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[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

The GOAT!

Yup, still my favorite to this day. I forgot how amazing the dad is. I have to pull out my collection at some point

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

Have always really loved C&H. I was home schooled for two years in 7th and 8th grade, and my vocabulary curriculum was simply Calvin & Hobbes. I had one hell of a vocabulary for an eighth-grader. I also developed my own strips and thought I was seriously going to be a comic strip artist for years.

My favorites were the long adventures where he would keep a story going for weeks, sometimes months. It was the biggest reason to own the books for me. So enchanting and nostalgic to me now. Happy Birthday, guys.

Spaceman Spiff!

ATTACK OF THE DERANGED KILLER MONSTER SNOW GOONS.

I was enraptured with that. It may have been his magnum opus. That or the haircut story.

 

[Steamlord]

The raccoon arc destroys me every time.

 

[Silver Arrows]

Since this thread got bumped, here's a small ancedote for my love of C&H:

I decided that for my description in my high school graduation yearbook, I use the final words written by Mr. Watterson:

 

[AniHawk]

one of my favorites

just calvin being a dick. i love it.

 

[Cyan]

one of my favorites

just calvin being a dick. i love it.

<3

 

[Switch Back 9]

I know a lot of you guys aren't the biggest fans of tattoos, but I figured mine was appropriate for the thread

 

[way more]

one of my favorites

just calvin being a dick. i love it.

Ahahah. I also love this one.

Look at the joy in his face. What a scamp.

 

[wanderingprostheyltite]

One of the coziest feelings ever as a kid was getting under the covers in the winter and reading a Calvin and Hobbes collection. A sublime complement to childhood.

 

[DarkChronic]

One of the coziest feelings ever as a kid was getting under the covers in the winter and reading a Calvin and Hobbes collection. A sublime complement to childhood.

Hell. Yes.

Every winter I do my annual "C+H" reread from the collection. Nothing better than a big winter snow storm outside, cozy in bed, with C+H and a mug of hot chocolate.

 

[kess]

I love those strips with "adult" Calvin and Susie heh

I just wanted to confirm this looked goddamn amazing in the papers when it was running next to Family Circus and Garfield.

 

[big ander]

been loving scanning through strips and remembering how many weird running topics there were in this. Chewing Magazine, Hamster Huey and the Gooey Kablooie. such great nonsense parody ideas.

one of my favorites

just calvin being a dick. i love it.

Haha yep this one is a classic.

 

[Switch Back 9]

been loving scanning through strips and remembering how many weird running topics there were in this. Chewing Magazine, Hamster Huey and the Gooey Kablooie.

Oh my god I forgot about Chewing lmao.

 

[GhaleonEB]

I always loved the triangle smile.

I don't remember why but this one made me laugh so hard as a kid. I think it was what I imagined what Calvin's delivery must have been like.

"A two inch long, living booger" is an ongoing reference in my house, especially now that the kids have both red all of C&H. Usually around dinner time, to my wife's chagrin.

Ahahah. I also love this one.

Look at the joy in his face. What a scamp.

This is one that I really love, in part because it's focused on Calvin's mom. Watterson did a wonderful job of showing how difficult it was to be a parent, especially of a kid like Calvin. While much of the comic is from his perspective, with the parents appearing often, every now and then he'd pen a comic almost (or entirely, such as Calvin's dad up late at night after the break in) from the parents point of view, and Calvin comes barging in. It really contextualizes his parents blowing up so often.

When I was younger I saw their reactions to Calvin's behavior as being for comic relief, but now I recognize them as just normal people trying to raise an imaginative, spirited kid. It ain't easy.

 

[professor_t]

A couple years ago I got rid of a whole bunch of my old books that I didn't need anymore. My old C&H collections were part of that bunch, as the complete collection makes them redundant. I have given away/donated a ton of stuff over the years, but I don't think anything was harder to let go than those old collections. But hopefully some other kid has them now and has joined the ranks of C&H fans as a result.

LOL. I have no idea what kind of vacation my brain was taking when I typed that. I believe I meant Far Side, but we can't be entirely sure.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

one of my favorites

just calvin being a dick. i love it.

I was an extremely well-behaved child, except for that time I took a hammer to a rocking chair. Hence, I always loved this one.

 

[Fidelis Hodie]

one of my favorites

just calvin being a dick. i love it.

one of mine too. I have a fantasy of making a calvin and hobbes movie and this would be my cold opening, no question.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

DO A BARREL ROLL!

