Mr. Pastis uses this violent ending to any puns/shaggy dog stories in the strip. I love Pearls Before Swine. FYI,Stephen was a lawyer for a decade till he found his true meaning of life-stupid puns illustrated with a goat,a rat ,a pig and sometimes a zebra family living next door to a crocodile family,with the head of the crocodile family trying in vain to eat the zebra family. Often makes more sense than any real news story.
