Pearls Freaks the #*%# Out: A (Freaky) Pearls Before Swine Treasury

Pearls Before Swine #11-12

by Stephan Pastis

An author-annotated Pearls Before Swine treasury featuring cartoons from Larry in Wonderland and Because Sometimes You Just Have to Draw a Cover with Your Left Hand.

 

From fire-breathing jugglers to sword-swallowing illusionists, this treasury showcases all strips from Larry in Wonderland and Because Sometimes You Just Gotta Draw a Cover with Your Left Hand, along with Pastis's original commentary, which provides insight into what Pastis was thinking at the time random strips were conceived, and also fan reactions.

Tackling topics ranging from current events and modern technology to human and croc nature, Pearls Freaks the #*%# Out offers up a sideshow of feisty characters, including arrogant, self-centered, and totally hilarious Rat, who leads his four-legged collection of freakish friends through a carnival of misadventure. Joining the circuslike cavalcade are Pig, the slow but good-hearted conscience of the strip; Goat, the voice of reason that often goes unheard; Zebra, the activist; and those eternally inept carnivorous Crocs, who we learn happen to taste a lot like chicken. Pastis's cynical humor and sharp wit imbue this entertaining vaudevillian collection.

Genres: Comics, Humor, Comic Strips, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Comedy, Graphic Novels

264 pages, Paperback

First published September 25, 2012

About the author

Stephan Pastis was born in 1968 and raised in San Marino, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. He graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1989 with a degree in political science. Although he had always wanted to be a syndicated cartoonist, Pastis realized that the odds of syndication were slim, so he entered UCLA Law School in 1990 and became an attorney instead. He practiced law in the San Francisco Bay area from 1993 to 2002. While an attorney, he began submitting various comic strip concepts to all of the syndicates, and, like virtually all beginning cartoonists, got his fair share of rejection slips. Then, in 1997, he began drawing Pearls Before Swine, which he submitted to the syndicates in mid-1999. In December, 1999, he signed a contract with United.
Pearls Before Swine debuted in newspapers in January, 2002, and Pastis left his law practice in August of that year. Pearls Before Swine was nominated in 2003, 2004 and 2007 as "Best Newspaper Comic Strip" by the National Cartoonists Society (NCS) and won the award in 2004 and 2007. Pastis lives with his family in Northern California.

Reviews

[Dawn Groenke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always enjoy the Pearls Before Swine Treasury for the creator's commentary. The strips on their own are funny and Stephan's commentary sometimes brings it to the next level.

[Marina (morifinwes) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pearls Before Swine is easily my favorite syndicated comic strip. Its dark and sarcastic and the commentary from Stephen Pastis is always on point.

[Erika · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are already a fan of Pearls Before Swine you will love this book and should just get it. New readers might find some of his reoccurring characters or plot lines a bit confusing but for myself I never found that an impediment to getting the humor of his work.

It's in the larger book format which can be a bit awkward for reading but lends itself well to the comic genre as you get three strips per page or a quite large reprint of his Sunday comics, which I find easier to read in this format.

The thing that makes this book stand out from many comic collections are his commentary notes spread throughout the book, at least one per page if not more. They really add to the overall enjoyment of the book and are quite humorous.

[Stewart Tame · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another lovely collection of comics from the excellent Mr. Pastis. In particular, he does a bang-up job on these treasuries, not only reprinting oodles of comics, but also adding comments on many of them, giving some insights into the creative process, or at least an extra joke or two. It's like the director's commentary on a DVD. Pearls is one of my favorite comic strips, combining art that's simple without being simplistic with top notch writing. Good stuff!

[Colin Murtagh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every so often you just want something light and fun to read, and Pearls always fills that gap. Another of the treasury editions, so the strips are enhanced with little notes from Pastis, sometimes about the strips themselves, and sometimes about whatever he feels like writing. If you've ever read any of the strips, you'll know exactly what you're getting. Maybe not the strongest art on the comics page, but certainly one of the best written.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

So it is an anthology of comic strips and not a "book". Kiss my banana. I don't care. Pearls is better than most of the "real" books I read. I love the characters, their personalities and the (always) hilarious situations they end up in. Stephan Pastis rocks and if he wasn't married and I wasn't married and I liked cartoonist in that way, I would ask him to marry me.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you enjoy the comic strip at all this is well worth checking out for the collection of strips alone. The added commentary only serves to enhance the funny and never/rarely seen art in the back is cool as well.

[Shari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some light reading for the holidays :)

[Lauder · Rating 3 out of 5]

With this comic series, there are hits, and there are misses. Pearls Before Swine is a great book to relax and unwind with.

[Christel Schmidt · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love Pearls Before Swine then you shouldn't miss any of Pastis's Pearls treasuries. His hilarious commentary is well worth the price of admission.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Consistently excellent.

[dirt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful collection! Best comic in the newspaper by far.

The comments after the strips are hilarious and insightful.

I also enjoyed the Pearls album spoofs at the end.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

very funny

[Amber Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh fine, now how me call dem stripey things anyting but zeeba ever again? I gotta say...I'm weird enough to root for the crocs! So...this book was right up my weird little alley!

