Comics for the Blind: Mark Trail

Showing posts with label Mark Trail. Show all posts

2014-09-17

Action Thisday: Boring... predictable... HOLY SHIT!

Shit is about to get real in Dick Tracy as the team have arrived to put a stop to Axel's plans, but right now they're just waiting for morning. Anyone else feel like this story has dragged on too long? Early in their run Staton and Curtis were accused of rushing through their stories too quickly, but if that was a problem then, they've over-corrected. Personally I loved the fast pace and quick resolutions, but I guess maybe they were burning through their story ideas too quickly? Whatever the reason, I'm ready for this to be over.

Remember how Mandrake the Magician had been kidnapped and brought to the distant future by one of the rulers of Earth? It turns out she wanted him to put on a magic show for her. To start with she got a robot version of Luciphor (called Cobra) to attack him, and he blasted it with magic, which she loved. Then he got pissed off and "gestured hypnotically" to make her appear to be a child, to demonstrate what he thought of her.

Mandrake the Magician, 2014-09-13.

"Marvelous magic-- made me think I am a little girl" says the Bozz, looking into a mirror.
"Yes--" says Mandrake, "a naughty girl-- who should be treated as such--"
He picks her up and puts her over his knee.
"50,000 years ago-- this was called-- a spanking."
"!" says the Bozz.

Well, that's taught her a lesson. Or not, because it turns out she loved it. And the other two rulers want a spanking too. Seriously. I think this is the point where Mandrake becomes a fetish comic?

At least we can always count on The Amazing Spider-Man being hilariously incompetent. In order to test his suspicions about Doc Ock, Spidey broke into the jail cell where Ox was being held and "tricked" him into revealing that he was hired to commit a crime, possibly by Octavius.

The Amazing Spider-Man, 2014-09-15.

"Ox gave me info he didn't know he had." says Spidey to no-one as he swings away. "Now I'm positive Dr. Octavius is up to no good!"
Meanwhile...
"I wanna tear Doc Ock limb from limb from limb." says Ox, gripping the bars of his cell's window. "But even I can't bend them cars like Spider-Man did."
Suddenly he stops, looking more closely at the bars.
"But — looks like he might've loosened one when he bent it back in place!"

So now Spidey has accidentally helped a criminal break out of prison. Good job, Peter!

And finally, James Allen shows us again that the new Mark Trail can be as good as the old (although for different reasons). It all started on Sept 9 when "Dirty", fleeing in his car, encountered some rhinoceroses The next day they attacked, and it just got better from there. Actually, don't even bother clicking those last two links, here they are in all their glory:

Mark Trail, 2014-09-12.

Mark Trail, 2014-09-13.

And then Mark dragged him from the flaming wreck.

Mark Trail, 2014-09-17.

Mark, Lori and Taurus are rushing Chris Dyer to the nearest hospital
"We'll be there soon Chris — just hang on!" says Mark.
"Mark, I was only trying to to make things right for me and Lori!" says Chris. "I never meant to ..."

God dammit, Mark, call him "Dirty"!

2014-09-02

Action Tuesday: Overdue Bills

I haven't been talking about Mandrake the Magician lately, but only because it's been incredibly dumb in a very boring way. Mandrake was kidnapped by an alien in a UFO which turned out to actually be a person from the future in a time machine and brought to the future, where he was given a guided tour of the Earth. Basically, the entire Earth is paved over now and there are replicas of present-day cities in big domes under the sea, and everything is ruled by three women called the Bozz of Time, the Bozz of Paving and Potholes the Bozz of Everything Else.

There was a liquid diamond suit that allowed Mandrake to fly and some zoos full of genetically engineered versions of present-day animals that all lived in harmony. Eventually he was brought to a replica of his own house but made of liquid diamonds, and introduced to robotic replicas of Narda, Lothar and Hojo. But forget that, because this is where the ruler of past, present and future, the Bozz of Time lives.

Mandrake the Magician, 2014-09-02.

"Third ruler of the Earth? You kidnapped me!" says Mandrake.
"I did indeed." says... the exact same woman who brought Mandrake here and gave him the tour. She was pretending to not be the Bozz of Time but actually she was the Bozz of Time.
"This room. Almost like my study." says Mandrake.
"Exactly like your study-- where I found you. -- working on papers just like these."
"My bills -- from 50,000 years ago -- now overdue!"

Yeah, clearly that's what we should be focusing on here, Mandrake. Not the fact that some crazy woman who claims to be the ruler of all of time kidnapped you apparently for the purpose of pulling a weird prank. If you never get home your bills will go unpaid, and that would be a catastrophe.

I also haven't been talking about Popeye at all lately, because it went through a period of unrelated joke-a-day strips, but a new story has begun now. Olive Oyl found a weird crown that gave her super powers and made he think she was Velma of Venus, whoever that may be.

Popeye, 2014-08-28.

"It's wonderful to be able to fly!" says Olive/Velma. "This headpiece gives me wonderful powers!"
She takes it off to admire it and crashes tot he ground.
"But I must remember not to take it off in flight !"

Also, now Popeye and Wimpy have both decided that they're in love with Velma, not realising that she is actually Olive, even though her appearance remains exactly the same when she has the crown on.

"Dirty" somehow managed to get away, even though Taurus had the gun, and drove off. Fortunately there was another car, which Mark and Taurus began pursuing him in. Unfortunately they decided to take a shortcut and ran into a herd of elephants.

