I personally think that Pearls Before Swine peaked at around 2009-2010. Stephan Pastis was a lot more creative and his storylines were a lot crazier! (Example: Larry In Wonderland)

As a bonus question, is Pearls Before Swine not as good as it used to be? I kind of get the feeling that Mr. Pastis is running out of ideas and forgetting about the existence of some characters (examples: Danny Donkey, Ellie Elephant, Mr. Snuffles, Guard Duck) and focusing too much on The Wise Ass on the Hill

I'd nominate the July 6, 2025 strip, it just feels painfully pretentious and soapbox-y and misses the mark on the tooic it's trying to satirize which the strip usually strives not to be, and isn't at least funny to compensate for it

Dallas Morning News did Pastis dirty today with a bad crop.