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When the going gets rough, the rough get Mark Trail!

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Speak and ye shall find! Looks like Mark showed up pretty fast, even if it is just via an image. How did Diana wind up with Mark’s face and name that easily? As an experiment, I typed in just what she said in panel 2 and got a search list that included the DNR and numerous area private organizations that deal with caves, sinkholes, woods, and the like. No specific individuals, no single “best expert” around here. Then again, Lost Forest is a small enclave, so maybe Mark is the only resource available. I’d want to look closely at Diana’s search results to see whether the listing is really some kind of “Ad” that Mark paid for to get top search results.

And certainly, this was all rather convenient. As we saw at the beginning of the month, Mark was preparing for helping in cave crises by watching cave disaster videos. And now we have people in trouble at a local cave. It’s a coincidence all too common in TV shows. It’s like I was home studying the history of the French guillotine, when suddenly a friend calls to invite me to come watch a documentary on the French Revolution. Wow! I’m so ready!! Well, I might experiment with this idea: I’m going to watch some videos about rich people and wait for somebody to drop by with a very large cashier’s check.

Getting back to our story, I noticed that in the midst of the emergency, nobody seems to be filming anymore! But this is exactly the kind of drama and excitement that Cricket Bro is looking for! Diana was supposed to have her video camera set up. Boy, won’t Cricket Bro be mad if none of this is recorded!?

It didn’t take very long for the expected disaster to occur!

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How typical. I go to the State Fair and the expected cave disaster begins in Mark Trail. Figures. Well, the weather today was really nice, though it did get pretty warm, especially when you are in the sun a lot, moving through crowds of people who deliberately walk slower than you or even stop in front of you! The nerve! Yes, the lines were long, and the food was expensive. What did I expect, right? But at least it wasn’t Orlando.

So, Cricket Bro starts bragging and then falls through the cave floor, huh? Apparently, the flooring at this level is not rock, but some kind of porous earth. But not porous enough for Cricket Bro to fall completely through, yet still leave a lot of cracks on the surface. Now, recently flowing water or even underground water could weaken the ground, especially if there is a cavern or space below the floor. And the ground does have that “recently held water” clay look to it. Or maybe a cave cryptid is holding onto Cricket Bro.

Anyway, I have some questions:

  1. How much of Cricket Bro’s calamity is getting filmed? It appears Crypto Bro (Jadsen) had been filming, but stopped by panel 3. Not sure what Diana is doing, though she is facing away from the crisis and still wearing her trademark shades. Very strange.
  2. Why does Jadsen refer to his brother as “Cricket Bro”, instead of his real name, Rob? Maybe once a nickname gets implanted, it’s hard to stop using it, even among family members.
  3. How long will it be before Mark finally shows up?

Can’t wait for Saturday’s strip!

“We’ll be back on track after a word from our sponsor …us!”

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Is that a camera with a telephoto lens in Diana Dagger’s hands? I seem to recall she showed up with a video camera and tripod, which we saw back on August 15 and then again in silhouette this past Monday. Well, I reckon she can have brought in both, right? Might just be my own confusion. But she’ll have a great view of the expected flood as it washes the Goofball Bros into the bottom of the cave. If anybody is expecting real tragedy here, forget it. This all parody and farce. About the only thing that ever happens is somebody breaks a leg or an arm. Even neglected gorillas just get heat stroke, but then recover and get placed in nice homes.

Art Dept. For some reason, Jules Rivera seems to be laying down thicker lines here, especially in panel 1. Given Rivera’s simplified style, I think the thicker lines actually work better, giving the figures more presence and a stronger sense of mass. Relatively speaking, that is. It’s a contrast to panel 3, which looks more like the drawing Rivera normally relies on. Even the lines in the cave have a different feel between the panels.

Did Diana Daggers read Dante’s “Inferno”?

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Today’s installment does little more than establish Diana Dagger’s operational position within this cave exploration group. She certainly doesn’t want to risk a one-way trip to the Underworld. Surprisingly, Jadsen (aka, Crypto Bro) sticks up for her! (For those of you who are new here—and that’s an optimistic thought!—Cricket Bro and Crypto Bro are brothers and are Jules Rivera’s take on the rich, egotistical, corrupt Silicon Valley types.)

BTW, the answer to yesterday’s quiz:  Well, I was probably being a bit unfair to you all. Unless you happen to be a reader of 19th century English Lit, especially stories of a humorous bent, you would not catch my pun (My wife would simply say I’m once again showing off or being snooty). The title to yesterday’s post (“Three schmucks in a cave, to say nothing of the frog”) is a spoof on the book title “Three Men in a Boat, to say nothing of the dog,” by Jerome K. Jerome. It was a very popular book with the public in late 19th century England. Its humor and writing falls somewhat flat and slow by today’s standards.

The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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It’s been a quiet week here in Lake Woebegon … uh, skip that. I got sidetracked. It’s recycle week here in Mark Trail. In her attempt to be the Complete Eco Cartoonist, Jules Rivera is recycling one of her earlier stories, rather than cutting down more virgin plotlines. Look, if Rivera can keep recycling opponents, why not stories, as well? Elrod did it, too!

We returned this past week to Lost Forest, where we found Cherry doing spade work at the Sunny Soleil Society. Violet Cheshire approached her with a request. Violet was concerned with strange shrieks coming from the music hall where she plans on holding another music festival sometime soon. They discovered that bats are in the building once again! While Cherry seemed to recall the similar event from a few years ago, it’s not clear that Violet did. In fact, that earlier event was never specifically brought up for discussion. For my own part, I was sure this lead-up was just one of Rivera’s jokes on her readers. I was wrong.

When Cherry investigated the music hall, she discovered that a bat population was housed in the upper area and now contained a bunch of bat parents and their babies. Violet wanted them removed immediately, but Cherry pointed out that the law forbids them doing so until the youngins are capable of going out on their own. This sent Violet into conniptions at the thought she might have to reschedule the concert. Well, it’s a valid concern, especially if Violet has already sent out invitations, printed posters, and uploaded notices on Fakebook and BikBok. But we may have to wait a few weeks to learn more, if Rivera holds to the normal story ratio of two weeks of Mark to one week of Cherry. Perhaps Cherry should approach King Features for her own comic strip!

Mark is going “all in” on caves! But why is Mark standing in front of water? Not all caves have underground streams. Perhaps this is a visual reminder of Cricket Bro’s current illegal cave visit that Mark is about to get sucked into. Good thing Mark has the proper gear!

Say, does Mark buy homes on the side? He reminds me of a billboard I see. (panel 2)