Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for May 15, 2016

“…and my dog died.”

If you want to get away from people who aren’t nice, avoid Rat like the plague.

Let Rat hold that ball for you, Chuck, and then kick him into the sky. If it works, go do the same to Lucy.

Don’t think I’ve seen Pastis rip on Peanuts before. Seen him do things either in honor of Peanuts or somehow include the characters without actually ripping on the strip.

sort of reminds me of a cut-away gag in “Family Guy” where Charlie Brown has tattoos, piercings, and even a hooker girlfriend when coming to his friends’ reunion party

In his collections, Pastis cites Peanuts as his biggest influence. Pig himself is loosely based on Charlie Brown.

Is Charlie Brown lighting up a “J”?

Only Rat could be that mean….

Well, this is the worst case scenario.

I thought they were setting up a pun, but this is better.

Meanwhile, Linus is leading a Great Pumpkin cult.

Sigh! Charles Brown on anti-depressants. Rat on the Lucy-team offensive. The years have indeed not been kind to that round-headed kid, good ol’ Charlie Brown….

I don’t know… I think Peanuts and Schulz should be untouchable from things like this.

And the beat goes on ! Larry Croc reminds me of Chuck in certain ways…………….

excellent!

Today’s “Peanuts Begins” has a young Charlie Brown playing with his friends.Today’s “Peanuts” has the regularly-aged Charlie Brown.Today’s “Pearls” has a middle-aged Charlie Brown.A timeline of Charlie Brown’s life. Good grief, indeed.

I think Charlie Brown would be a lot more than middle aged. The strip started in 1950. Assuming the character to be at least 7 at the time, that would make him a senior citizen by now. The little red haired “girl” is probably using dye to get that weird apricot shade that so many old ladies end up with.

Well better than a pun which I was expecting with this long lead up.

Do you want to know what makes it so ironic for me? I always check on ‘Peanuts’ right after this comic! ¯\(ツ)/¯

Pastis, you crack me up!

I always wondered what happened to good ’ol Charlie brown.

“Middle age”? More like old age. I was reading Peanuts in the 50’s (back when it was clever and sometimes edgy).

Our hometown boy tipping his hat our hometown hero! Wonder if Stephan wrote this at the Warm Puppy Cafe?

Didn’t see those last two panels coming.Great job, Pastis. Peanuts is truly the greatest strip ever.( The strip name, by the way, was assigned by the comics syndicator, and Schulz pretty much always hated it. )

Love it!

I know Schulz would love this too.

xxx

Many cartoonists desire the success that Schultz enjoyed. Sadly many become depressed when they fall short of this goal. Psychiatrists refer to it a Peanuts envy.

Pastis is wonderful. And I think it is great that he is on the Board of the Schulz museum and lives, as Schulz did, in Santa Rosa!

Life is often unkind Charlie. Still, it’s good to see you again.

I saw Pastis’ name on a recent-made “Peanuts” animated feature (not the Peanuts Movie).

Rats!

Sixteen years after Peanuts’ ended and Charles Schulz died, its influence is still profoundly felt.

Nicely done Stephan!

There is a stage play, “Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead.” Because it’s an unauthorized take on the Schulz characters, the ‘real’ character names aren’t used, but it’s very clear who’s who. It’s very dark, which doesn’t mean it isn’t also pretty funny. I won’t give too much away, for those who might want to see it or read it sometime, but yeah, Snoopy is dead and the Linus character is a stoner.

What makes this funnier is that peanuts is next in my lineup

NOOOOO! NONONONONO! NO! I REFUSE TO BELIEVE IT! THIS IS GOING TO FAR! NOOO!

oh god, what have they done to you

Charlie Brown, throw that tobacco on the ground and kick on it. It’s gonna be illegal in the coming years.