Stephan Pastis, the creator of the comic strip Pearls Before Swine, tweeted that this week's series of strips "will contain a mind-blowing surprise." According to Alan Gardner at the Daily Cartoonist, "The story-line this week has a second grader taking over Stephan’s strip. Some have speculated that Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson is drawing the strips."

Here's yesterday's strip:


Gardner is unsure. There are definitely some Wattersonian touches in the central panel above, and the complaint about the lack of space in modern comic strips that serves as the punchline sure does sound like Watterson, too. Pastis isn't talking, though he says the surprise will be unveiled tomorrow. If it is Watterson, this is a big deal; the reclusive cartoonist hasn't touched a comic strip since Calvin and Hobbes ended in 1995. What do you think?