# True or False: Calvin and Hobbes was the best daily comic strip ever. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 5, 2006, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-or-false-calvin-and-hobbes-was-the-best-daily-comic-strip-ever/338537 "2006-01-05T06:05:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-or-false-calvin-and-hobbes-was-the-best-daily-comic-strip-ever/338537/1 "2006-01-05T06:05:24Z")
True. If you disagree, that’s fine. Just make sure to include which one would take that title in your opinion. If this is better suited for IMHO, feel free to move it. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Giant\_Spongess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@Giant\_Spongess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giant_Spongess)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-or-false-calvin-and-hobbes-was-the-best-daily-comic-strip-ever/338537/2 "2006-01-05T06:07:57Z")
False: that would be Bloom County and its permutations. ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-or-false-calvin-and-hobbes-was-the-best-daily-comic-strip-ever/338537/3 "2006-01-05T06:16:01Z")
True. I suppose. If only this were a simple question that isn’t likely to spawn a 4-page thread. (If it dies after less than a page, I fail at prediction, I guess.) ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-or-false-calvin-and-hobbes-was-the-best-daily-comic-strip-ever/338537/4 "2006-01-05T06:18:30Z")
True, I just saw some strips about Calvin building snowmen and was laughing my ass off again. ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-or-false-calvin-and-hobbes-was-the-best-daily-comic-strip-ever/338537/5 "2006-01-05T06:20:16Z")
Calvin & Hobbes on top, followed closely by The Far Side ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-or-false-calvin-and-hobbes-was-the-best-daily-comic-strip-ever/338537/6 "2006-01-05T06:20:28Z")
_Calvin & Hobbes_ was great – but the edge goes to _Bloom County_ by a wee margin. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-or-false-calvin-and-hobbes-was-the-best-daily-comic-strip-ever/338537/7 "2006-01-05T06:21:52Z")
I dunno, Foxtrot is excellent, although that may be just the nerd in me enjoying the obscure references and accurate technobabble. That said, Calvin and Hobbes is definately one of the all-time greats. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-or-false-calvin-and-hobbes-was-the-best-daily-comic-strip-ever/338537/8 "2006-01-05T06:24:38Z")
> [@Giant\_Spongess](#): > > False: that would be Bloom County and its permutations. Bloom County was great, but topical; it already seems pretty dated and will get more obsolete as time goes by. Calvin and Hobbes, on the other hand, is absolutely timeless. It’ll be as relevent when we’re all dead and buried as it is today. Calvin’s existintial musings as he and Hobbes go sledding down a hill will never be dated. And his snowmen…oh, the snowmen! And Hobbes explaining “higher math.” Brilliant. Calvin and Hobbes takes Dagwood and beats him over the head with Andy Capp while slamming the door on Brenda Starr and punching that intrusive busybody Mary Worth into next week. I can’t even describe what he does to Billy and the gang at Family Circus, but as far as Cathy goes, let’s just say she’s not going to be having any children. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-or-false-calvin-and-hobbes-was-the-best-daily-comic-strip-ever/338537/9 "2006-01-05T06:25:22Z")
True if you stipulate the limitations of the strip, about a boy and his tiger who appears to be inanimate to everyone else but alive to the boy. The biggest limitationis that Calvin did not often interact with anyone other than Hobbes beyond his being an asshole to them. Terrorizing the babysitter, chucking snowballs at Suzie, driving Ms. Wormwood and the principal todistraction and giving his parents ulcers. Lots of strips did show his feelings but these were not the rule. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-or-false-calvin-and-hobbes-was-the-best-daily-comic-strip-ever/338537/10 "2006-01-05T06:42:48Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > I dunno, Foxtrot is excellent, although that may be just the nerd in me enjoying the obscure references and accurate technobabble. That said, Calvin and Hobbes is definately one of the all-time greats. Once true, but it has long since Garfielded. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-or-false-calvin-and-hobbes-was-the-best-daily-comic-strip-ever/338537/11 "2006-01-05T07:16:35Z")
I was a huge, huge Bloom County fan, an absolute fanatic, but even I’m surprised anyone would rank it ahead of “Calvin and Hobbes.” 1. As has been pointed out, Bloom County was very topical and so a lot of its bits now seem dated and silly, and 2. It simply wasn’t as consistently funny, and even at its best moments was never as funny as Calvin and Hobbes could be, and plus 3. Watterson stopped Calvin and Hobbes before it got old; Bloom County, sadly, morphed into the atrocious Outland/Opus spinoff crap that sullies everything that preceded it. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-or-false-calvin-and-hobbes-was-the-best-daily-comic-strip-ever/338537/12 "2006-01-05T07:17:31Z")
