Mark Trail is a daily newspaper comic strip created by the American cartoonist Ed Dodd. Introduced April 15, 1946, the strip centers on environmental and ecological themes. Mark Trail, the main character, is a photojournalist and magazine writer whose assignments lead him into danger and adventure. This article is about the comic strip, the sequential art form as published in newspapers and on the Internet. ... Cartoonist Jack Elrod at work. ... Edward Benton Dodd (November 7, 1902 - May 27, 1991) was a 20th-century American cartoonist known for his Mark Trail comic strip. ... April 15 is the 105th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (106th in leap years). ... 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... An environment is a complex of external factors that acts on a system and determines its course and form of existence. ... Ecology is the branch of science that studies the distribution and abundance of living organisms, and the interactions between organisms and their environment. ... Sports photojournalists at Indianapolis Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism (i. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The term writer can apply to anyone who creates a written work, but the word more usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, or those who have written in many different forms. ...

History

Mark Trail was introduced and syndicated through the New York Post in 1946 to 45 newspapers. Dodd, working as a national parks guide, had long been interested in environmental issues. The character is loosely based on the life and career of Charles N. Elliot (November 29, 1906 - May 1, 2000), at the time a U.S. forest ranger who edited Outdoor Life magazine from 1956-1974. The New York Post is the 13th-oldest[] newspaper published in the United States and the oldest to have been published continually as a daily. ... This article is about national parks. ... November 29 is the 333rd (in leap years the 334th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... May 1 is the 121st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (122nd in leap years). ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... It has been suggested that some sections of this article be split into a new article entitled National Park Ranger (United States). ... Outdoor Life is an outdoors magazine featuring hunting, fishing, survival and camping skills. ...

Mark Trail by Ed Dodd for September 22, 1960

Mark Trail, a soft-spoken outdoor magazine writer and photojournalist lives in the fictional Lost Forest National Forest with his St. Bernard, Andy; veterinarian Doc Davis; Doc's daughter, and Trail's girlfriend and eventual wife, Cherry, and her son, Rusty. His assignments inevitably lead him to discover environmental misdeeds, most often solved with a crushing right cross. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 231 pixel Image in higher resolution (980 × 283 pixel, file size: 109 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Template:Fair use in Mark Trail Source: Hall Syndicate Web source: http://www. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 231 pixel Image in higher resolution (980 × 283 pixel, file size: 109 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Template:Fair use in Mark Trail Source: Hall Syndicate Web source: http://www. ...

During the 1940s, the cartoonist Jack Davis worked one summer inking Mark Trail, which he later parodied in Mad as "Mark Trade". Jack Elrod, an advertising illustrator, joined the Mark Trail team at its Atlanta, Georgia studio in 1950. The strip's popularity grew through the mid-1960s, with Mark Trail appearing in nearly 500 newspapers through the North America Syndicate. A 1956 Jack Davis page for ECs Picto-Fiction Jack Davis (born December 2, 1924) is an American cartoonist and illustrator. ... Mad is an American humor magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952. ... Commercialism redirects here. ... An illustrator is a graphic artist who specializes in enhancing written text by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text. ... Nickname: Hotlanta, The Big Peach, The ATL, A-Town Location in Fulton and DeKalb Counties in the state of Georgia Coordinates: Country United States State Georgia Counties Fulton, DeKalb Government  - Mayor Shirley Franklin (D) Area  - City  132. ...

Sunday's edition is devoted to wildlife education, drawn by naturalist and artist Tom Hill until 1978. Dodd retired in 1978 shortly after the death of Hill. Elrod continued the strip, adding new characters and taking over the Sunday edition. Based on the complaint of a reader in 1983, Mark Trail abandoned his trademark pipe. In 1993, Mark and Cherry married. In 2006, King Features was syndicating the strip to nearly 175 newspapers. Various species of deer are commonly seen wildlife across the Americas and Eurasia. ... Table of natural history, 1728 Cyclopaedia Natural history is an umbrella term for what are now often viewed as several distinct scientific disciplines of integrative organismal biology. ... King Features Syndicate is a syndication company owned by The Hearst Corporation; it distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editorial cartoons, puzzles and games to thousands of newspapers around the world. ...

Honors

In 1991, Congress allocated 16,400 acres (67 km²) of former logged forest along the Appalachian Trail in Georgia to be designated the Mark Trail Wilderness. As of 2006, Mark Trail remains the only comic strip character to be recognized in such a manner, although an official association between Walt Kelly's Pogo and the Okefenokee Swamp was established in 1987, with an Annual Pogo Fest, followed by Pogo and the U.S. Postal Service's 1989 inauguration of a National Wetlands postcard dedicated to the Okefenokee Swamp. The Appalachian National Scenic Trail, generally known as the Appalachian Trail or simply The A.T., is a 2,174-mile (3,500-km)[2] marked hiking trail in the eastern United States, extending between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine. ... Horsetrough Falls in the Wilderness The Mark Trail Wilderness was designated in 1991 and currently consists of 16,400 acres. ... Pogo as drawn by Walt Kelly. ... Canal Diggers Trail in early spring. ...

