BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?

Subject: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 28 Dec 05 - 10:37 PM

I had fairly recently been reminded of the old "Mark Trail" comic strip...one that I pretty much ignored when I was a kid, because Frank Cho of "Liberty Meadows" ruthlessly satirized it in an episode called "Mark Derail". Mark visited the animal sanctuary with a TV crew. He turned out to be an effete, egocentric, and truly weird character who really did not like animals and whose pipe never left his mouth. Quite funny.

This got me thinking about Mark Trail. Was it really that bad a comic?

Well, I looked it up on a few sites, like this one...

A very, very worthy contender for worst adventure comic ever...

Yup. We got a pretty odd comic here. Art that puts surprisingly wooden characters on paper, many of whom look an awful lot like Mark himself. It's hard to tell who the bad guy is sometimes. Body proportions that change mysteriously...like Mark's hands. Storylines that are so bad...that...well, I really don't know how to explain it. Just read the synopsis of any episode, and you'll see.

Some neat things. Mark is 34 years old...forever! He's been 34 for decades now. I wish I could do that. Sheesh. It must be nice. His perky and loving wife Cherry stays the same age forever too, but her hairstyle has changed with the times. That's nice. Cherry knows how to stay hip.

Mark smoked a pipe for years and years, but has given it up recently to encourage nonsmoking.

Mark's a real straight arrow. He doesn't smoke, swear, spit, scratch, or anything. His hair is PERFECT. So is his lean figure.

What a guy.

Mark is sometimes forced to resort to violence. He had a fistfight with a really BAD guy once, and it lasted a whole week in the comic strip. One punch was thrown in that week. By Mark. One punch is all Mark ever needs to unleash to lay out any bad guy. I'm not sure how it took up a whole week to depict the one punch landing on the bad guy's chin, but I'll have to see if I can find that episode online and look at the pictures.

Well, when you've got a fairly slim script to flesh out, you do the best you can, right?

It's too bad that Mark Trail could not have done a collaboration with the Famous Five. What a simply ripping episode that would have been!

Mark keeps an eye on wilderness areas, protects endangered wildlife, rescues hurt animals and lost tourists, thwarts poachers and other bad apples, and helps neighbours with their family problems. I wish I had had an uncle like Mark, by golly! He had a way of clenching that pipe casually in his perfect jaws that just demanded total hero worship.

Yup. Well, check it out. Get ready for a real treat.

Mary Worth is damn good. Brenda Starr is damn good too. Rex Morgan, M.D. is devastating. But Mark Trail smokes!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 28 Dec 05 - 10:57 PM

Here's some neat info for the Trailhead:

Chapter One
Identifying the Mark Trail Bad Guy
This is one of the first skills a neophyte Trailhead should master. When you have learned several of the following rules, you will be able to tell at a glance if a new character is a shyster or a saint. Take a look at the fellow on our right. His name is Ted Baker and he's a banker. He's also a bad guy who Mark Trail eventually knocked out with one punch. Baker is serving a 20 year sentence. One giveaway that a character is evil is by his facial hair.

Bad Guy Rule # 1--If a character has long sideburns, he is always evil to the core.

One should be suspicious of a character with any facial hair; in the case of characters such as Joe Walker (see the Sea Turtle episode), he had a very thin mustache, it gave us the hint that he had a dark side but was probably not rotten through and through. In judging characters with facial hair other than sideburns, one must take into account their general countenance. Bad guys are often mean looking and they rarely smile.

Bad Guy Rule # 2--Men with hair any longer than collar length are bad news.

However, boys with longish hair may be merely impish, such as the character Joseph in Andy's Great Woods Adventure (see Trail Archives). Mr. Elrod appeared to bend the hair rules in May '02. Mark's swamp buddy, Gator, has a tremendous head of hair reaching to his shoulders, as well as a full beard. Argument on the Mark Trail Bulletin Board concerning this incongruity is generally of the opinion that Gator's hair is snow white, implying his good character. I would point out that the colorizing of the online strip is apparently computer generated, and not under Jack Elrod's control; Gator's true hair color may or may not be white. Mark, upon meeting Gator, immediately pointed out that his friend needed a haircut. This suggests that all male long hair is still bad news. Gator may be a Good Guy, but he appears to have a fascination with the Dark Side of Life. Mark realizes this with the gentle rebuke of his fragile friend.

Bad Guy Rule # 3--Any character, even if innocuous in appearance, is suspect if they hesitate when responding to a legitimate question.

A good example of this is to be found in the Sea Turtle episode, as Mark questions Mary Moore's lawyer, who responds with an "Uh..." before answering the question. Any utterance beginning with "Uh..." indicates deception or embarrassment.

Bad Guy Rule # 4--Unless smiling and of a friendly visage, Heavy-Set Bald Guys are always villains.

