Calvin and Hobbes
An ingenious ode to imagination. The best comic strip EVER.
Factography
Author: Bill Watterson
Started: 18.11.1985
Finished: 31.12.1995
Updates: Daily (Monday to Sunday)
Website: www.calvinandhobbes.com (redirect to www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes)
Words
Six-year-old Calvin and his imaginary best friend Hobbes, who happens to be a tiger. A stuffed tiger, when seen through the eyes of other people, but what do they know?
There's no way I could tell what I love most about this comic. The writing is amazing, and so is the drawing. I absolutely adore the artwork of the Tracer Bullet series, as well as the Sunday strips. Oh, and didn't I forget to mention the unlimited creativity of each and every snowman Calvin builds? I did, indeed.
Two things beyond this masterpiece that make Bill Watterson exceptional: First, he never merchandised his work, he focused on the strip, not on the countless ways to make money off it (see Garfield). Second, he knew the right time to end the show. And oh boy, did he do it with style. The final strip is a crown jewel of a treasure chest stuffed full of priceless gemstones.
Tigers are nimble
And light on their toes
My respect for tigers
Continually grows
Poetic. That's what it is.
More than words
A few strips I like. It was unbelievably difficult to choose just five! (Actually, I cheated and picked 30+ - these five were selected using the almighty rand funcion :-) Reload the page to see different strips.)
Merchandise
I strongly, STRONGLY recommend buying The Complete Calvin and Hobbes. It's exactly what the title says - a hardcover collection of all the strips in a marvelous, three-volume book. It's HUGE! Go get it, you can usually buy it off Amazon for ~$100, and there's simply no better book in the world your money could buy. A must have.
Miscellaneous
There's a fake "last strip" that wasn't made by Bill Watterson. Just thinking of it makes me sad :-)
The real last one is so much better. Full of... I lack the right words, I'm afraid. See yourself.
Yes, it's truly a magical world you've created, Mr. Watterson. Thank you.