Well, say hello and goodbye to that “toad on the road”, in case it gets run over by Cherry in her pickup truck on the way home (okay, bullfrog doesn’t rhyme with road, so sue me!). I reckon Happy Trail can also say “Aloha!” to his retirement savings he’s been sending to his phony heartthrob. Perhaps the best thing that Mark can do at this point is call his dad or drive down there and convince him that he is being scammed once again.

Poor Happy Trail: once a nature journalist—like his son—uncovering fraud, corruption, greed, and the poaching of natural resources; yet now, he is a repeat victim of fraud.

I’m genuinely interested in what else Mark thinks he can do, except something drastic, like running a sting operation on the crook to possibly recover some of the money or at least get the person arrested … assuming the person is in the US or a friendly country that is willing to cooperate. That kind of lone wolf activity might work in the movies and comic strips, but it would take the resources of the FBI to do it in real life.

Several people have referenced the currently ending story in Mary Worth that features the same theme: An old widower got scammed by a fake online romantic interest, resulting in the loss of a pile of money. I haven’t kept up on Mary Worth for some time, so I completely missed it. But it is common for writers and artists to inspire each other, sometimes with deliberate acknowledgement. The Mary Worth story began back on February 23rd. Given that cartoonists work weeks and even months in advance, it is possible that Jules Rivera saw the start of the Harvey Hart storyline and was inspired to craft this story for Mark. I guess if Happy Trail’s girlfriend is also named Trixie we’ll know for certain!