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.
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.
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.
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.)
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.
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.
