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If you were to ask anyone in the world what their favorite comic strip is, they would say “Calvin and Hobbes.” On the off chance they say something different, you can safely pack up your attaché case, don your bowler hat, and skip town, because clearly no intelligent life exists near you.
A question that requires much more thought is the one that inevitably comes after declaring Calvin and Hobbes as the best comic strip of all time: what are the best actual strips from the series?
The truth is that there really are no bad strips. Whether it’s Calvin’s incredibly developed intellect shining through in one of his non-sequiturs or Bill Watterson’s vivid illustrations bringing our wildest imagination to life, there’s something to enjoy in every single piece. But if I absolutely had to pick five, it would be the following.
Playing a Record
I like the strips with Calvin’s dad, because he both looks and acts like my dad did when I was growing up. Calvin’s dad is a bit more nonsensical sometimes, with his crazy explanations for things–like how they test the load limit for bridges by driving heavier and heavier trucks across until the bridge collapses, then weigh the last truck and rebuild the bridge–but Calvin will continue to seek him out for knowledge about the…
