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Calvin and Hobbes #1-2
The Essential Calvin and Hobbes: A Calvin and Hobbes Treasury
Now available for the first time as an e-book!
The cartoons in this e-book have been specially formatted for optimal viewing. The e-book will only work on color tablets and is not intended for viewing on desktop apps or black and white tablets.
Perhaps the most brilliant comic strip ever created, Calvin and Hobbes continues to entertain with dazzling cartooning and tremendous humor.
Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes has been a worldwide favorite since its introduction in 1985. The strip follows the richly imaginative adventures of Calvin and his trusty tiger, Hobbes. Whether a poignant look at serious family issues or a round of time-travel (with the aid of a well-labeled cardboard box), Calvin and Hobbes will astound and delight you.
Beginning with the day Hobbes sprang into Calvin's tuna fish trap, the first two Calvin and Hobbes collections, Calvin and Hobbes and Something Under The Bed Is Drooling, are brought together in this treasury. Including black-and-white dailies and color Sundays, The Essential Calvin and Hobbes also features an original full-color 16-page story.
The cartoons in this e-book have been specially formatted for optimal viewing. The e-book will only work on color tablets and is not intended for viewing on desktop apps or black and white tablets.
Perhaps the most brilliant comic strip ever created, Calvin and Hobbes continues to entertain with dazzling cartooning and tremendous humor.
Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes has been a worldwide favorite since its introduction in 1985. The strip follows the richly imaginative adventures of Calvin and his trusty tiger, Hobbes. Whether a poignant look at serious family issues or a round of time-travel (with the aid of a well-labeled cardboard box), Calvin and Hobbes will astound and delight you.
Beginning with the day Hobbes sprang into Calvin's tuna fish trap, the first two Calvin and Hobbes collections, Calvin and Hobbes and Something Under The Bed Is Drooling, are brought together in this treasury. Including black-and-white dailies and color Sundays, The Essential Calvin and Hobbes also features an original full-color 16-page story.
256 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1988
6800 people are currently reading
34847 people want to read
About the author
Bill Watterson
398 books4,844 followersBill Watterson (born William Boyd Watterson II) is an American cartoonist, and the author of the comic strip "Calvin and Hobbes". His career as a syndicated cartoonist ran from 1985 to 1995; he stopped drawing "Calvin and Hobbes" at the end of 1995 with a short statement to newspaper editors and his fans that he felt he had achieved all he could in the comic strip medium. During the early years of his career he produced several drawings and additional contributions for "Target: The Political Cartoon Quarterly". Watterson is known for his views on licensing and comic syndication, as well as for his reclusive nature.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,151 reviews
August 7, 2011
August 7, 2011
Dear Bill,
Your decade long run of Calvin and Hobbes was the greatest run of any comic strip in the history of comic strips, and you made the right choice putting an end to it when you did. I can't believe it's been gone for 16 years now. Your precocious Calvin was what every kid with an overactive imagination is in their own heads, but you also gave us the view of what the rest of the world sees in these kids and does to try and beat the imagination out of them. There's implied sadness in the explicit joy you gave us, and it makes Calvin and Hobbes a true masterpiece.
I was fourteen when you started your opus, and I was close enough to my own hyper-imaginative childhood to connect at a visceral level. My youthful imaginary friends were still fresh in my mind, and my current imaginary friends were just taking hold, and your strip gave me something to relate to, someone to cheer for, a place where it was okay to turn dreary realties of the world into exciting fantasies and be proud of that ability all at the same time. It was also a fabulous way to relax my brain (though not too much) amidst all the literature I was devouring at a frightening rate.
But I have a request. Now that I am forty, and I have a precocious little Calvin of my own making explosive sounds with his mouth as he blows up his LEGO creations (as I write this, in fact), and my little Calvin’s twin sister, who happens to be a lot like Susie, I would love it if you came out of retirement and gave us just one year of Calvin and Hobbes and Son (or Daughter). I want to see where Calvin is now. I want to see Calvin as a Dad, and I want his son (or daughter) with a beaten up, super ratty, devilish-as-ever Hobbes. But I don't want this comic to be about the kids, I want it to be about Calvin. I want to see how well Calvin was able to fight off his indoctrination; I imagine he’s one of those rare folks who didn’t join the mainstream, who somehow continued to live on his own terms, but my imagination aside, I am dying to see what he became for you. Please, please, please come back, Bill. We could all use a bit of Calvin again.
