Pearls Before Swine: 10 Funniest Croc Comic Strips, Ranked (2024)

One popular recurring feature in Stephan Pastis's comic strip, Pearls Before Swine, is the group of carnivorous crocodiles who constantly try to eat their neighbor, Zebra. Their iconic way of speaking "Croc-ese" ("Hullo, zeeba neighba") with limited vocabulary and all-lowercase words has also endeared them to fans of the strip throughout its run.

Another popular relationship explored in Croc strips is Larry's strained marriage and bond with his son, who loves him regardless of his flaws. Whether they are attempting a hare-brained scheme to fool their intelligent adversary or getting into embarrassing shenanigans in their own family, the Crocs have provided plenty of laughs over the years.

10 A Croc Got Pizza Delivered

Publication Date: November 4, 2005

Even a few years into Pearls's run, the Crocs' constant humiliating failures to kill and eat their prey were well-established. Frankie the Croc was part of the fraternity Zeeba Zeeba Eata, which was unable to eat the character Zebra, despite their best efforts. When Frankie's mom visited him to assure herself that her son was not ordering pizza instead of catching and eating prey, she was let down by the sudden appearance of a pizza delivery person confirming her worst fears.

Though the Crocs remain pitiable characters, their failures are often very funny. Frankie's very obvious denial of the situation right in front of his mother's eyes was so blatant that it became amusing. Even his mother could see the reality behind her son's lies, with her deadpan reaction in the final panel giving Frankie the slightest chance to explain himself, only for Frankie to offer her no solace.

9 A Croc Called Information

Publication Date: February 1, 2009

One of the most iconic attributes of the Crocs is the way that they speak, referred to as "Croc-ese." This strip featured a humorous instance of the strip engaging in self-parody, with an element of social satire. One of the Crocs in Zeeba Zeeba Eata became irritated at the Directory Services phone line because Croc-ese was not included as an option. In the final panel, he and his fellow Croc conclude that people who do not speak Croc-ese shouldn't be allowed to live in the same country as them.

The strip's satirical aspect is obvious, drawing a blatant parallel between the Crocs and individuals who get frustrated at options for non-English languages in similar phone services. Even when they were being catered to, with Croc-ese included at all, the Crocs became frustrated that they had to wait to be third in line, behind English and Spanish.

8 Larry Hid on His Birthday

Publication Date: February 15, 2009

In this funny yet bittersweet strip, Larry the Croc is revealed to have a habit of hiding from his wife Patty on his birthday. He believes that he does not have to age another year if he can avoid his birthday cake entirely. Larry's arrogance gave him away in the end, as he felt the need to correct Patty when she said that Larry believed he was twenty-seven years old. Despite having a very obvious hiding place, to the point that his snout stuck out from the curtain, Larry nearly got away with his plan.

Larry's struggle with his youth can be relatable to many who are afraid of aging and look at their birthdays with a sense of regret and melancholy. Ultimately, Larry failed to hide from Patty, as his ego sabotaged him, leaving Larry defeated and depressed. The following few strips introduced additional rules to Larry's birthday logic before ending on a sweet moment of Larry enjoying time spent with his son, Junior, ultimately ending the arc on an optimistic note.

7 Larry Forgot About Valentine's Day

Publication Date: February 14, 2010

Larry is a very typical portrait of a neglectful husband. He sits around watching television and drinking beer and has few ambitions other than killing and eating zebras. In this strip, Larry failed to meet even the rock bottom standards set by his disappointed wife, who went out of her way to purchase a gift for Larry that she knew he would like. Rather than even go out shopping, like Patty was assuming he would do, Larry just gifted her his television remote and stuck a bow on it.

Patty's frustration with her husband is understandable, as, despite her best efforts, she is constantly let down. Her thoughtfulness regarding getting a gift for her husband went unappreciated, and Larry failed to understand even that. This strip also kicked off a small arc in which Patty eventually kicked Larry out of their house, as she was tired of his ungrateful behavior. This led to Larry attempting (unsuccessfully) to move in with Zebra.

6 The Crocs Tried to Zip Line Using Power Lines

Publication Date: April 14, 2013

The Crocs' stupidity can never be underestimated. Though Zebra remains scared of their potential, he can often relax, as the Crocs are so incompetent that they get in their own way before they can pose even a slight threat to Zebra. This comic had the Crocs attempt to use a zip line to get into Zebra's house, only for the zip line to be revealed as a highly dangerous power line.

