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Rivera prematurely announces the start of Mark’s escort job! Confusion sure to follow!

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Is Max the Manatee already in the rescue truck!? Hasn’t anybody been monitoring and guarding him all this time!?

Well, if this Storm Brain NPO is so connected, who needs Mark to publicize Max the Manatee? With Mark’s puny social media following (just a few hundred more than mine, I think!), it’s a wonder how his name even wound up at the top of any Internet search (see Saturday’s strip for that reference, if you missed it).

As for “getting” the manatee rescue truck, I assume they mean “renting” the truck, since the actual cost has to be pretty high (>$100,000), owing to its special construction and gear. There really are manatee rescue/transport trucks, by the way.

One such truck was featured in news stories in Palm Beach, Florida in 2022. The one pictured in this photo was donated to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which counts rescuing and tracking manatees as part of its mandate.

It bears a striking resemblance to the one Rivera drew. And that is perfectly fine, of course. Don’t reinvent the wheel if you don’t have to.

Art Dept:  For today, I’ll let you all handle that analysis.

I wonder if Mark remembered to bring his camera and notepad.

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Here it is Christmas Eve and Rivera wastes another day on meaningless drivel that does not move Mark’s story one iota farther along. So today we see a possible example of Mark’s narcissism, as played out in panel 4. Should we take his statement seriously? Perhaps Mark is just being melodramatic to evoke more sympathy from Cherry. Otherwise, Mark is developing an alarming sense of self-importance. Sarcasm might also explain the narration box containing that hackneyed phrase “Thoughts and Prayers”, normally reserved for people at death’s door or for their survivors.

Anyway, what is Mark talking about in panel 4? Nowhere does Bill Ellis assign the role of manatee bodyguard to him. Instead, Ellis simply pointed out some dangers related to the assignment. Even Bill Ellis knows that Mark is just a reporter (or “journalist” if you want to be charitable), not a Navy Seal or trained bodyguard.