Racoons are getting feral? “I don’t think that word means what you thinks it means, Jules Rivera!” Feral animals are creatures that were once domesticated, but released into the wild to revert to their untamed nature. Like feral pigs (hogs) or cats. Raccoons are just wild animals.

So, Rusty has, indeed, been “rescued”, just not by his mom. It begs the question, though, why Rusty also believes he was saved, when yesterday, Rusty was still haughtily sitting amidst his loyal raccoon subjects. Apparently, it all turned on a dime as Rusty’s raccoons suddenly rebelled against him, leading to his immediate downfall. “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown” and all that. But that’s the nature of wild animals, Rusty. Thus endeth the lesson.

Now, moving on to the other main issue in this story: Has Robbie learned his lesson? Is he going to ‘fess up? Seems he helped extricate Rusty from the Wild Bunch and is now trying to put up a false front of denial. Well, Robbie might come clean about the photo, but his nature will not really change. He’ll continue to be a PITA and conniver, because his character is locked in and Rusty needs opponents to overcome, just like Mark and Cherry do. The Trails: One. Big. Happy. Trail Trouble-Solving Family!

Okay, this is moving from eerie to silly, but I reckon that fits the normal progress we see in Mark Trail stories. But where did Rusty’s “branch antenna” disappear to in panel 2 (only to return in panel 3)? Maybe an artistic oversight. There’s no reason to think Jules Rivera is riffing on “My Favorite Martian”,  a TV show she probably never saw.

But today looks like Rivera is just over-indulging in the eeriness she crafted, rather than moving the story along. At the very least, Rusty should have gotten to the point and had his say to his friends, rather than continuing on with his “gone feral” routine.

Is Rivera’s panel 4 teaser message meant to prepare us for Rusty actually getting bitten, which would then require a battery of painful shots? I doubt it. Well, there was the time Honest Ernest got bitten by bats and had to get anti-rabies shots; and Connor impaled himself with a fishhook. Both wound up in the hospital at the same time. So, I reckon there can be real consequences in this comic strip.

But still, I can’t see Rusty getting bit. What would be more likely to happen is something like Range Shaw and Cherry suddenly appearing and chasing away the raccoons. We’ll just have to see, won’t we!?

Jules Rivera continues to take her story into new territory as Rusty’s behavior becomes more focused on his new persona and “friends.” Rusty acts both patronizingly (panel 2) and disdainfully (panel 4) to his fellow scouts, even as Rob’s own cynicism seems to dismiss the entire scene. Again we see the ominous orange sky continuing to flavor the stressful situation, until it suddenly gets replaced by a normal and more familiar featureless light blue sky (panel 4). Is there a symbolic intent to all of this? It seems out of character to the strip to start thinking along this line.

Ian’s apology about being ignorant of the photo’s authorship is undone by the fact that Rusty had originally sent the photo to him and Rusty’s other friends, as we see in this lookback on January 26, 2026:

It’s little wonder that Rusty is not gushing with happiness at their apology and lack of faith. He seems to enjoy rubbing it in their faces, as well. It’s so unlike the Rusty we all know, right?

But is this real or is it Memorex? That is, is Rusty really winding up his friends (to borrow a useful British phrase) to get even for their behavior? It sure looks like Rusty’s getting his money’s worth out of seeing most of them freaked out and distraught. There are three days left to finish this chapter of the story. But there is still the issue of Robbie and the stolen photo, the hoodwinked scoutmaster, and the merit badge. We should need another week to resolve all of that and conclude the story. But it will have to wait for a few weeks following our return to Mark, Happy, and gorillas.

I’m not sure what to make of this orange sky we’ve been seeing for two straight days. Is Jules Rivera pulling out the classic “forest fire” plot device from the old days? But Mark isn’t around to save the boys, if that’s the case. Maybe it could be that the colorist just has a lot of extra orange ink. I dunno!

Anyway, I’m on board with Ian taking lead on the search, since it’s clear that Ernie doesn’t know how to hold a compass (panel 1). But that scene in panel 3 should give the boys the willies. Here is Rusty, sitting Buddha-like under some trees, with a collection of sticks stuck in his head like some kind of animal spirit. Even his face looks oddly transfixed. His response to Ian’s observation in panel 3 is unnerving and a bit scary. I’d almost expect to see dramatic lighting and tiki torches on either side of Rusty. Frankly, I didn’t realize Rivera had it in her!

Rusty is surrounded by a bunch (a “gaze”) of raccoons. They aren’t exactly worshipping him, but look like they are searching for something; perhaps bits of food Emperor Rusty has thrown out to his “subjects.” This all reminds me of scenes from some horror film where a kid has been taken over by a malevolent demon. In this setting, that demon kid would maniacally laugh and then order his raccoon subjects to attack the scouts to satisfy his lust for revenge! Well, I could be wrong, of course.