Monde Cruel! (English and French Edition) - Calvin et Hobbes

Book arrived just as described. My 3-year old just started getting money for doing chores and he saved up to buy Calvin & Hobbes in "good" condition. Book looks great & reads great to a little boy who finds naughty Calvin hilarious!

Great storyline. Dialog and situations capture the spirit and imagination of young boys wonderfully. The 'stuffed animal' makes the perfect complement. Love the illustrations, too. Very entertaining.

Calvin and Hobbes is without a doubt my absolute favorite comic of all time. The subject matter, creativity, story-telling, illustrations, topics like parenthood, friendship, and childhood...it all makes for an absolute perfect comic strip!

I love Bill Waterson, and in the immediate i saw an option for library binding I have to own it. Most of the Comics books i have, are "glue binding". pages drop out after extensive reading over years.. so when I saw an option for library binding, i thought it would be a thread binding.

for additional ~10 dollar all was difference was hard cover smoothly wrapped from front cover of the standard book. it is still bind with glue. though the pages are no longer paperback, in its place are shinny ones of better quality. its a good thing this book wasnt thick.. if it was the spine would break right in the middle. and the pages would drop.

(Review from a 6-year-old reader.) Great and if no one ever wanted to buy this, well, strange... Hobbes is weird because he always thinks that Calvin is doing something bad, which he usually is but sometimes he isn't. Surprisingly!

It is the first part of a great collection of calvin and hobbes. A nice format. It includes some pages in color...
The item was in almost perfect conditions, and the time that it took was a week. Pretty good, considering that I was not using the expres service...

It was bought for a gift to my brother as he is a Calvin fan ( like me ) from way back and he was thrilled at receiving the Anniversary Book. I would also like to say that Calvin's creator is an exceptionally clever man.

DO NOT BUY THE KINDLE VERSION! I have a Surface 3 and it does not view properly on it or my desktop pc. On my tablet all the strips are rotated 90 degrees and if you rotate your tablet to read them then it rotates them again. The only thing you can do is hope your tablet can lock the rotation and then read it that way. This should not be necessary!

As a diehard Calvin & Hobbes fan, I was looking for a way to review all the old comics without going through some only internet archive. I had long known that there was a "kindle edition" to my favorite series and I tried it own.

As far as I can tell, there is no way to get the comic to appear on an ordinary kindle. Disappointing, I suppose, but one can understand considering how much resolution must be required to view the Sunday strips (which should be seen in full color, anyway.) But loading it up in the the store Cloud Reader revealed another nasty surprise - the formatting is wrong! Strips are arranged up and down as opposed to horizontally, and the cloud reader doesn't give the option to rotate pages. So I am left with a $11 book that I am unable to view.

It's a shame, because this book reflects some of the best of a classic comic strip. I don't think this kindle edition was done with much care or attention to detail.

Don't get me wrong, I love C&H. But Watterson is a bit preachy in this book. He tries to explain his rationale behind some of these comics and that's generally cool. But he has comments where he bashes other comics for being pretentions jerks while he comes across like basically a pretentious jerk. /shrug, it's still a good book with good comics. For me, it was a mix of eye-rolling at Watterson's comments vs. laughing at the comics.

The product was worse shape then I was expecting but when I wrote to the seller I had great service! They were very apologetic that I did not received the item in expected condition and reimbursed me the whole amount! Now that's an awesome seller if you ask me. Not just from getting money back, but because of the email reply I got and how polite they were.

I was hoping for an original 1987 print. I may be confused on how books are printed and dated. The book I received had a 1987 publication date but looked far more crisp that I recall this book being when I read it (a million times) as a child.

For clarification, the subject matter gets 5 stars, but the printed in China and not looking authentic drop it to 3.

The book showed up on time.

The imagination of Calvin and his relationship with his stuffed tiger imagined to be real is entertaining and at times enlightening. Of course this book is a big hit for my 13 yr old. This is his 3rd Calvin and Hobbs and he is already wanting collection.

After you have read all the Calvin and Hobbes ten times over, getting some deeper text from Mr. Watterson is very rewarding. This book is for the Calvin and Hobbes fan that has finished the comics and is in need of some more sustenance.

1. First, the book is less than 130 pages, and none of it is in color.
2. More important...all the comics inside this book (including the first ones about how Calvin met Hobbes) are included verbatum in the later, longer, more colorful book "The Essential Calvin and Hobbes (A Calvin & Hobbes Treasury)". Spend a couple extra dollars and buy that one instead.

Although I love Calvin and Hobbes, this Kindle version SUCKS. The panels won't enlarge and it's impossible to read on this Kindle reader. at least for my aging eyes. The panels in other cartoon books will enlarge, making them readable and enjoyable - not this one! Save your money.

