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The high point of your weekend: Mark Trail punching a dude

Mark Trail, 11/21/09

Bob sure seems to know that the best way to get into Mark’s good graces is to do violence to the faces of the enemies of wildlife. But is he trying a little too hard? I mean, the kicking-two-bad-guys-in-the-face-while-dangling-from-a-tree-limb move … it makes Mark’s right cross seem a little pedestrian, doesn’t it? Maybe that’s why he’s engaging in casual conversation as he gets his fisticuffs on. Of course, orangeshirt and yellowshirt are still standing in panel two, so perhaps Mark is grateful for the opportunity to show that vigilante justice is best dished out by hands, not feet, and specifically by the knuckle part of the hands.

Mary Worth, 11/22/09

Mary’s tiny, pinpoint pupils in panel two, as she slathers platitude upon platitude onto a poor woman who she’s already bent to her will, really demonstrate why Mary does what she does. Meddling for her directly activates the pleasure centers of her brain more powerfully than any narcotic you can name.

Luann, 11/21/09

Ha ha, you can try to de-exoticize yourself all you want, Quill, but Luann will attempt to “share her bounty” with you whether you want her to or not — possibly during Thanksgiving dinner, when her mom is distracted by making sure Brad and Toni are at least six inches apart at all times.

Pluggers, 11/21/09

Pluggers don’t believe in “legal rights” or “due process” or a bunch of namby-pamby crap like that. When pluggers take over, there will be an 11 o’clock curfew, for everyone, with summary execution for those who disobey.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 22, 2009 at 06:06 pm and is filed under Luann, Mark Trail, Mary Worth, Pluggers. |

66 responses to “The high point of your weekend: Mark Trail punching a dude”

Calico
November 22nd, 2009 at 6:10 pm [Reply]

I think this is the first time I’ve seen a crotch-kick in Mark Trail.
Ouch!
cj
November 22nd, 2009 at 6:23 pm [Reply]

Trail:
I almost mistook this for vintage Batman comics, what with the sock and pow and acrobatics of Rob(in).

Luann:
Don’t inform him of a boring American holiday that everyone already knows about, just let your sexy leer do all the talking.

Pluggers:
I know this strip is not known for humor to begin with, but what is funny about asshole parents?
Holy Prepuce!
November 22nd, 2009 at 6:27 pm [Reply]

As always, I am comforted by the refreshing moral simplicity of the “Mark Trail” universe. The transformation from bad guy to good guy requires no agonizing period of study or elaborate conversion ritual. All one needs to do is announce one’s intentions, then prove them through a vigilante assault on someone who has more facial hair than you.
Holy Prepuce!
November 22nd, 2009 at 6:32 pm [Reply]

CJ: I had the same thought re classic Batman and Robin — although for me it was evoked by the casual, smiling banter between the heroes as they duke it out with foreground villains.
Lesser Whark
November 22nd, 2009 at 6:34 pm [Reply]

Luann: Just to clarify, in 28 years in Australia, I’ve never heard of anyone celebrating Thanksgiving. He did get the shops right, but that’s not hard to do. In a properly-researched strip, Quill would now be exposed as a fake Australian, and probably a fake human as well. Which planet is he really from?

Phantom: When searching someone, don’t you start by confiscating the weapons you CAN see? The soldier goes straight to feeling the Phantom’s six-pack while ignoring the sword he’s glued to his robes.

