I’d like to take a break from the usual broadcasting schedule to share with you something I’ve loved ever since I was a little kid, still figuring out how best to undermine women’s lib.
This post shall contain no chauvinism, no sexism and a few other things ending in -ism. All I ask is that you read through.
Remember Calvin & Hobbes?
Clavin & Hobbes’ last few panels were inked back in 1995, my first year at school. A few years later I would see my first strip and be fascinated by it. Fast forward another few years and there I am cutting comic strips out of the papers and pasting them in an old school exercise book. I used to like Bill Watterson’s handiwork from all those years ago, but as I got older I started realizing there was so much more to these stories than just a quick gag.
Calvin managed to convey the joys of childhood, the folly of our ways, the infinite capacity for entertainment that an active imagination can get you and even the feeling of being utterly lonely in the world in a handful of boxes drawn into a newspaper. Do I think it was the greatest thing to happen to comic strips in the history of everything there has been, ever will be and ever happened in all the other parallel universes as well? In a word, good God yes it is. Eventually I got my hands on every single strip from 1985 to 1995 in digital form and went through each one many times over.
Trying to pick a favourite is a futile exercise as I always feel like I’m a kid sitting under a giant Christmas tree, trying to pick out a present from the thousands littered under it. This comic has cheered me up, given me inspiration, moulded my character and given me more embarrassing moments than I can count, when I caught myself chuckling in public while reminiscing about one of Calvin & Hobbes’ many adventures, among other things. More than belly laughs, the little guy and his tiger had me smiling to myself and just pausing to think about something far more than anything or anyone I’ve ever come across.
I guess what I’m trying to say is, I love this comic. If you haven’t ever seen it, you should. I can’t find the words to explain how much of an impact a precocious little boy and his imaginary friend can have on you.
I still LOVE these although I didn’t know that C&H were this old.
Oh and btw checkout my new music blog please
sorry for spamming Jerry 
http://melodylyricsbeats.blogspot.com/
Will take a look around
Dammit, you just distracted me from my very time-sensitive job with this! Hobbes rules. Calvin is OK too…
Too bad
Great minds…
And, good god yes it is isn’t a word :p
Calvin and Hobbes is the best! There are no words to express the pure brilliance of it right?
Yeah, you just have to read it to feel it.
Cutest post ever, Jerry. Aww!
Ane me mageng ahaganna epa umba
I grew up on Archie comics – but after awhile they stopped being funny and got emo :/
Discovered C&H only in my early twenties – and found them absolutely hilarious. The equivalent for me while I was growing up was the William Brown series. Are you familiar with them? My father introduced them to me when I was seven – I was too young to read those books myself then so he read them to me and explained the jokes
I was really surprised to discover in adulthood that Richmal Crompton, the author was a woman – and a spinster school teacher at that. She did a remarkable job of getting into the skin of an 11 year old terror and his cronies
Right – so along with that Archie comic CD, make sure you burn a CD with the entire C&H collection on it
YES! I only have a couple of the books though :/
Even those are coverless and worn now. Still have them? I always thought “Richmal” was a man’s name too! Whoa.
Yes yes whatever
I love Calvin & Hobbes. There is a lot of profound thought in those cartoons, some almost verge on philosophy.
I used to read reams and reams of Calvin comics every time I had exam jitters… wonderful what laughter can do eh?
god i love this comic. All my treasury collections are in tatter from multiple reads. Have u seen that comic of Calvin on medication for adhd i think? It’s not drawn by Watterson I think, but it’s the saddest thing ever.
Also, this is the actual last strip.
http://calvinethobbes.free.fr/english/c_der.html
@Jack
Yeah, everything from how we treat out environment to parenting methods is in there.
@Angel
Yeah, this one really is something special.
@T
I was the one who showed you that
It looked like text photoshopped onto a few original panels.
oh you did not
I did. Either that or H showed it to you and I showed it to her
@Tulie I loved the William Brown series
Discovered it in my late teens though, wish I’d found it sooner.
Haven’t read all of ‘em but I’ve always loved Calvin and Hobbes. One of my prized possessions was this amazing C&H Tshirt my dad got for me. Also, a huge Charlie Brown fan.
Nice post Geraldine.
I think you need a few more ‘intervals’ like these.
I don’t think I would have really appreciated it sooner.
There aren’t many things which evoke the C&H-like response from me!
“Mothers are the necessity of invention” is my favourite Calvin & Hobbes line.
The first thing I learnt to read in the Daily News was Calvin & Hobbs. And as a kid, I refused to pronounce Calvin as “Kal-vin” – it was “Car-vin” for me.
Pure brilliance is what it is!
@David
My favourite is Calvin’s dad explaining to him about how the sun sets.
@SI
Hahahah, I think I started with Archie Comics
@Muffet
Absolutely