History YMMV / PearlsBeforeSwine

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: The main characters are all {{Funny Animal}}s who make {{Incredibly Lame Pun}}s on a regular basis. Perfect for kids, right? Then they start talking about current events and issues kids probably don't know about. And then there are the deaths. And the ([[SoundEffectBleep albeit censored]]) swearing. And a bunch of other family-unfriendly activity. Yeah, this is one of those few comics meant just for older readers than all ages.

** When the crocs first move on, Zebra tries to report them to the cops and the local HOA. The cops say this is the natural order of things? Not funny. The HOA threatening to fine the crocs for chewing on Zebra noisily, and the crocs pay ahead of time? Comedy gold.

* AcceptableTargets:
** Pastis notes in one commentary that French people are one of the few groups he never gets called out for making fun of.
** He tends to get a lot of support from the comment section whenever he's making fun of cyclists, [[RunningGag which is something he does very often]].
** Modern political discourse and biased news sources in general has been a large target in more recent years.

* AnimationAgeGhetto: Though the comic strip is rather tame by TV standards, it is not aimed at kids due to the various poltiical humor and black comedy. However, due to the fact that Comic strips are heavily censored compared to other parts of media due to the fact that kids are a huge part of the audience, [[http://cbldf.org/tag/pearls-before-swine/ many of the strips get cut out entirely due to being too controversial.]]

** [[https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2019/12/29 The Dec. 29, 2019 strip]] had Baby New Year wish Pig a "New Year" instead of a "Happy New Year" and then down an entire bottle of champagne in despair because "I can see what's coming next year. ... Oh, God ... help us all." This became eerily prescient when 2020 soon proved to be the year of the UsefulNotes/Covid19Pandemic.

* AnimationAgeGhetto: Though the comic strip is rather tame by TV standards, it is not aimed at kids due to the various poltiical humor and black comedy. However, due to the fact that Comic strips are heavily censored compared to other parts of media due to the fact that kids are a huge part of the audience of comic strips, [[http://cbldf.org/tag/pearls-before-swine/ many of the strips get cut out entirely due to being too controversial.]]

* AnimationAgeGhetto: Though the comic strip is rather tame by TV standards, it is not aimed at kids due to the various poltiical humor and black comedy. However, due to the fact that Comic strips are heavily censored compared to other parts of media due to the fact that kids are a huge part of the audience of comic strips, [[http://cbldf.org/tag/pearls-before-swine/many of the strips get cut out entirely due to being too controversial.]]

---> '''Pastis''': This June 9th strip was my first experience with reader outrage. I thought that I could get away with it [[NWordPrivileges because I was Greek]]. That was not the case. Greeks everywhere complained. While I wouldn't do it again, I still maintain that everyone [[PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad is just a wee bit too sensitive these days]].

** Rat found Saddam hiding in a spider hole... playing a Game Boy.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: One strip featured a croc disappointed that Steve Irwin's head has never been bitten off, published just a few months before Irwin's real death from a stingray attack.
* HarsherInHindsight: [[https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2018/6/8 This one]] is meant to reflect bad news in general, and it was really a wildcard when it would run, but it happened to run on June 8, 2018--the day [[Series/NoReservations Anthony Bourdain]] died.

* MoralEventHorizon:
** Pigita and Rat [[spoiler:killing Mrs. Bootyworth -- a sentient syrup bottle -- by making pancakes. Even if they could justify it as saving Pig from his delusions, Mrs. Bootyworth has been very alive throughout the two-week arc]].
** Rat has crossed this once, when he killed a random guy, just to stop him from reproducing.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: Many of the comic strips produced during the late 2010s underwent a more [[CerebusSyndrome serious tone]] that prompted this reaction from numerous readers. However, the strips produced during the COVID Pandemic of 2020 is where this hit ''especially'' hard, with the tone struggling to be hopeful at best and just plain bitter and fatalistic at worse. Adding to that is how the comic's signature puns practically disappeared, and very few of the strips were truly funny. This is even in comparison to other newspaper strips produced during this time, and seem more akin to millennial, webcomic black humor. Your outlook depends on whether you [[CatharsisFactor want to get out the frustration of isolation]], or [[AngstAversion you don’t want to be reminded of the “new normal” world]].

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: Many of the comic strips produced during the late 2010s underwent a more [[CerebusSyndrome serious tone]] that prompted this reaction from numerous readers. However, the strips produced during the COVID Pandemic of 2020 is where this hit ''especially'' hard, with the tone struggling to be hopeful at best and just being bitter and fatalistic at worse. Adding to that is how the comic's signature puns practically disappeared, and very few of the strips were truly funny. This is even in comparison to other newspaper strips produced during this time, and seem more akin to millennial, webcomic black humor. Your outlook depends on whether you [[CatharsisFactor want to get out the frustration of isolation]], or [[AngstAversion you don’t want to be reminded of the “new normal” world]].

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: Many of the strips produced during the COVID Pandemic of 2020 reflect a more serious tone, at best (Pig) struggling to be hopeful, at worst (Rat) bitter and fatalistic, and very few truly funny. This is even in comparison to other newspaper strips produced during this time, and seem more akin to millennial, webcomic black humor. Your outlook depends on whether you [[CatharsisFactor want to get out the frustration of isolation]], or [[AngstAversion you don’t want to be reminded of the “new normal” world]].
** In fact, he slowly seemed to be [[CerebusSyndrome going this route]] in the late tens, but 2020 took it into a nosedive. Even the puns dried up at this time.

** In an early commentary book, Stephan said he was wanted to use [[SymbolSwearing @$$]] [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar to censor "ass."]] Come January 2017, [[http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2017/01/06 he managed to spell "assholes" using]] SymbolSwearing.