For that matter, why is he dressed in those brown robes? Most flashbacks to historical Phantoms show them wearing the purple lycra, too, so that’s surely what the first Phantom to visit their kingdom did. On the other hand, if he wants to blend in with the mediaeval people by leaving his suit and guns at home, he should have skipped the sunglasses as well. Logically, they should see his demonic reflective black eyes, declare him possessed, and burn him at the stake.
Buck Ripsnort
November 22nd, 2009 at 6:45 pm [Reply]

Mary makes a BIG point about the baby-making happening while Del and Lawrence were apart. CHARLIE’S THE DADDY! And worse, Mary KNOWS! I can hear the pitter-patter of platitudes to come– stuff about welcoming strangers, etc.
Kirbyoto
November 22nd, 2009 at 6:45 pm [Reply]

There is no way Mark is getting upstaged, considering that he just punched that guy from like five feet away.
zenvelo
November 22nd, 2009 at 6:48 pm [Reply]

I applaud Mark trail evolving from smiting justice on those with mustaches to those with the French Canadian side burns. Although it scares me what Mark will do if he runs across his friend Johnny Malotte on a dark night…although Mark will never be found guilty of murder of the hirsute.
Red Ruffensor
November 22nd, 2009 at 6:49 pm [Reply]

Pluggers: There’s an easier way to keep Junior out of trouble. Make him, uh, “polish the flagpole” three or four times before leaving, though I suspect this plugger has already done that.
Yanni
November 22nd, 2009 at 6:50 pm [Reply]

I’m not sure Bob is really kicking the baddies; in the second panel he seems to just be lifting them up with his leg.
timmy the dying boy
November 22nd, 2009 at 6:51 pm [Reply]

I suspect Del had no idea what was involved in baby-making before she visited Charley’s love nest.
Rusty
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:02 pm [Reply]

Luanne has never been showing kissing a guy, yet she can make horrible innuendo puns about boning Quill under the dinner table? I call bullshit on this, Evans.
Thorinoz
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:02 pm [Reply]

5: As a native born, nearly forty year old Australian, I can say with absolute certainty that Australians have never ever celebrated ‘Thanksgiving’. The writers of Luann make the Simpson ‘Bart v Australia’ episode look like a PhD thesis – and they weren’t trying. You’re right – Quill will be exposed as a American doing a bad cockney accent passing himself off as an Australian – it’s been done before. Do I use – too – many – dashes?
Joe Blevins
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:13 pm [Reply]

LUANN: Let’s not get too excited. When Luann says she wants to “share her Bounty,” she just means she’ll let Quill have some paper towel to take home after dinner. (By the way, that kid is Coach Kaz’s illegitimate son, right?)

PLUGGERS: “Testicular electrocutions for all!” (And speaking of testes, is Mary Worth grabbing the Invisible Man’s sac in panel 2 or what?)

MT: The most (read: only) meaningful conversations Mark’s ever had are the ones he’s had while punching people. I fear for his and Cherry’s marriage counselor. I do want to commend Bob on his face-kicking skills, though. That one generic baddie didn’t even get the chance to finish saying the name “Bob.” He got two-thirds of the way through it, then WHAM! Perhaps Bob, like God, is touchy about having his name taken in vain.
Baka Gaijin
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:16 pm [Reply]

If Josh thought Mary Worth was fun today (Saturday), wait till he sees tomorrow!
Calico
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:17 pm [Reply]

#14 – It’s even more impressive when you see that “Bob” is monosyllabic.
Greg G
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:18 pm [Reply]

Just wanting to join the rising tide of “No we do not have Thanksgiving in Australia”.

We barely even have Starbucks, after the great Starbucks Purge of 2008.
Joe Blevins
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:19 pm [Reply]

By the way, why is the poacher guy emphasizing the word WHOSE in panel one? Is he correcting someone’s grammar?
Mariko
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:19 pm [Reply]

I just noticed something fun to do while reading Rex Morgan: pretend that Tim (is that his name?) does not have a mustache. That’s right, his mouth is constantly set in a gaping sort of yell. This is especially fun on Saturday, when he threatens to break Cueball’s neck.
Mordock999
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:22 pm [Reply]

Today’s Luann – 11/22/09

– On The Phone –

Quill — “Hello, Gunther? This is Quill.”

Gunther — “Yes, ‘Quill’. I KNOW you. You’re the (Sniff!) guy Luann and EVERY other girl in town is AFTER for no other reason than you’re a ‘Pretty Face’. Called to Torment me??”

