Love Pearls Before Swine. Love non-annoying commentary. This Volume has them all, what more could a person want? ( )

I needed a light read after reading several serious books, and this fit my needs nicely. This is a new treasury of Pearls Before Swine, an irreverent daily comic I began following a few years back. It is known for idiotic crocodiles who want to eat their zebra neighbor (Helllooooo Zeeba!), egotistical Rat, pitiful yet endearing Pig, and a host of other amusing animal characters. Puns abound, and many are so awful that the character comment on the poor writing quality of their own strip.

The element that sets this apart from most other comic treasuries is that Stephan Pastis has commentary on many of the strips. I loved finding out what inspired a panel, which ones drew the most complaints (or caused a newspaper to cancel his strip), and how he spent an hour drawing some minute detail. In the back of the book, there are strips that were never published in newspapers due to potential backlash or the artist's own second thoughts.

I also want to add that the front and back cover of this is hilarious and I spent far too much time studying the details. ( )

A real hoot! Love Pearls!