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'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40

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Re: 'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40

#81

Post by WillAdams »

RunSet wrote: post #75
WillAdams wrote: post #2

I can still remember choosing between the morning or evening paper based on which included _Calvin and Hobbes_, so it certainly worked to sell papers. The boxed collection is wonderful, and one of my favourites. For folks who want a bit more, there have been a couple of homages: "Hobbes and Bacon": https://imgur.com/gallery/all-hobbes-bacon-by-pants-are-over... --- a bit too on-the-nose for my taste, which doesn't re…

Gene Wolfe wrote a story titled Petting Zoo , and here is the introduction he wrote for it: > Petting Zoo is a favorite story of David Hartwell's, the master editor who edited this book and most of my others. Do you like dinosaurs? I loved them when I was a kid, and I've noticed that Hobbes' buddy Calvin loves them at least as much. Perhaps David feels the same way. Petting Zoo can be read here: https://archive.org/d…

It wounds me that I missed that latter, and that the commentary on it at:

https://toostupidtotravel.org/2014/06/07/ever-wished-that-ca...

is 404.

Re: 'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40

#82

Post by mandevil »

HeinzStuckeIt wrote: post #7

IMO, Watterson stopped at just the right time to preserve his legacy and keep the strip associated with childlike wonder and innocence. In the last years of C&H there was a certain curmudgeonliness creeping in, as Waterson started to mock modern commerce and art. I think the cartoonist was naturally growing older and more disillusioned, and his strip faintly started to sound like Calvin’s dad instead of Calvin.

I'm currently working through the Complete Calvin and Hobbes with my 9 year old, and he had these jabs at commercialism throughout, though it might have been sharper towards the end, but he was already jaded by art in 1985 as a 27 year old.

He had dreamed of being a cartoonist from childhood (when he was 8 he wrote Charles Shulz of Peanuts who wrote him back and it changed his life). He had actually majored in Political Science at Kenyon College (class of '80) because he thought that political cartooning was going to be his route in. It was not. He was a political cartoonist at the Cincinnati Post briefly before they fired him, then he worked for an ad agency and freelanced a bit before Universal Press Syndicate signed him on for Calvin and Hobbes. But, even at 27 when he started working for UPS, he understood the pressure of the professional art world and was cynical about it.

Apparently he lived a miserable life for the last few years of his work. He had been injured in a bike accident and it terrified him that he would be injured in such a way that he could no longer draw (1) so he basically stopped going out, stopped doing anything that could possibly harm his ability to earn money, stopped doing anything that might bring joy to his life. He lived a recluse for several years, before deciding to just quit, then he and his wife Melissa adopted a child and gave her a good life.

1: Bill Mauldin, the Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist who created Willie and Joe, was the editorial cartoonist for the Chicago Sun Times when, in 1991, he crushed his right hand attaching a snow-plow to his truck, and he had to retire. I think that incident is what inspired this fear, the timelines match up. But of course, Watterson is famously private and so this is conjecture.

Re: 'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40

#83

Post by dingaling »

It's curious that of all the famous American syndicated strips, only The Far Side, and maybe Garfield, seem to have bridged the Atlantic divide to the UK.

Maybe C&H and Peanuts were just too rooted in US suburban family culture. Dilbert had a niche following here and beyond that I struggle to even name another strip.

Re: 'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40

#84

Post by losvedir »

elicash wrote: post #3

My own personal favorites: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XryL7duzj_WZEy0dtdDO48_s...

I was actually just thinking of that "cow milk" one the other day. I remember when I read C&H as a kid thinking that one was absolutely hilarious and oh so true. Then I realized, now that I'm older and more experienced in the world, and have had kids, that the idea of drinking cow milk is not actually that far-fetched. Udders look weird, sure, but you know what they are.

In other words, it's kind of amazing that Watterson was able to put himself in the mind of a child so well for that strip.