I know that my request will never reach you, and that, if it did, you'd probably never even consider the possibility, but I know you could do the "parenting thing" better than all your peers, just as you did the "kid thing" better than anyone else.
So I'll just leave you with the firmest, most heartfelt thank you that I have in me: thank you for that little corner of joy you carved into my world. I’ll never forget it, and late at night, when I am dipping my peanut butter and jelly into my hot chocolate, I’ll have one of my Calvin and Hobbes books open so that I can stain the pages with the purple of some yummy Welch’s grape jelly. Just as Calvin would.
Sincerely,
Brad Simkulet
Dear Bill,
Your decade long run of Calvin and Hobbes was the greatest run of any comic strip in the history of comic strips, and you made the right choice putting an end to it when you did. I can't believe it's been gone for 16 years now. Your precocious Calvin was what every kid with an overactive imagination is in their own heads, but you also gave us the view of what the rest of the world sees in these kids and does to try and beat the imagination out of them. There's implied sadness in the explicit joy you gave us, and it makes Calvin and Hobbes a true masterpiece.
I was fourteen when you started your opus, and I was close enough to my own hyper-imaginative childhood to connect at a visceral level. My youthful imaginary friends were still fresh in my mind, and my current imaginary friends were just taking hold, and your strip gave me something to relate to, someone to cheer for, a place where it was okay to turn dreary realties of the world into exciting fantasies and be proud of that ability all at the same time. It was also a fabulous way to relax my brain (though not too much) amidst all the literature I was devouring at a frightening rate.
But I have a request. Now that I am forty, and I have a precocious little Calvin of my own making explosive sounds with his mouth as he blows up his LEGO creations (as I write this, in fact), and my little Calvin’s twin sister, who happens to be a lot like Susie, I would love it if you came out of retirement and gave us just one year of Calvin and Hobbes and Son (or Daughter). I want to see where Calvin is now. I want to see Calvin as a Dad, and I want his son (or daughter) with a beaten up, super ratty, devilish-as-ever Hobbes. But I don't want this comic to be about the kids, I want it to be about Calvin. I want to see how well Calvin was able to fight off his indoctrination; I imagine he’s one of those rare folks who didn’t join the mainstream, who somehow continued to live on his own terms, but my imagination aside, I am dying to see what he became for you. Please, please, please come back, Bill. We could all use a bit of Calvin again.
I know that my request will never reach you, and that, if it did, you'd probably never even consider the possibility, but I know you could do the "parenting thing" better than all your peers, just as you did the "kid thing" better than anyone else.
So I'll just leave you with the firmest, most heartfelt thank you that I have in me: thank you for that little corner of joy you carved into my world. I’ll never forget it, and late at night, when I am dipping my peanut butter and jelly into my hot chocolate, I’ll have one of my Calvin and Hobbes books open so that I can stain the pages with the purple of some yummy Welch’s grape jelly. Just as Calvin would.
Sincerely,
Brad Simkulet
January 5, 2011
My dad gave me this book Christmas 2009, and I prior to reading it last week, I had not experienced Calvin and Hobbes. Well, that isn't completely true. I had read one or two strips, I suppose. Seen other people reading it. But I hadn't experienced it. I had not sat down with a thick, luscious book full of Calvin and Hobbes strips, full of wonderful, pinpoint and intelligent humour.
When I did finally sit down, I fell in love. So to all my friends out there: how dare you not kidnap me and force-feed me Calvin and Hobbes? For shame!
