Calvin and Hobbes

May 26, 2006 1:49 PM

Calvin and Hobbes
posted by afu (53 comments total)

A previous post also had a link to all the scanned comics, but that link is dead, long live the new link!
posted by afu at 1:51 PM on May 26, 2006 [1 favorite]

If only I could curl up with my monitor while lying in bed and read them.
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 1:52 PM on May 26, 2006

The link is probably dead because it's copyright infringement and someone got their ass sued.
posted by dobbs at 1:53 PM on May 26, 2006

I'm very sure that this isn't authorized.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 1:55 PM on May 26, 2006

I cried when I re-read the Squirrel Death thread.
(Sniff), Gawd bless that boy and tiger. (sniff)
posted by Elim at 1:55 PM on May 26, 2006

Calvin & Hobbes.
posted by togdon at 1:56 PM on May 26, 2006

Infringementlicious!
posted by starman at 1:57 PM on May 26, 2006

Guys, this is Bill Watterson. Buy his frickin' book already.
posted by danb at 1:58 PM on May 26, 2006

togdon, you beat me to it.
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:58 PM on May 26, 2006

I love the "Don't Mirror this please" at the bottom. Real classy. I'm still pretty perturbed that some douchenozzle got the Calvin and Hobbes collection instead of me. Someday I'll be able to afford it.
posted by Phantomx at 2:00 PM on May 26, 2006

Man, all this does is remind me that I can't afford the hardcover boxed set. What a great gift that'd be...
*looks around*
My birthday is coming up...
*looks around*
posted by graventy at 2:02 PM on May 26, 2006

"Don't mirror this please!"

Wait, what?
I am tempted to wget the site just out of a sense of perverse justice. But instead I'll curl up with the collection that togdon linked above (I got it for Christmas, the best gift I have received in maybe my entire adult life) and revel in the beauty that is C&H.

on preview: beaten like a redhead stepchild, but still...
posted by djeo at 2:03 PM on May 26, 2006

The Salinger mirror I think is fine, because you can't even find his work anywhere, but this is lame. You can buy all the books at Amazon. They are probably at most libraries as well.

Also, Calvin and Hobbes is the best.
posted by chunking express at 2:04 PM on May 26, 2006

Great story on Watterson from clevescene.com.
posted by tweak at 2:08 PM on May 26, 2006

I am tempted to wget the site just out of a sense of perverse justice. But instead I'll curl up with the collection that togdon linked above

Good idea!
posted by sonofsamiam at 2:09 PM on May 26, 2006

Oh yeah, just in case someone was going to take the time to actually dl this site, the complete C&H archives have been floating around p2p for years.
posted by sonofsamiam at 2:15 PM on May 26, 2006

ha! earlier at work i was just reading my Calvin and Hobbes PDF (3695 pages).
but i don't feel very guilty i have 3-4 of them books at home.
posted by zenzizi at 2:23 PM on May 26, 2006

tweak, thanks for that story. I often wonder what Watterson is up to. I hope he's happy doing whatever he's doing. I think Calvin and Hobbes is one of the great achievements in any medium of the C20th. In strip-comics, the only (English language) things that can be mentioned in the same breath are early-Peanuts and Pogo. Whenever I read the early Peanuts, and then read the witless retreads it became in the last few decades of its run, I can't but think that Watterson made the right decision. If you think you're losing the vision, quit.

I still remember hearing that the strip was going to end though--that was a kick in the guts. Looking forward to the day's C&H was something that helped get me though some tough times.
posted by yoink at 2:24 PM on May 26, 2006

If you think you're losing the vision, quit.

While I miss it a lot too, I totally agree that he made the right decision. Counter-example: the Simpsons. There is now no potential for nostalgia with that show.
posted by tweak at 2:31 PM on May 26, 2006

I often look at these ol' C&H comics.

Because I *bought* them.

Jeez.
posted by parki at 2:31 PM on May 26, 2006

once Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side left syndication, I felt like I'd matured quite a bit, staring hungrily at the funny papers, and finding absolutely nothing funny.

I already have the Far Side collection, and fully intend on getting the Calvin and Hobbes one.

I feel no guilt at all in looking at these pages, since I bought a dozen C&H books throughout their decade, and found much overlapping of comics.

besides, they're hilarious.
posted by Busithoth at 2:34 PM on May 26, 2006

Thanks for that link, Tweak.

I loved C&H too. That was always at least one bright spot in my day.

This is oblique, but the Denver Post republishes some old Bloom County comics.

