The Essential Calvin and Hobbes - a Calvin and Hobbes Treasury

Absolutely love Calvin and Hobbes, but there is a problem with formatting - at least for the iPad. The orientation is off, so the only way I could read the comic was to lock the orientation on my iPad itself. Very annoying.

Book downloads incorrectly. When you look at the picture it is sideways. When you turn your reader to correct the view, the picture turns as well, again making the picture appear sideways. Called apple about the product but received no help from them.

Bill Patterson is a genius. I have. Been reading Calvin and Hobbes for 25 years. I pray the man will come out of retirement. Maybe he will consider doing just books instead of the pressures of having to do a daily comic strip. Please come back Bill!!!!

One event made me sad in 1995. That was the year Bill Watterson stopped Calvin and Hobbes. I clipped that strip and framed it. And I'm still sad.

Ten years earlier, he gave us Calvin and Hobbes, though. For 10 happy years, I bought and read the Chicago Tribune to read it. It made me smile through a far too exciting college period and a few years after. "The Essential Calvin and Hobbes: a Calvin and Hobbes Treasury" is where it started.

Look, if you are buying this, it isn't accident. You already know anything I could possible tell you. Tuna. Susie Derkins. Miss. Wormwood. Moe. Rosalyn. Scary snowmen. Hamster Huey and the Gooey Kablooie. Stupendous Man. Space Spiff. Calvinball. The Transmogrifier. This collection covers most of them.

Don't buy the Kindle version. This isn't a novel. You need to see things as Bill intended.

Don't buy the hard cover version. Seriously, this is a comic strip collection. It is meant to be read so often it gets dogeared.

Click "buy."

Anthony Trendl
americanspeechwriter.com

I am a huge, longtime "Calvin and Hobbes" fan, having read every strip ever printed (including those rare ones that were never printed in collections or only made it into collections in edited form -- thank you, Internet) and recommending the comics to everyone I can. And while I've already reviewed the definitive collection of Bill Watterson's strips on the store, "The Complete Calvin and Hobbes," I feel compelled to come back and review the first of his treasuries. I had read the comics before, but this treasury was the one that cemented my love for the precocious, imaginative Calvin and his tiger friend, and made me appreciate Watterson's dedication to his craft.

One of the most fascinating things about this book is that it allows you to view how "Calvin and Hobbes" evolved over the course of its first couple of years. The comic started out with a much more cartoony style, with more exaggerated movements and facial expressions and some odd design choices on the part of the characters (round dots for eyes instead of the oblong near-slits of later, black pads on Hobbes' forepaws, larger mouths while talking, etc.). Even over the course of this collection one can see the eventual artistic shift, and the evolution of Watterson's art style with the passing of the years.

Another highlight of these collections is the addition of watercolor-illustrated stories, included by Watterson to "justify the treasuries' existence." In the case of "The Essential Calvin and Hobbes," the story in question is lavishly illustrated poem called "A Nauseous Nocturne," where Calvin details a spooky night where he hears a monster in his closet and knows this is his last night on Earth. Even by Calvin's eloquent standards, the poem sports a bewildering vocabulary that might have some readers dashing for a dictionary, but the verbose nature of the poem just makes it all the more hilarious. And the climax... I won't spoil it, but it's worth the read. These illustrated stories make me wish that Watterson had taken up writing and illustrating children's books after retiring from the comic proper -- he would have been great at it.

If you buy one "Calvin and Hobbes" book, make it this one. It's funny, clever, and shows how Watterson has evolved over the years, getting a handle on his art style and characters. And the "Nauseous Nocturne" alone makes it worth the price.

Classic reading for kids and parents alike. I still remember spending my days reading the Essential Calvin and Hobbes. The writing is witty, funny, and doesn't pander or lower itself for anyone. Classic Watterson who in my opinion has given us on of the best comic strips there ever was. When I was a child, I saw myself in Calvin and as a parent, I see signs of his quick-witted nature in my son. It's been an absolute joy sharing this with him and having him run over to show me a particular funny strip. If you've never read this, then stop reading and pick it up!

I was excited to start reading some classic Calvin on my kindle, much to my dismay when I tried to download it I was told it's not compatible with my kindle!? What is the point of having a kindle edition that doesn't work on the kindle! I know it wouldn't be in color on the kindle and that's fine.

I have no gripes with the content of this book Calvin and Hobbes is my favorite comic strip of all time, but the iOS version needs to be fixed.

The strips for on iPad are always rotated 90 degrees anti-clockwise. If you turn iPad to read it, the comic rotates for the new orientation. The orientation of the strips should match the orientation of iPad. The same thing happens on iPhone. If I turn on the orientation lock for iPad, then the swipes for next/previous page are vertical instead of horizontal.

I have loved Calvin and Hobbes since the strips first newspaper appearance. It's awful awesome. The stories are timeless and reflect the somewhat bizarre inner world of a six year old perfectly.

The kindle e-book port leaves a lot to be desired. It does not use the panel by panel transition that is now common for comic reading. You can view the pages in two sizes in landscape orientation, which is okay for the weekday strips, but more challenging for the Sunday's. Also, when you hold the tablet in landscape, the action spots should be left and right, not top and bottom.

Watterson titled the anthologies with words like "indispensable" and "essential," simply because they are not (it's an inside joke). However, they are all genius.The anthologies are collections of strips, and some story arcs are include otherwise the individual strip wouldn't make sense. This was such a fun read. I chuckled often. (DISCLAIMER: I am a huge C&B fan and love every single strip. There is no way this is going to disappoint me.)

