This strip is the lamest of C&H imitators, IMHO.
Posted on 10/08/2005 11:52:46 PM PDT by E Rocc
The unforgettable, irreplaceable Calvin
By Charles Solomon
During the all-too-brief time it ran — from Nov. 18, 1985, to Dec. 31, 1995 — "Calvin and Hobbes" was simultaneously the most old-fashioned and the most innovative comic strip in newspapers. Its creator, Bill Watterson, returned to the principles of polished draftsmanship, visual imagination and character-driven humor that have been the source of comic strips' popularity since their inception in the 1890s. But he applied those venerable principles in new ways to make his strip personal, contemporary and very, very funny.
Comic strips have always been regarded as a part of popular culture, rather than the arts, but few strips were as popular as "Calvin and Hobbes." Earlier this year, a character in Jef Mallett's "Frazz" said she was late to school because she couldn't put down a Calvin and Hobbes book. The strip ran in more than 2,400 papers and the 17 previous collections have sold more than 30 million copies. Watterson also earned the ongoing respect of his fellow artists, winning the National Cartoonists Society's Reuben Award for outstanding cartoonist of the year in 1986 and 1988. All 3,160 of Watterson's newspaper strips are collected in "The Complete Calvin and Hobbes," a three-volume boxed set from Andrews McMeel. Handsomely printed on high-quality paper, the strips look better than they did in the newspaper. The individual books aren't as heavy as the two volumes of "The Complete Far Side, 1980-1994" that Andrews McMeel published in 2003, but at almost 8 pounds apiece the only comfortable way to read one is to rest it on a table or a desk. To mark the collection's publication, many papers, including The Times, are reprinting "Calvin and Hobbes" daily through the end of the year.
Looking over 10 years of strips, it's amazing to see how quickly Watterson hit his stride. In the first weeks of publication, Calvin fought monsters under his bed, appeared as the intrepid Spaceman Spiff and teased Suzie from his tree fort. And it only got better. He founded the top-secret club G.R.O.S.S. (Get Rid Of Slimy girlS). The planets and aliens Spiff encountered grew increasingly bizarre and the dinosaurs in Calvin's daydreams became more lifelike.
Watterson spoofed hard-boiled detective fiction with Calvin as Tracer Bullet: "I've got eight slugs in me. One's lead, and the rest are bourbon. The drink packs a wallop, and I pack a revolver. I'm a private eye." When his parents wouldn't let him leave the light on after reading too many scary comics, Calvin imagined them erecting a headstone reading, "Here Lies CALVIN devoured in his bed by a monster. If Only We Had Treated Him Better," the hilarious and accurate distillation of every child's dark fantasies.
For decades, comic strips about children had been predicated on things kids do that adults find cute. "The Family Circus," "Rose Is Rose" and "Dennis the Menace" rely on the characters' "adorable" mispronunciations and misperceptions. Watterson recognized that for kids, childhood is anything but enjoyable. It's a strange, often scary time of powerlessness in the face of bullies, anxieties, arbitrary rules and dubious authority figures. "People who get nostalgic about childhood were obviously never children," Calvin observed ruefully.
Although some good strips have appeared in recent years, notably "Zits," "Mutts," "Get Fuzzy" and "Frazz," Watterson left an enormous hole in the comics page when he retired, a hole no strip has filled. Though many have tried to produce "a new 'Calvin and Hobbes,' " none have succeeded. The excellence and originality of Watterson's work becomes clearer when it's juxtaposed with a derivative strip such as Scott Stantis' "Prickly City." Watterson's crisp brush strokes delineated characters that were solid, dimensional and alive. His captionless strips of Calvin and Hobbes dancing were funny because the poses captured their movements so vividly. Similarly, when Calvin sulked or was forced to eat a dinner he didn't like, his expressions told the story. In "Prickly City," Winslow the coyote often has no legs; his lumpy body just sits on his puffy feet. Carmen's scribbly, misshapen lips appear on the bottom or the side of her blobby cranium, like a Mrs. Potato Head gone wrong. More significantly, Winslow and Carmen have no personalities: They're ciphers who exist to promulgate Stantis' right-wing diatribes.
Calvin's rants against the ecological insanity of an advertising-driven consumer culture that repelled him even as he embraced it were a reflection of his personality. His expeditions into the woods sparked his complaints about littering. He tried to construct a "Calvinosaurus" from discarded bottles and plastic utensils, thinking they were fossils; in 1988, he quit the Earth in disgust for less polluted Mars. When Hobbes pointed out that he'd left a candy bar wrapper on the Martian desert, Calvin snapped, "It was just there a minute! I wasn't going to leave it."