Mark Trail, 2014-09-02.

"Taurus, fire your rifle!" says Mark. "Maybe the sound will scare them!"
"Okay, Mark!" says Taurus, hanging out of the sun roof.
Kablam Blam goes the gun.
Beep Beep Beep goes the car's horn.
The elephants turn to run towards "Dirty".

If we're lucky, I think "Dirty" may be about to be trampled by a herd of elephants.

2014-08-26

Action Tuesday: What sound do guns make?

Dick Tracy is still stuck in the past (or whatever), but the rest of the team have finally figured out where he was going when he disappeared and are now researching the island.

Dick Tracy, 2014-08-22.

"Lex Associates holds Thunder Island?" says Tess.
"Fritz Ann, can you tell us about them?" asks Patton.
"Pardon me, Chief Patton, but I think we have all we need to know." says the Asp. "Lex Associates, when partially erased and reversed..."
He takes a marker and begins writing on the whiteboard.
"...spells Axel. He is our primary foe."
"Our records list Axel as missing presumed dead." says Fritz Ann.
"If only, Ms. Dietrich."

And everyone is just going to accept tht as though it means something. Wait a second, Dick Tracy left by car. Cars have wheels, connected by... Axles! Axle... Axel... am I the only one seeing this?

And Doc Ock still hasn't revealed his nefarious plan yet and continues to act as a far better super hero than Spider-Man ever was. In fact, he just foiled a bank robbery.

The Amazing Spider-Man, 2014-08-26.

"Always glad to help, officer, when I can spare time from my research." says Octavius.
"Yeah?" says the police officer. "What're you workin' on these days, Dr. Octopus?"
"I fear I'm not at liberty to say... but I can guarantee it will shake things up a bit."
"Why is my spider sense suddenly tingling?" wonders Peter.

Good question, Peter. It's really hard to figure out what will or won't set it off. I thought the basic premise was that it was a sort of proximity warning, but the number of times you've been hit on the head (both by villains and by inanimate objects just falling on you) tells me that can't be the case. And in the past I've seen it go off because there was some important paperwork nearby, and because someone was talking about you. And not even someone nearby where you could have subconsciously overheard them.

In this case though, it's pretty obvious that Doc Ock is building some kind of earthquake machine. For crime. He's not even being subtle about it.

You know who else could use some help spotting the blatantly obvious? Mark Trail. He has finally discovered Dirty's poaching though, and rather than going to the police decided to just confront him about it. In the middle of nowhere, with no witnesses. Well, Lori and Taurus are there, but seriously, dumb move.

Mark Trail, 2014-08-25.

"You've interfered long enough, Trail!" says Dirty, tackling Mark to the ground and drawing a large knife.
"Chris, wait!" pleads Mark, totally forgetting to call him "Dirty".
KAPOW
Taurus holds a smoking rifle in his hands.
"Taurus!?" exclaims Dirty. "What are you doing?"
"I can't let you do that, Chris - now drop the knife!"

Since when does a gunshot sound like "kapow"? And why won't anyone call him "Dirty"?

And we have a new daily story in The Phantom this week, which is already off to a much better start than the last one. We meet two new characters, Barker and Shotgun, criminals who have a "hijack job" to do in the morning. Surprisingly, Shotgun is the more reasonable of the two, advising his partner not to get too drunk the night before.

The Phantom, 2014-08-26.

Barker and Shotgun walk past an alley and notice a homeless man with a shopping trolley walking along it.
"Hey, Shotgun!" says Barker. "Watch this guy flop!"
With that he pulls out his gun and shoots the homeless man.
"Are you out of your mind!?" asks Shotgun, aghast.

I guess they really needed to make this guy super-evil, just so the Phantom would look like the good guy by comparison.

2014-07-29

Action Tuesday: Call me "Dirty"!

It didn't take long for Jane's World to get back to more of a soap-opera style, but since I didn't post when it happened, here's how that cop flashback ended up.

Jane's World, 2014-07-11.

"This is unit 16 calling for back-up." says Chelle into her radio. "Officer down, one suspect dead.."
The dead man lies in the doorway, his gun on the floor beside him. Chelle's hat has also fallen onto the floor. Jill grimaces as she clutches at the bullet wound in her right arm.
".. Second suspect fled through the open window. He's armed, over." says Chelle.
"10-4..." replies the dispatcher. "Black and white dispatched. Ambulance en route. Over"
"Officer James is conscious and on the second level." says Chelle, checking on Jill. "I am pursuing secong suspect on foot... over."

You're tried to apprehend an armed criminal and he just shot your partner, so now you're going to chase after him by yourself, on foot, with no idea how far away your backup is? Chelle was a terrible cop.

Not a lot's happened in Spider-Man, Doc Ock is still pretending to be a super hero and JJJ is still funding him in exchange for the "free" publicity of being able to publish pictures of him doing so. Most recently the Ox has showed up and kidnapped Morton Q Pierport (whose name alone tells you that he's rich), supposedly for ransom money. But he let slip that he's actually acting on orders. Who could they possibly have come from, I wonder? Surely not Doctor Octopus, he's a hero now!

The Amazing Spider-Man, 2014-07-28.

"Spider-Man and Dr. Octopus are hurrying toward the kidnap scene..." says a television reporter, showing live footage of the chase (which casts serious doubts on the value of Peter's photos).
"Why's that wall-crawler trying to butt in on Octavius' heroics?" demands Jameson, through gritted teeth.
"He's a crime-fighter, Jonah. He fights crime." says Robbie, as though explaining to a child.
While...
"Can't let Doc Ock beat me to the Ox." says Spider-Man to no one, as he swings through the city.

