We can’t be sure of the actual topography of this area, and perhaps we shouldn’t be too concerned. Jon Wick gets away with a lot of stuff and we accept it for what it is. Why should this be different? As with any fire, we should assume that it’s going to spread and pop up in different places. After all, this is an adventure story! Still, I can’t help remarking that those are pretty darned tall people in the background.
Mark might have taken one of those employees along; they are certain to know the layout far better than he could. Then Mark could not only locate and turn off the electricity, but for his second act he could rescue the employee on the way back when that person would be sure to suffer a twisted ankle or something worse. A double-hero trophy for Mark! That might have been too much, though. Perhaps Rivera didn’t want to wander into fantasy.
Suddenly this simple wooden fire tower (which had looked empty, save for a few stools) has morphed into a computerized information and communication center sporting a bunch of equipment and other specialized stuff. Except for firefighting equipment, of course.
Pappy Trail hands Mark some personal treasures that he—somehow—just happened to have with him… out here in an Oregonian forest. This is ridiculous, of course, like Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in one of their movies where they decide to put on a musical and build Hollywood-level production sets out of materials that just happen to be in their garage.
Is Mark going to dunk the scarf into the stream (the stream is an escape route, you two idiots!) to use as a fire shield? And what could be more useful in a smoke-filled building than a compass? Almost every daily brings a surprise.
This is the third consecutive daily strip showing the same power line crashing (or smashing) to the ground. Perhaps it just bounced several times. It sure looks pretty flaccid at this point.
Say, who are those people in the background repeating Daddy Trail’s line from Saturday and spouting off like they are in an episode of Mr. Wizard? Must be more of those slothful employees who didn’t leave earlier, when they had the chance. I suppose it would be too much to assume that they could simply walk around the downed power lines or maybe even just walk up the slope.
Finally, how does Dad just happen to have floor plans of the electrical control station stored in a fire tower?
Okay, Trailheads! The heat is on and the time is short! Lives are on the line (perhaps)! Time to call out the Secret Code of Justice: “WWMD?”
I’ve been yakking a lot this week, so I’ll keep this summary brief (based on my normal standards, that is).
Mark and the two “Crypto Bros” drove to the burning lumber mill. The brothers stood around while Mark yelled a lot and finally ran down the slope to get employees out of the burning lumber mill. Mark must have figured they were too dumb to evacuate on their own. Mark discovered that Dad had beat him to the mill (just like he beat Mark to Portland!) and was up in a watch tower. Mark modified his priorities to include “saving Dad”, because Mark must save people, regardless of whether they can save themselves or even need saving. In spite of the fire, Mark climbed the tower. Meanwhile, the brothers remained up the slope. As the drama heats up, we pause for the Sunday chat.
Mark presses another case for recognition of the effects of “climate change.” I’m not getting into the philosophic/political side of that, because I have a brain. And this is a comic strip blog.
Certainly, Mark’s little testimonial is not going to sway a denier or skeptic. Not sure it’s meant to, anyway. Mark’s bland “Let’s hold hands and not breath” comment might incentivize younger people to get involved, but that’s about it. Perhaps Mark should start getting more emotionally charged on Sundays, as he does in his daily strips.
Why would Happy Trail take shelter in a wooden tower when he could have just run up a hill? Even the dialog doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense; as in, what the hell is there to work out, Mark!? And the artwork looks incompetent with awkward lines, out-of-scale anatomy, and sketchy figures.
Of course, we’ve seen clumsy drawing from the prior Mark Trail artists, Allen included. Rivera is not unique in this regard. What makes these gaffs stand out is her style, which transitioned over time into something more expressionistic than merely representational. Inconsistencies, such as what we see in panel 4, hit you immediately and painfully.
But the troubling issue for me—as I have pointed out several times—is that Rivera is an accomplished artist. Why transform Mark Trail from her original, refined stylistic approach into this slapdash version?
I think the alternating viewing angles provide some interest to today’s panels. Nevertheless…
Like many readers and complainers, I also wonder where this storyline is heading. It started out as a family vacation in Portland. Vacations are the basis for impromptuMark Trail adventures (e.g., the Mexican artifact smugglers and the outlandish island volcano incident). This vacation got sidetracked right away by Mark’s concerns over his dad’s business relationship with Cricket Bro and his brother, who also happen to be in Portland. This story arc looked to be as exciting as warm milk, but there was hope that Rusty’s adolescent fascination with locating The Seaside Specter would turn out to be the real adventure this time around (Like father like son, right?).
Not so fast! One disastrous night and Rusty was ready to pack it in. We recently got a tease that Rusty’s adventure might get reignited but hopes like that often fizzle out in The Trailverse. Speaking of igniting, we now have another subplot: A sudden fire at the brothers’ “hidden” lumber mill.
