Good pick on the Calvin & Hobbes - the awesome thing is that I could visualize each and every one of the individual strips you referenced (and am also a proud owner of The Complete).
What with the hording of Fantasy picks, and the rate at which they are going,
and this author having already made an appearance in the draft, I can't let this particular work drop down any further because I can't imagine it will still be available in a round or two.
For my fourth pick, in the Category of Fantasy, Team Discovery Channel is proud to select:
The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay
Comprising three novels:
The Summer Tree - published 1984
The Wandering Fire - 1986
The Darkest Road - 1986
Considering that Kay was Christopher Tolkien's assistant while the latter edited his late father's book
The Silimarillion it is worth noting that, while indebted to Tolkien's invention of the genre, the similarities between Kay's work and LOTR pretty much begin and end with them both being triolgies.
The story begins with five University of Toronto students being whisked from our world to the world of Fionavar, the First world (echoing Zelazny's Amber) where each - of course - finds themselves with some pivotal destiny to play in a cataclysmic battle of Good v. Evil.
Kay weaves Arthurian and Celtic legend through the three books giving them a sense of being grounded that most Fantasy wishes it could have, and helps to makes sense of the connection between our world and Fionavar.
As far as the actual writing goes, Kay is leagues and leagues better than Tolkien. Perhaps struggling through the
Silimarillion left him with an appreciation for precision and control which Tolkien, for all his creative genius, sorely lacked.
As with all of Kay's works you can pretty much count on crying at least once, watching a character you love do something you can't forgive, and watching another character you love - or possibly the same one - die when you are least suspecting it.
Read this book.