Best Popular Characters In Pearls Before Swine Comic Strips

From Stephan Pastis himself to Rat and more, discover the best, popular and most important characters in the Pearls Before Swine comic strips.

Created by cartoonist Stephan Pastis, Pearls Before Swine is a popular newspaper comic strip that debuted in 2001 and is still going strong to this day. The general conceit of the strip concerns a group of walking, talking animals who get into daily misadventures and make fun of the ridiculous puns Pastis constantly has them utter.

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While Rat, Pig, and Goat remain the most prominent characters who drive most of the jokes, there are plenty of additional recurring characters that add a wonderful sense of humor to the long-running comic strip. Beyond the big three, the best recurring Pearls Before Swine characters boast unique personalities and amusing jokes to back them up.

Often the butt of a punchline, series creator Stephan Pastis lampoons himself time and again in the long-running Pearls Before Swine comic strip. Endearingly self-referential, prominent characters like Rat, Pig, and Goat constantly make fun of Pastis's awkward dad jokes and cringe-worthy puns that they are forced to speak in the comics.

Pastis debuted as a character in 2003 and has been an amusing mainstay ever since. Rat is particularly mean and often berates his creator to no end, with many strips usually ending with one of the animals standing on Pastis' desk and insulting his terrible writing. The way the characters constantly cut Pastis down and threaten violence makes him humble, endearing, and extremely playful within the context of the strip.

The Zeeba Zeeba Eata Fraternity consists of a family of ravenous crocodiles with an insatiable appetite for their Zebra neighbor. The Crocs are notorious for a running gag that finds them coming up with wildly elaborate hair-brained schemes to eat Zebra, all of which backfire gloriously due to their stupidity and incompetence.

Although many of the Crocs die due to their ineptitude, Larry, Patty, and their son Jr. continue to be a staple of the comic's brand of humor. Each with their own unique personality and distinctive speech pattern, the juxtaposition between the dimwitted yet hostile Larry and his genius, pacifistic son leads to a hilarious dynamic throughout the strip.

Debuting in 2005, Guard Duck is another long-running character who adds immeasurable humor to the strip. Going against his nature, Guard Duck is an extremely violent sociopath hired by Pig as his watchdog. Over time, Guard Duck adopts a military mindset and begins blowing up everything in sight with high-grade explosives.

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Part of what makes Guard Duck unforgettably funny is his extremity. Pig often has to calm him down and prevent him from launching deadly military attacks that were never solicited in the first place. Among his best moments, Guard Duck once left his violent ways behind and fled to Paris with a non-anthropomorphic duck named Maura who left him to work for Aflac.

As the fourth main character introduced in Pearls Before Swine, it's hard to imagine the beloved comic without Zebra. Unlike many of the mean-spirited animals, Zebra is kind, caring, and thoughtful, similar to Peanuts' loyal Snoopy. Zebra also spends most of his time writing letters to his predators to halt their hunger.

Essentially the straight man to the zany, over-the-top Crocodiles who constantly scheme to kill and eat him, Zebra has been an invaluable part of the strip since the beginning. Part of what makes Zebra so lovable is his constant communication with his family members, whose protection he constantly solicits. Just like the Crocs, however, Zebra's plans often fizzle, and he remains endangered in the still-running comic strip.

Introduced in 2007, Snuffles the Cat has been a huge part of Pearls Before Swine for more than 15 years. Snuffles is Zebra's pet feline given to him by the Zeeba Zeeba Eata Fraternity of Crocodiles. The Crocs gave Snuffles to Zebra to kill him, so they could eat him. However, despite having vastly opposing personalities, Zebra and Snuffles get along.

Aside from the waggish interplay between Snuffles and Zebra, it's the bond that the grenade-launching Snuffles makes with Guard Duck that really resonates with unforgettable humor. Snuffles and Guard Duck spend much of their time together concocting ridiculous crimes and coups that usually go nowhere, reinforcing the comic's motif of ineptitude and incompetence.

A stalwart of the all-time great comic strip since 2003, Andy is a dog chained to a pole in John's backyard. Whereas most of the characters are mean, violent, and sarcastic, Andy is kind, caring, and honorable. A big dreamer, Andy spends much of his time escaping captivity. Although he constantly fails, his undying optimism is heartening.

The cheery and upbeat Andy famously saved Zebra's life by defeating the Crocs in a softball game and once visited his dying father in a hospital after successfully escaping. Dogs are often hailed as man's best friend, but in Pearls, Andy proves that cute cuddly canines can also be charitable toward other animals as well. A ray of sunshine in a minefield of corruption, Andy is the moral center of the strip in many ways.

One of the three main characters first created by Pastis, Goat is downright irreplaceable. The deep-thinking intellectual likes to wax philosophical about profound concepts about the world, which often draws the sardonic ire of Rat. Aside from adding an air of sophistication and elegance, Goat's social awkwardness leads to hilarious scenarios time and again.

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As alluded to, a major theme in the comic strip involves grand plans that get dashed at the last minute. Goat's social miscues lead to hilarious romantic advances that get denied at nearly every turn, which is funny given how smart he is otherwise. The witty banter between Goat and Rat consistently ranks among the funniest Pearls strips.

With the purity and innocence of a little kid, Pig (real name Paris) is more essential to the success of Pearls Before Swine than most characters. Defined by his softness, optimism, and dimwitted immaturity, Pig means well but always misunderstands what people are trying to communicate, which leads to hysterical interactions throughout the strip.

Pig is reminiscent of Jughead, another lovable comic loser who goes to extremes to keep his belly full. He dated a syrup bottle, started a religion dedicated to cheese, and even ate bacon on several occasions. Despite his gluttony, Pig gives half-hearted attempts to lose weight, which ties into the comic's theme of trying but failing. As one of the first characters Pastis created, it's impossible to envision Pearls without Pig's big heart filling the pages.

Introduced in 2002, Pigita has been a part of Pearls almost since the beginning. The on-and-off-again girlfriend of Pig, Pigita is known for her pendulous mood swings and her ability to quickly cut Pig down to size. Constantly frustrated with Pig's immaturity, lack of commitment, and poor articulation, Pigita's confrontations are always entertaining.

For instance, while Pigita consistently encourages Pig to propose marriage and commit for the long term, Pig often fumbles his words so badly that Pigita misconstrues his speech for lewd advancements. The running gag of Pigita dumping Pig and taking him back rarely fails to imprint a lasting smile on readers' faces.

The first character created for Pearls Before Swine, Pastis began drawing Rat when he was still in school. The mean-spirited, misanthropic rodent expresses a cynically jaded worldview that often leads to him resigning and drinking beer until his heart's content.

Rat's high opinion of his intelligence drives many of his hilarious interactions. Whether pushing back on Goat's lofty theories or berating Pig's ignorance, Rat's egomaniacal mannerisms remain at the heart of the strip's comedic sensibility. Whether taking odd jobs as a barista, hatching get-rich-quick schemes, or expressing his artistic side through artworks, novels, and poems, Rat remains the first, best, and most important character in Pearls Before Swine.

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