One could charitably suggest that all of this chaos may just be a satire on the messiness of real life. But who cares for that!? Mark Trail is an adventure strip, not a documentary. Adventure stories (at least in comic strips) work best when they have a strong narrative focus.
Ultimately, I hope these rambling scenarios of Mark and the Crypto Bros move to the back and allow room for a more interesting adventure: Rusty’s Specter search. There isn’t much else to hang your hat on.
Hmmm, at last we see Mark trying to take charge of everything, just like he used to do. But take charge of what? Let’s see if we can make sense of this, shall we?
The last time we saw Happy Trail was in the back seat of Jadsen’s vehicle, on the way to that “Wings of Love” animal rescue center. It was there that everybody first heard about the fire at the mill. This all happened during Cherry and Rusty’s visit to downtown Portland. Apparently, Mark and the Bros drove to the mill fire. And they wasted time with pointless debates.
Now we have Mark dashing down into the valley, apparently to save dad. Dad!? – Okay, how did Mark know Happy Trail would be down there? – How did Happy even get there before Mark!? – Why is Happy in the tower, which happens to have a loudspeaker system? What was this place, a former prison camp? – Why would the workers still be in a burning mill, anyway? It had to have been burning for at least thirty minutes or more (in Mark Trail Time). Were they waiting for permission to leave? This is more confusing than film adaptations of Raymond Chandler stories.
For some reason, the artwork reminds me of Golden Age comic books from the 1940s and 1950s, especially panel 3. I like that. Maybe it’s the heavy-lined profile of Mark and the zoom-out circle of Happy Trail in the tower. I dunno. You tell me!
What a mess, indeed! According to Smokeybear.com, almost 9 out of 10 forest fires are started by people (idiots and arsonists). Frankly, the entire exchange today is bizarre. We have a fire that either started in the mill or started in the surrounding forest and engulfed the mill. Either way, this does not seem like the best time to talk about the building habits of beavers, much less composing press releases.
And where are all of these lumber mill employees? Clearly, they should have already vacated the premises after they called the Bonehead Bros. And Mark should have figured that out right away!
Wouldn’t the sawmill employees have also already contacted a fire department or the local forestry department to report the fire? Did Cricket Bro? Or Jadsen!? Any legitimate, professional operation would have had protocols in place to prevent or mitigate a fire.
Regarding what Rivera wrote in panel 4, the point is not whether Cricket Bro is a biologist. That’s irrelevant. The point is that he is one half of a pair of stupid “brothers” who might have conspired to have the mill burned down, perhaps for insurance purposes. They need to get money from somewhere. And it could explain their curiously casual attitude about the fire.
When I was a teenager, Ripple was a bottle of really cheap wine (or something called wine). Now, it is a very loud onomatopoeic sound from a nearby stream; a stream populated by dam-building beavers. That realization somehow caused Mark to shout as if he discovered radium. Yesterday, he was shouting to evacuate the mill (presumably), though today, nobody seems in a terrible hurry to do anything. One might get the idea that this trio is out animal spotting rather than dealing with an actual emergency, like a runaway forest fire!
Certainly, this seems like a continuity issue. And what do beavers and beaver dams have to do with starting a fire?
Today’s panels look like the result of another rush job, which is a shame. Curiously, extra care was certainly taken with the art in panel 3. Long-time reader Mark complained last week that his 10-year old granddaughter could draw as well. Such hyperbolic statements often come from people who just don’t like (or understand) the art they are looking at. I’m not putting Mark in that group, just using his comment to make a point. I have to admit that, if one considers panel 4, especially, Mark’s comment would be on the plus side of the ledger. The composition is crowded and clumsy; the drawing looks inept.
Okay, even I have to admit this is kind of stupid, as if these three came across a raging fire during a hike. Instead they had to presumably drive out to this location. Is the sawmill, itself, on fire? Hard to tell; there is certainly fire behind it. The mill should have burned down by now. Where are the workers? Presumably, not still inside slicing logs. Did anybody on site call the fire department? Interestingly, neither brother seems very perturbed. Could they be behind this fire? If so, why? I do like the incredulous expression on Mark’s face in panel 3, as he provides on-the-spot, timely advice. What was that movie, Dumb and Dumber? That certainly applies to those two idiots.
Moving on: There are a few comments at CK on whether the porcupine in Sunday’s strip is one of the several New World porcupine species or an Old Word porcupine, possibly from Africa. Well, Rivera’s example does not seem to match the Common Porcupine that is native to Oregon, though she may have seen an Old World porcupine in an Oregon zoo and mistook it for a local one. I don’t know. Porcupines can get up to 3 feet long, almost 4’ with the tail. Anyway, a basket of demerits to Mark for using the wrong porcupine to make his points.
