In 1985, Bill Watterson's Calvin & Hobbes hit about 30 newspapers across America, then rapidly exploded into a phenomenon. There was no merchandise boom, no TV show, no movie. Just the comic about an incredibly imaginative (and supremely selfish) 6-year-old and his stuffed tiger/magical companion Hobbes. This is the greatest comic ever made. For eleven short years, Watterson took us on a wildly delerious rollercoaster ride through the mind of a child. Spaceman Spiff, Stupendous Man, Tracer Bullet, Calvin's suffering parents, The wagon philosophy debates/crashes, the pouncing, Susie Derkins, Rosalyn, Miss Wormwood, "The Noodle Incident", Calvinball, I go on on for hours. This comic is the pinnacle treasure of my childhood. I memorized every book, cherished every spectacular sunday issue (Which Watterson broke licensing agreements to make his own), and followed Club GROSS from beginning to short end. I find it even more incredible that Watterson never had kids of his own. My favourite? Had to be Calvin's snowmen, which had everyone (including my parents) constantly gasping for air from laughing so hard. Thank you, Bill Watterson. You made all of our lives a little better because of what you brought to our world. Focus: Discuss your favourite memories of Calvin and Hobbes.
The transmogrifier comes to mine immediately, although the most heart warming moment was when a burglar broke into Calvin's house and he couldn't find Hobbes for a a day or two. He thought Hobbes was kidnapped but eventually they had a tearful reunion. On cold winter nights I would sit in front of the kerosene heater with my cat and read the compilation books for hours on end. What a fantastic comic strip.
Some of my favorites. Also, I hate all those bullshit logos with Calvin pissing on another logo. The most common being Calvin pissing on the Ford logo. Annoying.
This is the best comic strip ever followed closely by The Far Side. Bill Watterson lives in a city near where I grew up. He's supposedly a very very private person and just paints now and does whatever. I guess people in the town who actually know what he looks like help keep his privacy. I can't find my favorite strip of his online. It's where he's blowing a bubble with gum and it blows up over his face and he comments about blowing his head inside out. Here's another one of my favorites. I did find this one. Genius. It both perfectly captures the essence of being a kid and not even questioning whether doing something is right or wrong and also taking everything you hear literally.
Wow, add the last set of strips from that link to the "Boys Don't Cry" thread. I forgot how touching C&H could be for a simple comic strip.
No shit. I got misty at the end there. For Christmas I got all of the C&H's books in a three volume set. I know how I'm spending this Saturday night.
I think this was the tear-jerker of them all: The final strip on December 31st, 1995. I still have the original I cut out that day. Because of how hilarious it is, I forget how truly heartfelt this strip really was. Although originally I was pissed off for such an early departure, I love how it ends. Almost as if the strip erases itself, waiting for a new champion. That never happened, because every single comic ever made since then has tossed Tracer Bullet's salad. It shows how truly powerful Calvin & Hobbes was (and still is):
Nice. I found the bubblegum one in the link posted above. Nothing crazy, just always makes me laugh when I see it. I remember when I saw it new in the paper and there was just something about it.
The one that I remember truly laughing the hardest over was one of the first "snowmen" gags, and still one of the funniest. The absolute BALLS of this series. To take child muder fantasies head-on and turn it into such a hilarious joke. WHy? It's funny because it's true. Because we, as little boys, were all as evil as Calvin. Just not as good at sculpting:
My favorites were always Calvin's letters to Santa. I also think that some of the things left unseen in the strip were all the more funny because of it. For example, the Noodle Incident. This one has always made me laugh pretty hard.
Some of my favourite strips are those of Spaceman Spiff. To this day, I find myself "coming to" in a boring meeting after daydreaming a bit, and can only think of it as a Spaceman Spiff episode.
I loved this comic strip. I ran across this on a random day: There was also an interesting paper regarding a connection between Calvin and Hobbes and fight club: http://ignatz.brinkster.net/cfightclub.html
By far one of the most brilliant strips of all time. As a kid, I always loved the wagon/sled strips the best.
I really need to buy these books. Here is my favorite. I think it is for lots of people from Pittsburgh. I've even been to bars back home that have it framed on the wall.
I'm British (I'm getting really fed up of saying that on here-I should probably just put it in my sig or something), and was not familiar with Calvin and Hobbes, beyond being able to recognise the characters. I had no idea just how brilliant the whole thing was-based on what I've read in this thread I'm seriously considering springing for the collected works.