I’m not a fan of how this story is evolving. If Rex wants to do what seems on the surface to be an idiotic and possibly dangerous activity, it’s his business, just like he says. After all, Tess might be a tigress in more than just name. As we can see, there’s no evidence Rex is being held against his will or even under the influence of a drug. And this is clearly just a psychological test, not a test of actual danger.

Mark, just do your job! Set up the camera, press the red button, and contemplate your next award for hard-hitting nature reporting. And Jules, Mark is not a social worker. Stop it!

So, what do you think?

Well, let’s look at this situation positively:  If the lion mauls Rex, Mark knows that the place is truly corrupt, as is Tess. Furthermore, he no longer has to fret over Rex’s mental stability. So, my advice to Mark is “Find whoever is handling bets and place your money on the lion. Afterward, go write your blasted article.” At the very least, Mark should be filming this spectacle. Might be the catalyst for a new Reality Show.

On the other hand, the alleged “rampaging elephant” could show up in the nick of time and stomp the tiger, just before it bites Rex’s head off. I mean, it just has to show up at some point, don’t you think?

And I thought for sure that the prior time Mark had a 3-week run was a fluke, as the tradition has been 2 weeks of Mark to every 1 week of Cherry. So why the change to three weeks? Inflation?

In any event, some time has passed and yet another odd twist to the story appears. The Tiger Truth Ceremony, is it? I have a pretty good idea where this is going. But I’m surprised the retaining walls here are so low. Certainly tigers can jump those heights with ease. In fact, all reports I’ve found state tigers can jump heights greater than ten feet.

But poor Rex. He’s hooked on a woman—without qualification—who yet insists he satisfies her own qualification test with some kind of Neolithic “Survivor” ceremony to see if he is worthy. Unless this is a scam, of course. I wonder how Diana Daggers is taking all of this? As I projected several weeks ago, she has become less of a meaningful character/opponent and more of a scene conductor, somebody to just help Mark get from one phase of the story to the next.

When Jules Rivera first started on Mark Trail 2.0, I figured Cherry would be the one truly grounded in strength, reality, and reason. And she has been, now and then. I think she is not in that orbit at the moment. She seems to be living in the same irrational, emotional, and transactional world of hubby, Mark.

The rampaging elephant buildup has been going on since Mark arrived in Texas, with no sign of abatement. Never mind that, in the real world, the notion that an elephant could elude capture or destruction for more than a day is ludicrous. Never mind that an elephant halfway across a strange country could no more hone in on the Tiger Touch Center in Texas than Garfield could be a genuinely funny comic strip.

As Mark Trail 1.0 was a simple world of black-and-white morality, predictable events, and two-bit baddies, Mark Trail 2.0 is a more complicated, colorful world of surprise, outrageousness, inconsistency, and unpredictable behavior. With two-bit weird baddies.

Well, maybe that rampaging elephant will buck reality and, somehow, suddenly show up to trample Tess’s dreams of fame and wealth. It might wind up doing something similar to what Mark Trail 1.0 used to do: Employ its Flying Tusks of Justice to shut things down.

Rivera adds some emotional complexity to the story, but the two plot elements strike me as disparate. (1) There is the Tiger Touch Center and the alleged disappearance of mama tigers. There seems to be some evidence of neglect and bad management, but Mark’s estimate of the tiger cubs-to-mama tigers ratio has not been demonstrated. (2) There is the issue of Rex’s infatuation for Tess that Mark finds troublesome. Of course, whether Rex wants to stay with Tess is none of Mark’s business (nor Diana’s for that matter). How do disappearing tigers impact Rex’s status? Dunno! Perhaps it is Rex’s reputation that Mark is concerned about, or Rex’s legal status if he is around when the proper authorities ultimately show up to shut down the Center and start arresting people.

I don’t think Rivera needs to exaggerate the drama through the expressions and reactions of Mark and Cherry; it seems too close to the scripted drama of Reality TV.

Who the hell is that old geezer in panel 1? Did Mark get stuck in Kurt Vonnegut’s chrono-synclastic infundibulum?  So, this is hard times, huh? Compared to living in the Sudan, for example? Sure, there might be some bad things going on, but Mark:  Did you think that maybe Tess could be buying some of the cubs? Or that she might donate some tigers to another zoo after a while? Well, it’s a possibility.

By the way, what was in that isolated trailer that caused Mark to exclaim “Yikes!” in last Saturday’s strip? Or was that exclamation from discovering Tess and Rex coming back? Alas, it seems we will continue with the Pity Party.

Sage advice, Mary “Marky” Worth. But now that you two moralists have done your righteous duty, can we get back to the actual story and leave this tripe for another comic strip, such as Blondie?

Well, it’s only Wednesday, so for the next three days, let’s hope Rivera gets back to some actual plot. His or hers; it doesn’t much matter, as long as we move on.

Bobcats running wild around the Tiger Touch Center!? What next, rampaging elephants?

I’m not sure we really need or want this interlude.  It’s like those painful-to-read vintage strips of Mark and Cherry discussing modern comic strips, technology, and social media in between Mark’s adventures.

I predict we’ll have six days of this useless nattering. Perhaps Rivera does not want to extend Mark’s story another week because it would have to be interrupted at a less advantageous point. If that is truly the case, wouldn’t it have been better to just jump back into Cherry’s story? Sure, keeping in touch is valuable and helpful, but let’s not drag it out, okay?

