Well, Mark, you haven’t lost your touch, have you??  Just get them talking, and they will confess to everything and ultimately see the error of their ways…  You even have Justin using the word ‘could’ve…’  Which by the way, dear readers, is a contraction- a subtle but meaningful difference between the Elrod/Dodd Era and the James Allen Era… which is not even a year out of the blocks but has brought change the likes of which is nothing less than shattering…  OK, maybe not shattering, but I have to go for something here in the midst of all this flat and stultifying dialogue.

From what beginning?  Did you adopt him and raise him as your ward?  Hire him out of some fancy East Coast MBA program?  Whose money did he use to buy the property?  C’mon, Holland, pull yourself together.  You are still in charge here, aren’t you??

…because that’s helpful…  easy for you to start suggesting to Holland that he consider the whole project to be a sunk cost…  a bad decision…  Don’t keep throwing money at it, cut your losses and move on!  Except that it may not BE a BAD DECISION…

And Mark, maybe you should just butt the hell out of this situation, since you have no standing here…  unless of course you consider all the earth your cause and you are free to go and meddle wherever you want…  Of course that’s the case…  This all reminds me of the movie “Mr. Deeds.”  One of the only Adam Sandler Vehicles I found worth watching…  Where he tries to thwart the takeover of the company rightfully his (only to have it not turn out that way) but to change the hearts of all the greedy robber barons at the shareholder meeting…  We never get to see how the company turns out- whether or not it continues to prosper, thrive and create positive shareholder returns.  It’s enough that we turned stone hearts back into a living, feeling, pumping organs…

So as the Fiddler Crabs do their little courtship mambo, and with the moon risen full, Mark will continue to wear down the industrialist…  how many more days can Justin take until he cracks- his conversion complete- and turns to the good side?  And where are the dudes in the shark boat with their what- explosives?  We’ll have to wait and see…

I hate to admit it, but this strip actually makes me think once in a while…  no, not thinking of ways to makes fun of the characters, the stilted dialogue and clumsy plot lines- that’s like shooting fish in a barrel… (oops, can I still say that in this day and age??)  But rather thinking about the tenuous relationship between industry and nature…  Titanium Dioxide- it makes white paper white, white paint glisten in the sun, goes into many things we never give a second thought to in our modern age.  Think about times past, when things weren’t as white- parchment made of skins, for example. Of course we learn as we go, removing Lead from our gasoline and our paints in the mid to late 70’s, knowing that it wasn’t good for us… Until the market stops calling for things to be white, we will have the demand for TiO₂…  and the fact that it’s not hard to find stories about companies that run from their liabilities, this whole story line takes on a prescient quality…

But enough with the sanctimonious prattle…  Better get the Danforth down, Mark, you are about run aground…

Compared to Excellent, Flawless, Beyond Compare, an Environmentalist’s Dream?? Saying that a company has a “pretty good” track record suggests that there are holes in the cheese, times when things weren’t all that good…

And look at the scowl on Justin’s face in panel two…  that’s the look of someone who is peeved for any number of reasons: (1) He’s tired of having to defend himself and his company when all he’s trying to do is sustain his enterprise and the jobs it creates (2) Mitchum was right, this was all a ruse to get him onto the boat only to have Mark Trail try to convince him that he’s on the wrong path, that raping Mother of her Resources is always wrong or (3)  He’s tired of being the shortest guy in the room, and well, dammit, he’s not going take it anymore…

And Mark, don’t kid yourself.  These protestors are not “local people.”  They are paid activists brought in from other area codes, people who are down with the enviro-struggle, and have no better prospects than to camp out and waive placards and signs around…

Vacation for Cherry Trail:  She gets to cook in a small, cramped galley on board an 80-footer while Mark does whatever it is that Mark does…  although, pictures of Mark cooking would simply destroy the ethos, or is it mythos, of the Trailverse, so I suppose I should just stop my whining…  As mark holds a steaming cup of coffee- with saucer… Justin offers up his bad side, and yes, ladies and gentlemen, he has one…  Sort of simian in nature, his lower face protrudes and, well, it’s a little bit disturbing…

Lovely sunset and purple sky.  Stilted and awful dialogue…  Enjoy yourselves, people, because trouble is on the way…

Having trouble fixing an age on this guy.  He wears a crew-cut like he’s from the 1950’s, but that would make him 80-something years old…  And what’s with that wistful look he gets every now and then?  He wears it while confessing his deepest convictions and feelings and reveals himself to be one who has not turned himself completely over to the dark side- one who is within a stone’s throw of redemption…

