Calvin And Hobbes have some enduring greatness to them. Perhaps this is a result of Bill Waterson's background in political philosophy, but the comics express some deep truth of American culture. Seeing this reminded me of this essay from a few years back (the cartoons haven't changed much in the intervening years):
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/weekly-standard/calvin-an...
I put Calvin and Hobbes up on the pedestal next to Winnie the Pooh (the first two books by AA Milne). It’s a weird connection between being an adult and being a child. Like a bolt of lightning... that somehow repeats itself strip after strip or chapter after chapter. I just count myself lucky for being exposed to it.
Personally, and this is just me, I stopped reading this article the second the author said that the comic was too inappropriate for their child and that it could deserve an R-rating for how snowmen are treated. That might be the single most ridiculous thing I've ever read in my life.
I don't know what they were going to go on to say, and the fact that they were writing an article about this in the paper implies that they're clearly a big fan of the comic, but I just couldn't read past that sentence.
You missed a heart-warming, thoughtful piece because you couldn't take a half-serious, half-humorous comment on the fact that some C&H comics do indeed have adult sensibilities.
"The violence Calvin inflicts on snowmen could alone earn it an R rating" sounds toungue-in-cheek to me. Regardless, the author immediately it was a "classic parenting mistake" in the next sentence, and lets their kid read the books.
Sorry, but it clearly wasn't: he goes on to say that his kid had to steal the books back from the author's bedroom. Not sure why the kid would need to do that if the author hadn't quite seriously taken the books away.
True, but the rest of the story says that it was a mistake:
> I’ve read my fair share of parenting books, but I’d put “Calvin & Hobbes” at the top of the list of required reading. It reminds me to change my point of view.
It's not a bait and switch, it was my only comment here. But it's reasonable to expect people to get the genders correct for the subjects of their sentences. Use a neutral term like "they" if you don't know and don't want to or can't find out.
My son is not old enough to read it yet, so I've been reading it to him, and it's the only thing he wants to read for bedtime story now.
I read them fairly regularly even as a teenager so I was old enough to understand most of the jokes the first time I read them. But every so often I see one that I understand in a new light now that I'm a parent myself, in particular, the ones from Calvin's parent's point of view. And of course, some of the mild political commentary, and also the commentary on Waterson's own constant fights with Universal Press Syndicate over merchandising rights (or really his categoriacal refusal to do so) and the fight with newspapers for more space so that he didn't have to constrain the drawings to the rigid formats they demanded for easier editing.
I read the collection titled "Calvin and Hobbes: The Sunday Pages 1985-1995" in which Waterson discusses the context of these strips at length, as well as his artistic process. I highly recommend that one to anyone who is a fan.
Yes, it seems very odd that someone who writes so beautifully and with such wisdom would get suspended. I poked around on Google a little to see whether I could find out what happened, but no luck.
I'm a huge fan of Calvin and Hobbes. It isn't necessarily a kids comic, with a lot of the jokes being subtle enough to go over a kid's head, but adults would still find them funny.
Here're some strips that a six-year-old would barely understand:
There are just a few Writers that mean anything to me in the comics world. But I'd put Bill Watterson along with Don Rosa and Carl Barks right on the first place. (yeah, real tight and cozy!)
(on a completely different tone, and out of curiosity, James O'Barr would be in a close second place with The Crow... I leave the third place to Allan Moore or any other anyone sees more fit)
I think Calvin and Hobbes has a more positive outlook on life than Dilbert. To me Calvin and Hobbes mocks things with the attitude of "let's make this better" or "let's explore and find better things" while Dilbert mocks things with the attitude "it'll never get better".
Dilbert has been criticized as not just portraying useless bosses, but also mostly useless employees who never try to improve anything:
Since it’s a normal comic strip, Dilbert can never change substantially. So, what would be worse, a strip where the protagonists are competent and try to change their situation for the better, but always fail, or a comic where most everyone is equally incompetent and you can laugh at them all?
Hobbes is an imaginary friend, an alter ego, a conscience, and a physical toy. It seems weird to make him a divide between parents and children. And saying "Hobbes is real to Calvin" is a meaningless platitude.
Calvin and Hobbes is a great comic, but I will never understand the level of hero worship Bill Watterson enjoys on the internet. People pour over his work like religious texts, looking for new lessons and ways to apply his wisdom. It's a bit weird, frankly.
I think a large part of the respect for Watterson comes from the fact that he never "sold out". He made his comic and when he felt it was done, he stopped. He didn't do a Saturday morning cartoon, and lunchboxes, and t-shirts, etc. What merchandising there is for C&H is, afaik, unlicensed.
Watterson is an artist, and he did it for the art, not just to make money. It lends a lot more credibility in some people's eyes.
It also shows that the strident anti-commercialism stance he takes in many of the comics isn’t just talk. He actually believes and lives it.
Yup, I still feel bad that the one thing I asked my parents for when they visited the US when I was a kid was for a Calvin and Hobbes t-shirt. I knew nothing about Bill Waterson's stance on licensing at the time and my poor parents spent hours in NYC looking for a t-shirt till they finally found a bootlegged t-shirt.
I can't wait to share my entire set with my kids but I'm waiting for them to mature a bit more before getting them into it since a lot of the humor is lost in very young kids.
I don't. I'm saying there's a point at which fandom becomes toxic and, for example, can't tolerate the slightest criticism without downvoting that person into oblivion.
