Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for September 06, 2013

hear! hear!! opps that means me too

A rare occasion where Rat is the punchee, not the puncher.

All right, Pastis!

Way to let Rat have it!

To the moon, Alice! Pow! Right in the kisser!

Stephan, you are so right.:If only you could apply your knuckles to the rest of the nitpickers here…

To date, Pig, Goat, and Stephan have each decked Rat. When will it be Zebra’s turn?

Nice job Pastis setting up the message board weenies who seem obsessed finding fault with everything. Bet they didn’t see that coming.

Ah-Ha! So he DOES read these comments! I always wondered about that. I don’t know why I took such delight in seeing Rat get his nose crinkled. Good one.

Hmmm. A talking Rat and his friend the talking Pig lecturing about how Penguins and Polar Bears live at opposite ends of the world and would not interact? What, exactly, is unbelievable here?

Both the strip today and the strip yesterday were prepared long before publication date. Pastis did it on purpose, knowing anal rententive readers would comment. But he probably doesn’t read these comments as much as we might think.

Mr. Pastis is apparently a devoted Dakota Johnson fan…

Rat is my hero because he always stands up for what’s true and right, regardless of the consequences (although usually only if the condequences accrue to others).

Now I don’t want to nitpick, but penguins don’t live at the South Pole which is hundreds of miles inland from the ocean where they actually live, and if polar bears only lived at the North Pole there would only be room for one of them at a time.

I have lived for this day. Thanks Pastis…punch him again for me.

And the only way possible of handling Rat, as well…

Best PUNCHline of the day.

In a world with talking animals who can even go visit “Toon Boy”, I think talking polar bears can getta ship or plane to the south pole if they are a bit sick of the north…or anywhere for that matter. I mean, were the penguins in Madagascar always living in the south pole? Yet no one complained there, haha.

I am glad everyone was okay with the penguin wife having a bow in her hair…cuz they all do.

Wait, what hair does she even put it in?

No comment. I got nothin’ to say today. I NEED my kneecaps.

Great, now they will require registration of pens, pencils, inks, oils and Wacoms, and demand a tolerance training program and a five day waiting period before artistic license is given.

In the first of this series, I couldn’t even tell it was supposed to be a polar bear in the water… I thought it was a sea lion or some other animal… Sorry Stephan

No need for fisticuffs, just use your eraser, Stephan.

so true…

You know, with the way Pastis is sitting and rat is on the desk, he couldn’t hit rat to make him go up like that, only back.

;P

“Arctic Circle” is a syndicated toon with both interacting. Rat deserved it along with the picknitters

it is a CARTOON right?

I heartily agree.

Doesn’t Steph write these strips weeks in advance?

YESSSSS!

Yeah. Real mature.

Mature. Real mature.

Oooohhhh…. Good come back there!

Since he wrote this a month ago, it would’ve been funny if no-one had made that comment! Then the joke would’ve been on him!! But no, no risk of that happening. He knows his readers too well…

Love it! Go Steph, Go!

Interesting that Pastis wrote this specifically for GoComics. It wouldn’t be funny in the newspaper, since their readers wouldn’t know that’s exactly what happened here!

Aren’t these strips submitted weeks ahead of actual publishing date? If so, then Pastis would have already known what kind of reaction he would get to these geographically-misplaced characters. Maybe the joke’s on us?

A wise crack for rat . . whoopee! . . ☻

Brilliant setup. Pastis, for the win. I was hoping the last panel would mention The Far Side.

Yes! I just got punched in the face! Woohoo!

Bravo, Bravo………..Mr. Pastis…..I salute you.(Whole hand not just one finger…hahah)

YAY, CARTOON-BOY! Comment-board know-it-alls ambushed by PBS cartoonist!—And, as an added, priceless bonus, Cartoon-Pastis finally punches out Rat! Way to go, Cartoon-Boy!

And rats are supposed to talk ??

Put ‘em up Patsis … it’s your word against mine!

Of course Stephan drew this strip weeks before the first polar bear + penguins strip was published on Wednesday. And I can say that I called it at the end of that day (although the joke took one more day to emerge).

He must have anticipated the response. These strips must be drawn before the message boards started quibbling.

Just let the alligators eat the pinguins and the polar bear and let’s be done with this…

This has been coming for a long time. I’ve felt the tension.

Excellent set-up Stephan!Why I’ll bet some nit-picker posters will be so incensed that they will quit their jobs, learn how to draw comics and get a nationally-syndicated strip just to get you back! :-D

Well, the only way to test that would be to place a challenge. Such as, if you read this, use the word “carnation” in a future strip….

My explanation for it: They were adrift on a sheet of ice and ended up there. Other explanation: It’s a comic. Deal with it.

My explanation for it: They were adrift on a sheet of ice and ended up there. Other explanation: It’s a comic. Deal with it.

My explanation for it: They were adrift on a sheet of ice and ended up there. Other explanation: It’s a comic. Deal with it.

I actually feel sorry for Rat here. Physical violence is not the solution, but merely a reflection of his inadequacy.

My explanation for it: They were adrift on a sheet of ice and ended up there. Other explanation: It’s a comic. Deal with it.

PBS has filled the hole left in my heart since Calvin and Hobbes ended all those years ago. Brilliant!

oh wow – rat gets rat-cheted

We no want see st00pid pengens. Want more croks—dey is best antertenement!

Rats and Pigs and Goats don’t talk either, and Ducks don’t wear helmets and order the other animals around soooooo…what’s your point about the unreal nature of comic strips?

I hope Rat wasn’t drinking a Sierra Nevada beer. It would be a shame to spill it.

Sad sad. Little man…Go poke yourself in the eye with a stick..

Aha! Well played, Mr. Pastis. Well played.

I also love how Pig is just completely nonplussed the entire time.

A round of applause for Stephan!

xxx

whew I’m exhausted and my morning is gone….shall we now discuss Fred Flintstone and the dinosaurs?

People are concerning themselves with polar bears & penguins on the same hemisphere. Do these same people take into consideration the fact that this strip has talking mice/pigs/zebras/crocs, etc?

While you’re at it, , Pastis, give Endtown a smack-down as well!

How long has Pastis been waiting for the opportunity to do that to Rat? As Winwood crooned, ‘when you see a chance, take it’!

Reality is subjective.

Bravo, Bravo Mr. Pastis

No, that’s not true Mr, Pastis! You forgot THIS incredibly mature response: DON’T READ COMMENTS.

It’s about time!

Yes, it is awesome to see rat getting clocked – but sad to see a violent response to finding out you are misinformed as “mature”.

This is why urban legends never die.

Crack indeed!! It’s about time that rat got his comeuppance

Actually, polar bears live in the North, not at the Pole or even near it, and same for penguins in the south.

Revenge is a B*$#!, huh, Rat?

Good one. Made me smile.

Always good to see Rat get what he deserves. But coming from Pastis is priceless.

Mature? :I

xD