^I felt sorrier for Calvin for being stuck with those parents. Especially the father, who thought it was funny to lie to his kid about science and nature. What a jerk.
Calvin & Hobbes
- Thread starter Carpe Occasio
- Start date
Is it true that the unlicensed merchandising was a major part of the reason he stopped making them or is that just something that bothered him?
Yes, they're GREAT. But they were by Berkeley Breathed of Opus fame, not Watterson.
As for retiring, Watterson just felt he had done all he could with the strip. Certainly the cartoonist is the best judge of when to quit. And he left plenty behind, not owing anyone anything else.
His hero was Charles Schulz, who personally drew every one of his Peanuts strips for 50 years instead of using a team of artists as a lot of cartoonists did later in their careers.
--Ted
Ugh, are you serious? That would've been horrible...like a sitcom in its sixth year that has a baby introduced to increase the ratings and "shake things up." Leo DiCaprio-Growing Pains-bad.
^The technical term is a Cousin Oliver.
Because of this thread I went to the book store to buy one of the collection books to relive my past when I would read Calvin and Hobbes. I got the essential collection one and I have been leafing through it ever since. Such a great comic!
And I am dating a woman that has an 8 year old boy and he behaves exactly like Calvin, so much so that I can gain insight into his thinking from C&H....such as the one where Calvin won't eat his food because his parents won't tell him what it is. I have been there with her son. And also the one where Calvin won't eat his dinner because it looks terrible. So his Dad says that it is a good thing that he won't eat it, because it has some toxic waste in it that will turn his skin neon green....and the next panel is Calvin shoveling the food into his maw! I think I will try that one next time the woman makes Chicken Surprise.
And I am dating a woman that has an 8 year old boy and he behaves exactly like Calvin, so much so that I can gain insight into his thinking from C&H....such as the one where Calvin won't eat his food because his parents won't tell him what it is. I have been there with her son. And also the one where Calvin won't eat his dinner because it looks terrible. So his Dad says that it is a good thing that he won't eat it, because it has some toxic waste in it that will turn his skin neon green....and the next panel is Calvin shoveling the food into his maw! I think I will try that one next time the woman makes Chicken Surprise.
The Cousin Oliver idea has certainly been abused.
But I would trust Watterson to do something interesting with it. For a start, not make it 'cute'.
I dunno... I think it was made clear that the terrors of raising Calvin pretty much led Mom and Dad to swear off having any more kids.
I think the "static" nature of the strip was entirely appropriate. Calvin & Hobbes was about the life of a six-year-old seen through six-year-old eyes. Calvin didn't see reality the way an adult does. To him, it was a mutable thing, with imagination being just as tangible as objective reality. By the same token, young children have a different sense of time. They reside more in the present than adults do, less aware of the broader "arc" of their lives. Also, an "arc" is structure, a disciplined, adult thing, and that had no place in Calvin's world. He just lived day by day, wandering from one experience to another without any rhyme or reason. So C&H had exactly the structure it was supposed to have.
Still, I think it's unfair to call it static. It evolved over time as Watterson refined his craft. Its artistic style grew increasingly elaborate, with Watterson eventually getting the clout to insist on a freer Sunday format rather than a rigid six-panel structure. New things were tried, sometimes kept and expanded on (Suzie Derkins, snowman art, dinosaurs, Tracer Bullet), sometimes abandoned as being wrong for Calvin's world (the school baseball team, Uncle Max). Often the strip contained commentary reflecting Watterson's ongoing struggles with his syndicator, so in a sense there's a metatextual arc to it. It was in a perpetual present, with Calvin staying six years old for a decade, but it wasn't static.
Still, I think it's unfair to call it static. It evolved over time as Watterson refined his craft. Its artistic style grew increasingly elaborate, with Watterson eventually getting the clout to insist on a freer Sunday format rather than a rigid six-panel structure. New things were tried, sometimes kept and expanded on (Suzie Derkins, snowman art, dinosaurs, Tracer Bullet), sometimes abandoned as being wrong for Calvin's world (the school baseball team, Uncle Max). Often the strip contained commentary reflecting Watterson's ongoing struggles with his syndicator, so in a sense there's a metatextual arc to it. It was in a perpetual present, with Calvin staying six years old for a decade, but it wasn't static.
Yes. The second song in my C&H musical is sung by Mom and Dad and addresses that very issue. "Only an Only Child".
"Although we might complain a bit
With little fits of quibbling,
We'll never miss the strain a bit
If he's our only cribling.
So we'll make it a point to abstain a bit
So we won't create a sibling ... "
He's only ...
An only ...
Child."
--Ted
^Clever rhymes. "Cribling!" 
I find it fascinating that in every poll or discussion I've ever come across regarding comic strips, Calvin & Hobbes is ALWAYS the FAR AND AWAY winner. You might find one or two people here and there who might have another favorite. But I've never met anyone who did not acknowledge the brilliance of Calvin & Hobbes.
I think I'm glad Watterson quit when he did. Not to say he couldn't have produced years more worth of fine strips, but he has a decade-long body of work that is considered timeless and classic. Better to close on a high point.
I think I'm glad Watterson quit when he did. Not to say he couldn't have produced years more worth of fine strips, but he has a decade-long body of work that is considered timeless and classic. Better to close on a high point.
Yes, Peanuts and C&H are by far and away my favorite strips. Doonesbury a close third.
--Ted
--Ted
Hell, the praying one is even worse because it's totally out of character. My friend's sister has one of those. It pisses me off but I just don't know how to bring it up.
A fact made very clear by the later years of Peanuts when Schultz's sense of humor seemed lost in some alzheimers fog.
