By Charles M. Schulz
The very first Peanuts strips — Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the gang, back at the beginning.
This is where it all starts: Charlie Brown getting knocked flat by a baseball, Snoopy before he ever climbed onto his doghouse, and small children saying surprisingly big things in four little panels. Every strip is a complete gag, gentle and wry, often with a wistful sting at the end.
The strips are short, uncrowded, and easy on the eye, so a reluctant reader isn't facing a wall of anything. The humor is gentle and the pictures do a lot of the work, which makes it a soft, unintimidating place to just browse and read a panel at a time.