Pearls Before Swine Books in Order

Nighthogs is an early Pearls Before Swine collection built around a late night diner setting. Under the fluorescent lights Rat, Pig, Goat and Zebra trade insults, stories and confessions, proving that the strip’s blend of bleak humor and odd warmth works even after dark.

When Pigs Fly focuses on sports themed Pearls Before Swine strips, with Pig improbably cast as a star player. Courtside action, locker room jokes and the usual Croc disasters blend together as Pastis uses games to poke at pride, failure and fans who take everything too seriously.

Rat’s Wars is a Pearls Before Swine collection where Rat seems determined to pick fights with everyone. From petty neighborhood disputes to overblown crusades, he drags Pig, Goat, Zebra and the Crocs into one losing battle after another, all played for sharp, absurd laughs.

Unsportsmanlike Conduct collects Pearls Before Swine strips that use sports as a backdrop for bad behavior. Rat rants about fans and athletes, Pig misunderstands every rule, Zebra writes letters from the sidelines, and the series’ usual cynicism takes aim at competition and fandom.

Breaking Stephan serves up another round of Pearls Before Swine strips, this time riffing on crime dramas and pop culture. Rat directs his own movie, “Rat Kicks Pig,” the Crocs look for work, and the whole cast takes turns mocking their creator’s ego and bad decisions.

Pearls Blows Up gathers strips from the collections 50,000,000 Pearls Fans Can’t Be Wrong and When Pigs Fly. Explosions, sports, office life and neighborhood feuds all show up as Rat, Pig, Goat, Zebra and the Crocs lampoon human nature in Pastis’s combustible style.

This treasury pairs the Unsportsmanlike Conduct and Rat’s Wars collections, letting readers binge through a dense run of Pearls Before Swine. Rat bullies Pig, Goat sighs, Zebra dodges predators and the Crocs fail again, with Pastis’s annotations adding extra jokes between strips.

The Croc Ate My Homework is a Pearls Before Swine Kids collection built around the hopelessly hungry crocodile family. Selected strips highlight their schemes to eat Rat, Pig, Goat and Zebra, along with plenty of dark humor and quick puns tailored for middle grade readers.

In King of the Comics, Pastis gathers a run of Pearls Before Swine strips that play with the idea of cartoonists as minor celebrities. Rat declares himself king, Pig blunders into trouble, and Goat and Zebra offer commentary on pop culture, politics and everyday disasters.

Pearls Gets Sacrificed is a thick treasury that combines earlier collections and adds stickers and commentary. The cover joke about angry readers burning Pastis at the stake sets the tone for strips that push puns, make fun of other comics and occasionally bite the hand that feeds them.

Skip School, Fly to Space is a kids focused Pearls collection where imagination keeps outrunning adults’ expectations. Pig and a boy named Willy build cardboard rockets, the Crocs plot as usual, and the strip’s mix of sarcasm and daydreams makes skipping ahead through the pages irresistible.

I’m Only in This for Me collects strips where Rat’s selfish streak and the strip’s political edge are on full display. Campaign rallies, cheese obsessions, angry readers and bungling Crocs share the page, while occasional warmth and friendship peek through the cynicism.

Stephan’s Web is a Pearls Before Swine collection that turns the spotlight on the cartoonist himself. Rat, Pig, Goat and Zebra keep needling Pastis as he spins stories about self righteous vegans, cyclists, fruitarians and anyone else unlucky enough to wander into his web of jokes.

Created for younger readers, When Crocs Fly focuses on the eternally hungry crocodiles and their doomed plots to reach Zebra. Zip lines, walls and gravity all work against them as Rat, Pig and Goat react from the sidelines in a fast moving, full color collection.

This collection leans hard into Pearls Before Swine’s love of wordplay. Rat dabbles in judging and politics, Goat battles internet trolls, Pig mourns the lack of a real city called Hamsterdam, and every elaborate setup threatens to end in one more groan worthy punch line.

Pearls Hogs the Road is a large treasury that showcases the strip at full throttle, including a brief collaboration with Bill Watterson. Rat, Pig and friends clash with baristas, bureaucrats and each other while Pastis annotates the strips and explains how some of the wildest ideas began.

Aimed at middle grade readers, Suit Your Selfie gathers Pearls Before Swine strips about smartphones, selfies and everyday kid concerns. Rat and Pig mug for the camera, Zebra dodges predators and Goat tries to stay sane, all in a kid friendly package full of fast jokes.

Floundering Fathers is a Pearls Before Swine collection that leans into politics and history gags. Rat runs for office, Goat swipes through modern life, and the Crocs keep plotting against Zebra while Pastis skewers patriotism, outrage and everyday absurdities with his usual pun heavy bite.

In this Pearls Before Swine collection, nearly every plan goes sideways. Road trips derail, simple errands turn surreal and even the strip’s own storylines wander off course. Rat, Pig, Goat, Zebra and the Crocs keep marching forward anyway, grumbling and riffing as they go.

Pearls Goes Hollywood collects eighteen months of strips plus commentary as Pastis flirts with the world of movies and television. The gang’s usual misadventures mix with show business jokes, failed pitches and the cartoonist’s own stories about trying to write for the screen.

This Pearls Before Swine treasury gathers a long stretch of recent strips, complete with Pastis’s introductions, essays and strip by strip notes. Rat, Pig, Goat, Zebra and the Crocs face modern annoyances, terrible puns and occasional moments of sincerity in a beach sized volume of black humor.

Pearls Seeks Enlightenment gathers recent strips from 2020 and 2021 and adds commentary on nearly every page. Pastis writes about creative burnout, strange times and small joys while Rat, Pig, Zebra, Goat and the Crocs keep stumbling through the news cycle in search of a punch line.

Pearls Gets Put in the Pokey is a treasury that corrals a new run of Pearls Before Swine strips into one volume. With a prison themed cover and plenty of behind the scenes notes, it showcases storylines about being stuck, locked in and still finding something to laugh about.

Pearls Gets Plastered collects the strip’s most recent years into a barroom themed treasury. Rat, Pig, Goat, Zebra and the Crocs crowd into an old style pub as Pastis annotates strips about aging, burnout, friendship and the absurd ways people try to escape their own problems.