10 Best Ziggy Comics, Ranked (2024)

Debuting in newspapers in 1971, Tom Wilson's Ziggy is a comic strip that depicts the life of a hapless, big-nosed individual named Ziggy. The character was first created in the 1960s and intended to be an elevator operator before eventually being picked up by Universal Press Syndicate in his current form.

Though the strip has been run by Tom Wilson's son, Tom Wilson II, since 1987, Ziggy continues to entertain readers throughout the world. Ziggy has existed for over five decades, with the perpetually unlucky main character bumbling through primarily single-panel gags daily. Whether he lets his antics speak for themselves or addresses the reader directly, Ziggy has a timeless appeal.

10 A Bird Lectured Ziggy for Feeding It Stale Doughnuts

Publication Date: March 26, 2009

Ziggy is rarely able to catch a break in his strip, even when trying to do his best and help others. This joke was no different, with Ziggy getting told off by a bird that he was feeding simply for offering to feed the bird day-old doughnuts. The bird's response to Ziggy's generosity was to accuse him of being cheap.

Poor Ziggy did not even know how to react to the rude bird. He was trying to do something nice, only to have his kindness rebuked. Whatever reason the bird felt entitled to more expensive food underlined the situation's absurdity. Ziggy did not even argue in his defense, as he was used to the world treating him poorly. The silliness of a bird telling Ziggy that he was cheap for using stale doughnuts is a simple joke, yet an effective one.

9 Ziggy Had an Alligator on His Leg

Publication Date: January 19, 2003

Despite being an animal lover with multiple pets—Ziggy's pets being some of the few recurring characters in the strip besides himself—Ziggy sometimes finds himself on the wrong end of an animal's aggressive nature, as he perpetually lacks luck. In this instance, Ziggy was forced to go to a doctor's office after an alligator (or perhaps a crocodile) latched onto his leg with a chomp.

Fortunately for Ziggy, his problem was not uncommon, with at least two other men in the same waiting room experiencing the same issue. However, they did not appear to be upset about the development. Instead, they seemed to be mildly inconvenienced. The beginning of the middle gentleman's conversation with Ziggy was left to the reader's imagination. Still, his casual insistence that "there's a lot of this going around" in response to alligator attacks was quite amusing.

8 Ziggy's Snow Shoveling Went Wrong

Publication Date: December 14, 1977

This strip, from several years into Ziggy's run, featured a scenario in which Ziggy completely missed his poor circ*mstances. In this case, while Ziggy set out to shovel his yard free of snow, his neighbor shoveled their own snow right into the path that Ziggy had just cleared, right in front of Ziggy's open garage.

The dumpy, blob-like human beings in this strip made the joke funnier, as the surreal visuals complimented the solid gag. Additionally, Ziggy's blissful ignorance, embodied by his smile, also helped sell the central joke, with him unaware that his neighbor was undoing all his hard work. The neighbor was presumably unaware of Ziggy's efforts, as they kept their head down and did not look at Ziggy while shoveling. Once he finally turns around, Ziggy's reaction will presumably be disbelief and comical annoyance.

7 Ziggy Squeezed a Toothpaste Tube the Wrong Way

Publication Date: July 1, 1971

Less than one week into the comic's original run, Ziggy's luckless nature was well-established. All he needed in this strip was to spread a little bit of toothpaste onto his toothbrush, only for the entirety of the tube's contents to come out the other end. The fact that so much toothpaste came out implied that either Ziggy did not notice that no toothpaste was coming out of the front end until it was too late or that he squeezed the tube unnecessarily hard, resulting in an entire tube's worth of toothpaste unleashing on his bathroom.

The crude line art of this early Ziggy comic enhanced the pathetic nature of Ziggy's existence. The minimalist art didn't even depict Ziggy's lower body, much less the rest of his bathroom. This artistic choice made the reader ruminate on the simple gag presented without unnecessary distractions, resulting in a funny Ziggy cartoon.

6 Ziggy Pondered the Pizza Topping Options

Publication Date: April 15, 2005

Some Ziggy strips present a curiosity-inducing detail with no elaboration, providing the reader with creative confusion. In this panel, Ziggy seemed confused by what he encountered: a pizza place with a sign that offered customers their choice of toppings "within reason." Whatever happened at that pizza place that led to them putting up that addition to their sign about toppings left several humorous possibilities to the reader's imagination.

