 mark trail is a newspaper comic strip created by the american cartoonist ed dodd. introduced april 15, 1946, the strip centers on environmental and ecological themes. in 2006, king features syndicated the strip to nearly 175 newspapers. when mark trail began, it was 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. elliott (november 29, 1906 &ndash; may 1, 2000), at the time a u.s. forest ranger who edited outdoor life magazine from 1956 to 1974. dodd once said that the physical model for trail was john wayt, his former neighbor in north atlanta. ==characters and story== mark trail, the main character, is a photojournalist and outdoor magazine writer whose assignments lead him into danger and adventure. his assignments inevitably lead him to discover environmental misdeeds, most often solved with a crushing right cross. trail 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 their adopted son, rusty. "mark reflects a reverence for god's creatures, nature, and the conservation of woods, water and wildlife" (hill, 2003). his assignments in recent years have involved more sleuthing than wildlife photojournalism. *mark trail &ndash; wildlife photographer and writer for woods and wildlife magazine. in his early 30s; honest and upright; his strongest imprecation is famously "what th'?!" *rusty &ndash; introduced in 1999, rusty is the son of an alcoholic and abusive father. mark's intervention saved his life, and he was adopted by trail in 2001. *andy &ndash; mark's faithful saint bernard. neutered 2000. *cherry davis &ndash; longtime (47 years) girlfriend of mark until they married in 1993, living with mark and her father (doc) at lost forest; usually a support character, although she has sometimes (e.g., 1998) had her own wildlife adventures. *"doc" davis (tom davis) &ndash; veterinarian; cherry's elderly father. *j
1946_introductions 1950_radio_programme_debuts 1950s_American_radio_programs American_comic_strips Comic_strips_started_in_the_1940s Comics_characters