Classical Pearls Before Swine

December 2018, Stephen Pastis introduced a new character in his strip Pearls Before Swine. Franz, the Punning Piano Teacher riffs on composer names.

Naturally, it was a theme I quite enjoyed. Some names are regular staples for puns. Franz Joseph Haydn (pronounced "High-den") and Franz Liszt (pronounced "list") are easy and frequent targets. But that's only the starting point for Pastis:

There's more to this series than just music puns, though. Note how Pastis ups the ante by making each successive pun more tortured and convoluted until we get to the end. 

Will Franz return? Rat only grazed him the first time. I'm hoping Pastis' wit remains sharp, and Rat's aim poor.l

Meta humor in the frame

All comic strip creators have tropes they return to again and again. If you need to come up with a gag every day for years on end, having a concept you can keep reinterpreting is a must.

One such concept for Mark Tatulli is the panel border. Every comic strip has black borders on every panel. It's part of the visual language and virtually invisible to most readers. In Lio, Tatulli brings the panel border to the forefront, and each time in a fresh and different way.

In the case of these strips from 2017, the borders become physical objects. You can tell by the way they appear bent around the damaged areas!

How many ways can a border panel be used? I don't think Tatulli is done yet.

And if the border is indeed a physical object, then it can change its appearance.

That's the tack Stephen Pastis took in a Pearls Before Swine strip from June 2017.


Two great examples from two master cartoonists.

Pearls Before Swine Grief Counselling

This Pearls Before Swine strip ran May 15, 2016.  Since the humor in this sequence depends on the element of surprise,

I reserved my comments until after the reveal because that's where the payoff is. All the information we get beforehand - cruel treatment, depression, lost love -- pop into place once we see that it's Charlie Brown.

The last panel has all the comedic gold.

"Good grief, Charlie Brown" in the Peanuts strip is an expression of exasparation (as in, "Good grief, Charlie Brown, you're such a blockhead!") Goat's delivery would have been different, as he was stating a discovery. "Good grief, [it's] Charlie Brown."

Charlie Brown's comment about middle age is an understatement. Peanuts started in 1950, with the apparent age of the characters being 6. So in 2016, Charlie Brown would either be 70 (his presumed real age), or 64 (from the start of the strip). "Middle age," indeed!

As a coda, Rat brings in an old Peanuts trope in keeping with his cruel nature (and perhaps in the process pointing out the inherent cruelty in the original running gag). Another masterwork from Stephan Pastis.

Barney and Clyde and the Wind

Referencing one work of art in another is clever -- but referencing two can be genius. The sequence run in Barney and Clyde on April 27, 2015 was one such example. Here's the strip itself: (click on image to enlarge).

If your a comics fan, you may recognize that the mouse has morphed into the maniac Rat from Stephen Pastis' Pearls Before Swine. (see below)

Really observant readers will also note the reference to The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, and especially its classic illustrations.

But those are just extra layers. To really get to the heart of this strip's gag, you need to put together the title of the book referenced, and the function of the drug being advertised. It's then that you realize that it's not just wind in the willows, its the rabbits breaking wind in the willows (a phrase that would not be allowed in the comic).

Kudos to the Barney and Clyde creative team, Gene Weingarten, Dan Weingarten & David Clark.

Pearls Before Calvin and Hobbes 3

Usually when I comment on comic strip cameos, I often feel like I'm the only one. Not so with the recent collaboration between Stephen Pastis and the legendary Bill Watterson in Pearls Before Swine. The story of how Pastis got the reclusive creator of Calvin and Hobbes (1985-1995) to return (albeit briefly) to comic strips is best told by Pastis himself on his Pearls Before Swine blog. And the story's been carried in all the major news outlets -- which mainly focused on the enormous reaction the strips received.

Normally I write these comic strip commentaries for a specific audience -- folks who casually read the funnies, but haven't really considered them as an art form. To that end, I'd like look at the Pastis/Watterson collaboration in a different way. While everyone was dazzled by Watterson's panels, there was a lot of brilliant cartooning going that no one seemed to have noticed.

The story arc starts innocently enough, laying the foundation (Pastis' lack of talent) that the week's strips will riff on. While "Libby" is an oblique reference to "Bill, " there is nothing in the appearance of the character to suggest anything vaguely related to Calvin and Hobbes. (click on images to enlarge)

 

In the first collaborative sequence, look carefully at Pastis' expression in the first and last panels. In the first, he's angry. It would be simple enough to keep that same look in the last panel without altering the joke. But instead of being mad at Libby's portrayal, he's stunned. It gives his line "I don't approve," a different context, making it a weak statement rather than a stern refusal.

