Comic strips are a hit or miss format. The funny pages don't seem to hold the same allure that they once did. Dilbert is consistently amusing, but even the long running Garfield strips are losing steam. Much like comic books, comic strips are capable of greatness. No comic strip demonstrates this better than one of my favorites, Calvin and Hobbes.
This strip was a literary masterpiece. The focus was on a six year old boy with an overactive imagination. He, along with his stuffed tiger, Hobbes would go on all sorts of adventures and discuss various aspects of life. The clear implication is that Hobbes is part of Calvin's imagination, however there are quite a few instances where "Hobbes" actually does seem to have an impact on the real world. For instance, when Calvin comes home from school, Hobbes always tackles him. It always leaves Calvin dirty and bruised. I'm hard pressed to come up with a "rational" explanation for that.
The comic is timeless. I recently decided to pick up and read Scientific Progress Goes Boink and I laughed just as hard as I did the first time I read it.
While a few of the characters fall into certain archetypes (parental figures, intimidating bullies etc) they all have their own distinct personalities, yet you can still see a bit of someone you know in each character. You can often see elements of your own parents in Calvin's and most kids can on some level relate to Calvin and his experiences in school and at home.
The comic makes several observations about the nature of humanity as well as both the business and art world. The strip works quite well either way. You can see Calvin's macabre snowmen as funny in their macabre wrongness, or you can see it as his take on the world of modern art.
A lot of the humor comes from watching the different characters play off of Calvin's unique personality. His dialogues with both Hobbes and his father are always good for a laugh.
Strips also delved into Calvin's imagination, frequently he would imagine himself as a fearless intergalactic explorer named Spaceman Spiff or as the superhero, Stupendous Man. These often serve as foils for reality. We would see some wacky adventure, before cutting back to real life and finding Calvin in some mundane situation. One time, he envisioned himself as an angry god, only to reveal that he was playing with legos.
Even years after the strip has ended, it still has a loyal fanbase. The collections are still available in bookstores and they even released a complete three book set containing every strip. I've been meaning to pick that up for some time, but haven't yet.
Watterson didn't want to adapt the strip into a show or make any merchandise based on the strip. This hasn't stopped people from releasing shirts and bumper stickers. In one video, internet personality Doug Walker hypothesized on the money that would be made just from the stuffed tiger dolls alone. It's such a brilliantly simple idea. I'm 25 and I would totally buy a stuffed Hobbes doll. I don't care if it doesn't really come to life, it's still awesome.
If you haven't read this strip, you really should check it out. I'd say that it's sad that it's no longer running, but Watterson didn't want to write anymore and it wouldn't be right to make him keep working on something he felt he was done with. He did give us a stellar strip for several years. While there won't be any new strips coming out, we are still able to enjoy the many that he did make for years to come.
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