The appeal of Calvin and Hobbes

November 9, 2005 10:23 AM

The appeal of Calvin and Hobbes(click "launch" to open the feature)
posted by rxrfrx (75 comments total)

That article mentions Frazz by Jef Mallett. I like to subscribe to the theory that Jef Mallett is Bill Watterson.
posted by Plutor at 10:31 AM on November 9, 2005

Shit. Frazz.
posted by Plutor at 10:33 AM on November 9, 2005

That theory is ridiculous... the artwork of Frazz doesn't hold a candle to Watterson's draughtsmanship.
posted by Robot Johnny at 10:44 AM on November 9, 2005

I just bought that 23 lb. Calvin and Hobbes book. It's wonderful. I can't wait until I get to the last book, where there will be a few strips I have not read.

This quote from the slideshow stuck out to me:

Like Charlie Brown, Calvin is a perpetual loser. He's terrible at school. His baseball teammates make so much fun of him that he quits the team. He's repeatedly bullied. He doesn't appear to have any real friends, other than his tiger Hobbes. Yet unlike Charlie Brown, Calvin doesn't seem to mind his fate. His main quality, other than imagination, is enthusiasm. Calvin, as befits his name, is a carefree fatalist.

I've always felt a bit sad for Calvin, even though he seems to deal with his fate so well.

I really love Calvin and Hobbes. It is the only comic strip I've ever really read, though. I wonder if it is a dying art.
posted by teece at 10:45 AM on November 9, 2005

Thanks for the article, rxrfrx. But the window it put up could not be re-sized, and there was no scrolling left/right, so I missed most of the strips. Dang!
posted by ObscureReferenceMan at 10:46 AM on November 9, 2005

That final comic still always chokes me up a little.
posted by Wolfdog at 10:50 AM on November 9, 2005 [1 favorite has favorites]

ORM- the link to open the window includes "resizable=no." Change it to "yes" and you should be able to resize, I think.
posted by rxrfrx at 10:51 AM on November 9, 2005

good stuff, however, most of it is just pretty much paraphrasing the 10th anniversary edition.
posted by Edible Energy at 10:53 AM on November 9, 2005

That article mentions Frazz by Jef Mallett. I like to subscribe to the theory that Jef Mallett is Bill Watterson.

But you can buy Frazz merchandise. That's a major issue. But he sure does look like Calvin. We talked about this Frazz guy here recently, but I can't find it.
posted by teece at 10:58 AM on November 9, 2005

Frazz is an excellent comic strip, one of the best in papers, and it owes a lot to Calvin and Hobbes. But its creator Jef Mallett has been around a long, long time, and really really isn't Bill Watterson.
posted by Simon! at 11:00 AM on November 9, 2005

teece: "But you can buy Frazz merchandise. That's a major issue."

From Eric Meyer's discussion of the theory: "...look where it got him ... the most common sightings of Calvin these days are those completely unauthorized stickers of him urinating on logos, usually Ford but sometimes others; race car drivers come in for this treatment a lot, too. ... My theory is that this time around, Watterson is trying limited merchandising as an experiment. No stuffed Frazz dolls, of course, but some mouse pads and coffee mugs on which you can emblazon your favorite strip."

The theory is compelling, but it seems a bit off the deep end to be really believable. I like to think of Frazz as a young-adult Calvin, but, yeah, I don't really believe that Jef == Bill.
posted by Plutor at 11:02 AM on November 9, 2005

That final comic still always chokes me up a little.

Anyone have a link to that?
posted by Witty at 11:09 AM on November 9, 2005

Is it this?


posted by Witty at 11:11 AM on November 9, 2005

I've finally given up the hope that Jef is Bill, but I think - unconciously or not - Frazz is a grown-up Calvin. There's just too much similarity there, and it's comforting to think of Calvin grown up, and dispensing wisdom. (And dating Suzie! Frazz' girlfriend is SO Suzie!)

The whole slideshow made me a little teary. I grew up reading Calvin and Hobbes, and the collections introduced me to the early newspaper comics such as Krazy Kat and Little Nemo. My thirteen-year-old self was nearly in tears the day the strip ended. Looking back, though, I'm glad Watterson got out before things went truly stale. And with the state of newspaper comics today...I can think of only four or five that are anywhere near as good or engaging as Calvin and Hobbes. The age of the strip has passed, and we're in the age of the graphic novel.

