Been noticing that our real world pandemic has not yet made it into the Trailverse. It was an unfortunate time to reboot this long-running comic strip and re-introduce everybody masked up, looking like they are ready to join The Wild Bunch and rob stagecoaches. I think we have to go with a parallel universe theory for the time being. This is a comic strip with its own laws of physics.

Herp Hacienda is quaint, if not plain. I’m not sure that wrought-iron fence does much to keep the reptiles on the property. Nobody there seems to care, anyway. Now, how many of you readers were stumped by the second panel? Just me!? Looks like everybody has a nickname. “Aparna”, I discovered, is a Sanskrit name meaning “leafless”, a name sometimes applied to the Indian goddess Pavarti.  That must impress somebody. Perhaps the caption box in panel two is a clue . . . .

“But he didn’t prepare a cool RPG nickname for those friends.” I presume RPG means Role Playing Game, as opposed to rocket propelled grenade launcher. Still, it’s confusing:  Which “he” does the caption refer to? And what’s the point of preparing RPG nicknames, anyway? Are these people in the middle of a D&D scenario? I see that “Forage” sports a mask, but it looks more like a costume mask. And I’m totally not sure what to make of Ambrosia, sitting on that armchair.

If you’ve been following the rebooted Mark Trail strip, have you noticed something else different from its prior incarnation, other than the drawing, the new personalities, and Rivera’s take-no-prisoners attitude? Every declarative sentence no longer ends in an exclamation point!  That has to be a plus! . . . ooops! . . . I mean . . . Grrrrrr.