 

[HamPster PamPster]

I always loved Calvin's pained face in the final panel, like he is refusing to learn the lesson from Hobbes

 

[munroe]

Think the closest we've gotten to an animated calving and hobbes is that 2 second clip from family guy where stewie calls his "friend"

Love C&H, had loads of the individual books which were in a terrible state due to how much I read them as a kid, but as an adult I've got the hardback collection which is fantastic

 

[alfredofroylan]

Think the closest we've gotten to an animated calving and hobbes is that 2 second clip from family guy where stewie calls his "friend"

Bill Watterson, the man that rejected Steven Spielberg back when he was working on Tiny Toons.

Lee Salem, the syndicate's president, is ecstatic. Two creative minds like that getting together! The Wizard of Oz! Winnie the Pooh! Peter Pan! Excited, he calls Watterson at home in Chagrin Falls, a leafy suburb of Cleveland. Would he talk to Spielberg?

No, Watterson says.

"Bill simply was not interested," Salem remembers now, the sound of lost millions in licensing revenue like so much static down the phone line.

 

[thequickandthedead]

Even without the licensing deals Bill Watterson is still filthy rich tbf.

 

[Seda]

Younger me related to this one, hard.

 

[Zubz]

Bill Watterson, the man that rejected Steven Spielberg back when he was working on Tiny Toons.

I mean, it's clear that Calvin & Hobbes would've been a second Peanuts, but that article really hammered that point in. I mean, they'd've been able to buy a luxury liner or 2 from the money they'd've made off Hobbes dolls alone! Li'l Zubz was annoyed that there wasn't a C&H cartoon, but I'm happy that Watterson was able to defend the series' integrity.

I mean, looking back at some of those old Peanuts comics made me totally forget that the series used to have a soul. I don't want to imagine that happening to C&H.

 

[Hyperactivity]

These comics meant so much to me. Just days upon days of reading them.

 

[manhack]

Growing up my favorite comics were Garfield, Far Side, and of course Calvin and Hobbes.

I used to love getting the Sunday paper (The Washington Post) and getting the full color comics and spending the morning reading everything I could.

Calvin and Hobbes had the best color comic strip ever and it was amazing what Bill Watterson did with the panels.

It is sad that time has passed for me and I don't even get a paper now in my old age.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

Bill Watterson, the man that rejected Steven Spielberg back when he was working on Tiny Toons.

I read that Comics Journal interview back in the day (and one in a sister publication as well). I should dig those out if I can find them. Great stuff.

 

[mrklaw]

The counterpoint to Watterson's desire to 'protect' his art, is that if he'd allowed some controlled licensing, perhaps many more people would have been exposed to the joy that is the strips. I don't know if they are still run in newspapers (I never saw them in the uk at the time), so they could become a transient thing without merchandise etc to keep them in people's minds. And I think that would be a shame.

 

[BobTheFork]

Watterson himself would say he saw the issue of licensing as black and white with no middle ground and I always thought was a shame.

Yes he didn't want C&H to become like Garfield and cheapen it but reading about it now, it sounded like he was really afraid of what would happen if he gave even an inch on those issues, to the point where he would become a recluse and refuse to even talk about it. Somewhere between where he was and where is was afraid to go, I think there may have been a place where the comic could have lived on in some form. Who am I to tell him how to handle it though?

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

Watterson himself would say he saw the issue of licensing as black and white with no middle ground and I always thought was a shame.

Yes he didn't want C&H to become like Garfield and cheapen it but reading about it now, it sounded like he was really afraid of what would happen if he gave even an inch on those issues, to the point where he would become a recluse and refuse to even talk about it. Somewhere between where he was and where is was afraid to go, I think there may have been a place where the comic could have lived on in some form. Who am I to tell him how to handle it though?

He also said he considered animation but the thought of an actor giving Hobbes a voice terrified him.

 

[magnetic]

I have massive respect for his refusal to turn the series into a cash machine. I'm really not sure if I would have done the same, but in retrospect it gives his comic a great coherence. Though a simple stuffed tiger Hobbes as the only item available would have been really cool, I think - because that would have said "here, use your own imagination!"

