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Pearls Before Swine #15-16
Pearls Gets Sacrificed: A Pearls Before Swine Treasury
True to Pearls Before Swine tradition, the latest cartoon collection brims with Stephan Pastis’s cynical humor, sharp wit, and clever commentary. Always together—and sometimes with their fellow funny-page characters—the regular Pearls clan weighs in on everything from modern technology to current events to human nature. All the members of the skewed gang are here as Zebra engages in a never-ending war of neighborly hate with the Crocs. As always, Goat offers a voice of reason amid the ongoing chaos that Pastis creates, either from behind the pen or as a character within the strip itself. Pastis’s latest collection is sure to add to the funny-page phenomenon, giving Pearls fans more of what they know and satirical logic and hilarious wit. Includes all cartoons from the collections Breaking Stephan and King of the Comics.
248 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 22, 2015
124 people are currently reading
73 people want to read
About the author
Stephan Pastis
90 books445 followersStephan 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
April 4, 2023
Really only 4.6⭐️, not because I can’t stand the puns - that’s Pastis, take or leave it - but because I disliked the running stream-of-consciousness commentary. A lot. There’s doubtless a market out there waiting eagerly to know that he really does have an in-law named Belinda and applauding his occasional success at sneaking a “dirty word” into the strip; suffice it to say that I’m not part of it. The cartoons in Pearls Get Sacrificed, however, range from sorta funny to laugh out loud and on that basis the book deserves 5+⭐️. I can’t resist citing 4 of them:
@8%- swing states
18 - Rat’s customer service call
50 - Crocs with defibrillator
85 - Hobbes as political talking head
(I give percentage of cartoons [pages, if they’re presented one to a page] because the possible combinations of editions/devices/apps make “my” page numbers useless to others)
Pearls fans will love the book. Others should stick to Proust, who actually is cited in the book.
@8%- swing states
18 - Rat’s customer service call
50 - Crocs with defibrillator
85 - Hobbes as political talking head
(I give percentage of cartoons [pages, if they’re presented one to a page] because the possible combinations of editions/devices/apps make “my” page numbers useless to others)
Pearls fans will love the book. Others should stick to Proust, who actually is cited in the book.
October 1, 2016
Pearls gets Sacrificed: A Pearls before Swine Tresury 4 Stars, Buy it for the series
I love the cover. But I can imagine it's going to piss some people off. No typically people who would read it however. It's been a while since I've done any reviewing and awhile since I've read any Pearls. As usual the introduction had me laughing and smiling. I love the treasuries with the running commentary from the author. I’d forgotten how these strips make me laugh. I liked the Facebook poke joke.
I've been battling depression so while most of this was funny, there were the suicidal lemmings which made me uneasy. I know it's not the author’s fault but it was hard to find those jokes funny while I continue to recover from a bad depression.
One of the things I did love, was the Mutts cross over. I love Mutts the comic strip and infact just finished a book. This book had the cross over strip in it which showed Rat (obnoxious character in Pearls) in a shelter stories strip for Mutts. Shelter stories are one of the types of strips that Patrick Mcdonnel runs and are beloved by many people including myself. They are usually tender hearted and sweet but in this case was funny. I did like the new penguins and I did like the vigelentte deer.
I love the cover. But I can imagine it's going to piss some people off. No typically people who would read it however. It's been a while since I've done any reviewing and awhile since I've read any Pearls. As usual the introduction had me laughing and smiling. I love the treasuries with the running commentary from the author. I’d forgotten how these strips make me laugh. I liked the Facebook poke joke.
I've been battling depression so while most of this was funny, there were the suicidal lemmings which made me uneasy. I know it's not the author’s fault but it was hard to find those jokes funny while I continue to recover from a bad depression.
One of the things I did love, was the Mutts cross over. I love Mutts the comic strip and infact just finished a book. This book had the cross over strip in it which showed Rat (obnoxious character in Pearls) in a shelter stories strip for Mutts. Shelter stories are one of the types of strips that Patrick Mcdonnel runs and are beloved by many people including myself. They are usually tender hearted and sweet but in this case was funny. I did like the new penguins and I did like the vigelentte deer.
June 21, 2016
I know, I know. Pastis' whole schtick is making fun of people and we are supposed to always take it with a bit of irony. But sometimes, for me, it seems to cross the line into just plain mean. I hope his work doesn't go the way of Get Fuzzy, which became so mean that I stopped reading it.
