Comic Strips Worth Checking Out

People have been declaring the death of the comic strip since at least Calvin & Hobbes ending in 1995 (nearly a quarter century at this point!), in part thanks to Calvin's own creator, Bill Watterson, who famously complained about the diminishing space accorded strips in newspapers and the resulting lack of artistic ambition.  I previously set out to explore what there was worth reading in a post that became one of my most popular here, but that was some time ago at this point, and so here's an update.

Part of the problem comic strips have is, of course, that newspapers themselves are no longer touchstones of family life.  I myself tend to read papers only when they've been made available by someone else (my dad, who still reads them every day; a good reason to stay at a hotel is for their free copies), so my experience of both them and recent comic strips in general is sporadic.  That doesn't mean strips aren't worth reading today.  A local carrier either misdelivered a paper last week or was attempting to drum up business, but at any rate I found myself reading strips again, looking to see if there was anything worth noting, and there was, as it turned out.

That's Macanudo, a comic strip created by Liniers that's been published in Argentina since 2002 but recently (September 2018) made the leap into English language papers.  Obviously equipped with unique origins, it also reshapes the idea of comic strips into a recognizably modern style. 

You don't need to reinvent the wheel to stand out, though. 

 



That's Sally Forth, a strip that has technically existed since 1982, but has successfully reinvented itself, with an evolving pool of creators, over the years, with the current team (writer Francesco Marciuliano and artist Jim Keefe) in place only since 2013.  The best element of this one is Ted Forth, who frequently seems like he hails from some alternate dimension, but in recent years lost his dad and has settled a little more into reality.  He seems almost as if he were a grownup Calvin.  Ted and Sally's daughter Hil is sort of a mix of her parents, although she seems closer to Ted.  Sally's biggest quirk is her annual eating of the ears off Hil's chocolate Easter bunnies (a scant few months away!).

Pearls Before Swine is the current gold standard.

Red and Rover has always struck me as a pleasantly gentle version of Calvin & Hobbes.

Big Nate has taken on much more visibility in recent years thanks to making the leap into books akin to Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

Zits has consistently excelled on art.

 



Over the Hedge became an animated movie way back in 2006.  Still in newspapers, if you can find it.

FoxTrot has gone into semiretirement.  You can only read new strips on Sundays now.  (I recently watched the whole Indiana Jones movie series; this strip seemed appropriate.  Plus there's going to be a fifth entry soon; I expect that walker to actually be in it.)