Pickles is a daily and Sunday comic strip by Brian Crane focusing on a retired couple in their seventies, Earl and Opal Pickles.[1][2] Inspired by Crane's in-laws,[3] they find retirement life less than idyllic.
Earl is characterized as having a bald head, glasses, a bushy white mustache and wears suspenders. Opal is characterized as somewhat chubby, wearing glasses, and is often seen in purple polka-dot dresses and white sneakers. When sitting, she is usually seen with her pet cat in her lap. Both characters were drawn with their eye pupils visible through their glasses during the strip's early years, but their glasses later began to appear opaque to the reader.
The comic is set in Crane's hometown of Sparks, Nevada. The cast includes their dog Roscoe and their cat Muffin; their grandson Nelson Wolfe and his parents - their daughter Sylvia and her husband Dan, a wildlife photographer.
Pickles has been published since 1990. In 2001, it was named best newspaper comic strip of the year by the National Cartoonists Society.[4]