Was there ever a comic strip better than Peanuts?

[royalfan5]

I'm going to say no. Charles Schultz was the kind of genius that will likely never be topped. Plus, all the animated specials were brilliant too.

[Ike]

for me anyway, Peanuts was (and always will be) a close second to Calvin and Hobbes.


However, the one thing that peanuts beats C&H handily in is that Charles Schultz was much less paranoid with the marketing and syndication aspects of his strip than Watterson was/is.

[C&CDean]

Prince Valiant.

[royalfan5]

for me anyway, Peanuts was (and always will be) a close second to Calvin and Hobbes.


However, the one thing that peanuts beats C&H handily in is that Charles Schultz was much less paranoid with the marketing and syndication aspects of his strip than Watterson was/is.
Shultz also did it for a lot longer than C&H(which was great too) That gives him a slight edge in my book.

[frankensooner]

If Larson hadn't bugged out so soon, it would have been "The Far Side".

You would think Lil' Abner would get more love on this board.

I never understood Andy Capp.

[JohnnyMack]

Bloom County.

[Condescending Sooner]

I would say any comic strip that was even remotely funny. I cannot remember Peanuts even evoking a smile. My favorites are Calvin & Hobbs, The Far Side, and Herman.

[OUinFLA]

Bloom County.


my vote too

[crawfish]

Peanuts, for genius over a long period of time.

C&H and Far Side burned brighter during their short runs than Peanuts ever did, though.

I love Bloom County, too, but it hasn't aged nearly as well as the others.

[TMcGee86]

Mary Worth and her smug sense of self-satisfaction.

[sooneron]

"Rex Morgan, MD- you have the cure for my daily blues" Homer Simpson

[Suerreal]

Calvin & Hobbes was the best, hands down.

It was truly written from a kid's perspective, and gave us the sense of wonder and warped sense of time and altered realities that kids filter their experiences through. Peanuts was adult personalities, mostly neurotic ones at that, in kids.

The reason Watterson took a long sabbatical, quit when he did, and never authorized any merchandising was because he didn't need the money. He was wealthy before he started C&H. He could afford to be a purist and say that plush toy versions of Calvin and other characters would detract from the reader's experience and use of their own imaginations to make the two-dimensional panels real.

And he did exactly that. Is that due to paranoia? Ego? Art? Probably all three.

I miss Calvin & Hobbes...

* Actually, I have heard that Watterson did authorize a children's hospital to distribute Hobbes dolls to critically ill kids. I don't know this for a fact, though.

[C&CDean]

The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers.

[frankensooner]

for dean:

http://www.fabulousfurryfreakbrothers.com/

[crawfish]

I don't know what's the best but I know the worstest -

Henry

http://www.marklansdown.com/pinbacks/images/pep-henry.jpg


followed closely by: Nancy and her a55hat friend, Sluggo

http://www.interestingideas.com/ii/pix/nanst.jpg

I vote for:

http://wiw.org/~jess/weblog/marmaduke.jpg

[RacerX]

Best - Calvin and Hobbes, Far Side, Bizarro

Worst - Family Circus, Family Circus, Family Circus

[jk the sooner fan]

bloom county gets my vote as well, although its gotten really hard to follow as of late

pearls before swine makes me laugh

and calvin and hobbes is brilliant

[def_lazer_fc]

Best - Calvin and Hobbes, Far Side, Bizarro

Worst - Family Circus, Family Circus, Family Circus
not a big comic strip fan, but family circus is without a doubt the dumbest and cringe inducing comic evah.

[Xstnlsooner]

What was the one with Opus, the penguin, Outland? It had some
great ones, but C & H is still my favorite.

[jk the sooner fan]

bloom county was the original opus and bill the cat

[proud gonzo]

Calvin and Hobbes.

[Petro-Sooner]

I always kinda liked Frank and Ernest.

