Calvin and Hobbes

Although I would get flack for saying this, I don't think that "Calvin and Hobbes" is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. It was a really good strip, especially during the late 80's-early 90's period. However, right around '93 or later the strips got very preachy and bitter. You could tell Watterson was going through some serious trauma in his life. I get tired of being lectured to by a comic strip. I read comic strips to laugh, not to be told about what's right or wrong! At least he ended it before it got worse. Kudos to Bill for knowing when to quit!

funny creative to bad it is over

Brad Pitt is always wearing stripes because he's Hobbes, and Edward Norton is a grown up, completely insane Calvin. That's what some say, anyway. I friggin hate Palahniuk. Calvin and Hobbes was not only a joy to read, but for a comic strip, it had very strong art. Bill Watterson is the man.

Calvin reminds me of me as a kid. I suspect he reminds a lot of guys of the same thing. Unlike a lot of strips on this list, it didn't run for decades until it was as old and worn as a bad vaudeville routine. Watterson drew it for 10 years, and stopped. This has not only kept it fresh in memory, but fresh in reality.

One of the best comic strips of all time!

Bill Watterston injected his dualistic Calvinism into this character and it was fantastic--unique!

I had a friend like him once.

This pretty much sums up my childhood.

So many Great! ratings, and a strip like Calvin & Hobbes has certainly deserved such a prestigeous score. The wide appeal of the strip is amazing. Your snowball fight/dream sequence strip for the little kids, who can certainly relate to Calvin's desire to just incinerate the school with a laser beam, run wild on Saturdays, and have a stuffed animal for a best friend. And the dinosaur obsession. I've always felt that at one point or another in a child's life, they become fascinated by dinosaurs. I know I was. And then there's the deeper, intellectual insights, while Calvin drives his sled or wagon down the steepest, largest hill he can find while Hobbes hangs onto dear life. Theories about science, life, and all those great things that seem so complex, yet so simple when Calvin describes them as they go sailing into the air, reaching comical altitudes, and then falling for a crash landing in the snow/lake. There's something for everyone in Calvin & Hobbes, and the story about a boy a... Read more

No wonder why Calvin & Hobbes garners top ratings from so many readers! It features all the elements of an outstanding comic strip: clever jokes, puns, and gags; interesting insights; great artwork.

The best of the best. Simply that.

This one was almost always hilarious,while often even subtle.

A classic strip with all the ingredients to make it one they'll still be looking at repeats of in 50 years. Always funny and often with a dose of pathos on the side to stop you throwing it away.

this is the most artistically meritorious comic ever. now i will admit significant gaps in my own repetoire (Krazy Kat and Pogo specifically), but i feel more than confident that C&H; proves that cartooning is an art form. reading back through old strips, it's impressive the range and maturity of topics tackled by C&H; - and even though it's depth far outpaces any other strip it never presumes to be anything more than a simple newspaper comic strip: it doesn't try to be a political stump, and it never contains anything that wouldn't appeal to readers of any age. Meanwhile, Bill Watterson refused to let his syndicate turn his strip into a commercial enterprise. Though he easily could have made millions through the merchandising of his strip, no C&H; products but the books have ever been sold. in fact, he so valued the artistic integrity of his creation that he took further economic setbacks midway through his career by refusing to draw Sunday strips in the panel format. get out your boo... Read more

One of my favorites. Bullies, icky girls,and a play tiger. All the elements of a great classic strip. Who can't identify with a kid with a lively imagination?

Could we get a round of a plaus for one of the best strips ever. Yes. I luv this strip and I couldn't stop laughing when I read it.

With its omnipresent sense of familial love, emphasis on the vivid imagination of childhood and lament at the often stifling nature of daily routine Calvin and Hobbes is an almost quintessentially romantic comic strip. It brings back fond memories of childhood for me amongst the reams of subtly intelligent humor to an immensely enjoyable effect.

I'm happy to see Calvin & Hobbes is in the top spot. Nearly every strip is funny, and some of them have a lot of heart and really hit home for me. I can really identify with Calvin's imaginative, solitairy, yet lazy and procrastinating character.

The best comic ever, the capturing of a six year olds mind amazing.

Calvin and Hobbes was so personal and relatable. It conjures up images of summertime and innocence and days that have since past. Not to mention it was hilarious on a consistent basis. Quite possible the best comic strip ever made. Dilbert is really good, and Garfield used to be great, but Calvin and Hobbes is king.

