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(Book)
Stephan Pastis
Released: September, 2004 |
This treasury collection gathers together strips from the first two Pearls Before Swine books, and it's easy to see why despite only being in syndication for a few years, it's gained a large fanbase in the States and around the world, winning the NCS Comic Strip of the Year award. Taking his cue from Scott Adams, creator of the hugely popular Dilbert, Stephan Pastis concentrates on the writing, acknowledging his artistic abilities and not worrying about anything other than being funny. As often happens in these cases, the more you read Pearls, the more obviously the artwork suits the tone and humour of the strip perfectly, in fact, it would be hard to imagine the strip working as well with any other artist.
Pearls had an interesting journey to the papers – it was Pastis' fourth or fifth attempt at syndication. The previous strips had gained positive comments but no takers, so Pastis continued his job at a law firm while working on Pearls. Wary of more rejection and fearful that this was his last hope at cartooning, he shelved the strip for 18 months, deciding that 'you can't fail if you don't try'. Circumstances led him to eventually mail out the strip and much to his amazement, within two weeks United Feature Syndicate got in touch and Pearls had a home. The strip spent time as a 'web exclusive', available to read online only, and gained a good following, but it was one of Pastis' cartooning influences – the aforementioned Scott Adams, that gave it another push, championing the strip to his fans in his widely read newsletter. Interest rose and Pearls debuted in papers on 31st Dec 2001.
There are currently four collections available, and they are all well worth a purchase – as Pastis' writing and artwork gets more and more assured, his jokes get funnier, and despite a penchant for unusually dark themes in a mainstream comic (death is a popular subject) he always leaves a grin on your face. This particular Treasury collection contains around 450 b&w strips reprinted at a decent size and a large number of full colour Sunday strips with many featuring notes from the artist. There's also an introduction by Pastis detailing the history of the strip (from which I've unashamedly cobbled together the previous info – wonder if he still practices law? )
Together with Get Fuzzy (by Pastis' good friend Darby Conley), it's one of the best new strips available. Get yourself a copyÖ you won't be disappointed.
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