Of today’s age? Hmm, well if you’re talking OLD ones still running, I’d have to say either Garfield (even though you said it wasn’t allowed. :p) or For Better For Worse.
If you’re talking of medium age, I’d give the nod to Baby Blues (which never fails to make me laugh or grin or think)
If you’re talking about recent and modern strips, Rose is Rose appears to me to have the potential to be a great one.
Are any as good as Calvin and Hobbes was even at it’s lowest point, though? Not even. 
I agree with this 100%. I loved Bloom County and had Breathed had left it that, it might get the edge over C & H (Pure Cane Laughter)TM.
He jumped the shark with Bill the Cat. As an occasional one shot he was funny. He was definitely not funny as a regular.
Would not have been able to say it better than that. I have the same generational bias. I’ll have to go find some old Peanuts compilations to make an honest comparison.
For current day, I look forward to Get Fuzzy and Boondocks the most. Online - Sluggy Freelance. Arlo & Janis get the honorable mention - some of the best cat cartoons ever.
Four way tie:
Calvin & Hobbes
Dilbert
The Far Side
Bloom County
Speaking as someone who read Peanuts in its heyday–I still vote for Calvin.
As Watterson says in one of his intros–Peanuts is very dark and cruel. Charlie Brown is a sad sack of a character (sorry for the pun)–and the other characters seem to revel in “dissing” him. No matter what he does, it is not good enough–not even for his dog.
Og knows how this affected me on some level–anxious, angst ridden child that I was, but I know I identified with CB. I never, even very young, thought that Lucy et al were just joking around with Charlie Brown–they meant every harsh word and every bit of contempt. It’s not a place I want to visit often, anymore.
Maybe it’s because I only have read Calvin as an adult (my son got waaaay into C&H awhile back) that I enjoy Calvin so much. He is admirable (if a bit overconfident) compared to CB who is pathetic.
I also don’t respect Schulz for NOT sticking up for his strip and refusing the name “Peanuts” --he hated the name, this was HIS creativity–why not insist on a change? Watterson thought more of his “product” and acted accordingly. The differences in newpaper markets might have alot to do with this point, though.
And to say that his most recent strips even come close to any C&H’s or even his own, early work–that’s just wrong. That unfunny, miserable brother or cousin of Snoopy’s etc–blech. Not funny, not commentary on social issues–nada.
I agree that Peanuts gave us a more complex world and the characters were often complex. But C&H included adults–which was key, IMO, to really underscoring and understanding the child’s perspective.
I have completely overlooked Zits–one of my favs as well. My oldest son is Jeremy’s age and so many of the strips could be taken from our live right now.
Non Sequitur, IMO, for combining the offbeat humor of Gary Larson with art almost comparable to Watterson.
Though the newcomer Inkpen is quickly becoming another fave. Geeky enough to toss out Jack Kirby references, too.
Calvin and Hobbs and Far Side are the best two comics ever. As others have pointed out, it’s not really fair to compare them since they are so different in both format and content.
Dilbert is the best currently running comic.
Bloom County? Peanuts? They don’t compare at all. They aren’t half as funny or half as insightful as either Calvin or Far Side.
I highly recommend The Complete Far Side, BTW. I got it for Christmas a couple years ago. It’s great. Two huge hardcover volumes that look like a desk reference set. With flying cows on it. 
Vote for TRUE
Bloom County, Far Side and 70’s Doonesbury would be right behind.
As a kid Peanuts (or Snoopy as I called it) was by far my favorite.
I agree. It’s going to be limited in it’s popularity because of it’s age and rarity, but if you’ve seen the strips reproduced in good quality, they’re amazing.
Calvin & Hobbes is wonderful, and wins the popular vote, but I think it’s a close second.
I disagree. I think C+H takes from Little Nemo and builds on it surprisingly, integrating it with a much more interesting main character and setting. It’s a worthy successor. Little Nemo still has superior art, but the artistic flow is only slightly above C+H. In short, in some ways, C+H is a successful fusion between Krazy Kat and Little Nemo.
As RealityChuck is the first to point out, everything C&H was, Krazy Kat was decades before.
Re Derleth’s question, I’m partial to Get Fuzzy for its completely warped yet totally recognizable world.
I love The Boondocks - haven’t seen the tv show, but the comic is great!
Frankly, I prefer For Better or for Worse. But not by much.
And, while I didn’t like it for the first decade or so, Luann’s stock is really rising with me. I’m a sucker for clean-line illustration, I guess.
If we included weekly strips, I’d include Tom the Dancing Bug and Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend.
It is well-drawn (& its female characters are the hotties of the comics page), but, like FBoFW, it’s too soap-opera-ey and not enough funny to be one of my absolute favorites.
Meh. Crap produced by someone with an excellent work ethic is still crap, there’s just more of it. While his strip may have been funny once, Schultz produced a bad comic strip for a period longer then my life span, regardless of his work ethic he should’ve quit and yielded his place in the funny pages to a younger person with fresh ideas for a new strip. By hanging on like grim death, he ruined his strip for a whole generation who might’ve discovered it had they not been turned off by the stuff that was run in the paper during his later decades.
And I agree C&H is the best strip I’ve ever read. Far Side might’ve been funnier sometimes, but C&H was funny and meaningful, which gives it the edge. Foxtrot is good, but I think part of it’s populairty is simply due to the fact that it doesn’t have many other good strips to compete with in todays funny pages. Doonesbury is still funny sometimes (and wins a prize for longest lasting comic strip that still managed to stay at least somewhat amusing), but I think a lot of the enjoyment people get out of that strip is seeing how the characters develop over time, rather then the humor. Dilbert is good, but it really caters to it’s nitche, and was a lot better when it flipped between office strips and strips centered around Dogberts crazy schemes.
While Penny Arcade is often funny, there’s no way it beats Calvin & Hobbes. I find the strip unreadable because of the lettering. Dude can’t make an “f” to save his life. Always looks like a “P”. Stupid & annoying.
Online comics would best be served in another thread, but we’ve done that to death. I think Diesel Sweeties, Sinfest, and Girl Genius all beat Penny Arcade. I can at least read the text.
I vote “True”. I think Watterson wins. If you were to ask him his own opinion, I think he’d say Krazy Kat… or he’d just get mad and get on his soapbox about the entire concept of ranking “art” in the first place.
If we’re going to go back that far, I’d still give it to McCay, but I like Little Nemo better.
I enjoy Zits quite a bit, too, and by a lucky coincidence (I was on a summer program with his step daughter) I’ve met Jim Borgman twice. Unfortunately, the first time I met him, the only thing I could think of to say is “I really admire your work,” and the second time, I could only come up with “I still think your work is completely awesome.” He drew me a sketch, and he’s a really nice guy.
Sorry for the hijack.
Bats aren’t bugs!!!
That said, and if we disqualify The Far Side for being a panel and not a strip… I choose,
True
Also in the running is
Peanuts (before it got stale)
Krazy Kat
Get Fuzzy
Doonsbury (which also has overstayed it’s welcome, IMHO)
and I’ll add…
Tumbleweeds
and
The Appletons (which appeared in National Lampoon in the 70’s & 80’s)