11. Peanuts

Charles Schultz wasn’t funny—which is the main reason I’m relegating him to the dubious 11th position. However, something about Peanuts is comforting. We know these giant-headed freaks and are reassured by their predictable plights. But more important, it’s endlessly fascinating to examine the perplexing world Schultz created—from Charlie Brown’s inexplicably premature baldness to the homo-erotic subtext between Marcie and Peppermint Patty.

10. Doonesbury

Where else can you find a comic strip that makes you laugh and simultaneously makes you wonder, Am I just laughing because I want to feel smart or is this actually funny? It’s well-written and well-drawn. The characters and situations are compelling. It’s entertaining to read. You can’t pick up a comics page in an American newspaper without finding Doonesbury. And yet I’ve never met anyone who "gets it."

9. B.C.

In B.C., the modern world is satirized—albeit sometimes with an unbearable degree of cuteness—through the perspective of prehistoric folk. It reminds us that we haven’t evolved very much and that we’re still essentially a horde of bipedal beasts trying to communicate with each other. Oh, and that ants can talk.

8. Red Meat

This is perhaps the weirdest, relatively mainstream strip in existence. It’s usually found in weekly papers next to the section in which random citizens voice their opinions by saying things like, "I like mountains. They’re cool, and we should keep them." Anyway, it’s impossible to explain Red Meat. It’s violent, disturbing nonsense and, if you ignore the last panel, hilarious. (The cover-up-the-last-panel rule usually applies to Doonesbury as well.)

7. Life in Hell

Matt Groenig isn’t nearly as funny as his creation, The Simpsons. In fact, the show was rather stupid before they hired good writers. However, Life in Hell, Groenig’s other creation, is great because: A) It contains lots of literate text, which is unusual for a comic strip. And B) The characters are, for some reason, crudely drawn rabbit-people.

6. Mister Boffo

The poor man’s Gary Larson. Like The Far Side, Mister Boffo relies upon wild juxtapositions and challenges our otherwise intransigent perspectives. And it’s also funny. But unlike The Far Side, its creator hasn’t quit to pursue jazz guitar, thereby leaving humanity searching for clean air in the putrid compost heap of Garfield and Kathy.

5. Callahan

Confined to a wheelchair, John Callahan is a paraplegic, recovering alcoholic, and cartoonist who doesn’t seem to care about anything but deranged humor. If the culture determines something is sacred—including his own situation—Callahan infuriates most of his audience by figuring out a way to laugh at it. But the humor doesn’t emanate from sympathy. His material would be equally funny if he were never in the accident, if he composed with his hands rather than his mouth.

4. Dilbert

A direct correlation exists between highly specific material and highly universal appeal. I’ve never worked in the corporate world. In fact, I’ve never seen a cubicle, except in the junior-high detention room. Nonetheless, I find myself nodding in pleased agreement, saying things like, "Yes, Dilbert you’d better complete the report on time or your beta product could indeed turn into an evil robot that annihilates the galaxy. How true."

3. This Modern World

A genuine rarity. Tom Tomorrow is an overt political propagandist who somehow manages to be funny, kind of like a death metal drummer who studies birds on the side.

2. Calvin and Hobbes

This was such a preposterously literate comic strip that even the real Calvin and Hobbes would appreciate it. It’s Dennis the Menace for people with the recommended amount of chromosomes and a few years of grad school.

1. The Far Side