October 25, 2017
It's a pearls book. You know what you're going to get. All the normal characters are present, Rat is as cynical as usual, pig as naive as he always is, and the crocodiles, well they are never going to change.
Still one of the funniest, darkest comic strips going.
Still one of the funniest, darkest comic strips going.
October 19, 2022
Always love the Croc-Zebra (zeba) shenanigans, and the massive Sunday colour spreads spent on an extremely convoluted pun or tongue twister!
May 20, 2022
Interesting to go backward and read earlier strips after reading the most recent treasuries Pearls Hogs the Road: A Pearls Before Swine Treasury, Pearls Takes a Wrong Turn: A Pearls Before Swine Treasury, and Pearls Awaits the Tide: A Pearls Before Swine Treasury. The jokes themselves aren't dated since Stephan Pastis rarely gets topical. But you can still see the improvement over the years, which is a good sign for a long running comic strip. The puns are especially more simplistic in this earlier collection.
The most notable tidbit from this collection is the first strips where Stephan's wife, Staci, leaves him in the comic. I always wondered about that in later strips. Here he confirms that it is a complete fabrication. But the strips still generated consternation when they ran, and people still offer condolences in person. Including himself as a character, along with characters from other comic strip, has always made Pearls Before Swine more meta than most other comic strips. That meta nature makes the strip so entertaining. It's so interesting how he almost breaks the fourth wall but never actually crosses that Deadpool line (a Marvel character infamous for breaking the fourth wall).
There are some dud strips here, though. All the strips featuring the penguins are terrible. I'm not sure why he kept doing those. I think it had something to do with the polar bear character being from his other books. But the penguin strips don't feature the normal cast of Pearls characters and essentially repeat the same joke. Even the lemmings strips are more entertaining.
Even with some low points, a Pearls Before Swine book always makes me smile and laugh out loud.
The most notable tidbit from this collection is the first strips where Stephan's wife, Staci, leaves him in the comic. I always wondered about that in later strips. Here he confirms that it is a complete fabrication. But the strips still generated consternation when they ran, and people still offer condolences in person. Including himself as a character, along with characters from other comic strip, has always made Pearls Before Swine more meta than most other comic strips. That meta nature makes the strip so entertaining. It's so interesting how he almost breaks the fourth wall but never actually crosses that Deadpool line (a Marvel character infamous for breaking the fourth wall).
There are some dud strips here, though. All the strips featuring the penguins are terrible. I'm not sure why he kept doing those. I think it had something to do with the polar bear character being from his other books. But the penguin strips don't feature the normal cast of Pearls characters and essentially repeat the same joke. Even the lemmings strips are more entertaining.
Even with some low points, a Pearls Before Swine book always makes me smile and laugh out loud.
January 5, 2017
I bought this for my husband from Santa, and he plunked it--thoughtfully, I might add--in the master bathroom where we could both enjoy it.
We both really enjoy this strip, but favor the croc characters over the ones where the author inserts himself into the comic. These are not, of course, mutually exclusive. We already have the smaller cartoon collection that has the crocs on the cover, so this was the best I could find to follow it up.
Whimsical, and a good gift for someone that's way too serious sometimes.
We both really enjoy this strip, but favor the croc characters over the ones where the author inserts himself into the comic. These are not, of course, mutually exclusive. We already have the smaller cartoon collection that has the crocs on the cover, so this was the best I could find to follow it up.
Whimsical, and a good gift for someone that's way too serious sometimes.
May 2, 2023
-5 stars. love this comic strip.
contains books "Breaking Stephan: A Pearls Before Swine Collection" and "Breaking Stephan: A Pearls Before Swine Collection".
i wish i had my own antisocial globe of goodness
contains books "Breaking Stephan: A Pearls Before Swine Collection" and "Breaking Stephan: A Pearls Before Swine Collection".
i wish i had my own antisocial globe of goodness
March 20, 2025
I jusr got a kick out of these strips by Stephan Pastis. His wit is something else. The characters while they are animals are interesting to see in action. If you have read this strip in the newspaper or online then you know you will like or hated his work. As for me I like his work and look forward to read more of it and having a good laugh and maybe a groan or two, but it makes for interesting times.
November 6, 2021
Pearls Gets Sacrificed: A Pearls Before Swine Treasury (Pearls Before Swine #15-16) by Stephan Pastis – My dad and I share a love of terrible puns and cynicism. Stephan Pastis creates the most elaborately terrible puns in the history of comic strips. And I mean that with genuine glee. Happy Reading!
