So, Tadd Crass really is the Sponsor of this second-rate contest after all. Where did he get the money to support this operation? I don’t recall him being rich like Cricket Bro. Perhaps he has some kind of virtual currency scam on the side. And it looks like “Bent-Finger” Cliff once again has the necessary information.

“But Mark, your memory is not what it should be for a journalist!” Mark claimed no knowledge of Tad Crass’s former career in “prank TV”, but the record says otherwise:

This is from the “Rusty and the alien invasion” story of 2023, where Mark certainly remembered watching the show. The alternative is that Rivera forgot that Mark already knew about the show.

Art Dept. Rivera continues to experiment with different techniques. So we get the “sunburned” look in panel 1. The faun-coloring on Mark’s face looks kind of like a birthmark. It is applied in a way that doesn’t really follow the contours of Mark’s face, so it is hard to accept it as mere shadow. Even if that is all that it is supposed to be. I doubt it represents an emotional state. But it would have been more effective if the technique was consistently used in all of today’s panels.