Funny thing about that fish- it already looks like it’s been mounted.  But then Mark does know a taxidermist named Marlin… But oh that’s right, he only pretended to be one while running a turtle egg poaching operation…  and is now cooling his heels in the pen…

Now cast in a whiter shade of pale, The Swan is doubling as a fishing boat…  Not its highest and best use, but every Mark Trail story has to include at least some familiar themes- Photography, Fishing, Environment Fanaticism…  There are probably some other ‘Pffft’ sounds, but I can’t think of any more right now…

Justin Holland sounds just like Rusty- “Mark,  I’ve hooked one … I’ve hooked one!”  Good for you, Corporate Titan.  Would you like a cookie?  And of course Mark can’t help dishing advice, even when it’s not requested…

But where’s Cherry?  No fishing for her?  Is she below-decks getting sloshed on wine coolers??  Why she puts up with this crap is beyond me…  it’s like she becomes invisible once Mark goes into “Journalist” mode…

Either Vince has super-sonic hearing, or Mitchum and his henchmen-for-hire did not do a very good job disguising their intentions…  and now Vince knows, and with an over-sized sense of duty, is bent on finding out more… foiling and spoiling their plot, even…

And you are correct, Vince.  A 50-foot shark boat with ‘BRUCE’ boldly emblazoned on the stern will not be very difficult to find…  sort of like Rod Bassy’s Van, thinking they would just melt into the scenery with Rusty bound and gagged in the cargo box…  but I digress…

I love it!  Just look at the bad guys!  Facial hair!  Male Pattern Baldness!  Two of the classic markers for no-good-nicks in the Trailverse!!

And he even uses the term “Eco-Terrorist…”  funny, though, how Mitchum completely avoids any of the necessary context as to why he wants the boat (and Holland) destroyed…  But then that’s probably a quirk of mine- needing to know why…  for these guys, the satisfaction may simply be in the blowing-up and the carnage…  probably tortured small animals growing up…

But oh, Mitchum…  Mitchum… you have crossed the line, haven’t you?  The act of contracting for murder (ordering and presumably paying for a hit) is as indictable as the act itself, and since you aren’t a peace officer, there is a high likelihood that this catches up to you and ends badly…

The story line can stall or move with such pace as to leave the reader scratching his head…  Now who are the people aboard the good ship Bruce??  Is that Mitchum on the left?  Difficult to tell…  And what pray-tell is “this sort of thing…??”  Sounds like we already up to no good.  And it sounds like the crew of the Bruce is up for “anything…”  nothing is too dangerous or dirty for them.

But what on Earth does Vince, his back-ordered Boat Part, his lack of a phone to call and see whether the part is in or not, and his flat-bottom boat in which he can only “punt around the Swamp” have to do with anything??  I Submit to you, dear reader, that Vince must feature in this storyline otherwise we wouldn’t have learned of his name- first and last…

Well, James Allen, touché… Here I thought it was Mitchum already out in the swamp scheming and causing trouble, but no… we have Mike and Vince, two seemingly unrelated characters.  And wonder of wonders- Vince is a person of color- and we aren’t even in Africa!!

Thanks, Mike, for the awesome hand gesture in panel two- not sure we would have known “front” from “back” without it…  Come to think of it, how many times have you asked a store clerk to “go check in back” to see if they are really out of the item you are looking for…  What with today’s perpetual inventory platforms that tick things down at point of sale and auto-magically reorder at a pre-determined point based on demand and time to manufacture and ship, it’s almost a lights-out procedure… but then this is a a random “Repair” shack on the edge of a swamp, so they probably still have to “check in the back…”

I know that boat in Panel two…  the platform off the bow, the barrels!  The shark jaws mounted on the front of the flying bridge!!  I can only guess that it’s Mitchum greeting the boat’s owner- Vince Wilkins… who will no doubt feature prominently in the unfolding drama as Mitchum tries to put a hurt on his boss…

But back to our Main Characters…  I repeat my assertion that Justin Holland got beat up a lot in school, only to become a titan of industry…  brains over brawn I guess…  I mean, look at how he has his shirt buttoned up to the top!  What, no hat with a big floppy brim?  Where’s your sense, man? That sun will pound your mercilessly…

…but everything I have been able to find on the internet suggests that there simply isn’t a lot of open water in the GDS… That, and we now know that the boat’s name is SWAN.  That’s breaking news…

