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August 5, 2008 2:21 PM   Subscribe

A complete run of Calvin & Hobbes, including dialogue search engine.
posted by gerryblog (22 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: Yep, this is the yearly "I love C&H too, but this is pretty much not cool" deletion reason. -- cortex



 
I found this trying to put together a short post on one of the strip's best running gags, Calvin's polling of his father's job performance.

I know we've done this sort of thing before, but I'd love to see another "best-of" thread.
posted by gerryblog at 2:21 PM on August 5, 2008


That dialog search allowed me to find a personal favorite.
posted by Bookhouse at 2:25 PM on August 5, 2008 [1 favorite]


This seems like pretty straightforward copyright violations and like those that came before it, will hopefully go away soon. Bad form and subpar post.
posted by allen.spaulding at 2:25 PM on August 5, 2008


Oh boy! I get to play copyright cop in two threads today!
posted by yhbc at 2:28 PM on August 5, 2008


Didn't we deep-six this the last time someone posted it?
posted by basicchannel at 2:30 PM on August 5, 2008


This seems like pretty straightforward copyright violations and like those that came before it, will hopefully go away soon. Bad form and subpar post.

Copyright Schmopyright! this is exactly what I've been looking for.
Calvin and Hobbes was a large influence in my formative years.
posted by dunkadunc at 2:31 PM on August 5, 2008 [1 favorite]


Wow! Now when I need to find a strip I've been looking for, I don't have to try to figure out which one of my many books it's from! Thanks!
posted by Deflagro at 2:36 PM on August 5, 2008


I own the Complete Calvin and Hobbes, and if I didn't respect his privacy so much, I'd stop by Bill Watterson's house for an autograph. He only lives about 20 minutes from me.
posted by sciurus at 2:37 PM on August 5, 2008


allen.spaulding writes "This seems like pretty straightforward copyright violations and like those that came before it, will hopefully go away soon. Bad form and subpar post."

I bought every one of those books, so it's ok.
posted by mullingitover at 2:40 PM on August 5, 2008


One of my all time faves. As a language geek and a nerd with a penchant for overly literal interpenetration of instructions I don't like I loved that one. This one and this one too.

As for copyright, yeah, I figure the guy who put this up will be smacked with a DMCA takedown in a matter of minutes. Which sucks, because like many of the other posters I own every single C&H book there is, so it isn't like my use of the site is actually violating copyright and the searching ability is frickin' awesome.
posted by sotonohito at 2:46 PM on August 5, 2008


I love Calvin and Hobbes and would theoretically love a web archive of it, but what I want to know is why that site is 'archiving' xkcd and in fact, hotlinking the images from xkcd itself.
posted by version control at 2:47 PM on August 5, 2008


Awesome link. It even has Dilbert and Garfield too.
posted by Pseudology at 2:47 PM on August 5, 2008


It's been over ten years since it was published, but that last strip still breaks my heart in the gladdest way possible.
posted by slimepuppy at 2:50 PM on August 5, 2008 [1 favorite]


Did the guy seriously hand-type all the captions? Wow, what a lot fo work for something that won't survive a takedown request.

Although I did find my favorite again...
posted by pupdog at 2:51 PM on August 5, 2008


Nthing the grew up on Calvin and Hobbes, love it to death, own them all, love the searchable dialogue but hate the fact that it's being posted like this in a shitty format.
posted by jimmythefish at 2:51 PM on August 5, 2008


Man, I'm conflicted. The site is set up very nicely. Smooth interface and the search function is a sorely needed feature. But as many have said, it's pretty blatant copyright quagmire waiting to happen, even if you own the books. Figure the site will be cease and desisted sometime sooner rather than later, which is a shame since I think they nailed the interface.
posted by johnstein at 2:52 PM on August 5, 2008


I bought every one of those books, so it's ok.

That's fine, as long as you're okay with KILLING THE COMICS INDUSTRY! There's nothing fair about Fair Use. The only responsible thing to do is continue buying the same thing in new formats, forever.
posted by burnmp3s at 2:55 PM on August 5, 2008


pupdog: I think that one's my favorite too. Brilliant, really.
posted by Caduceus at 2:55 PM on August 5, 2008


This seems like a pretty straightforward case of a fan doing a much better job publishing several different comics than their respective authors' own publishers are doing and, like those that came before it, it will hopefully be widely mirrored before it gets taken down. Thanks for posting it!
posted by finite at 2:56 PM on August 5, 2008 [1 favorite]


A 'complete Calvin and Hobbes online' post shows up on Metafilter probably at least once a year, and they used to excite me, until my fiancee bought me The Complete Calvin & Hobbes collection. I'm halfway through Book 2, and I can tell you it's a quality, albeit pricey set of books that are well worth investing in if you're a fan of C&H.

Best of all, unlike these posts, you avoid the dissapointment of the site being taken down eventually, as inevitabbly seems to happen once these fan sites get some level of exposure like, I dunno, a post on Metafilter.
posted by Effigy2000 at 3:07 PM on August 5, 2008 [2 favorites]


No, I hope it isn't widely mirrored.

Upset as I was, and a lot of fans were, when the author stopped penning Calvin and Hobbes strips, I'm more upset that his work is just being stolen in this way. I bought all the books of the comic strips, not because the publisher was doing a great job, but because I supported Watterson's work. He, himself, reviled the constant barrage of Calvin and Hobbes merchandising gimmicks all the promoters came up with, and just wanted to stick with the comic, until finally he couldn't take it any more and quit the business. That's his right.

Sorry, but this is a bad post.
posted by misha at 3:10 PM on August 5, 2008


I not only have a complete set of softcover books I also have the hard bound two volume set. And I'd buy a grepable cd/dvd version of them in a heart beat.

In the mean time WinHTTrack is getting a workout.
posted by Mitheral at 3:16 PM on August 5, 2008


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