Poor Rusty, having to see his father act like boys his own age. And it’s not the first time, of course. I fear what he may be like when he grows up. It’s common for boys growing up to oppose their fathers, so maybe Rusty would become a hedge fund manager or insurance salesman. Or he could become a full-time bounty hunter with a Reality TV show for publicity. “What’s that? It’s already been done, you say?” Okay, salesman it is.
I wonder if Jules Rivera has ever seen any of the old b&w episodes of “Sergeant Preston of the Yukon”, which always ended with a close-up of the good sergeant kneeling beside his lead sled dog, Yukon King, and stating something like “Well, King,looks like this case is closed.”
But is it? Today’s installment displays the usual characteristics for the end of one of Mark’s stories, and … wait a minute: This was supposed to be Rusty’s story! Will we go back to Rusty and his revenge science project or has Mark, once again, hijacked Rusty’s adventure for his own glory?
Anyway, a note to Rivera: I believe the convention is that the wink goes on the eye closest to the person (or dog) you are winking at. Otherwise, they might miss it.
Well, I haven’t received a Cease and Desist letter from Rivera’s syndicate (yet), so I reckon I’m safe to continue blogging. So, back to the story…
…and it’s from there we go to …just about anywhere else. Yuck! You know, those three dudes (panel 1) almostdo match the classic 3 Stooges. And I’m sure glad that Rivera decided to label the bat that Ernest now wields with the word “Block” in panel 2, after apparently giving the sledge hammer back to Curly.
But wait! Shouldn’t the label on the bat be something like “HIT” or “BREAK BONE”? I believe that when a bat hits an arm, that sound is not “Block.” I just wonder how this incident will play out with Cherry and Violet, once they hear the news.
What I want to know is, where does Ranger Shaw take on the Grungey Boys as Rivera touted in panel 1? Was he disguised as Andy? Oh, Rivera might mean those guys at the top of the hill who just showed up in panel 3. Yeah, they were a big help. Maybe they’ll arrest Mark, too, for impersonating a warden.
I’ve read posts from Rivera that imply she doesn’t make a lot of money from this strip. Of course, the main way to earn more money is to increase readership by getting into more newspapers and generating additional financial streams. To do that, Mark Trail has to appeal to more readers. Rivera’s current strategy does not seem to be paying off. I’m going to suggest that Rivera change her approach in a few ways to give some respect back to Mark Trail and maybe put more bucks into her bank:
Eliminate the continual self-mocking and corniness. A little goes a long way and their novelty wore off long ago.
Put more effort into the drawing. That is, take it more seriously. Rivera’s earliest work was very good.
Put more realistic drama and danger into the strip. Make the stories real adventures. If Rivera wants to employ a light touch here and there, that’s fine. It need not always be deadly serious. Borrow and adapt plots from good stories. It’s a common practice among writers.
Mark does not need to return to his goody-two shoes persona. If Rivera wishes to continue his eco-vigilante profile, there needs to be some offsets, whether they be moral conflicts Mark has to work through or more legal consequences. There have been a few such instances in the past, and I encourage her to make those consequences more consequential.
Rivera has made numerous improvements to the strip, and I have highlighted them many times. But they get pushed aside by the strip’s failings. With regard to the drawing, there is no reason to return to the old-school illustration style of Ed Dodd (as many Trailheads would like), nor mirror the kind of lifeless drawing seen in some contemporary soap opera strips. Rivera’s original drawing style (i.e. September 2020) had plenty of naturalism—even if it was stylized—and an appealing, contemporary edge to it.
I suppose that if I was taking this seriously, I’d chastise Mark for putting himself in this position through his bombastic and pointless machismo. I reckon he decided that trying to reason with these stooges was not worth it. Well, how did that strategy work out, Mark? And where the heck did Ranger Shaw run away to, anyway?
Let’s face it, Mark has no authority in Lost Forest to stop anything or anyone. Yet once again, Mark takes the law into his own hands. That is, Jules Rivera once again paints Mark as an impulsive eco-vigilante, more ready to duke it out than help educate and reform.
