Stephan talking about how The Killer Whale undied
Undying is a mysterious process in Pearls Before Swine that is used to explain a character's continued appearances after their deaths in the strip. It was first referenced in the second volume of The Adventures of Angry Bob, where Rat used it to explain how Angry Bob was still alive following his death in the first novel. It has also been used to explain the continued existence of The Killer Whale (killed by The Sea Anemones' bomb meant for Pig), Bob the croc (numerous deaths), Rat (following his death being the first Pearls character other than Pig to smile), Goat (after being struck in the head by a dart thrown by Pig, who was blindfolded at the time), and even Stephan, after Rat pulled a Sopranos-style hit on him after Stephan shipped him to Siberia. To date, little has been explained about undying, however it is largely implied that it partly stems from the fact that everyone in the strip is a fictional character and can be written back to life in an instant.