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''Pearls Before Swine'' is an American Comic Strip written and illustrated by Stephan Pastis , formerly a lawyer in San Francisco, California . It chronicles the daily lives of four Anthropomorphic animals, Pig, Rat, Zebra, and Goat. Although created in 1997, it was not published until 2000, when United Features Syndicate ran it on its Website . Its popularity rose after '' Dilbert '' creator Scott Adams , a fan of the strip, spread the word to his own fans. ''The News & Observer'' (Nov 24, 2006): "Stephan Pastis: ''Pearls Before Swine''", by Matt Ehlers United Features launched the strip in , 2002 , it began running in approximately 150 papers. ''This Little Piggy Stayed Home'' (March 2004): "Product Detail" As of early 2007, the strip appears in more than 400 newspapers worldwide. ''Concord Monitor'' (Jan 16, 2007): "Artist says he likes his humor dark", by Allison Steele CAST ''Pearls Before Swine'' has a few central characters, supplemented by an array of minor figures. Rat Rat . He is frequently critical of the strip's style and artwork as well as the other characters in the strip and all living things. Often self-employed, most of his businesses involve either punishing or defrauding people for their ignorance, much in the same vein as Dogbert , though with a darker humor. Rat's employment history is varied. Rat writes " Children's Books " (Danny Donkey) and Romance Novels that are typically dark and bloody in nature, or contain bizarre twists and endings. He sometimes works as a columnist, writing often absurd and inadequate articles. Formerly employed as an antagonistic Slacker Barista at "Joe's Roastery", where he couldn't be fired due to his "minority status", Rat reveled in giving his customers horrible service (if they get any service at all) and insulting them. Despite his dislike for Rat, Rat's employer could do little other than attempt to minimize Rat's tirades on those he considers fair target for his opinions and wit. In March of 2007 Rat made several clones of himself, all of which had nice personalities. In an attempt to get rid of them he sent them to the crocodiles to be used as food. The cloned Rats severely beat the crocodiles, escaped, and took over Rat's job at Joe's Roastery, at which point he was promptly fired. Rat's new job is a floor manager at a toy store, where he is dressed up as a clown and drives his corporate "clown car" - he hates the job, but it pays very well. Rat is also engaged in a side business, publication of "The National Enquirat" (a spoof on the Supermarket Tabloid '' The National Enquirer ''), where he connives the other characters into compromising positions, then plasters their photo with a sensationalist headline. He has also acted as a Lawyer , representing the Crocs when they sued Zebra for failure to be their food. Rat is the most insensitive character in the strip, except when it comes to his love for Pig's sister Farina; he also seems to feel some genuine friendship toward Pig himself, although this hardly give Pig any immunity from Rat's insults. Rat's interactions with others are typically sarcastic, condescending, insulting and sometimes violent, particularly when dealing with what he considers to be exceptionally annoying people (i.e. virtually everyone) and their habits. Rat frequently breaks the Fourth Wall to berate his creator on his jokes, artwork or general content of the strip itself. Pig Naïve Pig (debut: Dec. 31, 2001) is childlike and dim, but also well-meaning and kind, all of which leads to constant ridicule by Rat. Pig's jokes generally involve his incompetence and not knowing his true surroundings. Pig has a hot-tempered girlfriend named Pigita. Pastis says that Pig is the easiest character to write for: "He just has to misunderstand everything that he hears, then when it's explained to him, he has to misunderstand that too." Pig has a habit of talking to inanimate objects such as food, stop lights, bait and various other things (although since, in the "Pearls" universe, the objects talk back, this is not as odd as it might otherwise be). Pig once fell in love with a syrup bottle known as "Ms. Booty-worth". Pig is cannibalistic; he likes bacon, ham, etc. Zebra who is often seen trying to patch up relations between his herd back home and its predators, lions and hyenas. His troubles include various encounters with the Fraternity of Crocodiles. He also serves as a less-irritable version of Goat, and is also the only character Goat can put up with. Because Stephan Pastis used to not be able to draw lions, these particular predators were not shown in the strip until May 31, 