The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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Having arrived home from school, Rusty found a note from Dad telling him to get the kitchen swept before Cherry gets home. Naturally, Rusty thought he had enough time to go off with Andy and dig up some of Robbie’s broken controllers.  Wait! Didn’t Rusty already dig up the controllers? Pappa Mark said he did, at least to Ranger Shaw. 

Rusty’s adventures—such as they are—seem to transmogrify (to borrow a term from Calvin and Hobbes) into something else; often, something Mark is more concerned about. In this case, it is the discovery of broken electronics dumped on the ground in Lost Forest. And they are now complicating Rusty’s activity.

As Rusty and Andy arrived at the site, Rusty discovered three adults already there, unloading more electronics to smash. They are Honest Ernest, Connor the accident-prone camper, and The Gomer in the Yellow Hat, otherwise collectively known as “The Grungy Boys”, aka “Honest Ernest and the Grungy Boys.”  You’d think they would at least have matching caps.

In spite of his efforts, Rusty and Andy were detected by Honest Ernest, putting Rusty in a tight spot. And that’s where we end this past week’s cliffhanger.  But do hang around for the Sunday nature chat.

Wow, do we need yet another discussion of composting? Didn’t Cherry already lecture Violet and us about it? Don’t get me wrong, I’m totally in favor of composting. Cherry and Mark might want to have a chat with commenter Downpuppy about protecting compost bins from animal attacks.

By the way, Mark (panel 4), personal composting still creates greenhouse gases, just not in the same quantity (and perhaps the same diversity). And food waste that goes into landfills most likely does not exclude meats (panel 4), after it is collected. I don’t know if Rivera got confused between composting and landfilling.  

It isn’t just Rusty’s day that’s gone to the dogs! 

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Somehow, Honest Ernest’s mutual admiration demolition lovefest doesn’t create a lot of drama. But more importantly, how did Andy suddenly get to be so small? 

Maybe it’s just a way to get your Yah-Yahs out. 

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I’m not seeing anything specifically bad here, aside from theft and illegal dumping. Not that they are minor issues; but the destructive actions of these three dudes is nothing to be alarmed over. Better the smashing of a fax machine than a person or animal.  

Why they are doing this at all is not clear. They don’t seem to be angry about being displaced in their jobs, so we can’t call them modern-day luddites.  

Now, why they want to destroy equipment in the woods is a psychological issue for trained medical personnel to deal with. They could as easily destroy equipment in their own back yards. So maybe this sidebar story ends with Ranger Shaw citing them for illegal dumping and the police arresting them for petty theft.  

Then maybe we can get back to Rusty’s school fair project, unless this is just another ploy by Rivera to present Rusty as worthy of his own adventure, only to have it taken away by his father. 

Just another field therapy session.

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Rivera certainly did throw us an interesting curve this time. I recognize Honest Ernest. Is that Afro-haired dude in the middle the annoying kvetch, Connor? He does look familiar, but I forget where. I can’t place the man with the yellow hat, but I’ll wager he doesn’t have a pet monkey named Curious George. 

The idea of smashing objects is a well-known technique for temporary relief of anxiety. It’s certainly possible that these dudes are doing this out of some mutually acknowledged need to displace their anger. Or it could be they just enjoy taking (or stealing) things and destroying them. Then leaving them behind as litter in the forest. Based on the existing litter, these boys have some long-standing anger issues to resolve.

But “Grungey Boys”!?! They don’t seem to fit what is called “grunge boy aesthetic” based on their attire. I’m willing to admit to being wrong on that assessment, but I don’t think so. 

Suspense builds as Rusty returns to the crime scene.

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Andy certainly has that “fashion runway walk” mastered in panel 3, though it’s unusual for a Saint Bernard to have such long, slim limbs. Perhaps the Trails had Andy’s legs shaved for the summer. Or maybe Rivera was looking at Marmaduke’s character reference sheet by mistake. 

You know, my mindful readers, I have a notion that Rivera’s stories could be better if she didn’t go out of her way to telegraph upcoming events in such obvious ways, as in panel 3. Now, Rivera could be throwing us a curve, where Robbie does not suddenly pop into the picture, but Mark and Ranger Shaw do.  

But what would be the outcome if Robbie does show up? I mean, Rusty does have a shovel. And Andy. 

Is Andy making a value judgment on Rusty’s decisions?

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“Don’t worry, I have plenty of time to get it done!” is the surest sign of impending failure every time it is spoken in a book, movie, or comic strip. 