The least Mark can do is hand out copies of his Sunday nature talks before using his fists.
Art Dept. However, I am taking it seriously, up to a point. Looking more closely, it’s easy to see how the art has deteriorated just over the past several days. Panel 2 and Panel 3 are hard to view for any length of time. Mark’s face still looks like he’s recovering from the metaphorical drubbing I used to describe him yesterday. And panel 3 is just bad, the kind of scribbling that one would see in public school.
The question that keeps haunting me is whether Rivera is drawing like this deliberately to parody the strip. I forget which reader it was who commented on the pointless narration boxes Rivera likes to use (Mark? Downpuppy? Daniel?), but it’s hard to find a more pointless example; as pointless as that “GRIP!” sound effect. Let’s hope they beat the crap out of Trail. Maybe he will learn a lesson or two.
“Scummy boys”? That’s telling them, Mark! Why bother with that superior brain Rivera gave you when you can hurl insults? And what happened to your concern about Rusty’s safety or the threats to your family? Oh yeah, the trees.
To be fair, Mark does soften his approach after panel 1. Here is where Mark could sympathize with their frustrations but emphasize the need to haul the objects away after smashing them. Will he do that or continue to pontificate, infuriating these dudes even more? Still, they are not poachers or arsonists, just frustrated, dumb schmucks. They need education, not vilification.
Time to set an example, Mark. And Rusty is watching you.
Art Dept. Rivera continues to rely on lazy graphics by pasting artifacts, will-nilly, across the ground without regard to perspective or terrain. The effect is more like an elementary school drawing. I generally like Mark’s depiction in panel 1. It’s a strong image due to its closeness and diagonal composition. However, there are problems with the head. Mainly, his face looks like it met Tyson Fury’s two fists of justice and didn’t go away happy.
I had a clever metaphor to use in today’s review, but I seem to have misplaced it. If you find it, please let me know.
After being discovered by Honest Ernest at the site of the broken office equipment in Lost Forest, Rusty and Andy had to confront a trio of angry workers holding bats and a sledge hammer. He was rightfully scared. As the trio confessed, they were destroying office equipment in order to work off their anger over their bosses. But they didn’t want anybody to know who they were.
Honest Ernest, Connor (the camper), and an unnamed dude gave Rusty the willies. There was a lot of repetitious dialog throughout the week, as if each day was recreating the previous day’s scene. Honest Ernest ultimately threatened Rusty and his family if he snitched on them. But in true “action movie” fashion, Mark made a timely surprise appearance.
Seems Mark heard Ernest’s threat and countered with his own. Maybe he was channeling Rambo at this point. Lacking only Rambo’s twin machine guns, all Mark could hold against these guys was his “two fists o’ justice.” I commented yesterday about Rivera’s continued use of this phrase, more as parody than anything else. Anyway, can’t wait for Monday? Well, relax today with Sunday!
It is truly amazing how many people foolishly approach wild animals such as moose, bears, and bison for the sake of a photograph or just to pet them. Apparently, the Yellowstone herd are the only bison tracing a pure, direct ancestry back to their prehistoric ancestors. Oh, Rivera accidentally wrote “late 1900s” for the time of their near extinction. It was the late 1800s.
Of course, Cartoon Hero-Man shows up at the nick of time. At least, that’s how I think Rivera imagines this particular aspect of Mark Trail. Mark makes a melodramatic, tough-guy “Arnold” appearance, wearing the same hunting vest as Connor, both items left over from Mark’s misrun fishing survival school (“For Men Only”).
Pre-Rivera Mark Trail felt a moral obligation to duke it out now and then, but without announcing it to the victim, or bragging about it. Now, Mark (again) spouts this macho cliché that was already trite when only the strip’s critics were saying it. That is the point, I think. Rivera can only treat this as parody. In so doing, Rivera robs the story of virtually any actual suspense and drama. As most readers probably agree, she is not really interested in genuine drama, anyway. But maybe this is what passes for drama in an age of “reality” TV shows such as “Big Brother”, “Survivor”, and “Race to Survive.”