I fell in love with the way Bill Watterson portrays the truth and beauty of the universe through the cheeky eyes of a young boy. Children, lacking the filters that most adults come to acquire, often say the darnednest things, and Calvin says a lot that falls into that category. Calvin refuses to eat something on his plate, observing wryly that "you know you won't like it when they won't tell you what it is." Calvin, ever street-smart, sneaks out of bed late at night, then phones his house from a pay phone (remember those?) to say, "Hello, Dad! It is now three in the morning. Do you know where I am?" Precocious, clever, and self-aware, Calvin embodies that spark, dare I say that joie de vivre, that we all seek to retain from childhood.
I speak with the perspective of a 21-year-old who never wanted to grow up, but in spite of my best efforts, managed to do it anyway. Maturity sneaked up on me, stalked me, and played a game of cat-and-mouse through my adolescent years. Eventually, fortunately or unfortunately, it won. Which is not to say that I have entirely abandoned my childhood glee, my sense of wonder—I do, after all, read science fiction; in November I got involved in an awesome snowball fight with my coworkers. And I know now what I did not know as a child: it is tough to keep your child-like enthusiasm when the world expects you, requires you to be an adult.
So I think a child, an adolescent, or an older adult are all going to get something different from Calvin and Hobbes than I will. We all might find the strips funny, but our core enjoyment is going to come from an identification that is different for each of us. Calvin and Hobbes has a broad appeal, but it is not the same appeal to everyone. For me, it is a nostalgic retrospective on the days I have left behind. Not that I was ever a trouble-maker like Calvin, oh no. I did not launch wagons into lakes or trees. I was not a terror of babysitters, and as far as I know, I never flooded the bathroom while struggling against a shark in the bathtub. Nevertheless, there is something universal to the childhood experience about Calvin's exuberance. And now here I am, in my third decade, trying to reconnect with that aspect of my life.
The brilliance of these comic strips go deeper than just nostalgia. There is something profound about Calvin and Hobbes. At the same time that these two are cooking up a scheme straight out of—well, the comic books—and we are laughing right along with them, suddenly Hobbes will spring a Big Question on us:
Hobbes says this last part as the wagon they are in goes careening off a dock into a lake, possibly as part of a crazy Calvin venture to jump across the lake in their wagon.
There is just such a broad range of humour and tone to these strips. Watterson takes us from the fantastical Spaceman Spiff sketches to the hilarious and intelligent insults Calvin hurls at his crush, Susie: "I hope you suffer a debilitating brain aneurysm, you freak!" (Which, if an adult uttered this, would be horrible; and in the real world, let's face it, a child might get soap mouthwash. But for me reading Calvin, it's just adorable.) And from these strips, Watterson takes us even further, to ponder those Big Questions of the universe—fun, yes, and funny, but those strips tend to end with a question mark hovering above them.
Reading Calvin and Hobbes also affirms my opinion that comics are a sublime form of literature, and those snobs who look down their noses at this form as somehow "childish" or "immature" are poopyheads. Maybe you don't like Calvin and Hobbes—or perhaps, like me, you've merely never experienced it. Still, Calvin and Hobbes demonstrates the power of the comic form, that essential marriage of witty wordplay with evocative pictures, to convey both humourous and serious subjects. This is a medium that can tell amazing stories, stories both vast and magnificent in scope yet intimate and human in significance. From superheroes to supervillains to ordinary, everday kids, comic strips are awesome. They connect us to our imagination in a way few literary forms can manage. Don't get me wrong; I love novels with a white-hot passion. But there is something just so basic—and I think it is this primal element that snobs confuse with immaturity—to the comic form that makes it so versatile and powerful.
When I did finally sit down, I fell in love. So to all my friends out there: how dare you not kidnap me and force-feed me Calvin and Hobbes? For shame!
I fell in love with the way Bill Watterson portrays the truth and beauty of the universe through the cheeky eyes of a young boy. Children, lacking the filters that most adults come to acquire, often say the darnednest things, and Calvin says a lot that falls into that category. Calvin refuses to eat something on his plate, observing wryly that "you know you won't like it when they won't tell you what it is." Calvin, ever street-smart, sneaks out of bed late at night, then phones his house from a pay phone (remember those?) to say, "Hello, Dad! It is now three in the morning. Do you know where I am?" Precocious, clever, and self-aware, Calvin embodies that spark, dare I say that joie de vivre, that we all seek to retain from childhood.