I allways say if you buy a.used book cover the cover bc you don't know where the book has been befor also the books are in great condion!!!!!!! And the book itself is hairis "you know how ienstien got bad grades and became a genues well my grades are even worse" I just love that quote

I ordered this edition (library binding) because I knew it would receive a lot of abuse and figured a better binding would be the way to go. The copy I received was in fact a hardcover, but there's dirt rubbed into it, as if it sat bare on a warehouse floor for a few months at the bottom of a stack of books. The print quality is also inconsistent - on some pages the black ink in the comics are crisp, but on others it looks like it sat in the sun for a week and faded to a dark gray. Additionally, there's a section of pages that are just glued together, as well as patches of dried glue on the front and back covers. Higher quality this is not - I don't know if this is Turtleback at fault or someone else along the chain, but what I received was definitely in "used" condition, at best.

The book itself is a wonderful book and it's definitely why I wanted to make sure it had a good binding, but do yourself a favor and get the paperback instead. Perhaps elsewhere as well.

The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes is the third treasury of this classic comic strip. It contains all the strips from the original, smaller books The Revenge of the Baby-Sat and Scientific Progress Goes "Boink." It has all the Sunday cartoons in their original color and includes some poems at the beginning that are also new to this book.

And if you are new to Calvin and Hobbes, you are in for a treat. Calvin is a hyper-active, overly imaginative six-year-old. Looking for proof? His best friend is Hobbes. Now to everyone else in the world, Hobbes is a stuffed tiger. But to Calvin, he's a real tiger that walks upright and talks. Somehow, Hobbes does seem to be the smarter one of the duo. Other characters populating the strip are Calvin's parents, next door neighbor Susie, school bully Moe, Rosaline the babysitter, and his teacher Miss Wormwood.

The strips in this book represent a year and a half of time (although the characters never age). Some of the strips are one offs with a punch line at the end of the panels. Others tell a story with a joke each day leading up to a climax of some sort.

This book seems to be pretty big on Calvin's imagination. For example, we get lots of stories involving Spaceman Spiff, Calvin's astronaut alter ego and his fight with the aliens who want to make him do his homework of go to bed (ie., Miss Wormwood or his parents). This book also contains a classic series where Calvin must write a report on bats for school, and he tries to make it up as he goes along. We get plenty of appearances by Calvin's superhero identity Stupendous Man (Calvin in a cap and mask) as he tries to defeat Rosaline or get out of homework. Speaking of homework, there's a long sequence when poor Calvin gets in trouble for not doing his homework after his personal gravity reverses so he falls up. Once that is resolved, Calvin finds himself growing to the size of a galaxy. And Calvin invents a duplicator that makes enough copies of himself so he only has to go to school one day a week.

This book also features two first that would later become common themes in the strip. This is the first time we see a meeting of G.R.O.S.S. (Get Rid Of Slimy girlS). Before the tree house became their meeting place, they tried to meet in the garage with disastrous results. Finally, we get the first few strips involving Calvinball, the only sport where you can't play it the same way twice.

As you might have guessed by now, I love this strip. It doesn't matter how many times I've read it, I also laugh at some of them. Calvin can get pretty philosophical at times, especially while careening down a hill on a sled or wagon, and the results of those are usually pretty funny as well. Yes, there is general humor, but there are also jokes that take stabs at our culture with dead on results.

The strips collected here are some the late 80's and early 90's, so some of the references are a bit dated. Calvin talks about renting a VCR for example, instead of having a DVD player to watch movies. Outside of that, most of the jokes are something that will appeal to all ages. True, Calvin is not a good role model, but his antics are so wacky that I think most kids would recognize that fact.

Even after 20 years and countless reads, I still find something to laugh at every time I read The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes. If you haven't read anything from classic comic strip, do yourself a favor and pick up a book today. You'll be laughing before you know it.

I was reading this with my son when we happened upon a frame where the family is camping and Calvin nonchalantly inserts, “I am six years old.” When Calvin and Hobbes debuted, I was around the age when I started reading enough to comprehend the complexity of Watterson’s work. So is the similar moment in my own son’s life - and happening upon this frame was a magical moment of revelation.

This book comprises of some of the more illuminating, hilarious, and touching strips, along with annotations that shed light on the process and the work that Watterson has completed over his career as the writer and artist behind the strip.

An incredible collection, this single volume captures the overall spirit and innovative beauty of the strip while offering some rare commentary on the work and process of the artist. What is most wonderful, however, is sharing this with the little boy in my life who just turned six years old himself, and seeing the wonder, beauty, frustration, amazement, and magic in the eyes of my boy just as they are in the eyes of the protagonist. Of course, then I get to see in him the little boy that I once was, and revel in the beautiful, spiraling dynamic of the thing.

There is no one on the planet who has never heard of Watterson or saw a reference to his artwork, but this collection is sure to be a small compendium of some of his best work, beating out the cost of the complete collection by a significant margin. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

