We have to remember that, although this story is “based on true events”, it ain’t the actual event and this ain’t a documentary. Nevertheless, it is possible that Rivera is taking selected satirical potshots at various Ohio officials and actions. “Sam Smalls”, huh? This is an old literary trick of fashioning a name to represent the character’s personality or function, like “Daddy Warbucks”, the unofficial father of Little Orphan Annie, who was a wealthy industrialist and made his first fortune during WWII.

Do you recognize the arrangement of the speaker and guards on the stage (like a horizontal spearhead or triangle), as well as the self-serving arrogance and narcissism of the speaker? You’ve seen it in this strip a few stories ago. Think on it a bit. I can wait.

The Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Ohio_train_derailment) covers “fake news” and other online rabble-rousing conspiracies surrounding this accident, including fake stories of police arresting journalists to hush up the event. Sound familiar?  One reporter was briefly arrested for disorderly conduct at a press conference, I believe, but later released. Will Mark enact this episode?

Okay, time is up. Did you figure out the visual quotation? Here it is, from September 2022: Tess Tigress and her assistants at the Tiger Touch Center.