Okay. I think I’m moving into the circle of critics who claim that Rivera has deliberately debased the main characters (being Mark and his family) and the focus of the Mark Trail comic strip just to see how far she can push absurdity. Many hardliners will claim this happened a long time ago. Perhaps. But when the characters react to the bribe of a wildebeest in a senator’s backyard with an intensity equal to that of discovering your uncle’s 10-year government travel assignment is actually a 10-year sentence in a federal pen for bank robbery, then I think it is clear something is very, very wrong.

The wildebeest is not even an endangered animal! State senators have little to no control over how federally regulated railroads function. So what’s the point of bribing them? By this logic, DDG would have to own politicians wherever trains run. Very expensive and inefficient! You do these things the Good ol’ American Way:  Fund enough members of Congress to pass laws that hamstring federal safety investigators and regulations.

But even then, Mark and Company are looking in the wrong direction. It isn’t the questionable tactics of a local politician that’s important, but the shenanigans of a national (or international) transportation company (DDG) ignoring safety measures and trying to make a bad incident go away. Mark and Happy (remember him?) should know this. Why does Rivera make them act naïve and foolish?

So, am I wrong? Am I missing something?