10 Funniest Calvin & Hobbes Comic Strips

Highlighting Calvin's wild imagination and creator Bill Watterson's clever wit, the Calvin & Hobbes comic strips are loaded with hilarious stories.

Calvin & Hobbes is one of the most beloved comic strips of all time. Part of its popularity stems from the fact that this comic about a boy and his pet/toy tiger has incredible range. Some Calvin & Hobbes comics broke readers’ hearts, while others taught people important life lessons. Above all, as a daily comic strip, many Calvin & Hobbes strips were outright hilarious.

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Part of what makes Calvin & Hobbes great is that Bill Watterson created comics that were timeless, focusing on philosophy and personal interactions, as opposed to current events. Despite ending in 1995, Calvin & Hobbes comics are still relevant to readers today, as old fans revisit their treasured collections while also passing them on to the next generation. Regardless of age, readers are still having plenty of laughs with Calvin, Hobbes, and their family.

Calvin has a long-running rivalry with his friend and neighbour, Susie. In the comics, Calvin and Susie are often trying to get one up on each other with water balloons in the summer and snowballs in the winter. In this strip, Calvin is attempting to be clever by setting an ambush for Susie as he waits on a tree branch.

The humor in this strip comes in the last panel, after Hobbes speculates that they might end up waiting there all day. Calvin's blithe response that his days are "just packed" perfectly encapsulates the feeling of being a kid in the summer. It also resonates for adults who understand the irony of Calvin's statement in a way he's oblivious to.

Calvin has many vivid fantasies, and many Calvin & Hobbes comic strips follow Calvin's adventures through the lens of his imagination. Even the most mundane tasks can be transformed into an epic tale in Calvin's mind. Hobbes, being an extension of Calvin's imagination, is usually an enthusiastic participant.

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In this Sunday strip, Calvin is taking a bath, something he is typically reluctant to do. He has crafted a paper boat, but to Calvin and Hobbes, the handmade toy is a mighty aircraft carrier. The first laugh comes as Hobbes cannonballs into the bathtub, knocking Calvin and the water out. The humor reaches new heights once his parents see the stream of water flowing down the stairs.

In this early Calvin& Hobbes comic strip, Calvin's mother finds him industriously hammering nails into their coffee table. When asked why he would do that, Calvin doesn't even understand the question. For Calvin, the proper question is not "why," but "why not?"

Anyone who has cared for a young child knows just how destructive they can be, even when they don't intend to be. Kids that age haven't really learned to understand the consequences of their actions, or the difficulty in fixing or replacing things. Calvin was simply having fun using his tools. The reader gets to laugh at the situation while feeling fortunate that they aren't dealing with that situation themself.

Many of the funniest interactions in Calvin & Hobbes comics occur between Calvin and his dad. Calvin is constantly mocking his father, through imaginary opinion polls, excessive calls at work, or innocent pranks. In exchange, Calvin's dad is constantly forcing Calvin to do things that "build character," much to Calvin's annoyance.

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In this strip, Calvin is imitating his father. He has stolen his dad's glasses, slicked his hair into a neat style, and approached his parents yelling about how doing things one hates builds character. The imitation itself is funny, but it becomes even more so with his mom's reaction in the final panel, where she is laughing hysterically.

Some of the best Calvin & Hobbes comics are those where Calvin creates snowmen. Calvin usually shirks his work, but he can be incredibly focused and single-minded when performing a task he enjoys. His unique sense of humor allows him to create some incredible, if sometimes disturbing, sculptures. The humor inherent in Calvin's art only increases when his parents are reacting to his creations.

In this strip, Calvin has created a group of snowmen who are vomiting, positioned so his parents can easily see them. The snowmen are amusing, but the real laughs happen once Calvin's dad, without even talking to Calvin, can guess that the art display indicates that eggplant casserole is for dinner.

While Bill Watterson could sometimes hit on deep topics, or create complex, multi-layered humor, he also could elicit laughs through simple wordplay and absurd situations. In this comic, he has taken the word "smock" and worked with the fact that the word itself has an interesting sound and can be easily rhymed.

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Calvin's mom obviously was trying to channel Calvin's creativity in a productive way by buying him some clay. Calvin somehow manages to create chaos by borrowing one of his dad's business shirts and writing a rhyme about smocks on it in marker.

Reading interactions between Calvin and his dad, it's easy to see where Calvin gets his sense of sarcasm from. Calvin's dad often makes up fantastical or humorous explanations for questions Calvin asks about the world, including this one about where babies come from (a question any parent dreads).

After Calvin asks the dreaded question, his dad leads him to believe that babies are made from kits purchased at a department store. Not only that, but that Calvin came from an extra-cheap kit from K-Mart. Despite the teasing, it's always clear that Calvin's dad loves him and makes time to answer his questions, even if he trolls Calvin a bit while doing it.

Calvin's fantasies are often an excuse for creator Bill Watterson to exercise his artistic skills. When Calvin and Susie are playing together, Watterson generally uses a more realistic art style to emphasize the fantasy in the kids’ heads. The realistic art combined with Calvin and Susie's child voices can really ramp up the humor through that contrast.

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Susie is a smart and ambitious kid, so she chose to play as the President of the United States. Calvin found the role of First Husband boring though, so he stripped down and became a Tarzan type character instead. The final panel provides a perfect, hilarious conclusion as Calvin's mom discovers Calvin has left his clothes at Susie's house.

Calvin & Hobbes often teaches life lessons, but sometimes it can also teach actual facts. In this strip, Calvin is taking a history test in class, and actually knows the answer to the question he's answering. He follows up the correct response with a paragraph about why memorizing facts is ineffective teaching.

The answer given by Calvin is funny in its own right, displaying a cynicism that's unexpected in someone so young. The second punch of humor comes in the last panel, as Calvin sarcastically comments on the difficulties of being a teacher. This strip undoubtedly ended up on more than a few teachers’ office walls back in the day.

This is one of fans’ favorite Calvin & Hobbes strips of all time, and it's easy to see why. The strip has many layers, and also allowed Watterson to show off his sometimes under-used but exceptional drawing skills, which often get the most exercise during Calvin's fantasies.

Watterson appears to be influenced by contemporary strip The Far Side as he spins a tale of talking deer hunting humans. The comic provides humor through the absurd situation, the revelation that it's a story Calvin is telling, and the consequences for his parents. It also reveals a recurring theme in the comics of Calvin being concerned with humans’ treatment of nature.

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Thayer is a writer, artist, and musician based in Canberra, Australia.