The fish are not “all gone”, they are dead. There’s a difference. Dead fish aside, the guys seem to be making dramatic predictions with little hard information. Is this lake adjacent to the train station? Downwind? Panel 1 only says it is “nearby”. How can Happy make such dire predictions on such little evidence?

Mark and Happy are taking pictures of the forest damage in panel 1? Call me old-fashioned, but I was taught to aim my camera in the direction of the object or person I am photographing. Anyway, the Big Picture here is noteworthy (for a comic strip drama):  Two nature activists are angry about a train wreck that apparently resulted in a chemical spill, and they want to do something to make sure people know about it and those responsible be held to account.

Forget the real life story. Let’s stick to this fictionalized one. So far, we have an explosion and the testimony of one person, Rex Scorpius (who has exhibited questionable behavior and bad decision-making in the past), who only observed the incident after the fact, and from a distance. Then he skipped out. He did not present Mark and Happy with any physical evidence. Mark and Happy were, in fact, prevented from getting close to the accident early on. Was it for safety’s sake? Security? The fact that there were dead fish is certainly suspect, but it’s a stretch to imply more at this time. There’s not a whole lot to go on. That fish in panel 4 sure looks healthy enough!

There is going to be a press conference “this evening”, so how can Mark continue to claim that the authorities are not getting information out to the public? As far as Happy is concerned, he might be ahead of Rex with regard to his mental faculties. Happy’s outburst about seeking responsibility from City Hall makes little sense, since the local authorities are not responsible for the investigation. Not that they wouldn’t be part of the investigation, but this is a federal case. In short, it seems Rivera is moving the story along really fast, putting conclusions before all of the premises and evidence have even been discovered. We hope to learn more from the press conference and see how Mark and Happy conduct their investigation.