Rivera slows the story tempo as Cherry and Mark step away from their plotlines to catch up with each other. But are we transitioning to Cherry’s story or is this just a continuation of Mark’s? It’s an interesting plot device.

Rivera has once again intertwined Mark and Cherry’s separate story lines, a technique she has used before, though this time. As we sometimes saw in the vintage Mark Trail strip, Rivera also has no fear of slicing and dicing time:  Mark was last seen running away. Cherry was last seen having a heated moment with Violet and Ernest. We will find out what happened in each case?

(It’s nice to see how much more comfortable Rivera is working in larger panels.)

One final note:  I’m suddenly struck by how Cherry’s expression mimics Jules Rivera in panel 2.  To a degree, anyway. I don’t have an exact match available, but you can “google” her face. Perhaps Rivera employs the traditional artist’s technique of using a mirror to model expressions using her own face.

I’m not sure I agree with Mark’s assessment of the Center. Far from rich looking, it appears spartan, pedestrian, and not even finished.

Apparently, Rivera wants us to believe that Rex and Tess, returning from their “nature walk,” cannot see Mark peering into the window (once again!) of a somebody else’s private rooms. Nor do they see him running away—arms and legs akimbo—across the grounds, while directly in front of them. Ah! It must be because they are so madly smitten that they have eyes only for each other. If so, I’m surprised that Rex is not wearing Tess’s tiger ears.

This is all confusing. Mark is disturbed. At what, I wonder:  Something inside the building or maybe a reflection of Rex and Tess approaching from behind him? Or maybe he just realized that he should have made a pit stop before setting out on his covert investigation.

Tigers ain’t cheap to acquire, so it would be very costly to mistreat them in the way some people mistreat common pets, such as dogs and cats. But if your con is based on short-term gains, the long-term welfare of the animals may not be at the top of your To-Do list.

Anyway, if Jiffy is not the only employee who feels this way, what is keeping them there and not reporting Tess to the authorities? Is she blackmailing them? Is this Center located 100 miles out in the desert?

But it’s clear that Tess handled this entire situation incorrectly. By tossing out the only professional producer (Diana Daggers) available, stoking tension between Mark and Rex, and allowing Mark to wander around on his own, she only increases the danger to her scheme.

So here is where the story breaks down somewhat, as we’re expected to believe that a stranger can ask a single question of an employee (“Jiffy”, as we learn), who readily spills his guts to Mark about the organization after first stating “We don’t do questions or cameras.” Is his testimony accurate or is he just a disgruntled employee?

On the other hand, if Mark can verify all of this info, he certainly has a story to report. By the way, just what is going on in that trailer?

Looks like there are some questionable things going on, after all. But if all that expired freeze-dried (I presume) meat is in a dumpster and not in a freezer, it could simply indicate some inefficiency and sloppy inventory management. Hardly a crime or case of corruption. We’ll need to see more conclusive evidence than that. But it’s a start! And that worker should be easy to turn.

There’s a lot to be said for consistency, such as “where is it when you need it!?” Yesterday, we saw Mark laser-focused on his task. Today, he is suddenly overwhelmed…by animal cages? Rivera makes a pun with that muckraker crack. Okay, maybe Mark’s uncertainty is just a temporary thing while he settles on what to do next. At least let’s have no more Kenneth Branagh stares into the distance, okay?

At last, Mark comes to enough of his senses to actually work on the zoo investigation instead of fixating on Rex’s alleged vulnerability issues. And about time. But am I the only one who is wondering where all the employees went? And what about Rex’s employees? I noticed that Mark doesn’t have that affected goofball, annoying appearance and behavior he’s been displaying up until now. Instead, he acts like the traditional Mark Trail of bygone days: Mister All Business.

Anyway, the strip is nicely drawn today (compared to prior days), though I fear the shadow on Mark’s face in panel 2 will not be visible in the newspapers. I wonder where Mark keeps finding all of this equipment.

Yes, Rex reads Mark all too clearly for the intrusive bumpkin that he is. Because of his over-reactive warnings and blabbering, Mark may cost Diana her job, as well as ruin his own opportunity to actually do an investigative report on the Center (why he was sent here). I think Mark may even wind up having to find his own way home.

Again, I do not understand Rivera’s decision to cast Mark as some kind of soap opera Mary Worth personal problem solver. Mark is clearly not keeping his professional attitude at the forefront here.

So where does the story go from here? Will Mark save Rex and Tess from the rampaging elephant? Will Rex and Tess suddenly elope, leaving Mark alone with the tigers and a very pissed off Diana Daggers? Poor Mark, he should have talked it over with Ralph the bull snake before accepting this bad gig. Maybe Mark can find future fame and glory by becoming a professional Reality TV show personality.

I think I can answer Rex’s question in panel 2 with an unequivocal “No!” Mark really has a hard-on for arguing with Rex, but he’s not exactly winning. (By the way, I like Rex’s stink eye in panel 2!) Hmm, I wonder if Mark has lost track of what he is supposed to be doing? Anyway, Rivera shows us that she has seen the first Mark Trail strips (from 1946) when Mark thought Cherry’s pet bear was attacking her. I’ve always felt that Rivera’s Cherry was more like Ed Dodd’s outdoorsy version of Cherry, before she became too domesticated and dependent during Elrod’s drawing tenure.

The other thing I am curious about are those pinkish tabs that appear below Rex’s eye in panel 1 and Mark’s eyes in panel 3. I’ve seen them in Rivera’s drawings before, but I have no real idea what they represent. Any ideas, readers?