Comment

Calvin and Hobbes was a newspaper comic strip running from 1985-95, written by Bill Watterson. It follows the exploits of Calvin, a six-year-old boy, and his stuffed animal Hobbes, with which he plays. It is rightly lauded as one of the best comics of all time. It is magical. The format of the comic is relatively standard. It's focus is primarily on humor, fit into a neat four panels. Occasionally, a color strip of greater length is dispersed within the normal ones. While the panels sparingly make reference to past events, for the most part the panels are self-contained. Only very rarely are there a treat of strips that work together in sequence to make a larger story. What really makes the comic work is its characters. It is very minimalist - 80% of the time you will see Calvin and Hobbes, and in the remaining time you might glimpse Calvin's mom and dad, the neighboring kid Susie, the teacher Ms. Wormwood, or Calvin's bully, Moe. But the focus is really on Calvin, the quintessential child. He is curious, unusually perceptive, caring, adventurous, and carefree. At the same time, he's a stupid little turd that lies, cheats, steals, and doesn't think twice about making general mischief. Hobbes is the perfect contrast: he is quiet and reserved, thoughtful, intelligent, and feels like much more of a late-teen, or adult. He is only deeply-flawed in that he is a tiger, and tigers cannot help but get occasionally hungry, and will pounce on you. While I mentioned that the focus of the strip is primarily on humor, it takes a very eclectic approach regarding the topics upon which it builds its jokes. It interests itself in environmental pollution, art and art critics, bullying, and the imagination of childhood, just to name a very short few. I can't really convey the feeling of it's idiosyncrasies, but I can give a few examples the ones I love: There is a made up sport that Calvin and Hobbes play together called Calvinball, where the only permanent rule is that you never play it the same way twice. It is impossible to understand the rules yourself, and you only are privileged to glimpses of volleyballs, birdies, croquet mallets, and other sporting utensils chaotically mixed about the panels. At one point Calvin invents a "transmogrifier" which turns him into an owl, and also makes a heap of clones for him. Winter and the joys of winter are a constant. Often you will see Calvin and Hobbes playing in the snow. At one point, the snowmen Calvin makes turn alive and basically try to murder him. Sledding or wagoning down steep hills is common, and serves as a medium for more serious conversations contrasted with the slapstick of the journey. Calvin pursues several alter-egos. He is Spaceman Spiff, an alien-zapping farer of the galaxy. He is also Tracer Bullet, a harder-than-hard-boiled noir private eye. Then Stupendous Man, in an obvious nod to Superman. In all of these, it's clear to see that Calvin has been inspired from the media he's consumed, but hyper-fixated on the elements that he thinks are cool. Those elements are usually violence and independence, along with whatever other tropes are common to the genre. This means that what you actually end up seeing Calvin act out are these genres amplified to eleven, with maximum ham. Spiff shouts out excessive catchphrases, all of which begin with "Z" to sound more spacey. Bullet speaks with so much dramatic innuendo its almost impossible to understand what he's saying, and calls every woman a "dame". Stupendous Man speaks aloud the context bubbles that would be present in a superhero comic. While on this topic, I should mention that a good chunk of the humor of the comic is the rift between how Calvin vs. how everyone else views a situation. Spaceman Spiff might be trapped in a dungeon as Calvin is sent to the principal's office. The art style rapidly switches from panel to panel to reflect who's perspective is being shown. I would write more if I could. READ CALVIN AND HOBBES.