Comments on: Breaking Calvin

Breaking Calvin

knile — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 12:36:37 -0800

Breaking Bad dialogue via the jarring yet oddly fitting medium of Calvin & Hobbes strips. Clayton Hanson takes dialogue from Breaking Bad episodes and inserts them into Calvin & Hobbes strips. He's done all the seasons to date. In a recent interview with the Washington City Paper, he talked more about his inspiration, his process, and his lawyer. (Calvin & Hobbes & Copyright previously on the grey.)

By: odinsdream

odinsdream — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 12:37:40 -0800

...in before the Cease & Desist!

By: The Card Cheat

The Card Cheat — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 12:41:49 -0800

> People ask, "What's the next comic you're gonna do?" Not this person.

By: item

item — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 12:43:02 -0800

Somehow I have a feeling Watterson's not going to dig on this too much. I really have no idea why.

By: bondcliff

bondcliff — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 12:43:34 -0800

You know, Internet, not everything needs to be mashed up with everything else.

By: Horace Rumpole

Horace Rumpole — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 12:43:37 -0800

Why is the typeface so erratic?

By: nushustu

nushustu — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 12:44:31 -0800

I'm not really fond of this, but it's still MILES better than Calvin peeing on a Ford logo, or Calvin praying. Ick.

By: Faint of Butt

Faint of Butt — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 12:45:47 -0800

I've never watched Breaking Bad, so I'll just complain that the typography stinks.

By: item

item — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 12:46:48 -0800

God that is so terrible. I'm even tempted to go ahead and send the asshole a C&D letter and last time I checked I don't have ownership of the copyright.

By: 2bucksplus

2bucksplus — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 12:46:58 -0800

This does't seem to work in most cases. I mean, only in so much as it's one character talking to another. It could just as easily be Garfield talking to Odie, or Cathy to an ice cream sundae.

By: schmod

schmod — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 12:47:42 -0800

Ironically, comic sans might actually be an improvement in this context...

By: item

item — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 12:47:46 -0800

...or Walt talking to Jesse.

By: Greg Nog

Greg Nog — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 12:48:36 -0800

I dig the Mike = Rosalyn one!

By: asnider

asnider — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 12:48:55 -0800

Yeah, I fail to see how this is "oddly fitting." I'm with 2bucksplus on this one.

By: Apocryphon

Apocryphon — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 12:52:24 -0800

I'll be the wet blanket: this is an interesting exercise, along the lines of the Garfield Without Garfield and similar works, but to get mainstream attention? If this was the early days of the internet, it would be no more significant than the raunchy Family Circus parodies. But nowadays, internet memes are mainstream and Breaking Bad is king of TV, and it gets huge attention. There's just something really uninspired in this. You take a beloved comic strip that everyone pees their pants in nostalgia for, pair it with the hot AMC drama of the month, and "hahah oh wow what a deep and unexpected juxtaposition!" I'm sorry, but Lasagna Cat, this ain't.

By: Egg Shen

Egg Shen — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 12:54:34 -0800

Yeah, bitch! Mashup!

By: KokuRyu

KokuRyu — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 13:01:33 -0800

Whoever did this has absolutely no understanding of or appreciation for Calvin & Hobbes.

By: laconic skeuomorph

laconic skeuomorph — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 13:02:09 -0800

I would gladly volunteer to micturate upon this guy's work.

By: He Is Only The Imposter

He Is Only The Imposter — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 13:02:50 -0800

Also, the lettering is terrible. <-- Comics snob

By: shakespeherian

shakespeherian — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 13:03:12 -0800

I mean, maybe if they used the established relationships and personalities of the characters from the strip to comment on those from the show, it would be interesting, but it doesn't even seem to maintain a consistent 1 to 1 C&H character = BB character. Calvin's mom is Skyler? Moe is Gus? Why? I'd like to suggest that it's just because the illustrations match the dialogue chosen but that doesn't appear to be the case either. I didn't want to hate this.

By: Jonathan Harford

Jonathan Harford — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 13:07:15 -0800

Christ, what an asshole.

By: bondcliff

bondcliff — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 13:09:28 -0800

I didn't want to hate this. I didn't either, but it really feels like he gave it no more thought than "nerds love Breaking Bad and Calvin and Hobbes, therefore they will also love this!" I do admit to feeling like Calvin and Hobbes is somewhat sacred and should not be fucked with in any way, but I don't think that's the only reason I'm not liking this.

