What’s going on here? In panel 1, Mark expresses shocking ignorance of wild horses. In panel 3, Mark displays more ignorance about their origins. Then suddenly, he immediately answers his own question, followed by his flummoxed expression and response in panel 4. Clearly, Mark cannot simultaneously be ignorant and knowledgeable about wild horses. Ergo, it was Bill Ellis who provided the informational response to Mark in panel 3. But the poorly aimed dialog balloon creates the ambiguity. There is precedence for this, however.

One of the more popular memes of pre-Rivera Mark Trail was the occasional ambiguous speech balloon, where it wasn’t clear who—or what—was talking. For new readers, this forced error on the part of the cartoonist was a source of continuous hilarity and ridicule for years. Here is one example, preserved by blogger Michael Leddy back in 2015, where the joke was whether it was Rusty, Mark’s elbow, or the dock’s bollard responding to Mark.

So, might we entertain the notion that Rivera is deliberately echoing this meme? Or did she just make a mistake that nobody caught in time?