2007, when two were shown moving next door to Zebra, on the opposite side from the crocodiles. They are the second-most mentioned predators, behind the crocodiles. Prior to their appearance Zebra has been seen corresponding with them via letter, attempting to give them more culture than just eating zebras and establish a friendship between their species. Instead, the lions' replies are always terse and stupid responses, often featuring them taking his advice the wrong way by eating a zebra. The lions remain the only predators capable of instilling fear in Zebra; the crocodiles just induce frustration due to their complete incompetence. Hyenas are the third type of predator that plague Zebra's herd. They have only appeared in the strip twice: once, a series in which Zebra was an online advice columnist for other zebras; the second appearance was a single Sunday strip in September 2007 as new neighbors of Zebra. Goat An intellectual that, as Rat likes to point out, receives no hits. Goat in turn tends to criticize Rat's forays into writing, often telling him not to write them at all. In early strips, Goat had a beard; he first appeared without it in the March 31 , 2004 strip. He is smart and knows how to solve problems. Goat dislikes conversing with the other characters at all; he much prefers reading books. However, it seems that he most tolerates talking to Zebra; he is least tolerant when talking to Rat. The Fraternity of Crocodiles The Fraternity of Crocodiles (debut: Jan. 3, 2005) is usually involved in various (failed) attempts to eat Zebra. The fraternity name is "Zeeba Zeeba Eata" (although one of them called it " Zeta , Zeta, Epsilon " in a botched attempt to fool their suspicious neighbor). The crocodiles are dimwitted and poor hunters (they believe they are hunting prey when they catch plastic flamingos, garden gnomes or carved tofu cows) who usually need to go to the Safeway supermarket or order fast food to eat (which they call Zeeba Nuggets). At least two have girlfriends or are married, and at least one (Larry) has a son, Billy. Billy is far more intelligent than his father and he is also a pacifist and a vegetarian, similar to the relationship between the Warner Bros. cartoon characters Sylvester The Cat and his son, Sylvester Junior . In very recent strips Billy has started dating Zebra's niece, a young female zebra named Joy. His dad doesn't yet understand the concept of going out with food and when he sees the two kissing he thinks Billy is killing Joy in a very weird way. The crocodiles include Bob, Floyd, Fred, Frank, Jimmy, Jojo, and Larry. The crocodiles are frequently killed in the continuity of the strip; some are brought back without explanation, while others are brought in as replacements. A crocodile named Biff, described by Pastis as "the dumbest of all the crocodiles", was unable to fend for himself, so Pastis, in Self-reflexive strips, portrays himself as a character who must take care of him. Biff was later eaten by a Poodle , but brought back on Nov. 12, 2006. The male crocodiles, when talking, are often saying words in Phonetical Style , such as "goowoo" (guru), "nome" (gnome), and "meester" (mister). They also say "me" instead of "I", and refer to themselves as "crockydiles." The male crocodile's opening line often is "Hulllooooo Zeeba neighba, leesten." Female crocodiles, Billy, and various "Smart Guy" crocodiles speak normally, due to their intellect. Guard Duck Duck is the "watch Duck " for Pig and Rat's home. He's known for a short temper and a violent streak (usually Rocket Launcher -related) bordering on stereotypical Sociopathy . Pig often locks him in a clothes hamper or wastebasket as a punishment for irrational actions. His first appearance was March 14th, 2005, when Pig bought him due to the fact that a proper Guard Dog was too expensive. Pig's neighbors frequently laugh at the Guard Duck, but the neighbors usually then get beat up or blown up by a Rocket Launcher . Soon after he was fired for stealing a neighbor's inflatable pool. Months later, Duck robbed a Bank and was thrown in prison. Though he was awarded release on bail, Duck escaped prison and has been with Pig and Rat ever since. Duck once staged a Coup to become Mayor . Once Mayor, he began checking off neighbors of the town he had written down on his "Enemies List" and began a very corrupt reign as a Despot . The reign ended because of Ducks' ineffectiveness as a civic leader (most of his strategies involved eliminating the opposition), but Duck later represented Zebra in a lawsuit the Crocodiles brought against him. The December 3 , 2006 strip revealed that Duck did not know ducks could