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Pearls Before Swine, 1/9/05

I guess I’ve always assumed that there’s some kind of “gentleman’s agreement” among comic artists not to mock each other’s work, no matter how much it sucks. The only person I can think of who has violated this rule is Berke Breathed, whose hostility towards Garfield is public and relentless. So I have to say that I’m rather pleased to see Pearls Before Swine publicly declare Cathy to be “filled with folks who utter inanity after inanity,” not just because it’s obviously true, but because it may herald the beginning of a bitter and unseemly spat within the supposedly cozy fraternity of comic artists. Will we see Cathy and Irving’s dogs charging into the underbrush to tear thinly disguised versions of Pearls Before Swine’s mouse and pig characters to bits? Will Thebigday.com offer Cathy readers an opportunity to help pay for a contract on Stephan Pastis’ life? Whatever the outcome, all I can say is that Ms. Guisewite will not be pleased, and her wrath shall be terrible.