This treasury is far and away the best of the entire Calvin and Hobbes Collection. I own every book, and have recently reread them all, and without a doubt this is the very best. For one thing, it was written right in the middle of Watterson's C&H career, which means that the writing and ideas are still fresh, while super-improved drawings and Sunday strips have just begun. Second of all, Watterson must have been on a powerful creative streak, because there is an amazing number of stories within the "Indispensible" collection. There are three Rosalyn babysitter tales, the bug collection story, the bat project, two camping trips, G.R.O.S.S. adventures, the burglar break in, the car down the hill, multiple Stupendous Mans, multiple Spaceman Spiff getaways, the duplicator going "boink" and creating more Calvin's, a rare, great Tracer Bullet story, Calvin defying gravity and size, Calvin on the baseball team, and a time machine adventure to the dinosaur age. The sheer amount of stories here is unheard of for a C&H collection, and the best part is that almost every one is fantastic. Thirdly, the Sunday strips are in color, which is a huge plus. Fourthly, Calvin's parents have finally been rendered as three dimensional and sympathetic individuals, a characteristic that had been lacking in the earlier books. Last of all, as always, these comics are frequently hilarious, sometimes touching, and always entertaining. This collection personifies those characteristics to the nth degree, and is without a doubt the best Calvin and Hobbes for anyone to buy. If you're looking for other good C&H books, I would also recommend the Essential Collection (first two books, funny yet lacking in drawing), Snow Goons, Psycho Jungle Cat, Treasure Everwhere, and the 10th Anniversary. I hope this was helpful both for prospective buyers, and old fans looking back.

I own every single Calvin and Hobbes book that has come out and I must say this is probably one of my favorite. I will tell you why.
The forward Bill Watterson rights is a great insight into the man and the comic. For someone like him who lives a very private life to say the least it's great to hear how the comic started and how much Calvin and Hobbes really means to him. Every strip in this is hand picked favorites that he did over the 10 years he wrote and illustrated Calvin and Hobbes. He also gives a small tidbit of information about almost every one which is very insightful and fun to read knowing Bill wrote it.

Overall a must have for any Calvin and Hobbes reader, even if your not, get it and become a child again.

It starts with the first comic and ends with his last. Its always sad to see the last one because it shows the end of such a great era of comic book writing. But in the words of Watterson himself "it's a magical world Hobbes ol' buddy... lets go exploring"

This very funny Calvin & Hobbes collection features the six-year-old and his "imaginary" tiger sidekick, in a plethora of adventures and absurd situations. He gets in trouble in school with Miss Wormwood, and tussles with Rosalyn the babysitter, and he recounts the adventures of Spaceman Spiff on distant planets. He and Hobbes quarrel and make up and have further adventures of their own, especially in the winter when they go sledding and inevitably smash their sled to splinters. In the summer it's the wagon that gets turned into recycling material. Whatever it is about Calvin and Hobbes that you like there's plenty of it in this collection! The Sunday strips are in full color, and there's a funny introduction that should get you chuckling and in the mood for the main event.

I'm a 50 year old man, and I laughed all the way through this collection. Watterson retired almost 20 years ago, and I bought all the books and read them and then put them away in a box. Now I'm going back and rereading them, and it's been so long that I don't remember most of the strips, so it's like reading them anew. I remember motifs but not specific strips. This collection is laugh-out-loud funny all the way through; if you read it while drinking milk I swear it'll be coming out your nose. Sit aside with this book on a chilly, rainy autumn day and yuk it up!

Published in paperback in 1987, this is the first of eighteen "Calvin and Hobbes" books and the only one to bear the name, and that only. It contains the very first "Calvin and Hobbes" strip ever written, and in it the first appearances of Calvin and so many other characters and themes. Calvin, the energetic, imaginative, and free-spirited six-year-old boy, greets his father and the world with his first line: "So long, Pop! I'm off to check my tiger trap!" Somehow, that line alone, from a time when the strip was just starting out and many of its best-known ideas and themes hadn't appeared yet, contains more character than just about every "Garfield" or "Dilbert" strip I've ever seen.

This is a book of firsts. First of a line of eighteen books. First appearance of Calvin. First appearance of Hobbes. First appearance of Calvin's parents, his teacher Mrs. Wormwood, the bully Moe, school principal Mr. Spittle, Susie Derkins, Spaceman Spiff- pretty much everyone except Calvin's other two alter egos- detective Tracer Bullet and superhero Stupendous Man- makes their first showing here.

The drawing of the strip is much- sometimes *very* much- more simplistic than it was by the time the strip ended. In eight years Watterson's drawing skill and techniques changed quite a lot. But while the drawing gets better, the overall look more refined, "Calvin and Hobbes" is always... "Calvin and Hobbes".

This book has 127 pages, with an average of 4 sets of 3 strips per page. There's a foreword by Garry Trudeau, and I'll quote part of that here:

"The child is both king and keeper of this realm, and he can be very choosey about the company he keeps. Of course, this exclusivity only provokes many grown-ups into trying to regain the serendipity of youth for themselves, to, in effect, retrieve the irretrievable. A desperate few do things that later land them in the Betty Ford Center.

The rest of us, more sensibly, read Calvin and Hobbes."

Many Calvin and Hobbes fans were hoping for a twenty year, or at least a fifteen year, anniversary book. Now, some sixteen years after the last strip graced newspapers, we realize that, for the rest of time, we'll have to make due with a single ten-year anniversary book. No more. The strip isn't coming back, which Watterson made more than clear in an excessively rare interview he granted to the Cleveland Plain Dealer to mark the strip's fifteenth anniversary. He made it clear that he had no regrets to end the strip when he did. As justification, he said the strip would have become stale and people would have begged him to quit anyway. This has some merit, as many strips that should have ended years ago still occupy today's still shrinking comics pages(but let's not mention names). Some even accused "Peanuts," often considered the best strip of all time, of not throwing in the towel sooner and becoming a pale reflection of its former self. So perhaps quitting when he did has preserved "Calvin and Hobbes" in the high quality state it always existed in. It never became lame. So shall we remember it and mourn its passing. More tissue, please.

