Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for June 24, 2012
Transcript:
Rat: The 'Family Circus' kid? Pig: Yeah. He just ran over from their Sunday strip and started punching me. Rat: Are our panels in the right order now? Pig: Who knows? I tried to put them back together the best I could. Rat: Why would he do that? Pig: I don't know. He just kept saying... Rat: Well, where's that idiot now? Pig: He ran to ask his mommy something. Rat: Ask her what? Kid: "This'll teach you little 'Pearls' punks to @#*# with the F.C." Rat: What happened to you? Pig: Jeffy Keane beat me up. "Do I need forgiveness for #%&*#%* up a pig?" Rat: He said that? Pig: Yeah. And that wasn't even the worst part. After that, he ripped all the panels of our strip apart and threw 'em to the ground.
V-Beast over 12 years ago
If this turns out to be true, I’m gonna start reading FC.
chrisdakin over 12 years ago
Reminds me of a Doonesbury a long time ago that was a puzzle for the whole week…except they left out the punchline piece…
Sherlock Watson over 12 years ago
Yes, Jeffy, you do need forgiveness… but that’s not what you’re gonna get.It’s time to CRY HAVOC AND LET SLIP THE DUCKS OF WAR!!!
matrixphijr over 12 years ago
6, 1, 3, 5, 8, 2, 4, 7
Phatts over 12 years ago
… methinks the order they’re in now is fine …. . . just fine . . .
dcpsmith over 12 years ago
WOW….just WOW!
TWO expletive ‘symbols’ that clearly are representing ONE, xtra bad word….AND it’s a Family Circus slam at the same time.
I LOVE IT!!!!
cyberguy over 12 years ago
Actually, I believe the proper order is:6 1 3 5 4 7 8 22 must be last, because Pig has just explained that the panels were scrambled, so rat is asking if they are correct now
gimmickgenius over 12 years ago
SherlockWatson’s panel order is correct:2-6-3-74-1-8-5
daedalusomega over 12 years ago
The punchline is the family circus bubble. There can’t be any question about that.There is only one proper order for this strip.61358247 (as said by AL, or, using Sherlocks’ alternative notation 26374185).That’s that.
bahramthered over 12 years ago
What a strange super power for Mr Patis to have, the ability to make people try to figure out how exactly his strip is supposedly aligned, when it deliberately is left open enough for many answers…
Patis please watch kickass before you put on a costume.
SusanSunshine Premium Member over 12 years ago
I also came up with A L’s order:
What happened to YOU?Jeffy beat me up! The Family Circus kid?Why? I don’t know — he just kept saying..Don’t @#$% with us…He SAID that? Yeah, and then he tore up the strip.Is it in order now?I did the best I could.Where is he now?I dunno…. he ran off to ask his Mommy….And the Family Circus knock-off is the punchline.
It can’t start with Rat asking if the panels are in order before he knows they’re torn!Or are you numbering a different way, Sherlock?
Hillbillyman over 12 years ago
I think it’s funny in a bizarre way ; the foul language Jeffery is useing. This will be a classic.
Montaholic over 12 years ago
I wonder if Pastis knows that “FC” is how the Unabomber referred to himself in his bomb threats, as in “The FC is going to blow up an airliner”, or “Don’t @#*# with the FC you little punks.” BTW, I’m with Al on the order: 6, 1, 3, 5, 8, 2, 4, 7.
Michelle Morris over 12 years ago
Jeffy’s line should’ve been,“Welcome to the F.C.,b#%@h!”
knight1192a over 12 years ago
Wrong kid. I stopped regulary reading Family Circus years ago, before I ever even learn Pearls existed, and I still remember Billy’s the blonde boy wh is the oldest, Dolly’s the girl and second oldest, Jeffey (seen in today’s strip) is the redhead boy and second youngest, and PJ’s the baby of the family.
doublepaw over 12 years ago
Great now we have do it your self Pearls strips !
Number Three over 12 years ago
This is excellent!
But Poor Pig. That guy from Family Circus sounds a right bully.
xxx
the dorf over 12 years ago
I’ve noticed quite a few jabs at FC over the past year or so. Is there something the Keanes did to piss off Stephen Pastis?
fixer1967 over 12 years ago
Look out Jeffy, Guard Duck is own his way and he is armed. Run Jeffy run.
LiviaBay over 12 years ago
LOL!! $#%£@& Up a Pig?
corzak over 12 years ago
lol . . . I love it!All those years . . . I knew the Family Circle had a dark side. Thank you Pastis for revealing how those kids bully and intimidate the other comics.
codedaddy over 12 years ago
The AL order is clear, and two others have elaborated on the logic of the continuity.I’ve always resented proselytizing using the comics like FC (also BC) so I enjoy the barbs.