I speak with the perspective of a 21-year-old who never wanted to grow up, but in spite of my best efforts, managed to do it anyway. Maturity sneaked up on me, stalked me, and played a game of cat-and-mouse through my adolescent years. Eventually, fortunately or unfortunately, it won. Which is not to say that I have entirely abandoned my childhood glee, my sense of wonder—I do, after all, read science fiction; in November I got involved in an awesome snowball fight with my coworkers. And I know now what I did not know as a child: it is tough to keep your child-like enthusiasm when the world expects you, requires you to be an adult.
So I think a child, an adolescent, or an older adult are all going to get something different from Calvin and Hobbes than I will. We all might find the strips funny, but our core enjoyment is going to come from an identification that is different for each of us. Calvin and Hobbes has a broad appeal, but it is not the same appeal to everyone. For me, it is a nostalgic retrospective on the days I have left behind. Not that I was ever a trouble-maker like Calvin, oh no. I did not launch wagons into lakes or trees. I was not a terror of babysitters, and as far as I know, I never flooded the bathroom while struggling against a shark in the bathtub. Nevertheless, there is something universal to the childhood experience about Calvin's exuberance. And now here I am, in my third decade, trying to reconnect with that aspect of my life.
The brilliance of these comic strips go deeper than just nostalgia. There is something profound about Calvin and Hobbes. At the same time that these two are cooking up a scheme straight out of—well, the comic books—and we are laughing right along with them, suddenly Hobbes will spring a Big Question on us:
Calvin: do you believe in Fate?
Hobbes: You mean, that our lives are predestined?
Calvin: Yeah ... that the things we do are inevitable.
Hobbes: What a scary thought.
Hobbes says this last part as the wagon they are in goes careening off a dock into a lake, possibly as part of a crazy Calvin venture to jump across the lake in their wagon.
There is just such a broad range of humour and tone to these strips. Watterson takes us from the fantastical Spaceman Spiff sketches to the hilarious and intelligent insults Calvin hurls at his crush, Susie: "I hope you suffer a debilitating brain aneurysm, you freak!" (Which, if an adult uttered this, would be horrible; and in the real world, let's face it, a child might get soap mouthwash. But for me reading Calvin, it's just adorable.) And from these strips, Watterson takes us even further, to ponder those Big Questions of the universe—fun, yes, and funny, but those strips tend to end with a question mark hovering above them.
Reading Calvin and Hobbes also affirms my opinion that comics are a sublime form of literature, and those snobs who look down their noses at this form as somehow "childish" or "immature" are poopyheads. Maybe you don't like Calvin and Hobbes—or perhaps, like me, you've merely never experienced it. Still, Calvin and Hobbes demonstrates the power of the comic form, that essential marriage of witty wordplay with evocative pictures, to convey both humourous and serious subjects. This is a medium that can tell amazing stories, stories both vast and magnificent in scope yet intimate and human in significance. From superheroes to supervillains to ordinary, everday kids, comic strips are awesome. They connect us to our imagination in a way few literary forms can manage. Don't get me wrong; I love novels with a white-hot passion. But there is something just so basic—and I think it is this primal element that snobs confuse with immaturity—to the comic form that makes it so versatile and powerful.
November 5, 2022
I know this isn't great literature or a fascinating subject but I've always enjoyed the comic strips and I have several of Watterson's books. What can I say-I just love Calvin and Hobbes!
December 19, 2020
Calvin and Hobbes were always two of my favourite characters that I was impatient for from Sunday afternoon until Monday's paper. Every day there was a new crazy or incredibly mature statement from Calvin and his adventures with Hobbes are unforgettable. My son was initially skeptical but after just one strip, he was an addict and could not get enough! The book is nice in that it has 6 strips from the comics of the Monday to Saturday comics in black and white and a full colour page from the Sunday paper. Incredibly imaginative and insightful for both kids and parents, this is one of the best ever kids comics.
July 15, 2016
Hilarious, cute, perfect, and perfect again!
