What’s with all the jibber-jabber?

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I think that once you have gotten your characters to form a common bond in your storyline, spending extra days reiterating that accomplishment starts diluting its value. That is the case here, where the characters fall to pointless chatter as the storyline bobs and goes nowhere, like their fishing boat. That is why I thought this story concluded a few weeks ago, in the hospital. Mission accomplished…Not!

So the nicely illustrated underwater scenes begin to look merely repetitive. I agree with commenter Mark that the panels dealing specifically with the boat and the river are artistically of better quality than the flat, simplistic panels of “the men.” Are they drawn by a different artist? It might seem so, but I disagree. Compare these current panels to some of Rivera’s earlier work, such as this panel from January 2021:

Rivera uses the same compositional devise of combining the top and underwater views, along with a close attention to detail. They are not exact matches, of course; but after three years, there will naturally be differences. Of course, I could be totally wrong and it could be that a ghost artist today has simply updated Rivera’s original take on water scenes. A few non-related observations here:

In her inaugural Mark Trail adventure (“Happy Trails“), Rivera already had Mark arguably breaking the law and fleeing from the cops, as was recently repeated (“Something Fishy“). Also, these days Rivera has all but abandoned her original and innovative “Doctor Doolittle” relationship between Mark and various animals (think also of Ralph the rat snake). I rather enjoyed that feature, and I’m sorry she moved away from it.

They’ll be toasting marshmallows over the fire tonight!

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I’m trying to be fair, readers. Really! But how can I resist such low-hanging fruit? While Jules Rivera won’t show us how bats were removed from Violet’s music hall, we do get to enjoy these heartwarming scenes of symbolic fishing and symbolic male bonding.

Would you say Rivera has done much fishing? In panel 1 good ol’ Cliff looks like he’s hauling in a big one, though his line is only slightly more taught than cooked pasta. But maybe they’re all just taking turns playing the boy-bonding pastime, “Mine is bigger than yours!”

I’m not exactly sure what the heck is going on in panel 2, either, as Cliff and Mark make a rookie’s mistake of holding their rods outside of the boat. What a great technique to teach the noobs!

As for panel 3, we have an impressive underwater scene. Maybe Rivera could move over to a comic strip version of the old TV show, Sea Hunt.

But did you teach them how to clean fish, Mark?

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My, my, my, that boat seems to have shrunk today! More surprisingly, this fishing boat now sports a new, second mast behind the cabin (panel 2). Still, panel 1 displays a nicely balanced composition.

Okay, we had a bucketful of comments yesterday, which I enjoyed very much, thank you. Clearly Monday’s strip caused some interest.

Commenter Mark opined that Monday’s strip was Rivera’s best drawing so far. High praise, indeed, but it implies a relativistic judgement. Comments from readers regularly disparage Rivera’s art when compared to the representational style of pre-Rivera Mark Trail. It also seems as if Rivera is moving (or has moved) Mark Trail from a serious adventure strip into some kind of joke-a-day comic with an undertone of absurdist-based continuity (sort of like Doonsbury, but minus the political and social satire). Today is no exception. Clearly, Rivera is aiming for a younger audience, not the long-time, older Trailheads.

Rivera’s irreverent approach would naturally be reflected both in storylines and drawing. We can certainly see masculinity-bashing and parodying of the strip’s historic social and aesthetic ideals taking place in her work. But for many current and former readers, whatever Rivera’s motives really are (including her interesting innovations), they may be entirely irrelevant:  People just don’t like or understand what they see. And that’s the problem.

The launch of the SS Non Sequitur

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Okay, I got fooled. The Saturday January 13 strip certainly looked like a typical end-of-story sequence. I bet you thought so, as well. Right? After all, the bonding rituals were made, so what was left to say?

We now see that Mark’s “fishing retreat” is back in action for a fishing cruise. What could go wrong? Observant readers that you are, you only see Mark and Cliff, so we should assume the students are fishing on the other side; or maybe they are stuck in the cabin taking a multiple-choice quiz on types of fishing bait.

