On April Fool's 1997, comic strip artists pulled off a massive prank in which 46 artists swapped each other strips!

The entire affair was organized by comic strip creators Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott, who created the Baby Blues daily newspaper comic strip. Together they convinced forty-six different artists to participate in switching their material with another comic strip writers.

For example, Mike Peters traded his comic with Lynn Johnston, and they each wrote and drew their own material for the other person’s comic! Some artists did a multiple swap, with thirteen different people trading, and some did simpler switches.

The writer and artist swapped roles for Sally Forth and the Peanuts almost swapped with the comic strip Mutts! There were virtually no rules and everyone was free to do just about whatever they wanted with others’ material. So why was it such a good prank?

It became a huge success because the newspapers, readers, and comic syndicates had no idea it was happening. People opened their newspapers and found their traditional comics written and drawn by different people. It was such a success it even earned the name the Great Comic Strip Switcheroo!