A corny horror B-movie sounds like a good choice for a movie night. Brava, Rivera! I guess Rivera wanted to avoid a direct link to the universally panned 1991 horror flick, “The Malibu Beach Vampires”, a movie that might have ended the night before the first reel ended.
As for this story, we appear to be at the start of the standard “Mark Trail Family Time”, that period in between adventures where we sometimes learn about the aftermath of the just-concluded story.
No doubt, it would likely violate the Comics Common Code of Consistency if Robbie changed his spots and became fast friends with Rusty. That would be as likely as Mark changing his shirt. Come to think of it, Rusty never changes his clothes, either. But Cherry does, a lot. What’s with that?
This past week started out with the possibility that Cherry and Violet would have a “head-to-head” over Violet’s need to find fault with Cherry’s work at the end of a long work day. Mundane, perhaps, but the possibility of some rethinking of Cherry’s position or employment could have been the focus this week.
Instead, the compost project resurfaced through the plot device of Violet discovering a bear rummaging through the new compost bins that Cherry just installed. Seems they were not very secure and Violet had secretly dumped her lunchtime chicken bones in the compost. The bear being a bear, it sniffed out the bones and commenced its nighttime snacking.
While the two gals were standing mere feet away watching the bear, Cherry came up with a from-out-of-nowhere solution of grabbing an airhorn from out of her truck (part of her emergency supplies, she claimed). The sound drove the bear off. Cherry resolved to get better locks for the bins and the two gals resolved that bears were easier to deal with then men. I’m not sure that joke was funny when it used to be told the other way around.
The lack of any real drama or danger in the storyline was a big disappointment. It is not unique, as Rivera seems to treat every situation as if she is writing for Public Television kid shows. This situation was underscored by some really inconsistent drawing. It was almost a perfect storm of indifference or ineptitude. There is more to this than a mere difference in artistic expression.
As is common, Jules Rivera links the Sunday nature strip to the current story. But since this topic turned out to be the main draw this week, there is little new. Nevertheless, Rivera did cover some additional bear-discouragement techniques, providing a few more helpful tips.
Since this is my blog and I’m spending the weekend with my wife’s siblings, I’m giving a shoutout to Paul & Lisa, Tom & Diane, John, Sue & Steve, and Mark.
Okay, back to business. Having scared off the bear with an air horn, Cherry and Violet bond over their mutual frustrations of dealing with the opposite sex, speaking strictly from a conventional, binary point of view, of course.
Some days there is little to say. This is one of those days. Rivera is just padding out the storyline the same way a TV drama or comedy might have a light-hearted epilog. The overriding question for us all, I’m sure, is whether this story will continue in order to cover Cherry’s Compost Conference. But unless Rivera has something plotted to take place during the conference, it’s likely we’ll only learn about it post factum. This follows the normal convention found in pre-Rivera Mark Trail.
Stand back?! Shouldn’t Cherry have said “Violet, let’s both get in the truck before the bear runs out of chicken bones!” Thenshe could have employed her emergency air horn (maybe it’s for slow drivers in the left lane?). Heck, maybe Cherry could have just flashed her brights and honked several times.
Okay, Cherry has a point: Meat sources attract various animals, even bears. Bad news! But Cherry can also be blamed for not taking better measures to reduce animal attacks, such as locking down the bins, fencing them off, or even possibly making more balanced mixes of compost material to minimize smells. Will this point of contention (or one like it) come out in the story this week?
Sure, we can criticize Rivera for not appearing to know about these things, but that might not be the case. We must consider this situation from the viewpoint of plot. It was clear early on that Violet’s unusual fried chicken binging was emphasized for a reason; and that reason was to enable this conflict between the two women and the composting project. Stories need conflict.
This bear-attacks-compost plot device reminds me of Mark’s earlier dealing with a bear snacking in unsecured garbage bins at a mountain retreat site (see the strips for March 17 and 18, 2023 in the “Bear Necessity” adventure).
Otherwise, I’m waiting to see Cherry’s fluency in “Bear-speak.” And that may be a fact, as many of us should recall seeing (in reprint) early strips (April 1946) by Ed Dodd of Cherry Davis playing with her pet bear, only to have Mark arrive on scene thinking she needs to be saved.
An advisory notice: I am not a professional comic artist critic, though I play one on the Internet.
Well, just when I thought we would have some decent continuity with Cherry’s story, we get today’s load, uh, upload. Hoo-boy, this is another big disappoint. Go ahead, zoom in on panels 1 and 3 (for example) and tell me what you see. I’ll wait … As much as Rivera has turned out some good art over her nearly 4 years drawing and writing the strip, she has also posted her share of dreck. Like today. Again, I don’t know why, but there it is.
