The one I think of all the time and still laugh about is the one where he’s getting his school pictures taken. He put Crisco in his hair and told Susie, “Hobbes fixed me up a little at the bus stop”.
My fave arc is the good duplicate one (Watterson would never admit it but certainly the Trek ep. “Enemy Within” must have been an influence). Here “Calvin” is suddenly acting super-nice to everyone (Gallant to normal Calvin’s Goofus)–and everybody in his life simply cannot handle it, refuse to believe he’s actually being sincere. [OK Ms. Wormwood took it in stride]
When he finally evaporates due to an “evil thought”, the best line in the entire history of the strip is uttered by Hobbes: “Another casualty of applied metaphysics.” Heck, if you are looking for academic cred, you could probably pen an entire dissertation on that one arc and what it says about the persistence and stability of personal identity and the Jungian shadow and such and so forth.
2nd place just for the yuk factor would be the “Snow Goons” arc:
Suzie: Oh, is THAT what all those ugly things you made in the front yard are?
Calvin: What do you mean, “all those”?
Oh, no. The best line in the history of the strip was, “How existential can you get?”
It was also uttered by Hobbes.
How about towards the end of the strip when he finally had peace with Rosalyn when she agreed to play Calvinball with him?
It is a brilliant comic, and I have all the books somewhere though have not read them recently. The other comics mentioned are also very good, not as favourite, but no reason to slag the artists.
Watterson also refused to merchandise his creations, a high minded gesture that seems unlikely today (see Osnos on “Selling Out” in his book “The Haves and Have Yachts”.)
My favorite was
Mom once said she loved me
Just the way I am
But I wonder what would happen
If I became a clam?
I used to adapt that poem to ask my husband. He referenced it in a college love letter to me. “I would love you if you became a clam, an amoeba, a sea slug, or anything else.”
He has since amended: “platonically”
Ha!!!
That’s still better than saying his love would be gastronomical. Even if he had stars in his eyes.
In the very previous strip as the 2 Calvins wrestled, almost mentioned it.
He is not allowed to go to the beach by himself, got it?
nyahh…I have the babysitter flag…or words to that effect 8]
//i\\
Thank you for this thread, i got to go back and read some favourites from long ago.
If y’all will indulge me: this is framed and hanging in my bathroom (from 30 July 1995 Sunday). Not sure whether it makes me feel better or worse, but here you go. 
“Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.”
He was a cerebral kid, huh? I think that’s why I loved that strip so much. I was the questioning type, minus the mayhem.
There was a discussion on Bluesky earlier this year about how Tracer Bullet is the best noir ever written.
I keep two magnums in my desk. One’s a gun and I keep it loaded. The other is a bottle and it keeps me loaded.
“It’s hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.”
Feeling that more than ever these days.
Fully agree. One of my favourites (might be paraphrased):
Most of them are real reprints, they just weren’t authorized, and Watterson didn’t get anything from it. It’s not that hard to copy a cartoon strip.
Eight is enough.