Sadly, in the not too distant future, newspaper comics will probably go the way of shadow puppets. Nonetheless, the leading lights of this quaint art form will become ensconced in either paper or digital books. Among thousands of strips, "Calvin and Hobbes" will definitely stand as one fit for preservation and study. Also, having achieved such a high standard in the genre's waning years makes the strip even more astounding. Long after art and philosophy were mostly obliterated from comics pages, Calvin and his surreal friend Hobbes wax meaning, morality, sadness and joy. The strip, one of the best to ever hit the comics pages, manages to bequeath an almost transcendent experience within the typically stifling medium of mainstream entertainment. The vicissitudes of life, imagination and existence bubble out of the experience of a relatively normal middle class setting. Calvin's almost solipsistic perspective compels a stuffed tiger to life. It remains his secret. Even other children don't experience Hobbes as animated. Calvin remains the only human being to which Hobbes graces his true self. Echoes of "Harvey" the "you-can't-miss-him-he's-a-Pooka" reverberate. Though where Jimmy Stewart's adult character suggested mental illness to those around him, Calvin's privileged visions suggest only the vast imagination and freedom of childhood. Hobbes mirrors the fidgety but introspective Calvin in action and philosophy. They seem to complete each other. So much so that scenes of Hobbes as a mere limp stuffed animal evoke sadness. Reality can stink.

This first treasury kicks off a journey that ran for ten years without a hint of burnout (though the strip experienced two sabbaticals). Hobbes' now classic first line, "we're kind of stupid that way," follows a stunning macabre tale of child-eating monsters, a la Vincent Price. The speed picks up fast with minimal lulls and duds (though this book, consisting of early material, contains more duds than later more developed volumes, but that's not saying much). Right off the bat, readers will notice the debt "Calvin and Hobbes" owes to "Peanuts." The obvious influence became more subtle in later strips, but here it remains indubitable. Fitting that Charles Schulz penned this volume's introduction. Doubtless he recognized the progeny of his work. Schulz wasn't really known for his modesty. But "Calvin and Hobbes" is no copy. It stands on its own as a totally original contribution to the comic medium. And after all, what late 20th Century strip wasn't influenced by the ubiquitous "Peanuts?" Charlie Brown and Snoopy paved the way for Calvin's philosophical prognostications on death, meaning and meaninglessness. Risks were taken, especially in the the injured baby raccoon episodes, which somehow manage to steer clear of cheesy melodrama. Calvin's brilliant coda, "what a stupid world," gracefully balances that rarely towed line of humor and tragedy. Sometimes the two seem inextricably intertwined. Other classics include the introduction of the transmogrifier, the controlling television (page 158), Hobbes' "cool" Mickey Mouse pants and Calvin's phantasmagoric daydream visions, superbly captured in color for the Sunday pages. "Calvin and Hobbes'" Sunday strips represent the sunset of a long tradition harkening back to the lush cathedrals of Windsor McCay's jaw dropping "Lttle Nemo" pages. This tradition has pretty much evaporated. We are kind of stupid that way, though some hope exists within the over-saturated pages of the internet. Some.

Though "Calvin and Hobbes" came to a screeching open-ended halt in 1995, the books continue to sell. New generations no longer read the strips in the papers, but in book form. A tank-sized complete collection was also released, but those not wanting to burden the expense or the girth of this hulking set can still easily find the entire series in the shorter treasuries (the web reveals which books contain the entire collection). So start here, this is the beginning, after all, but keep going. It just gets better from here.

And so it began.

This treasury included the strips from the first two collections of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. And if you don't know what you have been missing, you are in for a treat.

The comic strip follows the misadventures of Calvin, a highly imaginative, hyperactive six year old. How imaginative? His only real friend is Hobbes, his stuff tiger. But that isn't a problem because Hobbes is really a real tiger, at least in Calvin's mind.

Since this is the first book, things are still being established. But many of the strips staples are here already. We meet Calvin's parents, teacher Miss Wormwood, neighbor Susie Derkins, and bully Moe. We even get the first couple of run ins with babysitter Rosalyn. While we don't get the hilarious social satire that would show up later, we do get some comments on the environment and Calvin's obsession with polls. (He is constantly trying to get his dad to bend to political pressure by showing his standings with household six year olds and tigers.) And we get plenty of adventures from Spaceman Spiff, Calvin's imagination again as he tries to deal with the various aliens in his life like his parents or teacher.

I tend to read the later books more often, so I had forgotten just how go the early strips are until I picked this up. There are so true classics here, most of the time at Calvin's six year old nature. Not that I'd want my kids getting any ideas from Calvin. He doesn't see anything wrong with pounding nails into coffee tables or popping popcorn without the lid on the pot.

And that does bring up the only possible flaw with the book. These strips originally appeared in 1985-1987, so at times they are a little dated. Calvin makes reference to renting a VCR or wanting to get cable. But that doesn't bother me in the slightest.

This "treasury" collects the strips from the first two books. As a bonus, there is a story told in poem form at the beginning and the Sunday strips are in color. If you have the two books, you probably don't need this one. But if you don't have them, this is the way to go.

The day this strip ended was a sad day indeed. But thanks to books like this one, we can relive it over and over again.

Fans of Calvin & Hobbes who used to read the newspaper strip in the 80s and 90s will find great pleasure in reading this treasury of C&H comics. These witty comics about the 6-year old Calvin and his stuffed tiger Hobbes, named after the famous philosophers, will amuse people of all ages. The perceptiveness and humor of Watterson deserve the highest of cartoon awards, while his artistic creations exude hilarity. This cartoon is perhaps one of the most piercing yet funny critiques of modern society.

This book covers the first two years of the Calvin & Hobbes strip. One can notice how Calvin used to look different in the beginning. His character though quickly adopted his unmistakable attitude. Here we see his first daydreams about Spaceman Spiff, his relationship with his parents and with Susie, his (mis-?) performance at school, and his first invention: the Transmogrifier. His attitude to life and his quick temper never ceases to entertain. This is the book you can read over and over and never stop from laughing.