Thankfully, Watterson left a precious relic on the strip's tenth anniversary: the previously mentioned and aptly titled "Tenth Anniversary Book." Yes, it contains no new strips. So essentially it's packed with re-runs. But it nonetheless contains something amazing: a running commentary, director's commentary style, by Watterson himself. This text answers 95% of the questions anyone would have about "Calvin and Hobbes," along with some that wouldn't occur to anyone. When Watterson has claimed that he has said all he has to say about his famous strip, he could probably point to this book as proof. Here he explains the names chosen for the protagonists and the inspiration and story behind all of the main characters. He also outlines the motivation behind select strips and various story lines. Some of these extend to nearly a page, such as the blurbs on "Spaceman Spiff," "Dinosaurs," the "G.R.O.S.S" club and "Calvin's Wagon." This book belies Watterson's infamous reticence. He even showcases strips that he finds unsatisfying or that he thought needed rewriting. Deadlines would apparently sometimes get in the way of polishing. Surprisingly, he doesn't consider the "...and then there was Calvin" Sunday page a good strip. Others may disagree.

The beginning of the book contains yet another surprise. Rather than diving right into "Calvin and Hobbes," Watterson dives right into the history of comic strips and their fastly diminishing stature in newspapers. Those uninitiated in such topics may find this section confusing. And why put it right up front? Watterson remains a very passionate advocate for comic strips as an art form. Compared with the tapestries of days gone by, well, the comics do look pretty lame today and in "Calvin and Hobbes'" day. Since this book appeared things have just become worse for newspaper comics, though the web might arguably hold a new promise for artistic expression in comics. Maybe.

As if that wasn't enough, Watterson then launches into an explanation of why he didn't license his strip for products such as t-shirts (though he did once, but only once), bumper stickers, stuffed animals or other paraphernalia that often goes with a popular strip. Look at the Peanuts ancillary merchandise that still continues today. In short, he didn't want to compromise the strip's integrity. This decision obviously came from the heart, because it meant millions of dollars for him and his syndicate. Sometimes licensing royalties even outperform newspaper royalties. Not surprisingly, Watterson found himself in a bitter battle with his syndicate. Some of these arguments manifested themselves in strips, as he points out later in the book. Even many fans don't understand Watterson's position here, so perhaps he placed these mini essays right up front to help justify his seemingly obstinate position.

The text continues with discussions on sabbaticals, the (ineffective) format of the Sunday strip and Watterson's influences, which include some of the most renowned strips in comic history: "Peanuts," "Pogo" and "Krazy Kat." The section ends with an interesting description of "the process" of writing and creating the strips. Anyone fascinated by how strips get made will likely drool over this section. The book ends how many such books begin, with an appreciation for the opportunity to work in the medium and some general comments on the medium itself. Watterson had a definite approach to his art form, and he sprinkles bits of his theories and opinions throughout this book. For this reason it will remain invaluable to fans of "Calvin and Hobbes" and fans of comics in general.

In retrospect, this book helps understand the miracle behind "Calvin and Hobbes." Not only was it one of the best strips of all time, but its singularly minded creator was able to triumph over forces that usually bury artists. Somehow the money didn't win. In some unbelievable twist of fate, art seemed to win for once. Watterson made and sold the strip largely on his own terms. Marketing, money and greed didn't destroy it. Incredible. Incomprehensible. The strip will forever remain an inspiration and a symbol for those who seek the path of integrity.

Calvin and Hobbes is one of the funniest cartoons ever created, and it was the work of artist and genius Bill Watterson. The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes was Mr. Watterson’s eleventh Calvin and Hobbes book, having been released in March of 1992. I love that it’s a mixture of black-and-white daily cartoons, and color Sunday ones. And as you might expect, they are all absolutely hilarious. There are a lot of great Spaceman Spiff stories, not to mention ones about Calvin’s on-going war with little Susie and his babysitter, Rosalyn.

Yeah, if you have ever read Calvin and Hobbes then you will enjoy this book. Get it for a friend and make their day. Or, better yet, get it for yourself and make your day!

This book is the catalogue for an exhibit of a selection of Calvin and Hobbes Sunday pages held at the Cartoon Research Library at Ohio State from September 2001 to January 2002. The book was originally published in 2001, about six years after the strip ended its run. The book includes 36 Sunday pages. Each page is reproduced on a two-page spread, with the left page showing the strip as Bill Watterson originally composed it before color was added and the right page showing the strip with color as it was printed in the Sunday paper. The left page shows some erasures, white outs, and other changes. Watterson contributed a foreword in which he discusses the evolution of the strip and the changes he made over time in composing the Sunday pages. He also contributed brief comments on most of the strips.

