We had an action-packed week, for sure. Wait, I’m looking at my calendar. Sorry! As for Mark Trail, well, the cave crisis continued. The week began as Mark and Cherry traded “married jokes” at home, only to be interrupted by a phone call from Diana Daggers, which sent Mark to Cave Rescue Battle Stations. Also, a moment of science-fiction possibility surfaced on Tuesday, only to be ignored thereafter. You can check out that strip and my discussion for details.

Mark arrived at the cave, dressed and outfitted for what he thought would be a simple rescue, pulling somebody up from some hole they must have fallen into. Instead, when he saw the actual situation at hand (Cricket Bro being stuck in a collapsed part of the cave floor), Mark was immediately stymied! Why? Mark explained to everybody that the situation was likely due to a weakened limestone floor because of water damage from below. And it required special tools he didn’t have or bring. The Bottom Line: Amateur Hour was over and it was time to call in the real cave rescue experts.

But those “experts” turned out to be Ranger Shaw and some purple people. Instead of asking how Cricket Bro was doing or if he felt as if the floor was giving way, Cave rescue expert Ranger Shaw berated him for ignoring the danger sign he posted. Mark got in his licks, as well. But then, Cricket Bro suddenly fell through the floor and disappeared into the darkness of an underground river.

Just kidding. Sorry to say that Cricket Bro is still stuck in the cave floor. But any actual drama you might expect (in another context) is missing here, as Rivera predictably leaned into adventure strip parody.  Anyway, that’s the week in Mark Trail.

Jules Rivera carries on the tradition (at least going back to James Allen) of often linking the Sunday topic to the current storyline. In fact, this is the second Sunday cave talk posted for this story, though the first one focused more on the wildlife found in caves.

The title panel here is certainly unusual, due in part to the color scheme. I’m guessing that the strip’s title is built up from the water drops Mark mentioned that form stalactites.