fly, never having been taught because he never knew his parents; he referred to himself as "a broken duck." Things became more hopeful for Duck when on January 1 , 2007 , Maura the non-anthropomorphic female duck companion appeared with him and even kissed him. However, on January 5 , she flew away to Migrate with other ducks. Since then, several strips have featured Duck coping with his loss. The crocodiles, in particular, made the poor choice of laughing at Duck at which point Duck made one of the crocodiles into a pair of boots January 24 , 2007 . Recently, Duck has been acknowledged by the strip as a major character — his personality became a bit more developed, and often appeared alongside the major characters as most recurring characters do not. Recurring characters
Minor characters
SETTING The strip is set in a fictional suburb within or around Albany, California , where Pastis currently lives. Every house appears to have siding on it. The continuity of the strip is very loose, and Pastis even admits to the fact that "sometimes characters get jobs once, and you never hear about it again." Many storylines are left with open endings, and sometimes continuity leaps are made (frequently character presumed to be dead will come back to life). Usually, relationships between characters are left unaltered (Farina, who appears infrequently for long periods of time, has a relationship with Rat that usually picks up where it left off.) The strips universe appears to be a world where comic strip characters are actual people who can interact with the creators of their strips or other strips, as well as Characters In Other Strips . Pastis is a frequent character, usually being criticised by Rat for lack of drawing ability among other disqualifiactions. MEANING OF THE TITLE The title ''Pearls Before Swine'' refers to the admonition "Neither cast ye your pearls before swine" that . In the context of the comic strip, Rat, who considers himself a genius, must cast his pearls of "wisdom" before Pig, who is the only one naïve enough to listen to him. STYLE Artistically, ''Pearls'' is extremely simplistic, with minimal art. Most of the characters have no mouths, polka dot eyes and stick limbs; those with lips are unintelligent. Pastis stated, "People say that they like my strip's simplicity, but I'm doing the best I can to just to get up to that level. I'm not dumbing the art down." "Forum Interview with Stephan Pastis, Creator of Pearls Before Swine" (Summer 2004) ''Pearls Before Swine'' has proven controversial, largely due to its Dark Humor . Despite the simple drawing style, topics such as Politics , Murder , Suicide , and Depression are common themes. The jokes themselves are often based on Pun s and wordplay. Pastis also employs the format of the Shaggy Dog Story , particularly with Sunday strips, relying on a great amount of text to spin an elaborate yarn that is ultimately resolved with an unforeseen and abrupt ending (such as the character’s random death, or an intentionally bad pun, which is sometimes identified as such by the characters). ''Pearls'' is also a " Meta-comic " in that it often satirizes the comics medium, and allows its characters to "break the Fourth Wall " and either communicate directly with the author or with characters from other strips. ''Pearls'' comics only sometimes contain a continuity, where one storyline will carry on through about a week of comics before moving on to a new storyline. More often however, comics will be stand alone, such as when Rat sold Pig for 10 million dollars, but in the next strip both were back to normal, Rat being poor and Pig still with him. Crossovers ''Pearls Before Swine'' interacts with other comics, as in a story arc that featured members of '' The Family Circus '' sheltering Osama Bin Laden , unaware of his identity. The children from '' Baby Blues '' once drove a car to get beer for Rat and ended up running over and killing Jeremy from '' Zits .'' Baby Wren from Baby Blues was portrayed as an extreme "bad-arse" whom one does not mess with. It is this attitude that results in her killing several members of the fraternity of crocodiles when they try to eat her. (The following Monday in the Baby Blues strip, baby Wren was seen playing with a crocodile stuffed animal with X-out "dead" eyes, an allusion to the storyline.) Bucky Katt from '' Get Fuzzy '' once appeared in early 2007 when Rat suggested Pastis add a cat to the strip for more popularity. Bucky then asked if Pastis had a lawyer. Characters from '' Cathy '', '' B.C '', '' Dilbert '', and several others have made guest appearances as well, in which they are often mildly mocked. Garfield