Even Zebra could not muster much enthusiasm for the Crocs' latest scheme, closing his eyes out of sheer annoyance in the final panel. The drawing of Larry the Croc on the power lines was also a rare departure from the flat, ground-level framing of a typical Pearls strip, which made the gag funnier. The image of a Croc hanging from enormous power lines before his electrocution resulted in a very amusing strip.

5 The Crocs Gave a Funeral

Publication Date: April 10, 2011

As the Crocs and Zebra are character foils to each other, many strips highlight the differences between the two types of characters. This sequence featured an empathetic Zebra, which contrasted humorously with the decidedly unempathetic Crocs. While Zebra assumed that the Crocs had a light of humanity within them as they mourned the loss of their friend, the Crocs immediately proved him wrong, revealing that the funeral existed to announce that Larry wanted to take his dead friend's beer.

The small detail of Fred the Croc's snout sticking out of a cardboard box instead of any sort of casket for his corpse was quite hilarious. Additionally, the final line of the strip utilized very funny black comedy, with the attending Crocs saying that they should kill Larry the Croc just so they could have Fred's beer.

4 The Crocs Sicced Snuffles the Cat on Zebra

Publication Date: September 30, 2007

This strip that first introduced the recurring minor character, Snuffles the Cat, showed another example of the universe conspiring against the Crocs so that they consistently lose. The Crocs went out of their way to get a vicious kitty that would attack and kill Zebra, only for the feline to immediately express love for his intended victim. In addition to introducing Snuffles, this strip started an amusing arc where the Crocs incorrectly believed that Snuffles had a secret plan to kill Zebra.

An additional joke was also present in Snuffles's appearance. Despite the animal shelter's representative claiming that Snuffles was their most aggressive cat, in terms of presentation, Snuffles is an adorable ball of fluff. His cute appearance allowed him to be taken in by Zebra almost immediately, which also made the Crocs look even more foolish.

3 Rat Tricked the Crocs Into Thinking a Tomato Was a Zebra Plant

Publication Date: March 10, 2006

In the strip published immediately before this one, Rat sold some hapless Crocs "zebra seeds." Initially, the Crocs refused, as they were supposedly proud hunters, only to give in and plant the seeds, which turned out to be for tomatoes instead. This strip featured the resolution to that story, with a croc confronting Rat, only for Rat to reveal another layer to his scheme: he claimed that all zebras start their lives as tomatoes, and the Crocs prevented theirs from maturing into a zebra.

The gullibility of the Crocs is always worth a laugh. Though the stern expression on the Croc's face in the second panel might suggest he was not having any of Rat's nonsense, he panicked alongside his fellow Crocs, who sincerely believed they had stopped the potential zebra from breathing. Ultimately, the unintelligent Crocs were no match for Rat's mischievous scams.

2 Larry Bonded With His Son After Getting Kicked out of a Club

Publication Date: June 15, 2011

Following a storyline in which Larry became Vice President of a children's club and then tried to usurp control of the group, Larry found himself ejected from the club. In a moment of sweetness, upon coming across his dejected father, Junior offered to form a club with just him and Larry so that the latter did not have to be alone and sad.

While the Crocs' actions are often laughable, as many of them are depicted as selfish and id-driven, sometimes Pastis can mine genuine emotion or pathos from their struggles and relationships. Here, Larry was hurt after being rejected by a club he was trying to overthrow, and Junior noticed his distress. Not only was Junior's offer to dedicate a club to him and Larry kind, but the strip squeezed one final joke out of the situation with Larry's last line.

1 Doorstoppo Failed His Heroic Mission

Publication Date: April 12, 2009

During a series of strips where Zebra kidnapped Larry's wife to negotiate a peace offering, Larry called in the Fantastic Four, a group of three Crocs with gimmicks themed after office supplies. After the death of Stapler Head due to Zebra's staple remover, Doorstoppo attempted to stop all the doors in Zebra's home, only to collapse in defeat upon finding out that Zebra had saloon-style doors.

So many absurd Pearls elements come together to make this a humorous strip: the normally peaceful Zebra resorting to kidnapping, Larry sending in three non-powered superheroes to rescue his wife, and the fact that the superheroes keep dying due to their easily thwarted mundane abilities. This strip was one of many moments where the Crocs failed spectacularly, and the result was highly entertaining for the reader.

Pearls Before Swine

A satirical comic strip featuring Rat, Pig, Zebra, and Goat, created by Stephan Pastis. These anthropomorphic characters navigate everyday life with dark humor and sharp wit, often critiquing societal norms and human nature. The strip blends slapstick comedy with thought-provoking commentary, making it a unique fixture in modern comics.

Writer

Stephan Pastis

Publisher(s)

Andrews McMeel Publishing

Artist

Stephan Pastis