Comments on: Review: Complete Calvin & Hobbes

By: Chris B.

Chris B. — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 22:55:58 +0000

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.

By: Joe H

Joe H — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 14:36:07 +0000

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.

By: Simon DelMonte

Simon DelMonte — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 14:29:41 +0000

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.