It seems like everyone these days creates products just to market them as soon as possible - buy the The Oatmeal poster of "Who would survive - a chainsaw bear spitting diarrhea or a small child with a rocket launcher?" Click like subscribe! Share like reblog! Let's create an app, hopefully Google, Apple or Facebook acquires it before it's becoming obsolete again. Let's make a game that's basically a copy of a game that itself was a copy of game and was never actually good, but our game has even more abrasive timers and pavlovian behavior manipulation!

Sorry, I know this really isn't closey related, but that's something that's been on my mind lately. Again, I probably wouldn't have had his strength, but man, what a demonstration of character. His love for his own creation is one of the reasons I'm not a complete cynic yet.

Hell. Yes.

Every winter I do my annual "C+H" reread from the collection. Nothing better than a big winter snow storm outside, cozy in bed, with C+H and a mug of hot chocolate.

I'll have to do this! C&H has the same warmth and nostalgia for me as well.

Actually, I remember that I used to be even a bit jealous of his ability to create such a living world around him. I was already at that age where the world slowly started to lose its "childlike magic" (...not that the real world isn't absolutely fascinating, I hope you know what I mean) and C&H made me want to live in his world so bad.

However, his pain is also still so authentic to me.

I think it's a sobering reminder for myself that my childhood nostalgia is sometimes too rosy - children live through a ton of anxiety as well, and Calvin captures that in a very real way.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

Regarding licensing: I think Watterson saw it as a slippery slope, that once started it wouldn't stop. He thought that having an actual Hobbes would change the nature of the strip is subtle, bad ways and it would snowball.

 

[Chiaroscuro]

Man, I love C&H. I still need to get the complete edition. Which one is better, the hard cover 3 volumes set or the brochure 4 volumes set?

 

[GK86]

And since it is almost Christmas:

 

[cackhyena]

Hell. Yes.

Every winter I do my annual "C+H" reread from the collection. Nothing better than a big winter snow storm outside, cozy in bed, with C+H and a mug of hot chocolate.

Ugh that was my jam when I was younger.

 

[Yagharek]

Used to read these comics all the time to the point I could recite them word for word almost in entirety. I think my favourites were anything to do with dinosaurs, Stupendous Man, and his transmogrifier/time machine/duplicator box. Also his dad's science explanations.

I also loved the serial on Calvin waiting for a propeller hat beanie from a cereal box redemption. It ran for a couple of weeks and absolutely encapsulated the pain of waiting for something as a kid and how it is all consuming. I think I personally expended my lifetime supply of this emotion waiting for Dreamcast to come out in 1999.

Actually, I remember that I used to be even a bit jealous of his ability to create such a living world around him. I was already at that age where the world slowly started to lose its "childlike magic" (...not that the real world isn't absolutely fascinating, I hope you know what I mean) and C&H made me want to live in his world so bad.

However, his pain is also still so authentic to me.

I think it's a sobering reminder for myself that my childhood nostalgia is sometimes too rosy - children live through a ton of anxiety as well, and Calvin captures that in a very real way.

There was a similar comic to that one with an incredible expression.

Calvin's bus-stop introspection and snow sled philosophising were a highlight.

 

[sc0la]

Let us take a moment to appreciate Calvin's Dad. The Dad we all aspire to be.

*snip*

Everyday I aspire to troll my son (also named Calvin, not coincidentally) to this level. God tier troll dad.

 

[tiggerkiddo]

I have all the various collections but one of these days I'll get the complete one. Loved reading these as a kid.

 

[magnetic]

The collection is more than worth it, being able to read everything chronologically and having these big color pieces inbetween is such a joy.

I still kept my random pile of german, british and US editions, though - so many memories.

 

[wanderingprostheyltite]

Hell. Yes.

Every winter I do my annual "C+H" reread from the collection. Nothing better than a big winter snow storm outside, cozy in bed, with C+H and a mug of hot chocolate.

I miss snow storms since I moved from the east coast, we don't get too much of them in Seattle. Just cold and grey for six months :/

It was C+H and Farside collections for me, and that feeling going to a library and discovering some massive collection you didn't know existed was the greatest find ever.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

I've been reading old Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes strips, and this lept out at me:

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net...9511018.gif/revision/latest?cb=20130227032556

Also, in general, there are a lot of Charlie Brown as Smart-Alec (as opposed to lovable loser) where he's a lot like Calvin, complete with final panel addressing the audience.

This is not to diminish C&H, just to point out the DNA it shares.