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 love Garfield.

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.