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July 29, 2008 4:46 PM   Subscribe

 
Shit! The "calvin and hobbes and ten pounds of bullshit" link was supposed to be this!

...I fail...
posted by Navelgazer at 4:48 PM on July 29, 2008


The Calvin pissing stickers always upset me a bit. Calvin wasn't a malicious kid hell-bent on destruction. If anyone, it should've been Moe pissing. To say nothing of the fact that Waterson clearly despised and never endorsed ANY products (some school posters or calendar or something, some time, ONCE) at all.

Man, I heart Calvin & Hobbes. Truly the greatest comic to have ever run.
posted by disillusioned at 4:53 PM on July 29, 2008 [3 favorites]


navelgazer, i heart you. i can't wait to look through all of these; the "calvin and durden" one is priceless.

i'd never thought of that comparison before -- calvin as jack, hobbes as tyler. freaking brilliant!
posted by CitizenD at 4:59 PM on July 29, 2008


Any other possible claimants to the "best strip-format comic of the C20th"? My only close contender would be Pogo, but Watterson gets the edge for sheer consistency. Of course, quitting at the peak of your powers is a bit of a cheat...
posted by yoink at 5:04 PM on July 29, 2008


I've awoken from more than one dream to be bitterly disappointed when I realized I hadn't actually met Bill Watterson hiding out in a library, or a diner or a park bench somewhere.

I love Calvin & Hobbes so much. I credit it as much as anything else for expanding the boundaries of my imagination, for teaching me the endless pleasure to be found in learning and exploring and thinking.

Also, your links to that Neatorama illustration remind me that I've liked this t-shirt ever since I saw them selling it in Union Square one Christmas (here's the original for reference).
posted by Nathaniel W at 5:35 PM on July 29, 2008


I love how the Daily Republican article mentioned John Calvin as "the 17th century (1509-64) theologian"
posted by parmanparman at 5:54 PM on July 29, 2008


Poor John Nash. Despite their inability to deliver success in a system, underdogs always seemed more noble to me. Beta males are unhappy because they know they are being "settled for" so they find other things to occupy their time with, making them more interesting and desirable (or brilliant and insane) in the long-run. As a result they may be more aloof and egocentric which actually makes them appear to be more like the alpha. One of the problems with non-cooperative game theory is that it creates cognitive illusions, implications of rationality in all actors, and/or overconfidence based on misinterpretation of random sequences of successes. A person's estimate of their validity should not depend on such observations such as zero-sum which can play out over a duration of a lifetime. It is an interesting comparison to the cute maniacal Calvin and Hobbes, but Fight Club was just annoying with its circa 1990s sense of ironic detachment.
posted by johannahdeschanel at 6:43 PM on July 29, 2008


I'm always bothered by the fake "last strip" alluded to by the "Calvin and Hobbes and Childhood" link. Not because I think it's sad, although I suppose it is. I actually find it rather sappy and overwrought, which isn't how Watterson ever wrote Calvin and Hobbes. Mostly it bothers me, though, because Watterson was the guy who wrote Calvin and Hobbes, and he DID write a last strip, which was actually a pretty good one. He already left us with what should be our lasting impression of the two of them, and it fit quite well. Why you'd want to ruin that by giving Calvin prozac is beyond me.
posted by Inkoate at 6:46 PM on July 29, 2008 [1 favorite]


yoink: Any other possible claimants to the "best strip-format comic of the C20th"? My only close contender would be Pogo...

Peanuts (my pick), Li'l Abner, some would say For Better or for Worse... but C&H definitely has the right to be up there with the greatest.

My son learned to read via Calvin and Hobbes.

Thanks, Navelgazer!
posted by not_on_display at 6:48 PM on July 29, 2008


I learned to pontificate via Calvin and Hobbes.
posted by mullingitover at 7:20 PM on July 29, 2008


Calvin and prozac sounded so cute :P
posted by johannahdeschanel at 7:33 PM on July 29, 2008


Waterson himself said that three particular strips influenced him the most strongly: Peanuts, Pogo, and Krazy Kat.
posted by Class Goat at 8:23 PM on July 29, 2008


Calvin and Hobbes was second only to Bloom County, imo.
posted by stifford at 8:59 PM on July 29, 2008


The Calvin pissing stickers always upset me a bit. Calvin wasn't a malicious kid hell-bent on destruction.

Oh hell yes! Calvin was just being a kid. Sometimes destruction was a side effect. But he never set out to hurt anyone. And Hobbes? Well, he's my hero. Tuna sandwiches and belly-toasting in the sun.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 9:16 PM on July 29, 2008


Come on people. Calvin wasn't on Prozac in the alternate "last strip", he was on Ritalin. Or possibly Adderall.
posted by Justinian at 9:24 PM on July 29, 2008


I seem to remember Pogo being mentioned and praised in a forward to one of the C&H books.....?

Not long ago, a three volume set came out with all of the strips in order of their appearance in the newspapers.

Calvin and Hobbes: great for when you have been bumming.

thanks for the post.
posted by captainsohler at 9:27 PM on July 29, 2008


Metafilter: We're here to devour each other alive.
posted by Memo at 10:02 PM on July 29, 2008


This post needs more snowmen.
posted by caddis at 12:33 AM on July 30, 2008


Hobbes slash Hobbes (Not mind safe, but extremely well drawn and kinda cute in a really perverted way.)
posted by ymgve at 8:12 AM on July 30, 2008


jes' fine.
posted by flabdablet at 8:48 AM on July 30, 2008


not_on_display: I learned to read on Calvin and Hobbes. Maybe I'm your son.
posted by dismas at 10:03 AM on July 30, 2008


I find the Calvin-on-ritalin strip poignant and well-done. Especially the way Hobbes seems to lose agency without Calvin's imagination until he just disappears. It's not some amazing work of art, but for a little four-panel comic strip, it's quite good.

I also acknowledge that it's not the same tone as Watterson's Calvin & Hobbes, and I agree that Watterson's final strip is better than this one. But I'm able to see them as distinct works, and I really don't understand the idea that this one somehow "ruins" anything Watterson did. I'm glad to have read both.

I'd bemoan the idea that the person who made this should have somehow been prevented from doing so if I thought there was any real danger of that happening. But it's clearly not possible to squelch something like this. If Watterson can't even stamp out the abominable Calvin peeing stickers, I don't have to worry about more worthwhile derivative works going away.
posted by straight at 11:03 AM on July 30, 2008


From the 2nd to last link, trying to paint C&H as a Republican paean due to Calvin being representative of John Calvin:

"Calvin sought to improve the life of the 17th Century French citizens in many ways. He supported good hospitals, a proper sewage system, protective rails on upper stories to keep children from falling from tall buildings, special care for the poor and infirm, and the introduction of new industries. "

So John Calvin was for renovation of the countries infrastructure, invasive building codes to force safety compliance, Medicare/Medicaid, and funding of public R&D for new technology? The 'Daily Republican' realizes they're describing the exact opposite of a modern republican, right?
posted by FatherDagon at 11:41 AM on July 30, 2008


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