 

The punchline of this sequence isn't just a humorous understatement -- it's a major issue in the comics world. The space allotted to comics continues to decrease.  Many of the finely detailed drawings of older artists (from Windsor McKay to Frank Cho) would look cramped and muddied if reproduced in the smaller space that's now the norm.

 

The last collaborative sequence furthers the commentary on the state of comic strips with its punchline, too. (I've seen commentary claiming Betty and Veronica from "Archie" are depicted in the middle panel. Not so. There are three women -- a blonde, a brunette and a redhead. Having one of each natural hair color suggests the new and improved Stephen Pastis is appealing to all women.)

 

 The story arc ends with a pointed reference to Calvin and Hobbes' final panel. Most readers seemed to have got the connection, but did they notice how Pastis set it up?

Watterson ended his comic strip with the characters set in an almost all-white backround. Here's the last panel below. It's easy to see that Pastis gave Libby the same sled and same clothes as Calvin. But look carefully at all of the strips that came before it. All of them have every panel encased in a border -- save for the final sequence. There, the first panel has no border. It's just open white space -- a reference to the wide-open white spaces of Watterson's original.

Pearls Before the Wheel

Stephen Pastis recently completed a brilliant story arc in Pearls Before Swine. In addition to providing five strips of stand-alone humor, he also made some pointed commentary about some comic strips that are long since past their prime. Monday's sequence sets up the premise: it's Comic Strip Week on Wheel of Fortune. And the first contestant to be introduced is Andy Capp. (click on images to enlarge)

Reg Smythe started Andy Capp in 1957, and even after his death in 1998, the strip shambles on. Pastis points out the obvious that readers seem to disregard in this "loveable" character. Capp never works, drinks constantly, and abuses his wife verbally and cheats on her as well. One has to wonder -- why is this strip still around?

Tuesday introduces the next contestant -- The title character from B.C. This is another legacy strip, started by Johnny Hart in 1958 and continued after his death in 2007.

Hart became a born-again Christian, and considered B.C. part of his ministry. In the latter part of his life B.C. became increasingly heavy-handed in its Christian messaging. B.C.'s opening remark nails the overt tone of Hart's latter strips perfectly.

Wednesday's sequence was something of a surprise. I didn't expect Pastis to introduce one of his own creations, but he did --  Larry the croc.

 

In retrospect, it was a perfect choice. There's a general perception that Wheel of Fortune contestants aren't always the brightest bunch (Jeopardy snags those). Having the dimmest character from the Pearls cast just reinforces that notion.

Thursday the game starts.

Andy Capp's too drunk to think, and B.C. tries to shoehorn Jesus into the answer. Both play out the worst traits of their respective characters.

Two important things happen in Friday's sequence. First is the obvious joke: Pastis is such a nobody that even with just one letter missing, Larry can't identify his creator.

But there's a more pointed commentary, too. Larry sets it up by mistaking Pastis for a homeless person. B.C., who's been proudly displaying his Christianity all week, immediately says he has no spare change. A mordant comment on the nature of B.C.'s (and by extension Hart's) faith.

And the final day is just for fun.

 

Prickly City's Puppy Cameos - Part 2

Scott Stantis' Prickly City riff on several other comic strips established a pattern in the first four sequences (see Part 1). Set the scene in the first panel, and bring in a dog from another comic strip in the second. But a good deal of humor comes from surprise. And after four days, things get interesting.

The fifth strip continues the pattern. (click on images to enlarge)

This time it's Shagg, from Peter Gurin's Ask Shagg that gets the boot ("asks too many questions").

Then the pattern starts again.... only this time it's not a dog at all.

 
It's Rat from Stephen Pastis' Pearls Before Swine. And one might think that's the end.

But there's one more.

We move from dogs to cats. And with Garfield the sequence stops.

Stantis provided some solid entertainment for comics fans throughout this series. Comics readers wanted to know who would appear next? Daisy from "Blondie?" Rover from Red and Rover? There were many other choices, but none as satisfying as the direction Stantis chose to take. For me, it put the "fun" back into the funny pages.

