A Letter to seattlepi.com

Dear seattlepi.com;


There seems to be an issue with your website that I wanted to bring to your attention. I encountered the problem reading the syndicated comic strip “Mark Trail” on your site (top of the list when I googled “Mark Trail”! Congrats!). You see, as an act of charity I transcribe Mark Trail comic strips into text-only stories for the blind, elderly and sensitive who enjoy the blandness of Mark Trail but are put off by the vibrant drawings of nature scenes. While browsing through the archive I encountered a problem with navigation. I tried to jump to a specific date but the comic was stuck on December 10th.


In case you haven’t seen it, the Mark Trail comic for December 10th depicted a muzzled bear being attacked by a pack of wolves while a woman watched helplessly in the first panel. She shouted out “he’s helpless with that muzzle and those footpads” to nobody in particular. Perhaps the wolves. The second panel was a close up of the woman’s face as she shouted “HELP!”. The third and final panel went back to the bear being attacked by wolves as the narrator reiterated that the bear was defensless by stating “the defenseless bear is no match for the attacking wolves.


The fact that the website was not allowing me to navigate away from the strip caused three issues I would like you to address and correct.


1. For myself and all of your readers, please fix the website so I can easily navigate around the archives of not only Mark Trail but Mary Worth, Judge Parker, Rex Morgan and any other comic strip where the creator died at least one decade ago.

2. If this cannot be done in an expedient manner, please relay to me the comic strips for Mark Trail for the previous two weeks and any following. You may email the strips to me or transcribe them in text-only fashion as I have done for you for the December 10th strip.

3. In trying to navigate away from the December 10th strip I was confronted, multiple times, of a vicious attack of a muzzled bear by a pack of wolves. Time and again when I thought I had navigated to a new page the gruesome, bloodless image of wolves circling a bear engraved themselves into my brain. The experience has traumatized me and while I have no intention of suing you I would like compensation in the form of a gift card for no more than $10. Please email me for my address.


Thanks!