Calvin and Hobbes: The Last Great Comic Strip

[kweerwolf]

Ten years ago Bill Watterson, the creator of Calvin and Hobbes, left newspaper cartooning for painting. Since then, no new comic strip has matched the quality, longevity, or cultural dominance of Watterson's daily drawings about a boy and his tiger. There remain good strips, such as Jef Mallett's Frazz; acclaimed strips, such as Aaron McGruder's Boondocks; and venerable strips, such as Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury. But these days, the best-selling comics books tend to be either graphic novels or hardbound anthologies of the greats, such as Fantagraphics Books' The Complete Peanuts. Peanuts invented the newspaper comic strip as we know it: Charles Schulz scrapped big, colorful melodrama and substituted a tiny series of boxes featuring spare drawings of characters who tell jokes and muse on the meaning of life. With October's publication of the new—and best-selling—23-pound, 1,440-page hardback anthology The Complete Calvin and Hobbes, it's become apparent that, just as Charles Schulz was the first master of the modern newspaper comic strip, Calvin and Hobbes' Bill Watterson was likely the last.

http://www.slate.com/id/2129373/?nav=tap3

Found this brief piece (and the accompanying slide show) in Slate and it reminded me of how much I miss Calvin and Hobbes. I'll have to dig out my C & H books now and revisit some old friends. :)

[ComerPerro]

1. They have this new set out, something like "The Complete Collection"

but its very expensive...

It was a great comic strip.

[ET Awful]

2. I've been sorely tempted by that boxed set they're referring to many

times as I walked by it both at Barns & Noble and Costco :).

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. I still love the one strip

that looked like Mary Worth-only the 'adults' had a stuffed rabbit for a baby-the man couldn't believe it---and in the last panel, you see it is Calvin and the little girl, who have been playing 'make believe'. The strips with Calvin as a dinosaur and Calvin as Spaceman Spiff are also favorites.

[zbdent]

17. I so hoped that Watterson would "un-retire" as a ghost and

come out with a "SpaceMan Spiff" strip . . . that would have been great . . .

[kweerwolf]

4. The only comics that come close to Calvin and Hobbes, IMO, are ...

Gary Larson's "The Far Side" (because of my warped sense of humor) and "Boondocks" (because of my not-so-warped sense of reality).

[Duer 157099]

5. I must agree with you

Although, you cannot forget that Doonesbury is still out there...

But nobody can match Calvin and Hobbes. Will always be my favorite.

[KittyWampus]

6. Charles Schulz- so many years of consistently being funny, gently relevant

and accessible to all.

Calvin & Hobbes had the same sort of gently relevant humor (though it went a bit farther). IMO, also very accessible.

[Rowdyboy]

7. I miss it as much today as I did way back then...

Sometimes, I'd laugh so hard I could barely breathe.

[xkenx]

8. Los Angeles Times is re-running Calvin & Hobbes Strips

And I'm lovin' it all over again.

[damntexdem]

9. C & H is being rerun in some newspapers.

I read it daily in the Dull-Ass Morning News. It's back on the early strips, where Calvin is very young, but still smart-alecky and cynical.

[TlalocW]

10. Blame the syndicates

You can't get into newspapers without belonging to a cartoon syndicate, and the syndicates are less and less likely to allow anything truly creative in so as not to risk offending anyone (Boondocks is an anomaly). Plus they don't pay as well as what you would think and want you to prostitute your characters to the utmost - something Watterson refused to do.

I read more and more webcomics these days, and a few of them are actually money-making machines for the creators like Penny Arcade and PVP, and a few exemplary ones like Wapsi Square will hopefully be one day for their creators. This scares the syndicates.

TlalocW

[tularetom]

11. Calvin lives on

Unfortunately its only in those obnoxious "Calvin peeing" window decals you see in cars. Almost as bad (maybe worse) are the "Calvin praying" ones with a cross. A local radio host called Watterson who said these are unauthorized and he wishes they'd quit making them but he has no plans to sue. Then people called in who had the decals on their cars and not one of the fuckers even knew who Calvin was.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

12. Check out Pearls Before Swine

I just started getting into it a few months ago, and it's hilarious.

[Javaman]

15. A truly brilliant comic.

My absolute new fav!

[Pithlet]

25. Yes!

That is my favorite current comic strip.

[MN ChimpH8R]

13. I used to love the snowman strips

There was something strange about that boy... Here's a good collection:http://www.angelfire.com/wa/zzaran/calvin.html

[Mutley]

30. Heehee!

This one was always one of my favorites of the snowman strips. I tried to reproduce it without success.

[WeRQ4U]

14. I have all of them to this point....I'm sure I'll get this one too.

The comic strip was genius. Nothing like it before or since.

[gmoney]

16. Speed Bump is pretty great

Dave Coverley is really talented and funny, but it's a single panel instead of a strip like C&H. (And he seems to be a pretty good liberal.) Still, if you haven't checked it out, it's worth a visit to his website, or pick up one of his books.

http://speedbump.com/

Disclaimer: I've met Dave once at a Jazz Butcher concert about 5 years ago, so I do have a certain connection through an appreciation of fine music. Look for little music references peppered into the strips from time to time... especially on T-shirts or background items.

[ghostsofgiants]

18. The last great comic strip?

No fucking way.
The Boondocks, Nothing Nice To Say, Get Your War On, Joe and Monkey, Red Meat; all brilliant.

[Shadowen]

19. I love Calvin and Hobbes.

But all the people in this thread who omitted For Better or For Worse...that's just...that's not right.

[HEyHEY]

20. They were an important part of my childhood

[sakabatou]

21. My fav

The one where Calvin goes "Shazaam!" to objects and his parents and they turn into hideous creatures. Calvin's mom tells Calvin to go to his room where he says "Shazaam!" The landscape is now Martian (looks a lot like Monument Park).

BTW, Anyone have a pic of this strip?

[Devra]

22. I loved Calvin and Hobbes

As far as I'm concerned it was the best comic strip ever. the best strips would have to be the ones with the wagon/tobaggon

[Blue_Tires]

23. the last great comic strip??

The Far Side, end of discussion...

(with all due respect to peanuts, C&H, etc etc. because i love them too)

[matcom]

24. LOVED Calvin & Hobbes BUT......

Bloom County kicked its ASS

:hide:

[no name no slogan]

26. C&H is great, but This Modern World

rocks the world.

[Abelman]

27. Love it

I bought the massive complete collection, the last big purchase I will make for a long time.

There's still some good stuff on the comics page, maybe not as creative and original, but still good.

"Get Fuzzy" is like Garfield, only funny and better drawn.

There's a ton of awesome webcomics as well, some mentioned already, that are just phenomenal. Just hit some links from those pages. Great stuff, some limited artistically, but creative writing. The internet's a great place.

[Strong Atheist]

28. I have all of the original comics.

Bill Waterson went to my undergrad college, Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio (the gates of hell) Whoo Hoo!

[Strong Atheist]

29. Speaking of graphic novels, try Bone,

by Jeff Smith ... a great comic.

[Rob H.]

31. I liked the "Tracer Bullet" strips

He didn't do very many of them, but they were high-contrast and complete with hard-boiled detective-style dialog.