Pearls Before Cathy

Stephen Pastis' Pearls Before Swine has featured many cameos from other comic strips. In addition to the humor such juxtapositions can provide, Pastis usually takes the opportunity to comment on the character that he folds into the sequence. In this case, it's as plain as the nose on your face.  (click on image to enlarge)

Cathy Guisewit's creation Cathy (1976-2010) has no nose. Pastis call attention to that omission for the strip's punchline. When this oddity is brought to the reader's attention, it can lead to another realization. Every other character in Cathy was always drawn with a nose. Except Cathy.

For the comics fan, it's something to think about (albeit not too deeply). Thanks, Mr. Pastis!

Pearls Before Calvin and Hobbes 2

Last week (Pearls Before Calvin and Hobbes) I did a short analysis of Steven Pastis' tribute to Calvin and Hobbes. That sequence was published on a Monday, and for the next three days Pearls Before Swine continued the where-are-they-now? riff. And each one is brilliant.

(Click on images to enlarge)

The first calls attention to a comic strip convention that's largely overlooked: characters wear the same clothes all the time. Even when a gag requires that they become tattered or torn, the next day the clothes (costume?) is shown intact. Bill Waterson's Calvin and Hobbes ran for a specific period of time, then stopped. His characters didn't overstay their welcome (quite the contrary!). So Pastis' depiction of a character who aged in his clothes still stuck in time is a mordant observation on the conventions of long-running strips.

 The last two sequences are two halves of the same coin -- in later life, a character turns into the opposite of what they were.

So Hobbes morphs from super-liberal to super-conservative, and Moe moves from neanderthal bully to born-again Christian. The juxtaposition creates the humor, but at the same time, it's an insightful observation. People can change over time, especially as they move from childhood to adulthood. Only the central character -- Calvin -- seems unable to move on. Funny, and thought-provoking stuff!

I only wish Pastis had shown us what happened to Suzie...

Pearls Before Calvin and Hobbes

Bill Waterson's ground-breaking comic strip Calvin and Hobbes ran for ten years (1985-1995), and remains a popular and well-known strip. There have been references and tributes to the strip before in other comics, but none quite like Stephen Pastis' sequence in Pearls Before Swine on 12/16/13.

If you examine it carefully, you'll see why. (Click on image to enlarge)

 

Waterson refused to commercialize his creation in the way cartoonists were expected to. Unlike, say, "Peanuts," there are no plush toys, no TV specials, no Hallmark ornaments, and no car stickers. That last is important because a bootleg stickers featuring Calvin urinating on an automobile logo became -- and remain -- quite popular. You can get them with either Ford or Chevy as the target logo -- for your Chevy or Ford pickup respectively. 

And that's the genius of Pastis' sequence. He's the only cartoonist I know of who references that well-known but never talked-about use of Calvin's image. Note the sign's placement. It's on the far right of the panel, and halfway up -- ensuring it's the last thing the reader's eye will see as it tracks across the panel. The large joke is the grown-up Calvin hawking his childhood celebrity. The real punchline is the suggestion that he's behind those ubiquitous truck decals.

Pearls Before Jumble

You may recall when Dick Tracy and Jumble referenced each other in their respective strips (Dick Tracy and the Jumble Crossover). This Sunday's sequence of Pearls Before Swine references Jumble, although this time it's one-sided. (Click on image to enlarge)

Steven Pastis' treatment is genius, because it work on so many levels. First, all you have to do is skim the second panel, the Jumble, and you get the joke. Rat's using his new job to heap insults on Pastis. But there's more: Pastis went to the trouble of actually creating a Jumble, and in some ways actually did one better than the regular creative team.

If you unscramble all the words, the circled letters do indeed form an anagram. And it's an anagram of a word that provides a punchline to the Jumble cartoon.

But here's the thing; when you unscramble the words, the words themselves reveal a hidden message That's why the two-letter word doesn't contribute any letters to the Jumble -- it's just part of the message.

And that's what makes this a great sequence. There are three levels of insults built into the Jumble puzzle. So the deeper you dig, the more you're rewarded. Brilliant!