Calvin & Hobbes! The most philosophical and deep comic strip I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-or-false-calvin-and-hobbes-was-the-best-daily-comic-strip-ever/338537/13 "2006-01-05T07:19:52Z")
Dunno if I’d say the **best,** but it’s certainly in the top three, maybe the top two. I’m struggling whether or not I can rank _C&H_ above _Peanuts._ ---
**Author:** ![Kiros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/439d5e/32.png) [@Kiros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiros)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-or-false-calvin-and-hobbes-was-the-best-daily-comic-strip-ever/338537/14 "2006-01-05T07:30:35Z")
> [@flickster](#): > > Calvin & Hobbes on top, followed closely by The Far Side Ding! Correct answer! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-or-false-calvin-and-hobbes-was-the-best-daily-comic-strip-ever/338537/15 "2006-01-05T07:57:04Z")
I’ll put in another timid nomination for The Far Side. It’s kinda hard for me to say, actually, since I haven’t read Calvin and Hobbes in so many years. Reading it now through adult eyes would probably make a difference… ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-or-false-calvin-and-hobbes-was-the-best-daily-comic-strip-ever/338537/16 "2006-01-05T08:09:58Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > I’ll put in another timid nomination for The Far Side. Allow me to be the first pedantic bastid to point out that _The Far Side_ isn’t a comic strip. ---
**Author:** ![Tarrsk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@Tarrsk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarrsk)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-or-false-calvin-and-hobbes-was-the-best-daily-comic-strip-ever/338537/17 "2006-01-05T08:13:43Z")
_Calvin and Hobbes_ gets the crown, followed by _The Far Side_. Both comics were brilliant from start to finish, something that very few long-running popular art productions of ANY type can claim. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-or-false-calvin-and-hobbes-was-the-best-daily-comic-strip-ever/338537/18 "2006-01-05T08:29:18Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > It’s kinda hard for me to say, actually, since I haven’t read Calvin and Hobbes in so many years. Reading it now through adult eyes would probably make a difference… You know, you’d think so, but speaking as a adult that just reread one of the collection books I think they actually are better now. So much of what I found hilarious as a lad is still hilarious and things that went over my head then now register as some of my favorite aspects. Yup, I think _Calvin and Hobbes_ is the best comic strip ever. Original, funny, timeless, smart, and multifaceted. A work of art. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-or-false-calvin-and-hobbes-was-the-best-daily-comic-strip-ever/338537/19 "2006-01-05T09:11:58Z")
I never was a _Bloom County_ fan, but I’ve seen archives and retrospectives and I’ve largely enjoyed what I’ve seen. The modern _Opus_ cartoon is pretty funny, but nothing very special IMHO. In my mind, this is a two-way race between _Calvin and Hobbes_ and _The Far Side_. In some ways it really isn’t fair: TFS never had the ability to do anything at all complex because all it ever had was one panel. It focused on the spit-take, the _tableaux_, and the (occasinally existentialist) one-liner. C&H, on the other hand, did big full-color Sunday strips (always lavishly illustrated and richly colored), multi-strip plot arcs, and generally complex wierdness that played around with the limits of what you could accomplish with a full multi-panel strip. Larson and Watterson really weren’t playing the same game, and they were both standouts in their respective fields. All that said, I think I still have to hand it to C&H. It was more consistently funny, whereas TFS sometimes tried and failed. (If we’re allowed to excise a portion of a strip’s run, early _Peanuts_ might give both C&H and TFS a run for their money. But I don’t know early _Peanuts_ that well, so I’m not in a position to rank it relative to anything. Except _Cathy_. _Cathy_ sucks.) ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-or-false-calvin-and-hobbes-was-the-best-daily-comic-strip-ever/338537/20 "2006-01-05T13:28:43Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > Allow me to be the first pedantic bastid to point out that _The Far Side_ isn’t a comic strip. Whaddaya mean? 😕 > [@Omniscient](#): > > You know, you’d think so, but speaking as a adult that just reread one of the collection books I think they actually are better now. Yeah, that’s what I suspected. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-or-false-calvin-and-hobbes-was-the-best-daily-comic-strip-ever/338537.md?page=2)