Art Dept. A visual aspect of Rivera minimizing (or avoiding) “drama” can be seen in panel3. Up to this point, the difference in height between Honest Ernest and Rusty has supported Ernest’s dominating personality. But in panel 3, Rusty is nearly at eye level with Ernest. If there was a time when the height difference could have been used to really amplify Ernest’s threat, this was it. One obvious compositional solution would have been to show Rusty’s head just poking up from the lower corner, looking up at Ernest, just as Ernest would then be looking down. Another solution could be to show Ernest in full-face, looking down at “us”, as if we were Rusty. A variation of that scenario would have Rusty’s back to us, standing in silhouette, facing a taller Honest Ernest (not in silhouette) looking down at Rusty as he makes his threat.
Another day, another daily. Rivera continues to recycle the same story elements all week, as if one need only catch a single day to stay on top of the story. I suppose Rivera is stretching this out to accommodate her usual two-week Saturday switch-over.
But why not fill out the week with some variety? For example, the Grungey Boys could have asked Rusty if he’d like to take a swat at the fax. What kid can resist destroying things with a bat?
But then Rusty would become implicated in this illicit activity, making it very difficult for him to rat these guys out to Mark. Ooh! I think that is the kind of blackmail that Honest Ernest could get behind. It’s both a kind of revenge on Mark and Cherry, as well as protection for his group.
Well, this was worth sticking around for, right!?! I mean, so much progress was made in the story today that . . ., uh, I mean that it is possible to offer a post-structural analysis of an underlying, Marxist duality that leads us to surmise a progress of hierarchical society based on hexametric poetry and deterministic opposition to logic. Right!?!
Hmm, well, can we intellectually appreciate the triangular arrangement of figures in panel 1 reflecting a simple, if popular, compositional device in painting that goes back to at least 15th century Europe? Hey, some of you must have taken an art history course in the past.
Well, can we at least recognize the repetitions and overlaps in the strip over the past several days as echoes of the chant-like repetitions found in the music of Philip Glass?
Perhaps in the end, all I can really state is “Long Live the Three Stooges!”
(Tuesday) Hmm, wouldn’t Honest Ernest refer to Rusty more naturally as “Cherry Trail’s kid”? Well, I reckon he’s just an old-school sexist. But speaking of old-school, I’ve made references to Harold Gray’s Little Orphan Annie in the past with regard to writing and to Gray’s inking to create atmosphere. Maybe Rivera noticed, as Andy has taken to imitating the bark of Annie’s dog, Sandy. Why? Maybe it’s because Mark Trail is a vintage, old-school strip and Rivera is riffing on that status.
(Wednesday) Honest Ernest seems to actually be “honest” about his group’s intentions and tells Rusty just what’s going on. Then he turns the tables on Rusty. Will Rusty also be as forthright in his response?
This is fine. Rivera returns Rusty’s story to the foreground in order to move it along. In spite of the appearance of these three dudes, there is nothing actually dangerous here, except as it seems in Rusty’s mind. So it is “age appropriate” in its content. The fact that the story has wandered a bit from Rusty’s original intention to seek revenge on Robbie is also a normal plot device. Stories often evolve from what they originally seem to be about. One problem here is that Mark’s own stories too often seem to have a similar level of danger and drama as Rusty’s. And we expect more.
Well, patient readers, my two-week family visit is ending, and I fly home on Tuesday. Therefore, Tuesday’s post will be late.
The potential for danger might be more acceptable if we didn’t already know that Honest Ernest is a blowhard and Connor is a coward. As for the third guy, he doesn’t look especially threatening. Of course, to a twelve-year-old, three guys waving blunt instruments has to be scary. Andy’s a big help.
Art Dept. Yeah, I also noticed a change in the color scheme. Perhaps they used a different colorist at the syndicate. We’ll see if this is an anomaly or a change of direction.
Somehow, Honest Ernest’s mutual admiration demolition lovefest doesn’t create a lot of drama. But more importantly, how did Andy suddenly get to be so small?
I’m not seeing anything specifically bad here, aside from theft and illegal dumping. Not that they are minor issues; but the destructive actions of these three dudes is nothing to be alarmed over. Better the smashing of a fax machine than a person or animal.
