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?
The Daily Trail 
Odds on that Sunday tells us that horses aren’t so much an invasive as a return after 10,000 or so years away.
Which is indeed stuff that Mark should know.
If they’d followed the ⚡standard for phone talk bubbles we’d know whether Mark was reading off the screen.
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Hmmm, doubtful Bill would have held up a document for Mark to see, but otherwise good point about the phone balloon imagery! Still, it’s pointing to Mark, which does give some credence to your initial comment. But then Rivera should have put the statement in quotes to indicate Mark is reading. Either way, a slip-up!
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I had to read panel three twice to clarify the ambiguity. Nice recall of the legacy issue.
The invasive species issue is very complex, at its core is how long and how many of the “invaders” been around. Since most agree we evolved into humans in Africa, our species has therefore invaded the rest of the continents.
It will be interesting to see how Jules presents this complexity while usually presenting Mark as feckless.
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