It probably won’t come as a surprise to most of you if I admit that I am a tad confused. Based on Mark’s discussion with Ranger Shaw the week before, Rusty had already been digging, though until that moment, we hadn’t seen Rusty doing any digging. So today he is going back to dig up game controllers. Perhaps the mental image of Rusty at work that Mark portrayed to Ranger Shaw was only a bit of hyperbole. Or maybe Rusty is going back for even more busted controllers. 

But will Rusty run into Mark and Ranger Shaw on their way back from visiting the site? 

Art Dept. I’d like to give Rivera credit for that gray squirrel, but really, that heavy outline just kills any impression of lightness and quickness. 

Hey, kids! What time is it? It’s Rusty’s Adventure Time!

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An empty house, eh? That must mean ol’ Doc Davis is either working at his clinic or he picked the lock on his door and escaped. We can certainly ascribe the latter aspiration to a cheerful Rusty, as he walks down a path brandishing a shovel, while Andy follows behind. Wait a minute: brandshing a shovel?!? Are there more game controllers buried in Lost Forest?  Does he and Andy play some kind of radical version of Hide and Seek?

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat 

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The focus of Mark Trail has traditionally been an environmentally based adventure strip, with adventure as the main draw. That has been one of the main complaints against Rivera’s stories for Mark. Are we to use the same measure for Cherry’s stories? 

Certainly, Cherry’s stories have leaned towards the lighter side. That would be a fair balance to what should be more hard-hitting, dramatic stories from Mark.  

In any event, this past week Cherry showed up at Violet’s with her collected food scraps to start a composting site for the Sunny Soleil Society, as Violet was literally gobbling down a bucket of chicken. Cherry tried to get Violet to remember her pledge to send Cherry to Compost Camp. After a few days of rambling, Violet agreed to fund Cherry’s trip. If Violet was hoping this would stop Cherry’s continuous lecturing, she was wrong. 

Who knew!?! I always thought worms were just normal ground-dwelling creatures found just about everywhere. Good information to know. And I do like the earthworm title panel, though it’s a bit hard to read. 

Meat meets Compost Control

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Okay, consider me reprimanded for my erroneous presumption: Violet was not tossing scraps into the trash, as I misunderstood. All those ginormous bins are for composting. Okay, then. They are still too large and do not appear to be properly vented. So there! 

Cherry makes a very good point about why meat scraps do not normally go into a compost bin. Aside from bears, you must watch out for cats, mice, rats, racoons, foxes. However, compost piles of grass clippings, fruit, vegetables, and even grains can attract herbivores and omnivores, such as possums, squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks, and birds. And possibly bears, anyway.  

Finally, Rivera could stop with the grade-school puns right now and see a 25% increase in the quality of Mark Trail. They are neither cute nor clever. 

Compost bin very good to ME! 

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Well, the story is finally moving along. Very good. But Cherry’s composting plans have a few issues:

1) All of these “bins” look the same. Not a good thing when you include trash and compost. So why place the trash receptacle next to the compost bins?

2) Are these compost bins properly ventilated? They look like they are cheek-by-jowl. Granted, we cannot see their back views, but what we can see is not promising.

3) They seem a bit large for composting bins, especially non-commercial bins. That’s a lot of stuff to keep turning and a large space for compostable refuse to heat up and cook.

4) And how about removing the compost when it’s ready?

Okay, enough carping over details. This is a comic strip, not a documentary or a how-to video. So, I’ll wait to see what Rivera reveals on Saturday. She could put all my nitpicking to shame. Or maybe you could.

Finger-lickin’ forgetful 

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This is the strip that should have been posted on Wednesday. But now I want to know, as I’m sure all of you do, if Violet really wolfs down an entire bucket of fried chicken at every lunch, or even every other day. 

Two for the price of none

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June 11. Where to begin? From the start we have seen Violet Cheshire presented as a parody of southern society, a person whose personality and actions conflict with her attire. Vain, shallow, and mercurial she may be, image is very important to her.

So how are we to read this portrayal of Violet double-handing a bucket of fried chicken as if she is practicing for an upcoming eating contest? And are we to believe that Violet is either forgetful or the reincarnation of Mrs. Malaprop? Miss-speaking is not the same as forgetting!

June 12. Speaking of vain, that robin once again showed up to show off her feathery décolletage. Meanwhile, Cherry applies the gentle art of sarcasm in panel 2 as she goes with the idea that Violet is suddenly forgetful. Thus, Cherry repeats her original sales pitch. We may have to endure this presentation and its resolution for the remainder of the week.  