Of course, Spidey and Ock show up at exactly the same time, and I can't wait to see how Peter screws this up. Also, I couldn't let this delightful panel of Peter being put in his place by Jameson slip by without notice.

Panel from The Amazing Spider-Man, 2014-07-09.

He's got you there, Peter.

Dick Tracy has been a bit slow of late as well. Punjab and the Asp managed to track down the Butcher of the Balkans by following the guy they were previously interrogating and then Punjab did some kind of magic thing and made the Butcher disappear somehow. See if you can make any more sense of it than that.

Back in 1944 (or the place that someone is trying very hard to make look like 1944), Annie has discovered that the "Belinda" radio show seems to have a hypnotic effect on everyone, so she's asked Dick to meet her "junior commandos" club.

Dick Tracy, 2014-07-28.

Simmons Corners
"Annie, I'd like to meet your junior commandos, but I have another meeting to attend..." says Dick.
"They'll be here soon, Officer Tracy." says Annie.
"Ye gods!" says Dick, looking at his watch. "It's 4:40. 'Belinda' will be on the radio in 5 minutes!"
"Don't worry, you can miss it this once!" says Annie.
"I..." says Dick, standing up and holding a hand to his head. "I don't think I should."
"I bet your watch is fast." says Annie, jumping to her feet. "Sit down and I'll get you some water."

And then she threw the water on him and his memory came back. I think this comic made more sense when it was about moon people.

Mark Trail is still in an undisclosed country in Africa, and travelling around with Chris and Lori, some people he met in the airport. Turns out Chris is into Lori, but she doesn't feel the same, and for some reason Chris has decided that the only possible explanation for that is that Lori must have fallen for Mark. In the few days since they met. Why she didn't return his feelings before meeting Mark is clearly still a mystery.

So Chris decided to take Mark aside and kill him, then try to make it look like an animal attack. But first, get to know him a bit.

Mark Trail, 2014-07-15.

"What's on your mind, Chris?" asks Mark.
"Mark, please call me 'dirty'! My good friends call me Dirty!" says Chris, and this conversation's suddenly gotten a lot more entertaining.
"Mark," continues Chris (aka. Dirty) "I've known Lori for several years now... and I can tell you that I have grown quite fond of her!"
A nearby elephant laughs, presumably at the phrase "call me 'Dirty'!"

James Allen, you're all right.

Panel from Mark Trail, 2014-07-15.

2014-06-17

Action Tuesday: Police Brutality

Dick Tracy is finally on the case, looking for Annie. He kind of started last week, but this week the whole team's on board. Leapin' lizards!

Dick Tracy, 2014-06-15.

The search for Annie is on!
"Warbucks, I'm assigning your men to work with members of the Major Crimes Unit while you and I check out leads. There'll be more for you after we meet with Am's informant." says Tracy. "Punjab, I'd like you to accompany Lizz and Lee. The informant they'll be interviewing isn't normally cooperative."
"Ha! Isn't getting info from Pouch always a walk in the park?" says Lizz, referring to Pouch's job as a balloon-seller in the park.
"It will be my honor to escort you both to meet this 'Pouch'." says Punjab, bowing.

City Park
"Balloons!" calls Pouch. "Get yer balloons here!"
Punjab approaches him holding a sword that seems little more than a knife in his hands.
"Memsahib Lizz," he says, "is this the miscreant you wish to question?"
"Yi!!" gasps Pouch as the terrifying giant leans over him.

And Mark Trail is in Africa! No specific country, just Africa.

Mark Trail, 2014-06-16.

"Jacob Hickman has disappeared..." says Kaden, an African man, to Mark. "We found his truck — it had been run off a cliff... he wasn'tr inside! I'm afraid we fear the worst!"
He reaches down to take Mark's suitcases.
"Sorry to greet you with such disappointing news... I can take you to a good hotel with fine dining if you wish!"
Later
Mark sits at an outdoor table.
"Poachers may have gotten Jacob because of his conservation work..." he thinks. "Now I'm stuck here!"

He seems somewhat vexed by the news of his colleague's death. It's a real inconvenience for him.

And this week, The Phantom jumped out of a helicopter and almost hit another helicopter on his way down, but managed to miss it by losing some altitude and made it over the fence.

The Phantom, 2014-06-17.

"What was that?" asks one guard.
"You heard it too?" asks another.
A dog growls.
"Well, something was flapping around up there!" says a third.
"If you say so." says a fourth.
As this speculation continues, the Phantom opens his parachute to land unseen beyond all of them.

And remember how Alley Oop left his dinosaur, Dinny, in the middle of nowhere when he went to rescue Ooola? And then they both rode her dinosaur, Pterry, out of there? Yeah, Alley hasn't even spared Dinny a thought since then.

Alley Oop, 2014-06-13.

"Foozy had a great idea!" thinks Alley. "Ooola's gonna love this! Now, I just hafta find her!"
Suddenly he notices Dinny on the road ahead of him.
"Dinny!!" he calls. "Buddy, I'm glad to see you made it back t'Moo!!"

Glad, perhaps, but not so glad that he bothered to do anything to help.

