The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes is arguably the greatest comic strip ever created — certainly up there at the very top, with Peanuts, The Far Side and Bloom County. If any strip deserved a classy hardcover treatment, it’d be this one. But while it certainly earned the artistic credibility for this presentation in the ten years it ran, there’s something to be said for reading them in the actual comics page, or even the flimsy paperback collections that have trickled out over the years.
These three volumes are unquestionably beautiful, see, but they’re also highly impractical. It’s nigh impossible to read these things while lying down, or even sitting comfortably. Seriously, unless you have one of those cool book lecterns like you see in museums, there’s no way to look at these and not strain something.
But that’s the only complaint I have. The material is presented well, and some of it is being seen here for the first time in years. Not only do we get all the daily and Sunday strips from the mid-80s through the mid-90s, but we also get an assortment of related material that Watterson produced over the strip’s life: all sorts of poems, short stories and paintings. Personally, I find those things a little tedious after awhile (I’m all about the jokes), but I admire them for what they are, and I’m certain a lot of people will enjoy them.
The main thing I noticed reading these things in chronological order is how most of the characters and concepts were pretty much in place from day one. Sure, there’s a moderate amount of artistic improvement as the strip progresses, but it pretty much hits the ground running from the beginning.
You can kinda see Watterson’s increasing frustration with the whole creative/commercial process as we move forward in time, which is also interesting to see all at once. He developed a reputation as a bit of a crank and a whiner in those later years, as he refused to merchandise his creations and made very specific (and unprecedented) demands of his Sunday editors. The thing is, I can see pretty much all of his points, and I sympathize. I don’t know that I personally have the integrity to stick to my guns like he did. But I sure as hell admire that he could.
As far as social commentary goes, he sometimes got a bit carried away with his whole anti-TV agenda. I basically agreed with him on most of his other stances, but I felt he was a bit too harsh and reactionary when it came to these criticisms. Still, I don’t have to agree with someone to enjoy their work. And those strips were just as funny as anything else, so that’s all that really matters.
My personal favorites (which I was originally going to post as part of this review, till I realized I had over a hundred on my list when I finished) include Calvin’s twisted snow creations, the running “dad poll” gag (usually involving Calvin reporting to his dad what his standings in the polls are, and how he might improve), and any time Calvin’s dad tries to explain something to him. I mean, what’s the point of having a kid if you can’t make him think the sun goes to Flagstaff, Arizona when it sets at night?
The bottom line is, this material is top-notch for the entirety of its 1500 pages. It’s highly worth the hefty price tag, and the hernia you’ll develop trying to read the thing. Oh, and for the record: I read every single daily, Sunday and extra strip in this book, and I didn’t once see Calvin pissing on anything. Shocking as it might seem to learn this, all those images are unauthorized bootlegs.