Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for February 21, 2023

Don’t worry. You won’t feel a thing.

And in the afternoon, he did rest on the sofa.

No, there will be book collections and newspaper reruns. Legend says that Charles Shultz has been dead a hundred years and nobody knooooooows.

today’s strip reminds me of the Truman Show

Even if you are real, you will eventually go ‘Poof.’

Of course, it is true, at least that is what I believe.

So we have the real overlords, who are running a computer simulation which is our world. In that simulation there’s a (simulated) cartoonist who draws simul-simulations who think they’re real.

But what I want to know is who is simulating the real overlords? Is it turtles all the way up?

What? Your children won’t take over the strip when you’ve passed on.

Haven’t they heard of reruns (or reprints)?

And if you REALLY think of it, all Charlie Brown was, was ink on paper, yet….

Pastis opened the curtain dividing the celestial from the terrestrial! That makes breaking the 4th wall seem mundane.

Oh no, Stephan! They will be on the Internet forever

“Blondie” ist now in the third(?) generation, B. C. in the second. Scrooge McDuck), Gyro Gearloose and the Beagle Boys survived Carl Barks by far.

Have a taco quickly while you still can, Rat!

The irony is that Rat is always trying to do Pastis’ bodily harm.

You’re forbidden to die, Stephan. We can’t keep losing more awesome folks.

Forget Clapton. Pastis is God.

unless someone else takes it over, but it still wouldn’t be the same.

I’ve often suspected that cartoonists and writers like to play god.

Oh look. It Stephen almighty.

Please take care of yourself, Stephan. Your work is important.

Kilgore Trout. That is all.

Don’t worry, Pearls. After Pastis gives up the toast, Andrews McFeel will turn over production to the same mystery team doing Andy Capp 25 years after Reg Smythe passed.

Well, it’s Fat Tuesday! Happy Mardi Gras everybody!!!

I guess Stephan isn’t letting anyone else draw Pearls. No rerunning or passing of the torch here.

That was great – a classic Pearls.

“Tough luck. I also made Tuesday.”

He broke the 4th wall.

It’s not like the characters have broken the fourth wall many times.

Stephan Pastis is the Red King.

Fat Tuesday! ☺️ All it would take is one hell-ova big eraser to end Rat and Goat! Gasp!

So the syndicate can’t hire a ghostcartoonist after you go?

Your universe consists of three square boxes representing the passage of time. Your time is discrete, ours is continuous. Best wishes to all.

At first glance, I thought that was Stephan’s head on a Chinese balloon.

So, no crappy, sub-par assumption by another “cartoonist” to continue the empire?:

Tuesdays are ruined just by being Tuesdays…

I sometimes wonder if we’re all not just the dream of some unimaginable entity who has a bad sense of humor

Sorry Stephan, when you die your strips will go to rerun heaven, check out all the dead resurrected strips being rerun (May they all rest in Peace knowing their creation will live on forever) – and Rat I hope that cheers up your Tuesday – “Immortality” or in your case, immorality…

Well, you are only a bunch of one’s and zero’s.

“Don’t look behind the curtain!”

No, when the author dies, some other author just takes over and comes up with better jokes… :P And better drawings… :D

Speaking of corrupting an author’s work, Dicken’s “A tale of two Cities” we substituted as S for the C, and switched the T for the S © and it quite a different story “A Sale of two TittI@s!”

Pastis is getting very depressing lately. I hope he’s okay….

This is a very disconcerting strip.

Or you go into reruns. Although in the past Pastis has been critical of retired cartoonists who take up spots in papers that could go to new strips instead, so maybe he won’t follow their example.

Just like “The 13th Floor” and “The Matrix”.

Wonder whether there’s selective poofing.

Cartoon-Boy, the Creator, has spoken his Word! Heed him, ye lower creatures! For the love of Pastis, do not unbelieve yourselves out of existence!

Stephan broke the fifth or sixth wall.

This might be the first time we’ve seen a panel bend like that.

So many of us are so smug in thinking that we’re never going to meet our Maker… it’s going to be an awful shock when it happens.

If that’s God,I’m converting to athiesm

The"1/0" webcomic also has the creator interacting with his characters.

it would ruin my Tuesday, too !

didnt happen to nancy

We all live in a cartoon world then? :D