Why they are doing this at all is not clear. They don’t seem to be angry about being displaced in their jobs, so we can’t call them modern-day luddites.
Now, why they want to destroy equipment in the woods is a psychological issue for trained medical personnel to deal with. They could as easily destroy equipment in their own back yards. So maybe this sidebar story ends with Ranger Shaw citing them for illegal dumping and the police arresting them for petty theft.
Then maybe we can get back to Rusty’s school fair project, unless this is just another ploy by Rivera to present Rusty as worthy of his own adventure, only to have it taken away by his father.
Rivera certainly did throw us an interesting curve this time. I recognize Honest Ernest. Is that Afro-haired dude in the middle the annoying kvetch, Connor? He does look familiar, but I forget where. I can’t place the man with the yellow hat, but I’ll wager he doesn’t have a pet monkey named Curious George.
The idea of smashing objects is a well-known technique for temporary relief of anxiety. It’s certainly possible that these dudes are doing this out of some mutually acknowledged need to displace their anger. Or it could be they just enjoy taking (or stealing) things and destroying them. Then leaving them behind as litter in the forest. Based on the existing litter, these boys have some long-standing anger issues to resolve.
But “Grungey Boys”!?! They don’t seem to fit what is called “grunge boy aesthetic” based on their attire. I’m willing to admit to being wrong on that assessment, but I don’t think so.
Andy certainly has that “fashion runway walk” mastered in panel 3, though it’s unusual for a Saint Bernard to have such long, slim limbs. Perhaps the Trails had Andy’s legs shaved for the summer. Or maybe Rivera was looking at Marmaduke’s character reference sheet by mistake.
You know, my mindful readers, I have a notion that Rivera’s stories could be better if she didn’t go out of her way to telegraph upcoming events in such obvious ways, as in panel 3. Now, Rivera could be throwing us a curve, where Robbie does not suddenly pop into the picture, but Mark and Ranger Shaw do.
But what would be the outcome if Robbie does show up? I mean, Rusty does have a shovel. And Andy.
Why is Mark yelling at Ranger Shaw? It’s not as if Ranger Shaw wouldn’t be knowledgeable on this topic (much less guilty). But for some reason, Rivera chooses to depict our finger-pointing Mark as some kind of Sunday Service “Elmer Gantry”, laying into the laity for their sins, while simultaneously stroking their guilty consciences for larger tithes. In any event, Mark not only speaks melodramatically, but he looks a bit overly dramatic, as well.
Art Dept. And speaking of dramatic, it’s nice to see that Rivera still remembers how to move beyond the all-to-common “tv screen” viewpoint in her panels to give us a bird’s eye look from above (panel 3). At least from that angle, the objects Rivera scatters across the grass look more “normal” than their appearances in the other panels. But, maybe that’s not the point at all.
Some primitive graphics today, though that is nothing new. It is difficult to not agree with others that Rivera is just dashing this stuff off in between surfing outings. Wait, I have done that! One exception is Mark’s depiction in panel 3. That is actually well drawn and defined, though it makes Ranger Shaw’s image look even more unfinished. Rivera has a background in storyboarding—that is, a sequential graphic layout for a story in its design stage. So it strikes me as odd that we have seen several dialog and event revisions in this adventure.
Today, we have Mark in panel 3 harshly questioning Ranger Shaw about his awareness of activity in this part of Lost Forest. Yet, Mark has been acting this week as if Ranger Shaw was not aware of this junk. Why isn’t Ranger Shaw taking control here? He is the one with authority to investigate, not Mark.
To emphasize Mark’s environmental psychic ability to ferret out wrongdoing, Rivera has put Ranger Shaw into the harsh lights (notice the bright background in panel 4) with his self-incriminating response and clammy face. Rivera’s overtly finger-pointing comment does nothing to expand on what has already been shown. And anyway, shouldn’t that have been Mark’s response?
Hold the phone! You can’t change the story mid-stream, Rivera. This flashback does not resemble anything published to date. So fine, Mister Smug casually admits to Rusty’s active involvement with Robbie, as a fake news flashback shows Mark lording it over his kid, actually shoveling. What’s the point of this apparent revisionism?