2014-06-11

Action Tuesday: Africa⁉

Dick Tracy is finally investigating Annie's disappearance! After teasing it for so long, Staton and Curtis finally had Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks meet with Tracy yesterday, and today they're going to meet with someone who Warbucks believes has information on Annie's whereabouts.

Dick Tracy, 2014-06-10.

The city's finest hotel, The Siam.
"You staying here, Warbucks?" asks Tracy.

"Heh-heh! I can't afford it!" says Warbucks.
"Welcome, Mr. Warbucks, Mr. Tracy." says a hotel staff member. "I'll summon him."
"Tracy, this is my friend, The Great Am." says Warbucks, introducing a man with a long white beard.
"So this is Dick Tracy!" says The Great Am. "Your face is very familiar."

There's a hotel that Oliver Warbucks can't afford to stay in? Oliver Warbucks the "multi-zillionaire"?

Spider-Man's latest story is off to a pretty good start too, with Doc Ock apparently turning over a new leaf and preventing a prison break.

The Amazing Spider-Man, 2014-06-09.

Spider-Man finally reaches state prison...
"That mini-quake didn't do this wall any good." says Spidey to no one. "But I'll make sure no prisoners escape."
"No need, Spider-Man." says the warden. "Dr. Octopus ended the breakout."
"As you might have done..." says Ock, "had you arrived in time!"

Fighting crime and showing up Spider-Man, he'll fit right in with the rest of the city's heroes.

Mark Trail is going to Africa!

Mark Trail, 2014-06-10.

Mark Trail, 2014-06-10.

"My editor, Bill Ellis, wants me to go to Africa!" says Mark.
"Africa⁉" says Cherry, crossly.
"Africa?" says Rusty. "Oh boy ... Mark, can I go?"

Ha ha ha. Of course not, Rusty. Of course not.

And saving the best for last, Judge Parker continues to deliver. After another week of Katherine continuing to negotiate with the man holding her captive, as though she were the one in the superior bargaining position, Alan showed up. Remember how he wandered off earlier? Yeah, he went to find Katherine. And succeeded.

Judge Parker, 2014-06-08.

"You're the man from the ship!" says Flaco.
"That's right..." says Alan. "And that woman is my wife! I demand that you release her at once!"
"What is it with you people making demands all the time?" asks Flaco, understandably confused at the Parkers' utter obliviousness to danger.
"Untie my wife before somebody gets killed!" says Alan, presumably not referring to himself even though he's the one with a gun to his head.
"You have no gun!" says Flaco.
"I don't need a gun!" says Alan, cryptically.
"Flaco, my husband is a novelist!" says Katherine, as though that explains everything. "Perhaps you've heard of him... Alan Parker! He just wrote a best-seller!"
"Alan Parker?" says Flaco, clearly losing control of the situation. "The same Alan Parker who wrote 'The Chambers Affair'? I loved that book! I finished it on the ship just before Li Hai disappeared!"
"I'm glad you enjoyed it!" says Alan. "We're writing the movie script now!"
"You know," says Flaco, "I thought it would make a wonderful movie!"
Meanwhile, nearby a mercenary watches all this unfold.
"Now we have Mr. Parker in the picture!" she says. "What now?"
"Stay on target..." says a voice over the radio. "Wait for Abbott!"

And then Flaco asked Alan for some advice on writing before surrendering to Katherine. Judge Parker is my favourite comic right now.

2014-06-04

Action Tuesday: Mandrake the Moron

After a week of Mark Trail expressing human emotion and willingly spending time with his wife, I'm starting to worry about James Allen's style. I mean, Mark fighting a bear and then the bear fighting another bear were great, but this is just not the Mark Trail I know and love. At least one thing doesn't seem to have changed though...

Mark Trail, 2014-06-03.

"Bill Ellis called for you, Mark!" calls Doc.
"Mark, are you going to tell Mr. Ellis about the bear that chased you?" asks Rusty.
"He just wants my next story, Rusty!" says Mark.
"I don't think so, Mark..." says Doc. "Bill said something about you going on a trip!"

Mark is going on a trip! I wonder if he'll promise to take Rusty fishing when he gets back and then never do it? Also, Mark's reaction to Rusty's question is the sort of bizarre non-sequitur that I've always liked about this comic, along with the fact that Mark apparently isn't going to tell Bill about the bear, or, I don't know, write an article about the experience. That seems like something people might like to read.

On the other end of the spectrum, Judge Parker has been delightful this week. After ungagging Katherine for no apparent reason, Flaco has been chatting with her while trying to spot the people sneaking up to kill him.

Judge Parker, 2014-05-30.

"He should be here by now!" says Flaco. "They're trying to trick me!"
"Of course they are..." says Katherine, blissfully naïve to her own mortal peril. "But you can trick them! Your wife is safe and you have everything to live for now! Why don't you just surrender to me and we'll call it a day?"

And then she convinced Flaco to sit down next to her, which actually made it impossible for Abbott's mercenaries to get a clear shot at him. So it turns out she might actually be helping him, although probably not intentionally.

And Mandrake the Magician and Lothar followed Alibi Algie, the man with the apparent ability to be in two places at once, to his hotel room and discovered...

Mandrake the Magician, 2014-06-03.

"Alibi Algie... identical twins!" gasps Mandrake.
"We should have guessed that." says Lothar.
"Too late to guess --" says one of the twins.
"We never shoot people -- until now." says the other.

Lothar said it all, really.

2014-05-20

Action Tuesday: Bear fight!