Any gang of drug smugglers may include one (and only one) Heavy-Set Bald Guy. These Bald Guys are always completely bald; you'll never see one with lingering hair around the ears or a mere bald spot. Trailhead Erik Biever pointed out this Bad Guy Tipoff to me, and he notes that totally bald Bad Guys are never skinny. The Bald Bad Guy may sport facial hair or oversized eyebrows, but not a hair is to be seen elsewhere.

Bad Guy Rule # 5--Bad guys often have bent or broken noses.

This may be because Elrod keeps calling the same characters up to be bad guys, and their noses have already been squashed by Mark, who knocked them out with just one punch in some previous adventure.

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 28 Dec 05 - 10:59 PM

Well, even his girl admits he has a little otter. Hard to mark a trail, with a little one like that. ;~)

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 28 Dec 05 - 11:06 PM

LOL! I don't think she's "his girl", she's just one of those momentary pastoral temptations that Mark often finds himself faced with as he goes about the wilderness doing nice things for people and animals in need. Mark has tremendous self-control, so not to worry. He has never fallen prey to the baser instincts or given in to the allurements of unmarried women!

I note that Mark is noticeably unshaven in those pictures! This must mean that he has just emerged from some terrible test of survival in the wilderness which required him to subsist for days or weeks with nothing but a compass, a pocketknife, and his wits.

That ain't easy, lemme tell ya.

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 28 Dec 05 - 11:17 PM

Whoo-Hoo! Here's the cast of Mark Trail:

Check out all the cool brunette hairdos!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 28 Dec 05 - 11:40 PM

Mark Trail,- today, Dec. 28, The Washington Post:
1. Image- Lucy Brown is petting Andy. Plot- Lucy Brown has become attached to Andy and spends a lot of time with the big dog. Balloon- "I'm sorry they took you away from your owner, Andy, it wasn't right."
2. Image- Lucy hugging Andy. Andy's tongue is hanging out. Balloon- "Don't worry. I'll take care of you while you are here."
3. Image- Two rural types in blue overalls, one seated and whittling, the other standing with thumbs hooked in top of his overalls. [Note- neither has sideburns] Balloon from rural type 1- "When are we going to call this Trail fellow and get our reward money?" Balloon from rural type 2- "I'll call him tomorrow-- he should have the cash by then."
To be continued tomorrow. Be sure and read it, Washington Post on line.

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 29 Dec 05 - 12:41 AM

Gee whillikers, that was Dec. 27. Today, Dec. 28, The Washington Post:
1 Image- Rural type 2 speaks to Lucy. Lucy moving towards automobile. Balloon from Rural type 2- "Lucy, where are you going?" Balloons 1 and 2 from Lucy- "To the store for groceries-- I'll be back shortly."
2. Image- Lucy with hand to side of face. Rural type 2 still has one thumb hooked on overall strap. Balloons from R. T. 2- "Keep your mouth SHUT about the dog. We don't want the cops coming here." "And pick up some beer for us." [Note- obviously a very bad character]
3. Image- Our always thirty-something Mark Trail, with Lucy peeking around the corner of a building. Balloon 1 from Trail- "I'd better let the motel desk clerk know when I will return in case the dognappers call." Balloon from Lucy- "Psst-- Mr. Trail-- Over here--".
Balloon 2 from Mark Trail- "?" [Note- Is she going to tell, or is she seeking a tryst? Naaa!]

Gosh all hemlock, you all out there don't seem to recognize the drama in this series about Goodness conquering evil. Even better than Narnia. OK, I will post no more episodes, so there!

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 29 Dec 05 - 12:45 AM

Rex Morgan, M. D., tomorrow.

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: Rapparee
Date: 29 Dec 05 - 09:43 AM

Nah, there's this comic strip where there are a bunch of anthropomorphized animals, including a pig, a frog, a duck, a catfish, a cow, and bunch of others -- and an overly-endowed blond and brunette, as well as a wimpish looking veterinarian. The animals are always putting the moves on the women (who are quite realistically drawn) and, to my mind, this is promoting b******ity! The cartoonist draws himself as a chimpanzee, obviously identifying with the animals (and thereby admitting to perverted practices PETA probably does not approve).

The only truly admirable and lifelike character in the whole strip is a dachshund, but even this poor puppy is obviously exploited by the brunette (e.g., in a recent strip the woman was in the shower and the dachshund...well, I'll leave it to your imagination).

Mark Trail? Bad? Compared to THIS piece of sick-o perversion, Trail is Prince Valiant!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: RangerSteve
Date: 29 Dec 05 - 09:57 AM

It's sad. Mandrake, the Phantom, Steve Roper - all good, yet all gone, yet Mark Trail lives on.

