Archive: Mark Trail

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Mark Trail, 1/15/20

So, uh, not only are we getting the rambling yeti story I asked for but it’s actually extremely violent and also … in a completely different art style, for some reason? I’m not sure if Mark would’ve been so eager to go on this expedition if he had known that yeti were very aggressive and also impervious to guns! Anyway, I guess the reason Dr. Camel doesn’t want to profit from the yeti is because he wants to murder it, in revenge for what it did to his family.

Funky Winkerbean, 1/15/20

You know, the thing about Les is that he’s actually kind of cheery a lot of the time — in a smug, insufferable way, admittedly, but still, he usually has a smirk for everybody. I’m genuinely kind of baffled why he’s just a total dick about literally everything about this movie adaptation of Lisa’s Story, which, to emphasize, is only happening because he agreed to it, despite the fact that he already sabotaged an earlier version of it. What’s his game here, exactly? Why has he come all the way to Hollywood to piss and mope? And since he’s not writing the script anymore, why did Mason fly him all the way out to Hollywood for him to piss and mope in person? Do they not know about Skype? Did Mason feel the need to see Les slouching and shitting all over his dreams in the flesh?

Anyway, once you’ve read this comic and learned that fighting against daunting odds — whether it’s to beat cancer or deliver a truly authentic film about your loved ones — is basically pointless, hopefully you’ll feel inspired to donate to Lisa’s Legacy Fund!!!!!

Dick Tracy, 1/15/20

Awful lot of bullets being exchanged in this “cold war,” huh? I’m beginning to think that Mr. Roboto may not know what a cold war actually is.

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Dennis the Menace, 1/11/20

“Admittedly, it’s kind of weird bringing this up while we’re looking at a shelf that doesn’t include any nerf guns — that indeed doesn’t seem to include any toys manufactured in the last forty years at all. Just a bunch of old-timey toys not even in packaging! Almost like this art was drawn at some earlier date and then the caption was grafted onto it. Anyway, it’s a relief that we’re finally admitting that we don’t like spending time with our son and hope he spends as much time at our grumpy old neighbor’s as possible. Like, each of us knew the other one felt that way, but it feels good to say it out loud, you know?”

Judge Parker, 1/11/20

Hey, remember when Judge Parker Emeritus admitted to doing crimes on TV and then went to jail, but then just a few months later he got out, and I can’t even remember if it was because of more illegal skullduggery or just some dumb technicality, but anyway, now that everyone’s forgotten that unpleasantness, it looks like it’s time for Alan to take his place amongst the town’s rightful leaders again! I certainly hope he calls upon Horace, an old Parker family retainer who you may or may not remember (and really, why would you, why do I remember him, why is so much of my precious, limited brain space taken up by plot points from soap opera comic strips from the mid-’00s) as the guy who ran Randy Parker’s campaign for judge way back when. He was really hot on Randy marrying his fiance, who was the leader of a cult of some sort, which he failed to do, thus giving his opponent the opportunity to start a homophobic whisper campaign against him. Fortunately Horace was there to remind the Parker camp that their opponent’s wife was a drunk, and so Sam and Randy smugly watched her melt down at a press conference and then quietly seized the judgeship that Randy felt was rightly his. Anyway, I feel like Alan’s very public crime-doing will require a lot more dirty-election-tricks help than Randy’s possible homosexuality did, so I can’t wait to see the scorched-earth campaign that’s about to be unleashed.

Mark Trail, 1/11/20

God bless Mark Trail for being so pure of heart that even though he can’t stand Harvey Camel, he instinctively believes him to the point of having his mind utterly blown when Harvey says “oh, yeah, I definitely saw a yeti, by the way.” I certainly hope the next three weeks are taken up by Harvey telling a long, rambling story, along the lines of “one time a train full of drunken clowns derailed in the forest” and “one time a walrus wrecked a rental SUV by violently giving birth in it“, about that one time he just glimpsed a hairy bipedal cryptid loping through the Himalayan dusk.

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Sam and Silo, 1/8/20

I haven’t been on the Sam and Silo train for that long, but the overall vibe has always been that it’s an extremely low-stakes strip about two lazy, incompetent cops who have the good fortune to work in a tiny community without any real crime. So it’s a little bit of a shock today to see our heroes suddenly trudging through the winter forest, guns drawn and more or less ready, on the hunt for a dangerous, desperate criminal who will no doubt decide that it’s them or him if they end up cornering him. Honestly, this strip would be just as funny and a lot more poignant if the exchange happened as a gut-shot Silo (or Sam, I honestly can not be bothered to keep track of which is which) bled out in the snow, just a few feet away from their quarry, who’s doing the same.

Mark Trail, 1/8/20

“Unable to withstand the elements or not enough money … all kinds of reasons! Well, really just those two. But aren’t they good enough? Doesn’t the failure of just about every exploratory expedition come down to either inadequate resources or inability to deal with the conditions in the area you’re exploring??? So those reasons cover all the other reasons????? GET OFF MY BACK TRAIL!!!!!!”