Calvin & Hobbes: "Think BIG! Riches! Power!"

I actually found a copy of a book in my work's book drive, I promptly snatched it up.

 

Good job!

 

What a bit of luck...the set is $100.00 on abebooks, which is still too much...

 

Read the 10th anniversary book finally, and a fascinating read it was.

 

Indeed. I can lose myself for days in that collection. Some of my favorite strips:

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And of course, the final strip:
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"Derkins and I never hit it off, although we occasionally hit each other"

 

"25 Great Calvin and Hobbes Strips
Why Bill Watterson is our hero
compiled by Jon, Bill and Nick - September 7, 2004
Hundreds of comic strips have been published in newspapers. The majority are terrible, and almost all the rest are mediocre. There have been maybe four or five good comic strips in the history of the world. So saying that Calvin and Hobbes is the best comic strip ever doesn't really hold a lot of weight.

And it's really a shame that it's so difficult to quantify this strip's greatness. I can confidently state that Calvin and Hobbes outclasses the rest of the comic strip world more than anything else has ever outclassed the rest of its medium. Sans this strip, the industry is characterized by guys sitting on rocks making stupid puns, a Family Circus kid misunderstanding the meaning of a word, or an overweight father playing golf while telling jokes such as I LIKE GOLF and GOLF IS HARD. It's a medium that doesn't really deserve something as good as Calvin and Hobbes, but it got it anyway, and the newspaper-reading world was made a better place by it.

Calvin and Hobbes ran from 1985 to 1995. Bill Watterson drew thousands of strips, and while I wish like hell that he would come back and draw more, it's probably best to reflect and be thankful for what he's done. Below we have showcased, in no particular order, some of our favorite Calvin and Hobbes strips of all time. If you love them as much as we do, let us know if you think there are any that we should have included. And if you missed out, well, hopefully we can give you some idea of why Mr. Watterson is our hero."


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"Virtue needs some cheaper thrills."

 

"He's one of the Old Gods! He demands sacrifice!"

"One of the top classic Calvin strips. It serves as an example of what set C&H apart from other comics: It's not a simple set-up to a punchline in the last panel, but a whole and complete work that uses every inch of space. Not only that, but tonally it's a huge departure from other strips of the time (or of today, for that matter). I can only imagine the initial reaction across the country to a dark, gothic tale of supernatural creation and destruction, wedged between Gasoline Alley and Mark Trail."

Ironically, the cartoonist discusses in the 10th anniversary edition why he was disappointed with this strip.

 

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I have always loved this one. I laugh out loud every time. It's so funny.

 

lol-"He demands sacrifice!" is one of my all-time favorites. never thought about what the rest of the country might be thinking, however.

 

Interesting; I remember Watterson griping about how the format constrained him on this one and he never liked it that much. I tend to agree with him more than with the authors of this list. I don't know if I'd say it (or any C&H strip) is really "bad," but it falls short of great, I think.

The Virtue needs some cheaper thrills is a masterwork; "Someday I'll write my own philosphy book," Calvin says, unaware that it's being done even as he speaks. Far as I know, there is not yet a religion of Calvin; yet, I say.

 

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"You've taught me nothing except how to cynically manipulate the system."

"Pretty much the voice of Bill Watterson dictating the current state of our school systems. Dead on if you ask me. The school system is more of a test for being able to acquire knowledge than preparation for anything worthwhile."


Yes, yes, but. Exploiting the system is a valuable life talent, eh?

 

Indeed it is. In fact, that's a lesson Captain Kirk took well to heart in The Wrath of Khan.

 

Watterson had nothing but contempt for any kind of group think; one of my favorite school related strips is when Calvin compares grades with Susie and is thrilled with his low grade, as she is with her high one. She questions him and he states, "I find my life is a lot easier the lower I keep peoples' expectations." No kidding. No kidding.

 

Did it ever bother anyone else that Calvin never won one of the multi-strip battles with Susie?

 

Calvin is like Charlie Brown, circumstantially; he always loses, he never succeeds and he's always getting beaten by the system. But, philosophically, he's not at all like Charlie Brown; Calvin is eternally an optimist and just because he's lost a thousand times, he still thinks that this time he'll win and if he loses, he can still claim, as he often does, that it's a moral victory.

Charlie Brown is a kid's life seen through the eyes of an adult; Calvin is a kid the way kids really are.

I can only think of one or two times that we see Calvin really depressed by his state, as Charlie Brown seems to be all the time. One of the times is on this very list; the brilliant "KAZAM" strip (or is it "SHAZAM?" I forget).

 

I hadn't really thought of it like that, but you're right; Charlie Brown's melancholia isn't particularly child-like. Calvin's resilience, OTOH, in face of parental, peer and Hobbesian disapproval, rarely flags.

 

I haven't been able to find a jpg of the next strip, but I did find an exact verbal description:

"
"The aliens came from a far distant world
In a large yellow ship that blinked as it twirled.
It rounded the moon, and entered our sky.
We kew they had come but we didn't know why.

"Bright the next morning, with noisy commotion,
The ship slowly moved out over the ocean.
It lowered a tube and drained the whole sea,
For transport back home to their galaxy.

"The tube then sucked up the clouds and the air,
Causing no small amount of earthling despair.
With nothing to breathe, we started to die.
'Help us! Please stop! was the public outcry.

"A hatch opened up and the aliens said,
'We're sorry to hear that you soon will be dead.
But though you may find this slightly macabre,
We prefer your extinction to the loss of our job.

In the last frame, Calvin is saying to Hobbs, "That's my science fiction story. Think it's too far-fetched?"
And Hobbs replies, "Not enough, really."

 

I remember this well. Reminds me of the one where Calvin asks Hobbes if he wants a taste of Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs, and Hobbes has a spoonful and reflexively grabs his throat because they're so sweet, and Calvin remarks that they're actually kind of bland until you scoop sugar on them.

 

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"It's psychosomatic. You need a lobotomy. I'll get a saw."

"The "realistic" art style and dramatic angles of comic strip soap operas like Rex Morgan, M.D. are funny enough when they're real, so Watterson didn't have to stretch too far for a parody. I mean, look at this. I wouldn't listen to two real people talk about whether to put their kid in day care, why would anyone actually read this? Also, that second panel is scary and I think Rex is driving so fast because his passenger has to hurry and get back to The Human League."


I love the doctor strips.

 

Next: "The Duplicator Story.

Some of the stories told in this strip last weeks, and this was one of them. Calvin and Hobbes isn't particularly unique in this respect; after all, the last ten years of "Funky Winkerbean" have chronicled him making his bed. Calvin and Hobbes stories are so great because they give the strip the opportunity to spin completely out of control.

In this story, Calvin invents a device which allows him to instantly duplicate himself. His intent is to create a clone that will do all the hard work for him, but hell unleashes when he realizes that the clone, being exactly like him, is just as much of an ******* as he is. Calvin #2 manages to create Calvins #3-6, and they all cause chaos because they know that Calvin #1 will have to pay for it. It's just about the best alibi a kid could have. It probably reaches its climax when Calvin's mom sees #4 glued to the television when he's supposed to be doing chores and yells, "What are you doing watching TV?" #4 replies casually, "Why, are you taking a survey?" If I had responded like that to either of my parents when I was a kid, they would have shot me in the kneecap.

Needless to say, this is where we got the name of this website from."

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I loved the replicator strips, too; they became philosophical in the best way.

 

This was one of my favorite sequences too.

 

"What do you mean? This guy is a total jerk!"