The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book
by Bill Watterson

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Book Summary Information

• ISBN13: 9780836204384
• Condition: New
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Book Reviews of The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book

Book Review: Tiger, tiger - forever burning bright
Summary: 5 Stars

I miss the strip terribly and wish as much as anyone that Bill Watterson would come out of hibernation after almost seven years to crank up new adventures for his philosopher toonheads. I even partly believe that Watterson let down his readers by "quitting" on us.

At the same time, one of the reasons that we miss the strip so much is that it didn't lose its freshness after ten years. Compare that to other well-known strips which lasted FOREVER, i.e. "Peanuts" and "Dennis the Menace", and which we ultimately turned to out of habit, rather than anticipation. And how much longer can Jim Davis continue to run with that gluttonous, self-centered cat?

Watterson left us wanting more and perhaps it was better thus. Moreover, his artistic integrity was such that he resisted what must have been a HUGE financial temptation to allow his characters to be licensed for merchandising (those auto decals that show Calvin watering the lawn from beneath his waist are "bootlegs"). This also prevented over-exposure.

This book is easily the best of all "collections" because it's a cumulation of highlights from the strip from beginning to end, interspersed with Watterson's commentary about the art of cartooning, the practical issues that arise when artistic license clashes with syndicate control, his own life experi-ences, and how they affect his work.

Watterson was not afraid to take on issues, and his favorite one appears to have been "television". Biting attacks on the medium were as much a staple of "Calvin & Hobbes" as attacks on "the Church" were of the Monty Python troupe.

And why not? The more bloated, the more all-powerful, the more arrogant, lethargic and unchanging an institution appears, the more inviting a target it is for comedy. It still takes wit, timing, and incisiveness to do the job right, and Watterson was never found lacking. I still scream over the strip where Calvin, in humble supplication, presents as an "offering" to his TV set a bowl of lukewarm tapioca pudding representing his brain.

For all his audacity and integrity, however, Watterson still occasionally runs afoul of that old devil, political correctness. As he runs through his list of characters, he is COMPLETELY UNCRITI-CAL when, chirping brightly, he describes Susie Derkins as earnest, serious, and smart - the kind of girl that he eventually married.

Susie is indeed everything that Watterson says and more so. If the destructive Calvin is "Everyboy", Susie is "Everygirl" - OVERLY earnest, serious, and smart - a conformist to an educational system that we hated as kids. In "1984", Orwell postulates that women are the keepers of all of the State's smelly little orthodoxies, and Susie's repeated whining invocations to the school authorities suggest that she's starting early.

It's why we don't really mind Calvin's seemingly unprovoked snowball and water balloon attacks on her, even though as the skulking aggressor, he is unquestionably being cast as the "bad guy".

We can be certain that, on an artistic level, Watterson is well aware of ALL of these things. But in this book, he goes out of his way to avoid saying them. It's a testament to the power of political correctness and also to the truth of the bromide that the tale often speaks more loudly than the author.

But sometimes the author speaks louder. The Sunday supplement in which Calvin envisions himself as a vengeful god, creating worlds so as to have the savage pleasure of destroying them, seems to "work" very well from the reader's standpoint, but Watterson's complaint that what he had intended was completely ruined by the format restrictions provides a good snapshot of the artist's mind at work.

Elsewhere, Watterson's careful selection of features and his commentary show us how the strip "grew" over the years as the characters became more familiar to him.

The artistry unquestionably became better, and the early strips show Calvin behaving in ways that are now inconceivably "wrong" - perhaps again, even more so that Watterson realizes. The 1980's Calvin agonizes over the untimely death of a little raccoon. He could not possibly be the same individual as the 1990's Calvin who tries to win a contest to promote highway safety by creating the slogan "Be careful or be road kill" and drawing a corresponding poster in cadmium red crayon and chunky spaghetti sauce.

He's also not nearly as funny. Sometimes, those moral tutorials just got in the way of the humor, Bill.

Watterson also scores when he remarks that the issue of whether the tiger, Hobbes, was "real" or not didn't matter to him and that he went out of his way to avoid resolving the issue. Too many readers are fooled by the stuffed animal that everyone else in Calvin's world saw, and they assume that the animated Hobbes was "obviously" a product of Calvin's imagination.

But Hobbes seemed to have a moral compass utterly lacking in Calvin, and think of the numerous times in which Hobbes surprised and disappointed Calvin. If Hobbes was truly nothing more than Calvin's alter-ego, Calvin must have been utterly schizophrenic. Was it really a "toy" tiger who was able to bind and gag Calvin? And to enable Calvin to climb on his back to open a mailbox?

The mad confusion between "real" and "imaginary" matched perfectly with the mayhem engendered by the first-named title character (who did a little better job of standing up to the powers-that-be than does his creator) and with every bumpy wagon ride through the ravine and down the cliff that he and the tiger ever took.

As long as people remember this strip, there will always be hope that the rebellious "little boy" in us will ultimately prevail over the Ritalin-like conformity that others would impose.

Get out the time-fracture wickets, Hobbes! It's Calvinball forever!

Summary of The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book

Many moons ago, the magic of Calvin and Hobbes first appeared on the funny pages and the world was introduced to a wondrous pair of friends -- a boy and his tiger, who brought new life to the comics page. To celebrate the tenth anniversary of this distinguished partnership, Bill Watterson prepared this special book, sharing his thoughts on cartooning and creating Calvin and Hobbes, illustrated throughout with favorite black-and-white and color cartoons.

Approximately one-tenth of the book contains essays about matters great and small--from cartooning to life--and stories about the inspiration behind some of his greatest strips. Not surprisingly, Watterson shines through as a being of considerable integrity, and the cartoons gain in depth thanks to his commentary. And, of course, the cartoons in the other 90% of the book are alternately side-splitting hilarious or touching. Happy Anniversary, Bill, and good luck with whatever it is you are doing now!

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