But on the other hand, I'm sure that by now, if the first three I mentioned are still around, they've probably worn out their welcome, too.

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: robomatic
Date: 29 Dec 05 - 11:42 AM

How can you waste time lambasting Mark Trail when Mary Worth is still out there?

Robo - thank God 'Mutt and Jeff is gone now why can't Andy Capp take the hint' - O'Matic

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: Bill D
Date: 29 Dec 05 - 12:17 PM

a few years ago, the Washington Post tried to **drop** Mark Trail....they were deluged with complaints and had to re-instate it! This tells you something about the makeup of society.....and about keeping subscribers in a tought market for the print media!

(BTW...you can find almost ANY comic strip that is published on the WWW somewhere....maybe a few days late on some sites. Here is Mark)

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: Bill D
Date: 29 Dec 05 - 12:27 PM

oh...and if you want the total antithesis to Mark Trail, try Tom, the Dancing Bug....appears once a week.

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 29 Dec 05 - 01:39 PM

"It's sad. Mandrake, the Phantom, Steve Roper - all good, yet all gone, yet Mark Trail lives on. "

Not true, Mandrake and the Phantom are still daily strips. Steve Roper was cancelled last year.

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: Rapparee
Date: 29 Dec 05 - 01:41 PM

Try small comics, like Tundra or Skookum (which doesn't seem to have a website) as well as the comics of Southern Moral Imperialists.

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: GUEST,Anna Marie
Date: 29 Dec 05 - 01:54 PM

MORE Mark Trail episodes, Q! MORE!

(That hefty guy who is asking the girl to get beer for him and his friend is a very, very bad person, and he will get his comeuppance when Mark flattens him with one punch. Then he will go to jail. So will the other one with the cap.)

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 29 Dec 05 - 02:13 PM

The history of Mark Trail explains its longevity. Ed Dodd, who created the strip, worked with Dan Beard, founder of The Boy Scouts of America. It is a must read for every Boy Scout and former Scout. Jack Elrod, current cartoonist, was a Boy Scout under Dodd.

Mark Trail is spokesman for the NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration) and The National Weather Service.

The Northeast Georgia History Center has an exhibit on "The Adventures of Mark Trail." The story of Dodd and his creation is here: Mark Trail

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 29 Dec 05 - 03:21 PM

For Mark Trail use link by Bill D or go to www.washingtonpost.com and look for 'Comics.'
Post

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: Bill D
Date: 29 Dec 05 - 05:51 PM

(note...a few years ago, the Wash Post tried to stop carrying Mark Trail, but received a deluge of letters complaining!) This tells you something about society and taste *grin*..*further, deponent sayeth not*
....The same thing happened with "Nancy", but they finally stopped Nancy anyway! There are things on the comics page I simply never look at...Spiderman being one...and Judge Parker and Mary Worth being others. Lordy, I miss Pogo and Bloom County and Garfield and a few others.

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 29 Dec 05 - 06:10 PM

"Nancy" used to be a comic so grotesquely bad that it was almost funny. Truly amazingly bad. Aunt Trixi was kind of cute, though. Taking a look at some of the current episodes of Nancy, I see that it has made some attempt to modernize its theme and its humour, and that Aunt Fritzi, the comic's only real asset, is looking better than ever! Maybe Frank Cho has been collaborating with them.

Rapaire - You are so wrong. Jen (the blonde) may be a crass manipulative slut, but Brandy (the brunette) has an extraordinarily good character, and she is NOT exploiting Oscar the weiner dog. She is a totally responsible and excellent person without any flaws whatsoever except for one: her bust size ought to be reduced by about 40%!!! She would look better then. I have written Frank Cho about that more than once, but with no results whatsoever. I think he must have been denied breastfeeding as an infant, because he is obsessed with gigantic bosoms. God help the women he draws when they pass 50 years of age!

(The fact is, most male cartoonists tend to draw women's breasts considerably too large, specially in the superhero and action comic genres.)

It's a damn shame to see a gorgeous woman like Brandy encumbered by a chest the size of a bifurcated jumbo Christmas turkey. God help us...

Another ludicrous example of this sort of thing is Lara Croft, by the way. Angelina Jolie can thank her lucky stars that her real chest is not as overinflated as is the cartoon Lara's. If it was and she ever fell over she'd probably never be able to right herself again, and would have to walk around upsidedown like a capsized vessel for the rest of her life.

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 29 Dec 05 - 06:12 PM

Bill....you don't read Mary Worth????

Well, I...I'm at a loss for words. ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: Rapparee
Date: 29 Dec 05 - 06:14 PM

Pogo.
Bloom County stuff.
Garfield.
Calvin and Hobbes.
Li'l Abner.
Alley Oop.

Explore some of the sites. You'll be surprised what comics are available online.