If you are a hard-core Calvin and Hobbes fan, you will want to own this book. If you are discovering C&H for the first time, you may want to buy one of the other collections instead. The other collections certainly will get you more strips for your money. Frankly, this book is a bit padded. Watterson's foreword is printed on every other page with very generous margins. Watterson's comments on the individuals strips, while very interesting to the fan, are generally quite brief -- often only a couple of sentences -- and some of the pages have no comments. So, the book can easily be read in 45 minutes or less. In addition, although seeing the black and white versions of the strips is interesting, for most of the strips there are very few corrections visible, so they don't provide much insight into decisions Watterson may have made in composing the strip.

All told then, as a Calvin and Hobbes fan, I found this book quite worthwhile -- hence, the five star rating -- but you should know what you are getting. Finally, it's quite a tribute to the quality of this strip that reprints are apparently still selling well 16 years after the strip ended.

Bill Watterson is certainly a gifted writer and illustrator. Calvin and Hobbes is my personal all-time favorite comic strip. Here's why.

Calvin and Hobbes is about... Calvin and Hobbes. Calvin is six years old from day one until Watterson put him to rest. Hobbes is Calvin's stuffed tiger who comes alive in his imagination. The very first comic strip defines who these characters are. Calvin walks up to his dad and says: "So long, pop, I'm off to check my tiger trap! I rigged a tuna fish sandwich yesterday, so I'm sure to have a tiger by now!" His dad says: "They like tuna fish, huh?" Calvin: "Tigers will do anything for a tuna fish sandwich!" Hobbes is hanging in the tree in the next panel, eating a sandwich. He says: "We're kind of stupid that way."

As you can see from that, Watterson introduces three characters in just four small panels. Calvin, Hobbes, and Calvin's dad. He not only introduces them, he characterizes them entirely. Calvin the adventurous imaginative boy, Hobbes the simple almost philosophical tiger, and Calvin's dad the kind of guy who takes his son's overactive imagination in stride.

There you have it. And the last strip that Watterson ever wrote is even more simple, and captures the essence of every strip combined. Calvin speaks the last line of the strip: "It's a magical world, Hobbes ol, buddy... Let's go exploring!"

I've never seen such simplicity to tell so much. Watterson truly is a genious. There is a perfect balance between lengthy strips with lots of dialogue and a strip that has only a picture with one or two dialogue bubbles. And what is most surprising, every single strip is funny without fail. I can't think of any time when Calvin and Hobbes isn't funny.

Every character sticks to their own personality. Throughout the comic strip's run, many characters are introduced, including: Mrs. Wormwood, the teacher; Suzie Derkins, Calvin's neighbor; Calvin's parents; Roslyn, the baby sitter; and various other people with odd personalities and character tweaks. Bill Watterson does a fantastic job of creating oddball people, yet bringing them down to earth in a relatable and even in a somewhat realistic way.

That's probably what makes Calvin and Hobbes so great and funny. Watterson draws on real life situations and characters to develop this fantastic world. That, and the use of Calvin's active imagination. There are no boundaries here. We are immersed into the weird and the bizarre, experiencing everything from Spaceman Spiff (one of Calvin's many personas) who flies into deep space and other planets, to tyrannosaurus-rexes in f-14s! That's some incredible stuff.

And the artwork is astounding. It's very simple and sketching, but it is perfect for the material. I love the overblown proportions of Calvin, and especially the expressions the characters have. But not only is Watterson a great cartoonist, his is a great artist as well. The Sunday strips are vibrant with color, and sometimes are painted with rich watercolors.

Every time I open a Calvin and Hobbes collection, I get a warm fuzzy feeling inside. I remember when the days were just packed, yet when there really was nothing to do but sit around in the sun watching the occasion bee buzz by. And that is one of the simple pleasures that Watterson captures. He knows how to represent childhood in all of its mischief and creativity.

This is why Calvin and Hobbes works so well. This is why it will last forever and be remembered by all, except for those who don't know what it's like to be a child. For those who love endless inventiveness, original humor, and everything from Stupendous Man running around in a mask and cape, to a boy and his tiger wandering off into the woods in search of adventure, Calvin and Hobbes is for you.

To be honest, Calvin and Hobbes is for just about anyone.

One of the many reasons I really love this book is it's not just about comics, it's also about the history of the comic strip, the backstory about the way the characters talk, how a comic is produced for the newspaper, and a whole bunch of other really amazing things! Most of that wasn't a priority part of the book when I was a kid over 10 years ago, because you know, as a kid the last thing you want to read is the "how to" or "history" of something unless it's fun, then it's in one ear and out the other lol

But as I grew up, I started to read the information in the book. I was surprised at the vast knowledge that Watterson put into the book itself. He even points out some of his influence for writing the famous cartoons. He was mostly inspired by The Peanuts, by Charles Schultz, Pogo, by Walt Kelly, and Krazy Kat, by George Herriman. Way before my time, but not my parents (they graduated high school in the '70s, so they know who the last two are haha).

Anyway, as you get past the first couple of pages, you start to see some really interesting and satirical comic strips of Calvin and Hobbes.

Also, not only does the book have mainly black & white based strips, but it also has some sunday color comic ones too!