By: IjonTichy

IjonTichy — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 13:23:07 -0800

Kill it with fire.

By: Strange Interlude

Strange Interlude — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 13:23:25 -0800

I feel like this is designed to appeal to the same druggy fratboy demographic that was the target market for the "drunk/stoned C&H" bootlegs back in the mid-'90s, which probably has considerable overlap with the portion of the Breaking Bad audience who (INCORRECTLY) view the show as a Scarface-esque power fantasy. Needless to say, neither one of these markets has much use for tasteful, consistent typography.

By: anaximander

anaximander — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 13:23:58 -0800

As much as I tend to enjoy anything related to Calvin and Hobbes, most of these just don't work. Maybe it's a testament to how well Bill Watterson matched his art to his dialogue that replacing the latter never quite fits. (Well, except maybe for this one.)

By: 2bucksplus

2bucksplus — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 13:31:51 -0800

This is the only take off of Calvin and Hobbes that really works. Ugh my heart.

By: symbioid

symbioid — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 13:32:30 -0800

bondcliff: "You know, Internet, not everything needs to be mashed up with everything else." CORY DOCTOROW CONDEMNS THEE TO A HERETIC DEATH!

By: symbioid

symbioid — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 13:33:00 -0800

nushustu: "I'm not really fond of this, but it's still MILES better than Calvin peeing on a Ford logo, or Calvin praying. Ick." I'm fond of Calvin peeing on a praying Calvin, myself.

By: Pruitt-Igoe

Pruitt-Igoe — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 13:44:07 -0800

http://achewood.com/index.php?date=07252005

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 13:50:47 -0800

This is like, not very artful.

By: univac

univac — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:03:34 -0800

Jesus, that's horrible. As if mashups weren't lazy enough already.

By: sweetkid

sweetkid — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:05:21 -0800

Do not like.

By: XQUZYPHYR

XQUZYPHYR — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:16:29 -0800

CH: I was super curious about copyright violations and I've asked multiple people, lawyers at different firms. And the main question comes down to whether it's transformative or derivative. ["Breaking Calvin"] is really much different from what [the show and cartoon] have. So I wasn't worried about copyright, after talking to people, even though I do have a lawyer. If I started making a ton of money from merchandise, I guarantee that anyone that owns either would pay attention. Holy cow, that's just adorable. I'm so glad you're, you know, not worried about copyright. Wow.

By: disillusioned

disillusioned — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:24:02 -0800

God, it's so awful. The virtue of a good mashup is that the two components mesh in an uncanny and intelligent way that allows you to re-evaluate the premise or enjoy it differently. These are just shoehorned lines of dialog on nearly random C&H strips. Horrible. Possibly Worst of Web.

By: corb

corb — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:45:36 -0800

This is the only take off of Calvin and Hobbes that really works. Ugh my heart. Yeah, that one breaks me every time.

By: Marisa Stole the Precious Thing

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:56:11 -0800

Actual Breaking Bad Comics are infinitely better than this.

By: dhartung

dhartung — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 16:01:07 -0800

The uncanny valley between awful and meh.

By: NordyneDefenceDynamics

NordyneDefenceDynamics — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 17:53:55 -0800

Eh, I was always partial to Mad's take on a C&H mashup.

By: scalefree

scalefree — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 17:58:15 -0800

If I started making a ton of money from merchandise Yeah I don't think that's likely to be a problem you'll encounter. Just sayin'.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 18:37:22 -0800

I'm kind of relieved other people think [this is bad].

By: DecemberBoy

DecemberBoy — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 20:58:35 -0800

http://achewood.com/index.php?date=07252005 I thought it was going to be the one of Pat's car with Calvin peeing on "THE STULTIFYING COMPOSITIONS OF EDVARD GRIEG"

By: mazola

mazola — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 22:15:14 -0800

Clearly, prima facie this is bad. But if you had terminal cancer and could provide for your family by violating copyrights, would that be so bad? Would it?

By: mmoncur

mmoncur — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 00:32:44 -0800

Wow, somebody has taken my favorite comic strip of all time and my favorite TV show of all time and combined them! into TOTAL CRAP.

By: SnuffyMcDuffy

SnuffyMcDuffy — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 08:36:46 -0800

It's been pulled. DMCA-ed.