Snark It Up, FuzzBall!

Good heavens, do I loathe 90% of the characters in this strip. And the potentially interesting ones just fade away…

…that this particular “story-line” is over.  Or at least Mary and Nola leave the restaurant by the end of the month.

Enough Mark Trail Bingo! It’s time to check up on Butch, the old blind hunting dog!  He’s gone wandering (since his master’s jacket got stolen), and now he’s trying like crazy mad to find his way home, or something like that.  I’m not too sure anymore — then again, I’m not an old blind hunting dog.  Carry on, Butch!

Let’s see — three weeks ago:  Mary at a pool party.

Two weeks ago: Mary having dinner with Nola Wolverson.

One week ago: Mary having coffee with Toby (Nola at work).

This week: Mary having lunch with Nola.

It might not be Eldercare at its finest, but at least Mary isn’t wandering around in the mall.  Of course, this week’s story might qualify as elder abuse…

Wow, and not even the Prince of Darkness can help Mary now!

Maybe they’ll reach a truce by the end of lunch…

…or maybe not!  Whatever it is — TGIF!

…at least in the Luanniverse, mostly because the “heroes” are nebbishes, milquetoasts and passive-agressive jerks way down deep.  I don’t even want to waste the pixels explaining what’s been going on here — I just want Gunther to get creamed. Maybe they’ll bury him a Billy the Bookworm shroud.  Heck, I’d just be happy if his friend Knut told him to get bent and found someone else to hang with.

It’s nice on occasion to see Jeffy win, even if the Keanes have nothing to do with it.

A wonderful hallmark of Mark Trail is its consistency:  there will be giant animals, and stilted dialog, and Mark Trail spouting stilted dialog about giant animals.  What else can you ask for in this crazy, frenetic world?

The Comics Curmudgeon’s [Old Man] Muffaroo tossed us Forest Friends a magical thing today:

…a special meta-feature for all you true fans out there! A look inside the creative minds that bring you your sequential art, day after day:

MARK TRAIL’s 22 PANELS THAT ALWAYS WORK

1. Giant bird on a branch
2. Giant birds flying
3. Giant squirrel looking up
4. Huge close-up of Kelly Welly
5. People standing around talking
6. IT IS RUSTY!
7. Distant shot of Dinkyburg
8. Giant… gopher!
9. Huge close-up of Mark
10. Pancakes
11. Fist o’ Justice!
12. Huge close-up of Kelly Welly again
13. Giant quail
14. Cephalopod doing anything
15. Marmaduke on the couch again!
16. Driving the station wagon
17. Somebody listening to another person talking
18. People standing around not talking
19. Walking through the forest
20. Giant squirrel on the ground
21. Elrodball
22. Rusty… in danger!

Inspired by Muffaroo’s comment, I figured it was time to issue Card #2 in the Mark Trail Bingo! series.  (You can find Car #1 here:   http://snarkitupfuzzball.nexiliscom.com/?p=2974 ).   I still may have to tailor a Bingo! card specifically based on Muffaroo’s keen observations:

And yes, YES, YES! I did do a Muffaroo Special Edition! (I have no life, but I still manage to enjoy myself.)

I don’t make in on the Comics Curmudgeon “Comments of the Week” very often.  That’s okay. I really enjoy doing the PhotoShop mashup thing the best…

Only it’s REALLY FREAKIN’ COOL when one of my verbal tirades gets a COTW Honorable Mention!!!  I’m posting them here, because it’s a nice perk, with so many folks reading Josh’s site.  It’s even cooler than having had a letter posted at FOOB HQ (well, unless it was a really vitriolic letter, and might’ve led to someone’s firing because it made LJ pitch a fit). Schadenfreude R Us.

[The links don’t work.  Come on…do you really want to see old panels of Family Circus, Mary Worth, or FBOFW?  On second thought, maybe they do…oh, these wacky techno times!]

24 February 2012: “Where’s the beret and the two-foot long cigarette holder? How am I supposed to know this fellow is in The Industry???”–bats:[  [This involved Mark Trail’s good friend “Steve,” a film-maker and a ringer for your basic ascot-wearing Charles Nelson Reilly affected type.]

15 January 2011: “The Bora Bora Lagoon Resort on Ventura Blvd in L.A. is probably 30 miles or so from Santa Royale. Mary might even drive the happy couple [Adrian and Scott] there, instructing them carefully on contraceptive methods as she does.” –bats :[

25 January 2010: “I think Chip’s friend works as an organ-grinder’s monkey on the weekends.” –bats :[

29 March 2010: The Phantom — “What a woman! I’d be blind not to notice! But she’s not Diana! Because Diana is dead, and this one is walking around and breathing and talking and stuff. Unless she’s a vampire! Or a zombie! Is there such a thing as a beautiful zombie? With a boat? She can’t be a vampire, because we’re standing out here in broad daylight — unless she’s one of those sparkly ones from that book Heloise was reading! Or was Kit reading that? I wonder who they borrowed it from; I’ll bet it was Guran! And if I were blind, shouldn’t I be Daredevil instead?”–bats:[  [There was an explosion where Diana worked and if appeared Diana had died in it … it was an insidious plot to make Kit think she had, only he discovers her in Gravelines (or something) prison!]

22 June 2009:“Why is Shannon such an apparently angry child? Because she’s drawn poorly? Because the ‘fun afternoon’ cousin Toni promised is ‘visiting’ with a banged-up invalid? Because Brad doesn’t have cable?” –bats :[

11 May 2009: “I like the fact that Jeffy seems mortified by Dolly’s ‘extravagant’ offer of cold cereal to Mommy on her special day. I suspect he suggested to the others that they make pancakes and bacon, or perhaps cheese blintzes, for her, and now he has to wear one of PJ’s snugglies, to hide the bruises.” –bats :[

29 July 2008: “I think Jeff and Mary have, consciously or not, begun a platitude-to-the-death competition. Who will win? Or are there ever winners in such a God-forsaken battle of bon mots?” –bats :[

10 March 2008:  This is Josh’s account of the Mega-Meetup in Tucson.  It was GREAT.  We laughed. We ate. We met a Web celebrity (Josh!) and his lovely wife (Amber!). We laughed. We took photos. We met an honest-to-gosh real comic-strip cartoonist (Bob Weber, Jr.).  And a number of faithful Curminions (I <3 Mooncattie).  We laughed some more.  We didn’t even get thrown out of the restaurant.

27 October 2007: “‘My book! My writing! I’m just like Hemingway!’ Yeah, without the pistol.” –bats :[ on Mike Patterson

22 July 2007: “I’m wondering when Dee’s going to start thinking hard about pulling a Kelpforth on the entire Maison de Patterson and taking it down to its smoldering, glowing embers. ‘Do you think your mom would mind if we removed all trace of her existence here for 30 years by immolation?’” –bats :[

The mysterious Monque Zatari, who went to Judge Randy’s law school (because she said so) didn’t shoot him and Sam after all.   Yay — the sexxy, sexxy plot continues!

And those wacky legal types just keep up with the joshing! Good one, Sam!