Hi everyone! I’m a big fan of clever and witty comic strips. While I enjoy classics like Calvin and Hobbes and Pearls Before Swine, I’d love to explore some lesser-known gems.
Do you have any favorite comic strips—digital or print—that deserve more attention? Bonus points for sharp humor or unique art styles!
Dinosaur comics
Ill just state a few of my favorites
- Cyanide and Happiness. Going for almost 20 years, maybe 20 years by now. Has both crude and witty humor
- MrLovenstein. Personal humor. Can be wholesome. Can be relatable. Kind of just how life is and how it works.
- Extra Fabulous. Like C&H, very crude but also somewhat surreal
- Oglaf. Sex. Lots of medieval setting sex. Sometimes not sex. Usually sex.
- XKCD. Smart people making smart jokes.
+1 for Cyanide, xkcd and oglaf
Also
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the Oatmeal by Matthew Inman &
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strange planet by Nathan Pyle
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Defunct but gold: Achewood; Cul de Sac; Hark! A Vagrant!; Perry Bible Fellowship (maybe still posting?)
Still putting out bangers: Nancy; Xkcd; Oglaf; Wondermark; KC Green; You’re All Just Jealous of My Jetpack
Politics: Tom the Dancing Bug; This Modern World; Kelly Comics at the Onion
Topatoco.com also has a (mostly) quality list of creators
Add Sexy Losers to the list. Very defunct, but platinum.
Here are some cartoonists who are likely to have collections in public libraries:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Ware - a genius. I had to stop reading bc they were too impactful. strips, one-pagers, and longer stories, many experiments with forms. If you want “clever”, this is your guy.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Woodring - another genius, surreal cartoony style. scary thing is when they start making sense. multi-page short stories, one-pagers.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alison_Bechdel. literally a MacArthur-winning genius. earned acclaim for her later graphic novels, but she has an earlier strip called “Dykes to Watch out For” that has some excellent characterization and captures a moment in time that is very relevant
Cartoonists who work with longer forms, while keeping a cartoony style:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Burns_(cartoonist) - hit or miss, but when he hits it’s like a baseball bat to the face
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Clowes - a bit overrated imho but got respect for him
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raina_Telgemeier - does cartoons for kids, but they’re great. “Drama” and her adaption of “The Babysitter’s Club” are especially good
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Bagge - early stuff is very counterculture, later stuff includes some interesting biographies
- Nedroid
- Questionable Content