Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for August 23, 2020

Get down before the arm holding the balloons gets tired.

Sing along with Basil: “Up, up and away…”

Lawn chairs make the journey more comfortable. Just saying.

Rat, we’re supposed to stay 6 feet apart. l’ll have to confiscate that RED BALLOON.

https://youtu.be/P2iVf6danPg

either that’s pretty strong helium in their balloons, or Pig and Rat are lightweights

Pastis seems to have fallen into the silly-swamp today. Not a wrong thing…

That would work better with a foot loop, because the hand is bound to get tired after a while. Maybe attach the balloons to a swing seat.

Perhaps not in the scientific sense but anyone who has had a pet rat will tell you they have hands.

The fact they can hold on to balloons while floating and STILL keep a right angle arm says a lot about how strong they secretly are.

I am doing this right now. It is surprisingly comfortable

Pig is getting roasted: https://www.gocomics.com/thebigpicture/2020/08/23?ct=v&cti=1890066&comments=visible#comments

It sounds like they live in an area where they have no access to a car. Where we are, we can hop in the car for a long ride. It helps. A bike ride helps, too.

This is happening in a cartoon world…. where belief is suspended, and cartoon physics applies.

e.g. A few balloons can lift you, and your arms never get tired, in a cartoon world.

And it’s not whether there are cars where they live…

I know there are, in fact…

but we have to believe they have no need of one, because they seem to get everywhere they need to go without one.

However, there’s still one unbelievable element of fantasy, for me, in today’s strip…

one startling thing, for which I’m having a hard time suspending my disbelief:

Pig lies.

Pure, innocent Piggy tells an out and out whopper.

This I do not believe.

Balloon ride season is coming up in my area …. Croc Power !

You’ll notice that neither one is wearing clothes, yet they still carry their cell phones with them. I DON’T want to know where! Stephan, give them some clothes with pockets, purses or SOMETHING!!!

RAT! I’m surprised by you!

Or a lawn chair. Guy had to be rescued at some ridiculous height.

It’s not a quarantine if you’re not sick; it’s a lockdown, house arrest.

LOL! ….and never the lame shall meet….in midair….pop pop pop pop pop

Pig it was really lookin good there for a while wasnt it?

It is not height. It is the sudden stop at the end.

More affordable than a jet pack:-)

How are they gonna get down?

My college meteorology classes say it’s quite difficult for unpowered lighter than air craft to join up. Also, I love yellow balloons and submarines.

Rat doing something lighthearted and not being cynical is a pleasant development.

Wouldn’t be the strangest or even worst thing people are doing to deal with the pandemic.

Where does he keep the phone?

They stopped limiting the number of people who can come into the store I work a couple months ago; now sometimes they all swarm in like a zombie horde.

Where can I get me some of those Magical Balloons?

Ummm…where do they keep their phones? Never mind. I don’t wanna know (pee you!)

Comic strips are essential services. The balloons are proof when we need some brightness in our days.

Jeeze Stephan, enough with the sappy “escape from the Covid world” strips. Seems like that’s all we get out of Pearls these days. Give us something funny to take our minds off of it!!

The phones could have wrist straps that are too thin to be visible in the strip. Will that ease folks’ minds?

Cartoon physics, it’s not just for cartoons. A newspaper article from the late 1890s told the story of a little girl who was given a bunch of balloons and started to float away. Some kind gentleman used his skeet gun to shoot the balloons until she landed gently on the ground and was brought back to her crying mother. The news was picked up nationally and internationally before some sane people pointed out that the story was impossible. Others mentioned that the source was a tall-tale column. Fake news, it’s not just for today.

Yes, it does.

I guess Pigs can fly, sort of.

David Blaine, is that you?

Where does pig keep the cell phone?