Another possibility was that the pizza place preemptively set up the notice on its sign, suggesting that it assumed customers would request wacky items to put on their pizzas for whatever reason. Even Ziggy seemed concerned by the implication, judging by the frown on his face. Perhaps he, too, was wondering what the pizza place had gone through, or he was pondering what the sign could possibly be implying.

5 Ziggy Endured a Phone Tree for a Fire Station

Publication Date: November 14, 1996

Phone trees are a staple of frustrating customer service. The idea of calling an organization only for a pre-recorded message to answer and explain many different possible options without giving the opportunity to speak to a human being can be demoralizing and annoying. Though Ziggy is often quite put-upon, he has a calm demeanor, frequently resulting in him being a sponge for mistreatment or abuse.

In this strip, Ziggy called the fire department, presumably as there was a fire brewing within his house. Instead of immediately being connected to emergency services, Ziggy waited patiently for the fire station's long phone tree, listing many possible fire-related outcomes to provide him with the correct scenario or give him a real person to speak to. The joke satirized the increasingly automated nature of important societal functions in the mid-1990s.

4 Ziggy Was Allergic to His Own Doctor

Publication Date: May 22, 2010

Ziggy's unfortunate luck is a common characteristic of his, and this panel had yet another example that continued this running gag. Ziggy was forced to stay in a hospital for an unknown condition, only for the doctor to eventually cheerfully reveal that Ziggy's illness stemmed from his allergy to the doctor, as opposed to any other sort of tangible infection or allergen.

In this illustration, Ziggy is clearly under the weather and requires bed rest and a thermometer to monitor his temperature. Seemingly oblivious to Ziggy's poor mood, the doctor appears to be grateful that he was able to determine the source of his ailment. This strip features a funny twist on the gag of a character having too many allergies by revealing that that allergy was caused by the person trying to treat the sickness.

Publication Date: February 3, 1997

Unchecked consumerism can leave many people depressed or befuddled, as Ziggy was here, staring at a sign that said there were only seven more shopping days left. Not until Christmas, which had already passed by the time of this strip's publication, or another holiday, but just until the next week. Ziggy did not seem to be particularly pleased with the sign, perhaps questioning its purpose on a logical or societal level.

The sign was a twist on the well-known signs that advertise how many days are left before a holiday in a major shopping season, intending to produce feelings of urgency in the customer. However, instead of picking a holiday, the sign tried to induce urgency in the shoppers during a normal week. The trick did not work on Ziggy, who looked uncomfortable instead.

2 Ziggy Saw a Fire Sale

Publication Date: December 1, 1971

Often, a "fire sale" is defined as selling goods for an extremely cheap price. Originally, the phrase referred to when the inventory was sold for a discounted price due to fire damage. In this comic, Ziggy came across an example of the latter definition of "fire sale." While walking his dog, Ziggy found a building that was on fire, but with the addition of a sign that said "gigantic fire sale tomorrow."

One possibility was that the building owner believed that a fire sale leaned towards having a literal meaning. Another possibility was that a regular fire sale was scheduled to happen for that building, only for it to catch fire coincidentally. A third possibility was that Ziggy encountered an example of arson as if the building owner was trying to pull off insurance fraud. Whatever the reason, the comic provided an amusing image.

1 Ziggy Received Hold Music at Echo Point

Publication Date: June 8, 2004

Sometimes, a person can clear their head by going for a walk, and they can even find some entertainment by listening to their echo in a wide open area. Ziggy attempted something akin to this process, having trekked to Echo Point, only to be let down by the lack of an echo. Instead, Ziggy was put on hold as his echo was processed, and he even had to endure hold music, which proved to be annoying, even for the typically affable Ziggy.

The surreal logic of this joke resulted in a funny scenario. It makes no sense that Ziggy would be encountering any hold music while on a nature hike, much less in response to making noise for an echo to happen. However disappointed as he may have been, Ziggy did not seem overly upset, even noting that the elevator music proved to be a bridge too far, as he didn't mind the concept of being put on hold. This strip was a classic Ziggy joke, putting the character in another unlucky scenario.