The humor and calligraphic drawing in "Frazz" reflect Watterson's influence, but the strip doesn't feel like a pallid imitation. Songwriter-turned-elementary school janitor Edwin "Frazz" Frazier often plays Hobbes to precocious student Caulfield's Calvin. When Frazz observes, "Some people like the fact that the seasons change only four times a year," Caulfield replies, "What good are seasons if they're not geared to my attention span?" Mallett's characters have real personalities. The friendship between Frazz and Caulfield isn't just a plot contrivance: They love to read and play tricks on the redoubtable Mrs. Olsen. When Frazz complains about gas-guzzling SUVs, it's because he's an enthusiastic runner and cyclist, not a spokesman for a political agenda.
Sadly, the mediocrity of "Prickly City," "The Meaning of Lila," "Rudy Park," "Arlo and Janis," "Mallard Fillmore" and "Brewster Rockit: Space Guy!" more accurately reflects the current state of the comics. In the decade since Watterson left, too many artists have concentrated on political screeds, niche marketing, recycled gags and licensing rather than good drawing, entertainment, originality and accurate reflections of life in America. Perhaps it was inevitable that "Calvin and Hobbes," like King Arthur's Camelot, could exist for only a brief time.
When Watterson announced his decision to retire in 1995, he wrote: "I believe I've done what I can do within the constraints of daily deadlines and small panels. I am eager to work at a more thoughtful pace, with fewer artistic compromises." Since then, he has devoted most of his time to painting. His introduction to "The Complete Calvin and Hobbes" includes a small oil study of a desert landscape with the note, "I'm guessing only a comic strip cartoonist would use a 4 x 6 inch board for an eighty mile view."
The deserts in Watterson's paintings seem very far from the deciduous Eastern woods where Calvin used to roam. In the final Sunday strip, Calvin looks at the newly fallen snow and declares, "It's a magical world, Hobbes, ol' buddy...." But since "Calvin and Hobbes" left the comics page, readers have had to find that magic somewhere else.
-Eric
You need to be checking out Day by Day if you are not.
http://www.daybydaycartoon.com/Default.aspx
Right up there, but in a single-panel format, is "Far Side." Those years we had both C & H and FS running at the same time were golden.
We have the complete series. My children love C and H and so do I. It stands the test of time. And the parents always win.
This strip is the lamest of C&H imitators, IMHO.
What good is wearing your favorite rocketship underpants if nobody asks to see them?
I was about to post when my cat brought in a live bat and turned it loose in the room.
I agree that Calvin and Hobbes was a delightful interlude, but I DON'T agree with the author's premise that "Prickly City" is merely a "right wing" diatribe. Perhaps the author doesn't "get" political humor, of which "Day by Day" by Chris Muir is THE best and "Prickly City" is also wonderful (even "Get Fuzzy" has had some hilarious political overtones). Prickly City doesn't have the same style as C & H and doesn't pretend to do so. I understand the author's dilemma: the left takes awhile to get the joke unless President Bush is the punchline. In light of that, my new tag (below) really applies to the left.
Hands down my favorite comic strip of all time.
Calvin, Pogo, Bloom County, and Far Side are in a catagory of their own. I have my favorites in todays paper but the great stuff ain't there.
Don't forget 'Shoe"
There are some very good strips today but what is needed are strips that are consistently funny. C&H was funny and insightful at the same time, as was Bloom County. I'll cut the new guys some slack though. With a daily deadline to meet you will have a few off days.
some of my favorites.
Non Seqitur: Leans left but usually funny and fairly well drawn with interesting characters
Bob The Squirrel
I just found this strip recently and I think it's quite good. Lots of potential and some really funny individual strips. I think it will develop into a great one.
Pearls Before Swine:
Pastis is one twisted guy but I identify with Rat's cynicism and I work with a bunch of people who are as clueless as Pig is.
And he's not afraid of taking a shot at other comics.
And, of course, Monty. How can you not like a strip with an alien spy who is on earth to mine dairy products, a talking chimp, and a beer swilling neighbor with a talking bird?
The excellence and originality of Watterson's work becomes clearer when it's juxtaposed with a derivative strip such as Scott Stantis' "Prickly City." ... "Prickly City," Winslow the coyote often has no legs; his lumpy body just sits on his puffy feet. Carmen's scribbly, misshapen lips appear on the bottom or the side of her blobby cranium, like a Mrs. Potato Head gone wrong. More significantly, Winslow and Carmen have no personalities: They're ciphers who exist to promulgate Stantis' right-wing diatribes.
With this glowing review...
The humor and calligraphic drawing in "Frazz" reflect Watterson's influence, but the strip doesn't feel like a pallid imitation. Songwriter-turned-elementary school janitor Edwin "Frazz" Frazier often plays Hobbes to precocious student Caulfield's Calvin... Mallett's characters have real personalities. The friendship between Frazz and Caulfield isn't just a plot contrivance: They love to read and play tricks on the redoubtable Mrs. Olsen. When Frazz complains about gas-guzzling SUVs, it's because he's an enthusiastic runner and cyclist, not a spokesman for a political agenda.
It's nice to know that, even in the microcosm of the funny pages, liberals are still better then conservatives. /gag
Memories are short around here. Calvin and Hobbes was excellent, but there are others in that same rank.
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