Quill — “Well, actually, YES. This guy, Knute says it is a quaint American Tradition that whenever a guy WINS a girl, he calls the OTHER guy who lost her, to, uh, how did Knute put it? Oh, yes, “rub their face in sh*t”! Its kind of ODD, but I want to fit in! Anyway I’m having Thanksgiving Dinner with her at her brother’s house. She said afterward she’s going to SHARE something with me!”

Gunter – “WHAT is she (CHOKE/SOB) going to ‘SHARE’?!?”

Quill – “Well don’t quite know. We had a bad phone connection. Something about Booty or Bounty or something. Well, I’ll FIND out later and let you know. Gotta run! Got another phone call to make. Bye!”

(Hangs Up)

Gunther – “Someone WILL PAY, just as SOON as I grow a Backbone! MOMMMMMMA!”

___________________

DEATH to TJ!!!
Patrick
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:23 pm [Reply]

The second panel of Mary Worth is more fun if you see it as an enormous, gigantic Mary delicately adjusting the shade of a teeny, tiny lamp with her monstrous hand…

…okay, maybe just more fun for ME.
Pinky
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:25 pm [Reply]

#3 – Evidently the converse is true in the Star Wars universe, as that’s more or less what happened to Anakin Skywalker in his conversion into Darth Vader.
Emperor: “Hey, Anakin! Wanna come over to the Dark Side?”
Anakin: “Sure, why not.”
mr 12 oz can
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:25 pm [Reply]

i still wanna know where that tree appeared from !!! i guess bob and his family will now move into marks horse barn . i wonder if cherry has got a new hairdo in all this time mark has been away and will mark notice .
Adam G
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:35 pm [Reply]

Mary’s eyes in that second panel will haunt me for the rest of my life. Thanks a lot, Josh.
Mr.Death
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:37 pm [Reply]

“Yup, we Aussies are a lot like you Yanks. We both pushed our native populations to the verge of extinction, destroying vast, rich histories to make room for our own homogeneous culture filled with globalized fast-food chains we created in their stead. Still no Wal-Mart though! Shrimp on the barbie!”
McManx
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:40 pm [Reply]

M Trail: Mark has his “fists o’ justice”. Seeking his own signature device, Bob is employing the “feets o’ defeat”.

Luann: The most obvious code wording Quill can use in response to Luann’s “come, share my bounty” is “I’ll show you how we do thanksgiving ‘down under’”.
Disingenuous Penguin
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:43 pm [Reply]

Piling on trite words of wisdom to a young fertile housewife is actually part of Mary Worth’s demonic ritual, beginning the transformation into Meddlox, demigod of banal truisms. You can already see her bright yellow half turtleneck being subsumed by the darkness.
Jesseg
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:07 pm [Reply]

I think it’s safe to assume someone swinging from a tree and kicking you in the face is not on your side.
moopot
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:10 pm [Reply]

Here in Australia we do not celebrate the oppression and murder of our indiginous population, we try to hush it up, like any good country should.
John Richards
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:12 pm [Reply]

Just adding to the choir – no Thanksgiving in Australia, and to thank Gary G for mentioning the Great Starbucks Purge of 2008. Luann’s fake Australian may still be able to find a Starbucks at the airport, or something, but otherwise he’ll have to go to a cafe that’s actually good. He could pretend he’s back in Seattle before the rot set in, before Starbucks took away his job at an independent cafe and he was forced to roam the country pretending to be Australian (he’d get away with it, too, since most Americans can’t recognise accents – I once got asked in Texas is I was from Quebec).
Steve
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:26 pm [Reply]

Spider-Man (11/21): Hey, he’s ‘Big Shot’ again.
cj
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:38 pm [Reply]

Re: Steve 31:
In true Marvel form, they’ve retconned their own mistake (except I don’t think using the same name for two people was intentional executive meddling).
Earthgirl
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:46 pm [Reply]

