Our Favorite Comic Strips from The Roanoke Times: Another Comic Strip Hero Appears in Pearls Before Swine

Greetings to those of you in France, India and Ireland (Happy St. Patrick's Day as well to you).

Here is a synopsis and survey of our ten favorite comic strips from "The Roanoke Times" (Sunday, March 16th edition):


"Pearls Before Swine:" Stephan Pastis, who is in the middle of a national book store tour that will include stops at Fountain Books in Richmond, Va. (on March 27th) and Park Road Books in Charlotte, NC (on March 28th), did a hilarious take on the delicate art of being a police sketch artist. In the process, Charlie Brown of "Peanuts," makes a cameo in the seventh panel.

"Agnes:" Tony Cochran's strip is usually difficult to explain and this week's Sunday strip is no exception, but it does not involve the late actress Agnes Moorehead (pictured center) of TV's "Bewitched" fame. Rather, it depicts Agnes, the neurotic little girl, trying to show her friend a homemade plush doll with a very strange face. Vincent Price would have been proud!

"Speed Bump:" We'll just say it's the funniest comic strip with a dog that we think might be a Yorkshire terrier (pictured bottom) that we've seen all year!

Here is the survey:

1) Pearls Before Swine

2) Agnes

3) Speed Bump

4) Dilbert

5) Doonesbury

6) Funky Winkerbean

7) Garfield

8) Get Fuzzy

9) Zits

10) Blondie

http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine#.UyZ_EulOWUk

http://www.fountainbookstore.com/

http://www.parkroadbooks.com/

Quote of the Day/Week- Salvador Dali

Since he is as quotable as the Irish playwright/novelist Oscar Wilde, we are once again quipping the great Spanish surreal master Salvador Dali (1904-1989) who is considered, along with Pablo Picasso, to be Spain's most popular artist.

His famous works include "The Persistence of Memory" (1934) also known as 'The clock painting,' you have probably seen it merchandized in some form or another. There is a Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. Dali was also portrayed by Adrien Brody in Woody Allen's latest film "Midnight in Paris."

Here is the quote, which one could certainly share with guys who might seem like 'real-life Charlie Browns:'

"Have no fear of perfection_ you'll never reach it."

Extra Bonus Photo to Fill Space- An Oil Lamp

Since we had two images of lamps, we thought it would be kind of neat to conclude the set with an oil lamp; we gather these are quite expensive.

Next week, there are two episodes of "Antiques Roadshow," on PBS (usually on Mondays), including one show from Phoenix, Arizona, where a collection of original art work from "Peanuts" cartoonist Charles Schultz, worth $350,000, will be featured.

"The Charlie Brown Christmas Special," which Schultz wrote himself, originally aired on Dec. 9, 1965.

Happy Thanksgiving from Lucy van Pelt

As is our custom, we are wishing everyone a Happy holiday from a cartoon character, though at times, we've used obscure celebrities or politicians (I think we said "Merry Christmas from Bob Dole" once).

Today in New York, an estimated 3.5 million people watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade from the streets alone. Among the balloons were Snoopy, who debuted at the parade in 1968.

As for Lucy van Pelt, we found out while researching that not only is Linus her younger brother, but so is Rerun, an infrequent "Peanuts" character. Lucy is a nemesis to Charlie Brown, and we're not sure if Snoopy and Woodstock like her either.

Lucy, who is known for pulling the football and her five cents psychiatry booths, actually made her "Peanuts" debut a year and a half after Charlie Brown and Snoopy on March 3, 1952. But, she joined them in the final original strip for "Peanuts" on Feb. 13, 2000, which was published right away the series' cretor Charles Schultz
(1922-2000) had died.

Amazingly enough, Lucy actually liked Charlie Brown at first!

SIDEDISH: I wanted to wish a special congratulations to the Radford University women's volleyball team. The squad, which represents my alma mater, won the Big South tournament over top-seed Liberty University in Charleston, SC, on Sunday. the Highlanders scored the victory in straight sets (25-20, 25-23, 25-22). They will now head to the NCAA tournament. Seedings will be announced this Sunday.

SIDEDISH TWO: We are happy to report that my friend Chris Knight in North Carolina did not get injured when deep-frying his turkeys today, as is his annual Thanksgiving tradition. Because of the high potential risk for deep-frying turkeys, many celebrities, including William Shatner, have spoken out against it. But, that didn't prevented Knight from engaging in his holiday ritual.