Please forgive the word balloon who's-on-first situation in that final panel, I would never let my students get away with that now!

My pal Dan Berry gave me the best rule of thumb for word balloon order: if you slide a 45-degree line (slanted northeast) down the panel from the top left corner, and it touches both word balloons at the same time, you need to move the one that should be read first either farther to the top, or farther left.

Wise words.

Here's the ol' post!