November 29, 2023
Several years back my kids got me a page-a-day calendar for this comic strip. When I was a lot younger, I read collections of Peanuts by Charles Schulz. I have those still, but until I got the Pearls Before Swine calendar I had not really gotten any other comic collections for myself.
Stephan Pastis is worth a look.
Stephan Pastis is worth a look.
March 26, 2019
It's adequate.
Anyway, the fun of the Pearls compilations is that Pastis puts notes under some of the comics... sometimes to explain something about it, sometimes to be a smartass (which he always is), and sometimes for additional jokes.
Also, there are stickers at the back! Woo! Stickers!
Anyway, the fun of the Pearls compilations is that Pastis puts notes under some of the comics... sometimes to explain something about it, sometimes to be a smartass (which he always is), and sometimes for additional jokes.
Also, there are stickers at the back! Woo! Stickers!
March 27, 2019
Amazing book
Gg gg gg gg gg gg gg gg gg gg gg gg gg gg gg gg gg gg gg you ty yr gt de
Gg gg gg gg gg gg gg gg gg gg gg gg gg gg gg gg gg gg gg you ty yr gt de
July 28, 2019
Yayyy
Yayy it is great i recommend for every one please buy it it's amazing yay yay yay yay yay yay
Yayy it is great i recommend for every one please buy it it's amazing yay yay yay yay yay yay
July 9, 2021
Not bad but could use more crocs getting killed as that's always fun.
November 21, 2021
Waiting impatiently for the new treasury!
August 3, 2022
Quick impressions: The humor overall is good, but it can be a bit inconsistent. When it is good, it is really good and funny. When it is not, it can fall a bit flat.
(Full review on my blog.)
(Full review on my blog.)
January 6, 2025
Have to give it 5 stars since Rat is my spirit animal..although a case could be made for Danny Donkey.
September 28, 2025
Very silly comments by Pastis with a sketch at the end for the cover of this book. If you're lucky, you can get some radical stickers at the back of the treasury.
December 15, 2025
Currently my favorite comic strip :)
September 30, 2016
Why am I reviewing a comic book rather than just giving it a rating and have done with it? Well, mainly because one of my New Years' resolutions involved writing a review for everything I read this year.
I'd give this book 5 stars for the humor, but there's one thing that annoyed me: some of the Sunday strips used center justification for Pastis' remarks. None of the weekly strips used center formatting, and not all Sunday strips used it, either. This bothered me.
However, Pastis earned the star back by including an excellent sticker sheet at the end of the book, including some great ones of Rat.
I'd give this book 5 stars for the humor, but there's one thing that annoyed me: some of the Sunday strips used center justification for Pastis' remarks. None of the weekly strips used center formatting, and not all Sunday strips used it, either. This bothered me.
However, Pastis earned the star back by including an excellent sticker sheet at the end of the book, including some great ones of Rat.
September 14, 2016
I think we've done a grave injustice to our culture since the turn of the millennium. If our smartest comedy is supposed to have the ability to change the way we think, why were we letting politically-biased material like The Daily Show lead the way? Instead, we should've been blanketing the U.S. with Dilbert strips, and especially Pearls Before Swine. Stephan Pastis used to be a lawyer. He's got his finger directly on the pulse of this country, and it shows.
Pearls Gets Sacrificed is actually the treasury collection just before the one that might actually drawn in skeptics (it stops right before Calvin & Hobbes creator Bill Watterson legitimately did a few panels of Pearls in 2014). But the material, and Pastis's trademark self-deprecating commentary (seriously, you'll never find another creator so willing to poke fun at his own limitations), is classic Pearls. What's great is that in addition to the regular cast there're running gags involving lemmings and penguins, plus a baby who's a bookie...The logic is so squarely Pearls, but so accessible, and Pastis ready to mock everything (Rat famously thinks everyone in the whole world is an idiot, and even provides a handy map in this collection to prove it; the map is entirely black from all his marks, with one white spot, which indicates, obviously, Rat himself). At one point everyone ends up in jail, leaving only Goat, who's the intellectual of the bunch (the key difference between him and Zebra is that Zebra...spends most of his time easily avoiding the Crocs, including the clueless Larry, who at one point sort of fakes his own death; they also get stuck on a tiny desert island together, a sequence Pastis claims is terrible, but isn't), to bore the reader to death.