The “survivalist” dialog here makes it sound as if they just lived through a significant natural disaster or military action. As we have been seeing lately, Rivera completes the daily strip (panel 4) with a non-sequitur. That is, what does the joy of fishing have to do with hospital trips? We can pass this off as a silly nonsense joke people make from time to time, something my wife will tell you I indulge in, as well. I expect cartoonists to do better than I can. But Mark doesn’t look like he’s joking.

Art Dept. Those are well-drawn fish and wisely swimming away from the boat. They form an odd comparison with the overtly cartoonish appearance of the human figures. Do you think there is some kind of philosophical or metaphysical symbolism behind this?

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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This past week saw an abrupt shift in story- and time-lines about mid-week. It’s a bit unusual, as if higher-level editorial decisions were made to shorten the story. The week began with Mark and Ranger Shawn showing up with homemade bat houses at the Sunny Soleil Society to help Cherry and Violet remove the bats living in the “Great Hall.” While Mark once again promoted bat houses, Honest Ernest was drafted to help carry them to the site.

Thursday was the big switch. How they got the bats out of the Hall and into those bat houses was skipped over. Instead, the storyline suddenly jumped ahead to the evening of the festival and talent show! I dunno, but learning what Mark and Ranger Shawn did might have been educational.

We learned that Violet had stage-fright, but Cherry was there to cheer her on. Good on Cherry! Turns out that Violet was in her element and doing a fine job with her harp.  Suddenly, Cherry inexplicably interrupted Violet’s performance by walking on stage to bleat out the next act, as if she was calling Rusty in to dinner. That next act happened to be her dad, Doc Davis. From offstage, a humiliated Violet was none too happy and gave the evil eye to Cherry.

Unless I totally misinterpret things, Cherry’s abrupt change in behavior is the bigger mystery. Will we learn more on Monday? Well, let’s see what we can learn today….

I thought that Rivera’s title panel for the September 24 (2023) Sunday strip on spotted lanternflies was more creative, don’t you? But I do think that using lanternflies in the pail to spell out the name of the strip today is not too bad, either.

Okay, what is the reason Rivera is posting the same subject a second time: Is it just to give out more tips on getting rid of lanternflies!?

Did Rivera forget she already devoted a Sunday strip on this invasive species or did she hope that we forgot? You’d think that Mark would have at least explained to us that he is merely providing new information for a topic he previously covered.

If eyes could kill!

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Let me get this straight:  We are to believe that one minute Cherry is the comforting, supportive friend helping Violet get over her stage fright; but the next minute, she turns into an inconsiderate boor, cutting Violet off before she’s finished, by yelling out the next act from behind her back:  Cherry’s dad and his cornball vaudeville act.

What are we to make of all this? It is out of character for Cherry to be portrayed as some kind of Jekyll & Hyde character, so I’m befuddled. If Rivera wants to inject more conflict into the story, this seems like a tawdry, unrealistic way to accomplish it. Otherwise, I’m on Violet’s side and glad she’s not looking at me the way she eyes Cherry.

Don’t harp on the negatives!

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Hoo-boy … do you think Rivera should have stopped at panel 2? Sure, we all know this is just a light, comedic story, nothing serious; and that’s just fine. The humor is built into the storyline and doesn’t really require anything more. That’s what I’m trying to get at.

Sometimes writers don’t know when to stop and just go too far, such as the time I wrote a story that … er, sorry.

Getting back to my point, I think gratuitously “irrelevant (and bad) jokes” (e.g. panels 3 and 4) to fill out a strip only tarnish a story that should not need the extra help. It’s like gilding the proverbial lily. At least, let’s come up with better jokes.

Art Dept. In spite of the strip’s writing today, I like the drawing of Cherry in panel 4, where the sway of the curtain Cherry stands behind is echoed in her pose and enhanced by the long coat she wears.

Cherry’s adventure jumps ahead!

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For some reason, Rivera chose to not burden us with exactly how Mark and Range Shaw removed the bats from the concert hall, in spite of showing us Honest Ernest’s foolish attempt. Are we to think that the bats willingly flew into those bat houses, merely on sight? And where did the houses get placed?

Well, tempus fugit once again, as we move directly to the festival and concert. Cherry is certainly elegantly decked out. Yet it is fascinating that Rivera forces her characters to act foolishly or just ignorantly, simply to make a weak joke. Cherry welcomes “everyone”, but Violet is concerned whether there will be a good turnout.

