Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for February 22, 2025

And because it’s sequential, neither of them realizes that the tree looks different now.

Ask the guys in Cyanide and Happiness for tips on getting around the panels. If they don’t get trapped in them, they’re easily able to manipulate them to their needs.

Pastis may have had a brain spasm while coming up with today’s strip.

You could take a dozen of these comic strips and tape them together into a Mobius Strip.

Anything’s possible in this strip. We’ve seen Rat break out of the panels before. Might have been funny to have ‘future Rat’ circle back to the first panel to read Goat’s speech balloon.

It never occurred to me the characters could read each other’s speech balloons! How novel!

“What did you just say?” is a rhetorical question. Nobody says that when they can’t hear. It’s a dramatic pause that the sissies use to play macho :D

Bless the occasional 4th wall breaking!

Felix the cat parodied animated cartoons in a similar way.

Kick him in the fun plums just on principle !!!

What do you mean, “a bit narcissistic and selfish?” Rat is completely narcissistic and selfish.

This is why I prefer Möbius over comic strips.

Slow day in cartoonville

Consider it a compliment, Rat. Liberal Commie Layabouts say the same thing about President Trump and his Cabinet and Elon Musk. And The Patriotic ❤️Count.

I feel the same way about time.

CountOlaf=troll.

Just a bit?

Sequential or not, I think Goat is right about you, Rat!

I keep on bumping into my and other people’s speech balloons in the present moment. Just imagine the clutter if speech balloons from previous panels of time hung around indefinitely.

But if you are constantly taking photos or filming, then you can look at the past speech balloons and see what people said.

What’s next, Pastis?

Can someone call a construction crew? The fourth wall just got broken.

Some real people in the real world do a similar thing to justify their past behavior and/or provide a convenient excuse for their current acts and future behavior.

It’s killing Rat he couldn’t go back. But hey! Life’s a biatch

It is not wise to criticize the guy with the eraser.

Shades of Scott McCloud!

I’d call him more of an egomaniac and trump your ace.

Ow, my head — I’m thinking what it would be like if we could be aware of how time works in our world!

It’s tough living in a two-dimensional world…

Bill Watterson and Will Henry agree with Rat.

Feels like an homage to Walt Kelley, bless him.

Just as well. If Rat did know what Goat said, they’d be falling out. Why did Goat feel the need to come out of nowhere with an insult?

This might the most meta strip from Pastis ever.

I miss the supporting characters! Let’s have some Li’l Guard Duck and the kitty! Zeeba neighba and the crocs!

Consequences of sequential cons.

I love it when Pastis gets meta…

I thought he was using the art form where he draws a background once and then photocopies it for the next scene. And I thought he was doing something along the same line for the characters, just changing the limbs and faces, etc.

How to break the 4th wall without breaking the 4th wall.

ARE THERE NO WORKHOUSES???

ARE THERE NO FOURTH WALLS???