I do believe this book is a great for those that: 1) love comics, 2) are a big fan of Calvin & Hobbes, 3) all of the above!

Forgive me if my review runs a bit on the sappy side, but I grew up with Calvin and Hobbes, and I sometimes think they are among the best friends I've ever had. Bill Watterson's comic is gentle, sincere, and magical. At its core it is an examination of what it means to be human, and the value of friendship. Watterson's philosophy of the comic strip was that it should be based around characters rather than gags; we should feel as though we know the protagonists as real people, rather than as interchangeable vehicles for jokes. That comes through on every page, even from the very beginning. Calvin's world has a cast you can probably count on two hands, but every character (except possibly Moe, the bully) has at least a hint of fully-rounded personality. Watterson's world is one of simple pleasures shared with good company.

As with any comic strip, the first collection is rather crude in pretty much every aspect--the drawings, the humor, the personalities--but as a prototype for what would come later, it is not without its own charms. Even at this stage I would hardly call Calvin and Hobbes a forgettable, generic strip. It still has heart and a sense of profundity, even if Watterson had not yet figured out the most effective way to illustrate these things in his strip. It's interesting to see the origin of Hobbes (even if this version was discarded later), the genesis of Calvin's relationship with Susie (the love-hate romance, which will later be toned down, is at the forefront here), the first appearance of Spaceman Spiff, the introduction of a then-unnamed Rosalyn, and so forth. Also, early Calvin and Hobbes are somehow a bit more adorable here than their later incarnations, but you didn't hear that from me.

In an age of disposable comics, Calvin and Hobbes is one of the few childhood experiences of my life that I can actually appreciate more with age. I would not find it an exaggeration to say that Watterson's perspective of life heavily shaped my own, as I find myself much less concerned with superficiality and the plastic culture of Hollywood than many of my reality-TV-addicted, Nike-sporting, iPod-blasting peers, and more appreciative of the little things in life that we tend to take for granted. All Calvin needs to be content is a good friend and a search for adventure, and even as I grow, kicking and screaming, into adulthood, I find I can still relate.

When I think of the five top cartoonists in the history of cartoons, the names and the variety always intrigue me. Names like Walt Disney, Matt Groening, and even Charles Schultz are still on the tip of tongues all over the world, and each of them had a different style that they popularized. Each of them has been very influential to the cartooning business as well. The two other names aren't Hanna-Barbera (though they are right on the cusp of making the top five), but two cartoonists who both are retired, but made their names known with the comic strip format in the newspapers: Gary Larson and Bill Watterson. This book is a reflection by Bill Watterson, the genius of the hit comic strip "Calvin and Hobbes." C & H has been out of newspapers now for almost 10 years, but this book is a confession by Watterson on the first 10 years of creating "Calvin and Hobbes," a strip he ultimately retired after 11 years of creating.

The topics that are discussed by Watterson are taken very seriously and are talked about almost in a bitter, negative tone. His rants on the comic strip industry become tedious after a while, and he seems to be a cynical person on this topic. However, his arguments of artistic control and freedom vs. the demands and limitations set by syndicates make a good point/counterpoint argument to augment the balance of philosophy and prose vs. plain ol' whining. What you sense with Watterson while reading these passages is his evolution from a straight up cartoonist to more of an artist who wanted no limitations on getting his artistic message across (especially while creating his Sunday strips). You can sense a perfectionist inside of Watterson, and looking at the early strips cartoony look and simple gags to the later strips sophistication in storylines and art, it is easy to agree with Watterson that the early strips look "weird". It is also easy to see that Watterson fell more and more in love with the Sunday strip format. Looking at later daily strips, you sense he rushed through these to spend time on the Sunday strips, which are lush, lavish, and very colorful in their new format. Wattersons views of the cartoon business can come across as preachy and overbearing, but he provides enough evidence to balance out any bias on his part.

The book also takes on the issues of licensing, sabbaticals, and the process of creating a strip. I agree 100% with Wattersons stance on licensing, and his stance concludes to me that he is a man of integrity. I have grown so sick of strips like "Garfield" and "Dilbert" because of how overexposed they are, and these strips show the cartoon as more of a marketing tool than a piece of artistic pride by the cartoonist themself. Watterson put up a fight to stop the licensing of his product, and while burning some bridges and passing up millions of dollars, he came out successful. These fights, however, exhausted Watterson, which is why he took a sabbatical to recover. He makes mention of how syndicates now give 4 months off every year to the cartoonist, and he thinks these are more logical than his nine month vacation.

The part of the book I enjoyed the most was his description of characters and how he chose to write certain strips. The descriptions are pretty hilarious (especially Moe and Miss Wormwood) and even complimentary(Susie as a reflection of the type of girl he is attracted to, aka his wife). I thought that his descriptions are right on target, and is probably what people think when they read the strips. The background in his creation of certain strips show Watterson as humorous, cynical, honest, random, caring, thoughtful, and very creative. You will not only be laughing at the strips he chose, but by the descriptions he gives about the creation of the strip as well.