Note that there are two series of C&H collections: individual wide-format albums, each covering an entire year of strips (will call it âaeregularâ), and the vertical aspect ratio âaetreasury seriesâ which covers selected comics from two regular C&H books. Note that C&H ran for a year in newspapers, so thereâ(tm)s 10 regular books and 5 treasury books. Though the cartoons are slightly smaller in the treasury collection, each treasury book is far thicker and contains more strips than a regular book, and is furthermore less expensive, so treasury books are a real bargain. âaeThe Essential Calvin & Hobbesâ is the FIRST book from the Treasury collection, first released in 1988.

This is the best book that I have ever read. If you read this book then you will be amazed by how, Calvin can read, and say words that no other kid can read in there child hood.

My foster mom has almost all of the books of, Calvin and Hobbes. If you read this book then you would be blown away from how amazing the righter did from the first book to the last book, I hope you enjoyed this book to. Happy readings.

This collection of Calvin and Hobbes stories dates back to the earlier strips, including the very first one where Calvin "captures" Hobbes with a tuna sandwich-baited tiger trap. The drawings are a little different from what you're used to in later C&H strips; Calvin looks different, though Hobbes looks much the same. Calvin in this book is up to his infamous tricks, getting in trouble in school and with his parents and with the babysitter and with Susie. He's Spaceman Spiff, and Tracer Bullet, and an amateur scientist from time to time as well. He and Hobbes excel at getting into trouble during all the seasons of the year, and there's no end to mayhem in this book. If you want to read something REALLY funny even though it's twenty years later (C&H doesn't age), check out these strips and be prepared to laugh your fanny off.

A joyful exploration of being a kid. In the 80s, we had several popular cartoons, but they all, to some extent, expressed the author's political opinion. Mr. Watterson didn't do that. He created characters that reached me personally, without being "message fiction." I have also found that the young people in my life still enjoy these cartoons, remaining timeless.

Every home should have the Complete Calvin and Hobbes-- I mean, every book anthology that Watterson did.
I won't bother repeating all the wonderful praise that Watterson deserves--although I wish I could meet him in person someday to thank him for all those wonderful daily strips.

Funny, entertaining, wise. Get these, get all of them, right now. Give copies to those who were born after the strip retired, at the peak of its fame. And kudos to Bill Watterson for refusing to ever commercialize or merchandise the characters in any way.

Hope this is helpful. Happy reading, everybody.

Newspapers these days seem largely devoid of comic strips. Thick-bound comic books like this one have replaced them. And fortunately, comics make kids into readers.

I was delighted the other day when a neighbor gave me five Calvin and Hobbes volumes, including this one. The books have already encouraged hours of reading for each child.

This collection opens with a 10-page poem narrated by a child --- Calvin, it turns out --- afraid to sleep at night lest monsters snatch him in his sleep. Only in the morning, he feared, would his parents

"surmise/

The gruesomeness of my demise/

And see that my remains are in a heap!"

(One parent, in this musing, appears with a bone in one hand, and a shrug of the shoulders, though the kid wakes up fine the next day.)

Another 79 comic strips follow, ranging in length from one or two pages to five, and filling a total of 255 pages. Rare is the 250 page-book that a young boy or girl will gladly consume in one sitting. Trust me, this is one of them. In two recent evenings, our two kids have sat on our sofa, devouring this book one after the other, hooting and guffawing their way through. Ready, set, read.

--- Alyssa A. Lappen

I enjoyed reading these comics again. I read them as a kid, and now as the parent of a six year old myself, I find them even funnier.

I was disappointed that I could not double tap to zoom in to each frame as the store advertises its comics are enabled to do. I would like to see the Calvin and Hobbes kindle editions updated so that this is possible. The colored Sunday strips' texts were somewhat hard to read due to the font size. The page was not even zoomable with the normal gesture controls.

The 2 star rating is for the format of the kindle edition, not the actual content.

Bill Waterson is argudably one of the best comic writers out there. Even through his retirement, he has made great books of past comics featuring his Calvin and Hobbes characters. I laugh and laugh at these comics he creates and I sometimes wonder how he comes up with such brilliant ideas sometimes with the storylines of some of the strips.
Calvin, one of his best known characters, is the trouble-making kid in the school. He is funny and imaginative and likes to make funa and games with his "real" pet friend Hobbes. Through the comics, you can see the relationship between a stuffed animal and a human.
In this comic though, Hobbes "comes to life" in Calvins eyes. The things that Calvin can sometimes get involved in is so hilarious and sometimes out of this world.
I guarantee that anyone that loves comics will fall in love with this one and should definitely buy this book to start their collection of classic comics.
All of Bill Waterson's comic books are very well done and very professional. His work is his life and it shows the time and consideration it took to make these characters come to life. Thank you Mr. Waterson for creating such a great comic and thatnk you people for reading my review!

Calvin and Hobbes were my childhood companions; two friends who were friends of mine, making me laugh, keeping me from ever feeling all that alone.

I read, an re-read, all of the Calvin and Hobbes collections, enjoying and laughing out loud at how accurate Bill Watterson's observations were.

And now, as an adult and a parent, I look again at the humour, and realise there is a whole new depth, as a parent.

If you were to ask me whether I recommend this book for all people to read, I would have to quote Calvin when his mother caught him happily hammering nails into the coffee table and shouted "What are you doing?!" ...

... "Is that a trick question?"

Watterson's talent is pretty hard to get over. What's the big idea, making a cartoon so consisently funny, explosively creative and accessibly brilliant that no other cartoonist could ever hope to match wits? When I saw the first Calvin strips in my paper several years ago, I knew it was something special. Here's a little kid more clever than most adults, whose stuffed friend comes to life and has philosophical debates with him while they careen down a gully in a wagon.
Calvin and Hobbes is more than a comic strip, and that's what makes it so special. Far Side and Dilbert are clever and hilarious as well, but Calvin's creator has an artistic talent that will not be confined. The everyday life of his six-year-old protagonist is frequently spliced with daydreams--Spaceman Spiff, Dinosaurs, etc.--which are consistently staggering in their rendering. It's art good enough for Marvel but stylistically superior. In the later years he was arguing with newspapers for half- or full-page spaces that would do his work justice.
What impresses me perhaps the most about Watterson, though, is his integrity. From the great beginning that is this book, up through the end, he refused to have his art form violated by commercialism. Calvin will be found ONLY on the printed page, not on TV, not on a baseball cap (save the amateur ones), not in a breakfast cereal, nor action figures, nor a fanclub, nor a box of fruit snacks. Watterson was true to the integrity of his character. What's more, he quit while he was ahead--before his strip could become repetitive, but after its potential had been fully explored.
So buy this book, if you haven't already. In fact, do yourself a favor and buy every Calvin collection, because each is completely flawless. Calvin and Hobbes is the best cartoon that ever was, and it's the best cartoon that will ever be. I'd bet my sense of humor on it.

I have owned this treasury of Calvin & Hobbes ever since its first printing in 1988; that makes it the book I've owned for the longest time. And even after 15 years, I still look in here and laugh my head off at crazy Calvin's antics. He brings a microwave on a Cub Scout expedition (this is the only book where we see him in the scouts). He smokes his first (and last) cigarette. He turns into a 300 foot giant and terrorizes the neighborhood. He takes part in an educational school play and can't remember his line. Best of all, we see the first few "Rosalyn" episodes. Nothing like seeing Calvin drive his babysitter up the wall. And of course, where would Calvin be without Hobbes, his one and only friend? Hobbes makes the strip twice as good as it is already. In short, Calvin & Hobbes may have passed on into cartoon Heaven (where they play saxophone in an all-girl jazz band, or something like that), but their spirit lives on in this and other books. Also, check out the awesome pictorial poem, "A Nauseous Nocturne". It is cartoon gold! Get this and all the other C&H books, NOW!

The Essential Calvin and Hobbes
Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes books are awesome!!!! The adventures of six-year old Calvin and his awesome lifelong anthromorphic tiger pal Hobbes are hilarious and colorful. The Essential Calvin and Hobbes are perfect for the age of kindergarten to 115. It is very interesting and it also adds two other cartoon books to itself. It tells of his mischievous pranks, his other egos, his quarrels with the school bully Moe and his love\hate relationship with Susie Derkins and all of the duos harebrained, yet funny schemes. It is a defiant read!!!!!!!! If you have a liking for interesting, funny and adventurous fiction comics, then you HAVE to read Calvin and Hobbes!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bill Watterson's first Calvin and Hobbes treasury "the Essential calvin and hobbes" includes cartoons from Calvin and Hobbes and Something Under the Bed is drooling.
This treasury includes great poems written by Watterson at the beginning of the book. In this treasury you'll know how Calvin found Hobbes, when he first met Susie, etc. This is one of Watterson's best books! After "Homicidal psycho jungle cat" and "it's a magical World" I like this the most.
If you love sarcasm, humour, and great colourful drawings you'll love to have this treasury. Some of the reasons why I love this book are the sarcastic jokes, normal jokes, the characters' expressions, and fiction stories and poems like Spaceman Spiff stories. Nightmares like monsters under the bed at night also lead to excellent jokes.
You'll love Hobbes, Calvin, Calvin's parents, Rosalyn, Miss Wormwood, and Susie. I don't really like "Moe" but I like the thiongs Calvin does to avoid Moe.
Bill's works on Calvin and Hobbes is fun to look at and read. The hilarious pictures help add more humour to the stories.
This great treasury would be suitable for people of all ages. It might not be suitable for children under the age of "eight" cause they might not understand the humour!

This collection contains earlier C&H cartoons. Being accustomed to seeing a slightly different looking Calvin in the more modern works it takes a little getting used to. His head is HUGE! His mouth...HUGE...and also very much like those Peanuts characters. The way his body and feet are drawn is also like them. Maybe they were Watterson's inspiration? Aside from the bigger head and mouth, Calvin in drawn shorter and wider than we are accustomed to and Hobbes is also bigger than him (when he is a stuffed tiger) which makes Calvin look even smaller. I thought at first that he was four or five but then he refers to himself as a six year old so that hasn't changed. I'm guessing that Watterson refined his craft in the years following...after all, this was originally published in 1988!!!

In this collection we see:

Calvin meets Hobbes

Calvin meets Susie...and does some serious flirting???

Calvin goes to the doctor and lives to tell the tale

His mom lets him try smoking

Shrunken heads for dinner anyone?

Calvin vs Rosalyn...who wins?

Many, many more memorable episodes in this collection that will keep you coming back for more!

CAUTION!!: When the information said "Includes cartoons from Calvin & Hobbes and Something Under the Bed is Drooling" I was under the impression that it contained just a few of those. Not so! It actually COMBINES those 2 books so that ALL of those cartoons are contained herein. I learned this because I ordered this together with Calvin & Hobbes...I am assuming it will be like this for other collections as well.

Calvin and Hobbes was originally published syndicated in daily newspapers, and "The Essential Calvin and Hobbes" is the first large collection. Consolidating "Calvin and Hobbes" and "Something Under the Bed is Drooling", this book can be enjoyed equally in brief stints or long reading sessions. Full-page color Sunday comics break-up the singular black-and-white strips throughout the book, which begins with "A Nauseous Nocturne", a gripping, illustrative 12-page color narrative about monsters under the bed that threaten Calvin's existence until their impotence against Hobbes the tiger. Through Watterson's evocative pen and witty words, Calvin is constantly animating his world imagining himself as any number of ferocious beasts, fearless explorers, or microscopic creatures. This comic masterfully connects us to the wonder of childhood and gives perspective to the absurdities of the adult world.

The Essential Calvin and Hobbes, first published in 1988, is chock full of early Calvin and Hobbes comic strips. No cartoonist, not even Charles Schultz, has captured the magical essence of childhood the way Bill Watterson did in this strip, and it should come as no surprise (although it did to Watterson) that Calvin and Hobbes quickly developed an incredibly loyal following. This strip went way beyond mere popularity. While I was in college, the campus newspaper decided to stop running Calvin and Hobbes (I think this was during one of Watterson's sabbaticals) - this resulted in nothing less than a furor on campus, as countless students immediately demanded the return of C&H. In a matter of days, Calvin and Hobbes were right back where they belonged.
How does a comic strip featuring a mischievous six-year-old boy and his stuffed tiger attract a fiercely loyal following of adults? Most adults would love to be children again, to know the freedom and sense of wonder that somehow withers inside the human soul after the onset of puberty. Calvin and Hobbes vividly recreates the feelings and emotions of the very essence of childhood. It brings back memories of things we forgot far too long ago, and it thus reawakens the deepest parts of our ever-hardening souls. Reading this comic strip is the next best thing to being a child yourself. Calvin does everything you used to do: he takes time to stomp in mud puddles, he lets his imagination run wild to make thrilling adventures out of even the most mundane tasks, he ponders the same deep questions you are now, as an adult, afraid to ask, he goes for the gusto no matter what sort of risk is involved, he is in every way a perfect specimen of childhood. Who, as a child, didn't pretend to be a dinosaur, walk around with a hideous expression in hopes of your facing freezing that way, tease the girls (or boys) you claimed to hate, journey to distant worlds unseen by human eyes, etc.?
Of course, Hobbes is just as important to the comic strip as Calvin. Hobbes is a tiger, Calvin's best and constant friend, a fellow partaker in the joys of childish innocence. To Calvin, Hobbes really is all that, and that is how we see him as well - until, that is, someone else comes into the frame, when he suddenly becomes nothing more than a stuffed animal. Watterson is a fantastic comic artist, and there is just something captivating about the way he draws Hobbes in his stuffed animal form. Everything about Watterson's art is fantastic, though, particularly the way it captures the emotions of its two principal characters.
Sadly, we have only ten years of comic memories in the form of Calvin and Hobbes, as the inscrutable Bill Watterson retired (around the age of 37) in 1995 and quite obviously has no plans of returning to the public arena. Watterson is actually frighteningly private and seems to be living a life of unmatched solitude. I find this extraordinarily sad: here is a man who captured the essence of childhood so vividly in the form of Calvin and Hobbes, a world bursting with life and possibilities, yet now he seems to have withdrawn from life itself. We must be thankful we do have as much Calvin and Hobbes material as we do, and The Essential Calvin and Hobbes, with 255 pages of black and white daily strips and color Sunday strips, features much more than just a chunk of it in and of itself.

This is a great book for all ages (for kids once they are reading), in my opinion. Like all great comics, they have varying levels of humor that adults will appreciate too, and it's all clean and good-natured. My 9-year-old son has really taken to them, and my 12-year-old daughter enjoys them too. My son keeps bringing these books home from the school library and I have to point out to him that his dad and I already own all of them. Raises the level of parent "coolness," which is always a plus. :)

While this was not my favorite Calvin and Hobbes book, it still made me chuckle. Calvin manages to get into the funniest situations. And his imagination is unbelievable.

Such a nice and fun read.

Funny stuff, but annoying to use on iPad Kindle App as they screen rotates 90 degrees from reading orientation. You have to lay the iPad flat and rotate. Too bad there isn't a way to lock the screen orientation for the kindle app.

This version is very difficult to read for me. It uses a very fancy font and the letters don't look quite like real letters to me. I checked my paper versions of Calvin and Hobbes books and they have a nice easy to read font. Comics should be fun to read, not fancy looking. I'm glad it was only a borrow and not a purchase.

I loved Calvin and Hobbes when i was a little kid and I still do now! They're hillarious and Calvin reminds me so much of myself at his age (not in every aspect). Especially our family camp trips. calvin and his mom remind me so much of myself and my mom when our dad took us camping and it turned out to be a disaster, lol. These cartoons make me want to be a kid again. Almost everyone has said this but I'll say it again. You'll start out planning to read a few pages but you won't stop there. you can't. it's so additive. some of the younger kids might not understand some of the big words but older kids will. But I think that grownups will enjoy them the most. With the purchase of this collection all the sunday comics are colored and you also get a monster never before seen cartoon. Get them all!

My favorite comic strip of all time. I read the strips when they were originally published, I've had all the paperback books since they first came out, but when I spotted the sale on the digital versions, I bought this book first just to check out how readable it really was on a Kindle Fire 6. I'm glad to say, it's very well laid out for digital reading. 2 strips per page for the weekday strips (landscape mode) and one per page for the Sunday comics. Great to read the old strips again!

Although I am writing my review for this particular book, my comments here can also be taken to apply to all of the other Calvin and Hobbes books. I own all 16 of them. Yes, I know that means that I have a lot of duplication, but I still like the cover art and original stories that are inside of each book. Anyway, Calvin and Hobbes is my favorite comic strip of all time. And I guess it's kind of cliched to say that, because there are so many other people who also feel that way. Well, that's because this cartoon touches so many people in such a wonderful way. It reminds me of what it's like to be a little kid with a very active imagination. It takes me back to a simpler time when I didn't have to worry about the problems of the "real" world. The stories are great. The characters are very interesting and have lots of personality. I like the way that Watterson draws, and I like the colors that he uses. All 16 of these books are excellent.

It is amazing how much insight Bill Watterson has into the life of a six-year-old kid. Sometimes I refer to Calvin and Hobbes as my philosophy books because I can relate so much to them. Now on to the review. This is the best Calvin book you'll find. It's one of the older ones, so the comics look different from the newer ones (not neccesarily a bad thing). This has all of the favorite themes, like Hobbes teasing Calvin about Susie, who's the typical "girl down the street", Calvin's imaginary Spaceman Spiff adventures, and I think this also has Calvin's transmogrifier box' first appearance. Just a really great collection of really great comics. You will laugh your head off at every page turn!

Bill Watterson is hilarious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are rich and I will have to do it for a few months I will take care love the other day and I will be a un grande balen the other day and I will be a un grande balen the other day and I will be a man to fish the other side of my favorite and I am I am I already told I will have to fish the journal and reminds you of my other day it was and I already told a un the other hand the past two weeks and username and username and reminds you drink water a un and I am sick

Calvin & Hobbes was so popular during its run that people never needed to explain what the strip was about to anyone; it's been a couple of years and with the exception of little kids, people seem to remember the strip for the most part. So, all I'll say about this collection is that it is the preferable purchase over the first two books, the self-titled "Calvin & Hobbes" and "Something Under The Bed Is Drooling." Why? "The Essential Calvin and Hobbes" actually collects every single strip from those two books (it's NOT a best of, as some people would say), and most importantly, the Sunday strips are in color. Hands down, Watterson painted the most beautiful looking Sunday strips since Walt Kelly, and it would be a shame if you only knew them through the black and white reproductions of the smaller collections. It's also cheaper to buy this book instead of the first two, as well. As a special bonus, Watterson included a nice, water-colored poem at the beginning, which isn't available anywhere else.

I love Calvin and Hobbes, but the Kindle edition for the iPad doesn't support zooming. I just downloaded the Kindle edition and saw that a lot of these pages only take up a fraction of the screen and the Sunday strips are really dense, so zooming would have really helped reading the text. Even though it's a really cheap price today, I'm avoiding this.

WHEN YOU JUST HAVE TO LAUGH! Calvin and Hobbes are ADORABLE and always tickle my funny bone! Well drawn, witty and FUNNY, I recommend this book to anybody who needs a little cheering up or is just fine but would like to be even a little MORE cheerful. The looks on their faces are enough to make me laugh half the time. I highly recommend "The Essential Calvine and Hobbes" without reservation.

... The 80s' had the best cartoons ever. We had "Calvin & Hobbs", "The Far Side" and "Bloom County" to entertain us each morning and that made life a whole lot better. "Calvin & Hobbs" was my favorite as it invoked both longings for my childhood and also it was and still remains hilarious. This book is a great start to your Calvin & Hobbs collection.
A word of warning though. These cartoons are more addictive than chocolate. I bought this book with the intention of enjoying it a little at a time - read a few pages each night. Needless to say, I read the entire 254 pages in one sitting. I had to finish reading by flashlight as the power was out all over the city that night.

Always loved comics! Imagine those with no sense of humor... They might not "get" Calvin & Hobbes! What a great comic, no bad language, and always fun. Enough to make you a kid again for a little while. I highly recommend!

Who doesnt love calvin and hobbes? This is basically the best comic series for when you are just having a tough day and need a good laugh! I quote calvin in daily life and people know what i am talking about, thats how big of an impact these comics have.

You have to be a fan of Calvin and Hobbes to enjoy these comic strip classics to the full.Calvin and his tiger friend, Hobbes, were frequently the best thing in a newspaper otherwise chock-a-block with bad news. A trip down memory lane and a joy to read.

This is one of the best comic strips ever written. It is so entertaining because it is exactly what you expect from a 5 or 6 year old boy, but taken to its logically absurd extreme. This collection reminds me why I used to read Calvin & Hobbes every day. Highly recommended. If I could give it more than 5 stars, I would do so.

Calvin and Hobbes is FANTASTIC.
These collection books are all great. This happens to be one of my favorites.
The format has all of the comic strips together, but it is quite clear where one starts and another ends. Every few pages also has a separation by a colored strip, so the book is by no means monotonous.

Calvin and Hobbes is incredibly funny. As a kid, it is funny. As an adult, it is funny and witty. There are some very funny references and jokes about the world as we know it.

Definitely recommend at any age. MUST HAVES!

I have always liked Calvin and Hobbes. It is really funny at the best of times. There is another favorite comic book I like- Garfield. They both have some really good humor. There are plenty other Calvin and Hobbes comics, so go out and enjoy them! I would recommend this book to people who like really funny and humor-like comics. Thank you Bill Waterson! ?

Have you ever imagined something truly wonderful happening? Something that's straight out of your imagination? Well, if you have, today's your lucky day. This series is right for you. Calvin is a 6 year old boy who has a lot of imaginations. His stuffed animal, Hobbes, is also his pet tiger. Together they do many different things that would blow your mind.

I have always been a big fan of Calvin and Hobbs. Reading this brought back a lot of memories,as I recalled reading many of the strips when they were originally published. I have found that Calvin and Hobbes are timeless and just as funny now.

calvin and hobbes are, without question the greatest comics ever written. Bill waterson does a masterful job in both keeping the strips light and humorous, and shaping the characters so that they almost come alive. calvin and hobbes adresses the deeper aspects of human nature in an incredibly witty way. Calvin seems to prove again and again that no matter how much we know we will still be sinful creatures.

I enjoy reading Calvin and Hobbes in my daily newspaper,so when I saw this book I just had to get it. It's enjoyable form beginning to end. You will laugh out loud at some of the mischief Calvin gets up to.

The essential C&H starts out with the early comics (I think) so those are a little weird.
The poem at the begining is very funny. In one of the first stories Calvin and Susie get in trouble for passing notes ("I WISH WE WERE DEAD!!") And in another one Hobbes cuts Calvin's hair which Calvin says looks like it was cut with a weed-eater.
What I thought was irritating was when it went from early comics to finished comics, which was kind of annoying because I like the early comics.
I conclude this reveiw by saying this is deffinatly worth your money and you'll enjoy it very much.
post script, you might also like getting the indespensible C&H and The Authoritive C&H with this one, they kind of go together.

Meet Calvin, he is a hyper active six year old know all, an only child to his mild mannered and harassed parents. His best friend and companion is a stuffed tiger called Hobbes, whom Calvin snared in his backyard by using tuna fish sandwich as bait. Ever since, Calvin and Hobbes are inseparable.

The Essential Calvin and Hobbes combines all the cartoons from Calvin and Hobbes and Something Under the Bed is Drooling plus there is a new poem, A Nauseous Nocturne. The author Bill Watterson, draws superb cartoons to accompany his amazing imagination. The good thing about `The Essential Calvin and Hobbes' is that it begins at the beginning and we get to see the things developing before our eyes like Calvin snaring Hobbes and their relationship developing.

You must have gathered by now that Calvin lives with his mom and dad and his best friend Hobbes. In vacations, weekends or evenings we can see Calvin and Hobbes walking or playing in open fields and woods. His genius classmate Susie Derkins lives down the road and in his classrooms we meet Moe, the class bully and the class teacher of standard 1, Miss Wormwood.

There is only one person in the entire neighborhood that is ready to act as a babysitter for Calvin, Rosalyn. Rosalyn is probably the only adult whom Calvin fears. And the only other thing that Calvin fears are monsters under his bed. Read out these books for a fun filled time.

I own every Calvin and Hobbes ever published, including all of the treasuries containing excerpts from the yearly compilations. Of course, that is a bit redundant, but for some reason I enjoy reading through the treasuries almost as much as I enjoy reading the sequential comics in the compilations. I would reccomend getting all the books and saving the treasuries for after you have them all. One treasury I especially like is the tenth anniversary book, and I would reccomend that be your first collection after buying all the compilations.

The newspaper strip has been gone for quite a few years now, but our boy Calvin and his stuffed (yet sometimes alive) tiger Hobbes have not lost their edge. I recently re-read this book for the first time in four or five years, and it holds up very well. Laughter is great medicine for body and soul, and an hour or two inside the covers of this one makes a person feel much, much better. A nice gift book for someone recuperating from surgery or an illness. Thanks, Bill Watterson...you have brought joy to so many who can't thank you in person!

A laugh in every panel. A boy and his friend making the most of life. So funny and yet I was afraid to let my kids read it until they were out of the house. No sense in giving them ideas! Read and enjoy.

Some of the early works of Bill Watterson. This is a great book tracing the irrepressible Calvin and his "pet" tiger, Hobbes. As he has explained, Bill Watterson will slowly develop this character in accuracy and style over the next seven years.
Great repartie and pranks are pulled by this duo on the always weary Mom and Dad and a battle of wills with his steel hard babysitter, Rosalyn, makes a great couple of interludes.
Still, a great book and for Calvin and Hobbes fans, a must in your collection.

It was so much fun to read this... took me back to when I was a kid! I found myself LOLing and was surprised at how many of the jokes were applicable even for adults. Calvin and Hobbes truly provide timeless entertainment and laughter.

5 stars for the comic book. Best comic ever done. I'm also giving 5 stars for the Kindle version. Very readable and easy to navigate. So much easier than dragging out the big book. I really like having these right at hand on my Kindle Fire.

I love this comic strip! Watterson's imagination is wild and never ceases to make me laugh. I didn't check to see how many pages are in the book but it took a long time to finish, much to my enjoyment. Fun stuff!

Avoid the kindle version of ANY of watterson's work. They are poorly edited and formatted to be one of the hardest to read digital books in existence. Physical copies are where it is at for his work still, unfortunately.

Thank you Bill Watterson for creating Calvin and Hobbes. This first collection contains a great amount of early C&H. I remember reading this collection as a child many years ago, and I am thankful that I have access to it again.

What is the point of porting Kindle software to all platforms while still not allowing content to be uniformly accessible across all the platforms. For example, reading this book on Kindle on a Mac, what could possibly be the reasons for not allowing that?

Calvin and Hobbes is, in my opinion, the best comic strip ever written. The humor, jokes, sophistication, and zany adventures are heart-warming, touching, hilarious, and often touch on hidden truths. There are also some serious issues dealt with that make this strip have great depth.

It is a cartoon for all ages. Children and adults will appreciate them and be able to read them together. I highly recommend you get this book!!

Calvin and Hobbes is a satisfyingly funny comic book. Some of the pages are beyond my knowledge as to what's funny, but perhaps I just don't understand. Overall, Calvin and Hobbes is a great "vacation level" book. You can see patterns that never get old, such as when Calvin has polls about his parents and how he thinks all adults are aliens.
Read this book if you want a laugh that you will enjoy for the innocent pleasure!

Whether the collection is the "Indispensible" or "Essential" or "Authoritative" Calvin and Hobbes, it doesn't really matter. Watching this hyperactive, hyperimaginative child and his willing though wise accomplice, Hobbes, take on evil babysitters, Susie Derkins, the class bully and all creatures (real or imaginary), is a pleasure and laughter without stop. "The Essential Calvin and Hobbes" is another in a long list of the great comic work of Bill Watterson. This is an indispensible/essential/authoritative collection for all Calvin and Hobbes and humor fans!

I first read these in 4th grade. Now that I am an adult I find myself understanding both Calvin's and his parents world more fully. Living a little more life has made this comic all the more true for me, and all the more funny.

One of the best comic strips ever. Calvin & Hobbes never disappoints and is always hilarious! I really wish Bill Watterson would write more of these wonderful adventures of C&H. They are just fabulous.

Any book that can make you laugh out loud on a regular basis, say every other page, deserves ***** . Any one who had kids, knows a kid, or was a kid should read this to return to the glorious days of youth, even if they included school, scrapes, and tigers.

If you enjoy humor, imagination and wonderful art work then this is a must. This is a compilation of the first few books in the Calvin and Hobbes series and can be enjoyed by everyone from ages 6-60.

Let's face it: nothing negative can be said about Calvin and Hobbes. It's closer to perfect than any other comic strip in the known multiverse. I can't even count the number of times I've poured through these collections; I must have literally hundreds of strips eternally locked in my brain. If you don't love Watterson's work, there is something very, very wrong with you. Thank you.

I am not sure I have ever met anyone who has read some Calvin and Hobbes comic strips and hated them. I suppose there might be a person or two out there allergic to stuffed toy tigers, perhaps, or had a horrible accident involving one. Those would be the only people I could think of that would not find these strips entertaining, no matter what age.

Calvin and Hobbes is the best comic in the history ofmankind. The brilliance of Bill Waterson is displayed in this series of breathtaking books worthy of worship. To say this is the best book ever would be a understatment. Buy it now or your life will be as fullfilling as it could be. This book would be worth its wieght in gold 500 times over.

Bill Watterson brings to life two magical characters in a collection of comical and often philosophical cartoon strips. Watterson not only draws his characters well, but pays special attention to the background and other details. This book (which is one of many collections by Watterson) is one of the defining books of the century.

my dad has the whole collection of calvin and hobbes so i thoght "hey, if he thinks they're funny then why not i try one?" so i read this book and i was laugh out loud when i read the hilarious punch lines!
so as i said, funniest…book…ever!!!

I bought this book for my 10 year old son...a Calvin and Hobbes FANATIC! He's read it over and over and over again...each time laughing along with the hilarious story lines! :)
Calvin & Hobbes is a great tool for encouraging your children to read! Every family should have at least one book!

As you can tell by the cover on here, Hobbes' favorite thing to do is pounce on Calvin when he gets home from school.

Calvin does not like going to school, because he gets just about everything wrong, he tells Susie the disgusting things he brought for lunch, at recess there's the bully Moe and when he gets home, Hobbes pounces on him.

Calvin's mistake:Shouting out "I'M HOME!" when he comes in the door. He knows Hobbes will hear him and that gives him the advantage of pouncing on Calvin.

said it was kindle unlimited but would bot let me download when i tried it said to try again later so i did but when i did it still wouldn't let me download and what is weird about this is that it only said read for free it did not have a buy sighn next to it

No,its not just a bunch of random stuff, its a bunch of random funny stuff!! Its funny for Calvin being a little scared of Hobbes, and all that really funny stuff. Although Calvin's only a 1st grader, he sounds like he's really smart. So, I guess whoever is looking at this I have convinced them to buy it, just because it's so funny!!!!!!!

Calvin and Hobbes comics have marked my life from the time I discovered them in the 2nd grade until now. Poignant, hilarious, insightful and irreverent, this work of genius by Bill Watterson will continue to stand the test of time.

While my family members all feel strongly that Calvin's extraordinary antics are best experienced in its original format, I have to disagree.

Stored in my cloud on my kindle reader means this book is on every one of my devices. So I'm thrilled to know that I can fill any idle moment - anywhere - with a snicker from this soft copy of my all-time favorite duo.

Calvin is at it again! In this Treasury you can re-live the amazing magic woven by one of the greatest comic strip writers of all time; Bill Watterson! With full-color sunday strips this is an unbeatable performance of the reincarnated Calvin and Hobbes!

Calvin and Hobbes is definitely the funniest comic I have ever read in my life. It is way funnier than Garfield and Peanuts. Anyways, about this book, The Essential Calvin and Hobbes, it has to be one of the funniest books I ever read. This book features some of their funniest adventures including the one where Calvin uses the payphone to call his dad @ 3 A.M.(pg. 29) or the one where Hobbes dresses up like Calvin (pg. 47) or one of my favorites the one where Calvin and Hobbes go to Susie's birthday party(pg. 202). Calvin and Hobbes is a must read on a rainy day or in the car or anytime at all.

I have owned this book since it came out. My nephews couldn't wait to visit 'Aunt Sheryl' just to be able to read these books! The person rating this as a 1 star is rating on the store service, and NOT on the content of this book. Calvin and Hobbes was, and still remains, the best comic strip ever! Buy all the books as I did years ago...I promise you will laugh out loud!

This calvin and hobbes collection is one of my favorites. I own every single one, but this one is better to me because it has more Sunday comics in it. The adventures, the fun, the snow, the beach...Bill Watterson shouldn't have quit. 5 Stars

What can I say that hasn’t already been said? Calvin and Hobbes is a mixture of pure joy and philosophy. The two main characters are named after philosophers but of course it stars a six year old boy and his tiger. This is one of those strips you either get or you don’t, I haven’t really found someone in the middle. I love it.