Stephan's Web: A Pearls Before Swine Collection

Pearls Before Swine #18

by Stephan Pastis

Some Rat!

Stephan Pastis may not be the kind, selfless arachnid of E.B. White’s cherished children’s novel, but he sure can spin a story – that is, if Rat, Pig, Goat, and Zebra don’t swat him with a stick first. In Stephan’s Web, the Pearls gang continues to find that friendship and puns are the best defense against everyday predators, like self-righteous vegans, cyclists, and fruitarians.

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

128 pages, Paperback

First published November 22, 2016

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

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

An above average collection of Pearls Before Swine strips. I actually recently read most of the strips in Pearls Hogs the Road: A Pearls Before Swine Treasury. They were still funny even just five months later.

The collection also ends with the most touching strip I've seen in all of Pearls Before Swine.

I prefer the Pearls Before Swine treasuries to the collection due to the commentary from Stephan Pastis, but the strips still stand on their own.

[Tim Brandau · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick and easy read. Lots of pictures. The PUNS make this book worth it! 10/10, would read again!

[Zachary Pareizs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this series when I was younger, still good fun.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stephan's Web: A Pearls Before Swine Collection by Stephan Pastis – The pun about three comics in is worth the whole book. I’m still giggling about it three days later! Happy Reading!

[wildct2003 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok collection. I like the puns.

[Terry Mulcahy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've got to remember that I read these same newspaper strips nearly every day, so I had already read most of these. But I did miss some, and Pastis's comments are always interesting.

[Laurla2 · Rating 5 out of 5]

read in the Pearls Hogs The Road treasury

[Jonson Chong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bizarre and entertaining.

[Rex Libris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pearls is an acquired taste, and I seem to have acquired it. The cover art is great with the parody of Charlotte's Web. "Stephen's Web" is in big letters, and in little letters is "of lies."

This was a good book, but not as good as all the previous ones. This book really marks the onset of all the puns and word play strips that always have as the last frame a character from the strip threatening Pastis himself, sho has taken to inserting himself into the strip. This is by no means a bad thing, Pastis' self-deprecating humor is very good.

[David Vaughan · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's Pearls Before Swine. If you read the strip you already know, and if you don't read the strip, you may need to see your doctor to see if you actually have a sense of humor.

[Darin]

Short but still hilarious. Wonderful as always.