Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for May 19, 2021

rat looks phycotic

The first reaction to Rat smiling is suspicion.

This make Rat proud of himself.

With sheldon cooper and the joker on the list, Rat is in good company for the creepiest smile club!

Stephan finally made it easy to see he doesn’t photocopy the panels — panel 2 has a coffee cup!

How did Rat feel before he started smiling?

Pig did the laundry and now all Rat’s underpants are thongs.

I’ll stick with Walter’s jolly mouse over Stephan’s grouchy rat when it comes to smiling rodents, thank you.

Life is a maze, Rat, get over it.

We’ve already seen what can happen when Rat smiles.

https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2005/01/23

Let a smile be your umbrella and you may just drown…

Angry is better than miserable.

Chimpanzees are notorious for smiling only when they are angry. In January 2020 at the Sacramento Zoo, I saw a bunch of chimpanzees smiling at each other and shrieking as if to wake the dead. It was pretty frightening.

Maybe someone just had their Happy Helmet taken off.

This must be how supervillains come to be.

How’s that song go? “Smiling Faces tell Lies” The Temptations!

I am with Olivercrosbyboak. Rat does look psychotic like he has just gone postal somewhere like his job as a coffee barista and killed Pig along with a few other people along the way or he is planning it out in his mind. Most definitely creepy as Goat has observed…..

Rat you forgot the sunglasses for that type of smile ;-)

That’s great Rat. Now you can be Batman’s Joker.

“Never trust a smiling cat”

— Garfield the cat.

…

“Never trust a smiling rat”

— Rat the rat.

I tried it – and it works!

Rat is containing himself…

Like the time in the movie “Terminator 2” when young John Conner tried to get the Terminator to smile.

Actually, I find smiling REALLY disarms a lot of people. They think I’m “nice” or “sweet.” Heh, heh, heh. . .

The latest research proves that a forced smile is bad for the psyche.

I’ve heard it said it takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile, but it’s worth the extra effort.

I dont think anything would make rat happy except kicking someone

I’ve never seen Rat smile. And, Goat is correct. It IS creepy!

Feelin’ pretty damn creepy too…

Rat wears skin if you count that as clothing.

“Creepy” was my first thought. As if Rat has transformed into a Family Circus character.

My father used to tell me, “Always wear a smile, son. It makes people wonder what you’ve been up to.”

Rat’s smile here is my spirit animal

I cracked up at this. There was this one Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode where Agent May and Agent Coulson go undercover to a party, and May has to smile a lot during that time to fake enjoying herself. Afterwards, she says that her face hurts from smiling too much.

Rat’s just out of practice

Rat should never been happy.

Rat ruins another good thing.

For some reason, me smiling improves my mood, but brings everyone else down.

Reminds me of an anime character my son has talked about, which is called, “Shinobu Kocho”.

Suddenly Rat reminds me of the mice on the cover of Steppenwolf’s third album " At Your Birthday Party ".

Rat is smiling because he is miserable, he must like it.

The physical act f smiling CAN improve your mood. I’m living proof.

Well, Rat, I had better be going…uh… NON-SPECIFIC EXCUSE!

ew rat!

Now thats creepy alright!

Did he steal Goat’s Prozac again?

Smile. It makes people wonder what you’re up to.

The best way to really jack someone up who’s already mad and yelling at you is to keep your voice lowered, speak softly and smile. That will really get their blood pressure exploding off the charts.

Actually, I have found that if I lower my own voice, and speak calmly, it tends to de-escalate the situation. At some point, the shouter realizes they are the only one doing all the screaming and yelling, yet somehow, I’ve gained the advantage in the argument.

Smile at every stranger you meet…makes ’em wonder, “Now what the f*** is he up to?!” :D

Rat looks like he’s about to crash through a wall and offer kids Kook Aid.

Then the Lawrence Welk members must’ve had really good moods!

If the smile isn’t in the eyes, too, back away fast.

botox

Meanwhile back at today’s comic strip,(where BTW, none of the critters are wearing under or outerwear….Smile, it makes people wonder what you’re up to. (Now you can even see those smiles.)

does not look he is making you angry

I’m trying it now my cheekbones hurt :|

“ Let’s put a SMILE on that face!” —- The Joker

Given his normal mood … that probably is an improvement.

I tried it-my cheekbones hurd

stephan got away with saying hell. GOOD JOB!!!!

Rat puts on his Happy Face and suddenly I realize: You’re It!

It makes me happy to creep you out

oh god that has scarred my mind for the rest of my life

I hardly recognize him.

Whoa… that is terrifying! KILL IT WITH FIRE!

Cursed image.

the last time rat smiled he exploded

I think this is the first time we’ve seen Rat smile.