Good, this adventure is turning into a classic mystery. And our shipping tycoon finally floats back to the surface for a moment. Mark conducts his search with a bright flashlight, so I suppose that stealth is not a priority for his investigation. Just as well, since he’s also been talking (or “thinking”) out loud to himself. Rivera has not gone with the traditional thought balloon. As we know, Rivera already relegated the thought balloon to its new role of showing a “reference image” for what is being discussed. While this function has merit, it does mean “thoughts” become another problem to portray in a comic strip. Should a dialog balloon also function as a thought balloon? We are left with this weird vision of Mark talking to himself, a situation sometimes diagnosed as a symptom of a mental illness.

Granted, Rivera needs to reveal additional information for the sake of the story. Maybe, for once, this would have been better handled by using narration boxes rather than dialog balloons. They would not be obtrusive but would help maintain the air of secrecy and silence that a night-time investigation normally requires. And they would make Mark look less weird.