McCaleb: Sunday comic shake up coming
“Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.”
According to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus spoke these words to Peter at the Sermon on the Mount, where He also introduced the Beatitudes, the Lord’s Prayer and the Golden Rule.
What does this particular passage mean and why am I opening this space with it?
Most interpretations I’ve read go something like this: Don’t offer up pearls of wisdom (or, generally, anything of value) to those who won’t appreciate it.
And I quote it here because a new comic strip that debuts in our Sunday Comics lineup tomorrow and also will be featured on our daily comics page beginning Monday, borrows its name from the Gospel passage – “Pearls Before Swine.”
Written and illustrated by former attorney Stephan Pastis of Los Angeles, “Pearls Before Swine” follows the travails of two animal friends, Rat and Pig. Rat is a know-it-all megalomaniac who issues his “pearls” of wisdom before the humble but dim-witted swine, Pig.
Although Rat thinks his self-centered words and deeds are “pearls,” we all know better. If you enjoy humor that pulls no punches, I think you’ll like this strip. I passed Sunday’s debut around the newsroom and got chuckles from just about everyone, even those cranky editors who generally thumb their noses at comics.
Our first “Pearls Before Swine” strip picks fun at “stupid” people, folks who, for example, “block a whole grocery aisle with my shopping cart while looking for my favorite cake mix.”
Of course, humor is subjective, and each person’s taste is a little different. But I hope you enjoy this new strip as much as I’ve enjoyed the few dozen or so I’ve seen already.
A second strip also makes its first appearance in our Sunday lineup, although this is one you should be familiar with. “Pickles,” which has been running on our daily Comics page Monday through Saturday since September, also premiers on the Sunday page tomorrow.
Of course, if we’re adding two strips, that means we are removing two. “Spider-Man” and “Classic Peanuts,” two strips that ended their daily run with us in September, are being replaced Sunday by “Pickles” and “Pearls Before Swine.”
“Peanuts,” of course, has been in rerun mode since its creator, Charles Schulz, died in February 2000. It was a great strip but has run its course. And “Spider-Man” is a serial, meaning it follows a storyline. We likely should have ended its Sunday run when it was eliminated from the daily a few months ago.
“Pearls Before Swine” will replace “Pros and Cons” on Mondays through Saturdays. We picked up “Pros and Cons” in September, and it has not lived up to expectations.
As always, let me know what you think of these new comics or to provide me with feedback on anything we do at the e-mail listed below.
• Dan McCaleb is editor of Northwest Herald. He can be reached at dmccaleb@nwherald.com.