The Complete Calvin & Hobbes
Written & Illustrated by Bill Watterson
Published by Andrews McMeal
Not the timeliest review, I know, right? I’ve had my eye on this half-ton, three-book, slipcased Calvin & Hobbes set ever since it came out, but never quite convinced myself to splurge out the cash for it. My brother thankfully enabled me to sidestep ever paying for it when he gave it to me this past Christmas. And believe me, I had no idea what to think when I found a gaudily wrapped, immovable weight under my Christmas tree.
I probably don’t have to say much about Calvin & Hobbes. Although the last strip appeared nearly fifteen years ago, I’d guess that most of you have read it in some form. My local paper didn’t carry the strip during its entire run, and I was too distracted by being a teenager when it did show up those last four or five years to read it religiously, but even then, I knew Watterson was creating something special.
The years have done nothing to diminish that accomplishment. Calvin & Hobbes continues to stand out as one of the most important, funny and singular comic strips of all time. Celebrating imagination, mischief, ingenuity and basic human decency, Watterson spent twelve years giving voice to perhaps the best newspaper comic strip in American history. Yes, it’s that good.
To have this singular brilliance wrapped up (embalmed and boxed, as Watterson puts it in his introduction) in one package is priceless. The books feature sturdy, proper binding (comic book trade programs, pay attention!), and heavy pages that stand up to repeated turning. The linework is reproduced pristinely, and the colors dazzle. And even the box looks great, with a clean, simple look and good choices for the exterior artwork.
Calvin & Hobbes is, perhaps, the best comic strip ever, and it’s all here, a permanent keepsake, to revisit again and again and again. Everybody simply needs to have the Complete Calvin & Hobbes in their homes (even if, like me, you’re a little late in doing so!).
April 1st, 2011 at 8:29 am
It’s remarkable how well this strip stands the test of time. Yes, it’s about a six year old and a tiger, neither of which are fundamentally different now than in the 80s. But the world they live in, before the Internet and cellphones and all the things that have changed us, is not quite the same. You would think that some things would feel just a bit dated. And they don’t. Even Peanuts – which I love more, even though Watterson is the superior artist – has aged noticeably.
I think that you can give few old comics of any sort to today’s readers and have them fall in love without a lot of work. You can’t do that with Doonesbury or Bloom County. You can’t do that with the best of Lee and Kirby. But you can with Calvin and Hobbes.
It’s a pity that Watterson has chosen to vanish. While he ended the strip at the right time, he could have found some other outlet for his artwork. He should have, since he has an eye for detail and color that puts many more renowned talents to shame.
April 4th, 2011 at 8:36 am
I read a lot of reviews for this collection online, and I’m seeing a LOT of complaints about the quality of the binding. How the pages aren’t sewn, but they’re glued to the spine, and the images on the covers of the books are glued on instead of being integrated to the covers like the lovely Hellboy Library Editions are.
April 4th, 2011 at 4:55 pm
Calvin & Hobbes IS the best comic strip ever published. Watterson’s work was so polished and his strips so straight-forward, they remain a textbook example of how the medium is best executed. I still miss not having new strips (though I agree he left at the perfect time), and reading the final strip always makes me feel a little sad.
In a medium famous for having argumentative fans, I think we can all agree that Calvin & Hobbes is a fantastic piece of art.