What a shocking and totally unexpected action:  Thomas Jefferson showed up to help carry the incapacitated gorillas into the animal ambulance (panel 1)! I suppose that was because Mark Trail was too busy trying to look important and concerned to get involved. And Mark can’t resist making sport of a tragic situation (panel 3):  Ill animals are being taken to an animal hospital for treatment, while his dad has been abandoned and conned out of thousands of dollars by Gail Getz.

Also, I wonder where the police officer from yesterday’s strip went to? Oh, yeah. He’s in a field some place, talking with Happy Trail. Will we see him tomorrow, chasing the getaway car, or will his presence just be eliminated from the rest of the story as if it never happened? I’m pulling for some logical follow through.

As we have seen, Jules Rivera treats the romance scam that started this adventure as a bit of absurdist theater or parody. But that is par for the course; it’s how the strip has evolved. Serious subjects get introduced, but are handled in a fairly casual manner. I reckon it’s possible that this lighter approach might hit the target for readers within certain age ranges (most likely, younger people). On the other hand, after a few seconds of deep online analysis, I found research showing that the most vulnerable age ranges for romance scam victims are 50-64 and 65-74; which more or less fits the age range of the scammer (Gail) and victim (Happy) in this story.

Romance scams are “big business” (or “big crime”), with overall victim financial losses exceeding $1 billion annually in the US. The scammers can be anywhere in the world, of course. In the current story, the romance scam seems have just been a pathway to the issue of animal mistreatment, a serious issue, itself, which Rivera has used in several of Mark’s adventures.