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Reviewed: Another @#$@#$ book by Stephan Pastis

1 minute 15 comments

According to Guinness World Records, the book title with the longest title goes to an Indian author who wrote a book on the idiosyncracies of the English language. The book title was 5,633 characters. Coming in second place has to be Stephan’s new book Because Sometimes You Just Gotta Draw a Cover with Your Left Hand: A Pearls Before Swine Collection.

Long, illegible title aside, this 12th book is quite good though I’m surprised it’s only his 12th book – he comes out with a new book like every six weeks – often with titles you can read and without becoming winded. Either way I can never get enough strips featuring zebra and the crocodiles. Stephan’s probably the only cartoonist who’s turned himself into a major character in his own strip which begs the question… does his ego know no bounds?. At least he’s not shirtless in any of these strips unlike other productions he’s done.

The book comes out April 10. Amazon has it on pre-order (43% off) with a price guarantee. If you buy it, I can assure you the comics inside are much more legible and considerably more funny than the cover.

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Comments 15

  1. Once the sebaceous cyst on his chest subsides the shirt will come off. Drawing with other appendages…cutting edge, Stephan!

  2. Drawing yourself in your own comic is very unprofessional.
    That’s what I heard, anyway.

  3. Actually, he ripped off the idea from Mort Walker. Talk about ego!!!

  4. That’s nothing new. He steals from Mort Walker all the time.

  5. I loved his recent East Coast/West Coast cartoonist war

  6. Yeah, that’s an old bit from BONER’S ARK.

  9. I’m almost certain he drew the cover for the Gamin and Patches Treasury with his left foot.

  11. Pearls Before Swine has been the best strip in the world for years, ever since the apprentice overthrew his master, Scott Adams.

    I’ll wait for the treasury. I like the commentary and I don’t like redundancy or clutter.

    One Idea, print the daily and weekend strips in full color for the book, but keep the dailies black and white for the treasury. The differentiation will give people incentive to buy both.

  12. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think Pearls is the last strip to go from submission to superstardom. It seems like the last great new strip that hit the comic pages.

  13. Sorry to burst this bubble, but Pastis’ title isn’t close to the longest comic strip collection title (and the appended descriptor shouldn’t count). That honor probably goes to Stephan’s nemesis, Cathy Guisewite. At least that’s the longest one I found in a quick search:

    The Child Within Has Been Awakened But The Old Lady on the Outside Just Collapsed: A Cathy Collection
    (1994)

  14. Rick – I stand corrected. I will note that Stephan’s book is the longest title for a book cover drawn with the left hand. Unless of course Cathy is left hand-handed in which I’ll note this as the longest comic book title by a male cartoonist drawn by his left hand.

  15. There’s bound to be a record in there somewhere.

    I always thought we had some long titles, but Cathy’s blows ours away.

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