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: Peace
Date: 29 Dec 05 - 06:20 PM

Herman here.

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: Rapparee
Date: 29 Dec 05 - 06:29 PM

Sure, sure, sure. Brandy and Jen make a good pair, living together (ahem). And we know what THAT means, don't we? At least Frank lives along (apparently).

I know about these things. I read Wertham's "Seduction Of The Innocent" when I a callow youth.

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 29 Dec 05 - 06:40 PM

Uh-huh. Well, I find your insinuations to be most unfair to Brandy. I think the reason she and Jen are living together is simple: it gives Frank Cho more chances to draw scenes with both of them included. Frank the vet is a pretty likeable guy, but he sure goes through hell with women, doesn't he? Reminds me of my own trials and travails in the field of courting.]

By the way, it's Aunt FRITZI, not Trixi. My mistake. Man, you should take a look at Aunt Fritzi these days. Hubba! Hubba!

Here's a link:

Dig that outfit!

Here's another:

Are these 3 related???? How did it happen?

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 29 Dec 05 - 07:36 PM

"Frank Cho about that more than once, but with no results whatsoever. I think he must have been denied breastfeeding as an infant, because he is obsessed with gigantic bosoms. God help the women he draws when they pass 50 years of age!

(The fact is, most male cartoonists tend to draw women's breasts considerably too large, specially in the superhero and action comic genres.)"

I knew there was a reason why I still enjoy comic books!

Frank Cho is a marvelous cartoonist.   Liberty Meadows is one of my favorites of all time.

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: tarheel
Date: 29 Dec 05 - 07:46 PM

try....gasoline alley...drawn by one of the finest fiddle players around these parts...in fact he has won the chanpion fiddle player at galax,mt.airy, and other terrific conventions throught the area...
i'm speaking of course of ...jim scancarelli...
i have an original piece of art from the Gasoline alley series autographed to me by jim...
we once worked at the same place,at seperate times in charlotte,north carolia!(wbtv channel 3,charlotte,n.c..)
tar...

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 29 Dec 05 - 08:01 PM

Oh, mine too, Ron. He's great. He really has a gift for drawing dinosaurs, chimps, women, scenery, you-name-it. Anything at all.

But, I do think Brandy's breasts are a bit too large. I go by a simple rule. If a woman's breasts are each nearly as big or even bigger than her entire head, then..."Houston, we've got a problem..."

lovely, but out of proportion

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: Rapparee
Date: 29 Dec 05 - 10:05 PM

Gasoline Alley.

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Feb 06 - 08:26 PM

Refresh. Just in time for the cartoon crisis.

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: ranger1
Date: 09 Feb 06 - 08:51 PM

Well, as a ranger/naturalist, I can tell you that Mr. Trail's nature facts (in the Sunday funnies) are not always accurate. Sometimes they're completely wrong. Maybe he's getting all his info off the internet these days instead of doing real research in the library?

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 09 Feb 06 - 09:35 PM

I never much paid attention to MT as a comic strip; it moved very slowly (but then don't they all?). But when I was about 9 or 11 years old there was a Mark Trail radio show. The best things I recall about it were that Jackson Beck -of Superman announcer fame- was MT's announcer, and the theme music was "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean."

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 10 Feb 06 - 08:29 AM

I can hardly wait until next month when the evil brothers and their alledged father are finally taken out by the tree branch that Lucy unleases...Boy, will they be surprised!

Now what ever happened to TERRY & THE PIRATES? I haven't seen an image of the Dragon Lady to drowl over for years.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 10 Feb 06 - 09:58 AM

She certainly had astounding lips, didn't she? Of course...they all did.

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: Peter T.
Date: 10 Feb 06 - 11:39 AM

I don't know any Boy Scouts who read Mark Trail. We were always reading things we weren't supposed to read, mostly X-rated comics (nothing to do with X-men).

The most boring comic ever in history was Archie and Veronica. They were NEVER funny, and they have continued to be NEVER funny. The only funny thing was that weird sideways walk with the twisted feet and the twisted arms.

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 10 Feb 06 - 12:28 PM

I've been booked for leicester Comedy festival this week. I've never considered myself a comedy act.

still a gig's a gig. it's nice to be wanted.

anybody know any jokes I could tell?

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 10 Feb 06 - 12:35 PM

I'm shocked that you would say that, Peter. Think of the generations of young people who have modelled their lives on Archie, Veronica, Betty, and Jughead.

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: Peter T.
Date: 10 Feb 06 - 05:21 PM

and that guy with the oily hair. All total UNFUNNY losses.

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: Mark Trail - How bad a comic is it?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 10 Feb 06 - 06:13 PM

Reggie? I agree. Archie comics are so unfunny that it's almost breathtaking. They're good for people who want to pretend it's still 1957, though.