One of the nation’s most popular cartoonists, whose strip “Pearls Before Swine” is carried in more than 900 newspapers, will be making an appearance in Iowa next week. Stephan Pastis (STEFF-un PASS-tis) has more than 40 “Pearls” collections in print, but he’s releasing a huge, hard-cover book called “Pearls Jubilee” to mark the strip’s 25th anniversary. In an interview with Radio Iowa, Pastis says he hand-picked everything that went into the 288-page retrospective.
Pastis spent nearly a decade as an insurance defense litigator, but became disenchanted with being a lawyer and longed to pursue his childhood dream of becoming a syndicated cartoonist. After introducing himself to “Peanuts” creator Charles M. Schulz in a coffee shop in 1996 and having an hour-long chat, Pastis set a new course for himself, though it took several more years to break into the industry. Pastis calls Schulz “the root of the tree” for modern cartoonists.
Two of the main characters in “Pearls” are Rat, who’s often smug, self-centered and mean, and Pig, who’s dim-witted, but sweet and earnest. Pastis was asked if each character contains a little bit of himself.
The new book contains some “Pearls” strips that never appeared in papers as they were too controversial. Pastis recalls his storyline about overthrowing the government was yanked as it was scheduled to appear during January of 2021, around the time when the U-S Capitol was the scene of an insurrection. It was a complete coincidence, as Pastis says he’d penned the strip eight months prior. Many newspapers have struggled to stay profitable in recent years, and some comic strips are only available online now via subscription websites. Pastis says he’s still making a comfortable living from “Pearls,” but he’s also learned to diversify.
Pastis will appear at 6:30 P-M on Monday at Drake University’s Olmsted Center in Des Moines for a free moderated talk.