Oy, I'm getting long-winded and nostalgic. I see it's time to reread Kavalier and Clay.
posted by kalimac at 11:12 AM on November 9, 2005

Anyone have a link to that?

It's the last page of the damn 5-page thing.
posted by rxrfrx at 11:17 AM on November 9, 2005

Word.
posted by Witty at 11:18 AM on November 9, 2005

My family just got me the 23 pound edition for my birthday. It's so tempting to just read straight through the 3 volumes. Instead I restrict myself to a few strips every night.
posted by substrate at 11:19 AM on November 9, 2005

Jef Mallett denies being Bill Watterson. I would give credit to whoever originally posted this the Metachat, but I can't find the thread...
posted by amro at 11:32 AM on November 9, 2005

Jef Mallett previously metachatted.
posted by shoepal at 11:43 AM on November 9, 2005

(oh and a less moire version of the last strip)
posted by shoepal at 11:45 AM on November 9, 2005

Aha! Thanks, shoepal.
posted by amro at 11:45 AM on November 9, 2005

You could ask him in person.
posted by thejoshu at 11:58 AM on November 9, 2005

I can think of only four or five that are anywhere near as good or engaging as Calvin and Hobbes.

Really? Because I can't think of a single one. And to anyone who brings up Boondocks...no. It's not. It has its charms, but it's not even in the same ballpark.
posted by emjaybee at 12:14 PM on November 9, 2005

Ah, amro and shoepal, that's why I couldn't find the Mallet==Waterson thread on MeFi. It was on MeCha! Don't tell #1 I confused the two, or I could get booted off the island.
posted by teece at 12:18 PM on November 9, 2005

In the comic strip world, there's Calvin and Hobbes, and then there's everyone else. It's that simple. Watterson is a freaking role model: quit before his strip got bad, never sold out, and churned out amazing, thoughtful, hilarious, beautifully-drawn comics every day. Damn. Thanks for this link.
posted by ORthey at 12:32 PM on November 9, 2005

Question: Is there anyone who doesn't like Calvin and Hobbes? It seems odd that this "little comic" has such universal appeal, when other "Best Of's" are still debated so hotly.
posted by muddgirl at 12:42 PM on November 9, 2005

I can think of only four or five that are anywhere near as good or engaging as Calvin and Hobbes.

Really? Because I can't think of a single one. And to anyone who brings up Boondocks...no. It's not. It has its charms, but it's not even in the same ballpark.

This goes back quite a few years, long before my time certainly, but an older person at the time turned me on to Walt Kelly's Pogo. Calvin and Hobbes was a magnificent strip, an heir to what I've always found was the finest comic strip ever created. Generational differences, and some timely issues aside (Pogo was often more akin to Doonesbury in political commentary), they are the two strips that I think define the genre.

Pure genius, both of them, with a fine blend of humor, sarcasm, and just plain sweetness.
posted by elendil71 at 12:46 PM on November 9, 2005

funny when I read calvin and hobbes it never really struck me as odd that he didn't seem to have any friends

i just figured he knew other people weren't worth his time
posted by Space Coyote at 12:53 PM on November 9, 2005

The alternate (bootleg) last ever calvin and hobbes is strip is just depressing
posted by ZippityBuddha at 12:54 PM on November 9, 2005

muddgirl: My sister thought it was imature and "for boys".
posted by Space Coyote at 12:54 PM on November 9, 2005

When it's greatness on the comics page I need, I look no further than Momma.

I kid, of course. Calvin and Hobbes, while never my favourite, was undeniably a great strip. But, I wonder, what is/was the absoulte worst?

(Fun Fact: every single sentence in Rex Morgan M.D. ends in either "!" or "?")
posted by you just lost the game at 1:02 PM on November 9, 2005

*absolute* worst
posted by you just lost the game at 1:03 PM on November 9, 2005

what is/was the absoulte worst?

No, your link was messed up. I believe it should've gone here.
posted by COBRA! at 1:04 PM on November 9, 2005

elendil71, I thought kalimac was referring to strips still around today...otherwise, yes, Pogo certainly deserves a mention, absolutely.
posted by emjaybee at 1:06 PM on November 9, 2005

ZippityBuddah, I was just about to post that, before the final strip, I was convinced that C&H would end with Calvin looking at Hobbes and just seeing a stuffed tiger. Depressing, yes, but I thought it would be a fitting ending. I was actually kinda disappointed at the real final strip.