March 28, 2016
DA, ponovo i ponovo i ponovo i ponovo- ♥
March 4, 2021
An old classic and always funny.
August 8, 2012
I have a confession to make. I started reading Calving and Hobbes comics because I saw my third grade crush reading them. I guess I should thank him, because once I started reading these comics, I didn't want to stop. My grandparents and parents bought me collection upon collection of Calvin and Hobbes comics. And while I didn't read the "normal" books that kids my age read, I think I had a great childhood reading these comics. They're funny, they're silly, and believe it or not, they can have some important life lessons in them. Of course, as a kid, I didn't realize what those were.
I can easily say that Calvin and Hobbes comics were what I always went back to reading when I was between books throughout elementary and middle school. Maybe even some high school. Basically, I love these comics, and they truly are great.
I can easily say that Calvin and Hobbes comics were what I always went back to reading when I was between books throughout elementary and middle school. Maybe even some high school. Basically, I love these comics, and they truly are great.
October 6, 2018
A quote for the reason of 5 stars:
"A day without laughter is a day wasted."- Charlie Chaplin
"A day without laughter is a day wasted."- Charlie Chaplin
September 17, 2023
What an absolutely glorious experience reading this collection was. I didn't get to read this strip in the newspapers as it was carried in the paper we didn't get. I hope I can can read the rest of the volumes in this series sometime soon.
May 17, 2020
Reading Calving and Hobbes can make you go back to the childhood and do all these mischieves that Calvin does. He runs a riot when it comes to being the naughtiest kid. Thinking about what else there is to life? Look no more, Calvin and Hobbes take care of your philosophical and intellectual requirement and provide a lot of food for thought.
March 6, 2011
Another review I just saw (almost totally unrelated ... oh well) reminded me I should give this five stars. I have loved C&H for years. One of my greatest disgusts with generally-sad newspaper comics is that Calvin and Hobbes are not there.
Chronicling the practically endless exploits of fine young Calvin, his stuffed (?!) tiger Hobbes, and occasionally others: Calvin's wartorn parents (especially his fabulously sardonic dad), the ever-sappy neighbourhood kid Susie, and long-suffering teacher Miss Wormwood. I can't properly describe these comics. Seriously, just go try them. Or retry them. Alternately wry, uproariously funny and heartwarming, they will capture the heart of anyone who's ever had – anyone who's ever been a child. Watterson's illustrations and his dialogues are equally brilliant. There is not one strip that won't have you smiling, at the very least. The very stuff to read when you're at all pressed by negative feelings. Laughter is good for the soul, as hereby proven.
However. One minor cautionary note, potential readers:
Calvin is a freaky kid. Damn realistic, though - nicely caricatured but realistic, hence artistic. Did I mention sadistic? (Apologies.) Reminds me of myself, not too far beyond his age. If he'd owned Barbie dolls, he would totally have played out his unconscious fascination with violence and its emotional ramifications through WWIII pseudo-Holocaust Barbie games.
One of my current book-related sorrows is that I left my copy of this collection at home when I came to university. I just had to pick and choose. This is coming back with me next time I travel home, though.
Chronicling the practically endless exploits of fine young Calvin, his stuffed (?!) tiger Hobbes, and occasionally others: Calvin's wartorn parents (especially his fabulously sardonic dad), the ever-sappy neighbourhood kid Susie, and long-suffering teacher Miss Wormwood. I can't properly describe these comics. Seriously, just go try them. Or retry them. Alternately wry, uproariously funny and heartwarming, they will capture the heart of anyone who's ever had – anyone who's ever been a child. Watterson's illustrations and his dialogues are equally brilliant. There is not one strip that won't have you smiling, at the very least. The very stuff to read when you're at all pressed by negative feelings. Laughter is good for the soul, as hereby proven.
However. One minor cautionary note, potential readers:
Calvin is a freaky kid. Damn realistic, though - nicely caricatured but realistic, hence artistic. Did I mention sadistic? (Apologies.) Reminds me of myself, not too far beyond his age. If he'd owned Barbie dolls, he would totally have played out his unconscious fascination with violence and its emotional ramifications through WWIII pseudo-Holocaust Barbie games.