Honest Ernest finds his niche

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What, if any, significance does a raccoon rearing up signify here, other than to check for predators or maybe Mark’s approach? It looks a bit defeated, but that is just anthropomorphizing. Perhaps it is a taxidermist’s display?

As is justly fitting, Honest Ernest has been relegated to support staff status. Time has clearly passed if Ernest has received all of his shots. They take two weeks to complete. Regular readers know that time is a fluid marker in the Trailverse and its passing is often ambiguous. It’s remarkable that Violet Cheshire would wait that long to get her Grand Hall cleared of bats. She doesn’t seem the patient type.

The Incredible Shrinking Head and Expandable Story!

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Mark covered bat houses on a Sunday page back on October 15, 2023.  So it is not surprising to see Rivera (Mark) use them in this story. That’s good planning on Rivera’s part. Otherwise, today’s strip adds nothing new to Cherry’s bats story. Filler strips like this one are annoying because they do not move the plot along or reveal new information. They just artificially expand the story to use up more calendar time because it is easier than having to create more stories.

We already know Ranger Shaw has a reclusive life style. But since he told Mark he was glad to help assemble the bat houses (panel 1), it makes no sense why Mark suggests (panel 3) the Ranger come over to learn how to do it again. Mark fairly gushes as if he is a showing off a school shop project to his parents. Rivera might want to study crafting puns from her comic strip predecessors, such as Darby Conley’s Get Fuzzy and Stephen Pastis’s Pearls Before Swine. Or maybe just quit trying.

Art Dept. Sometimes I wonder how Rivera puts these strips together. Out-of-proportion figures in Mark Trail are not unique, but do stand out. First, Ranger Shaw in panel 1 is suddenly so much broader than Mark, as if he is being played by John Candy. It isn’t as if he is simply “in front” of Mark and “closer to us.” He stands behind the bat houses held by Mark! Second, Mark’s head in panel 3 is mysteriously and laughably smaller than his body, to say nothing of his right arm being about 6 feet long, based on the angle of the forearm. Sure, these may be picky criticisms, but it’s my job as unofficial critical comic strip analyst and part-time know-it-all to tell it like I think it is (or isn’t). Feel free to quibble!

Mark is ready to display his problem-solving skills once again!

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We return to Cherry’s bats-in-the-belfry story, accompanied by one mangy looking cardinal. Cherry’s adventures tend to be a bit lighter than Mark’s if you can imagine it. Well, Mark’s most recent story is an exception. Anyway, having Mark and Cherry’s interface in each other’s stories happens a lot, though mostly it’s Mark involved in Cherry’s affairs. I suppose it’s to keep The Brand as recognizable as possible. So, will Mark and Ranger Shaw work out any better than Honest Ernest? Any bets?

Art Dept. It is difficult to overlook the confusing scale of the figures in panel 1, especially Violet. Perhaps it’s like one of those trick rooms where the proportions of the surrounding spaces fool the eye into seeing people or objects incorrectly. Or maybe not. But it’s harder, still, to not look at that cardinal, which looks like it just came from a fight. Perhaps it isn’t getting along with its spouse. Good thing Mark showed up!

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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Everybody rallied around Eli at the hospital, where he received the first of several rabies shots for being a doofus. Interestingly, nobody rallied around Connor the week before for his self-inflicted thumb wound. I’m not too sure what warranted a hospital bed for Eli, but it’s a small hospital and maybe they thought he might have a reaction. Mark took this opportunity to apologize to everybody for his incompetent teaching and leadership, which should be a clear signal for him to stay in his safe lane. In the end, Mark was happy that his students were nice (or gullible) enough to accept his apology and share in his kumbaya gratitude by agreeing to go fishing with him. Quietly, one presumes.