[Corey Thibodeaux · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another tremendous collection with witty commentary from Pastis. The Croc Jeopardy storyline is one of the funniest things I've ever read.

[Ramesh Prabhu · Rating 5 out of 5]

You won't believe how this popular comic strip artist gets his ideas -- http://bit.ly/PearlsBeforeSwine (The Reading Room)

[Danielle Effley · Rating 4 out of 5]

funny

Tomahawk missiles are not surgeon scaples super duper funny STEPHAN PASTIS ROCKS. G. T R E W A A W E E E D D D

[M.A. Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this. Funny stuff, with lots of references to other strips.

[Mickey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of laughs in this collection, but the Larry the croc on Jeopardy sequence is probably one of my favorite ever!

[Ryk Stanton · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite strips currently running - several bona fide LOLs, quite a few panels and strips worth scanning, good stuff. Even better in book form than it is reading daily

[Ben]

For the full review, click here:
https://thebeerthrillers.com/2026/09/...
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Pearls Freaks the #*%# Out is another wonderfully irreverent collection from Pastis, bringing together the strips from Larry in Wonderland and Because Sometimes You Just Gotta Draw a Cover with Your Left Hand. Featuring the usual assortment of misanthropic rodents, dimwitted pigs, philosophically inclined goats, and perpetually endangered zebras, this treasury delivers precisely what I’ve come to expect from Pearls Before Swine: dark humor, biting sarcasm, ridiculous wordplay, and an almost impressive disregard for good taste. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Rat remains the star of the show for me. He’s arrogant, selfish, cynical, and frequently downright awful, which makes him an excellent vehicle for exposing the more unpleasant aspects of human nature. He’s the sort of character who reminds you that people can be selfish, irrational, and spectacularly stupid, then makes you laugh at the realization that you’re probably guilty of at least one of those things yourself. Pig provides the lovable, well-meaning counterbalance, while Goat’s intelligence and Zebra’s earnest activism give Pastis plenty of opportunities to poke fun at everything from social conventions to humanity’s endless capacity for self-importance. And the Crocs? Well, their continued inability to successfully eat a zebra is a running joke that never seems to run out of ridiculous possibilities.

What makes Pastis particularly effective is his willingness to embrace the absurd. He isn’t interested in delivering a tidy moral lesson or making sure everyone comes away feeling warm and fuzzy. His humor can be juvenile, mean-spirited, occasionally groan-inducing, and unapologetically dark. But beneath all that nonsense is a sharp satirical eye. Pastis understands that some of the funniest observations about society come from taking its logic, institutions, and self-seriousness to their most ridiculous conclusions. Sometimes the best way to expose the absurdity of the world is to draw a talking rat who behaves worse than most of the people he’s mocking.

The author commentary is another major selling point. Pastis doesn’t simply reprint his cartoons and leave readers to fend for themselves; he offers little explanations, anecdotes, and additional jokes about the strips and the reactions they generated. It’s rather like getting the director’s commentary on a comedy film, except the director is just as willing to mock himself as he is everyone else. These notes provide a welcome glimpse into the creative process and often deliver laughs of their own. They also remind us that behind the deliberately crude drawings and outrageous punchlines is a cartoonist who understands his craft and knows exactly what he’s trying to accomplish.
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For the full review, click here:
https://thebeerthrillers.com/2026/09/...
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[Madison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm pretty sure this is the first treasury where I first read most of the strips in the newspaper. It's weird to see them again in this form, and there are definitely hits and misses. Pastis is already starting to rely too heavily on elements like the long elaborate puns, author self-inserts, one-off characters and crossovers with other strips. All this can be funny in small doses, but he uses it too much. Most of it was still entertaining and the truly bad strips were minimal, but so were the ones that I found genuinely hilarious.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read all the Pearls treasuries, but never thought to note them on Goodreads. When I get a new one, I usually read it through twice and then add to the rotations of what I read before bed. Yes, Pearls treasuries as my grown-up version of bedtime reading. My body knows it's time to go to sleep after reading 2 -6 pages a night. Not everyone's cup of tea, but it works for me.

[R · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had already read all of the comics, but reading the artist's commentary was fantastic! Stephen Pastis is hilarious. I love his sense of humor, and love the title panels at the end. It is awesome to see so many other comics featured in his work!
Includes all cartoons from Larry in Wonderland and Because Sometimes You Just Gotta Draw a Cover with Your Left Hand.

[Laurla2 · Rating 5 out of 5]

-5 stars. i love pearls before swine.

contains pearls before swine # 11 & 12
Larry in Wonderland
Because Sometimes You Just Have to Draw a Cover with Your Left Hand

[Tony Laplume · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic Crocs era. It’s only years later you realize it passed. And then you drown your sorrows in beer. This is what happened to The Simpsons, folks!

[Daniel Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bird nests on a Larry's head, the guard duck hunts cows, they kill Dilbert and Cathy, the librarians are fierce, and there are some truly awful puns. Also, I really like some of the cover designs that Pastis included in the back of the book.

[David Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Typical Pearls treasury. Love Pastis' commentary on a lot of the strips.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the commentary

[Bunny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these stupid comics so much.