# Best currently published comic strip **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 11, 2010, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-currently-published-comic-strip/542813 "2010-06-11T16:51:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-currently-published-comic-strip/542813/1 "2010-06-11T16:51:43Z")
Based on [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=566436), I wanted to get an idea of what people consider to be the best currently published comic strip is. What will get the nod when powerhouses like _Peanuts_, _Calvin and Hobbes_, and \*The Far Side \*aren’t eligible? Note that for the purposes of this poll, “currently published” means that it’s being regularly updated. If your favorite is a brilliant online strip that had its last update in 2009, it doesn’t count. 🙂 I tried to include everything I could think of that might be a contender by looking through Yahoo’s list of comics and stuff people mention on the thread - apologies if I left your favorite out. ---
**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 11, 2010, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-currently-published-comic-strip/542813/2 "2010-06-11T17:05:22Z")
**Lio** , definitely. Has the whimsy that C & H often did. As an aside, seems there is no definitive comics site on the web-every major site seems to always be missing some essentials. Must be a rights thing as to why they just don’t sign up and run every strip available. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-currently-published-comic-strip/542813/3 "2010-06-11T17:10:50Z")
Off-line comic: Tom the Dancing Bug On-line comic: Order of the Stick, Achewood, Penny Arcade, et al. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-currently-published-comic-strip/542813/4 "2010-06-11T17:11:58Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > As an aside, seems there is no definitive comics site on the web-every major site seems to always be missing some essentials. Must be a rights thing as to why they just don’t sign up and run every strip available. Ugh, yeah, I see that. I didn’t even know about GoComics. I hope I didn’t leave too many good ones off the list. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-currently-published-comic-strip/542813/5 "2010-06-11T17:21:09Z")
xkcd ---
**Author:** ![XrXca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ea666f/32.png) [@XrXca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XrXca)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-currently-published-comic-strip/542813/6 "2010-06-11T17:41:24Z")
I’ll second the **XKCD** vote, just twisted enough… ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-currently-published-comic-strip/542813/7 "2010-06-11T17:43:16Z")
**Order of the Stick** , followed closely by **XKCD**. ---
**Author:** ![Haunted\_Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/94ad74/32.png) [@Haunted\_Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haunted_Pasta)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-currently-published-comic-strip/542813/8 "2010-06-11T17:48:12Z")
Of the few comics I read in the morning paper, I find that [F Minus](http://www.fminus.net/) is the one that makes me laugh the most consistently. I think it’s really good. ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-currently-published-comic-strip/542813/9 "2010-06-11T17:51:55Z")
**Lio** sucks. It’s the same “joke” over and over again: Weird kid likes aliens and monsters, which freaks out his dad! ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-currently-published-comic-strip/542813/10 "2010-06-11T17:53:47Z")
I’ll go off the menu and pick [**Retail**](http://www.seattlepi.com/fun/comic.asp?feature_id=Retail). Very good characters. If forced to pick from the choices listed, it’s **Pearls before Swine** for me, mostly because of the guard duck and the crockydiles. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-currently-published-comic-strip/542813/11 "2010-06-11T17:53:51Z")
Of the ones I see, it’s a toss between _Argyle Sweater_ and _Bizarro_. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-currently-published-comic-strip/542813/12 "2010-06-11T18:00:21Z")
If I had to pick one, _Girl Genius_. If I had to pick five, I’d add _Something Positive_, _Skin Horse_, _Questionable Content_, and _Order of the Stick_. All online comics. Newspaper comics? Do they still make those? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-currently-published-comic-strip/542813/13 "2010-06-11T18:05:08Z")
I think _Zits_ has to at least be in consideration. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-currently-published-comic-strip/542813/14 "2010-06-11T18:14:05Z")
A few years ago I’d have said **Get Fuzzy** without hesitation, but I think Conley’s running out of ideas. It’s been inconsistent at best lately. So right now my vote goes to **Pearls Before Swine**. It’s twisted enough that it can still surprise me, smarter than it looks but not afraid to go for silly and stupid now and then. Makes me laugh out loud more than a comic strip should have a right to. As I did in the other thread, I’m going to put in a plug for **[Scary Gary](http://www.creators.com/comics/scary-gary.html)**, which kind of does for monsters what **Pearls** does for animals. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-currently-published-comic-strip/542813/15 "2010-06-11T18:17:56Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > **Order of the Stick** , followed closely by **XKCD**. What he said… ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-currently-published-comic-strip/542813/16 "2010-06-11T18:22:29Z")
I’ve really been getting a kick out of Questionable Content lately. I didn’t even know about it until another thread here on the boards referenced it. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-currently-published-comic-strip/542813/17 "2010-06-11T19:14:25Z")
\*\*Boondocks \*\*is not a currently-running strip. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-currently-published-comic-strip/542813/18 "2010-06-11T19:40:10Z")
I think newspaper strips and online strips are such different beasts operating under such different parameters that it’s not fair to compare them to each other. You should really have two different polls. That said, I voted for Pearls Before Swine. It’s the only strip of either flavor I regularly read because it makes me laugh out loud on a fairly regular basis. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-currently-published-comic-strip/542813/19 "2010-06-11T19:45:21Z")
**Frazz** is the one I always look up first every morning. I consider online strips to be a different creature than the others as well. **9 Chickweed Lane** was a close 2nd. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-currently-published-comic-strip/542813/20 "2010-06-11T19:59:41Z")
I also agree that webcomics are a separate category from print comics (even if I do read my print comics predominantly online, any more). And while it wouldn’t have gotten my vote (my favorite is Frazz), Zits is good enough that it should have a mention on the list. Non Sequitur is another good one, though it can tend to hang onto a story for longer than it should. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-currently-published-comic-strip/542813.md?page=2)