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While following another column in the Yale Daily News, Andrews McMeel co-founder Jim Andrews noticed Bull Tales, a comic strip created by an unknown student named Garry Trudeau. For more than a year, Andrews worked with the young cartoonist to refine the strip. On October 26, 1970, Doonesbury debuted as Andrews McMeel’s first comic strip, and the newspaper syndicate began to make its presence known. Five years later, Trudeau won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning, becoming the first comic strip artist to receive such an honor.
More than half a century later, Doonesbury remains a staple in more than 800 Sunday newspapers in the U.S. and abroad, and is a popular feature on GoComics. Over the decades, Doonesbury has been collected in more than 60 hardcover, trade paperback, and mass-market editions, which have sold more than 7 million copies worldwide.
Trudeau’s work has continued to capture and define the American political landscape, most recently through a series of bestselling collections focused on the rise and presidency of Donald Trump. Beginning with the New York Times bestseller Yuge! 30 Years of Doonesbury on Trump (2016), Trudeau documented Trump’s presence in the strip dating back three decades. Five additional books in the bestselling series followed, forming a sharp, satirical chronicle of an era and further cementing Trudeau’s reputation as one of America’s premier social and political commentators. Through more than five decades, Doonesbury remains at the center of American political discourse.
It’s hard to envision a world without Calvin and Hobbes (and it would be a dismal one indeed!)
That sentiment continues to resonate deeply, as the strip celebrated 40 years in 2025. Although the strip concluded its newspaper run more than 30 years ago, its blend of transcendent humor, luminous charm, and philosophical depth endures and remains as vibrant as ever in what the Wall Street Journal calls “America’s Most Profound Comic Strip.”
A living legacy, Calvin and Hobbes connects with new readers as it delights longtime fans as well. Its imaginative explorations of childhood, friendship, and wonder persist in cultural discussions and retrospectives. The strip still reaches audiences daily through GoComics, where it remains one of the most-read features, and in numerous New York Times bestselling collections, including The Complete Calvin and Hobbes.
In 2023, Watterson emerged from decades of creative silence with The Mysteries, an illustrated fable created with John Kascht, which became a New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestseller. The Mysteries proves Watterson still surprises, and resonates, with a fresh, contemplative voice.
Most recently, the Calvin and Hobbes Portable Compendium series provides fans with an accessible, collectible way to revisit the strip’s complete oeuvre, ideal for new generations of readers. The backpack-friendly format praised for its craftmanship and readability offers a fresh way to experience the magic of Calvin and Hobbes.
In a cultural landscape often craving nostalgia, Calvin and Hobbes represents something more: timeless and joyfully rediscovered, generation after generation.
It all began when Phoebe skipped a rock across a pond and accidentally hit a dazzling, but self-absorbed unicorn named Marigold Heavenly Nostrils. One wish bound Marigold to be Phoebe’s “obligational best friend,” sparking a magical and unlikely friendship.
Can a vain mythical beast and a 9-year-old daydreamer really connect? Absolutely, with many adventures to prove it. Through Dana Simpson’s hilarious and heartwarming storytelling, Phoebe and Her Unicorn reminds readers that even when life isn’t all rainbows and glitter, friendship and imagination can turn the everyday into something magical.
Dana Simpson first rose to prominence after winning the Amazon Comic Strip Superstar contest, co-sponsored by Andrews McMeel. After two years of development, Phoebe and Her Unicorn debuted in more than 100 newspapers, which was one of the largest launches in Andrews McMeel’s history. Since then, its popularity has continued to grow, attracting tens of thousands of dedicated fans in newspapers and on GoComics, Andrews McMeel’s digital comics hub.
The property has since become a powerhouse in children’s publishing as well. The Phoebe and Her Unicorn book series features more than two dozen bestselling comic collections, as well as a board book and activity book, with more titles on the horizon. The series has won multiple awards, been translated into 10 languages, and has sold 2 million copies worldwide – delighting readers across generations and making the world just a little more sparkly for readers.
With Dana Simpson’s trademark wit and heart, Phoebe and Her Unicorn celebrates that life’s most magical moments are often found in the delights of friendship and imagination.
Following its tradition of recognizing new talent and anticipating trends reflective of the zeitgeist, Andrews McMeel published Toronto-based poet Rupi Kaur’s transformative work, milk and honey, in 2015. Since its release, milk and honey has garnered international acclaim, as Rupi’s message of survival, love, abuse, loss, healing and femininity resonates with millions of readers throughout the world. Her unyielding and distinctive voice guides readers on a journey to healing and hope, celebrating their inner strength and resilience.
milk and honey is a #1 New York Times best-seller that has remained on the list for more than three years. It has also been translated into 40+ languages. Rupi’s second collection of poems and illustrations, the sun and her flowers, was published by AMU in the fall of 2017 and debuted as a #1 global bestseller.
Rupi began writing milk and honey while still in high school, and self-published it when she was 22 years old. Now with more than 4.5 million copies sold, its first print run was 10,000 copies.