Archive: Mark Trail

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Don’t be shocked when I reveal that it’s the last day of the Comics Curmudgeon Spring Fundraiser — hurry!


Everybody waits until Friday for the Big Reveal — check it out:

Rex Morgan, M.D., 3/11/11

Panel-three Dex is just flabbergasted: “What? Engage a professional to help us minimize risk and tax exposure as we transfer and apportion a large sum of money? I – I never imagined you would try to pull something like this on your own brother, Berna! YOU MONSTER!

Funky Winkerbean, 3/11/11

So the Pro-Crastinator‘s superpower is — making excuses? I don’t care, he’s still tougher than Spider-Man. Also: prepare yourself for the shocking revelation that Mope’s “new DC Comics supervillain” has something to do with earthquakes (and nothing at all to do with this guy or these guys).

Spider-Man, 3/11/11

Nobody — just nobody — could have seen this coming: it seems the ex-vampire is a current vampire, even though he said he wasn’t! Why, it’s as though criminals somehow can’t be trusted! With all the TV Parker watches, has he never seen an episode of Law and Order? Hey, that’s gotta be some kind of superpower right there!

I can’t shake the impression that the vampire’s name is really Möbius and we’ve gone ’round this strip before.

Mark Trail, 3/11/11

Oh look, the minion is named Juan and the boss is named Otto: it’s an international drug ring! Expect covert meetings with Sven and Ching, and lots of hilarious Teutonic drug and pimp lingo: “Süßen witwe Mutter-Hosen — kommst du hier mit mein knackenpfeife schnell, oder Ich zeige Ihnen mein Zuhälter Hand!” [Tr.]

Rex Morgan, M.D. and Mark Trail, 3/11/11 (panels, retouched)

OK, it’s official — actual people are no longer allowed to say “that’s not going to happen.”


Mein Zuhälter Hand!

— Uncle Lumpy

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Dennis the Menace, 3/7/11

Fart joke + slur on treasured American brand = Menace Level 4.7. Points off for the grin.

Mark Trail, 3/7/11

Mark realizes he will soon be shipwrecked with a boatload of arms smugglers! At that precise moment, a beloved animal friend appears as if to remind him that it’s turtles all the way down. That must have been some bump on the head.

Note to comic strip characters: whether you are a man or a woman, it is OK to be named Lonnie. Do not, however, stand next to anybody named Lonnie, whether on the street or at the altar.

Dick Tracy, 3/7/11

Ah, the deaths of Dick Tracy villains. Torched in a wind generator fire. Killed in a fall from the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. Brain wiped clean. Killed in a fall down a smokestack. Blown to bits. Crushed under a bulldozer. Dismembered by a pack of dogs. Immolated in a car fire. Pancaked by a falling antique warplane. And now, eaten alive by rats. Say it with me: Eaten. Alive. By. Rats.

Next Sunday, the Dick Tracy franchise will pass to a new creative team. So Mr. Brozman, thank you for the wonderful rats. And sincere congratulations on your retirement, Mr. Locher — for the five years this blog has followed you through thick and thin, you have never disappointed, not once.

Momma, 3/7/11

What passes for pride in the Mommaverse.

Luann, 3/7/11

Tiffany counts on her fingers how many minutes it will take her to “date” the rest of the football team.

— Uncle Lumpy

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Mark Trail, 3/5/11

Like classic James Bond films, each recent Mark Trail episode one-ups its predecessor with a more exotic location, nastier villain, and hotter babe. Lost Forest, deer-kickin’ Frank Johnson, and Cherry gave way to glamorous Sea Breeze Fishing Camp, stylishly sinister Ben Smith, and sultry Kelly Welly, only to be topped by the azure vistas of Balmy Palmy Isle, our mysterious — yet somehow fabulous — paranoid druglord, and Ms. Hotsie Highwaist here.

Where will it end, this relentless upward spiral of scenery, villainy, and babery? I suspect on the Moon, with Mark savagely beating Kim Jong-Il while remaining strangely indifferent to the charms of Olivia Wilde or somebody. Because Mark can best any villain anywhere, but he shrinks from female contact, as shown in panel two.

Mary Worth, 3/5/11

Driven mad by the Internet, Dawn Weston seeks comfort from her only true friend — that pregnant lady from her Dad’s eating-disorders support group who moved to Charterstone after her retirement and divorce last October. Aaack!

Marmaduke, 3/5/11

From the look of the leftovers, Marmaduke has eaten several sports teams, Mary Poppins, a NASCAR pit crew, neighbor Snyder, and the cop sent to investigate.

Spider-Man, 3/5/11

Yes, vampirism — the only possible explanation! Because seriously — it’s 4:45, and why else would Peter miss The View?

See how quickly Mary Jane rejects the obvious “My husband is a worthless layabout!” in favor of the dramatic “My husband has been overcome by the forces of darkness!” Acting has really honed her denial skills.


Hi! I’m sitting in this week while Josh is on vacation. If you have any site or comment trouble, contact me at uncle.lumpy@comcast.net. Email sent to bio@jfruh.com will still get to Josh, but he won’t read it, because, you know, vacation.

— Uncle Lumpy