Lack of Focus

Today's Quixote Coyote strip:

What I like about today's strip is that even in Panel 4, Panda fails to grasp the level of danger he's in.  And you could argue he is, in fact, in no danger at all, since this is a silly strip and obviously I'm not going to kill anyone off just to demonstrate that the Ghosts are capable of killing anyone (which, traditionally, is how you show that the Threat is Real).  I feel like the old Mickey Mouse and Popeye strips could create a sense of tension without having to execute anyone, so that's what I'm trying to do here myself.