continuity. The standard Mark Trail Mix is one week for the Second String (Cherry, Rusty, or Doc) and then at least two weeks for Mark. The times I recall her using this sign, the same storyline continued the following Monday. But this is a secondary storyline, so maybe we’ll see Mark on Monday.
As for this current storyline, at least we have some movement. Since both Olive and Rusty have backpacks on, it seems likely they are going on another forest walkabout, which fits in with Rusty’s plan.
If we switch back to Mark, we’ll also have a week of Mark and Cherry hiking around the forest or yakking before he gets involved in another assignment or story. Hey, maybe Mark will get involved in Rusty’s scheme, just like he did with the Grungey Boy’s first appearance (“Thanks-alotl for the E-Waste”).
Okay, maybe I was too optimistic when I saw that “The Forest needs a hero!” oath roaring out of Rusty’s mouth a few days ago. Alas, Rusty is not Robin, the Boy Wonder or Bilbo Baggins; just an 11 year-old kid with a vivid imagination and a developing sense of right and wrong. It’s not a bad combination to have. But he doesn’t have the experience or maturity to know what to do with it. It’s not a fault. He’s trying.
But I don’t think we can look forward to Rusty creating clever traps in the forest like Macaulay Culkin did in Home Alone, playing the incredibly inventive kid, Kevin, who could put together funny traps and pratfalls faster than Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland could assemble a fully decked out stage show from items found in a barn. Over the weekend.
One question on somebody’s mind out there is likely to be “Will the Grungey boys act even stupider than Rusty thinks, and try to hold their lawnmower races on wet, sloppy ground?” My response would be “Have you ever seen a demolition derby?”
Extra: Have you been “following” or “enduring” the on-again, off-again, on-again adventure strip “Mara Llave: Keeper of Time“? Well, seems like Mara ran out of time, as the strip has disappeared from the Comics Kingdom web site, after 3 years of erratic submissions, dropped storylines, and ever-changing art styles. Too bad, as the premise was interesting, though a clear offshoot of Dr. Who.
Alas, Rusty’s fighting spirit has already begun to wither. So sad. But not to worry. Mother Cherry steps in to soothe Rusty’s despair with her patronizing remarks and foolish fibs, like Parson Weems’ made up morality stories about George Washington.
Maybe if Rusty eats some more pizza bites…? Naw, he doesn’t need more pizzas, he needs more pizazz!
This is another “one of those days” when you have to wonder who is drawing the strip. Rivera’s style is already pretty stylized and expressionistic. However, what we see here is a different order, a different style in some respects.
Even some of our popular critics will have to admit the drawings of Cherry look like somebody trying to draw like Jules Rivera and not pulling it off. Each attempt at Cherry is more garish than the previous one. About the only thing that comes off looking normal is Rusty in panels 3 and 4. However, I don’t think we’ve seen such a highly motivated, aggressive Rusty before.
Rusty may sound like a cheap action movie trailer in panel 4, but I’m okay with that, if he can deliver the goods. So far, he hasn’t shown much ability in that department, but I’m going to give him the benefit of a doubt. Maybe Rusty has found his calling and will try to do what the hapless and hopeless Ranger Shaw cannot do.
OOPS! I found this blog for 5/13/25 in my draft folder. Not sure how it got there; I was sure I published it. So much for being sure.
Cherry’s been busy with the water heater drama? Doing what!? Unlike the “Snarkey Boys” (the commenters) over on CK, I’ll resist the obvious double-entendres. Yet the question remains. Duke has his own crew there, and unless she is fixing meals and running to the hardware store for parts, I don’t get it. Maybe she is one of those home owners who feel they need to supervise the hired help to ensure they don’t steal the family silver or take 3-hour lunches on the clock.
Do you suppose the yellow stuff on those bites is meant to be cheese? Hmm. That might help explain why we don’t see Doc Davis around the dinner table very often. Well, I’m hoping that this story gets off the dinner table real soon and back on the road!
Art Dept. Once again, Rivera employs a “Here’s looking at you, Trailheads!” posed animal. Readers have long argued over the purpose of these staged poses: Is the animal surprised by us “intruding” into its comfort zone? Is the animal somehow communicating a cynical comment about the strip or about us readers? Or is it possible that Rivera is just messing with us for no particular reason? I see a college paper in the works here.
Good news: Goodbye, Manhattan and Hello, Lost Forest! We can turn our attention back to the matter of … uh, exactly what was going on, again back home? Hmm, I think it had something to do with Rusty and Olive Pitt running into the Grungey Boys playing with a riding lawnmower some place in the woods of Lost Forest. And Honest Ernest was threatening them. Yes, and the always-usefulRanger Shaw was unable to do anything about it, due to some possibly made-up rule about jurisdiction. Shaw had previously confessed to Mark about his indirect abetting of the Grungey Boys’ prior activity, destroying electronic equipment left behind to litter the forest.