Well, after seeing Mark Trail fight a bear we also got to see that bear fighting another bear. I still miss the way Mark used to say every thought that came into his head aloud regardless of where he was or what he was doing, but new Mark Trail has a lot more bear fighting, and that can't be a bad thing. Also there's this:

Mark Trail, 2014-05-15.

Mark Trail, 2014-05-17.

"Dusty, look, out in that field!" says Cherry, pointing.
"Yeah, that's Mark all right!" says Dusty, looking through a pair of binoculars. "He's crawling away from two fighting bears and he looks like he's in rough shape... we'd better go get him!"
"Mark, Mark, over here!" calls Cherry, running towards him.
"Cherry ... Dusty!" calls Mark, struggling to stand.

And in Judge Parker, April is still holding Franco hostage while Flaco holds Katherine, Abbott has agreed to hand himself over in exchange for Katherine and has promised that Franco will be released as well, and Alan has wandered off into the jungle like a gigantic moron. I can't wait to see what's happened to him. Meanwhile...

Judge Parker, 2014-05-20.

"My whole family, past and future, is out there..." says Randy. "Bring them back!"
"You should be more concerned about the Garda brothers, son!" says Abbott grimly. "They will pay for ruining your wedding... I promise you that!"
"Wear these, Abbott..." says Holland, handing over a pair of night-vision goggles "and circle to the west! We know his location!"

2014-04-29

Action Tuesday: Mark Trail fights a bear

OK, you remember how Mark Trail was going to fight a bear? Well, he totally did. Noted animal-lover and nature enthusiast Mark Trail just bashed a bear in the head with a big stick. And then fell down a waterfall.

Mark Trail, 2014-04-26.

Mark crawls painfully from the river.
"My shoulder — feels like it's on fire!" he thinks. "I must have sprained my shoulder when I hit the riverbed!"
He looks up and sees the bear.
"That angry old black bear is limping a bit," he thinks, "but it's still coming after me!"

After that he ran a bit more and managed to climb a tree, but with his injured shoulder he can't hold on for very long...

The current Mandrake the Magician story concerns and English detective who's been sent to seek Mandrake's help in apprehending a criminal who always seems to be able to produce witnesses attesting his innocence, "Alibi Algie". The detective made no secret of the fact that he didn't believe that Mandrake would be able to help, but it's not like he was being a dick about it or anything. Mandrake, on the other hand...

Mandrake the Magician, 2014-04-26.

Inspector Brett suddenly finds himself in his underwear. "My-- clothes--" he sputters.
"Showing you how I'd handle your criminal." says Mandrake. "Comfortable Alibi Algie? Now talk--"
Inspector Brett begins to rise into the air and rotating.
"If he remained stubborn, I'd try to shake him-- harmlessly, of course." says Mandrake, apparently unaware that a confession given under such duress would be inadmissible in court.
"Uh! Uh!" gibbers Brett.

And in Alley Oop, King Tunk's motive is finally revealed.

Alley Opp, 2014-04-29.

"Ooola's not in any shape t'go anywhere," says Tunk, "and you wouldn't leave without her! Face it, you're a Lemmian now!"
"I'll never be a Lemmian!" declares Alley.
Meanwhile Ooola just sort of stumbles around in a daze.

Is the plan to just keep Ooola drugged forever so that Alley Oop can never leave? I really don't understand how this is supposed to work.

2014-04-22

Action Tuesday: To the rescue!

Alley Oop has made it past the ambush laid out for him and has found Ooola, who is now unconscious from the drugged food given to her by Tunk.

"There's Ooola!" says Alley to himself. "Uh-oh! And there's Tunk headin' her way!"
With his crude weapon in hand, Oop grabs a vine and prepares to swing into action.
"There's not a moment to waste!"

Alley Oop, 2014-04-21.

I've been reading this for a while now, and I'm still not sure what anyone's motivations are. I get Alley Oop, he's going to rescue Ooola. Everyone else though... why does Tunk want to kill Alley? Why did Ooola pretend to be happy to accept Tunk's hospitality when she clearly knew he was a bad guy? Is there some bigger plot going on here or is Tunk just like the sea hag from Popeye, doing evil because that's what he does, and everyone just accepts that?

The new era of Mark Trail is off to a pretty decent start, with Mark being attacked by a bear for no apparent reason. It was between him and his car so he decided to run away, but the bear chased him.

Mark Trail, 2014-04-22.

"There's no way I'll be able to outrun this beast!" thinks Mark, diving to the side.
He reaches for a heavy stick.
"Only one chance!" he thinks.

I've got to say, I'm not keen on a Mark Trail who can think without speaking, because having him narrate his every thought was hilarious, but I am somewhat placated by the promise of seeing him fight a bear over the course of the next week. And I've got to admit, the new art style is an improvement. So I'm not sold yet, but it's got my attention.

As The Amazing Spider-Man and the even more amazing Iron Jonah hurtle toward the stone arch in Washington Square Park, Spidey does everything in his power to try to slow them down and utterly fails to have any noticeable effect whatsoever. The Stark Industries technician who's been acting as Jonah's unwilling sidekick and Robbie Robertson both look on helplessly...

The Amazing Spider-Man, 2014-04-22.

Spidey and Jonah Jameson are about to crash into a stone arch...
"Wish I could say it's been nice knowin' you, Jameson," says Spider-Man, "but —"
Suddenly Iron Man appears, moving at great speed, and SLAMMs into Jonah, knocking him away from the arch.
"Gotcha!" he yells.

