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Mark Trail, 2/21/12

“Oh, crap, we have to depict someone who works in the entertainment industry. Does anyone know what those people look like? Uh, let’s go with Charles Nelson Reilly circa 1974, that sounds about right.”

I was going to suggest that “Where is this miracle animal? I’m anxious to get started! You know me, Mark, I’m in and out!” was the day’s most hilarious unintentional soap strip double entendre…

Gil Thorp, 2/21/12

But then I saw “He rides me like a donkey then acts like he’s my pal.” Ha ha, if Coach Thorp thinks Parker is sad now, wait until he gets Milford’s only basically legal tattoo parlor shut down! There will be so many bitter tears!

Mary Worth, 2/21/12

LOOK OUT MARY NOLA CAN HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS THROUGH THE PHONE OH MY GOD SHE’S A MUTANT WITH MENTAL POWERS WE’RE ALL DOOMED SHE ALWAYS GETS WHAT SHE WANTS

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Mark Trail, 2/17/12

“What am I going to do, Mark? The blind dog that I irresponsibly left alone in this forest is gone, and is probably lost and hungry and scared. And just a few hours before it was finally going make some money for me! Where am I going to find another blind dog on such short notice?”

Marvin, 2/17/12

“Oh, dear, you’re not getting old. You’re just addicted to painkillers!”

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Mark Trail, 2/13/12

It’s well known that in the moral universe of Mark Trail, kindness to animals is the highest value. So, let’s ask ourselves: who are the real villains in this story? Mark and Tommy, who left poor Butch the blind dog alone in a field with only a jacket for company, and who have gone back to Tommy’s comfortable home to plot how to exploit Butch for big-time TV money? Or Jeff and Jamie, who, despite being on the run from the law and hiding out in some rustic cabin, are prepared to take pity on a poor hungry dog they’ve never even met before? I certainly hope that, instead of punching, this storyline ends with Mark taking a long, hard look at what he’s become.

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 2/13/12

Starting with a punchline (even a good one, which this is not) and working your way back to create the set-up is always a terrible, terrible idea in comics. I mean, can you figure out any context in which it would make sense for Snuffy, Parson Tuttle, and a quartet of nameless Hootin’ Holler elder ladies to be gathered around one of the community’s few working TV sets to try to pick up the Grammys on its bunny ears? I guess it’s possible that inveterate lawbreaker Snuffy and notorious grifter/fraud Tuttle lured the town’s grandmothers to this viewing as a cruel prank, knowing that they’d be embarrassed and horrified by the flatlanders’ outlandish music and whorish outfits. So, yeah, actually, this totally makes sense in the strip’s milieu, forget I said anything.