Finally, what else should Rusty have learned? Keep your dad out of your business.
Ranger Shaw on the scene. Is he surprised by the junk on the ground or the site of a raccoon milling about in the daytime? After all, there is no food here to attract its attention. Still, it isn’t unheard of. But I wonder if Mark considers Ranger Shaw a little slow on the uptake. In panel 2, Mark points out the obvious: “Rusty and I came uponthis dumping ground in the woods.” Well, of course it’s in the woods! That’s where they are! Maybe the problem is with Mark, and that would explain the dubious look on Ranger Shaw’s face. At least the story is progressing.
Art Dept. Yes, it must be Flat Day in Lost Forest. But it’s not quite as severe as Edwin Abbott’s book, Flatland, where everybody and thing is a 2D geometric shape. Here, everything and everyone is depicted as if they are either paper cutouts or were pressed with a hot clothes iron. Even the raccoon suffers: Its very heavy outline suggests a “cutout” that belies any volume in its body. In fact, there is virtually no attempt at giving volume to anything else. Why? The only obvious answer is not incompetence so much as stylistic choice. It’s not a unique approach, but it can be jarring. And it conflicts with Rivera’s drawings of the same location in last week’s strips. This visual discomfort is compounded by other oddities, such as Mark’s sideways mouth in panel 3.
I’ve mentioned this “feature” before, and it just looks wrong: In addition to the facing of the mouth, which almost looks like it is in profile (compare with panel 2), its vertical alignment is also off-centered. You could propose that Mark is expressing a different emotion that requires the new mouth shape, but the rest of the head doesn’t seem to conform. As for Mark’s beard, don’t get me started.
This was mostly a week of exclamations, excuses, and e-waste. We returned to Rusty’s e-waste revenge adventure where he led Mark to the not-so-secret location in Lost Forest where he and Robbie buried the broken controllers. That Rusty, himself, was also a participant in burying the game controllers that he wanted to use as a way of getting back at Robbie was certainly a surprise! The irony escaped Mark and Rusty, but not this Trailblazer.
Upon arriving at the location, Rusty and Mark discovered the area was full of discarded monitors, controllers, chairs, and other knickknacks that Jules Rivera casually pasted on top of the grass. I reckon this secret location became well known to people who like to dump electronics in the woods. That’s really not so unusual: As a kid, I came across stoves, refrigerators, and mattresses dumped in the woods where I lived.
Although many references were made to things “buried,” everything was lying on the surface and no digging seems to have taken place. Maybe Rusty and Mark were too distracted by the debris. A pissed-off Mark figured it was time to have a talk with Robbie’s father. In another surprise (Gosh, two surprises in one week is a record!), Robbie’s dad turns out to be Ranger Shaw, one of the three hapless participants in Mark’s fishing survival camp episode. Small world, huh?
Art Dept. Nobody commented on the giant spider in Wednesday’s strip. I thought one of you might notice its unrealistic size. Well, considering the tree its web is attached to, it sure looked big to me! Also, Rivera drew a chipmunk on Saturday that didn’t look like a statue or cardboard cutout. Well done, in fact. Will we say the same thing for today’s nature talk?
What a coincidence! Rusty tells Mark about his e-waste project for the school science fair, and all of a sudden, Mark has his own show-and-tell about e-waste. I like today’s title panel, though I’d have wanted to see the “Mark Trail” logo appear like actual text on circuit boards. Perhaps, Rivera thought it would be too small? Well, everybody knows the name of this strip, right?
I’m puzzled why Rivera cites statistics from 2019. Perhaps she could have compared that number to a more recent statistic: The UN reported some 68 million tons of global e-waste for 2022, alone. Another issue is that electronic waste contains billions of dollars’ worth of rare earth resources, such as gold, silver, copper, and iron. Yet our country has no national standards, policies, or programs for safe reclamation and disposal. Seems that “recycle” and “reclaim” never made it into the manufacturers’ thinking.
The Daily Trail 