Sometimes I fear that I am descending into a Pit of Snarkiness, that this blog is becoming just an extended version of one-offs, such as we find on ComicsKingdom. Not that some snarkiness is bad. I enjoy a well-crafted dig. But I don’t want to get to the point where all I’m doing is taking potshots. So, do let me know if you find me losing my focus. Don’t hold back. I can take it!

Now, on to today’s silliness episode!

As Mark winds up his defense of Max, Rivera continues to turn this story from the rescue and rehabilitation of a manatee into a story about two second-rate kidnappers and their conspiratorial nonsense. Meanwhile, Max (remember him!?) has as much screen time in this story as the box of tools on the shoreline. Remember that?

So how did Skeeter and Rita know about the falling iguana if they were supposed to be busy with Max? No way that job is already completed, even in Comic Strip Time! What I’m trying to say here is that I believe a better approach would have been to show Mark fighting the kidnappers as we observe Rita and Skeeter feverishly working in the background to launch Max to safety. It could have been dramatically depicted in a single panoramic panel. Somehow, I just don’t think that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will give this story its stamp of approval.

While I always like to see new opponents and bad guys show up in this strip, it is curiously amusing to see Cricket Bro reappear. What could be his connection to a conspiracy about manatees controlling storms? There has to be a financial payoff involved in this grift. So I hope this plotline gets fleshed out in a meaningful way. For once.

Okay, you got any observations or snarks?