And as far as the Boondocks go, I just can't get past what an unbelievable asshole the creator was when he was an editorial writer at the University of Maryland student paper. One of his editorials was comparing women to college credits, saying that you have to balance your "academic credits" and your "women credits."
posted by emptybowl at 1:08 PM on November 9, 2005

It makes me sad that coming generations may grow up thinking of Calvin as the kid who pisses on things.
posted by jrossi4r at 1:08 PM on November 9, 2005

Tinsley says the hippo went unused for fear of offending overweight people, and the nose was axed because it would "offend people of Jewish and Mediterranean descent, not to mention Arabs and anyone else with a big nose." Tinsley says he thought his editors were kidding, but they were not.

Crappy indeed, but that made me laugh.
posted by you just lost the game at 1:08 PM on November 9, 2005

It makes me sad that coming generations may grow up thinking of Calvin as the kid who pisses on things.

Me too, jrossi4r. It's so not in the true spirit of Calvin and Hobbes. He's a trouble-maker, but not simply a malicious little vandal, as those stickers seem to portray him. Sigh.
posted by teece at 1:25 PM on November 9, 2005

When Watterson stopped doing Calvin and Hobbes, I stopped subscribing to the newspaper. really. No matter how awful the news was that day, I knew I could turn to the comics page to ease things somewhat.

Watterson's reasons for stopping the strip certainly make sense to me, but I can't help but wish he'd gone onto another strip, maybe Web-based or something. I also wish he'd finished the strip with the bootleg version, above, which really choked me up when I first saw it. I printed it out and had it on my bulletin board, next to my computer, for a long time.
posted by TheStorm at 1:38 PM on November 9, 2005

emjaybee - heh, point. I never said I had good taste ;) My handful of daily reads consist of Doonesbury, Foxtrot (occasionally), Pibgorn, 9 Chickweed Lane, Frazz, and Spot the Frog. They're not Calvin and Hobbes, but occasionally approach elements of that. Or, at the very least, they don't insult my intelligence, which is pretty rare these days.

Like I said above - I'm really starting to think the comic strip is dead, and the graphic novel is taking over.
posted by kalimac at 1:53 PM on November 9, 2005

Yeah, that bootleg Calvin & Hobbes strip is pretty much the best bootleg ever, and much better than most real comic strips ever get.
posted by furiousthought at 1:54 PM on November 9, 2005

What Kalmic said.

Has anyone managed actually to get ahold of this? And if so, is it as magnificent as it sounds?
posted by The Bellman at 2:00 PM on November 9, 2005

Oh, man I want that, The Bellman. I've read one Little Nemo strip that was republished in Spiegelman's In the Shadow of No Towers and it was just so lovely, both physically and in regards to the storyline.
posted by kalimac at 2:09 PM on November 9, 2005

God, I almost feel like posting a

.

Although it is a few years late, at that.

My favorite comics, no question, have been Doonesbury, Calvin and Hobbes, and Bloom County--possibly in that order.

My heart really is with Calvin and Hobbes, honestly. I think what made it so appealing was that it could be so universally understood and appreciated. Once you were old enough to read, you were old enough to find it funny. And it appealed, I think, to all ages after that.

Doonesbury is a more grown-up cartoon, and I still like it very much, although I think it was probably at its height in quality during the 80s going into the early 90s. I think the last few years have been a bit hard on Gary Trudeau, what with Bush being such a collossal asshole and Doonesbury being a heavily leftist political cartoon. He's also shown remarkable resilience, considering that most of the cartooning greats have called it quits.
posted by Deathalicious at 2:32 PM on November 9, 2005

I like reading Frazz, and being an original Calvin and Hobbes junkie from when it came out in my college years, I can't believe anyone would think they were written by the same person. Frazz is pretty good as today's comics go, but doesn't touch the depth that Calvin and Hobbes did. The rich fantasy world of a child with the overlaying and impending "reality" of the adult world.
posted by Eekacat at 4:04 PM on November 9, 2005

the bootleg made me laught silently while my eyes teared up. damn.
posted by pmbuko at 4:25 PM on November 9, 2005

That final comic still always chokes me up a little.

Same here. I got the Complete C&H for my birthday, and I'm almost afraid to finish it.
posted by danb at 4:55 PM on November 9, 2005

I'll repeat what I said at the Light Blue: suggesting Jef Mallett is really Bill Watterson is an insult to Mallett. There's no shame in being inspired by the best, and inspired is definitely what Frazz is. It's well short of the maturity of C&H, though. It pains me to point out, because I do like that strip.

