Mark is New to this Whole Tracking Thing; Excitement Has Yet to Abound

July 30, 2009

Things were moving along pretty quickly there for a while -- people were getting shot, cars were burning, bad news was being borne horribly -- but the fun times are over. Now the long, repetitive process of closing the case begins.

July 31, 2009

Because three consecutive panels weren't enough, Mark takes another two to explain that Joey Williams has been shot. Great way to wrap up the week, Elrod, thank you very fucking much.

It's been a great first week back at NLR -- thanks to the readership. Please accept this collage of everything Mark said this week (plus an uncomfortable pic of Patty stretched as far as decency will allow) as a token of my appreciation.

Sunday Selections: the Jackrabbit

Sunday is the only day of the week that Mark Trail makes any sense. NLR extends our appreciation for this moment of relative clarity by offering the Sunday edition of Mark Trail without any snarky, off-color commentary. July 26's strip spotlights the Jackrabbit.

Sorry Ain't Gonna Save You From tha Sass, Trick.

July 29, 2009

Bitch must be tripping if she thinks a couple of "thank yous" and "sorrys" and "the attempt on her brother's life" make for sufficient penance when animals have died in the woodsy journalist's forest. Like an elephant, Mark never forgets.

Unlike an elephant, Mark lacks the cognitive ability needed to reconcile pieces of information into a working theory. Fortunately for him, discretion isn't high on the polluting gamblers' priority list. The nefarious trucking company can be traced by information found on the discarded barrels, as Mark and Joey figured out on this contraction-starved field trip a few days back--

Time is running out on the gamblers and their dumpy ways. With any luck, Mark will find a receipt or something out in the woods. Even more likely, he'll stumble upon Joey's would-be assassin, who's carless and headed toward the freeway with an unconcealable firearm.

Mark Loves Telling People Their Family Members Have Been Shot

July 25, 2009

Most people would find it difficult to tell a young woman that her brother was shot. Mark describes the shooting to Joey's sister with the exuberance of a five-year-old describing how he fried an insect with a magnifying glass. Think he'll bring it up again in tomorrow's episode?

July 26, 2009

Aboslutely. Mark establishes a successful cross-panel description of the attempted bromicide as an Asian nurse slips a large quantity of unidentified medicine out of the waiting room.

I need to issue a correction of sorts here -- I started this saga in medias res without researching the whole story, and as a result, I got some facts wrong.

Joey Williams doesn't own a transportation company, as I have previously stated. Joey Williams owns a company that needs to dump chemicals. According to the lady with earrings glued to her jaws, gamblers to whom Joey is indebted are somehow involved in the reason why he changed transport companies. I repeat -- the gamblers are involved in a reason. Somehow. I hope that's clear. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

July 28, 2009

Mark is a triple-pleated idiot.

Assassin's Car Trouble Leads to Goofiness, Questionable Decision-Making

July 22, 2009

Zombie hitman Walter Matthau can't seem to navigate his sedan past an obstacle that, logically, he must have avoided on his way to the assasination attempt. Startled Squrrel can only stare in amazement in Panel 3 as Walter explains what everybody else already knows about ditches.

July 23, 2009

Unable to accelerate out of the ditch, Walter goes to Plan B -- like, really really gun it this time. Plan B fails.

Time is running out for Walter. He's stuck in the middle of the woods, nary a soul to be seen, save that unnaturally curious Squirrel in the tree. He can't stop touching the car even as he complains about the abundance of prints on the vehicle. Unwanted attention must be avoided at all costs. Plan C emerges -- set the car on fire. Unfortunately for everyone, the fire failed to spread to his jacket.

July 24, 2009

Immolation nearly complete, Zombie Matthau sets the final stage of Plan C into motion -- take the gun show to the highway. A nearby tree elects to stay in the woods for a while longer in Panel 1. It's the smartest decision anyone/anything has made in Mark Trail this week.

Hang on, Joey, I Need to Recap

Again, I've strayed, and again, I'm kind of sorry about it but not really. Mark Trail sucks bunches, and it's hard to stay the course. At this point, I guess i'm only apologizing to myself, so I should probably shutup about it. Onward--

July 21, 2009

Extremely well-shaded critters look on as Mark wills a Jeep Wrangler across the big blue ether toward a hospital. The motive is unclear, but the circumstancial evidence is overwhelming -- Walter Matthau has returned from the grave to shoot Joey Williams, and he's brought a garish tangerine outfit with him. The kind of outfit nobody will notice you wearing as you leave a crime scene.

Clearly NLR is returning to Mark Trail at a seminal moment in the storyline. How did it come to this?

a few weeks ago....

It wasn't always Jeeps and Joyrides for Mark and Joey. Seems Joey's dumping company done been dropping a few unsolicited drums of toxic crude in Lost Forest, and if there's one thing Mark Trail can't stand, it's a chubby, mulletted version of Mark Trail mussing up his home.

In Lost Forest, terrible hair is indicative of a terrible soul -- Joey's coif, like his conscience, walks a fine line. Once the proud owner of a family trucking operation, Joey has put the reputation of his business in dire straits. Man, fuck those tables.

Joey, a victim of his own compulsions, finds himself carrying out run-of-the-mill evil deeds on behalf of a crime syndicate. A crime syndicate headed, apparently, by the moon.

Joey sure knows how to lean into a phone call, doesn't he?

So here we are. The moon has been playing Joey for a sucker, the action literally spilled out into Mark's hood, and now our woodsy hero is about to go all Gran Torino on the moon and the moon's known associates.