Well, I for one am very disappointed that Robbie isn't the one to save Jonah.

2014-04-16

Action Tuesday: Inappropriately Casual Reactions

A while back in Dick Tracy, before the Little Orphan Annie stuff I mentioned recently, some villains stole the space coupe, Diet Smith's spaceship, and were last seen flying off into space where they would presumably die when their oxygen ran out. Or possibly of dehydration, whichever comes first. These things happen when you're a criminal in Dick Tracy.

Dick Tracy, 2014-04-15.

Two shadowy figures sit in a dark room.
"Dick, when I learned what Dr. Ghote had done to re-create Mysta, I was horrified." says Diet Smith. "His research had to be stopped and the doors to the moon closed for good."
He cracks his knuckles and puffs on his cigar.
"So, I bought him out and decided to purge all our moon tech, including the space coupe. I lied to you about its fate in the storm."
"I know." says Tracy.
"I used the remote to send the coupe into deep space." says Smith. "After the storm, Dr. Ghote and Dr. Sail vanished. I think they may have been on board."
"It looks that way, Diet." says Tracy.

Dick Tracy showing his usual level of compassion there.

Mark Trail, 2014-04-10.

Lost Forest
"Marlin will be going to jail for a long time for poaching sea turtles that lived on the island!" says someone.

"I sure do feel sorry for poor Jessica!" says someone else.
"She'll be fine ... I spoke with her and she told me that she's going to continue her work with injured birds!" says Mark.

She'll be fine. Her husband turned out to have been committing crimes behind her back for years and has been sent to jail, but she's still got those injured birds. Mark Trail honestly cannot understand what she could possibly have to be upset about.

And this, it seems, is the last Mark Trail story by Jack Elrod. Starting on the 11th the dailies are credited to James Allen, whose name I just can't approve of. "Eddodd" and "Jackelrod" both work perfectly as single words, but what can you do with "James Allen"? Nothing. As to whether the comic will get better or worse, that remains to be seen.

And this week in Spider-Man, Iron Jonah lost control of his armour and started flying about erratically. Spider-Man is attempting to save him but there have been hints that he'll prove to be his usual incompetent self and it will end up being up to Robbie Robertson to save his former employer. It's one thing when Spidey is shown up by other super heroes, but for him to be shown up by a grey-haired newspaper editor will be even better.

2014-04-09

Action Tuesday: Traps, tackles and a true hero

You know who's awesome? Iron Jonah. It was pretty clear almost immediately that he was going to be a strong contender for best super hero ever, but no one could have predicted how strong a showing he'd make in his début appearance.

Jonah hid behind a cloud near some people in danger, hoping The Amazing Spider-Man would stop by. That sounds bad, but he was planning on saving them if no other super heroes showed up in time, so, you know, let's call that even. Fortunately Spider-Man did show up and Triple-J stood back and let him get on with it, until the moment everyone was safe. Then he charged Spidey, shot beams at him and eventually tackled him in mid-air.

At this point he was feeling pretty good with himself, until he realised that poor Spider-Man was actually unconscious and quite a long way up in the air.

The Amazing Spider-Man, 2014-04-08.

"Brody fed this armor full power — and it's still operating —" says Iron Jonah as Spider-Man falls past him. "— So I've got to save Spider-Man if I can!"
"Jameson — No!" yells Brody in the control room, "To catch him you may exceed the speed of sound — — and that could prove fatal!"
"Whatever happens I've got to try!" insists Jonah, a true hero.

Speaking of tackling, Mark Trail finally got to the point in the story where the punches happen last week and surprisingly it was the bad guy who got the first hit in, but Mark Trail doesn't have enough sense to worry about a little thing like blunt force trauma to the head so he just carried on pretty much entirely unaffected. After realising that his punches were useless, Marlin attempted to flee...

Mark Trail, 2014-04-04.

"Marlin!?" thinks Jessica, apparently having difficulty recognising her own husband.
"Marlin, where are you going!?" she yells at him as he runs along the pier.
He stops and turns.
"Jessica?"
Everyone's having trouble identifying each other today.
Suddenly out of nowhere appears Mark Trail, moving at a full sprint. Marlin is taken completely by surprise (as well he might be) by Mark hurling himself through the air towards him and the two fall together into the water.

And then the police show up and they all go home for tea and cakes.

I've been reading Alley Oop for a while now to try to get into it and figure out what's going on, and here's the plot so far, as I understand it. Alley Oop's girlfriend, Ooola, got lost in Lem, the land where Alley Oop's enemies live. Tunk, the king of Lem, saw this as a great opportunity. The plan seems to be, drug Ooola to use her as bait, separate Oop from his dinosaur, then lay an ambush. So far it seems to be working.

Alley Oop, 2014-04-08.

Tunk and his chef spy to make sure Ooola eats the stew that has been drugged to make her sleep...
"Ah! It won't be long now!" thinks Tunk as Ooola eats a mouthful.

Meanwhile, Oop continues his search for Ooola in Lem...
"There's a clearin ahead!" says Alley Oop to no one. "Maybe I'm finally gettin' somewhere!"

And in Mandrake the Magician there's a man who claims to be an English police inspector but dresses as Sherlock Holmes and may actually be an assassin. So there's that.