An annual Mark Trail Award is presented to individuals, organizations or corporations that assist in expanding the radio network, or recognizing courageous effort in saving lives during weather or civil emergencies. Mark Trail has also appeared in a number of publications by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in efforts to educate children concerning conservation and environmentalism. The USFWS logo The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is a unit of the United States Department of the Interior that is dedicated to managing and preserving wildlife. ...

Controversy

According to the Fish and wildlife Service, "Elrod's comics typically present information promoting public awareness of imperiled species."^[1] This is most typically true of the Sunday strips, which are presented not as part of the plot continuity of the weekday strips, but as a lecture, frequently with Mark Trail in the foreground addressing the audience about the interesting facts and perhaps the vulnerable plight of a creature illustrated in the background.^[2]

A notable exception is the strip that ran on March 11, 2007, which depicted the African Elephant not as imperiled, but as a peril itself.^[3] Letters to the editor appeared in numerous papers where the strip had long run with little note, taking particular issue with the strip's contention that "The two main killers in East Africa are HIV/AIDS and wild amimals, particularly elephants."^[4] Species Loxodonta adaurora (extinct) Loxodonta africana Loxodonta cyclotis African elephants are the two species of elephants in the genus Loxodonta, one of the two existing genera in Elephantidae. ...  Eastern Africa (UN subregion)  East African Community  Central African Federation (defunct)  geographic, including above East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easternmost region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. ... Species Human immunodeficiency virus 1 Human immunodeficiency virus 2 Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS, a condition in humans in which the immune system begins to fail, leading to life-threatening opportunistic infections. ... Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS or Aids) is a collection of symptoms and infections resulting from the specific damage to the immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). ...

Radio

On January 30, 1950, Mutual Broadcasting System launched a radio adaptation, Mark Trail, featuring Matt Crowley in the title role. The 30-minute episodes aired three times weekly, and 174 episodes were produced, running until June 8, 1951. A second radio series, starring Staats Cotsworth, was broadcast on ABC beginning September 18, 1950, with 51 half-hour shows that ran thrice weekly until January, 1952. The series then switched to a 15-minute format, producing 125 episodes that aired weekdays through June 27, 1952. Only a handful of the 15-minute episodes are known to have survived. January 30 is the 30th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Mutual Broadcasting System (MBS) was an American radio network, in operation from 1934 to 1999. ... June 8 is the 159th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (160th in leap years), with 206 days remaining. ... 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) operates television and radio networks in the United States and is also shown on basic cable in Canada. ... September 18 is the 261st day of the year (262nd in leap years). ... June 27 is the 178th day of the year (179th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 187 days remaining. ... 1952 (MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

The Minneapolis-St. Paul, public radio station KFAI hosted Mark Trail Radio Theatre starting in 1991. Produced by Babs Economon, its 17 adventures aired in 228 weekly installments on Friday evenings through September 2002. A map of the Twin Cities metropolitan area. ... Public broadcasting (also known as public service broadcasting or PSB) is the dominant form of broadcasting around the world, where radio, television, and potentially other electronic media outlets receive funding from the public. ...

In 1997, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) began using Mark Trail as its official mascot, making him the voice of the National Weather Service and NOAA Weather and All Hazards Radio. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a scientific agency of the United States Department of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere. ... Weatheradio is a special radio service available over much of North America that transmits weather warnings and forecasts 24 hours a day. ...

Books

Between 1955 and 1959, Mark Trail's adventures were reprinted in comic books by Fawcett Publications and then Standard/Nedor/Pines. Through the 1950s and into the 1980s, Ed Dodd did numerous books and coloring books, including: Fawcett Publications was an American publishing company founded in 1919 in Robbinsdale, Minnesota by Wilford Hamilton Captain Billy Fawcett (1883-1940). ... Nedor Comics was the comic line of publisher Ned Pines, who also published pulp magazines under a variety of company names (Standard or Better or Thrilling), which are also used for the comics. ...

• Mark Trail's 2nd book of Animals: (North American Mammals) by Ed Dodd (1959)
• Mark Trail's Book Of Animals (North American Mammals) by Ed Dodd (1965)
• Mark Trail's Hunting Tips by Ed Dodd (1969)
• Mark Trail's Cooking Tips by Ed Dodd (1971)
• Mark Trail's Camping Tips by Ed Dodd (1971)
• Mark Trail in the Smokies!: A Naturalist's Look at Great Smokey Mountains National Park and the Southern Appalachians by Ed Dodd (1989)
• Wetlands Coloring Book
• Take Pride in America: A Coloring Book
• Mark Trail Tells the Story of a Fish in Trouble

Characters

• Mark Trail - Wildlife photographer and writer for Woods and Wildlife Magazine. In his early 30s.
• Rusty - Introduced in 19??, Rusty is the son of an alcoholic and abusive father. Mark's intervention saved his life and he was adopted by Trail in 19??
• Andy - Mark's faithful Saint Bernard.
• Cherry Davis - Longtime girlfriend of Mark. Until they married in 1993, she lived with Mark and her father (Doc) at Lost Forest.
• Doc Davis - Veterinarian; Cherry's father.
• Ranger Rick - Assistant photographer and writer along with Mark.

Listen to

• Bill Sparks OTR: Mark Trail

References

Notes

• Mark Trail radio log by Dick Judge and Frank M. Passage

External links

• King Features' description of the Mark Trail comic
• Comics Curmudgeon: Mark Trail