I’m starting (?) to sound and think like commenters on CK. Clearly, Rivera thought it was worth the effort to use two comment boxes (panels 3 and 4) to make a joke at the expense of adding anything to the narrative. She needn’t have bothered, since the bear drawings, alone, should elicit more laughter than any joke she could publish. Compared to what Rivera normally publishes on Sundays, the bear we see here looks like it could have been drawn by Rivera’s pre-teen niece. No insult intended to her niece.
Hoo boy, in this case, I’m rooting for the bear.
Still, where is he-man Stump to show everybody why he is King of the Forest? Shouldn’t he be here, fighting off the bear to save (and humiliate) Mark and Jebediah?
The Daily Trail 
Oh where, oh where, is Mark’s flaming wood? As long as we’re going through the ancient tropes – gotta find your tripping root – might as well bring back everybody’s favorite bear fighting tool.
LOL! And I always thought “tripping root” was some kind of foo-foo tea!