Defective Premium Member over 12 years ago
Ya, I agree A L’s got it right, too. Both 6 and 8 show clearly where they belong by the outlines on the strip itself. In the beginning. No one else even looked at that, apparently, because they’re in the wrong positions. Context and outlines then all make sense. Some of the context people here are trying to sell don’t even make sense. Not even if you haven’t had your coffee yet.
cork over 12 years ago
6, 1, 3, 5, 8, 2, 4, 7!
siskaren Premium Member over 12 years ago
Actually, both SherlockWatson and A L are correct, they’re just expressing it differently. SherlockWatson is numbering the panels the way they’re supposed to be read (so the second panel in the bottom row should actually be panel number1), while A L is numbering the panels the way they’re shown, and then rearranging the numbers into the correct order (so he’s saying that the second panel in the bottom row is panel number 6, but should be read first.) It took me a while to figure out what A L was doing though, because SherlockWaton’s way is how I did it.
pam Miner over 12 years ago
this is clever, when comics kids visit others they can be so funny! Jeffy must have had an interesting life!
dodah over 12 years ago
‘Sherlock’ needs a new moniker if that is the best detective work he can do..
CrouchingBruin over 12 years ago
Yes, AL’s order is correct. As others have pointed out, the punchline is the FC panel, which should come at the end.
kamwick over 12 years ago
I always thought Jeffey was a little brat, and now we know it’s true!
tangcameo over 12 years ago
Has he ever done one for FBorFW? Would love to see one on that strip.
acesover over 12 years ago
2 4 6 8 1 3 5 7
or
1 3 5 7 2 4 6 8
totalspaceman2010 over 12 years ago
Do you people have OCD? The lack of order is part of what makes it funny. Plus, it’s obviously intended to be FC payback for the team Cul de Sac strip that Pastis drew.
phlash over 12 years ago
Why is Jeffy outside the church? – or did pig just guess that he was running off to mommy?
orinoco womble over 12 years ago
*Though not as much of a snitch as Dolly was. She was an Olympic-standard snitch.
tigre1 over 12 years ago
Some comments seem to be more about how they haven’t noticed that their senses of humor have changed…or values…love the strip’s format(s) today…one of the big tests (!) the DGA gives is…arranging comics’ order…aced it a couple of times. And yes, it WORKS every way you can do it, today. Go on…try ALL combinations. Call me in ten years…
the wolf over 12 years ago
well has any one tried peicing the strip together
pearlsarefuzzy over 12 years ago
One of the top five PB4S ever, and I’m counting the classics. I laughed for half an hour.
Snoopy_Fan over 12 years ago
Um… I think the guy in thoday’s strip is an imposter… The real Jeffy wouldn’t admit his actions; he would blame “Not Me” or “I Don’t Know.” Personally, I think it’s Lucy in a disguise…
FENRISULFR over 12 years ago
Why bother, any way it’s laid out it makes as much sense as it ever does.
spamster over 12 years ago
Sherlock’s order is positional, panel 6 is the first panel, panel 1 is the second panel, etc.
FENRISULFR over 12 years ago
6: What happened to you?Jeffy Keane beat me up.1:The ‘Family Circus’ kid?Yeah. He just ran over from their Sunday strip and started punching me.3:Why would he do that?I don’t know He just kept saying…5: “This’ll teach you little ‘Pearls’ Punks to @## with the F.C.”8:He said that?Yeah. And that wasn’t even the worst part. After that, he ripped all the panels of our strip apart and threw them to the ground.2:Are our panels in the right order now?Who knows? I tried to put them back together the best I could.4:Well, where’s that idiot now?He ran to ask his mommy something.Ask her what?7:“Do I need forgiveness for #%&#% up a pig?”
In any case, it’s one of the most original concepts I’ve heard, or seen executed in comics in any time or century. Still topped by the Upside-Downs of Gustave Verbeeck for sheer cleverness and ingenuity.
benbenson over 12 years ago
Deep concept… love it.
cilantro55 over 12 years ago
Brilliant! All of these people (myself included) taking the time to reorganize the panels. This one convinced me to start paying instead of getting the strip for free.
Kala Premium Member over 12 years ago
A new favourite!
stanwal over 12 years ago
It is obviously like that book of Borges [sp?] that was random pages that the reader was suppose to assemble for himself.
kaystari Premium Member over 12 years ago
Its crazy that the comments are focused on the correct order of the pieces, but, oh well, I agree with 61358247, that way there is a punch line, with 61354782 there is no punch line, and the strip ends kinda dull, and 26374185 doesnt even make sense, how could rat ask if the panels are in the right order if he or we have not been told. Plus you can tell that panel 6 is from the upper left hand side, so it is obviously the first one, and 2 is in the bottom set of panels.
rchlgillette over 12 years ago
I wonder how many people printed this strip and cut out the panels individually and figured out what order they go in…..i did. haha
c704710 over 12 years ago
I canceled my paper.
COMIC-ER over 12 years ago
good job!
m.l. over 12 years ago
m.l. over 12 years ago
m.l. over 12 years ago
kf6rro almost 5 years ago
It’s was kind of fun trying to read the panels in the correct order.
Beware of Duck (Happy Pride Month!!) over 4 years ago
Targeting Dolly’s house first. They’re going down!
Darth Revan II about 4 years ago
Sith empire, rise against family circus! WE WILL DESTROY THEM!
Bye Bye Jeffy over 3 years ago
the panel order is this. 6, 1, 4, 7, 3, 5, 8, 2.
Big Garfield and Hobbes the Brave Before Swine 4 months ago
The order of the panels: 6, 1, 3, 5, 8, 2, 4, 7