Best Comedy Comics & Funny Graphic Novels

Comics are a near-perfect delivery system for a joke. The panel break is a built-in beat, the drawing sells the punchline, and a good cartoonist can land a gag in four panels that a sitcom would need a whole scene to set up. Funny books still get overlooked next to prestige dramas, which is a shame, because the best comedy comics are some of the most re-read books in the medium. This guide covers the ones we keep coming back to: newspaper-strip legends, webcomic breakouts, and modern series that hide real heart under the jokes. Whether your humor runs whimsical, dry, nerdy or romantic, there’s something here to make you laugh out loud on public transport.

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How we chose: every pick is a current Amazon listing that we cross-checked against our own reading of the books. We favored complete collections and strong first volumes from the original publishers, and skipped anything not yet released. Prices and stock change often, so the buttons show Amazon’s current price.

1. The Complete Calvin and Hobbes — Best overall

Best overall

Why we like it

• The whole strip, nothing missing
• Funny for kids, quietly profound for adults
• Sunday pages are some of comics' best cartooning
• A book you hand down, not one you finish

Specification	Details
Creator	Bill Watterson
Publisher	Andrews McMeel (listed under Simon and Schuster)
Collects	The complete strip, 1985 to 1995
Pages	1,456
Format	Paperback boxed set (volume count not stated in listing)
Reader age	Not stated in listing; all ages

The Complete Calvin and Hobbes — Watterson, Andrews McMeel, full 1985 to 1995 run, 1,456 pages

Calvin and Hobbes is the peak of the newspaper comic strip. A hyper-imaginative six-year-old and his tiger, a real friend or a stuffed toy depending on who is looking, turn snowmen, wagons, cardboard boxes and homework into adventures. The gags are fast and physical, but the strip is also quietly sharp about childhood, school, parents, nature and the fact that nobody gets to stay six forever.

Watterson ended the strip on his own terms after ten years and never licensed the characters, so these books are effectively the only official way to own it. The complete set gathers every daily and Sunday strip, and the Sunday pages, where Watterson had room for dinosaurs, spaceships and full-page landscapes, are some of the best-drawn cartoons ever printed.

It's the safest comedy gift on this list: kids laugh at Calvin, parents laugh at his parents, and adults re-reading it notice how much was going on underneath. If the full set is more than you need, the smaller treasuries collect the same strips in chunks, but the complete edition is the version people keep for life.

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2. The Complete Far Side — Best for surreal single-panel gags

Best absurd humor

Why we like it

• Every cartoon from Larson's full syndicated run
• One-panel jokes you can read in seconds
• Dry, science-nerd humor that still lands
• Perfect coffee-table and bathroom-shelf book

Specification	Details
Creator	Gary Larson
Publisher	Andrews McMeel
Collects	The complete Far Side cartoons
Pages	1,278
Format	Paperback volumes in a box
Reader age	Not stated in listing; teens and up get the most from it

The Complete Far Side — Larson, Andrews McMeel, boxed paperback edition, 1,278 pages

Gary Larson's The Far Side proved a single panel could hold a whole comic universe. Cows stand up the moment a car passes, scientists make terrible decisions with total confidence, and insects, cavemen and dinosaurs behave exactly like suburban neighbors. The best cartoons are still quoted decades after the strip ended in 1995.

Where Calvin and Hobbes builds a world you live in, The Far Side is pure absurdist logic, one joke at a time. That makes it ideal for dipping into, and it's why the complete edition works as a family book: everyone ends up reading favorites aloud to whoever is in the room.

If the boxed set is more than you want, the older Far Side Gallery paperbacks are still listed and are a lighter way in. For anyone whose sense of humor is dry, weird and science-minded, though, the complete edition is the one to own.

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3. Scott Pilgrim Color Collection Vol. 1 — Best romantic action comedy

Best rom-com

Why we like it

• Video-game fights played entirely for laughs
• Sharp, quotable dialogue and sight gags
• Colored edition reads fresh even for old fans
• Secretly a good story about growing up

Specification	Details
Creator	Bryan Lee O'Malley (colors by Nathan Fairbairn)
Publisher	Oni Press
Collects	Volumes 1 and 2 of the original six-book series
Pages	368
Format	Paperback, full color
Reader age	Not stated in listing; teens and up

Scott Pilgrim Color Collection Vol. 1 — O'Malley, Oni Press, first two books in color, 368 pages

Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim is a comedy landmark. Scott is a 23-year-old bassist in Toronto, between jobs and between good decisions, who falls for delivery girl Ramona Flowers and learns he'll have to defeat her seven evil exes to keep dating her. The fights borrow the grammar of video games, complete with coins and level-ups, and they're staged for jokes as much as action.

Under the gags it's a surprisingly honest book about being self-absorbed in your twenties and learning to treat people better. The Color Collection reprints the original black-and-white books in Nathan Fairbairn's color, two books per volume, so this first volume covers Precious Little Life and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Two more Color Collection volumes finish the story.

If you'd rather own the whole thing in one go, Oni also lists a Color Collection box set and the larger color hardcovers. Start here if you're not sure the humor is for you; most people know within twenty pages.

Get Scott Pilgrim Color Collection Vol. 1 on Amazon

4. Hark! A Vagrant — Best for history and literature nerds

Smartest comedy

Why we like it

• The cleverest webcomic collection in print
• Short strips, very high hit rate
• Rewards anyone who survived a lit class
• Expressive, scrappy cartooning that sells every joke

Specification	Details
Creator	Kate Beaton
Publisher	Drawn and Quarterly
Collects	Strips from the Hark! A Vagrant webcomic
Pages	160
Format	Hardcover
Reader age	Not stated in listing; teens and up

Hark! A Vagrant — Beaton, Drawn and Quarterly, hardcover collection, 160 pages

Kate Beaton's Hark! A Vagrant is the smartest comedy comic of the webcomic era. Founding fathers, Brontë sisters, Canadian prime ministers, Nancy Drew covers and Gothic novels all get the same treatment: a few loose, expressive panels that puncture the pomp and find the ridiculous person underneath. You don't need a history degree to laugh, but every bit of trivia you do know makes it funnier.

The strips are short and self-contained, so it's a book to pick up for five minutes and put down an hour later. Beaton's drawing does a lot of the work: a raised eyebrow or a slumped shoulder often is the punchline. She later won wide acclaim for her memoir Ducks, but this remains her funniest work.

Drawn and Quarterly also lists a second collection, Step Aside, Pops. Start with this one; if it clicks, the second is just as good.

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5. Giant Days Vol. 1 — Best sitcom-style character comedy

Best comfort read

Why we like it

• Comedy built on character, not just gags
• Razor-sharp, very British dialogue
• Warm without ever being saccharine
• A long, finished series to fall into

Specification	Details
Writer / Artist	John Allison / Lissa Treiman (later Max Sarin)
Publisher	BOOM! Box
Collects	The opening issues of the series (issue numbers not stated in listing)
Pages	112
Format	Paperback
Reader age	Not stated in listing; older teens and up

Giant Days Vol. 1 — Allison and Treiman, BOOM! Box, paperback, 112 pages

John Allison's Giant Days is the best sitcom that never aired. Susan is sarcastic and suspicious, Esther is a dramatic goth magnet for chaos, and Daisy is earnest, sheltered and kinder than either of them. They meet in their first week at a British university and spend the series getting each other into and out of trouble: bad flatmates, worse boyfriends, exams, illness and family drama.

The comedy comes from people rather than set-ups, which is why it stays funny across a long run. Allison writes some of the best dialogue in comics, and the art, first by Lissa Treiman and then for most of the series by Max Sarin, is rubbery and expressive enough to sell a joke without a word.

Volume 1 is short, and some copies are listed in limited stock. The larger Library Edition hardcovers collect more per book if you get hooked, which you probably will.

Get Giant Days Vol. 1 on Amazon

6. The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol. 1 — Best funny superhero comic

Best superhero comedy

Why we like it

• Superhero comedy that's kind instead of cruel
• Footnote jokes reward close reading
• Safe for younger readers
• No Marvel homework required

Specification	Details
Writer / Artist	Ryan North / Erica Henderson
Publisher	Marvel
Collects	The opening stories of the 2015 series plus classic appearances (exact issues not stated in listing)
Pages	248
Format	Hardcover
Reader age	Not stated in listing; all ages

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol. 1 — North and Henderson, Marvel, hardcover, 248 pages

Superhero comics aren't usually funny on purpose, but Ryan North and Erica Henderson's Squirrel Girl is an exception. Doreen Green has the powers of a squirrel and a girl, a squirrel sidekick named Tippy-Toe, and a computer-science course load at university. She tends to win by understanding villains and talking them down, and when she does fight, it's played for slapstick.

North fills the bottom margins with tiny footnote jokes, and Henderson's chunky, expressive art gives Doreen a look unlike any other Marvel hero. Unlike Deadpool, the other famous Marvel comedy, it's warm rather than violent, which makes it one of the few superhero books on any shelf that works for a ten-year-old and their parent at once.

This larger hardcover gathers more than the first paperback did, and our stock check shows limited copies, so the paperback volumes are a fine alternative. More cape-friendly reading is on our Marvel hub.

Get The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol. 1 on Amazon

7. Spy x Family Vol. 1 — Best funny manga

Best manga comedy

Why we like it

• Comedy of secrets where everyone is lying
• Anya is one of manga's funniest kids
• Slick action between the jokes
• Easy first manga for new readers

Specification	Details
Creator	Tatsuya Endo
Publisher	Viz Media (listed under Simon and Schuster)
Collects	Volume 1 of the ongoing series
Pages	220
Format	Paperback, reads right to left
Reader age	Not stated in listing; teens and up, mild action violence

Spy x Family Vol. 1 — Endo, Viz Media, volume 1, 220 pages

Tatsuya Endo's Spy x Family is a comedy juggernaut for good reason. A master spy codenamed Twilight needs a family to get close to a target, so he adopts a little girl, Anya, and marries Yor, a shy office clerk. He doesn't know Anya can read minds or that Yor moonlights as an assassin, and neither of them knows he's a spy. Anya knows everything and is trying very hard to keep the family together.

The engine is dramatic irony: every scene has three people hiding something, and the reader is in on all of it. Endo balances the gags with clean, kinetic action and a lot of warmth, so the found-family story lands as well as the jokes.

It's ongoing, but volume 1 is a satisfying, self-contained setup. If it hooks you, our manga hub and the best comedy manga guide have plenty more in the same vein.

Get Spy x Family Vol. 1 on Amazon

How the best comedy comics compare

Comedy is personal, so match the book to the sense of humor rather than the hype.

Book	Style of humor	Format	Best for
Calvin and Hobbes	Whimsical, philosophical	Complete strip set	Everyone
The Far Side	Surreal, absurd	Complete single-panel set	Science nerds
Scott Pilgrim	Pop culture, romance	Three color volumes	Teens and twentysomethings
Hark! A Vagrant	Literary, historical	Single hardcover	Bookish readers
Giant Days	Character sitcom	Long finished series	Comfort readers
Squirrel Girl	Kind superhero parody	Collected run	Families, Marvel fans
Spy x Family	Farce, slapstick	Ongoing manga	Manga newcomers

Strips, gag collections or story comedies?

Funny comics come in three shapes, and knowing which you want saves money. Newspaper strips like Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side are built for dipping in: a joke every few seconds, no plot to follow, and complete editions that last a lifetime. Gag collections like Hark! A Vagrant are similar but more personal, a single cartoonist's sensibility in one book. Story comedies like Scott Pilgrim, Giant Days and Spy x Family are closer to a sitcom: the laughs come from characters you get to know, and the series rewards reading in order.

For gifts, the complete strip collections are the safest bet because nobody needs to have read anything first. For a reader who already loves a TV comedy with recurring characters, a story comedy is the better match.

Funny comics that weren't on the shelf

The original version of this guide also recommended Sex Criminals and Gerry Duggan's Deadpool. Both are still worth reading, but we couldn't find an in-stock print edition of the first Sex Criminals collection to recommend right now (and a new pocket edition isn't out yet), so they're out of the picks for the moment. Sex Criminals is a raunchy, tender comedy about a couple who can freeze time when they have sex, and is strictly for adults. Deadpool remains the go-to for crude, fourth-wall-breaking superhero comedy, with cartoonish but graphic violence.

Which comedy comic should you buy first?

If you want one book that will make everyone in the house laugh, buy The Complete Calvin and Hobbes. If your humor is drier and weirder, go with The Far Side. If you want a story with jokes in it, start with Scott Pilgrim or Giant Days, and if you're curious about manga, Spy x Family is the easiest door in. For more ideas, our best comics for beginners guide and the best graphic novels list both lean on several of these books, and our comic book gift guide has more crowd-pleasers.

Frequently asked questions

What is the funniest comic of all time?

Calvin and Hobbes is the most common answer, and it's ours. It's funny at every age and every re-read, and the complete edition collects the whole run. The Far Side is the strongest challenger for readers who prefer absurd, one-panel humor.

Are there funny comics for kids?

Yes. Calvin and Hobbes and The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl are both safe for younger readers, and The Far Side works for older kids. Scott Pilgrim and Giant Days suit teens and up. For more, see our best graphic novels for teens guide.

What is the best funny manga?

Spy x Family is the easiest recommendation: a spy, an assassin and a telepathic child pretending to be a family. It's warm, fast and accessible to readers who have never tried manga. Kaguya-sama: Love Is War is another favorite if you like romantic comedy.

Are webcomics worth buying in print?

Often, yes. Print collections like Hark! A Vagrant are edited, sequenced and sometimes include extra material, and they're far more pleasant to read and lend than a browser tab. Buying the book is also one of the most direct ways to support the cartoonist.

Is Deadpool a comedy comic?

Mostly. Deadpool breaks the fourth wall and mocks the superhero genre, and the best runs are very funny. It's also violent and crude, so it's for adults and older teens rather than a family read.

Is Scott Pilgrim the comic like the movie?

The Scott Pilgrim comic and the 2010 movie tell the same story: Scott must defeat Ramona Flowers's seven evil exes to date her. Bryan Lee O'Malley's six books have far more room, though, giving Ramona, Kim and the rest of the cast deeper arcs and a more grown-up ending. The 2023 anime, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, takes the story in a new direction. Our Scott Pilgrim review covers the books in depth.

What is Hark! A Vagrant?

Hark! A Vagrant is Kate Beaton's webcomic and collection of short, scratchy, very funny strips about history and literature, from Napoleon and the Brontë sisters to Canadian politicians and Nancy Drew covers. You do not need to know the history to laugh, although it helps. It works brilliantly as a book to dip into. Beaton later wrote Ducks, a serious graphic memoir about her time working in Alberta's oil sands.

Is Giant Days finished?

Giant Days is finished: John Allison's comedy about three friends at a British university ended its regular run in 2019, carrying the characters through to graduation. That gives the series a satisfying end, so you can buy every volume knowing it wraps up. It began as a self-published comic before the Boom! Box series, and the main run is collected in numbered paperbacks and larger library editions.

Is The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl good for new readers?

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl is one of the best Marvel comics for new readers: Ryan North and Erica Henderson's series needs no prior knowledge, explains its own jokes and treats superhero clichés with affection. Doreen Green is a computer science student with squirrel powers who beats villains as often by talking as by fighting. It is funny, kind and suitable for kids, teens and adults alike.

What age is Calvin and Hobbes for?

Calvin and Hobbes is genuinely for all ages. Children from about seven or eight enjoy the slapstick, the snowmen and Calvin's endless schemes, while teenagers and adults pick up on the strip's dry humour about school, parents, philosophy and growing up. There is nothing inappropriate in it. That range is why it is so often a family book, read by parents and handed down to kids.

Related reading

• Best Comedy Manga: The Series That Actually Make You Laugh Out Loud
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• The Best Comic Book Artists of All Time
• Best Comic Book Gifts for Fans