I went back to check to see whether we had seen the stern before, but this turns out to be a new angle on things.  I wanted to make sure that Mark and Cherry hadn’t added that after taking “ownership” of the vessel.  Has kind of a graffiti quality to it…

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Mitchum is smoldering and scheming about a way to bring harm to the man who would dash his dreams on the muddy shoals of the Great Dismal Swamp…  Can you feel the tension?  I can’t…

Am I to understand, then, that Riverway chemical is a private concern?  With exactly two shareholders?  And that there exists a set of documents that would automatically transfer all ownership to the surviving shareholder upon demise of the other?  That’s a fairly precarious setup if ever I saw one…

But now we understand that Mitchum DOES have skin in the game and that he is not merely a toady in the grand scheme of things…  But it does suggest that Justin has the final word on any decision making that goes on, and therefore stands to quash the dreams of this Young Turk…

But who am I to criticize?  Swamp Murder appears to be somewhat On-Trend to Trend-forward, as this story in the NY Post would suggest…

See how fast that smile on Ol’ Mitch disappears once Justin Holland is out of the room…  He’s a phony, through and through…  as for the Stewardess, oh, I mean ‘Flight Attendant…’ I swear her face must hurt by the end of the day…  Not that she wasn’t pleasant or friendly, but her smile still haunts me 12 hours later…  Just huge and fake and all teeth and gums and everything…  She’s like most of them though, never figuring on having to do this thankless job for as long as she has, she’s staring down the tunnel toward a modest retirement with flying privileges but never any empty flights or seats to take advantage of them…  But I digress…

So, Mitch…  Is it really the company’s money you are worried about?  Do you have some of you own skin in this game??  Drink your coffee, bide your time, scheme your schemes.  Time to check in with your REAL boss…

There’s something not quite right about this whole setup.  Justin certainly cuts a wimpy profile, even as he shape-shifts in the second panel, and he seems almost intimidated by “Mitchum…”

“Just making sure we are on the same page…”  I understand that a person who has invested time and energy into a project doesn’t want to see it unplugged for any reason, but I get the sense that there are other forces at play here…  Promises made and that need to be kept otherwise Mitchum could find himself in a world of hurt…  I think there are bad guys behind the scenes that have something on “Ol’ Mitch” and would be very disappointed to find out that the Mine is being called into question…  Oh, the plot thickens!!

Five letters- R-E-L-A-X.  RELAX.

But look  how chipper Mitchum is when he points the map of the swamp and the result of the “land deal” he mastered…  Sorry to break it to you, kid, but this isn’t YOUR COMPANY.  Whatever labors you invest, whatever fruits result for harvest, everything belongs to the COMPANY.  Until your name is on the building, it’s entirely up to management and the capricious whims of the Board how and whether you will be rewarded…  unless you can scrounge the capital to buy the land and build the mining facility yourself, you have very little say in anything that goes on here, despite your enthusiasm and talent…

And good heavens…  look at how long Mitchum’s right arm is in panel one…  It’s almost unnatural…

Not that people should report to the boss’s office and stand at attention, but what exactly is ‘Mitchum’ communicating here??  “Yeah, I’ll come to your office, Justin, but I don’t have to show you any respect…”  Recall that he is just “back from vacation” and maybe hasn’t completely “returned?”

But faithful readers will recognize the Mitchum Archetype right away- we last saw him in the Senator Hudson Mason/ Johnny Walker combination- The person who would be in charge is being manipulated by a crafty underling…

But how comforting to have the phrase “a little fishing” thrown in…  and how funny for Mitchum to have already figured out Mark’s motivation- although not so surprising, since Mark is about as deep as a kiddy-pool and nearly as transparent…

…where comics have no sound, we sometimes wonder what these characters sound like, right??  For whatever reason I am assigning the voice of “Droopy Dog” to Mr. Holland, CEO of Riverway Chemical…  especially the last line in the second panel, “some local people…” really seems to fit, especially with the seemingly benign facial expressions being offered up…

Wow, Mark, you are really IN the Swamp??  Currently?  Why that’s extraordinary!  I happen to own it!  Do you have my permission?  Have you been scouted by one of my lackeys?  I plan to mine every last ounce of titanium from this pristine and somewhat virgin ecosystem because you know why?  All I care about is ME.  That’s right, not anyone else, not future generations, not any friggin’ turtles or alligators that might call the swamp home…  They mean NOTHING to ME!!   Muuuaaaaahhaahhaahhaaa!!!!