It’s going to be sensory overload for die-hard Pearls Before Swine fans now that animated versions of the strip start appearing on comics. com today. For anyone who’s ever wondered what the Crocs’ accent sounds like or how Pig withstands Rat’s physical punishment, they will have to “tune in” to find out.
“Now others can finally hear the voices in my head,” Pastis said.
Produced by Ringtales, each animated strip runs between 20 and 50 seconds, and includes a brief caption on what that day’s strip is about. A full archive of the animations will be maintained on the site.
Pearls Before Swine launched in newspapers in 2002 and now appears in more than 600 publications worldwide, including The New York Daily News, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Chicago Sun-Times and Houston Chronicle. Even before debuting animations, Pearls has enjoyed a large and loyal Web audience on www.comics.com, where it generates more than two million page views per month.
At its heart, Pearls Before Swine is the comic strip tale of two friends: arrogant Rat who thinks he knows it all and slow-witted Pig who doesn’t know any better. Together, this pair offers caustic commentary on humanity’s quest for the unattainable. Pastis, a former litigator, took the title of the strip from the New Testament phrase, “Don’t cast your pearls before swine.” In this case, Rat believes he is an endless source of wisdom, and that it is wasted upon Pig, who is rather slow. In truth, neither of them is very smart, but while Pig is content with his humble status in life, Rat is always on a futile search for fame, riches and immortality.
Here’s a sample:
I tried to play the “sample” Pearls . . . but the notation which came up when I clicked on the arrow changed to read “removed by the viewer”. which I did not do . . .
My husband and I (in our 80’s) love your strip. It’s consistantly the funniest in the LA Times. Thanks.