Top 5 Comic Strips

Top Lady

1) Achewood
To know Achewood is to love Roast Beef the Cat, little Philippe, Ray, Mr. Bear, Teodor and their friends. Definitely a critic’s darling at this point, Achewood’s unique voice comes from a blend of straight-faced parody, macabre dips into Edward Gorey territory, sweet innocence, ironic desperation and references to béchamel sauce. http://achewood.com/

2) The Far Side
I remember a 60 Minutes profile of Gary Larson where Lesley Stahl tried to dissect a Far Side cartoon featuring a bunch of featherless chickens on a beach and a sign that read “No Ducks.” Lesley had real trouble trying to put into words the reasons why it was funny, and I’m not going to try either, but I will say that, thanks to Larson, we know all know that, when a dog is just barking, they’re saying “Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!”

3) Peanuts
Charles Schultz’s paean to the last of the nice guys, Charlie Brown, is held dear in the hearts of those who still believe in hope over experience. He’ll get that football someday!

4) Teen Girl Squad
Does this count? Seeing as I’m usually on the edge of my seat waiting for the next one, I’m going to throw it up here. Technically a comic within a cartoon, Teen Girl Squad is drawn by Strong Bad on the Homestar Runner website, who also happens to have total contempt for teenage girls. Seeing as anyone in the comic might randomly get attacked by possums or spring rolls in the next panel, this is probably the comic that most exercises the freedom of the artist to make anything happen.
http://www.homestarrunner.com

5) Calvin and Hobbes
I didn’t really like Calvin and Hobbes when it was actually running. I was a little too young for the nuances, and I seem to remember thinking it was not that funny. But in retrospect, it’s pretty amazing that someone looked at the medium that produced “The Lockhorns” and thought, “You know, I could use this to explore issues of free will, predetermination and the social relationships of mankind,” and then succeeded in doing so.

Top Guy

1) Rehabilitating Mr. Wiggles
The tale of a lonely, depressed man and his drug-and-sex-crazed teddy bear is as hilarious as it is depraved. Many of the Neil Swaab’s comics, found at mrwiggleslovesyou.com, are centered around bodily functions, violence and unconventional sex, but storylines also have featured an alcoholic Jesus, buying a senior citizen at a thrift store and a visit from a suicidal future version of Neil.

2) Calvin and Hobbes
Calvin is a precocious six-year-old boy with an active imagination and unique views on culture and politics. Hobbes is his stuffed tiger, who comes to life when no one else is around. The comic was widely read, and with good reason: It managed to be funny, touching and intelligent. Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes’s writer and illustrator, gets special props for never merchandising his characters. (The emblems with Calvin peeing on a Chevy logo are all bootleg.)

3) Bloom County
Doonesbury is considered the gold standard for political humor, but Berkley Breathed’s comic, which filtered politics and culture through the lens of children (with mature personalities and vocabularies) and talking animals in small town Middle America skewered the right and left much more effectively. Bloom County also introduced the world to the penguin Opus, one of the most beloved and enduring characters ever created.

4) The Far Side
Gary Larson is a genius. The Far Side was like The New Yorker comics for people with a weirder sense of humor.

5) Peanuts
This makes the list for two reasons: longevity and influence. Charles Schulz wrote the strip for 50 years, making it the longest running story ever told by one person. And nearly ever other comic artist talks about Schulz in the same excited tones that baseball historians talk about Babe Ruth. Peanuts also was consistently entertaining, and two television specials based on the characters—A Charlie Brown Christmas and It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown—are must see holiday fare.