As a comic nerd, I’ve found a remarkable of number of times when I’ve had to define the difference between a comic BOOK and a comic STRIP. The difference is, as one might expect, being in a book, but for some reason a comic book featuring The Phantom or Popeye still feels like it’s a comic strip. Of course, the question of greatest comic strip has a lot of contenders (Bloom County, Peanuts, even Doonesbury have had extended periods of brilliance) the real answer is always going to be in the eye of the blah blah blah fishcakes, leading to today’s Sunday color query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) loves Berkeley Breathed like a brother, but I know my answer, and it’s George Herriman’s ‘Krazy Kat’, asking: Which comic strip is the greatest comic strip of all?
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Calvin and Hobbes… followed closely by The Far Side.
Seconded, those are the same two that top my own list.
I would flip these. Love them both but Farside always wins in my book for sarcasm. I’m grateful for Tundra clearly being inspired by Farside and continuing the wonderful sarcasm and simple yet brilliant single panels.
Hard to compete with Krazy Kat, but Little Nemo in Slumberland is pretty close! And Gasoline Alley and Dick Tracy in the Chester Gould years.
C&H
Look, I KNOW that Calvin and Hobbes is pure gold. Stipulated.
For Better or For Worse is not just an enjoyable or a good comic strip, it is important. (It’s not just because I’m Canadian and the creator is also Canadian – yet for Canadians, that point in itself is important.)
Example: 4 years before Ellen DeGeneres created the groundbreaking “Puppy Episode”, Lynn Johnston had a very moving plotline about a character coming out as gay. It wasn’t even a “Hey, Riverdale! Here comes Kevin Keller!” situation. Lynn had Lawrence in her comic for YEARS. Not as a “gay character” but as Michael’s childhood friend. Young readers – such as myself – grew up with this character in the background. So when Lawrence came out, readers couldn’t readily dismiss him as “the Other.” The controversy and fallout from this plotline sparked backlash and commentary in newspapers of multiple countries.
Far Side really is great. I gotta give shout out to relatively new strip called Finnish Nightmares. Look it up if you want to know how we are as a people. Only half joking.
C&H while still definitely my top, Pearls Before Swine is a close second.
It’s a toss up between Calvin and Hobbs and the early Bloom County.
Calvin and Hobbs or Family Circus