by Matt Bird

Created on: February 23, 2010

10.) Get Fuzzy. A man, his cat, his dog. A standard formula for comics, really - though when you include the fact that the dog is timid and the cat borderline racist, you've got an interesting apartment.

9.) Sherman's Lagoon. A popular cartoon, this, though not given enough kudos. Sherman's Lagoon has the kind of witty writing necessary to step beyond the average strip and really shine. Going underwater for a change made this strip, and hopefully that never changes (that would be one heck of a rewrite).

8.) Mutts. More animals? Yep, they're popular fodder for comic strips, and understandably so. Mutts is such an undeniably cute strip with its average household pets that it's tough not to like the thing. And while it's granted not much goes on in the strip, when have animals ever needed to do more than what's natural to them to amuse humans?

7.) Zits. Seemingly Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes when he's a teenager, Jeremy Duncan of Zits has it rough. Why? He's growing up, that's why, and his parents make his life difficult at every turn. The results are invariably hilarious.

6.) Peanuts. You have to pay homage to the classics. The birthing point of such memorables as Charlie Brown, Lucy, Pigpen and the never-forgotten Snoopy, Peanuts was a child's world flipped on its head. There were adults, true, but they were never more than bizarre voices in the background - and besides, who has time for parents when you're a kid?

5.) Bloom County. Its been a while since Opus the penguin and pals graced the funny pages in a truly stellar way, but at its peak Bloom County was one of the best political satires on the block. Donald Trump's brain in an ugly cat's body? Fantastic.

4.) For Better or for Worse. The enduring story of the Pattersons has something most other comics ignore completely: the effects of aging. The original children of this strip haven't only grown up, they've moved out and had kids of their own. The sense of generations in For Better or for Worse is great for long time readers - and hey, even if you just started reading, you can jump in practically anywhere.

3.) Dilbert. Anyone - ANYONE - who has entered the workforce can relate to this comic. It's aimed at engineers, true, but the humor is just broad enough to appeal to any poor shmuck who had to crawl into the office from 9 to 5 each day and put up with the idiocy of their boss.

2.) The Far Side. This comic never aspired to make sense. Indeed it tried hard NOT to make sense, and in that sense Gary Larson succeeded brilliantly. Cows, chickens, farmers, cave men, scientists, house wives, wolves, bears, cats, aliens, monsters... what WASN'T in this comic at some point?

1.) Calvin and Hobbes. Still the king of funny comics, Calvin and Hobbes did what many other strips failed to do: it captured the trials of childhood accurately while simultaneously making them ridiculous. Its blend of humor with touching, sentimental moments will forever keep it on the top of the pile.

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