Well, Mark, you do mean well. Taking you literally, you are giving them permission to start fighting once the boat ride begins, or maybe when it ends. So, what ethic are you pushing, Mark? Not that I disagree, mind you.

As usual, more thoughts run through my brainpan: Rusty exaggerates Mark’s physical actions, especially in the Rivera Age. Perhaps he recollects events from their pre-Rivera existence.

Moving from story to art, that’s a nice composition in panel 1, though I’d move the woodpecker up a tad to not crowd the scene. Also, the textbox is too wordy and also crowds the composition. We don’t need the “before the cryptid river boat hunt” explanation, as it is clear from the image. Rivera sometimes gets carried away with textboxes, using them to describe self-evident current activity.