Reading the comics in the daily newspapers isn’t always as satisfying as it used to be, but some strips persevere by staying totally, completely, indubitably silly. Exhibit A: Pearls Before Swine by self-deprecating comic artist Stephan Pastis, a patchwork of bad puns, goofy animal characters and a coven of stone-dumb zebra-baiting crocodiles, the most famous of which is Larry, the kind of croc who can’t complete a sentence or figure out how to kill the zebra next door. Pastis’s innate silliness must appeal to the kid in everyone, because his strip is a keeper, one of few comics that’s still gaining ground.
But there’s nothing silly about Pastis’s career path; he’s a reformed lawyer and erstwhile Charles Schulz stalker, as well as a two-time winner of the National Cartoonist Society’s Newspaper Comic Strip Award. Meet him tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Tattered Cover LoDo, 1628 16th Street, where he’ll sign copies of his new paperback Pearls Before Swine collection, Larry in Wonderland. Free numbered tickets for the book-signing line will be given out starting at 6:30 p.m.; get more information at www.tatteredcover.com or 303-436-1070.
Wed., Oct. 19, 7:30 p.m., 2011
