Ding! Ding! Ding! One of our longtime commenters, Downpuppy, expressed more or less the same flashback thought in Wednesday’s comments that Mark expressed today in panel 3:
Indeed, Downpuppy! Now today’s strip does clear up one thing: Bill Ellis stipulates in panel 2 that Max the Manatee “needs a quick ride back to the ocean.” That means he was originally blown out of the ocean and into the wave pool. I suppose Max must have gotten his name after being tagged by marine biologists.
I have presumed Max the Manatee is male. Bill Ellis also refers to Max that way. But what does he know!? That assumption could have been wrong, as there are plenty of women with the name or nickname “Max.” Perhaps that’s what Mark was thinking of in panel 3 regarding his concern over an inopportune birth event.
The Daily Trail 
I’m lost. Isn’t Max the Manatee inside the OH THE HU-MANATEE! Manatee Movers moving van in panel #1? Why don’t they give Max a ride back to the ocean? Do they need Mark to be a driver? How far away is the ocean? What am I missing?🤷♀️
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What are you missing? Well, perhaps it is the internal thought processes of Jules Rivera regarding this story! In that, you are not alone. Perhaps it is just an issue of unintentionally poorly phrased writing in the strip: Mark is not needed to drive the manatee, but to be part on board the truck. Or maybe be at oceanside when the truck arrives to deliver Max back to the ocean so he can get live coverage.
Frankly, either scenario is faulty, since the truck would have already delivered Max to the ocean before Mark even begins his trip south. This would lead to the conclusion that Mark would be like any normal reporter, gathering information at the locations after the fact, then writing his column for a magazine or online site.
And then, where would this storyline be if it was simply showing everyday reporting!?
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