Is this a good story telling technique? Rivera could have dispensed with today’s panels and simply noted that Cherry had to repeat her presentation. But repeating her composting spiel in detail is just hitting readers over the head with what’s been said, more than once. Rivera could have dispensed with this sermonizing and instead showed Cherry actually building a compost pile as Violet looks on. And still forgetting their deal!

Violet becomes non compos appetitus.

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Howdy! On Tuesday morning I have to be up before even the Sun can be bothered to turn on. Why? I’m flying down to see my old man (he’s really, really old!) and the plane leaves at 6:30 AM. Ugh! So, the Tuesday strip may wind up getting posted with Wednesday’s. After that, things should be back on a normal track, until a few weeks later, when I have to fly back. You’ve been warned.

We return to Cherry Trail, who has been collecting food waste around town to start composting at the Sunny Soleil Society. Certainly, compositing fits within her mindset and her values, but Cherry is also motivated by the offer of a free trip to a compost convention if she collects enough to get things started.

But Cherry arrived just in time at the SSS HQ to witness Violet Cheshire preparing to chow down on a bucket o’ fried chicken. What could be a more propitious time to discuss food scraps and compositing!?! But based on Violet’s idea of a lunch, I’d have thought Cherry would find enough scraps in the Society’s own garbage cans.

Well. This could have been more interesting if Rivera used this week to have Cherry moving about town, still collecting food scraps. This would provide a simple way to introduce us to a few more citizens of the Lost Forest community, without having to develop complicated plots. I’m thinking slightly off-beat people, such as Squirrely Sally.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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Excitement in Lost Forest continued this past week as Mark and Ranger Shaw surveyed the abandoned e-waste in a clearing of Lost Forest. You could hear the teeth gnashing. Mark was in his element, taking charge of a case of illegal dumping in Lost Forest, even though legal authority likely rested with the all-too-compliant ranger.

Jules Rivera filled in a few plot holes for us as Mark revealed that Rusty had, indeed, been digging! Apparently, this spade work must have happened “after hours”, when cartoonist Rivera had quit work for the day to visit the beach and didn’t get around to drawing Rusty’s digging until later in the week.

Talking to Ranger Shaw, Mark relayed that Rusty claimed Robbie (who is the ranger’s son!) had buried his broken game controllers in the area. After enjoying the burn on Ranger Shaw’s face, Mark admitted that Rusty had also been involved. Just two dads, commiserating over their juvenile delinquent kids.

But Mark must have sniffed something wrong, as he began to interrogate Ranger Shaw on whether he had seen anybody in the area. Rivera made a point of showing Ranger Shaw looking guilty as he forced out an odd denial. Yet, nothing was made of it. The week ended as the two walked into the debris area to look for clues. No doubt, at least one piece of abandoned equipment will have a label that reads “If lost or illegally dumped in a forest, call 999-555-1234. Ask for Elmo.”

Let’s see … last Sunday Mark got in his talk on e-waste, stealing Rusty’s thunder. This week, it’s beavers.

Rivera devoted a Sunday to the beaver’s rodent cousin, the muskrat back in December 2022, where Mark compared the two animals and tried to make the case that they are both “engineers”, but in different ways. But she also did a Sunday on beavers back in May 2022, which has a little bit of overlap with this one. Some of you might recall that beavers became an involuntary aid to Mark in the “Oregon Trails” story at the time.

Mark quotes Shakespeare . . . or maybe Sherlock Holmes.

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Why is Mark yelling at Ranger Shaw? It’s not as if Ranger Shaw wouldn’t be knowledgeable on this topic (much less guilty). But for some reason, Rivera chooses to depict our finger-pointing Mark as some kind of Sunday Service “Elmer Gantry”, laying into the laity for their sins, while simultaneously stroking their guilty consciences for larger tithes. In any event, Mark not only speaks melodramatically, but he looks a bit overly dramatic, as well.

Art Dept. And speaking of dramatic, it’s nice to see that Rivera still remembers how to move beyond the all-to-common “tv screen” viewpoint in her panels to give us a bird’s eye look from above (panel 3). At least from that angle, the objects Rivera scatters across the grass look more “normal” than their appearances in the other panels. But, maybe that’s not the point at all.

Don’t have a cow, Mark!

