The first Pearls Before Swine collection, and its filled with the great humor of the strip. Far more bleak and nihilistic than the later editions this has a lot more dark humor which I enjoy. This is one of my favorite comic strips of the more recent years. ( )

This is truly one of the funniest cartoon books I have ever read! And since my LibraryThing files indicate that I've read over 150, that comes as high praise. I'd not heard of Stephan Pastis or his "Pearls Before Swine" series, and picked this one up for a dollar at a place that sells used books. It's the best dollar I've spent in a very long time.

The cartoon series features slow-witted hapless Pig (who has a love of bacon :-) ), plus the arrogant know-it-all Rat, and their colleagues Zebra and Goat. The dialogue drives the stories; and Pastis' sense of humor is witty, smart, with frequent elements of dark humor. The cartoon stories are presented in 3-box sequences (as in daily newspapers) with periodic 6-box features (Sunday papers).

From this pleasurable experience, I plan to get more of the Pearls Before Swine series. I highly recommend the comics for their offbeat humor and the bizarre genius of their creator. Pastis' Wikipedia page reveals that he began his career as an attorney, hated it, and quit, to become a full-time cartoonist (with the help of tips picked up by Scott Adams, the inventor of "Dilbert" cartoons). ( )

These seem like early strips. They are simple and full of death and life, friendship and pessimism. I love them. ( )