So… last time I checked, Australians don’t have Thanksgiving. Perhaps I missed this, and they just don’t have it in the month of November. Or perhaps Greg Evans thinks that Canadians and Aussies are the same. I also don’t think I’ve ever heard an Aussie call Americans “Yanks.”
Meekrat
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:50 pm [Reply]

That wasn’t the high-point of my weekend, sir. *wink wink*

(My high point was this movie thing they had on featuring three generations of Ninja Turtles, it was amazing and quite thorough)
Earthgirl
November 22nd, 2009 at 9:18 pm [Reply]

Also, can someone enlighten me about the Great Starbucks Purge of 2008? I tried to look up this phrase, and Google failed me.
Holy Prepuce!
November 22nd, 2009 at 9:19 pm [Reply]

Interestingly, a group called the Australian Prayer Network has been celebrating a “National Day of Thanksgiving” for the past 6 years, and is campaigning to have it made a national holiday in which Australians would “acknowledge our Christian heritage and the Lordship of Jesus Christ over our nation.”

They even got the Prime Minister to make a statement about it this year: http://www.thanksgiving.org.au/article_view.asp?intid=47

But judging by the comments in this thread, no one in Australia has actually heard of it.
Tiggum
November 22nd, 2009 at 9:21 pm [Reply]

I don’t know why, but this Thanksgiving thing in Luann is annoying me to an unbelievable degree. I’ve lived in Australia my whole life, and no one I know has ever celebrated Thanksgiving. It just doesn’t happen. I now hate Greg Evans so very, very much.

I know it shouldn’t annoy me so much, but dammit, it does!
Digger
November 22nd, 2009 at 10:00 pm [Reply]

MT: Notice how Mark smiles and makes casual conversation as he dishes out the justice. He’s thinking “these fools don’t have real facial hair, just crappy sideburns. Defeating them will require very little effort, ha ha!”

Luann: Hopefully Thanksgiving dinner will result in Toni hooking up with Quill. This will leave both Brad and Luann to give serious consideration to a desperation make-out session with T.J.

Pluggers: I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen a teenage Plugger, and what a sad, scrawny fellow he is. Does this young Plugger suffer vicious teasing from the cool alligator and weasel teens at his high school? Feel free to show us that, Pluggers.
CanuckDownSouth
November 22nd, 2009 at 10:14 pm [Reply]

#33 et al

facepalm So what’s worse: “Everybody is just loke us” or “Wait – other countries have other traditions! But, uh, Canada has a Thanksgiving… just not the same day, right? OK, so the Aussies have one, too – probably half a year around…” ?

If this is indicative of his research, Evans, of course, probably thinks Canadian Thanksgiving is earlier because “our pilgrims” had an earlier harvest… although we didn’t *have* Pilgrims, and our Thanksgiving was normalized from fits and starts of irregularly-celebrated “days of Thanksgiving” which were at different times of the various years (including one in a summer to celebrate Queen Victoria’s husband’s survival of an illness).
NoahSnark
November 22nd, 2009 at 10:15 pm [Reply]

Before I started reading Mark Trail, I never imagined that killing a pet is less morally reprehensible than leaving a man to be eaten alive by alligators. The more you know….
Rusty
November 22nd, 2009 at 10:43 pm [Reply]

The best thing about this thread is finding out how many Aussie curmudgeons we have here. Also, the Starbucks purge, if real, is awesome.
Joe Blevins
November 22nd, 2009 at 11:10 pm [Reply]

Can I be forgiven for briefly thinking that Luann was nude except for leg warmers from the waist down?

The answer, of course, is no.
Yolm
November 22nd, 2009 at 11:12 pm [Reply]

I found an article about Stabucks in Australia: basically it failed.

http://www.pajamadeen.com/business-news/why-starbucks-failed-in-australia
Earthgirl
November 22nd, 2009 at 11:34 pm [Reply]

I have one thing to add to this: Viva la Gloria Jean’s!

Although, interestingly, it seems Gloria Jean’s started in Chicago? And then jumped to Australia?