One of my current book-related sorrows is that I left my copy of this collection at home when I came to university. I just had to pick and choose. This is coming back with me next time I travel home, though.
December 10, 2012
Somewhere own the street in a small house in a quite town lives every babysitter's worst nightmare. The dynamic yet meddlesome duo of the mischievous Calvin & the manipulative Hobbes. Calvin & Hobbes is a great, classic cartoon about a little boy, named Calvin, who goes on many wacky expeditions with his pet tiger, Hobbes. Everybody else sees Hobbes as a mere stuffed animal, but not Calvin. He sees Hobbes as a real tiger & a snarky one at that. Watch Calvin & his feline friend as they attempt dangerous stunts, face the monsters under his bed, go camping, & try to pass Miss. Wormwood's class. Can Calvin learn to stay out of trouble? Can he learn to get along with Susie Derkins? Can his parents handle any more disappointment in their life? Seriously, they need help! This lovable yet extreme cartoon really highlights the joys & pleasures of the average suburban life as well as brings out the inner child of its readers. Any true fan of Garfield, the Cat would surely admire this treasure of time. I know that I do! I'd rate this book 5 stars. It definitely deserves a high spot on the shelf.
September 14, 2015
Went back to book from my childhood recently and found it as enjoyable as I did those many years ago (perhaps even more so). There was poignancy in Calvin & Hobbes I never even noticed when I was a kid. Lovely, funny, fantastic stuff.
January 21, 2023
Simply fun
January 15, 2020
But it IS essential.
Watterson called the Calvin and Hobbes treasuries "authoritative," "essential," and "indispensable" because they were, be said, none of those things.
I disagree, Bill. Calvin and Hobbes is food for the soul of the most nutritive kind. Take up and read.
Watterson called the Calvin and Hobbes treasuries "authoritative," "essential," and "indispensable" because they were, be said, none of those things.
I disagree, Bill. Calvin and Hobbes is food for the soul of the most nutritive kind. Take up and read.
July 24, 2022
I loved this book and can’t wait to read the others!! I never thought I’d like Calvin & Hobbes. I saw it in the comics in the newspaper when I was growing up but just never seemed to be interested. So I checked this book out at my library wanting to find out what was the big deal lol. Turns out I absolutely loved it. I laughed hysterically, out loud, and my 22 year old daughter enjoyed hearing my laughter so much lol. I also found my artistic self being mesmerized by how talented this gentleman is with his drawings and colorings. I found myself studying his colors, lines, shadowing, detail. He’s just incredible. I have got to buy all of these books. Thank you Bill for sharing your incredible gift, and Calvin and Hobbes.
January 27, 2023
If there's anything better than reading "Calvin and Hobbes" as a kid, that would be reading these books to your own child.
Fortunately mine laughed in all the right places -- everywhere -- and he never once made a face as scary as some of those that Bill Watterson drew on the face of little Calvin.
Fortunately mine laughed in all the right places -- everywhere -- and he never once made a face as scary as some of those that Bill Watterson drew on the face of little Calvin.
January 10, 2023
“wHeRe’S mY jAcKeT? I’ve looked everywhere! Under the chair, over my bed, on the stairs, on the hall floor, in the kitchen… it’s just not anywhere! Oh, HERE it is! WHO PUT IT IN THE STUPID CLOSET?!?”
probably the most relatable line in the entire book
probably the most relatable line in the entire book
June 11, 2010
4.5 stars. Second only to Gary Larson's "The Far Side" as my favorite cartoon series of all time. Always clever, always funny and always leaves you in a better mood. I must have for any library.
March 29, 2022
You have not experienced true humor until you’ve read this.
June 5, 2021
What a damn delight! I can’t believe I hadn’t read any Calvin & Hobbes before now.
Read as a part of my MLS graphic novels and comics course
Read as a part of my MLS graphic novels and comics course
August 30, 2020
4.5 stars
Great drawings..Absolutely hilarious.
Great drawings..Absolutely hilarious.
