Calvin and Hobbes

Slate ^ | 07 November 2005 | Chris Suellentrop

[Lorianne]

Ten years ago Bill Watterson, the creator of Calvin and Hobbes, left newspaper cartooning for painting. Since then, no new comic strip has matched the quality, longevity, or cultural dominance of Watterson's daily drawings about a boy and his tiger. There remain good strips, such as Jef Mallett's Frazz; acclaimed strips, such as Aaron McGruder's Boondocks; and venerable strips, such as Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury. But these days, the best-selling comics books tend to be either graphic novels or hardbound anthologies of the greats, such as Fantagraphics Books' The Complete Peanuts.

[EireCane]

i've been reading that strip just about every day at http://ucomics.aol.com/overboard/

[Woman on Caroline Street]

"I believe that Bill Griffith's Zippy The Pinhead has been at the top of its run thes past 4 years as well."

Good lord, I haven't read Zippy since the late 80's when I would sneak a peak at my big brothers Nat'l Lampoon.

[HamiltonJay]

Calvin and Hobbes is clearly yuppie comics.

They have been reprinting them in my local paper lately.

Sorry but I still say the origina Bloom County was the best strip ever.

Bill and Opus '08

[Woman on Caroline Street]

"And Larson's Far Side tickled my funny bone more than once.
LOL!...the boneless chicken ranch comes to mind!"

My favorite has to be the one with the cat looking in the dryer, "Cat Fud" [sic] drawn on the dryer door, with the dog by the wall saying "OH, please, Oh please...."

[AFreeBird]

What was the game they played? You could change the rules in midstream.

Calvinball!

The Unofficially Official Rules of Calvinball**

1.1. All players must wear a Calvinball mask (See Calvinball Equipment - 2.1). No one questions the masks (Figure 2.1).


*IMPORTANT -- The following rules are subject to be changed, amended, or deleted by any player(s) involved.


1.2 Any player may declare a new rule at any point in the game (Figure 1.2). The player may do this audibly or silently depending on what zone (Refer to Rule 1.5) the player is in.

1.3. A player may use the Calvinball (See Calvinball Equipment - 2.2)in any way the player see fits, whether it be to incur injury upon other players or to gain benefits for himself.


1.4. Any penalty legislation may be in the form of pain, embarassment, or any degradation the rulee wishes to execute upon the other player.


1.5 The Calvinball Field (See Calvinball Equipment - 2.3) should consist of areas, or zones, which are governed by a set of rules declared by players. Zones may be appear and disappear as often and wherever the player decides. For example, a corollary zone would enable a player to make a corollary (sub-rule) to any rule already made. Or a pernicious poem place would require the intruder to do what the name implies. Or an opposite zone would enable a player to declare reverse playibility on the others. (Remember, the player would declare this zone oppositely by not declaring it.) (Figure 1.5a and 1.5b)


1.6 Flags (Calvinball Equipment 2.3) shall be named by players whom shall also assign the power and rules which shall govern that flag (Figure 1.6).


1.7 Songs are an integral part of Calvinball and verses must be sung spontaneously through the game when randomly assigned events occur.



1.8 Score may be kept or disregarded. In the event that score is kept, it shall have no bearing on the game nor shall it have any logical consistency to it. (Legal scores include 'Q to 12', 'BW-109 to YU-34, and 'Nosebleed to Pelvic Fracture'.) (Figure 1.9)

1.9 Any rule above that is carried out during the course of the game may never be used again in the event that it causes the same result as a previous game. Calvinball games may never be played the same way twice (Figure 1.9)



Calvinball Equipment

2.1. Mask - All participants are required to wear a mask - Figure 1.1


2.2. Calvinball - A Calvinball may be a soccerball, volleyball, or any other reasonable ball - Figure 2.1a and Figure 2.1b




2.3 Calvinball Field - The Calvinball Field should be any well-sized field, preferably with trees, rocks, grass, creeks, and other natural obstacles.


2.4 Miscellaneous - Other optional equipment include flags, wickets (especially of the time-fracture variety), and anything else the players wish to include (Figure 2.4).


** This rulebook is not required, nor necessary to play Calvinball.

Special Thanks to the Calvinball Founders Bill Watterson, Calvin, and Hobbes.

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[longfellow]

Aaron McGruder's Boondocks ----racist. and it's being turned into an animated show.

[truemiester]

That's great! I'll have to use that. Good ol' Calvin and Hobbs!

[Publius6961]

BUMP!

[Woman on Caroline Street]

The black community is verrry offended by it. Apparently, it's gratuitously peppered with n bombs. But rap music is okay by them. And the hypocrisy continues...

[SJSAMPLE]

No, specifically focused on the comic strip characters as a proxy for others.

I'm thinking it was Fight Club or something like that.
Time for a Google.

[SJSAMPLE]

Found it:
http://www.kindofcrap.com/fightcalvin.html

Reversed - Fight Club is a proxy for Calvin and Hobbes.
Interesting theory.

[fishbabe]

Thanks for the info..I hadn't seen it seen it went off my newspaper in 1993...GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!I can enjoy the madness of the pirate gang....

[toddlintown]

"When asked why he never licensed C & H commercially, Watterson said, 'I greatly underestimated the market for Calvin pissing on a Ford logo.'"

Classic.

[Oberon]

I'm thinking it was Fight Club or something like that. Time for a Google.

"Calvin and Hobbes" predates Fight Club by two decades.

[toddlintown]

"Boondocks"

Ironically this runs in the Chicago Tribune. As a black supervisor once informed me "The Trib's for white folks, the Sun-Times for us."

[Malacoda]

CALVINBALL!

NO sport i less organized than Calvinball!

[woofie]

[SJSAMPLE]

Yep.
I had my thinking reversed, but I posted a link a few posts above.

[longfellow]

As a professional cartoonist I find this offending.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

Ironically this runs in the Chicago Tribune. As a black supervisor once informed me "The Trib's for white folks, the Sun-Times for us."

I used to loathe Boondocks, but I've got to admit it's grown on me. I started to "get it" recently, when the grandfather moved out of his house to avoid spending more time with his relative who fled New Orleans.