COMIC TREASURES FROM MARK TRAIL’S
LOST FOREST ON SALE FOR THE FIRST TIME
For
over 70 years, fans have opened their newspapers first to the funny pages,
catching up on the adventures of their favorite pipe-smoking, outdoorsman, Mark
Trail as he saved his beloved Lost Forest from poachers, vandals and evil
developers. Now, these fans have an opportunity those poachers, vandals and
evil developers never had – the chance to own some of the original art
treasures from Lost Forest!
Burnt
Biscuit Books of Newnan, GA, is happy to announce they’re teaming with the
estate of Mark Trail creator, Ed Dodd, to bring his vast collection of comic
strip art directly to the public for the very first time.
This
should be of great interest not just to collectors but to Georgians who grew up
knowing that the comic wasn’t totally fictional. While the nation dreamed of
finding Trail’s Lost Forest, the lush and beautiful wildlife preserve he called
home, Atlanta residents knew it was just up the road in Sandy Springs. Much
like the hero he created, Dodd himself was never without a pipe, owned a St.
Bernard like Trails’ trusty companion, Andy, and lived in an artist’s studio on
130 acres of woodlands he dubbed Lost Forest!
Beating
Smokey the Bear by over a year, Trail was a fighter for the environment well
before it was in vogue. Dodd, too, practiced what he preached. He was named
Georgia Conservationist of the Year in 1967.
And, in 1991, the year of his death, the U.S. Congress designated over
16,000 acres of the Chattahooche National Forest as the Mark Trail Wilderness.
Trail
is still in syndication today, making it one of the nation’s longest running
comic strips. At its peak in the 60s, about 500 newspapers carried the strip.
Mark Trail was so adored that when the Washington Post discontinued it in 1991,
they received more letters protesting the decision than they did about
Watergate!
Dodd’s
amazing estate of art not only encompasses a wide array of Mark Trail daily and
Sunday strips, but a collection of his peers like Walt Kelly (Pogo), Ernie
Bushmiller (Nancy), Al Capp (Li’l Abner) and more.
While
Dodd produced decades of Trail strips, very few actually remain. Literally a
ton of the original boards ended up being recycled, plowed into the fields of
his Lost Forest Home, staying true to his philosophy of always returning back
to nature.
The
Ed Dodd Estate of Art can be viewed here: https://www.ebay.com/str/burntbiscuitbooks/Ed-Dodd-Mark-Trail-Estate/_i.html?_storecat=25681733010