Brings back a lot of memories.
posted by rougy at 2:43 PM on May 26, 2006

Phantomx writes "I love the 'Don't Mirror this please' at the bottom. Real classy"

I don't think this is that he cares so much if you mirror, probably more that he like to avoid the big hit on his server.
posted by Mitheral at 2:45 PM on May 26, 2006

I think it's pretty wrong that the guy has Google ads at the bottom of each page. And pretty funny given Calvin's personality that that one of them is "Autism - Need Help?".
posted by nicwolff at 2:49 PM on May 26, 2006

I've had a Calvin and Hobbes tattoo for about 20 years and I rue the day when the strip has been away for so long that someone asks me, "What's with the boy and tiger?"
posted by Mr Pointy at 2:52 PM on May 26, 2006

There's a number of illicit C&H archives out there... just google. For when this one goes down.
posted by rxrfrx at 3:00 PM on May 26, 2006

and I rue the day when the strip has been away for so long that someone asks me, "What's with the boy and tiger?"

More like "I can't believe you got a tattoo of the kid who pisses on the ford logo..."
posted by George_Spiggott at 3:05 PM on May 26, 2006

posted by quonsar at 3:15 PM on May 26, 2006 [1 favorite]

I met a guy in Denver about 15 years ago that had a Calvin and Hobbes tattoo on his arm. Was that you?

Calvin and Hobbes was the greatest thing on the strips. I was sad about him quitting, and wished he could go on forever doing the strip, but I also understand his choice. He gave us a great gift for a time, and he deserves our thanks.
posted by Eekacat at 3:17 PM on May 26, 2006

I think it's pretty wrong that the guy has Google ads at the bottom of each page...
posted by nicwolff

I missed that due to my ad-blocking settings. Well, yeah, if the site's author is trying to make money without giving Bill Watterson his due, (s)he should be sued but good.

The Denver Post link posted by rougy is a uclick.com syndication. There several places like uclick where one can get recycled C&L, fresh Doonesbury...lot'sa stuff.

Every morning, I turn on my computer and load 17 daily comics in tabs while I make my coffee.
posted by taosbat at 3:20 PM on May 26, 2006

If only Charles Schulz had quit while he was still on his game. Peanuts was brilliant in the early to mid 1960s. If he'd known when to stop it might be up there with Pogo and C&H, instead of crumbling to Dennis the Menace and Wizard of ID levels where it's languished for decades.
posted by George_Spiggott at 3:23 PM on May 26, 2006

Let's all say it together: SMOCK!
although I think I mentioned the last time quonsar posted that strip that Watterson stole that from Steve Allen. Except he was more "SCHMOCK!"
posted by wendell at 3:29 PM on May 26, 2006

Some Thoughts on the Real World by One Who Glimpsed it and Fled.
posted by George_Spiggott at 3:35 PM on May 26, 2006

Sorry, I meant to paste, ucomics.com.
posted by taosbat at 3:40 PM on May 26, 2006

Hmm, I think Peanuts 1965 to ~1975? is a bit underrated, actually. It's not as biting, but Schulz plays around with pretty weird stories in interesting ways, or maybe I just have a spot for 'em.

I hadn't seen that particular bit of Watterson's thoughts, George_Spigott, thanks.
posted by furiousthought at 3:48 PM on May 26, 2006

Some Thoughts on the Real World by One Who Glimpsed it and Fled.:

It's surprising how hard we'll work when the work is done just for ourselves. And with all due respect to John Stuart Mill, maybe utilitarianism is overrated. If I've learned one thing from being a cartoonist, it's how important playing is to creativity and happiness.

I don't think he quite gets utilitarianism...
posted by delmoi at 4:14 PM on May 26, 2006

It's hard for this guy to argue fair use when he profits through Google ads and when all of these are now available in a convenient, albeit expensive, book. The ads might actually get him sued. Usually the rights holder is satisfied if you cease and desist, but this is more obnoxious. I wonder why he doesn't want it mirrored? Perhaps that might cut into his ad revenue?
posted by caddis at 4:26 PM on May 26, 2006

Gone

Good
posted by caddis at 4:29 PM on May 26, 2006

I suppose this calls for posting this again, heh (series finale, contains spoilers):

posted by First Post at 4:42 PM on May 26, 2006

(or you coulda just viewed it in the thread afu posted above. Oh well...it's interesting enough in the responses it evokes in people to bear repeating, I suppose.)
posted by First Post at 4:48 PM on May 26, 2006

(also I should have posted one of bugbread's reimaginings instead, 'cause they're better. anyway, blah blah blah. )
posted by First Post at 4:53 PM on May 26, 2006

from the interview that tweak linked:

Near the end of his call to arms at Ohio State, Watterson put forth a plan for dealing with the elements of cartooning that so frustrated him. "Each syndicate could put out a weekly comic book of all its strips," he said. "The syndicates could again take over the printing, and the comics could be sold to papers as a preprinted insert. If I had any business savvy at all myself, I'd lump the whole business tomorrow and self-publish."