"Calvin and Hobbes" is thoroughly a missing part of the newspaper today. The comics page has not been the same since Watterson hung up the paintbrush about 10 years ago. While standard, pedestrian strips keep churning along ("Garfield", "Dennis the Menace", etc.), strips that pushed the envelope like this, "Peanuts", and "Far Side" are few and far between today. Thank God for book collections. If you are a fan of "Calvin and Hobbes", or interested in what they are all about, read this book today to see the genius of the man behind it all, Mr. Bill Watterson.

Loved it! Loved it! LOVED IT!!!
I'm one of those people who read Calvin & Hobbes when it was at its peak, but sadly took it for granted. You can't give a book a greater tribute than to say it makes you want to order the person's OTHER works....and we should be grateful Bill Watterson's output for this now-defunct classic strip is still available in book collections. And this collection is one of the BEST.
This book works on several levels...or, should I say, works PERFECTLY on several levels:
--THE HUMOROUS LEVEL: The humor remains of a "cutting-edge" quality not seen in many comic strips (today's strip Zits is a great one). But it's humor that works on several levels, a la Rocky & Bullwinkle: adults get "more" of the hilarious verbal and (quite frequently) non-verbal jokes while kids get enough so they love it, too.
--THE CRAFTSMANSHIP LEVEL: This book, originally created as a catalogue for Sunday pages on display at the Ohio State University Cartoon Research Lab, boasts his original uninked black and white drawings (you can even spot some White Out!) on the left side and the completed "product" (fully inked drawings) on the right side. You can see how each strip evolved. You soon realize that color selection is in itself a vital crafts/artistic decision.
--THE ARTISTIC LEVEL: Watterson has a SUPERB 7-page essay about his strip at the beginning of this book. But there's a LOT more to learn as you go through the strips. Under each completed strip he explains a bit about what he was trying to do: why he changed "okay" to OK, how he tried depicting personalities, how a given strip's characters became more three-dimensional, his experiments with verbal and sight jokes, how a strip was inspired by local scenery, his struggle over what kinds of pads to put on the tiger's feet ..even his attempt to use cubist art in one strip.
How do I know this book works on several levels? As I write this my 10-year-old nephew Greg is visiting. He immediately took this book, looked at it and said, "Oh, I've seen these! I love this!" and wanted to read it NOW. He was fascinated by the notes under the strips...and I told him that this is a book he can not only read for pure FUN but can also probably read for reading credit at school, since this is much more than "just" a Calvin and Hobbes collection...which in itself would be better than many comic collections on the market. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. YOU'LL READ IT AGAIN AND AGAIN!

When I bought this "Calvin and Hobbes" book I had a hard time getting into it at first. The first eighteen or nineteen pages contain more prose and philosophy than it does art and I have always bought "Calvin and Hobbes" books for the humor. I really felt as though the philosophy and description that Bill Watterson was describing was a distraction, at first. But the more I read the more I started to get into "Calvin and Hobbes" from Watterson's perspective. Looking at the evolution of "Calvin and Hobbes" as described by Watterson, and his travails with syndicators, I have a new perspective on what it takes to create a strip like "Calvin and Hobbes."

The art and the strips are outstanding, as with other "Calvin and Hobbes" collections, but this time we also get to see Watterson's perspectives on various characters. Some of Watterson's observations about various characters are as funny as the strips themselves. Watterson makes a rather succinct comment regarding Moe the bully. I will leave you to read the comment, but it is hilarious.

Watterson offers comments on all the major characters along with key details about each. Moe, of course, being a simple moronic bully, requires minimal description, but the other key characters have a history associated with them. Watterson provided a bit of a compliment to his wife in his description of Susie Derkins. I also agree with Watterson that I suspect that Calvin does have a mild crush on Susie. Watterson offers nearly a half a page of comments on both Calvin and Hobbes that are interesting reading.

I also enjoyed the selection of various strips from over ten years of the strip, showing the evolution of the strip and the characters. It is interesting to see how the quality of the strip has improved in ten years as Watterson continually perfected the characters. Being a cartoonist is clearly much more difficult than I ever thought it was.

I will miss "Calvin and Hobbes" since Watterson has retired the strip. However, all the collections are still available and I think they will continue to be fresh in the decades to come. The insight Watterson has provided in this book is valuable for hard core fans interested in Watterson's viewpoint on his creations. If you are uninterested in Watterson's perspective, you can always skip over it and read the strips! I highly recommend this book for all "Calvin and Hobbes" fans.

Having already owned every conceivable collection and reprint of Calvin and Hobbes material, I hardly needed a recap of the previous decade up to the point when this book was published. The attraction, then, had less to do with the smattering of strips that filled these pages and more to do with the bonus essays and commentaries that Watterson provides, shining some significant amount of insight onto the world of Calvin and Hobbes.

The first twenty pages or so are filled with Watterson's ruminations on the transformation (or devolution) of comics from their inception to the present day, licensing issues regarding his own strip, sabatticals, influences, the writing process, and his hard-won superior Sunday strip format. A lot of readers regard these essays (particularly the one dealing with licensing) as the verbal equivalent of Watterson patting himself on the back, but I firmly assert that any such interpretation can only result from entirely misreading Watterson's words. I can only conclude that Watterson's natural eloquence is confusing to those readers who are only capable of understanding illustrated stories, or else that they don't finish the essay before jumping to conclusions. A careful, complete read will guarantee clarity, as Watterson is extremely succint and therefore precise in the ideas he is communicating.