Anyway, lots of inaction today as Rivera seems intent on pacing this non-story to match the tempo of Ravel’s Bolero. If nothing else, it provides another piece of the homespun hominess that Rivera likes to put in to give more family context to the strip.
I reckon everybody there who goes outside to play or just walk around must carry a backpack (as we see Mark and Cherry do), possibly filled with emergency supplies, in case of a natural disaster or accident. Hmmm, not a bad idea, come to think of it, if you live in a forest.
Art Dept. The Trails must continually rebuild their cabin, as it looks different every time it is depicted. In most cases, it is always too small. But maybe this is a new meme: The transforming Trail Cabin! Otherwise, we’re back to the familiar 2D set designs that pass for nature (including the robin). And the people. Oh, yeah, I’ve written about the human form in Mark Trail before, so I won’t go into for now.
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.
Let’s recall the point of this story: Mark was assigned to attend an AI conference at the request of Cricket Bro, so he could present a counterargument to AI being compatible with the environment. Fine. However, the actual panel discussion was held only within the last two weeks of the story, where there were few, if any, actual points of discussion. So if readers were looking for good information or arguments on AI and the environment, then as the Dread Pirate Roberts once said, “get used to disappointment.”
Still, there were a few things missing: Where were the usual questions from the audience? And whatever happened to Sid Stump? Was he just making a cameo appearance? And what does Rivera’s dreadful pun even mean?
Art Dept. Presenting anonymous figures in a crowd can be done in several ways. Rivera normally creates background figures even more sketchy that the main characters often appear (e.g. panel 4), usually in a purple tint (see the May 8th strip). In panel 1, the anonymous crowd is in the foreground, presenting a new challenge. Their flat, outlined shapes are over-accentuated by their black outlines, making them look like cardboard cutouts. I think a better effect would have been to omit the outlining completely, so they would draw less attention to themselves by blending together in more of an amorphous mass.
But you might ask, “What about the crowd shot in panel 4 of the May 3rd strip? It shows actual human figures from the rear, still in purple.” Well, you might not have asked, so I took the trouble of asking for you. Thank you. I think it might be an issue of scale and view. That May 3rd panel is fairly tight and close, so we only see one row of viewers.
So, Rivera crams a bunch of viewpoints into one day for a panel discussion that was spread over two weeks. Did we learn much of anything about Going Green with AI? Did we learn much of anything about AI? Or Green? Granted, this is a comic strip, a nature adventure strip, even. Still, part of this strip’s calling card has been its self-imposed mandate to promote environmental education, respect for wildlife, and appreciation of nature . . . within the limits of its storylines.
I didn’t see much of any of that here. We didn’t even see an actual example of AI Going Green! Now, I don’t think this was all that different in pre-Rivera days, though the strip then did focus more on local stories about nature and animals, so the connections were more obvious. Not so much here, which is why a bit of “show-and-tell”, with some numbers and data, would have helped. By all means, keep the goofiness, but don’t ignore the serious stuff.
But that wasn’t really the point, was it? Most of the panel discussion was mere snark, and another opportunity for Rivera to parody technology. Finally, poor Mark looks like a hapless dude hoping the audience doesn’t start throwing things at him.
Well, that’s a non-answer, Mark (panel 2). And the wrong approach. It makes you look insincere and smug. Crypto Bro’s rhetorical trap allowed him to play up his brotherly love act at Mark’s expense. The panel discussion again veered off-topic, although moderator Kelly Welly kept silent.
But should we? Jules Rivera has so far turned this panel discussion into a “Gotcha!” circus, which is disappointing. But Mark Trail is a nature/environmental strip and it would be great to see some serious issues and questions out of this meeting. Otherwise, what difference does the format of the strip make if the content continues to focus on irrelevant carping, jokes, and petty actions? Mark has two days left this week to do something valuable. Will Rivera gives him the chance?
Well, Darth Welly finally steps in to provide some direction for this discussion. Of course, Cricket Bro has to promote an over-engineered, irrelevant app which Mark easily dispatches. If that is Cricket Bro’s best, he should quit while he is behind. Maybe let those younger entrepreneurs take the stage with their better thought-out projects. Will Rivera even take this step?
The term “dad energy” is roughly defined (online) as a man strongly exhibiting “fatherly” traits normally related to home and family, while gladly letting other people know about it. A bit of bragging, in short. That might fit the bill here, as Cricket Bro is clearly not happy to be showed up by Mark’s response.