This makes me a touch sad. If the recent phonebook-anthology manga publishing model had arrived to the United States just a few years earlier, then maybe Watterson would still be drawing comics.
posted by PsychoKick at 4:55 PM on May 26, 2006

Calvin: An Intimate Portrait. He's all grown up now, and quite articulate on the subject of mental illness, as he shows in this interview for the blog The Letter D.

And quonsar, that's probably my favorite Calvin strip of all time. I don't say "smock smock smock" as much as I used to, but I frequently do ask people, "What on earth is wrong with you?," worded just that way because of that strip.
posted by diddlegnome at 4:59 PM on May 26, 2006

If only Charles Schulz had quit while he was still on his game. Peanuts was brilliant in the early to mid 1960s. If he'd known when to stop it might be up there with Pogo and C&H, instead of crumbling to Dennis the Menace and Wizard of ID levels where it's languished for decades.
posted by George_Spiggott at 3:23 PM PST on May 26 [+fave] [!]

Please don't knock Mr. Schulz. Peanuts has always been my favorite comic strip. I enjoyed the contents of his strip as well the underlying social comments he so aptly portrayed. But Calvin and Hobbes (and I do have all the books), and Bloom County, along with For Better or For Worse ( all their books, too) all rank up there.
posted by annieb at 5:52 PM on May 26, 2006

Hmm, I think Peanuts 1965 to ~1975? is a bit underrated, actually.
and
Please don't knock Mr. Schulz.

Perhaps that was unfair. I've just stumbled on this reprint of an NYT story, which contains something I never realized:

As Mr. Stoddart pointed out, the first time Snoopy crawled on top of his doghouse and cursed the Red Baron was October 1965. That was when President Lyndon B. Johnson had just escalated the war in Vietnam. And Snoopy's last mission atop his doghouse was in 1972, when President Richard M. Nixon was withdrawing troops from Vietnam. As Mr. Stoddart noted, Snoopy "never fought the Red Baron again." He preferred to "sit in French cafes and flirt with waitresses."

(Yes perhaps all this is a derail, but let's face it; without derails this thread would just be an echo of the last time someone posted a C&H collection.)
posted by George_Spiggott at 6:03 PM on May 26, 2006

First Post: I suppose this calls for posting this again, heh (series finale, contains spoilers)

That is NOT the series finale (if the font didn't already tell you, it's fake.) It does quite appropriately show up in just about every ritalin-related thread though.
posted by Mitrovarr at 6:06 PM on May 26, 2006

Uh, yeah. "Let's go exploring." Noted in other thread. I think most folks are smart enough to suss that it's fake.

That's more of a nod to the recent Eurovision/American Idol threads, and the ensuing spoiler outrage.
posted by First Post at 7:46 PM on May 26, 2006

Oh, I wasn't insulted or anything – it's just become conventional wisdom of sorts that the early Peanuts was great and the strip had been worthless for decades upon decades afterwards, and I think that kind of overstates things. There were a lot of weird and weirdly-drawn strips in the later Peanuts... the arm-wrestling contest, the kite-eating tree, the cat next door, Charlie Brown meeting his loser hero, Spike...

I guess I would have to pin the completion of Peanuts' long arc of shark-jumping at the appearance of Rerun (1980 or so?). Other less generous people blame Woodstock, but I don't mind the little guy. He certainly is strange.

There were some interesting and jarring strips penned near the very end, too.
posted by furiousthought at 8:17 PM on May 26, 2006

[quote]Every morning, I turn on my computer and load 17 daily comics in tabs while I make my coffee.[/quote]

Only 17? I have so many daily comics, that my Firefox's "Colorful Tabs" extension doesn't have enough colors for them all, and I have at least three seperate daily 'open in tabs' folders in my bookmarks...

( This has a recent version of my full daily newsfeed, if anybody here is really that interested.)
posted by DataPacRat at 9:02 PM on May 26, 2006

Spiggot's derail was the best part of the whole thread, and one of the most interesting things I have ever heard about The Peanuts. Thanks for that.
posted by caddis at 9:33 PM on May 26, 2006

DataPacRat, cool, my 17 work for me.

First Post: I hadn't seen that before. Thanks, such a sad thought, but thanks.
posted by taosbat at 10:33 PM on May 27, 2006

It's pulling a 404 for me now. Maybe they didn't want the attention?
posted by tiamat at 6:57 AM on May 28, 2006

My life with an 8 year old semi-autistic son is made livable by the memories of Calvin. We laugh when other parents would cry cos we just get him, ye know?
posted by Wilder at 2:21 PM on May 29, 2006