[jk the sooner fan]

i used to like B.C. quite a bit

[Petro-Sooner]

i used to like B.C. quite a bit

I forgot about them. Always had the caveman next to the US meterological society and what not giving advice. Good stuff.

[proud gonzo]

The Far Side

[crawfish]

The best strips still running today?

Pearls Before Swine
Dilbert

...and my odd favorite, Monty.

[SoonerInKCMO]

You're all wrong. :mad:

Get Fuzzy.

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

Lots of the best ones mentioned already, but who can ignore "Zippy, the Pinhead" -pure wonderment!

[sooneron]

Lots of the best ones mentioned already, but who can ignore "Zippy, the Pinhead" -pure wonderment!
You can pretty much write yourself off of any "this is comedy gold" list.


YWIA:texan:

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

You can pretty much write yourself off of any "this is comedy gold" list.


YWIA:texan:Explain-seriously interested.

[Suerreal]

I still think C&H is the funniest strip in my lifetime.

But any thread about comic strips that doesn't mention Doonesbury is incomplete. It's not always funny, and it's moved to the political page in most papers to get the amount of space Trudeau demands for it, but it is spot on more often than it's off.

There's an interesting rumor about it. When BD got shot up and lost his leg in Iraq, the strip followed his recovery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC). The strip painted a very favorable picture of WRAMC and the support soldiers received there.

Word is that after the strip came out, Trudeau got flooded with mail about the other WRAMC , the one Trudeau didn't see while getting the grand tour, the one that junior enlisted soldiers experienced. Trudeau passed some of these letters on to a couple of Washington Post reporters, and the rest is history...

[Penguin]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e3/LucyFootball.jpg

Oh, that Charlie Brown. Will Lucy ever let him score? She's such a tease.

[StoopTroup]

B.C.

http://www.theshadowfan.com/comic_strip-BC-2.jpg

[Mjcpr]

B.C.

http://www.theshadowfan.com/comic_strip-BC-2.jpg

Worst. Comic. Evar.

[frankensooner]

No, The Family Circus is the Worst. Comic. Evar.

[mikeelikee]

Pogo.
B.C.
Peanuts

Enough said.

[Mjcpr]

Bwaaaaaaaahahahahahahhaha

http://www.comics.com/creators/bc/archive/images/bc2061100070612.gif

Whoo boy.

[RacerX]

BC wasn't the worse. But it's definitely not a fav of mine.

[RacerX]

Bill Watterson wrote this (http://ignatz.brinkster.net/cpeanuts.html) about Charles Schulz.

Great admiration. Peanuts was my favorite before C&H.

[John Kochtoston]

I still think C&H is the funniest strip in my lifetime.

But any thread about comic strips that doesn't mention Doonesbury is incomplete. It's not always funny, and it's moved to the political page in most papers to get the amount of space Trudeau demands for it, but it is spot on more often than it's off.

There's an interesting rumor about it. When BD got shot up and lost his leg in Iraq, the strip followed his recovery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC). The strip painted a very favorable picture of WRAMC and the support soldiers received there.

Word is that after the strip came out, Trudeau got flooded with mail about the other WRAMC , the one Trudeau didn't see while getting the grand tour, the one that junior enlisted soldiers experienced. Trudeau passed some of these letters on to a couple of Washington Post reporters, and the rest is history...

That, and Bloom County/Outland is the poor man's Doonesbury to boot.

[AllAboutThe'O']

I was a big Bloom County fanatic during its heyday. The spin-offs, Outland and Opus, were sort of meh. Arguably the best name for a comic strip cartoonist ever, Berkeley Breathed, should have stopped when he ended Bloom County.

And I've gotta give some love to Dennis the Menace. Loved the compilation books and the old TV series (the Jay North black-and-white version).

My top five favorite comic strips (in no particular order):
1. Peanuts
2. Dennis the Menace
3. Bloom County
4. Calvin and Hobbes
5. The Far Side

And yes, the Family Circus will always be and continue to be the worst comic strip ever conceived.