Anyway, I never get how anyone can say there's nothing worth reading in the comics section anymore. There're two possible reasons for such heresy: 1) their paper doesn't publish Pearls (Pastis tends to offend easily), or 2) they simply aren't reading (Rat would probably smash them over the head with a baseball bat in response).
Also in this collection is Pastis depicting himself with marital issues. Only Pearls could pull that off. That's Pearls in a nutshell, and all you need to know about why you should be taking its nonsense more seriously. It's the smartest cultural observer we've got.
Pearls Gets Sacrificed is actually the treasury collection just before the one that might actually drawn in skeptics (it stops right before Calvin & Hobbes creator Bill Watterson legitimately did a few panels of Pearls in 2014). But the material, and Pastis's trademark self-deprecating commentary (seriously, you'll never find another creator so willing to poke fun at his own limitations), is classic Pearls. What's great is that in addition to the regular cast there're running gags involving lemmings and penguins, plus a baby who's a bookie...The logic is so squarely Pearls, but so accessible, and Pastis ready to mock everything (Rat famously thinks everyone in the whole world is an idiot, and even provides a handy map in this collection to prove it; the map is entirely black from all his marks, with one white spot, which indicates, obviously, Rat himself). At one point everyone ends up in jail, leaving only Goat, who's the intellectual of the bunch (the key difference between him and Zebra is that Zebra...spends most of his time easily avoiding the Crocs, including the clueless Larry, who at one point sort of fakes his own death; they also get stuck on a tiny desert island together, a sequence Pastis claims is terrible, but isn't), to bore the reader to death.
Anyway, I never get how anyone can say there's nothing worth reading in the comics section anymore. There're two possible reasons for such heresy: 1) their paper doesn't publish Pearls (Pastis tends to offend easily), or 2) they simply aren't reading (Rat would probably smash them over the head with a baseball bat in response).
Also in this collection is Pastis depicting himself with marital issues. Only Pearls could pull that off. That's Pearls in a nutshell, and all you need to know about why you should be taking its nonsense more seriously. It's the smartest cultural observer we've got.
November 12, 2015
Pearls Gets Sacrificed: A Pearls Before Swine Treasury demonstrates the crass and exploitative cultural reappropriation of cultural refuse endemic to the servile bourgeoisie class…Nah, I’m just kidding. How pretentious would that actually be? Yes, Stephan Pastis is double-dipping his fans with this Treasury, but there’s enough “new” here that stuff goes down just fine a second – or third – time around. It’s also a reminder that Pearls Before Swine remains the funniest comic strip out there, and among the very few still dedicated to the job of actually being funny. And relevant.
Pearls Gets Sacrificed: A Pearls Before Swine Treasury (2015) Book Review on Popzara Press
Pearls Gets Sacrificed: A Pearls Before Swine Treasury (2015) Book Review on Popzara Press
May 30, 2016
Another fine treasury. Highlights include a touching Andy the dog story, one of the best Danny Donkeys and the introduction of fake divorced Stephen. And puns. Such wretched puns.
I read this mostly in between games of Splatoon. I love that game.
I read this mostly in between games of Splatoon. I love that game.
February 19, 2016
Pearls gets sacrificed: a pearls before swine treasury
Would that I could just hahaha to the end. Rat kills me but not enough crocs. Pig is as always oblivious and our friend little guard duck lives on. Enjoy
Would that I could just hahaha to the end. Rat kills me but not enough crocs. Pig is as always oblivious and our friend little guard duck lives on. Enjoy
May 6, 2016
I love Stephan Pastis' sense of humour. My favourite comic strips are the ones with puns and wordplay which there are plenty of! Stephan's commentary throughout the Treasury is humorous too with stories of complaints and interactions with other comic artists.
January 4, 2017
If Stephen Pastis was making an animation, I'd wanna voice any of those characters (but I'm pretty sure I'd make a pretty good Larry or Pig since I can sorta relate to them just a smidge more than I can relate to Rat)
November 26, 2020
I think the comics in this treasury were a little weaker than the others. However, I still enjoyed this a lot - the lemmings and the penguins were introduced and also kept on as recurring characters, and it was fun to see the storyline where the main cast all wound up in prison.
March 11, 2017
Ei yhtään pöljempi kokoelma Helmiä sioille -strippejä. Pastisin kommenttiraita on paikoitellen yhtä hauska ellei hauskempikin kuin varsinaiset sarjakuvat.
February 9, 2020
Still one of my favorite comic strips out there.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews