No one walks away from a Close to Home cartoon unscathed. John McPherson's lumpy characters and bizarre situations are tailor-made for gut-splitting laughs. And then there are the cartoons that leave readers shaking their heads, sputtering, "Oh my gosh" as a guilty smile passes across their faces. The Scourge of Vinyl Car Seats delivers what fans expect from McPherson: jokes about everything from parenting to dating to car repairs. McPherson takes his readers on a journey that's very Close to Home.

With fatherhood looming, I kept seeing that six-year-old version of myself drawing comics in his bedroom, and I thought how crushed he would be to find out that I had given up on our dream. . . . So, three months after my daughter was born, I submitted Cow and Boy." -Mark Leiknes, creator of Cow and Boy Evocative of a boy and his pet beagle, or a precocious six-year-old and his imaginary pet tiger, Cow and Boy isn't afraid to tackle the complex relationship that exists between a boy and his cow.More Cow and BoyTo balance yin, there is yang. To complement day, we have night. There are just some things in life that harmonize with one another and Mark Leiknes's Cow and Boy creation definitely benefits from the paradox of its two central characters, namely one towheaded boy named Billy and his trusty bell-ringing sidekick Cow, who move through life's adventures with a refined balance of curiosity, meaning, pathos, and humor. From inspired games of chess to grassy afternoon talks of reincarnation to lakeside swimming-hole ponderings that make room for a game of charades, Cow and Boy thoughtfully explores a different species of friendship in the funny pages.

The Los Angeles Times calls Zits "one of the freshest and most imaginative comic strips." The world of sixteen-year-old Jeremy Duncan revolves around his insatiable "growing boy" appetite, lip-locking with squeeze Sarah, keeping his jerry-rigged vehicle roadworthy, and playing with his band, Goat Cheese Pizza. Somewhere in the background, he's vaguely aware of some muted voices, constantly beseeching him to pick up his Matterhorn-sized clothes pile, to be home on time (so lame!), and to (God forbid!) communicate with them. The disembodied voices are those of Connie and Walt, his mostly patient, but sometimes frustrated to exploding, parents. In Zits, they portray a hilarious view of coping with a teenager and with being a teenager. Created in 1997 by Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Jim Borgman and Reuben Award-winning cartoonist/writer Jerry Scott, Zits appears in more than 1,600 newspapers worldwide in 45 countries and is translated into 15 different languages. The comic has an estimated daily readership of more than 200 million readers.

Debuting in 1999, Get Fuzzy has rocketed to the top of the charts. Get Fuzzy has become a hit cartoon with its bitingly funny portrait of single life with pets.

And why not? The laughs come fast and furious. Get Fuzzy features Rob Wilco, a single, mild-mannered advertising executive who's the so-called guardian of Bucky and Satchel, anthropomorphic scamps that still live by their animal instincts. Bucky, a temperamental cat who carries a boom box and goes on spending sprees, definitely calls the shots in this eclectic household, while Satchel is a kindly canine with a sensitive soul who tries to remain neutral, even though he bears the brunt of his feline companion's mischief.

Between the three of them, the Wilco household faces a whole host of trials and tribulations that classify them as family. Satchel wants his boundaries respected. Bucky refuses to eat vegetables but insists on snarfing up Rob's plants. Rob tries to meet women, but his pets continually subvert his efforts. In every frame, Get Fuzzy depicts the hilarious war between the species, giving the animals an equal footing in hilarious one-upmanship.

Get Fuzzy is the comic strip for everyone who loves their pets with an attitude. That said, Groovitude is Get Fuzzy at its finest.Contains cartoons from The Dog Is Not a Toy and Fuzzy Logic.