Tuesday, December 11, 2012

The Complete Calvin And Hobbes



I love cartooning.  One of my skills as a graphic designer is that I can cartoon.  I still cartoon.  I now teach high school drawing and dedicate a whole section on cartooning.

I love comic books but I especially love newspaper comic strips.  At one point I had high hopes of being a newspaper cartoonist.

Three comic strips had/have the biggest influence on me: Peanuts, Bloom County/Opus and my absolute favorite—Calvin And Hobbes.

The strip starred precocious and mischievous six year old Calvin and his imaginary friend Hobbes the tiger personified by his stuffed toy tiger.

Together the duo would embark on some of the most imaginative and outrageous adventures imaginable laced with sardonic views of growing up, grownups, school and life in general.
Bill Watterson, the creator and artist of Calvin And Hobbes, imbued the strip with a sense of wonder as seen through the eyes of a young boy.  Watterson’s art captured the innocence of childhood and yet lent itself to depicting some of the most elaborate scenarios as imagined by young Calvin.

The strips’ timing was impeccable and the word play between the two main characters was both funny and poignant.

Andrews McMeel Publishing has gathered ALL of the Calvin And Hobbes daily and Sunday strips into a handsome four volume soft cover collection that is sure to please any comic strip or Calvin And Hobbes fan.

Bill Watterson provides an insightful introduction where he talks about what inspired to create the strip as well as his talent for peering into the mind of a precocious six year old.  Although the strip ran a mere 11 years from 1985 to 1996 until Watterson’s retirement, Calvin And Hobbes still remains a huge favorite of comic strips.