a more realistic take on Calvin’s schizophrenic delusion that his stuffed tiger Hobbes is a real tiger. it’s pretty hilarious. good find, wisebob.
Hilarious in an innocent robbing sort of way. I understand the angle, but know the short misses the entire point.
Robot Chicken : There point is to miss the entire point.
I have mentioned several times that I helped my friend move in with her boyfriend last weekend. One of the moments in which he and I bonded was when she tried to veto him putting his Calvin and Hobbes collected works on their bedroom bookshelf because she thought it looked immature and stupid to display them. I was like, “ppppbbbbbbttttthhh! You suck. He wins.”
New Watterson bio/Calvin & Hobbes book coming in October, “Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and His Revolutionary Comic Strip.” Free chapter available, just e-mail request to lookingforcalvinandhobbes@gmail.com .
Story about it:
http://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/tiger-hunting/Content?oid=1604344
And the author’s on the Twitter: @looking4calvin
And here’s what the publisher has to say:
Looking for Calvin and Hobbes
One of our favourite upcoming new books for the fall is Nevin Martell’s biography of Bill Watterson, the man behind Calvin and Hobbes. “Biography” can be a slippery word, of course. This book does indeed chronicle Watterson’s life and career but it necessarily stops short and turns into something else - a detective story, of sorts, and a rumination on why some artists shun the limelight with such admirable determination.
If you want to read a PDF of the book’s prologue, Nevin will happily oblige. Just send an email to lookingforcalvinandhobbes@gmail.com
The book will be published in October. Here’s the copy about it:
For ten years, between 1985 and 1995, Calvin and Hobbes was one the world’s most beloved comic strips. And then, on the last day of 1995, the strip ended. Its mercurial and reclusive creator, Bill Watterson, not only finished the strip but withdrew entirely from public life. There is no merchandising associated with Calvin and Hobbes: no movie franchise; no plush toys; no coffee mugs; no t-shirts (except a handful of illegal ones). There is only the strip itself, and the books in which it has been compiled - including The Complete Calvin and Hobbes: the heaviest book ever to hit the New York Times bestseller list.
In Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and His Revolutionary Comic Strip, writer Nevin Martell traces the life and career of the extraordinary, influential, and intensely private man behind Calvin and Hobbes. With input from a wide range of artists and writers (including Dave Barry, Harvey Pekar, Jonathan Lethem, and Brad Bird) as well as some of Watterson’s closest friends and professional colleagues, this is as close as we’re ever likely to get to one of America’s most ingenious and intriguing figures - and a fascinating detective story, at the same time.
Only 3,160 Calvin and Hobbes strips were ever produced, but Watterson has left behind an impressive legacy. Calvin and Hobbes references litter the pop culture landscape and his fans are as varied as they are numerable. Looking for Calvin and Hobbes is an affectionate and revealing book about uncovering the story behind this most uncommon trio – a man, a boy, and his tiger.
…
pps. Calvin & Hobbes lego mini-figz:
http://www.toycutter.com/2009/07/calvin-and-hobbes-lego-minifigs.html
requested, received, read rapturously.
i’ll undoubtedly get the book, and i’ll definitely race through it like the first time i read deathly hallows, or a feast for crows, or the elfstones of shannara. in some ways i feel it’s another attempt for someone to bother a man who left us all an incredible gift, one that sits upon the bedroom dresser, demanding to be read but also to be cherished, awaiting my fingers carefully turning the pages, awaiting a first viewing by my son. and i feel like bill watterson has given so much that to ask for me when he clearly is against it is rude and presumptuous.
but then again, if he’s willing to talk to the author, even just a little bit, then perhaps it’s worth it. it’s not an overstatement for me to say that calvin is not only my favorite comic or comic strip; it’s one of the most amazing IPs i’ve ever experienced.
I am, and always have been, an unbridled C&H fanboy (hence my avatar). Some of my earliest memories are of my Grandma reading the strips to me before I could read them on my own. Even once I reached reading age, one of our standard activities was rereading strips together. Great times.
I don’t have the giant hardcover collection, but I’m fairly certain I own all of the earlier paperback ones. Quite a few years back, wasn’t there a big release of the complete works on numerous CD-ROMs? I vaguely remember that happening, but when I recently tried to track it down all I could find were torrents that could easily be homemade scans. Does anybody remember this?
It was the first comic I read. It captures the innocence and imagination of childhood perfectly. I’ve always wanted the giant Hardcover edition.
Big fan, big fan. I have all the books, and they really don’t get old. Timeless material.
If you’ve never read it, here’s a link to a Q&A Watterson did for the Complete C&A collection. He gave short answers to fans from all over the world. Answers are enigmatic and vague, but at least he’s consistent. It’s about as close to an interview as exists.
I’ve read the intros to all the collected editions, etc., how Bill Watterson tired of the constant battle over commercialization of his art—yet, he hasn’t minded retiring off the millions made from the books of the strips, which is itself commercialization.
I say this selfishly–could we have needed C & H more than during the W. years? I think not. This was one of those rare strips, like Peanuts, that could have gone on and on…I had faith in his talent to continue to supply us with joy. Instead, the world is a little less warm without this every Sunday…
I never saw him having a problem with profiting from Calvin and Hobbes; his problem was with the perversion of what he felt was his product into a plethora of stuffed animals, Saturday morning cartoon shows, and other products he couldn’t possibly control. He felt like once Calvin and Hobbes got beyond his grasp, he could not guarantee any kind of quality, and his creation would suffer.
That people tried to take what he amde and get richer off of it, ending the perfect comic strip, is one of the great artistic injustices of the 20th century. I don’t think it would still be around today, but who’s to say we could not have read another 5-10 years more?
Usually C+H tributes aren’t done this well.
Good stuff.
Awesome Calvin & Hobbes/Bill Watterson book by Nevin Martell ( @looking4calvin on the Tweeters) expanded for softcover edition: http://tinyurl.com/3yjbubb .
And here’s the beyond-rare interview Watterson gave the Cleveland daily newspaper earlier this year:
http://www.cleveland.com/living/index.ssf/2010/02/bill_watterson_creator_of_belo.html
Sample quote:
Q: Readers became friends with your characters, so understandably, they grieved – and are still grieving – when the strip ended. What would you like to tell them?
A: This isn’t as hard to understand as people try to make it. By the end of 10 years, I’d said pretty much everything I had come there to say.
I just gotta know… is the boy really seeing a tiger? Or is he imaginging it?
It’s like asking if Dexter is really pretending to be smart and his lab is all imaginary too…
I read the Nevin Martell book. It’s not a revelatory piece, but it does a good job of collating information from his various interviews over the years and provides them with place and context.
Then I passed it on to a friend. I can’t wait until my son is old enough to treat the collection with the care it deserves. For now, it sits unread at the bottom of the bookshelf, awaiting the next soul to be awakened by the imagination within.
I just started reading the strip to the kids. It’s a fascinating exercise. The 7-year-old never read comics before, so she’s navigating that. To the 4-year-old, everything in Calvin’s imagination is reality. It’s a hoot.
I recently purchased the three book, complete dated collection.
I’m slowly working my way through it but, like sandman absolute edition it’s too heavy to read in bed :(.
still it is fantastic so I am working through it with considerable happiness.
Phaze
on the “my friend lorna is in agony, good vibes appreciated please” ID