March 25, 2014
I was always a Garfield kid growing up. The first things I actually remember reading as a child were Garfield books that you could get through the Scholastic newsletter -- named with obesity puns like Garfield Goes to Waist. I skipped right ahead to Zits as a teenager, and Dilbert as an adult office drone (as well as XKCD, Questionable Content, The Oatmeal, The Order of the Stick, and a number of other great web comics).
How exactly I missed Calvin and Hobbes I'm honestly not sure, but after seeing the excellent comics documentary Stripped, I remedied that more or less immediately.
And having done so, I understand all the praise for this comic. It isn't just about Watterson's beautiful and inimitable style of artwork, or the quality of the jokes -- not that either of those hurt the comic strip -- it is because Watterson understands the human condition, and was able to translate that into a few successive square boxes featuring drawings of a little boy and his stuffed tiger.
Unlike Dennis the Menace, a comic strip which bears a superficial likeness in that both boys are unapologetic troublemakers, this comic shows how imaginative and inquisitive the otherwise unruly boy can be, while simultaneously showing how trying being a parent can be, without villainizing or marginalizing any characters. A great example of this is Calvin's babysitter. While she is a villain to Calvin, she garners audience sympathy when she laments what she has to put up with to help pay for college.
The singular brilliance of Calvin and Hobbes is it's earnest and honest portrayal of family life, followed closely by the awesome animations of Calvin's wild imagination, featuring Spaceman Spiff, among others. Also, the comic strips themes are timeless -- you would have no idea it was published 25 years ago.
For evidence of Watterson's genius, just see the nine strips that make up The Racoon Story (scroll to the bottom of that page), which are not funny at all, but simply poignant.
How exactly I missed Calvin and Hobbes I'm honestly not sure, but after seeing the excellent comics documentary Stripped, I remedied that more or less immediately.
And having done so, I understand all the praise for this comic. It isn't just about Watterson's beautiful and inimitable style of artwork, or the quality of the jokes -- not that either of those hurt the comic strip -- it is because Watterson understands the human condition, and was able to translate that into a few successive square boxes featuring drawings of a little boy and his stuffed tiger.
Unlike Dennis the Menace, a comic strip which bears a superficial likeness in that both boys are unapologetic troublemakers, this comic shows how imaginative and inquisitive the otherwise unruly boy can be, while simultaneously showing how trying being a parent can be, without villainizing or marginalizing any characters. A great example of this is Calvin's babysitter. While she is a villain to Calvin, she garners audience sympathy when she laments what she has to put up with to help pay for college.
The singular brilliance of Calvin and Hobbes is it's earnest and honest portrayal of family life, followed closely by the awesome animations of Calvin's wild imagination, featuring Spaceman Spiff, among others. Also, the comic strips themes are timeless -- you would have no idea it was published 25 years ago.
For evidence of Watterson's genius, just see the nine strips that make up The Racoon Story (scroll to the bottom of that page), which are not funny at all, but simply poignant.
October 1, 2024
Tehehehehehe!
Alright, let me write an actual review: a few "Calvin and Hobbes" strips crossed my dash and I knew this was a comic I wanted to read. I was right! It's lively, fun, it has a great punch and I love Calvin so much, even while empathizing deeply with his exasperated parents. I love the contrast between the highly philosophical language and childish view of life, and I'm still not sure what Hobbes is, but he's great.
I'm so happy I picked this up.
Alright, let me write an actual review: a few "Calvin and Hobbes" strips crossed my dash and I knew this was a comic I wanted to read. I was right! It's lively, fun, it has a great punch and I love Calvin so much, even while empathizing deeply with his exasperated parents. I love the contrast between the highly philosophical language and childish view of life, and I'm still not sure what Hobbes is, but he's great.
I'm so happy I picked this up.
March 4, 2019
****5.0****
Calvin Rocks!!!
Calvin Rocks!!!
February 6, 2017
Funny with more than the occasional insight.
Read
February 3, 2021This brought back memories of growing up reading this comic strip in the newspaper and in library books. The set of segments about the racoon burial stood out in this collection.
March 17, 2020
Haven't read in years but no question this deserves all 5 stars and a silver bullet.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,151 reviews