I wouldn’t be writing this if comic strips didn’t exist.

That might seem obvious. After all, this is an article about comic strips. 12 Of course that’s true. But it’s a lot more than that. SKTCHD itself wouldn’t exist without comic strips.

They were how I learned the language of comics. They were even crucial to the development of my love of reading, with strips like Berkeley Breathed’s Bloom County, Gary Larson’s The Far Side, and especially Bill Watterson’s Calvin & Hobbes acting as foundational texts for me. And those hours spent poring over a newspaper’s funny pages paved the way for my eventual expansion into a much wider world of comic books.

I’m not the only one that’s true for, either.

While they might not be discussed as an influence as often as other sides of sequential art, they have long been key to the larger comic landscape. In the process, they’ve impacted the creators of the comics, graphic novels, and, yes, comic strips of today.

And yet, comic strips started to feel like a relic of yesteryear as newspapers dipped in popularity or even disappeared entirely. They exist, of course. Classics like Nancy and Pickles are still around, and the form’s language is built into webcomics, with the work of cartoonists like John Allison, Kate Beaton, and Ngozi Ukazu either being great examples of the structure or informed by its rhythms.

But for some, strips had almost become a forgotten part of the comic world, one that can be treated as the less serious, more disposable cousin of graphic novels or comic books. Which is a shame, because even though newspapers aren’t what they once were, the strip is still essential to the world of comics.

And it’s having a moment once again.

While it’s been building for years as social media has taken over culture, 2025 has been — at least for me — the year of the comic strip. Whether it’s personal favorites like Harris Fishman’s Beetle Moses, Joshua Barkman’s False Knees, Alex Hood’s Haus of Decline, and Alex Krokus’ Loud & Smart or starry names like Sarah Andersen’s Sarah’s Scribbles or Nathan W. Pyle’s Strange Planet, it’s been a remarkable year for the form. And that list only scratches the surface of what strips have to offer.

But what makes the format so appealing to today’s creators and readers? Why is it such a draw for 2025’s cartoonists? 13 And what’s it really like to create when you’re at the mercy of social media platforms? Those are good questions, and ones we’ll be trying to answer today as we explore the world of comic strips.

The appeal of the comic strip for cartoonists is, or at least should be, obvious. Even as newspapers slipped from a staple of human existence to a rarity, the form itself is eternal. There’s little difference between what strip readers from yesteryear connected with and what resonates with readers today, even if where we find them has changed.

And one of the biggest draws will always be this: It’s a great way to get jokes off.

“I’ve always felt it’s just enough space to tell a proper joke,” Sarah Andersen of Sarah’s Scribbles said.

Much of the form’s allure orients on its hand in glove fit with joke structures. If you have three to five panels to work with, you have the perfect amount of room for setup and then a punchline. That efficiency is a major draw.

“I love that a comic takes a joke or a story and distills it down to only the necessary parts,” said Jimmy Craig of They Can Talk. “It’s such an efficient and effective means to share an idea.”

Strips aren’t just efficient in how they delivers jokes. Cartoonists also love how quick and easy they are to create relative to other comic formats. Take Boum as an example. While she might be mostly known for her Eisner Award-winning graphic novel The Jellyfish, the cartoonist also crafted a strip called Boumeries until 2020. 14 Those were a perfect palate cleanser for her longer form work.

“I like that it’s quick to do and easy to share on the Internet,” Boum said. “I can draw a whole finished strip in an hour or less and it’s ready to go. In comparison, working on a 300-page graphic novel is a long secret process without the instant validation strips can provide.”

That comparative ease is critical. While not everyone can get a book deal, anyone can open an Instagram account and share a strip they’ve drawn. That accessibility was a draw to Harris Fishman, the cartoonist behind Beetle Moses. 15

“It’s so accessible to start if you have a pen, paper, and time,” Fishman said. “I love that there is a low bar of entry to the medium, which in turn allows so many unusual voices to shine.”

Unusual voices are certainly welcome in strips, and that’s at least in part because the form can be about anything and can be told in a practically infinite number of ways. The “versatility” of the form is stands out to False Knees’ cartoonist Joshua Barkman.

“Comic strips can broach any subject in any genre, in infinite styles of writing and art,” Barkman said. “The audience for comics is maturing, too. And with that, the cartoonist is given a freedom to be more experimental with their expression.”