In at least one source I read, wearingplaid shirts was listed as a stereotypical meme of Dad Energy. There’s more to this concept, but feel free to do your own research. I don’t have time as I’ve got to do some car work that only a manly father can do.
Alas, Rivera downplayed a reasonable discussion and replaced it with a kind of low-rent, “reality show” battle between speakers and a reactive audience like that seen on TV shows such as Jerry Springer or Maury.
Sure, this is a comic strip, albeit a nature-based adventure strip. Still, is there no room for nuance? Where is the adventure? And I wonder: is Rivera doing this deliberately as a metaphor for our perceived lack of political and social engagement by the general public? Or possibly a critique of the hardline positions of the Left and Right? Or maybe Rivera just likes Jerry Springer and thinks it makes a good format for this panel discussion.
Still, within the confines of the story, itself, do you think that Cricket Bro would go to all this trouble just to try and humiliate Mark in public? Is his ego that fragile that he feels the need to flex his fake muscles and try to make Mark look like a weak technophobe, a neo-luddite?
Are we glad to see that Rivera took the trouble to make sure we all grasped Mark’s rhetorical “Gotcha!” question in panel 4?
Or is she hinting that this is just the first volley of a week-long battle of the trolls? If Rivera lets Mark remain true to his nature, he will attempt to make his argument, instead of trading snarky comments with everybody all week long.
Of course, the audience could get involved and try to hound him off the stage, as it would be naïve to think that Rivera would not be making comparisons with our own contemporary politically-biased social and culture wars. I think it would be interesting to see how Rivera would handle Mark actually coming out on the wrong end of this panel discussion and getting humiliated, however unjustified. It would be a good opportunity to explore the depth of Mark’s character and his integrity.
Art Dept. As is all too common, with few exceptions, Rivera plays fast and loose with drawing, especially human anatomy. But contemporary standards in comics suggest that Rivera is not alone, that traditional views on space, proportion, and forms are not always necessary. This dismissal of conventional representation is nothing new, in fact, but has shown up in the arts several times.
There are several examples in Western art that immediately come to mind: The so-called “Mannerist” period (1500s) that developed during the time of the High Renaissance in Italy is one of the first. The painting on the right is popularly called “Madonna with the long neck”, to emphasize how the painter has deliberately distorted the normal classical proportions of the figures and the space for artistic, not religious, reasons. To modern eyes not used to the conventions of the time, this may not appear very revolutionary today. Even Impressionism, once scorned as profane and ugly, look fairly tame these days. Non-Western arts also went through revolutionary periods, but I don’t have the time or space to get into them here.
Madonna and Child by Parmigianino, 1535-40.
Now, there are those who make distinctions between “real” Art with a capital A and comic art. While there are differences, they are still similar in many ways. They are both mostly based on having a patron buy the work. Both are meant to communicate something to the viewer. Both can have embedded symbolism or meaning. Both can also be made and enjoyed for their own visual appeal.
Nevertheless, that is one ugly-looking body on Crypto Bro in panel 2!
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!
Sure, it looks like Mark is setting himself up for failure. Or, perhaps not. Mark is likely to try and turn the tables on that assumption by suggesting how AI tech can actually be good for birds—as well as the environment—if carried out wisely. In that way, Mark cuts the rhetorical legs out from under the Tech Bros.
Will Kelly Welly step in at this point and attempt to shut down Mark in favor of Cricket and Crypto?
Mark can’t catch a break, no matter how sincerely his comments are delivered. This is less like a panel discussion and more like an ambush attack you can see on social media platforms, such as X. Still, Mark has plenty to dislike or hate regarding these two troublemakers. They went so far as to try and topple a boulder on top of Mark while he was fighting Sid Stump (May 16, 2023, “Bear Necessity”).
Regular readers know those guys cause nothing but trouble for Mark. In real life, Mark would have had them arrested or just stayed away. But comic adventure heroes (e.g. Batman, Dudley Do-Right, Popeye) often keep a stable of familiar villains around because the artist doesn’t have to spend extra time defining the amorality of new bad guys. And it’s like sports rivalries, where the fans of each team want to see the other team repeatedly humiliated.
Art Dept. Drawing a “bird’s eye” panoramic view can make good sense in a situation like this, to capture the ambiance of the event. However, it seems overblown when the scene only highlights one of Rivera’s sarcastic comments and the exclamation of one audience member or squirrel. Perhaps this is another example of Rivera riffing on the once-common habit of prior artists—such as Jack Elrod—to draw dialog balloons that pointed ambiguously to one or more people, animals, or objects.
The Daily Trail 