Pearls Before Swine (comic)

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Pearls Before Swine , on German "pearls before swine", an original biblical expression, is a by the US artist Stephan Pastis designed and award-winning comic series , which since the year 2001/2002 in the Internet and currently some 400 daily newspapers in the United States and other countries appears. In addition, several edited volumes, wall calendars and similar editions were published.

characters

The main characters in the comic are a number of different animals that embody certain human characteristics . The Rat Rat is always on the lookout for fame, fortune and immortality, and is characterized by an extremely arrogant , narcissistic , cynical and sarcastic character. In this respect, it is similar to the character Dogbert from the comic book Dilbert and goes back to earlier attempts by Stephan Pastis with other comics, with which he however had no commercial success. When Pig is a depicted as naive, kind, friendly and helpful pig . The contrast between these two characters has been one of the central elements since the series began on December 31, 2001.

Another regularly occurring figure is a zebra , which was featured in an issue for the first time on February 4, 2002. It is portrayed as peace-loving and caring and otherwise has no pronounced negative or positive properties. Rather, characteristic of his role in the series is his mostly relaxed dealings with his hostile neighbors. These include, for example, the Fraternity of Crocodiles , which has appeared regularly in the series since January 3, 2005 , which is also Zeeba Zeeba Eata ( e.g., "Zebra Zebra Eat"), alluding to the names of American student associations made up of Greek letters. is called. The crocodiles are chasing in their attempts the zebra and his family, shown to be extremely stupid, naive and clumsy, as evidenced by their slang-like stresses expression. Other enemies of the zebra are lions and hyenas , which only appear occasionally in the series and are then often more involved in conflicts with the crocodiles than on the hunt for the zebra.

The figure of the goat Goat , who first appeared in the series on January 18, 2002, around three weeks after it was first published, is intellectual and educated. She interacts comparatively little with the other animals in the series and usually occurs when problems or conflicts arise in order to resolve them. The depicted as violent and irascible duck Lil 'Duck Guard was first seen in the series on March 14 of 2005. She lives with Pig and defends his property as a "guard duck".

Plot and style

The plot of the comic takes place in an unnamed fictional suburb near Albany, California , the place of residence of the cartoonist Stephan Pastis . It is characterized by various alternating strands, which are usually distributed over several daily issues and often end without resolution or are interrupted. The simultaneous end of several independent storylines in the same strip, often characterized by a resulting absurd punchline , is a recurring stylistic device. In doing so, Pastis does not pursue any pronounced continuity with regard to the figures and the chronological sequences. Characters he lets die in one issue, for example, reappear in later issues. Also, changes in the characters' circumstances, such as a sudden fortune from council after he sold Pig , are usually not permanent. The basic characteristics and behaviors of the characters are consistent. Pastis often uses people as secondary characters, for example as neighbors to the main characters or for roles such as policemen , salespeople and postmen . Animal and human figures interact with each other on an equal footing in terms of language and other respects. The figures are represented as walking upright and thus similar to humans. The size and build of the individual figures are comparable and therefore do not correspond to the natural proportions. The drawings are characterized by a simplistic style in which, for example, the eyes of the main animal characters are shown as dots and the limbs as simple lines.

The humor of the series is mainly based on word games and on the recurring arguments in the relationship between the different characters, such as Rat and Pig , Rat and Goat or Zebra and the crocodiles. In some editions the characters are aware of the fact that they are part of the plot of a comic, from which the punch line of the respective strip results. When human characters appear, some jokes are based on problems arising from the different perspectives of animals and humans. After complaining to the community of homeowners that the crocodiles were trying to eat it as its new neighbors, the zebra only receives the information that natural selection is not prohibited by the community's regulations. Pastis occasionally breaks through the so-called fourth wall in his comic by making himself part of the plot and interacting with the characters. He is often criticized by Rat for what he sees as lousy jokes, the poor quality of his drawings and his lack of talent. In addition, there have been several so-called crossovers (overlaps) with other established comics such as Dilbert , Garfield or Baby Blues , with characters from these series appearing in Pearls Before Swine .

The characters' use of black humor and gallows humor as well as the recurring consideration of serious issues such as death, violence and political problems are also characteristic. For example, in the May 25, 2003 issue, the Sunday before Memorial Day , Pig visits the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC The December 28, 2003 issue was about an attack on a bus in Jerusalem . The strip published on February 7, 2010, in which Pastis drew himself in conversation with Pig , was dedicated to the memory of his late father-in-law .

Awards

  • Winner of the National Cartoonist Society Award for Best Newspaper Comic Strip in 2004 and 2007

Web links