Sheesh! Making friends with a brown bear. “Gentle Jeb”, is it? Yeah, I know. Gentle Ben was the bear in that 1960’s kid’s TV show, but I won’t pass up an obvious reference. I’ll pass on Grizzly Adams. Oh dear, I feel like I’m being pulled to the Dark Snark by forces beyond my control. I’m doing my best to look at this dispassionately. Really, I am.

So, there is an effort here to move the story along by explaining the reporter’s disappearance and the motives behind it. But every panel today is a source of ambiguity: First, has everyone really been looking for this flake? Jeb’s own testimony in panel 3 seems to contradict Mark’s platitude. Second, what truth was Jebediah looking for? Clearly, he was not ready for the truth, and I don’t think that was covered in Mark’s briefing for this assignment. Third, who are the “they”: Sid and some of the guests or Sid and some staff that we haven’t seen yet? Fourth … well, you fill that one in, if you wish.

So it looks like Mark’s assignment just took another left turn, which might wind up reprising the “sneak into the office to get the goods” dodge he pulled while in Palm Springs investigating Cricket Bro’s operation.