Wrap Up: Well, even for Rivera, this was not your typical Mark Trail adventure. It was not based on a job-related assignment. There were no clear villains or environmental issues to resolve, other than Mark’s consternation at perceived dangers from bad survival guides. Mark pledged to create a survival school to teach men how to survive by providing real and accurate information. Good intentions, to be sure, and a sure-fire plot setup for useful information and even some drama. Unfortunately, Rivera dumbed down the survival concept to a fishing seminar. Also, why did Mark want to limit the retreat to only men? It was not at all clear at the start. It became apparent when the De-Bait Team talked Mark into focusing on helping men express their feelings to help them with their domestic issues. Why was this a good idea, anyway? So this story changed course and became a soap-opera parody of how men (like Mark) don’t like expressing their feelings. Did the story resolve anybody’s emotional issues? No. Did the men learn to deal with their feelings any better? No. Did any student actually learn to fish? No. Was this story worth our time? No!

Let’s see if today’s nature talk is more worthy.

This is a nice bite-sized piece of information, focusing on the contrast between the LMB’s invasive status in U.S. waters and its popularity for fishing. In other words, fishing for LMB is actually good for the environment and local water species! I may have to dust off my cane pole and bobber this summer.

(the sound of a toilet flushing…)

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“We’re game”? Oh, game fish. Yeah, got it. So Mark is optimistic about this not being a total loss, in spite of two injuries requiring hospital visits and virtually no instructional time. But toss in a box of bagels and provide some happy talk and they’re good to go! I guess that is why it looks like he’s ready to move on to a group kiss in panel 3.

Rivera has wrapped up this story of Mark’s failed dream of creating a men’s-only survival retreat, a venture doomed to failure from the moment he got the De-Bait Team involved. It’s doubtful that Rivera will have Mark reconsider his approach and try again. She has accomplished her task. But what was that task?

She stacked the deck against Mark’s dream, shrinking it down to a fishing seminar, all so she could contrive some goofy injuries that provided scenarios where Rivera’s foil, Cliff, could force Mark into a corner to confront the importance of sharing personal feelings with other men. That is, this was not a story about a survival retreat or a fishing seminar at all. That was just window dressing, men’s eye candy to keep the male readers interested (or distracted).

Mark “Aw shucks” it to the end!

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As people who fish know, being quiet is a normal requirement for good fishing. If you want to talk about feelings, go to a bar and get drunk or go home to your spouse.  I have a new theory:  The de-bait team deliberately sabotaged Mark’s survival retreat by conning him into including this “discuss your feelings” component. Why? Because they don’t want competition for their own fishing business.

The art today is not as erratic as it was earlier this week. In fact, I very much like the depiction of Mark in panel 3 (that is, the adult, not the remembered child or father). It’s quite naturalistic, expressive, and well-drawn without being too cartoony (e.g. unlike the prior two panels and the too cartoony flashback figures in panel 3 ). But I still prefer Mark’s original beard.

Is there a “no satisfaction” full refund policy?

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Yeah, I agree with Mark’s abasement; he did do a crummy job. Mark’s got no reason to console himself, either, as he agreed to include the “share your feelings” component in his so-called retreat. Thank goodness, it looks like this “adventure” is rounding the final turn and heading for the finish line.

Art Dept. The drawing is somewhat better today and more consistent: more, but not completely.  I won’t belabor the point, but simply suggest you inspect panel 3.

Perhaps the bat information is something you should have mentioned earlier, Mark!

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Regular reader and commenter, Mark (no relation), brought up a comparison between Rivera’s work and that of Ed Dodd, the creator of Mark Trail.  It’s a stark comparison, to be certain; but they come from totally different times, artistic traditions, and visions. I have an equally dramatic comparison between Early Rivera and Current Rivera. Here is an early example I quickly grabbed from our 2020 archive (the screen capture quality is not great):

It’s a dramatic difference from today. This attention to detail, composition, and naturalism did not last long. I have no real idea why Rivera changed from this more polished and impressive style. These early strips glaringly emphasize how simplistic and even amateurish the current strips sometime appear. Heck, there is even a difference in quality between panel 1 and panel 2 in today’s strip, where panel 1 looks like it was inspired by a cartoon wrapper of Bazooka Bubble Gum. Why this change? I have no real idea.

Cliff hides out once again!