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Some primitive graphics today, though that is nothing new. It is difficult to not agree with others that Rivera is just dashing this stuff off in between surfing outings. Wait, I have done that! One exception is Mark’s depiction in panel 3. That is actually well drawn and defined, though it makes Ranger Shaw’s image look even more unfinished. Rivera has a background in storyboarding—that is, a sequential graphic layout for a story in its design stage. So it strikes me as odd that we have seen several dialog and event revisions in this adventure.

Today, we have Mark in panel 3 harshly questioning Ranger Shaw about his awareness of activity in this part of Lost Forest. Yet, Mark has been acting this week as if Ranger Shaw was not aware of this junk. Why isn’t Ranger Shaw taking control here? He is the one with authority to investigate, not Mark.

To emphasize Mark’s environmental psychic ability to ferret out wrongdoing, Rivera has put Ranger Shaw into the harsh lights (notice the bright background in panel 4) with his self-incriminating response and clammy face. Rivera’s overtly finger-pointing comment does nothing to expand on what has already been shown. And anyway, shouldn’t that have been Mark’s response?

Adventures in Revisionism

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Hold the phone! You can’t change the story mid-stream, Rivera. This flashback does not resemble anything published to date. So fine, Mister Smug casually admits to Rusty’s active involvement with Robbie, as a fake news flashback shows Mark lording it over his kid, actually shoveling.  What’s the point of this apparent revisionism?

Finally, what else should Rusty have learned? Keep your dad out of your business.

Mark conveniently forgets Rusty’s confessed complicity.

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Ranger Shaw responds to Mark’s statement in panel 3: “Really, Mark? Well, where are these controllers? What’s that you say, you were too stupefied by finding these other electronics lying on the ground to remember to dig them up? In short, Mark, you have no real evidence, other than Rusty’s testimony, which was clearly motivated by his need to seek revenge against Robbie for his classroom prank. Golly, Mark, is this how you conduct research for your articles!?!”

“Uh, I suppose so…?”

Yikes! This must be the work of the Basura Bandido!

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Yikes! Indeed. Rivera must have a low opinion of her readers’ capacity to remember simple plots if she has to rehash yesterday’s installment in the first two panels of today’s strip. Talk about unnecessary story padding. See anything else kind of odd?

Rivera also continues to indulge her fascination for alliteration with that “trash trove” label Mark bellows out to Ranger Shaw in panel 3. So Shaw now thinks somebody is stealing and storing “trash” in the Lost Forest, albeit in a very haphazard manner. I think he’s way off base.

Art Dept.  The mouths keep getting weirder. What can you say about Mark’s yapper in panel 3? Is he, perhaps, now singing his dialog? And is Ranger Shaw so shocked in panel 4 that he has to yell? I don’t know what to tell you. The very close staging of the two dudes in panel 2 suggests to me Shaw delivers his clunky dialog in some kind of flat, monotone voice, as if there was a period between words.

What can we say about the layout of the scene in panel 1?

It’s Flat Day in Lost Forest!

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Ranger Shaw on the scene. Is he surprised by the junk on the ground or the site of a raccoon milling about in the daytime? After all, there is no food here to attract its attention. Still, it isn’t unheard of. But I wonder if Mark considers Ranger Shaw a little slow on the uptake. In panel 2, Mark points out the obvious:  “Rusty and I came upon this dumping ground in the woods.” Well, of course it’s in the woods! That’s where they are! Maybe the problem is with Mark, and that would explain the dubious look on Ranger Shaw’s face. At least the story is progressing.

Art Dept. Yes, it must be Flat Day in Lost Forest. But it’s not quite as severe as Edwin Abbott’s book, Flatland, where everybody and thing is a 2D geometric shape. Here, everything and everyone is depicted as if they are either paper cutouts or were pressed with a hot clothes iron. Even the raccoon suffers: Its very heavy outline suggests a “cutout” that belies any volume in its body. In fact, there is virtually no attempt at giving volume to anything else. Why? The only obvious answer is not incompetence so much as stylistic choice. It’s not a unique approach, but it can be jarring. And it conflicts with Rivera’s drawings of the same location in last week’s strips. This visual discomfort is compounded by other oddities, such as Mark’s sideways mouth in panel 3.

I’ve mentioned this “feature” before, and it just looks wrong:  In addition to the facing of the mouth, which almost looks like it is in profile (compare with panel 2), its vertical alignment is also off-centered. You could propose that Mark is expressing a different emotion that requires the new mouth shape, but the rest of the head doesn’t seem to conform. As for Mark’s beard, don’t get me started.