SO, WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

“Holy macca noodle!”. exclaims Frenchy. “Maybe the lice ATE all of Charmy’s hair!”

Charmy is fuming and grits his teeth in anger before yelling, “I DO NOT HAVE LICE!”. Just then two cute ladies walk by glancing as they giggle and walk away.

“Well, I have no chance with those two now”, explains a visibly disappointed Charmy.

“Oh, Charmy,” begins Frenchy. “If it makes you feel any better I can tell you for an absolute fact that you never stood a chance with either of them.”

“Yeah, they both have no baggage whatsoever”, confirms Weaver.

“Hey!”, interjects Charmy. “The women I date never have baggage!”

“Not at first”, explains Frenchy. “They don’t have baggage for at least a week when they PACK THEIR BAGS and leave you.”

“Grrrrrrrr!” snarls Charmy.

Flimp walks up and hands Charmy an ice cream cone.

“oops ack ack!” screeches Flimp the Chimp.

“No, Flimp”, says Frenchy as she corrects Flimp. “You did NOT hear people saying Charmy needs ICE CREAM. You heard them saying he needs LICE CREAM.”

“WHAT?!?” exclaims Charmy. “Are people are talking about me having lice? I DO NOT HAVE LICE!”

Charmy starts to scratch his head and everyone’s eyebrows raise as they stare at Charmy.

“Dang it!”, yells Charmy. Now you have my head itching just thinking about those bugs.”

“Must be lunchtime for the little fellows”, says Weaver.

Weaver walks off saying, “I need to go wash my hair”.

“Grrrrr….”, snarls Charmy again.

“Oops doo”, says Flimp as he walks off as well.

“Stupid monkey”, mumbles Charmy. “I just wanted to sit here and read my book of riddles”.

NEXT WEEK’S COMIC STRIP PICKS UP HERE.

HAPPY 20TH ANNIVERSARY TO PEARLS BEFORE SWINE

To be honest, I thought this strip was older than this. What an amazing run for this great comic strip by Stephan Pastis. I met Stephan briefly at a book signing here in Houston a decade ago. I had him sign a Pearls Before Swine print and I gave him a drawing of my characters hanging out with his characters. The meeting lasted two minutes and was the highlight of my cartooning dream.

Stephan was the last cartoonist to acquire a successful syndication deal. The syndicates are not pushing new strips anymore and newspaper circulation continues to drop. Cartooning is evolving and great minds are finding new ways to monetize their work. Cartooning legends like Stephan Pastis continues to inspire me and my dream, forging a bright future for everyone sharing my dream of one day becoming a real, working cartoonist.

To read Pearls Before Swine, check out Stephan Pastis’s comic strips on Go Comics.

https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine