The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes Book

I was a teen and I was loving The Far Side, but then I found Calvin and Hobbes, and it was like going from sociology class to philosophy.

I'm not saying one was better than the other. I'm saying I felt like I was taking college classes, and I was loving it!





These strips weren't about hitting you over the head with gags. They were nuanced takes on life. Watterson took a subtle approach to pointing out people's foibles. If you were the least bit reflective, you could see yourself in Calvin. Some probably intentionally deflected any self recognition in Watterson's work, because what you saw wasn't always pleasant.

As a book, The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes allowed Watterson to carry a topic from one strip to the next without preamble. This meant that not every page was hilarious or even had a point to make. Some pages were just bridges, and that's okay, because as a whole that series of strips gained a certain gravitas that created more of a solidified "book", which these comics collections often lack.

Earlier I said that I didn't think Watterson was necessarily better than Larson, but I'd have to hand it to Watterson over Larson when it comes to drawing. Watterson had a steadier hand, better technique. But who cares? You don't read either of these comics for the artwork. Having said that, Watterson did flex his muscle occasionally, especially when he would let us enter Calvin's dreamworld...



Often times the Calvin and Hobbes strip had a sarcastic edge or left you soured on humanity. Watterson clearly felt mankind needed improving and he used his strip to convey those feelings. However, kindness, the ray of light, and a general sort of sentimentality sometimes crept in and would make you sense that there was hope and a reason to fight on. Maybe I'm reading too much into all of this, but that's what the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip meant to me.