SPOILER ALERT
Solutions below for the curious (and lazy)

„snɹǝɯnɥ„ :ǝuoq sıɥʇ ƃuıssıɯ sı sıʇsɐd sʎɐs ɹoʇɔop ǝɥʇ :ɹǝʍsuɐ
 ˙ʎuunɟun puɐ qɯnp ɥʇoq sı sןɹɐǝd :spɹoʍ

Pearls Before Death

As I mentioned in a recent post, (Terry and the Pirates: Death and Rememberence) death in the daily comics is rare. And while it sometimes occurs in adventure/drama strips, death in humor comics is almost unheard of. But that's exactly what happened in Pearls Before Swine. And Stephen Pastis' handling of it fit quite well into the quirky worldview of the strip.

The sequence involves Andy, a dog who's escaped from his master (note the broken chain hanging from his neck) to be with his dying father. Although the father isn't particularly interested in seeing him -- especially when his game shows are on the TV. It's an experience I think many readers with aging parents can relate to. Andy wants to talk to his dad and tie up loose ends, something his father doesn't want to do.

Overall, the situation was handled humorously, as in the sequence below (click on image to enlarge).

But then the end comes. On Christmas day, this sequence appeared.

Pastis' understated simplicity delivered the message effectively. We feel sad for Andy.

The following day, this sequence was run. And the reader -- along with Andy -- reach some type of closure.

Most comic strips are content to deliver a gag a day. But the ones that deliver more -- like Pearls Before Swine -- are the ones that keep me reading every day.

Pearls Before Zits

I always get nervous when the Sunday funnies are rearranged. That's because it only happens when there's a change in the lineup. Apparently editors believe that readers won't notice a strip's been added (or deleted) if most strips are in a new location.

I had that sense of unease recently when I ran across Zits in a new location. Then, as I read it, I realized that it wasn't the signal of a comics lineup change. Rather, it was an excellent joke by Pearls Before Swine creator Stephen Pastis -- and I completely fell for it. (click on image to enlarge)

Pastis so perfectly captured Jim Borgman's style that I really thought I was reading Zits -- at least for the first panel.

Crossovers between comics can be entertaining, but only if the art works. If the characters are too far removed from their original look, then the reader has to work harder to process what he's seeing, and the humor get lost. Not so with Pastis. This was a masterpiece.

Pearls Before Foxes 2

This is really exciting. For the second time a comics creator has commented on one of my posts. The first was Mike Curtis of Dick Tracy (Dick Tracy and the Phony Funny). This time, it's Bob Weber Jr. who writes and draws Shylock Fox.  You may recall I commented on the appearance of a Pearls Before Swine character in the strip a while ago (Pearls Before Foxes). (click on image to enlarge).

Mr. Weber wrote:

A few years ago Pastis did a very funny Sunday parody of my Slylock Fox strip. A few weeks later I included Rat and Pig in a Slylock strip. I put Pig in this Slylock strip because I really like Pearls, and because Pig looks so wonderfully pathetic in the cage. Sorry you didn't like the solution.

Knowing more about the relationship between the two strips helps me better understand and appreciate the appearance of Pig. And Weber's right --  he's a perfect choice as the Pearls character to put in this situation.

I'm a regular reader of Shylock Fox, and enjoy Weber's inventive puzzles. They usually involve either some piece of common knowledge, and require the reader to look for clues in the panel. And sometimes I miss it. My only complaint about the solution for this strip was that it required the reader to be familiar with the Popeye mythos. While I'd like to think that also might be universal knowledge, I'm not sure that's entirely the case.

"Lame" may have been too harsh a word, and so I'd like to apologize to Mr. Weber. Let's just say it didn't work for me personally. I still very much appreciate the talent required to come up with these minute mysteries week after week, and to keep them fresh and challenging. As I've said many times before-- comic strips are a vastly underrated art form.

And as always I feel honored when one of those artists takes the time to respond personally.

Pearls Before Lio 2

There was an interesting convergence in two comic strips this past Sunday. Stephen Pastis has long been a character in his own strip, Pearls Before Swine. And, as I've noted before, he (or rather the cartoon version of him) have made cameos in other strips, usually as the butt of the joke. (click on images to enlarge)

Lio's featured the cartoon Pastis at least once before (Pearls Before Lio). There are all kind of subtle things going on here. First, no one in Lio talks -- or uses word balloons of any kind. The fact that Pastis does so marks the character as one coming from outside the confines of the strip. Second, he final gag has Pastis's head stuck on a duck's body. A reference, perhaps, to Lil' Guard Duck, another character from Pears? Third (and the point of this post) the unhappy Pastis threatening to complain to the strip's syndicate.

