James Allen, the writer/artist of “Mark Trail,” mentioned a couple of panels he’d done in January 2017, with Mark and Cherry discussing in-print vs. online readers. Mark was pretty much of good cheer (any readership is good readership, so to speak), but even the stalwart Champion of the Wilderness has feelings. And Punching Fists. So watch out.

Come on! Even those great comic strip Olympians have their down-times, too! Right? At least someone mentioned Pad Thai…

Oh, Mark, how I’ve missed you, with you dashing all around my own stomping ground, the wonderful lower Sonoran desert! I’m not quite sure what you’re doing out here, but if you’ve brought the rains with you, that’s good enough for me.
By the way, yYou really shouldn’t be out in the strong sunlight without a hat. Those powerful rays, you know…it can do strange things to a man.

But, true to his character, Mark can succeed at anything. Doc has been found, a blessing to us all! I guess.

As I mentioned a couple of years ago, all (or most) of the serial comics artists seem to have retired and been replaced by younger folks. While this is kinda good (rather than just killing a strip entirely), did we really need to have Mary Worth doing the Benjamin Button thing? Get any younger, Mary, and you’ll be kissing Charterstone adios.
On the other hand, many of her friend continue to surround her and follow her good sense with a slavish devotion. I suspect that’s all you can expect for a buttinsky like Mary. Oh, and Toe-by, the fat Professor’s trophy wife, also keeps time ticking away by experimenting with the latest and greatest hallucinogens that Santa Royale has to offer.

And June remains the patriarch of the family. And the alpha bitch. Have I been gone that long, that one (or both) of the little boys at the table are the newest members of the Morgan brood? Sad. Sad. Sad.

So I’m out of it for a little while (or a couple of years), only to discover that some things never change.

…I’ve been absent for two entire years. The reasons do include the fact that
our pathetic excuse for a local newspaper includes no serial strips (my favorite);
I have no idea of what’s going on in any of the serial strips (aside from the realities that Mary Worth continues to meddle, Rex Morgan continues to be a medical boob, and on);
the updated version of Photoshop is a bear to use (old dog…new tricks…poop on a learning curve, sez I);
a number of artists have changed (RMMD, Juggs Parker, etc.), and their new interpretations are kinda bland;
Luann, 9CW, Pibgorn, etc. still live (on par with Donald Trump running for president;
and fill in your own explanation/excuse.

I doubt I’ll ever be as prolific as I once was, but I’ll try to post from time to time, and I hope that it give yous a chuckle when I do.

…that’s what the current storyline in 9 Chickweed Lane is not.  Even with Nazis, it isn’t interesting.

But admit it…you went and saw all the Indiana Jones movies, didn’t you? Even the one with “Skull” in the title? You know, with Shia Leboeuf?  Get a clue, BMcE…

No kidding! The Friends of the Library group that I volunteer with usually deals with library discards of Garfield, Zits, Foob, etc., but we have a lovely donated copy of “Tiajuana Bibles,” including its dust jacket.  Interested? Drop me a line and I’ll try to answer any questions.  All proceeds will benefit our county libraries and its many programs.!