Growing up, we had collected volumes of Calvin and Hobbes, Garfield, and The Boondocks. Surprisingly good bedfellows. Covered the bases, so to speak.
'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40
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Re: 'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40
#12IMO, 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.
At least based on some of the things he's written in some of the anthologies, it seems like a lot of that disillusionment was not just because of age, but rather because of his battles with the publishers and what not that were pushing him to make changes that he felt would compromise the integrity of the strip. A lot of the comics include subtle jabs about corporate greed, artistic integrity, etc. because he was actively fighting with the corporations that distributed his strip over such matters...
Still, 100% agreed that he stopped at the right time, both because of the creeping cynicism, but also simply because he was running out of fresh ideas...
Re: 'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40
#13My own personal favorites: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XryL7duzj_WZEy0dtdDO48_s...
The ones about Calvin having an awful day due to what's demanded of him are honestly heartbreaking.
Re: 'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40
#14My favorite Calvin and Hobbes reference: https://xkcd.com/409/ There are even more on xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Calvin_a...
smbc-comics has done a whole slew of C+H inspired strips with two kids out having a deep but strage philosophical conversation. It's very difficult to actually find anything you're looking for in the SMBC archives though... E.g. https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/qualia
Zach Weinersmith’s Beawolf graphic novel is basically an ode to Calvin. He has a new book coming out soon, too.
Re: 'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40
#15Growing up, we had collected volumes of Calvin and Hobbes, Garfield, and The Boondocks. Surprisingly good bedfellows. Covered the bases, so to speak.
The Boondocks is probably the most witty cartoon ever made. It still holds up because we've largely not advanced as a society
Re: 'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40
#16I 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…
> There was also one simply heart-breaking one, where Calvin has cancer, gets a decrepit Hobbes out of storage, and gifts him to a troubled grandchild, but not finding it on searching.... Are you sure this was a comic? It's a story someone wrote, available on Scribd.
Maybe that's what I'm recalling.
This one?
Re: 'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40
#171985, I thought they were around a lot longer.
I remember people at work talking about that comic and loving it. But the my City Newspaper did not carry it :(
I can see it now in gocomics and it is great.
Re: 'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40
#18Calvin's dad was quite a character, wasn't he?
Re: 'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40
#19If you want something to hang on your wall, an original strip is coming up for auction in Stockholm more or less as I write. The bid is currently at over 1 MSEK (100kUSD)... https://auctionet.com/sv/events/891-the-modern-art-design-sa...
Re: 'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40
#20One thing that always struck me about Calvin & Hobbes is how well it ages. The humor lands when you’re a kid, but the subtext only becomes clear as an adult.
Watterson managed to keep that dual perspective without letting the strip drift into cynicism, which is rare for long-running comics.