#36 — I googled Australian Thanksgiving and got the prayer group web page mentioned above. If one doesn’t read too carefully, it seems to indicate that Australians do, in fact, celebrate Thanksgiving, and said celebration is in May. Because clearly that’s when the Australian convict-pilgrims first harvested the bananas. Steve Irwin would’ve brought some crocodile meat, but Mark Trail would have punched him in the face.
Retromancy
November 22nd, 2009 at 11:43 pm [Reply]

Yeah, we don’t have Thanksgiving – but we do know about it given the number of American TV show we watch. But Australians used to call Americans “Yanks” somewhere about the time of WWII, so up to date as ever.
Alan's Addiction
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:05 am [Reply]

I would like to nominate the current “Mark Trail” story line as the greatest MK story line of all time, which puts on the short list for greatest story in comics history. In the past several weeks, we’ve seen Rusty frightened, Mark knocked out cold, AND Sassy get attacked by an alligator. All this is great, if somewhat standard MK stuff, but this last week has really contributed to the (somewhat insane) greatness of this story. We’ve seen alligators beaten with sticks and today we’re getting to see the righteous Fists o’ Justice in action, with their recently added sidekicks, the Boots of Truth. The addition of foot-related action is vital step in improving the diversity of the strip; after all, the justice has been delivered exclusively by hands and/or hand-related devices for as long as I can remember. Today, boots are getting their chance at equal-opportunity ass-kicking.
I think it’s strangely ironic that Mary’s response to Delilah’s sickeningly sappy confessions of impending motherhood is to offer the platitude “Sometimes mistakes are blessings in disguise.” Given the situation, that’s an hilariously passive-aggressive line worthy of either Margo Magee or Basil Fawlty. The writers of “Mary Worth” hereby have my approval to develop a sit-com for BBC.
I have the strangest feeling that product placement contracts played a role in the writing of today’s “Luann.” I’m not worried that this will diminish the quality of the strip since there isn’t any quality currently. By the way, any good Aussie should add “the fact that no fatally venomous creatures are currently in my bed or boots” to the list of things for which they are thankful. Of course, this doesn’t apply to Quill because he is in the same zip code as Luann, which is way worse than any fanged horror the land down under has produced.
I know that real Pluggers don’t need any lawyers when they’re arbitrarily making rules for their offspring, but they sure as hell have GREAT lawyers to evade those DUI, aggravated manslaughter, and hit-and-run charges they acquired in their youth… which might be why they are, in turn, arbitrarily laying making rules for their offspring. It’s a vicious cycle.
Skye
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:28 am [Reply]

Can I just reiterate – no thanksgiving here in Australia, and not much in the way of Starbucks left either – but also add (Earthgirl in particular):

Gloria Jeans is eeeeeeevil. In Australia they’re basically owned by Hillsong church and promoted and sponsored a group called Mercy Ministries, who are a very dodgy bunch indeed. There are plenty of articles online about this (in fact there is a fairly long running GJ’s boycott), here’s one:

http://www.mercysurvivors.com/2008/08/07/gloria-jeans-and-the-mercy-ministries/
Portia
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:42 am [Reply]

Josh, I forbid you to ever make me think of “Brad DeGroot” and “six inches” in the same sentence again.
Aaron
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:51 am [Reply]

Mark Trail punching a dude
Whoa! Spoiler alert!
Poor Thompson
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:38 am [Reply]

Perhaps Australians are now celebrating Thanksgiving in order to show their gratitude for the fact that Josh was recently heard on their airwaves.
lilacsigil
November 23rd, 2009 at 4:29 am [Reply]

Sadly, out in the really rural areas of Australia, we do still say “Yanks”. We also still use rhyming slang and talk without opening our mouths so the flies don’t get in. Still no Thanksgiving, though.
Jumper
November 23rd, 2009 at 4:39 am [Reply]

Australians should be aware of American Pagan Thanksgiving traditions. It’s a harvest festival like in many cultures. The use of pumpkins is carried over from Halloween, in the use of pie. Only in America, only the orange ones are called “pumpkins.” And the first barrels of hard apple cider are busted open.

