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The Week in Review and the Sunday Nature Chat

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What a week this was for Lost Forest race fans! The Grungey Boys Nighttime Lawn Mower Race was once again in progress. Hidden behind some bushes, Rusty, Olive, and family muscle, Dirk, were on hand to view the action. But they did not come as fans. This was the night Rusty would put an end to the destructive actions of the Grungey Boys in Lost Forest! You might say it was a race against slime. Or you might not. Just make up your mind.

Why it’s called a race is unclear, since there was always just one riding lawn mower, always ridden by Honest Ernest. And just how fast does a riding lawn mower go, anyway:  8 mph!? Woo! Do you get the impression that artist Jules Rivera may not be taking this adventure strip—or its readers—seriously?

Still, the race had to be stopped! Being a family strip, rest assured that nobody got hurt, unlike in the old Mark Trail days before Rivera took over. Back then, people really did get hurt and some died. They had a different notion of “family viewing.”

Anyway, Rusty came with a large barrel of water. When the time was right, the three tipped the barrel, pouring the water down the slope. Even though much of the water had to have gotten soaked up by the ground on the way down, apparently enough made it onto the forest floor where Ernest was racing. At first, the water just splashed as Ernest zipped along at 8 mph. But thanks to the scientific process of combining water, silt, and clay particles, the forest floor become saturated and squishy, creating mud. And that’s all it took to stop the races. Really! Honest Ernest and his friends were stymied by the mud and couldn’t figure out what to do. Not real sharp tools, those guys. We ended the week and this “Nickelodeon“-level adventure with Rusty celebrating the scientific success of his cause-and-effect plan. Keep in mind that, in the past, most of Rusty’s plans did not work out, so it’s noteworthy that this one did. But it was a low bar.

Up here in the big city, feral hogs chase away the rabbits and raccoons that keep eating up our garden…so they can eat it up, instead. Okay. Not really. But unless that is feral hog scat spelling Mark Trail in panel 1, it is not one of Rivera’s more creative custom titles. Had to be a tough challenge, though.

“Rivera keeps using the phrase “Grungey Boys” when talking about just one of them. I don’t think it means what she think it means.”

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Well, a lot of artistic license (and our expected imagination) went into today’s strip. As I feared, Rivera shows the trio taking the lazy and guaranteed-to-fail approach of pouring water from the top of the rise, down the slope, and into the path of the oncoming riding lawn mower. Instant mud bath? Forget it!

What a shock it must have been for them to see this pathetic and incompetent attempt produce no negative effect on Honest Ernest at all. They’d have been better off pouring the water on Honest Ernest!

Art Dept. Very disappointed to see Rivera once again revert to her technique of drawing completely flat flora like that of a high-school play. I can hear you say: “At night, forms lose volume and definition!” To which I respond: “So what!?” Those sketchy lines barely resemble bushes and trees! Rivera could use a bit more of her artistic expression and add more definition so it at least looks like she cared.

And what do you think of the improbable sequencing of time and events going on here among the panels? Does it bother you?

The riding lawnmower is decently illustrated, even if it looks more like a riding lawn tractor to me. As if I’m an expert on lawn care.