'Calvin and Hobbes' Creator Keeps Privacy

Associated Press ^ | October 22, 2005 | Joe Milicia

[bert]

.....The last strip shows Calvin and Hobbes sledding off after a new fallen snow. "It's a magical world, Hobbes, ol' buddy ... let's go exploring!" Calvin says in the final two panels........

I still have it in my "OutBox"

I can't believe the damn thing's been there ten years!!

The other thing I can't believe is that C&H did not run concurrently with Free Republic.

[csvset]

Calvin & Hobbes are fun and well done. Watterson retired at the top of his trade.

What passes for comics in my local paper is pretty sad. Rarely do they invoke a laugh or even a smile.

[Flyer]

"It's a magical world, Hobbes, ol' buddy ... let's go exploring!"

[Malacoda]

I'm really likeing "Pearls Before Swine." Especially the Crockydiles.

"Helloooo, Zeeba neighbah!"

[Kieri]

Most of all, I miss the snowmen Calvin made.

You and me both. That had to be one of the most wonderfully creative ideas I've ever seen, and his timing was perfect. We keep our books in an easy-to-grab location, just in case we need a good laugh. They're like comfort food, only with less calories.

[Kieri]

There did to be something of a distance between them all. I often found CALVIN AND HOBBES to be a bittersweet strip, for Calvin was ultimately a very lonely kid.... no real friends except for an imaginary (?) tiger, and parents whose love for him was rarely overtly displayed.

I never got the feeling Calvin was lonely. I grew up with a brain a lot like Calvin's (without the desire to get into trouble, though). School and the other kids were an endurance and being alone was a LOT more fun. Other kids intrude on your imagination.

In one of his compendiums, Watterson explained that early on he wanted Calvin to interact with other kids, which is why he once went camping with a bunch of Cub Scouts. Watterson decided that Calvin wasn't the sort to join in group activities so he dumped the concept.

Calvin had his own sports. Who can forget "Calvinball"?

[Kieri]

I remember when Berkeley Breathed broke his back in an ultralite accident and the guy in the wheelchair was put in the strip....funny stuff.

Ahh, Cutter John and the USS Enterpoop! Those were among my favorites. I loved the Charles and Diana strips too, but when I look back on them they're bittersweet.

[P.O.E.]

Calvin & Hobbes, Far Side, are all-time faves. As a kid, I liked Smokey Stover.

Favorite comic out there now? The Lockhorns.

[Skooz]

"Calvin and Hobbes" is my favorite comic strip of all time

Ditto. I went through a period of mourning when he retired the strip.

Then I bought all the Calvin and Hobbes books available.

[E Rocc]

Steve the batchelor lawyer with NO scruples. OMG he cracked me up.

The best Steve-arc was when the aliens swapped his brain and he became an Alan Alda type, until some woman messed him up and the "old" Steve returned.

Though Bloom County's finest hour was at exactly the same time Doonesbury jumped the entire shark pond at Sea World....when Gary Hartpence got busted. Breathed had heavy metal singer Bill the Cat get caught in moral circumstances and try to weasel his way out of it.

-Eric

[shuckmaster]

Thanks for the ping! When Walt Kelly passed, the loss of Pogo left a huge hole in the funny papers that seemed impossible to fill. Then we were blessed with Calvin, Bloom County, and Far Side and for several years the funnies were a daily dose of inspiration. Then disaster upon disaster, Watterson, Breathed, and Larson left us with an even bigger hole never to be filled. Todays papers have several features that are slowly developing into classics and while nothing replaces Calvin & Hobbes, I still have hope.

About Watterson, I've always thought of licensing as his 2nd peeve. His big protest was against the shrinking size the papers alloted the strips.

[VictoryGal]

> Why would you want to do that? Calvin and Hobbes is the best reading primer a child could have. There's no inappropriate content--although some of Calvin's schemes might give little gremlins a few ideas!

It's the idea-giving that's the rub. There are strips like the one where Calvin is pounding nails into a coffee table and the Mom comes up and says, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!?" and Calvin says, "Is this a trick question?"

Funny, but I think his mom would kill me if I gave some C&H to him ;-).

[VictoryGal]

>>It is not legitimate to say they don't like Achewood without reading at least 6 months or so.

> Bullpucky. I don't like it, and I have no intention, desire, nor reason to read it further. And it is quite "legitimate" for me to say so.

I think what we have here is the creator of the strip, or close friend and family of the creator.

Sorry. To me, the strip stinks.

[null and void]

Don't forget 'Dilbert'.

Dilbert isn't a comic strip. It's a documentary.

[Chickensoup]

http://www.daybydaycartoon.com/


I think DAY By DAY is hilarious. Welldrawn and funny.

[Malacoda]

"NO sport is less organized than Calvinball!"

[Tuxedo]

Foxtrot is pretty funny. The youngest kid Jason has Calvinesque moments for sure. Bill Amend is very talented. One of my favorites was when little Jason went to his parents saying "All Your Base Belong To Us" and busted up laughing. His parents obviously didn't get it. Still do miss C&H though. Also Bloom County as mentioned by many others. Hysterical.

[Tench_Coxe]

Lol. True, that. I don't think people reading that strip realize that 'Dilbert' only covers the milder forms of insanity that one truly sees in the business world.

[null and void]

Yeah. I worked for a company the was purchased by another company.

Not only did the Dilbert strip track exactly what the new company was doing it was within a one day window of them doing it for each little bit of insanity.

This went on for months.

Since we were in Dublin CA, Scott's home town, we ended up calling him and asking him if he had the place bugged!

[JennysCool]

Did you see the strip Breathed drew for the 2004 campaign? Pretty funny stuff (love that "Bug off, Ketchup Lady!" from Cheney). He's still got it ...