Calvin and Hobbes

Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Once upon a time, I was nuts for Calvin and Hobbes. I read it every Sunday morning and bought the first six collected editions. Once Bill Watterson retired, so did my interest in reading newspaper comics. Earlier this morning, I watched the documentary Dear Mr. Watterson, which was great, and decided to check out the dog-eared, well-loved Calvin and Hobbes collections sitting on a shelf in my basement. As I write this, it's been easily 25 years since I cracked this puppy open.

The story starts as it must: Calvin catches his tiger, Hobbes, in a trap using a tuna sandwich. The first thing I notice is that Calvin looks slightly different than his iconic look. His head is shaped a little differently and his hair is a little off. Other than that, all the winning ingredients are there, right from the get-go.

Another thing I notice right off the bat is the attention to detail in the backgrounds, particularly in the larger Sunday strips. Watterson put tons of effort into some of the scenes, effort he probably didn't need to, but it seems like he wasn't willing to phone it in like so many other cartoonists when it came to the little touches.

Most of the characters that appear throughout the life of the series are introduced in this volume: Calvin's parents, of course, the principal, Mrs. Wormwood, Rosalyn the babysitter, Moe, Susie Derkins, they're all here and fully realized. No Stupendous Man yet in this volume but Spaceman Spiff is all over the place. Also, Calvin plays a character called Safari Al, something I completely forgot about. Did Safari Al make any appearances after the first year? I also didn't remember Calvin being a Cub Scout.

Calvin tackles such menaces as going to school, monsters under his bed, stifling parents, babysitters, the school bully, trying new foods, and the biggest enemy of all for a kid: boredom. Calvin's powerful imagination reminds me of simpler times, when the daily grind of going to school was the only obstacle to pure freedom.

Now that I'm decades older, Calvin's parents strike a cord with me. You know his mother and father aren't where they want to be in life. Mom's stuck being the disciplinarian while Dad's clearly coasting, making shit up as he goes along, partly to amuse himself and partly because he doesn't know what else to do.

One of my favorites of the early strips is Calvin's mom making dinner and telling Calvin they're having stewed monkey heads.


While still in its formative years in this volume, it's easy to see why Calvin and Hobbes is still revered today. The stories are timeless tales of childhood and imagination. I think part of the reason people still talk about Calvin and Hobbes is because it went out on top. Bill Watterson wasn't content to churn out strips year after year just to keep the gravy train going.

While it isn't my favorite Calvin and Hobbes collection by a long chalk, even the greatest newspaper strip of the modern era had to start somewhere. It's a great beginning and still a lot of fun over three decades after the strips were originally published. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

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