Glad Pogo was mentioned -- Walt Kelly was a similarly uncontainable genius. My favorite thing about Kelly was that once he got into doing politically-tinged strips -- like Simple J. Malarkey, his barbed satire of Joe McCarthy -- and papers would refuse to run his strip, he began providing the syndicate what he called "bunny strips" -- apparently just bunnies sitting around talking nonsense. But very often, they were disguised metaphorical takes on the topic of the strip they were replacing.

My take on the bootleg is more nuanced. I think it's a slur on Ritalin, personally. I know three children whose lives would be immeasurably damaged by going off their medications.

Doonesbury is definitely past its prime -- Trudeau has a bully pulpit during what some people think is the worst presidency ever, and he's begun pulling his punches. I remember the operatic heights of satire to which the strip ascended during the Reagan years (hell, the Nixon years -- he did it twice), and he's done nothing like that in years. He's older, more resigned to a lesser fate for the world. I think it says something that the best new character he has is Mr. Butts.
posted by dhartung at 5:21 PM on November 9, 2005

Calvin always kind of got me in the gut. The "little raccoon that died" series still haunts me a little because I remember that feeling as a kid, that there is no real consolation to death and that first realization is one of the few perspectives that never change even when you grow up.

BTW: Cathy - is the worst comic strip EVAR! Just wretched.
posted by tkchrist at 5:45 PM on November 9, 2005

I always get a little sad when I think of Calvin & Hobbes. I don't regret that it seemed to end too soon, I just feel sad for Bill, I think.
posted by effwerd at 6:04 PM on November 9, 2005

No one has mentioned Zippy, and that's fine, cuz that's a totally different world, but there is one strip that bears comparison to C&H, and that is "Zits." The liberty taken with text and image is pretty cool, sometimes.

Robotman is great, too. (Or is it Monty?) But it's not so graphically innovative.

"Hume, Hegel, and Wittgenstein" is going to be the next big hit, I promise ya.
posted by kozad at 6:44 PM on November 9, 2005

I can't imagine being so little affected by the bootleg death of Hobbes as to be only "a little choked up."
Myself, I burst into uncontrollable tears every time I see it. Every damn time. I'm still crying now, and I'm not even sure why.
I miss being a kid. I miss C&H.
posted by BigLankyBastard at 7:10 PM on November 9, 2005

Well, there's Drabble, of course. And The Dinette Set, And those are awful, but still more tolerable than The Family Circus. [link withheld due to taste].

I like Get Fuzzy and Pearls before Swine, but they're no C&H
posted by hoborg at 7:22 PM on November 9, 2005

What, no one hates Fred Bassett? What is it with you people?! Do you not know the face of evil?
posted by graventy at 7:23 PM on November 9, 2005

hoborg, I like PBS too, but I'm getting damn tired of those stupid crocodiles. They're dumb. We get it. Move on.
posted by graventy at 7:24 PM on November 9, 2005

I <3 calvin & hobbes (and larsen's far side). i have a 4 panel wide picture of calvin as spaceman spiff crawling out of his crashed spaceship, blaster drawn, in a hostile environment iron-transfered the back of my labcoat. a href="http://tinypic.com/fk5ctf.gif">This is the saddest Calvin & Hobbes strip, ever. Not inline less because Metafilter frowns on inline images but more because it is really and seriously depressing - especially to fans who identify with Calvin's free spirit, regardless of whether they themselves practice it as such.)
posted by PurplePorpoise at 9:51 PM on November 9, 2005

Sorry, here. I swear it looked ok in live preview.
posted by PurplePorpoise at 9:53 PM on November 9, 2005

Looks fake?
posted by kenko at 10:18 PM on November 9, 2005

Mutts.
posted by Ayn Marx at 10:32 PM on November 9, 2005

rhymes with orange
posted by pointilist at 11:53 PM on November 9, 2005

Yeah that one PP posted is fake but it does feel like a good conclusion nonetheless.
posted by mek at 12:16 AM on November 10, 2005

The bootleg ending strip makes me physically ill.
posted by Hicksu at 12:35 AM on November 10, 2005

Okay, I was depressed before, but then I read this...

...and now I'm really depressed.

