Inspired by such disparate influences as Walt Kelly’s Pogo, J.R.R. Smith’s fantasy strip is in its own right as much of a timeless comics classic as Calvin and Hobbes, having been read by generations in multiple different formats in the years since its 1991 launch.

Perhaps there’s a new favorite to be found here. Here, then, are six possible reading routes to explore after Calvin and his best friend have sledded off into the horizon - none trying to recreate what Bill Patterson did so expertly, but each building on the legacy of Calvin and Hobbes in its own way, even unknowingly. (Yes, really.) The appeal of Calvin and Hobbes has always been such a personal thing, though, that any list of recommended reading might risk missing the point of what any particular reading believed the strip was actually all about, all along. After you’ve finished that, what comes next? There are some obvious solutions - be glad you missed the behind-the-scenes discussion over whether or not Charles Schulz’s Peanuts belonged on the list below - and some not so obvious, such as Bloom County by Berke Breathed, which actually featured Calvin and Hobbes in a 2021 sequence of strips. There is, after all, only so much Calvin and Hobbes to read. Calvin and Hobbes is, by any stretch of the imagination, an iconic comic strip that shaped the childhoods of generations of readers despite running for just over a decade - from Novemthrough December 31, 1995, specifically - it has become a cornerstone of the medium, an example of just how truly fun (and beautiful, and meaningful, and perfectly executed) comics can be, and an almost impossible act to follow.

Avatar by Gene Luen Yang