I start every morning with a bowl of cereal and GoComics.com. There I have selected comic strips old and new that I enjoy, something to give me a few laughs before I embark upon life for that day.
My father-in-law used to say he would get his education when he’d sit down with the Sunday comics. There really is something to that, isn’t there?
Some comic strips reflect what’s happening in the world today, which could be considered educational. They might not be as funny in ten years when people don’t remember the happening in real life that inspired that particular strip. For example, during the Covid-19 pandemic, many comic strips would try to find the humor in masks and quarantining. Will people who were very young or not yet born look at those someday and get why they were funny?
At the same time, some humor is timeless. If you read the really old-school Peanuts strips from Charles Schulz, they have a humor from a simpler time. I was not alive in the 1950s and 1960s when that strip began, but it still is funny to read in its simplicity. No need for complex storylines when the foibles of life as a young person can bring a smile.
What are the best comic strips of all time? It’s a topic that’s sure to engender debate, but I’ll take a shot. Here’s my personal Top 5 list of comic strips!
5. Fox Trot by Bill Amend: Fox Trot follows a family of five in their daily life with personalities that are wild and varied. A stay-at-home mom who writes for a living and makes some of the most disgusting-sounding suppers you’ve imagined. A dad who is a drone at an office. A teenage boy and girl who match all the stereotypes of what kids that age are like. And a younger brother who is a genius and looks forward to tests in school.
Amend stopped doing a daily strip a few years back but still provides a new Sunday strip every week. Fox Trot mixes in cultural references to movies and television shows that were on when the strips were published, but I still find them hilarious today.
4. Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis: When I first encountered this strip, I didn’t know what to think. Many of the characters are animals: Pig, Goat, Rat, etc. Once you start reading for a while, you begin to understand the underlying humor and how Pastis makes fun of the absurdities of the world around us.
My very favorite Pearls Before Swine strips involve puns. These are often in the extended Sunday strips. Pastis is a genius at setting up the punchline through the dialogue of characters that doesn’t seem to make sense…until you hit the last couple panels. Then you want to read it all over again!
3. The Far Side by Gary Larson: This single-panel comic may be in reruns in newspapers and on calendars, but on the Far Side website, Larson occasionally produces something new. While I might have scratched my head sometimes, wondering what the joke was, the older I got, the more I understood.
The Far Side has a sophisticated humor at times. You have to look at everything in the panel to get it. Jokes involving cows always seemed to be a favorite. I used to use some of these with high schoolers in teaching about inference. Can you tell me why this is funny? If so, you’re on your way to a higher level or reading, and of jokes.
2. Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz: Many will argue that this should be #1 on everyone’s list, and I can see that argument. Schulz started this comic strip in 1950 and continued it for over 50 years. That in itself is impressive. Now look at the legacy of this strip. It continues to be in newspapers all over because it holds up. The characters are kids you care for. Everyone wants Charlie Brown to kick the football. They want Snoopy to shoot down the Red Baron. Maybe Schroeder will finally pay attention to Lucy.
When you think of your favorite holiday television specials, I bet a Peanuts one is among them, whether it’s Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas. There are always efforts to come up with new Peanuts material, but it seems like only Shulz had the deft touch needed. There are so many homages to Peanuts, too. In Pearls Before Swine, characters are often shown on the front stoop, just like in Peanuts. Rat, Goat, and Pig can be seen leaning on a brick wall, much like Charlie Brown and Linus often did. It’s absolutely one of the most influential comic strips ever.
1. Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson: But this is #1 for me. Calvin and Hobbes is a strip I still look forward to reading, even though I’ve read them all numerous times. A boy and his stuffed tiger look at the world in unique ways, and Calvin is one of those kids who is very bright but just not interested in following the expectations of home and school. This, too, has homages; Fox Trot has characters who build stunning, frightening snow creatures, just like Calvin often does.
Though it only ran for ten years, Calvin and Hobbes is one of those strips that is worthy of finding a favorite and framing it. If you want to spend money on a collection of comic strips, having the complete run of Watterson’s masterpiece is worth it. I remember having my kids read it when they were younger, and they fell in love with it as well.
Whether you agree with my list or would make changes for your own, I hope you’ll further your education with some comic strips from time to time. Read some old ones, find some new ones, and bask in some knowledge that can be provided in no better way!
Word of the Week: This week’s word is noodgy, which means nagging or pestering, as in, “Margaret was the noodgy girl from down the street who annoyed Dennis the Menace.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!