Is that what I read Metafilter for?
posted by JHarris at 1:46 AM on November 10, 2005

Rather than hit "launch", here's a direct link: http://www.slate.com/id/2129373/slideshow/2129415/
(I kind of skimmed through; if it's already been posted, my bad.)
posted by hypersloth at 4:10 AM on November 10, 2005

Argghh. Here, rather.
posted by hypersloth at 4:11 AM on November 10, 2005

The best part of both these strips: Calvin and Frazz both feature bicycles as a recurring motif.
posted by fixedgear at 6:06 AM on November 10, 2005

That frazz theory was discussed on MoFi as well, and I'll say again, as a fan of C&H I simply cannot believe anyone could see that strip as much more than a cheap rip-off. I mean, I only read a few of Mallet's strips, but Watterson's strip was well drawn (especially on some sunday strips, when he used extreme angles & so on, but it shows up throughout), imaginative, original, and full of ideas (the time travel and cloning machines and all that really did peek into philosophical questions about identity, etc - it's no mistake the two main characters are named for philosophers, I don't think). The frazz strip is just not in the same ball park.

I love Calvin & Hobbes (obviously) but I would say Doonesbury (the earlier stuff), Bloom County (but not so much outland) and some of the Far Side are worthy comparison.
posted by mdn at 6:41 AM on November 10, 2005

Peanuts!

The old stuff, anyway.
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:53 AM on November 10, 2005

I agree that Calvin and Hobbes is a cut above, but I don't think comics are totally done.

Some strips out there are pretty consistent in terms of wit and/or character development. I'll second Robotman, Monty, Get Fuzzy, and Rhymes with Orange. Bizarro is a wonderful strip. I'm also a booster for the Perry Bible Fellowship.

Also, it looks to me that the bootleg is a fake. The font is wrong and the images look photoshopped in.
posted by ishmael at 6:54 AM on November 10, 2005

Speaking of comic characters that look like Calvin, don't forget Sinfest.
posted by howling fantods at 8:07 AM on November 10, 2005

I remember Bill Watterson saying he would create large format books in full watercolor to continue the series, yet they never appeared. I really wish that happened, as people have already mentioned that nothing compares to the quality of his work.
posted by gren at 8:36 AM on November 10, 2005

The bootleg ending strip makes me physically ill.

Me, too. Me, too. Me, too. I can't begin to describe or explain how bad that fake thing makes me feel. I have no idea why I get emotionally irrational about nothing other than a comic strip about a boy and his tiger.
posted by pardonyou? at 2:55 PM on November 10, 2005

I can't imagine being so little affected by the bootleg death of Hobbes as to be only "a little choked up."
Myself, I burst into uncontrollable tears every time I see it. Every damn time. I'm still crying now, and I'm not even sure why. I miss being a kid.

&

The bootleg ending strip makes me physically ill


You sensitive types are going to have to be a tad less opaque. Simple expressions of anger and sadness can easily mean two, nearly opposite, things in this context: 'I am angry/sad at a cheap C+H knock-off' and 'I am angry/sad by the thought of Calvin losing his imagination'.

One is denouncing the bootleg, the other is engaging it. People aren't mindreaders.
posted by dgaicun at 3:22 PM on November 10, 2005

I printed out the bootleg ending strip and hung it in my cubicle. One of the women in my office was walking by, saw the strip, said, "oooh, I love Calvin and Hobbes!" and started crying when she read it.
posted by kirkaracha at 3:39 PM on November 10, 2005

Only one mention of Zippy the Pinhead?? I'm amazed. Zippy is a great strip and one of the longer lasting ones - it is amazing that it is still around so regular after just about 30 years! It has its moments of tedium recently, but it is still beautiful to look at - beautifully drawn - and often spot on. Maybe best of all - it is just so nice that something so counter-culture and mom-and-popish is still in print. You just have to support becuase it is so authentically felt and so personal.

I have a zippy original strip on my wall that I bought when I had my first real income job. The strip is called "claudacious" and it reads as follows:

Zippy: "I'm worried Claude, I'm worried that I don't worry enough".

Claude: "Worring's like love - it makes the world go round"

Zippy: Maybe that's why time stands still at the end of this bar"

Claude: When I'm in love I worry that I'll fall out of love - when I'm out of love I worry that I'll never be in love again"

Zippy: "Its a vicious cycle of esctacy and despair, huh Claude?"

Claude: "I wouldn't have it any other way, pardner!".

I always found this very life-affirming. This is not the typical strip with the throwaway gag. Just reminding people. It's not good for everyone, but it is good for me.
posted by sirvesa at 1:57 AM on November 11, 2005