What makes this doubly interesting is that in Pastis' own strip on the same day, the cartoon Pastis also threatens to complain to the strip's syndicate. Coincidence? Or is there some kind of subtext here?

Pearls before Foxes

I was kind of surprised by a comic strip cameo this Sunday. Pig, from Stephen Pastis' Pearls Before Swine made an appearance in Slylock Fox & Comics for Kids. (click on image to enlarge)

Slylock Fox is a kid's activity page with a little minute-mystery puzzle. In this case, there are three cartoon characters. Popeye's necessary, as he's the solution to the puzzle (not to give anything away). Snoopy makes sense, as Schultz's gentle humor appeals and can be understood by both kids and adults.

But Pearls Before Swine? That's a very curious choice. Longtime readers know I admire Pastis' work very much, but I never thought of it as an especially kid-friendly comic. Perhaps Bob Weber, Jr. was thinking of just recognizable figures. Peanuts is published in just about every paper. Maybe Pearl's reached that same level of ubiquity.

Hard to say.

I checked to see if Pig was missing from Pearls that day, but he wasn't. So I'm guessing this was a unilateral move on Weber's part rather than a planned crossover.

No matter, I enjoyed the reference, if not the puzzle solution (which I thought was kind of lame).

Pearls Before Frazz

This is the week for comic strip cross-overs and cameos. To start, Frazz by Jef Mallett featured an appearance by the cartoon Stephan Pastis. Pastis, the creator of Pearls Before Swine, not only shows up as a character in his own strip, but occasionally pops up in others (Pearls Before Dennis). (click on the image to enlarge)

This sequence is a nice gag by itself, but if you're familiar with the identity of the driver in the third panel -- well, then it's even better.

 As I said, there's a lot of cross-pollination going on. I'll be sorting some of it out as the week progresses.

Pearls Before Lio

Well, there's been another Steve Pastis sighting. The characters of Pearls Before Swine have a history of appearing -- and cross referencing -- other comic strips. And Pastis' avatar has shown up in other strips.

I normally don't read Mark Tartulli's strip Lio (not quite my type of humor), but this particular panel I found very entertaining.

In this one panel Tartulli references three different comic strips. And a good deal of the humor depends on how familiar the reader is with all of them. You have to know what Blondie looks like (she's remained just as curvaceous she did in her first appearance in 1930). Pastis has always portrayed himself as somewhat shady in his own strip, so he's right in character. And Leroy Lockhorn, although unhappily married in "The Lockhorns" has a wandering eye as one of his character flaws.

Obviously, there's a connection between the two strips. Here's Pastis talking about Tartuli's work.


Reading comics has its own rewards. Panels like this are one of them.

Barney and Clyde and Pearls

Recently I wrote about a cross-over between the "Pearls Before Swine" and "Dennis the Menace" comic strips. Shortly thereafter, I noted a similar meta-take on comics in the "Barney & Clyde" strip.

So I really appreciated the October 29,  2011 sequence in "Barney & Clyde" which references... "Pearls Before Swine" with their character Rat severing as the punchline..

Brilliant. This is what keeps me reading the funnies, folks! (click on the image below to enlarge).

Pearls before Dennis

One of the reasons I enjoy the comic strip "Pearls Before Swine" is that Steve Pastis isn't confined to the four walls of his panels. His characters know that they're comic strip drawings, and often interact with a cartoon version of Pastis.

The strip has riffed on some legacy strips, such as "Family Circus." Now most of the current generation of cartoonists treat legacy strips with contempt. "Blondie," "Beetle Bailey" and the like (according to them) have out-lasted their welcome and their tired humor and outdated art should be replaced by something more relevant.

Although Pastis pokes fun at these strips, it's clear that he does so with some affection and respect. In one case, he collaborated with Bill and Jeff Keane of the "Family Circus" to create a gag that spanned both comics.

And he's done it again with another legacy strip, "Dennis the Menace." A recent storyline had Dennis visiting "Pearls" to make it more wholesome (with not the intended results). The same day, and in many of the same papers, that this sequence appeared, so did this "Dennis the Menace" panel by Marcus Hamilton and Ron Ferdinand. Note that the cartoonist is clearly Pettis (or at least his likeness as he portrays it in his strip). ( click on images to enlarge)

Either cartoon is amusing, but put them together and you have a third gag that only those really into the comic world could appreciate.

It's for treats like this that I keep reading!