has also been the brunt of many punchlines, though only once has a character from the strip appeared in ''Pearls''. During '' Blondie '' 's 75th-anniversary sequence of strips in September 2005, which was referred to within some 25 other, generally more well-established comics, Pig and Rat were among the comic strip characters not "invited" to the event; Pastis in his strip had Pig and Rat complain for weeks. To console them, in a self-reflexive sequence, Pastis set up a competing party in his own strip for other comic characters not invited to the Bumstead home in ''Blondie''. Opus from '' Bloom County '' was the only other attendee. On one occasion, the ''Pearls'' characters left the strip one by one, in an event popularly referred to as the ''Pearls'' Labor Dispute. In this series, the strips ''The Family Circus'', '' Love Is... '', '' Get Fuzzy '', '' Rose Is Rose '', and ''Garfield'' were visited (as well as the '' Jumble '' puzzle). The characters Marmaduke and Nancy And Sluggo made guest appearances as temporary replacements for the departed characters. Others artists, particularly other young and newly established cartoonists, have collaborated on these meta-comic exchanges. On April Fool's Day 2005, Pastis, '' Get Fuzzy '' creator Darby Conley and '' FoxTrot '' creator Bill Amend published the same storyline, involving a Ouija board, using each strip's respective characters. In 2006, Conley used a week of ''Pearls Before Swine'' strips verbatim in place of his own comic, pasting pasted stock illustrations of ''Get Fuzzy'' characters over the ''Pearls Before Swine'' characters, leading to a comically nonsensical ''Get Fuzzy'' sequence. A similar reversal happened in November 2006, when a "disgruntled newspaper layout artist" inserted random ''Get Fuzzy'' panels into ''Pearls''. There have also been other allusions: Satchel from ''Get Fuzzy'' once had a ''Pearls'' book next to his beanbag, as Rob asked about a phone call from "an annoying lawyer named Stephen"(Pastis was a lawyer before becoming a cartoonist), and Pig has attended at least one evening class led by a "Professor Conley". ''FoxTrot'' referenced ''Pearls Before Swine'' by having Jason Fox redraw the Crocodiles to look like his sister Paige. In 2005, Rick Stromoski 's strip '' Soup To Nutz '' introduced a short-lived character, a big-headed kid named Stephan Pastis, as a friend of Andrew Nutz. This was a response to a storyline Pastis drew featuring a frog named Stromoski, a frog who can't get dates because he can't keep his tongue out of women's ears (causing him to get stomped on every time he does that). While Pastis drew the storyline first, it ran months later, due to the cartoonist being ahead of deadline by several months. Cartoonist Bill Holbrook referenced the strip in his own '' Kevin And Kell ''. ''Kevin and Kell'', July 31, 2006 On August 13, 2006, Pig and Rat were in a bar discussing a rule that all comic-strip characters needed to age in real-time, a la '' For Better Or For Worse '', '' Doonesbury '', and the first to do this, '' Gasoline Alley ''. While this rule, made up by Pastis for the sequence, didn't affect the 5-year-old ''Pearls'', it strongly affected the 50-year-old ''Family Circus'' and the 75-year-old ''Blondie'' within the confines of Pastis' strip. For a brief period starting February 22, 2007, ''Pearls Before Swine'' featured Jason, Peter, Andy and Quincy from '' FoxTrot '' as homeless individuals living on Rat and Pig's lawn. This came after ''FoxTrot'' switched to a Sunday-only format. In early 2007, one of the crocodiles appeared on a cereal box in ''Baby Blues''. A likeness of both Rat and Pig also featured in an ''F Minus'' strip, published on the 24th of June, 2007. In late August -early September 2007 , a story arc featured Rat lost in the desert, and taken hostage by fans of '' Family Circus '', angry at the strip's mocking in ''Pearls''. Rat proceeded to call ''Circus'' creator Bil Keane , who also was angry at the mockery. Rat was freed on the condition that he participated in some "pro- Family Circus " comics. After one panel of this, Rat says that this was a bad idea. Substitutions Most cartoonists work six to eight weeks ahead of schedule. Occasionally, unreleased strips converge with Current Events in a way that requires the strip's syndicate to hold back or modify them so as not to cause offense with the public; United Feature Syndicate, which publishes ''Pearls before Swine'', re-runs older strips when this happens, and has done so on two occasions:
TRIVIA
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FOOTNOTES REFERENCES
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