Along with Peanuts and The Far Side, one of the best comic strips ever made.

One of the best, I miss Calvin and Hobbes alot.

I have always considered this one of the three greatest strips ever produced. I have always loved Calvin and Hobbs, The Far Side and Prince Valiant. I would subscribe to the newspaper if it only content were these three strips!

We didn't realize how lucky we were 'til it was gone.....unquestionably the best ever. I still think of those big Sunday drawings of dinosaurs and spaceships.

no doubt the best comic strip ever. others are great, but none so great as c&h.;

Another very funny and intelligent strip which is no more; its absence makes the comic pages seem barren and lifeless. Dad, can I have a flamethrower? Even if I don't use it in the house?

It was unique, inspired, spiritual, intellectual, and downright nasty at times. Calvin is the evil little child (albeit with a heart of gold) in all of us. I especially miss his snowmen. They were classics.

I really miss this comic. It was the best.

Sure, it's a great strip, but it's been gone for some time, and it's a pity that there's nothing being produced today that even comes close--with the possible exception of Maakies.In many respects, it's the last of the classic comic strips, by which I mean the truly great examples of the genre, many of which have either perished with the demise of their creators or which live on in inferior, watered-down versions: To wit, Herriman's Krazy Kat; Ahern's Major Hoople (aka Our Boarding House); Walt Kelly's Pogo; Elzie Segar's Thimble Theatre Starring Popeye, Gould's Dick Tracy, Gray's Little Orphan Annie, Capp's L'il Abner. Is Calvin and Hobbes as great as any of these? No. But it's the only comic strip produced in the last 20 years which deserves to be regarded as classic.

This is a very funny comic strip but the characters actions are a bit exaggerated at times. There are some jokes that just aren't funny.

It’s easy to loose oneself in the antics of Calvin and Hobbes. Just when you least expect it, they pop up with something that can leave you with a chuckle for the rest of the day.

soooo funny!

Simply one of the best comic strips ever written. I wish Watterson would get off his high-horse and start drawing his strip again. ~Erg!

Reading Calvin and Hobbes makes me wish I were a kid again, to do all the fun stuff that kids get to do. I love their mischief! Next winter, I DEFINATELY want to make snowmen Calvin-style (like the one with the snowman laying on the ground with a ice cream scoop stuck in his back, that was great!) in my front yard.

Still readable. I changed my vote to better reflect the difference between this classic and the terminally unfunny Tasteless Trio (Kevin and Kell, Ozzy and Millie, Raising Duncan)

I would like to see this strip at #1 on this chart. Calvin and Hobbes is one of the greatest works of literature that has ever graced this earth and the legacy that Bill Watterson left behind can never be bested.(except mabye by Gary Larson).

I love C&H the only thing I don't understand is how the strip survives. Their hasn't been any new strips for years. And I at least don't know of any areas online where you can view the archives.

i don't know how he does it, but bill watterson gets into the mind of a six year old so easily and didn't sell out or make it too cutesy. it's everything a comic strip should be. funny, clever, written with wisdom... like foxtrot, it is also written from true observation and has unique charachters with real personalities. calvin is that obnoxious little part in all of us we try to supress but is part of our human natue, and hobbes is that occasional wisdom that comes to our minds. whenever people say comic strips lack in creativity i show them this one.

Calvin & Hobbes is a marvelous confluence of artistry, humor, thoughtfulness, imagination, and zaniness that results in brilliant comic harmony. Few comics of recent memory have been as beautifully drawn or as consistently funny as Calvin & Hobbes; none have been nearly as good at being both simultaneously. C&H is charming without being sentimental, zany without being silly, and satirical without being pessimistic. Watterson is a worthy beneficiary of Walt Kelly's legacy.

Funniest comic of all time.

I heart Calvin & Hobbes. The old strips still make me laugh. In my dream world this one would still be around.

i still laugh my ass off everytime i read one of those strips. calvin is the persona of that bad little sh*t that we have all known at some point in our lives

oh how I miss the adventures of this wonderful friendship !

I really, really dislike this strip; it's simply not funny.

We love it! Wish Duncan was in our local paper. Hear hear, San Diego Union Tribune. Ramona Carrie, Duffy and Toto

Makes all others look bad!

Loved it from when I was Calvin's age, maturing until I got every joke.