Where to begin? After the prior week’s high-level interview with tiger-pal Rex Scorpius, followed by Cherry’s phone call of concern and alarm, Mark and Happy spent some time taking pictures of dead fish in a river as evidence of the harm caused by the chemical spill from the train derailment. Then they went to a press conference led by Senator Sam Smalls and immediately dominated it by throwing out a series of leading questions and accusations about deliberate sabotage by train or government officials; accusations that the train was (secretly? recklessly?) carrying dangerous chemicals; and declaring that everybody knew the entire train system was unsafe, anyway. Perhaps Mark was still a bit steamed by his train’s breakdown.

Not that the content of the questions was improper, but the way they were phrased and at whom they were directed seemed misplaced. Mind you, Mark had no specific evidence for some of his questions, since he only arrived the day before and only had pictures of dead fish (that he never bothered to show).

This episode of off-the-cuff ambush-journalism seems a bit unusual for Mark, who—in past stories (such as the zebra mussels assignment)—felt it necessary to actually dig for information before going into action. By that, I don’t mean getting ready for a rough-and-tumble fist fight, as Mark and Happy were ready to do in Saturday’s strip when two cops started moving in to eject them from the press conference for their behavior.

Does Jules Rivera think that research and analysis are too boring or slow-paced to be interesting for readers? I submit that long-term viewer interest in TV shows like the CSI and NCIS franchises emphasized lab work and data analysis as central parts of those shows and were exciting in their own way. Rivera should take note! Speaking of taking note, check out today’s strip:

Rivera continues her creative idea to link Sunday nature topics to the current adventure, whenever possible. And she continues her tradition of customized title panels with this superhero comic book style title panel, as well. But really, now. N95 masks will not protect you against gas. You need, at a minimum, a chemical cartridge respirator mask.