Compared to prior weeks, this week was rather conventional, if unexciting. That will be taken as an insult by many (or most) readers, who keep hoping for more adventure. As a point of comparison, you might agree that the reprinted pet monkey story in the Mark Trail Vintage section on Comics Kingdom is little more than a maudlin collection of sappy clichés wrapped around improbable, if predictable, events. Hardly a ripping yarn from Dodd. Rivera likes to create her own clichés within storylines that favor outrageous characters, sometimes silly plots (like the current story), and satire that doesn’t always hit the mark. Some readers have contributed additional descriptions, such as lame, pointless, and infantile.
For the strips this week, we have Cherry taking Rusty on a day trip into downtown Portland for something fun to do. They did things Cherry thought were interesting, but Rusty was having none of it. In desperation, Cherry dragged Rusty into a comic store, though Rusty fretted over being made fun of for his weak super-hero knowledge. Wah! Wah! Anyway, two things occurred after they entered the store: one predictable and one not so predictable. You decide which is which!
One: Professor Bee Sharp suddenly popped into view from another room in the store, having overheard Rusty’s interest in the Seaside Specter. Not realizing who Cherry and Rusty are, Sharp offered Rusty some advice on trapping the Seaside Specter, then left.
Two: Mark called Cherry to inform her of the fire emergency at the lumber mill. For some reason, Cherry believes they must return immediately. Why? While you ponder the possible reasons, direct your attention to today’s nature discussion.
Reader Charlie Oliver, who has reported on Pokémon references in Mark Trail might appreciate the pseudo-Pokémon reference in today’s otherwise straight-forward presentation on the porcupine. Instead of flooding our senses with lots of disparate porcupine data, Mark focuses only on the quills and their function. At first, I thought this was being lazy, but I get it: Mark wants to inform pet owners of the potential danger and how to avoid a trip to the vet. Point made.
Professor Bee Sharp proves his own bona fides as a windbag. He didn’t even give Rusty much new to work with before he exited, stage left. Meanwhile, we learn there is a “Forest” emergency involving Mark. Clearly (to us) it must be the lumber mill fire.
But is this emergency really shocking? Emergencies involving nature are part of Mark’s bread and butter, right? So what is shocking? Shocking would be something odd, such as “Mark is in the middle of a rubber band emergency!” or “Mark is in a cake baking emergency on The Great British Bakeoff!”
So, just how are Cherry and Rusty going to hurry back when they took the light rail into town? By the time Cherry and Rusty return, I think the emergency will have burned itself out, unless it spreads to the surrounding forest and starts a huge conflagration that shows up on CNN. If that turns out to be the case, it would be a good time for Mark and Family to scram back to Lost Forest.
How many “stars” can one kid, such as Opie here, meet in one lifetime, without living in Los Angeles? Anyway, it is Earth Daytoday. Why isn’t Sharp at his event? I reckon that it must have been earlier in the day, since Cherry and Rusty only arrived here after a day of playing tourist in town. It has to be nearing nighttime, which nicely sets up a situation for The Professor to assist Rusty in his Spector Search.
So, I wonder if things will get ugly when Sharp finds out who this woman and child are and who they are staying with.
On the drawing front, you might have complaints, but I think the artwork this week has been a big improvement compared to the slashy, crowded, and sketchy stuff from last week. But it is even starker when the color is removed, which is how newspaper readers see it. I think the artwork would look more polished if Rivera drew the strip with the b&w newspapers in mind. But that doesn’t appear to fit the aesthetic that Rivera has in mind.
For some reason, Cherry thinks that being new in town means finding a graphic novel here must be somehow different than finding one in a bookstore in another city, such as New York, Chicago, or London.
Rivera and the staff at Books With Pictures must know each other well enough, since the owner of the real bookstore is really named Katie. However, I’m pretty sure that Professor B. Sharp (seen here channeling Genie from Peewee’s Playhouse) is not part of the staff. Why he just happens to be here at this particular time is another mystery that looks like an old TV sitcom cliché.
When we last saw this joker (Is he even a real professor? I’m thinking not.), he was fleeing from Cricket Bro’s ridiculous attempt to create NFTs using him and a goat.
Alas, Rivera likes her little ensemble of weirdo-troublemakers and is content to keep recycling them, rather than creating new opponents. But really, how hard is that? There was that shipping magnate and his staff, for example. They had the potential for some really good back-and-forth, but nothing came about it, and they just steamed away.
Yes, Cherry! Hurry up and take Master Rusty into a comic book store so he can buy a few items and maybe feel like this trip isn’t a complete waste. And maybe he’ll stop whining. Cherry once again chimes in with her homespun, tried-and-true wisdom. Ah, and there’s also a plug for comics, as well. I certainly can’t begrudge that sentiment! Viva comics!
With such a carefully drawn building, you know this has to be authentic. And it is: It is the Books with Pictures comic book store in Portland. And Rivera does a pretty good job of capturing the store and its setting. We’ll have to see if Rivera also attempts to capture some of the actual staff who work there. I hope so. From what I saw on the store’s website, they could fit right into the cast of supporting characters of this comic strip.
