Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for October 14, 2023

Rat, not a smart way to talk to your Creator.

The bad news, Rat, is that if your employer stays in jail, you’ll soon be beerless.

  You dirty rat !

on the other hand, Steph might make some new fans while in stir!

Did Stephan make too many puns, contravening local ordnances?

A simple typo left Stephan behind bars instead of in them.

Rat, send bail!

If they don’t give Steph crayons in prison, Rat will cease to exist. If they do give him crayons, Rat will look different.

Haven’t his fans bailed him out yet?

We know he’s in the Punitentiary.

Eh too bad he not do serious crime. For if he did then he not be in prison.

Maybe he could do a comic about it.

Nah.

Pastis, maybe you would have better luck calling Pig or Goat!

And have ANOTHER beer, Rat!! XD!!

Don’t drop the soap in the shower……

Those bars look escapable, Steph.

Your in jail, not prison. Also known as camp snoopy. Prison is much worse…..So I hear

Those bars would bend quite easy with no cross supports, or, “fire blocks”

Quick question, Rat… Who signs your paychecks?

Hey, you kill off the Crocs, you go to prison. That’s the way it is.

Sell your book of repackaged old strips on your own time.

Rat just loves it when people suffer.

11668. Might play that number.

Sounds like he needs a good lawyer. Does he know any?

Rat thinks that Stephan being in jail is bad news only for Stephan. Wait until he runs out of beer. He’s going to have a different opinion then.

Still in Chicago? Check out Al Capone’s cell….wait never mind probably that’s empty too.

perhaps he doesn’t want to be drawn anymore… referring to rat. :J

Rat, he was put in jail for drawing you.

Speaking the truth is a crime.

Stephan you look good in stripes!

I like how they let him keep his cap…

why can’t he just draw a hole on the wall and escape

That’s no way to talk to The Creator, Rat.

Stephan, this is Rat to whom you are talking. He celebrates every time you are incarcerated. Call Pig or someone next time.

If he stays in for very long, he’ll lose his pen or pencil and then all of the critters will disappear. Where do I send bail money?

So, where would Rat be without his creator, Stephan?

I like this arc. its funny!

Funny. They’re both Behind Bars.

Hey Rat, pass one of those Magnums of bubbly to me!

Has anybody been to a book signing yet on this tour? I was going to go to Detroit but I couldn’t get off of work so I will head to Akron instead.

Too bad the stripes aren’t vertical ? He looks fat with horizontal stripes

To boot, no one ever said to him, “It’s in Ohio, Coumbus.”

So, the metaphysical question is "If Steph stops doing the strip, will Rat and friends slowly vanish into the reprints?

Not to mention the firecrackers

They let him keep his cellphone??? He can still do damage from inside the klink!

True. Where’s the bad news? :D

You can leave your mark on the cell walls! Imagine putting Rat in there!

LOL! Now THIS is the PBS type of strips I remember reading when I started following this strip back in 2012

he wrote this mess, he can deal with it…heh.

Wandered into Rabbits ‘Against Magic’… they’ve been looking for Steve for a long time!

They shouldn’t be so happy. Without Steph, no comic, and they die.

Why would he call Ray for help? I’d think Goat would be the best choice of the established characters.

Of course, since he’s got creative control, he could just make up a new character who would be even more helpful. Or for that matter, just write the story so that he’s immediately released. Writing yourself into your own story does create complications.

Listen and learn, Cartoon-Boy-Con! Rat is leading the big celebration! Only Akron may dissent….

This story line is very meta.

With a friend like Rat, who needs enemies?!

One of us is going to jail and it ain’t gonna be Jimmy Stewart!!