2014-04-02

Action Tuesday on Wednesday: Better Late Than Never

Last week the Dick Tracy team teased us with the promise of resolving the final Little Orphan Annie cliffhanger as Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks made a cameo appearance to announce that he had decided to seek Tracy's help, but since then all we've seen is Dick grumbling about Vera Alldid's J Straightedge Trustworthy comic strip, so for the moment I'm pretty much just waiting it out until something interesting starts happening again.

Starting with bragging extensively about his vast cache of stolen treasures, The Phantom seems to be going out of his way to make himself look like the villain of his own strip. After drugging Lara Bell, the woman who found her way to the skull cave with memory-erasing "ancient Bandar medicine" he had some of his pygmies deliver her back to Mawitaan, but on the way there they discovered that her memory hadn't been as fully erased as planned so they brought her, still unconscious, back to the deep woods, along with her guide, Rick Grubber, (on whom the drug seems to have worked as intended).

"For him, our original plan!" says the Phantom, pointing at Rick. "To Mawitaan!"
"Phan...tom..." murmurs Lara in her sleep.
"This one's going to Wambesi-land!" says the Phantom, adding kidnapping to his list of crimes.

And on Saturday the action kicked off in Mark Trail. When Mark demanded to see the contents of Marlin's bag, Marlin decided that enough was enough and punched him right in the face.

Mark lets fly with a mighty uppercut, knocking Marlin backwards and causing him to drop his bag. The bag falls to the floor, spilling a large number of round, white objects.
"Sea turtle eggs!" says Mark, grimly.

But after that Marlin ran away, so there might still be some more punching coming up. Hopefully.

2014-03-25

Action Tuesday: More comics about comics

When I last brought you up to speed on Dick Tracy, the Nitrates were leading the police on a high-speed chase, and since then things have progressed more-or-less predictably. The disastrous end was assured, but one small twist was that Sprocket actually drove into a lake on purpose as a form of self-destructive revenge against Silver, who apparently had been hitting her off-screen. Tracy and Sam were right behind and witnessed the car going into the lake.

"Tracy?" asks chief Patton over the wrist wizard. "What's happened to the Nitrates?"
"The drove into the lake, chief." replies Tracy. "The Flattop car broke through the ice and sank like a stone!"
"Is there a chance they survived?"
"We'll need divers and a recovery rig to reach them, chief, but I'd say no. No chance at all."

That said, we'd just seen the Nitrates still alive and talking in the car, so I won't believe it unless I see a body. If they do reappear though it probably won't be soon since the next we see Dick he's heading back to police headquarters to read some comics, specifically a satirical comic clearly based on him called J Straightedge Trustworthy. What is it with comic strip characters reading comics lately?

An interesting thing about this is that J Straightedge Trustworthy is clearly an homage to Fearless Fosdick, which Dick Tracy said was his favourite comic, which means that within the world of Dick Tracy there are actually now two separate comic strips making fun of him. He likes one, but we don't know how he feels about the other yet. Well, I think it's interesting.

Mark Trail, meanwhile, has discovered that Marlin is a poacher and has gone to look for some evidence, but while snooping around Marlin's workshop he was caught by Jessica.

"Jessica, I need to ask Marlin some questions about his business!" saus Mark, utterly failing to explain why he broke into the workshop.
"Maybe I can help you!" says Jessica, suspiciously.
"Jessica, did you knwo that Marlin is involved in poaching?" asks Mark. It's well-known that a criminal can't lie if you just ask them a straight question like that.
"What!?" demands Jessica indignantly. "That's ridiculous ... why would you say something like that?!"

And Peter Parker's vow to hang up the Spider-Man costume for a while lasted about as long as one might expect. He turned on the TV and saw some people in trouble. It's one of my favourite things about Spider-Man that he so often finds out about people in trouble only because of how much television he watches.

In this case he saw some construction workers hanging dangerously from a girder and felt that he couldn't rely on Iron Jonah (or any of the numerous other super heroes in New York) to save them so he had to get out there. Having managed to get both men to safety he was faced with the further problem of keeping the girder from crushing a bus that just drove under it for some reason.

"Spider-Man's swinging into that girder's path!" narrates an onlooker.
"What's he gonna do — try an' catch it?" asks a passing Canadian.
"No!" calls someone else. "He swung right under it — and now he's stuck his webbing to that sculpture!"
"What good'll that do??" asks a fourth bystander.

It's good to see the utter lack of faith the people of New York have in him.

2014-03-18

Action Tuesday: Suspicious Behaviour in the Jungle

Although he resisted for a while, Mark Trail has finally been forced to acknowledge Marlin's suspicious behaviour and has stumbled upon some actual evidence.

"Names, addresses, photos ..." says Mark to no one as looks through the names, addresses and photos. "Wait, these are photos of Marlin and other men hunting game animals at night!"
Needless to say, Mark is utterly scandalised that anyone could do such a thing. Especially someone as suspicious and obviously up to no good as Marlin.
"Looks like he has been harvesting sea turtle eggs as well ..." shouts Mark. "Marlin has turned this island into his own private illegal hunting grounds!"
Some disgruntled-looking water birds look on disapprovingly.

And something's finally happened in the weekday Phantom story as well. After weeks of the Phantom showing off his stolen treasure, Rick Grubber, the villain who came here to steal that treasure has finally made his move. Unfortunately for him he missed the "minor treasure room" where the Phantom keeps all his gold and jewels and such and stumbled on the "major treasure room" where the Phantom hoards items of historical and cultural significance.

He failed to recognise the value of those items, but since he came all that way he decided he may as well take a few things anyway.

