Weirdos from Another Planet!
by Bill Watterson
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Book Summary Information
Author: Bill WattersonBrand: Andrews and McMeel
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1990-01-01
ISBN: 0836218620
Number of pages: 128
Publisher: Andrews and McMeel Publishing
Book Reviews of Weirdos from Another Planet!
Book Review: Still relevant, and still a gem
Summary: 5 Stars
Is it possible that just 20 years ago that Calvin and Hobbes - - one of the finest comics strips ever created - - was fresh and poignant every day in the paper?
"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us," says Calvin, looking at the chain-sawn stump of a tree, in 'Weirdos from Another Planet' by Bill Watterson. The demise of Calvin and Hobbes is reason enough not to contact Earthlings.
Doonesbury by Gary Trudeau is sometimes still incisive, with the same brilliance in political observations as when it was new and Richard Nixon was newly president. But brilliance is boring after 40 years of repetition. Doonesbury is dated. Nixon is long disgraced, dead and gone.
Calvin remains relevant, because like Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales' he dealt with the universal human condition - - - as it applies to small boys and to the grown men they become without ever losing their small-boy outlook on olife.
"Do you believe our destinies are shaped by the stars?" Calvin asks Hobbes.
Ever the logical one, Hobbes replies, "Nah."
Calvin counters with words as relevant today as in 1988, because, "Life's a lot more fun when you're not responsible for your actions."
How do we greet strangers? Calvin went to Mars and, after mugging for the Viking Lander "to blow some circuits at NASA" he met a live Martian. Hobbes thought the Martian must be as scared of them as they are of the Martian. Like many of us when meeting a foreign culture, Calvin explains, "We're just ordinary Earthlings, not weirdos from another plsanet, like HE is."
Doonesbury was similarly brilliant in portraying Nixon as a weirdo; but, Nixon nostalgia remains firmly Nixon. "Weirdos from another planet" is sadly reminiscent of the usual reaction to the current resident of the White House, and most likely The-President-to-Be.
Calvin's Dad isn't all that slow either, as when he sets him up in the first three panels of one daily strip by asking, "Hey, Calvin! Guess what time it is!"
"Why? What time is it?
"It's a very special time!
"Oh boy, oh boy! What time is it?
"Do you really want to know?
"Yes, Yes! Tell me! Tell me! Quick! Please! Yes!
"IT'S YOUR BATHTIME! OH BOY!!
Gettting Calin into a bath is about the same agony as pilling a cat. In the final panel, a dejected Calvin is up to his nose in sudsy water and commenting, "You know how old people always write to Dear Abby, complaining that their kids never write,call or visit? Those letters really crack me up."
Calvin had his own four-panel approach to homework, "When I grow up, I want to be an inventor. First I will invent a time machine. Then I'll come back to yesterday, and take myself to tomorrow, and skip this dumb assignment."
Personally, for me, it was lima beans. Any time lima beans appeared, it was lima beans or no desert. Calvin and his Mom had more imagination; Calvin looked at his bowl of soup and horrified, "Hey! What's this stuff in my soup? Yeccch! Is this rice? It had better NOT be!"
His Mom was very worried, "Rice? Let me see!"
Calvin was insistent, "Look! These little white things! See, there's rice in my soup. I hate rice!"
His Mom looked closely and explained, "I didn't put any rice in. These are maggots."
Calvin was delighted, explaining, "Gosh, wait till I tell everyone at school what WE had for dinner.".
His Dad lamented, "Another lovely meal at home with my family. I wish my job required more travel."
Evolution? As Calvin explains, "Just think, Earth was a cloud of dust 4.5 billion years ago . . . 3 billion years ago, the first bacteria appeared, then came sea life, dinosaurs, birds, mammals, and finally, a million uears ago, man. Now, in 1988, there's me. The acme of evolutuion."
Hobbes, rolling his eyes, responds, "Oh, PLEASE."
Even Richard Feynman can't come up with better answers. Trudeau is always wordy, as Watterson was at times. But the genius of Watterson was the ability to draw a 14-panel Sunday strip showing Calvin filling a water balloon and sneaking up on Hobbes . . . . panel after panel. Only one dialoguie panel was needed, when Hobbes drily explains, just before he was otherwise to be doused, "As if life isn't short enough."
It ends with a thoroughly frustrated Calvin resting beside Hobbes.
This is the Master.
Summary of Weirdos from Another Planet!
"Flashes of innovative genius abound. Exploring the world of Calvin and Hobbes is great therapy. The antics of the precocious boy and his suave stuffed tiger pal can pull anyone out of the doldrums." --Amarillo News GlobeIn Calvin and Hobbes book Weirdos From Another Planet!, this power-packed extravaganza of creative energy and imagination feature the childhood fun and fantasy that was a Watterson trademark.
Weirdos From Another Planet!, is out of this world!
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