Is Rivera just trying to see how much she can get away with? Does her Syndicate not even care? I’m almost to the point where I’d just as soon put this strip out to pasture and start following Garfield. And you all know how much I just loveGarfield.
The Daily Trail is probably the only online daily review of Mark Trail. Well-written sites such as Comics Curmudgeon and Joseph Nebus only cover the strip periodically, if very amusingly. This site’s creator, Dennis Williams, carved out a good niche for himself by focusing on just one strip and maintaining a nearly-daily schedule for some seven years. You can go check out the archives here and enjoy his writing.
Yes, I get discouraged with the strip, as you all do. I wonder how much longer I can keep hoping for improvements. How much longer can I keep thinking of new things to say and avoid becoming just another snarker, like those cats over at Comics Kingdom. Well, it’s fine and fun to write snarky comments, but focusing solely on that was never my intention.
In my naiveté, I thought Rivera would settle down and take this strip seriously, like her predecessors did; like I do. There is a possibility that Rivera does take this seriously and deliberately writes and draws this strip to make some kind of a point; whatever that is. I know several long-time followers of The Daily Trail moved on after Rivera took over. Shy of something dramatic happening, those former readers aren’t likely coming back. In any event, I’m just trying to work through all of this, while being transparent, as is our current social virtue. This isn’t “good bye and thanks for the fish“, but I am raising a flag. All comments appreciated.
While Cherry poses for a re-do of “American Gothic”, Violet meets the biggest fan of compost bins. So caught off guard is she that her Inner English slips out. Panel 3 echoes a memory of regular reader “Downpuppy” (you’ll have to look at the June 19th comments for the relevance here). And, as a follow-up to my response to a comment by “be ware of eve hill” yesterday, it looks like Rivera managed to tie this sequence back into the compost story, which is one reason this post is short. Well, that, and I have to prepare for my Italian book club session tomorrow.
Anyway, there’s a chance for some drama and danger here. How will Rivera handle it? Get your guesses in early!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
I know there are over 3000 species of spiders. I’m not sure what this one is, but I’m glad that, for once, the “animal of the day” isn’t staring or smirking at us. That can’t be said for Cherry, who seems to have taken on the cynical smugness of Garfield.
So, a week is over and we’re off to a rousing mundane start (oh, I can be cynical, as well). But we’ll have to wait. Unless Rivera has changed up her priorities, it means that we return to Mark on Monday, as he gets involved in Rusty’s revenge school science project.
Okay, I get it: Cherry wants her own “Sunday Nature Chat”, like Mark. There’s only one Sunday a week and it belongs to Mark, so Cherry must have decided to create her own version by spending almost the entire week discussing the benefits of composting. Too bad Cherry goes on like a kid delivering her science project in school. No wonder Jeanette was fading fast. Luckily, Cherry finally got the point in panel 4. If this story doesn’t pick up soon, lots of eyes are going to start glazing over.
Whoa, some of these faces look like somebody was playing around with a police identikit and wasn’t too careful about matching up the features. Although I thought composting was fairly well known, apparently most of the inhabitants of Lost Forest are not aware. So it looks like we’re going to have a composting morality tale, after all.
How will Cherry encourage more (if any) composting by the denizens of Lost Forest? Maybe the citizens can meet at the local landfill and grab a bunch of organic matter to start their compositing at home. That would help lighten the landfill load, as Cherry put it. But more importantly, it could help reduce the manufacture of methane gas caused by the landfill.
I’m almost certain we’ll see Honest Ernest show up again, possibly as the owner of the local trash collection business, who will resent having citizens save their organic trash, thus robbing him of business.
So, Cherry wants to score some free chum for her composter, eh? But why does she think composting is “a little weird”? It’s been around for about as long as humans have been farming. And, along with recycling, it’s commonplace these days. I hope this isn’t Cherry’s latest crusade <yawn!>.
From the first, I had high hopes for Cherry’s promotion in the Trailverse to “alternate story protagonist.” Her increased facetime is a significant addition to the Mark Trail strip. In the past, Cherry has (literally) fought for the protection and promotion of honey bees, pressured people to stop using harmful chemicals on lawns, warned against the environmental effects of the overuse of concrete pavement, and even gone to bat for bats.
But it seems her stories continue to get sillier and less meaningful. This is ironic, given Rivera’s own socio-political leanings. But Cherry’s last “adventure” was chasing a cat. Ah well, let’s hope something interesting happens in this story.
The Daily Trail 