Pearls of wisdom

Pearls Before Swine is an odd little Sunday comic, not quite sure of what demographic or interest group it wants to target; jokes range from simple sarcasm and insults to wordy cultural references. The characters are very well executed, but they're not terribly memorable; having read it daily for a few weeks now, I still only have a recollection of there being some mouse, a pig, and a goat of some sort, with occasional human characters (normally the target of insults).

But it's fun; not knowing where the humor will come from next can be a virtue, if only by comparison to the solid but predictable Dilbert. And even when the humor is of the very mild sort - normally a typical two-panel setup with a canned punchline - the writing is refreshingly verbose. And the art is really very cute.

The joke started in yesterday's comic was hilarious, though; shots at the Family Circus may be cheap, but god does it deserve them. And talk about risque - a political comic like Doonesbury is expected to do it, but with this, it's not even a commentary on anything; it's just flaming poo on Bill Keane's front porch.

Is it funny only because it's inappropriate? I don't think so. Look at Osama's puzzled face; at dad's embarrassement. It's not that "fatwa" is a naughty word; what's inappropriate about it is the cultural and political complexity of the very concept. Humor in general relies heavily on such level-crossing, mode-switching juxtapositions, and in this case, the contextual distance Stephan Pastis travels is significant.