Re: 'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40

#85

Post by recursive »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #67
chanakya wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are these contradictions and hypocrisies? Maybe I'm just old, but I've never understood the angst younger people seem to have these days.

from my familiarity with the writing of past generations and even past civilizations it seems reasonable to conclude that contradictions and hypocrisies are generally understood to exit. I don't think it's just down to the young people.

I'm curious about this too. No debate about whether they're generally understood, but I'm curious if anyone can name one.

Re: 'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40

#86

Post by thunderbong »

A bit off-topic, but it's been increasingly tough to view Calvin and Hobbes on the internet.

Gocomics seems to go after everyone who posts these comic strips on a regular basis.

The C&H sub-reddit stopped posting some time ago. [0]

The only C&H Search out there is not allowed to show the strips and instead redirects to Gocomics. [1]

Here's a blog post by S. Anand detailing some background on the takedown notice he received, although he doesn't mention who sent it. [2]

I feel saddened that the one comic strip that resisted commercialization has to have its fans face this.

But I suppose that's the nature of the web now.

[0]: https://www.reddit.com/r/calvinandhobbes/comments/1m8j09a/th...

[1]: https://michaelyingling.com/random/calvin_and_hobbes/

[2]: https://www.s-anand.net/blog/the-calvin-and-hobbes-search-ta...

Re: 'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40

#87

Post by mikkupikku »

thunderbong wrote: post #86

A bit off-topic, but it's been increasingly tough to view Calvin and Hobbes on the internet. Gocomics seems to go after everyone who posts these comic strips on a regular basis. The C&H sub-reddit stopped posting some time ago. [0] The only C&H Search out there is not allowed to show the strips and instead redirects to Gocomics. [1] Here's a blog post by S. Anand detailing some background on the takedown notice he re…

You might as well torrent/etc the books, no sense with using web middlemen who get takedowns because they don't have the rights either. Direct piracy gives you a better experience than indirect piracy.

(You should also buy real copies if you still can, because they're great.)

Re: 'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40

#88

Post by mikkupikku »

next_xibalba wrote: post #57
NiloCK wrote: post #26

That is just two years after I burst onto the page. Calvin and Hobbes was a major part of my childhood - I loved it. For something casually consumed on the daily at the breakfast table, it was so earnestly, so obviously, smarter than the median cultural offering. Smarter also then the local nightly news broadcasts. Smarter also than the median educational intervention I experienced through elementary and middle schoo…

I think Calvin was of a common archetype of that era. The sarcastic, mildly anti-heroic protagonist. And I think that archetype did all of us who grew up in that era and imbibed the culture were done a disservice. I, too, have found my way to respecting and admiring the pragmatic, the persistent, and even the earnest among us over the smart alecs and the sarcastic wits.

It could have been so much worse, and did become so. Late 90s / early 00s had Cartman being a role model to kids.

Re: 'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40

#89

Post by rrjjww »

nedrylandJP wrote: post #50
keepamovin wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first C&H comic strip compared to the last one: https://imgur.com/a/semJX :.)

Fun fact - Hobbes eventually lost those little paw pads

Reading some of the compendiums with Watersons commentary are a really interesting look into how things changed over the years and an insight into comic publishing

Re: 'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40

#90

Post by 0xdeadbeefbabe »

next_xibalba wrote: post #57
NiloCK wrote: post #26

That is just two years after I burst onto the page. Calvin and Hobbes was a major part of my childhood - I loved it. For something casually consumed on the daily at the breakfast table, it was so earnestly, so obviously, smarter than the median cultural offering. Smarter also then the local nightly news broadcasts. Smarter also than the median educational intervention I experienced through elementary and middle schoo…

I think Calvin was of a common archetype of that era. The sarcastic, mildly anti-heroic protagonist. And I think that archetype did all of us who grew up in that era and imbibed the culture were done a disservice. I, too, have found my way to respecting and admiring the pragmatic, the persistent, and even the earnest among us over the smart alecs and the sarcastic wits.

I am earnestly inclined to double down on smart alecs and sarcastic wits as a matter of pragmatism.
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