Special note to Rusty: Kid, from what I can see, you won’t need to worry about getting humiliated over your superhero nerd quotient in this particular comic book store! They cast a much wider net than just dudes in spandex.
Yeah, you figured it. My title was just clickbait. Anyway, continuing to whine and complain might be cathartic, but it doesn’t go very far. So, I have to, uh, play the cards I’ve been dealt. Not that I won’t play them as I see them (gawd, how many clichés can I drag out!?), but I can’t continue to let complaints dominate the blogosphere.
Okay. Cherry demonstrates what happens when a parent tries too hard to engage with a pre-teen child. What 12-year old boy could fail to appreciate a city tour of “must-see” locations? How about all of them!? Having helped raise four boys, I can attest to the folly we are seeing play out before our eyes.
Otherwise, Rusty’s nice little suspenseful mystery apparently wimped out in one night, and we are left with this vacuous rambling hokum. It is quite possible that this vacuous hokum is also meant to divert our attention, where we’ll be surprised by a sudden turn of events surrounding Rusty’s Specter Search. I hope!
Hayseed Cherry (remember the stereotypical trailer home?) must not get out of Lost Forest very often. She might even be surprised to learn that people use dinner knives for cutting their food, not for eating it. Okay, maybe she’s just trying to get Rusty excited for the excursion, because he sure looks like he’d rather be somewhere else.
We might be destined for a week of strips showing Cherry and Russ—er, Rusty—visiting Portland. Like the class of delinquents Sidney Poitier hustled into the Victoria & Albert Museum in To Sir With Love, will we get a montage of Cherry and Rusty eyeballing old statues, scratching their heads at public art, and searching for the “Women and Women First” bookstore from the Portlandia TV show? Or will Rusty discover the Seaside Spector selling coffee in a Starbuck’s (“Heck, kid. Even cryptids have to earn a living, you know.”)? Buckle your lazy-boy seatbelts, people. The train is ready to pull out!
Once again, a week filled with suspense, drama, and action!
Wait, sorry. I was thinking of the VintagePhantom comic strip posted on ComicsKingdom, not the current Mark Trail adventure. I’m certainly not thinking of that stupid pet monkey adventure in the Vintage Mark Trail reprints. either.
While “the little woman and the brat” were left behind, The Four and a Half Men (Isn’t Mark more than just one man?) drove out to a bird/animal rescue center to which the Bird-Brain Brothers provide minor financial support. Presumably this support is to put a smiley face on their NFT business. They also hope the trip will distract Mark into thinking they’re good guys at heart and not trying to fleece Happy Trail or screw over his business.
But is Mark getting himself involved in something that is not really his business? And isn’t he supposed to be on a family vacation? No wonder he left Cherry behind!
Anyway, the only other notable event of the week is that the secret lumber mill Jadsen owns appears to be on fire and he doesn’t know how to respond to it. So, he turned to Mark for advice. I think Rivera has the right slant on NFT crackpots.
Enjoy today’s Sunday nature talk and have a nice Easter, however you observe it.
Dang! I think a beaver must have eaten my Easter basket, because I can’t find it anywhere!
More cutsey-cutsey nonsense. And what kind of recovery center is this, anyway? Floor-to-ceiling bird cages line each wall of an otherwise empty room. Is that even good for the birds? Is there even any ventilation in there? PHEW!
As for the story, another PHEW! Plus some very questionable artwork, too. I could swear this was getting drawn by two different people. Panel 3 barely qualifies as a sketch. I just don’t get it.
And what kind of stupid question is that in panel 4, anyway: What do you do when a lumber mill catches fire? Gee, I dunno, dudes. Maybe you tell your employees to get the hell out of the mill! Didn’t you implement any safety procedures? Don’t you get inspected by the State, or is this some kind of illegal mill? And what about safety features, such as fire hoses, water sprinklers, or an automatic fire alarm to the fire department? Do you let your employees grill their lunch in the mill?
“Four tablets and computers”? Last I looked, tablets are computers. In any event, a handful of computers is small beer; hardly what I would call a “generous gift”, unless Mabel has a yearly budget of about $10K. One would think that the boys would provide seed money for supplies, facilities, and staff. Now, all that would be generous!
Also, what is this “department” Mabel refers to in panel 2? I was under the impression this was an autonomous NPO of some sort. In any event, what’s Mark’s beef, anyway? Aside from the NFT scam—which does not appear to be illegal—what have the Brothers done? And isn’t Cricket Bro already a millionaire in his own right? Mind your own bees-wax, Mister!
Mark, just go back, pick up your family, and take your damned vacation! Quit looking for imaginary monsters; that’s Rusty’s job.
The Daily Trail 