# Best comic strip of all time? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 9, 2010, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-comic-strip-of-all-time/542529 "2010-06-09T13:05:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-comic-strip-of-all-time/542529/61 "2010-06-09T23:13:46Z")
I would say _Calvin And Hobbes_ and _The Far Side_, pretty much maintained quality throughout their runs. But they were short runs. _Dilbert_ is still holding up petty well but is in danger of going the way of _Peanuts_ and _Cathy_ _Peanuts_ and _Cathy_ were excellent in their day. \*Cathy \* ran out of steam as Cathy pushed into middle age. While _Peanuts_ went “South” after Charles Schulz’s kids grew up. (He admitted to taking a lot of his ideas from his kids) _Garfield_ was good for a few years but then became just a toy ad. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-comic-strip-of-all-time/542529/62 "2010-06-09T23:19:15Z")
Dilbert. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-comic-strip-of-all-time/542529/63 "2010-06-09T23:56:47Z")
I go Pogo. Funny animals, astute political observations, clever wordplay, Boston Charley, and a cameo appearance in Swamp Thing. But, I am an old fart and remember when its politics were current. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-comic-strip-of-all-time/542529/64 "2010-06-10T00:15:03Z")
\*\*Murray Ball’s \*\*[Footrot Flats](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Footrot_Flats) **Larry Pickering’s** [Jungle Series](http://larrypickering.net/), with his [Political Playmates Calendars](http://larrypickering.net/calendar)(produced from 1978 - 1992) as the cherry on the top. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-comic-strip-of-all-time/542529/65 "2010-06-10T00:53:41Z")
I go Pogo too. And I have the buttons to prove it! ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-comic-strip-of-all-time/542529/66 "2010-06-10T01:01:12Z")
I just realized that I mixed up Doonesbury and Bloom County in my head, somehow. Liked them both, but liked Bloom County a lot more. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-comic-strip-of-all-time/542529/67 "2010-06-10T01:02:13Z")
Calvin and Hobbes, in a close decision over Pogo. Peanuts and Far Side were awfully good too. I loved Bloom County when it started, but agree with the someone who said it just doesn’t hold up well. Reread a collection recently and even “Pear pimples for hairy fishnuts!,” “Can YOU say ‘public servant’?..Bozo!” and “A boy and his penguin!..A penguin and his boy!” didn’t quite seem to grab me as they once had. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-comic-strip-of-all-time/542529/68 "2010-06-10T01:41:40Z")
If you don’t agree that Calvin and Hobbs was a once-in-a-lifetime event, you deserve a kick in the nads. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f08c70/32.png) [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Brother_Walker)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-comic-strip-of-all-time/542529/69 "2010-06-10T02:00:28Z")
I voted for Doonesbury. Taking nothing away from C&H, Bloom County or Far Side, I have always loved Doonesbury. Trudeau can run a headline for a solid week, and keep coming back for more. (Almost) always current, and you can’t beat Duke as… Well, everything Duke does. BC and C&H were great for childhood fun stuff, but Doonesbury kept my young mind aware of things I didn’t always understand on Cronkite and too lazy to read about in the paper. So points for showing me the rest of the world beyond my mom’s living room. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-comic-strip-of-all-time/542529/70 "2010-06-10T02:10:18Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > I just realized that I mixed up Doonesbury and Bloom County in my head, somehow. Wow. I mean, you’re pretty cool, generally. But, Wow. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-comic-strip-of-all-time/542529/71 "2010-06-10T02:21:10Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > I’ve never seen a funny Peanuts. I find peoples love for it bizarre. I kinda get what people see in it, but I never found it funny at all. I do think it’s overrated. Calvin & Hobbes is my choice (Far Side is the runner up). ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-comic-strip-of-all-time/542529/72 "2010-06-10T02:25:02Z")
> [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](#): > > So points for showing me the rest of the world beyond my mom’s living room. Bah, if I wanted news, I read Bloom County. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-comic-strip-of-all-time/542529/73 "2010-06-10T02:25:51Z")
C&H. Although Pearls is my new favorite. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-comic-strip-of-all-time/542529/74 "2010-06-10T02:28:50Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Although Pearls is my new favorite. I want to be Rat when I grow up. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-comic-strip-of-all-time/542529/75 "2010-06-10T02:29:16Z")
> [@Yookeroo](#): > > I kinda get what people see in it, but I never found it funny at all. (Far Side is the runner up). Was it supposed to be funny? The only reason I read it (and I read it as often as I could) was that childhood became bearable knowing that there was a far bigger loser than yourself in Charlie Brown. But, Snoopy had some memorable story arcs. My favorite was Snoopy vs the Cat Next Door (particularly the time he thought the cat had woodstock,) or any time he fought the Red Baron in his Sopwith camel, or whenever they did the running gag about his doghouse having multiple floors (like the time all the kids were streaming into the doghouse, except Charlie Brown, because he wasn’t invited.) ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-comic-strip-of-all-time/542529/76 "2010-06-10T02:30:57Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > “A boy and his penguin!..A penguin and his boy!” “Two dips and a dad.” Loved that strip, too. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-comic-strip-of-all-time/542529/77 "2010-06-10T02:36:59Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > “Two dips and a dad.” > > Loved that strip, too. "Set phasers for “Shave!” I think it was best for about a 3 year span when it was “Outland” and only ran on Sundays. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-comic-strip-of-all-time/542529/78 "2010-06-10T03:48:50Z")
> [@Yookeroo](#): > > I kinda get what people see in it, but I never found it funny at all. I do think it’s overrated. The 60’s, at least before Snoopy & his little feathered friends came to dominate the strip, were its Golden Age, and contained many LOL strips. It lost that edge as Schultz got older. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-comic-strip-of-all-time/542529/79 "2010-06-10T04:38:29Z")
Why is ‘Bloom County’ so adored? Is it the penguin (and I myself own a stuffed Opus)? This strip has not aged well, it’s as dated as gold neck chains and pornstaches…My refrigerator has ‘Get Fuzzy’ and ‘Mutts’ strips plastered all over it, when these two strips are done well, they are great…I myself vote for ‘Peanuts’. I’m amazed reading the re-runs in the paper, there are so many I’ve never seen before. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-comic-strip-of-all-time/542529/80 "2010-06-10T05:44:48Z")
For me, it will always be Bushmiller’s **Nancy**. Zen with three rocks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-comic-strip-of-all-time/542529.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-comic-strip-of-all-time/542529.md?page=5)