whos a fan?
i am
a really big fan
reallyREALLY big fan
i have the compleate collection
I am a huge fan of Calvin and Hobbes as well Boxy. Own all the books, have read them several times over the years.
Boxy, do you have that enormous $120 hardcover set with all ten years of strips? I so want that! I missed my chance to buy it at a discount when I worked at Barnes & Noble.
“Calvin and Hobbs” and Bloom County/Outland were some of the best comics that have been written.
My cats’ names are Calvin and Hobbes!
Here’s some readin’ on Bill Watterson, the M.I.A. enigma behind C&H.
yes
second best thing my parents ever did
only behind letting me play drums
ive read it a few times, its totaly woth it
I am obviously a fan…
I bought my nephew a little stuffed tiger, and all the books… He loves them… It is nice to pass that on to the next generation. 
I also have a pair !!
This thread got me interested in what happened to the comic and its author, Bill Watterson. I knew he’d quit the business, but I didn’t know exactly why. Apparently he didn’t want anyone to “over-commercialize” his comic, so instead he decided to take things to the other extreme – refusing to continue it in any form.
<rant>
And while I’m sure it doesn’t matter to him, I don’t buy his reason even a single bit. Why? For exactly the reason quoted above. In numerous articles easily found online, people who’ve followed the story mention over and over that he didn’t want stuffed toys made from the series. Yet here we see someone using a stuffed toy to pass on his wonderful concepts to a child.
Mr. Watterson, toys don’t kill quality comics. Weak writers who give up instead of sticking to their beliefs kill comics.
</rant>
That said, I’m very, very glad for what we have.
Frak.
Posted twice.
Tried to take this one back.
Frak.
As an illustrator and aspiring animator I’ll Back up Watterson on his stance. If I had poured my heart and soul into bringing the characters of the best comic of it’s time to life, then I’m thinking that seeing my alter-ego (or maybe alter-id)/pygmalianic creation pissing on automotive logos on random 4X4s would actually piss me off, if not break my heart.
I remember when both Mel Blanc and Jim Henson died, for a while their sons tried doing their character’s voices. And even though it was done with love and the best intentions, every characters they tried, but especially Bugs and Kermit, seemed like a zombie or tenth generation clone. They had lost their souls.
My point is that, if a character’s integrity can be fraked up with the best intentions, imagine what could happen when control is given over to market forces. The big problem isn’t even things like Fred Flintstone selling cigarettes, though that is horrible. At least that was still Fred, we just didn’t know until then that he snuck around back to take a drag now and again.
No, it’s when the character isn’t drawn correctly, or says something in way that the character never would. Seeing your creation watered down and turn into something else after investing so much of yourself in it for so long would be devistating.
Now, just to contradict myself, check out this animated student film at the bottom of the page. It is indeed awesome.
(the blog above it is worth reading too)
http://frustrateddinosaur.blogspot.com/2007/05/calvin-and-hobbes-is-awesome.html
That part I totally, completely agree with. I don’t see, though, how his decision to no longer create the comic changed that a whit. If he’d just said, “I know you can make a ton of money off this, but if you don’t go after these bastards, I’m not going to do this with you.”
Of course, maybe that’s exactly what he did and I just don’t understand how these things work.
Watterson came out of hiding to review the new Charles Schultz bio:
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB119214690326956694.html?watterson
I absolutely love the Calvin and Hobbes comics.
Seriously, anything you want to know about life, you can find it in them. Love them.
When I was doing night classes at Central Texas College back in 2002, I would come in after work, unprepared, but I always had a copy of the comics close at hand. I used them for some impromptu speeches, and would ya know it, I got an A+ in the class.
In working on my special ed. Endorsement right now and I use these comics as an unofficial assessment for the students’ 3-5 grade reading. It works wonderfully, and they don’t feel like I am making them stand out as everyone loves Calvin and hobbes, and they enjoy reading them.
Actually, they are so popular I end up getting a good sense of the entire classes reading ability.
not surprised. I get the feeling you don’t have much trouble with “off the cuff”
What a good little assessment tool! My roommate is working on her special ed certification now and working as a special ed sub and she’s constantly running in to wildly differing reading levels among kids in the same class.
Calvin and Hobbes-- is there anyone who doesn’t like them? If so, they must have very poor taste. They are wonderful. I do not have a Calvin or a Hobbes kitty (just a Caprica) but I do have a stuffed Hobbes doll that was hand-knitted and stuffed by a delightfully cute old lady at my childhood church.
The world was a better place when there were new Calvin and Hobbes cartoons every day. 
not just special ed, that’s called business as usual
That was a beautiful article dxf, thank you for sharing. Every once in a while I wonder what happened to Bill. One of my proudest moments was discovering quite by accident that not only did we both go to the same college, we both were the editor-in-chief of the newspaper our senior year. Woot.