In the dead of night, Rick Grubber makes his way out of the Skull Cave, wearing various pieces of armour and jewellery of both great monetary value and inestimable value to historians, archaeologists and anthropologists, clinking and clattering and looking utterly absurd.
Suddenly a noise freezes him in his tracks. Behind him, in the darkness, someone clears their throat.

We've probably still got at least another week of this, but hopefully the next story will be less dull.

Meanwhile in Judge Parker, the Alan and Katherine have spotted a surveillance drone and seem to be regarding it with more mild interest than any sort of apprehension.

"Do you think it sees us?" asks Katherine as the drone whirs overhead.
"I don't know..." says Alan. "Could be infrared! I must be watching the La Cura compound!"
"Infrared?" asks Katherine in sudden panic. "Does that mean it sees through my clothes?"

Eventually they manage to somehow distract the pilot and the drone crashes into a tree. It can't fly any more but the camera's still working and a couple of swarthy gentlemen in Hawaiian shirts seen observing Katherine on a monitor.

2014-03-04

Action Tuesday: The Valiant Trail Phantom

I know you'll all be eager to hear what's been happening in The Amazing Spider-Man, but I'm actually going to give that a miss this time, because it's kind of in the middle of everything right now and I'll be able to cover it better in a week or two. Instead I'm going to start with Prince Valiant, who recently crashed his ship (with his family on board) onto an island where they all got attacked.

While Val climbed further inland, lured by the call of a siren, Aleta and Karen were attacked by a serpent. Fortunately Aleta had Val's singing sword and has managed to hold the beast at by thus far. Meanwhile, Val managed to offend the siren (who seems to have him confused for someone else) and she set a cyclops, Polyphemus, on him. Val head-butted the cyclops and took his club, but the the cyclops also has a large knife.

The giant swings and Val ducks, hitting him in the knee with the club. Polyphemus steps back, dangerously close to the cliff edge, while in the sea below the serpent rears up to strike at Aleta.

Seizing the opportunity, Val tackles Polyphemus and the two of them fly out into the air...

Seriously, read Prince Valiant, it's awesome.

The Phantom's current Sunday storyline has been pretty great recently, too. The weekday strips have been just incredibly dull, but an entirely separate story runs in the Sunday strips (for the benefit of newspapers that decide to carry the strip either only on weekdays or only on Sundays), and the current plot is a flashback about Juliet Adams Walker, wife of the fifth Phantom and also known as Captain Amazon.

I'd actually like to hear more about Captain Amazon's adventures from before she married the Phantom, but what we are getting is pretty good. See, the Phantom went after a bunch of slave-trading pirates who managed to overpower him and held him prisoner on their ship. Not knowing what had happened to him, Juliet decided to go after him.

She located a girl the pirates had taken prisoner and snuck into the place they were holding her, traded clothes with her and took her place to be taken aboard the ship.

"Juliet Adams Walker boarded that evil ship to learn the fate of her missing husband!" narrates the Phantom.

The year 1652...

"Heh heh!" leers a pirate.
"Filthy vermin." thinks Juliet as she's led past. "Escape now if you can!"
A single pirate brings her down below decks to the room where the prisoners are kept.
"These pirates think I'm that frightened girl they captured!" thinks Juliet, and as the pirate unlocks the door she lands a solid punch to his head, leaving him unconscious.
"Oh, Kit, where are you?!" she thinks, searching the ship.

"Pirates thought their captive must have swam to freedom after felling her guard!" narrates the Phantom.

Meanwhile, below decks...

Juliet finds Kit, beaten, bloody and chained, but still alive...

At the other end of the Spectrum is Mark Trail. People still get punched but instead of it being by badass crime fighters and costumed vigilantes it's by a mentally challenged nature magazine writer.

Mark's heard about a couple, Jessica and Marlin, who live on a private island, and one of them is a taxidermist who mostly works on fish, so he decided to write an article about them. It's incredibly obvious that they are up to no good, but Mark's just bumbling around in his innocent naivety, as he does.

Mark has just spotted Marlin bringing some people with hunting gear back to the island on his boat and something about it doesn't sit right with him.

"Those guys could be clients of his..." says Mark loudly to no one, while standing in the shadows a few meters from Marlin and his clients. "But why bring hunting gear here?"

Losing interest almost immediately, Mark returns to camp.

"I think I have enough material about Jessica for my story ..." he says, again to absolutely no one. "I'll get a few more pictures tomorrow! Then I'll get back to Rusty and Doc at the hotel!"

In the distance, a deer watches.

2014-02-23

Weekend Workshop: Christ, what an asshole!

Based on Arlo and Janis 2014-01-29.

They say that if you don't understand an Arlo and Janis strip, it's probably about sex. I thought I'd remove the "sub" from the subtext.

Based on Jane's World 2014-02-11.

It works everywhere, but some places better than others.

Based on Mark Trail 2014-02-15.

Mark is not a clever man.

Based on Safe Havens 2014-02-17.

That last panel now works as a follow-up to around half of all Safe Havens strips.

Based on Luann 2014-02-19.

Delta is joking, obviously. Bernice is not.

2013-10-05

The Phantom

Based on the Phantom strip for 2013-10-03 and the Mark Trail strip from 2011-04-11.

2013-09-26

Mark Trail

Mark Trail, 2013-09-23.

"I'm Mark Trail and I know how to use a telephone!"

You hold to to you chin, right? That's how it works. Or in the air in front of your face. Or just wave it around beside your head.