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Gawsh, ain’t it just swell how chummy everybody has become!? I know, I shouldn’t be so cynical. Still, Rivera’s scripting doesn’t help. Mark’s acceptance of blame in panel 3 is minimally appropriate, but panel 4 gets me. I’m not sure if it’s the strange “You’re not my dad” statement or Rivera’s pandering, specious comment that “Mark is everyone’s dad!” Since when? In what way? I don’t think Mark is quite that prolific. Still, Mark reacts as if Eli told him he’ll sell him revealing photos of Cherry. Otherwise, just what is the point of Mark’s over-reactive expression, anyway?

Let’s give Rivera points for continuity, as Connor shows a bandage on his right thumb, something that would be difficult to see when printed in a newspaper. Otherwise, the drawings look cluttered and stiff.

Another potential lawsuit in the making?

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Hmmm, yet another week with Mark. Frankly, I’m surprised to see this story continue. Mark’s comment in panel 4 is questionable, at best, and can lead to a person’s injury or death. Usually, the best way to help a wild animal in need is to call the proper authority and let them take care of it. For example, picking up a bat is not an honest mistake; it is reckless and dangerous, as we just saw. Wear gloves first!? How about “Don’t touch it”? As a survivalist teacher, Mark is guilty of providing bad and misleading information similar to the bad information in Connor’s fake survival book that Mark raged against.

NB: The CDC and Mayo Clinic state that a potential rabies patient must actually undergo a series of shots. Better than dying, however, as untreated rabies is almost always fatal! Bats are the number 1 cause of rabies in the Americas.

Getting back to the strip, I wonder where Rivera is taking this story? I’m no writer (as you can tell), but since Rivera seems reluctant to include actual survival/camping lessons in this story, what is left to do? I think it is time for Mark to get that old, familiar phone call from Bill Ellis and go back to work.

The Week in Review and Sunday Nature Chat

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The week-before concluded with Cliff and Mark at the hospital so Connor could get his finger fixed from a hooking accident. They ran into Cherry and Violet, who were there with Honest Ernest. This ER meetup saw Cliff pushing the “express your feelings!” mantra on Mark, while Connor and Ernest were literally out of the picture and forgotten for the week. Mark started to wonder whether he was suppressing.

This past week, we found Cliff and Mark back on the job taking Eli, Ranger Shaw, and a repaired Connor on a hike. What survival techniques were discussed or demonstrated? Oh, dear readers, don’t be naïve!

On the hike Connor had a mini-meltdown that turned into an impromptu group hug around Mark, who was decidedly uncomfortable with this forced situation. Can’t blame him. As they broke to return to the fishing lodge, Eli had his moment in the sun when he spotted a bat (order: chiroptera) lying on the ground, so he touched it and got scratched on the hand…sound familiar? What are the odds!? This week ended like the prior one, with Cliff and Mark (back) at the ER.

Was this Adventures in true feelings meant to poke fun at the presumed troglodyte Trailheads who miss the old strip? Rivera should know that males and females do not always express emotions the same way. But it never seemed to me that Mark has had problems expressing his true feelings, even to Cherry; at least since Rivera took over. So I hope this week puts an end to Mark’s survival retreat. I also hope Rivera gets this adventure strip back on track, with Mark putting the hurt on people and companies taking advantage of animals, nature, and the environment. But if expressing inner feelings is your drama of choice, try Garfield.

A classic animal-centered Sunday topic with a clever visual pun in the title panel, connecting a Ford Motor Company logo style with a running mustang (I presume). Wikipedia has a decent article on horses, if you are curious.

So much for bonding.

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For a second, I thought the comic strip syndicate accidentally started reprinting the prior week’s strips. But no, Eli got scratched by a bat this week, just like Honest Ernest the week before. I’m thinking Rivera is suggesting millennials are just too namby-pamby, clumsy, and stupid. Or perhaps Mark and Cliff are just lousy instructors who do not prep their students carefully. For a group that shared a bonding moment, one would think the other students would be here to provide moral support for Eli. It’s like I wrote earlier, superficial bonding activities produce superficial results. Mark’s self-assessment in panel 2 is spot on.

Resolution: Get back to your day job, Mark! Otherwise, ditch Cliff and restart your retreat in Lost Forest, away from the De-Bait Lodge! Focus on survival, not feelings.