100 Words: Self-aware comic strips

I love newspaper comic strips. I especially adore the “meta” approach sometimes found in Pearls Before Swine. (Meta, of course, is when something refers back to or is about itself, like a book about books. It's seeing the thing from a higher perspective, like being enjoyably self-aware.) In one recent Pearls strip, Neighbor Bob buries his face in his hands. Sob Sob Sob appears above him. Rat says, “Hey, Neighbor Bob. Are you crying or calling someone a you-know-what?” “Crying,” Bob says. “So hard to tell in comic strips,” Rat comments. This kind of whimsical absurdity transcends the comics.