Then, of course, we have the ritual Killing of the Coyotes and the Wax Feather Man stories for the children. Plus the burning of Mr. Sticks at the end.
Earthgirl
November 23rd, 2009 at 7:27 am [Reply]

#52 — Thanks for reposting my comment (#33) in it’s entirety. What the hell?
Earthgirl
November 23rd, 2009 at 7:30 am [Reply]

#47 — Jeez. I had no idea. That stuff’s scary. “This is the worst sort of American theological hooliganism which I had hoped we in Australia were immune to.” Sigh.
skunkboy
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:21 am [Reply]

And yet another australian chiming in with “we have no thanksgiving”. And while we’ll occasionally call Americans “Yanks”, they tend to just get called Americans. Or, my personal favorite, Seppos, although that one has fallen out of use.
Shiny Things
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:12 am [Reply]

If Quill were really Australian, he wouldn’t be giving thanks for Starbucks. Australia takes pride in being the only nation to kick Starbucks out in favour of our local coffee shops.

He is, at best, Faux-stralian.
BeamStalk
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:43 am [Reply]

@55 – I was going to say I have heard Seppos but not in awhile from my Ozzie friends.
Carly
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:35 pm [Reply]

Knocking out Mark and leaving him for the gators to eat is cool with Bob, but pet killing? That’s going too far.
markytom
November 23rd, 2009 at 7:05 pm [Reply]

MT: Wouldn’t it have been much more entertaining for Bob to screech out, “SURPRISE!” when kicking his poaching friends in the face?
Stallone on Barbie
November 23rd, 2009 at 9:36 pm [Reply]

Luann has made me less likely to sterotype or discriminate against Australians–surely one of the great pressing social problems of our time. (Would the strip get cancellations if she started flirting with a Nigerian instead?)

I can’t tell whether Quill means to say that he is truly thankful for all these chain stores, or is merely trying to convey that parts of Australia approach the living standards of civilized countries. Oh well, one good sheep-shagging joke and all will be forgiven.
Paul A.
November 24th, 2009 at 2:30 am [Reply]

Am I the only one who thinks Quill is being sarcastic about Thanksgiving?

“Oh sure, Australians have Thanksgiving, too. It’s when we give thanks for all the ways our society is being overrun by the tendrils of American culture.”

(Mind you, I don’t read whatever strip that is, so for all I know it would be out of character for him. But if I said something like that, that’s where I’d be going with it.)
Toby Bartels
November 24th, 2009 at 3:37 am [Reply]

#39

For the record, it’s also true in the U.S. that ‘our Thanksgiving was normalized from fits and starts of irregularly-celebrated “days of Thanksgiving” which were at different times of the various years’, although it was normalized as early as 1863. Although the Plymouth settlers did hold a harvest celebration in 1621, the idea that this was the founding of our current holiday is just part of the mythology.
C.C.
November 24th, 2009 at 9:23 am [Reply]

I find the ‘Great Starbucks Purge’ is noticeably less exciting now that I know it coincided with the closing of six-hundred other stores. It was probably just a good excuse and time to pull out, less of being forced out. Still mildly amusing at least.
John Richards
November 24th, 2009 at 11:06 am [Reply]

I think it’s the percentage that’s important here, CC. Those 600 stores in the US were roughly 5% of the total number of Starbucks outlets in the country. In Australia the number of stores closed was over two-thirds of the total – basically, Starbucks gave up on an entire country.
heynoni
November 24th, 2009 at 11:26 pm [Reply]

Give us Antipodeans a break! You already commercialised your high-calorie Halloween to death down here to the point that a whole generation of kids have now adopted it as an Australian holiday and got almost as fat as you guys. Don’t go pushing your “turducken” banquets on us as well!
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The high point of your weekend: Mark Trail punching a dude

66 responses to “The high point of your weekend: Mark Trail punching a dude”

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