I only have two minor complaints regarding this edition, the first being that I would have appreciated a bit more analysis of the characters and their origins. I have read in interviews that an earlier strip of Watterson's contained an imaginative, tiger-toting younger brother of the protagonist, and it was only at an editor's suggestion that Watterson considered making these characters the focal point of the strip--which, needless to say, became by degrees the Calvin and Hobbes we know and love today. This information, along with a few of those old strips containing the "prototype" Calvin and Hobbes, would have made an excellent addition to the book.

My other complaint is that too much space is given to entire stories--weeks of strips--that are preceded by only one or two lines of commentary. I wish only a few strips from the entire story had been included, so as to free room for more material and resulting commentary.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment of all is the fact that Watterson retired shortly after publishing this compilation. I suppose I should feel grateful for the wonderful ten years that were given to us, and I certainly do, but another part of me wonders at all the possibilities that the next decade might have held for the two intrepid explorers as they discover a universe of humor, whimsy, imagination, tragedy, and friendship. The Tenth Anniversary Book highlights the brilliance of Calvin and Hobbes, and makes us realize how short ten years can really be.

Your Calvin & Hobbes collection isn't complete without this wonderful gift from a brilliant mind of insight into what childhood is all about.
Bill Watterson, in this book, goes on at some length about is own inspiration behind one of the greatest comics ever (besides Garfield) and his remembrences prove to be engaging reading and thoughtful prose. I have always wanted to write like Calvin talks. I was always a precocious youth. I got this particular book as a present from my mother and father after a piano recital in 1997. I read the comics off and on and realized somewhat belatedly that they form stories that tell of one boy's life and view on the world. Calvin's only friend is a stuffed tiger that comes alive at Calvin's will. Together, they have many adventures and share confidances about art, academia, parents, girls, the media, religion, education, and philosophy and environmental issues.
The strip serves as a commentary on the world and everything in it veiled as a nostalgic look back at that time when the world slowed down and we were young and carefree. I especially recommend this if you remember the eighties and nineties, since that is the time period covered in this comic.
Intillectually stimulating and a fun viewport back in time. It made (and would make) the perfect gift for anyone and everyone!

Calvin & Hobbes was much more than a really good newspaper comic strip.
Created by Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes will be hailed among the greatest ever created, right alongside Peanuts and Krazy Kat for its creativity, scope of influence and the enjoyment it offered the reader. It was a strip capable of being all things gleeful and all things sad, all things goofy and all things serious.
Bill Watterson's genius cannot be overstated. He was a master of the comic form. He somehow managed to be funny, clever, touching, insightful, warm, cynical, uplifting, devious, nostalgic, and mischievous, all in the space of a little three- or four-panel comic strip.
And his Sunday strips? A feast. His use of space and color, especially in the strip's later years, was masterful. He knew how to work a page like no other.
In this collection, some of the best Sunday strips are collected in glorious color. Each is amended with footnotes and annotations by the creator himself, along with early pre-newspaper versions of the strips. While many of these can be found elsewhere, this collection is a nice look back at some favorites, made even better by the insight and observations of the man who drew them. Even those intimately familiar with these cartoons will learn something new about the craft of comic creation through his annotations.
Each comic strip is a story - and for longtime Calvin & Hobbes readers, a memory. That final strip, with its clean slate of white snow into which Calvin and Hobbes disappear, talking of discovery and exploring ... just fantastic.
If you're a fan of Watterson's work and Calvin & Hobbes, you owe it to yourself to pick this up.

I could relate to Calvin and Hobbes, from the moment I first started following the adventures of the devilish, eternal six year old (Calvin) and his scruffy, stuffed pal tiger (Hobbes). Though, many of the plots appear simplistic (example: Calvin makes a mess and his mother yells at him!), there is so much more to the little strips than meets the eye. For starters, Calvin and Hobbes ponders the meaning of life, the voicelessness of children in society, and self image (among other themes).

Though, this comic strip is something that definitely appeals to little children, because it presents a little boy that we all can relate to (or maybe spent time avoiding on the playground if he teased us), and his stuffed animal. Anyone who owned a stuffed animal and knows what an important bond that is for a child, knows the feeling when that toy crosses over from the identity of "inanimate object" to "lifelike being." The creature that we relate to truly embodies the qualities who want in a best friend and companion, and we aren't doing the talking for that creature, because it truly does have a mind of its own! (in the eyes of a child) Wonderful, very funny and beautifully drawn. I've had mine for almost fifteen years and I just went back to look at it today. It feels like no time has passed between now, and the time I first looked at it. Buy this today and make it a part of your collection.

This book is a wonderful insight into how Bill Watterson's mind works. I for one feel grateful for the trend of comic artists doing a book to tell us readers about the nuts and bolts of their strips.
Watterson shows us his influences, gives us the inside scoop on his troubles with the syndicate and his take on artistic integrity. We learn about the idiosyncracies of Watterson's mind and how they shaped the growth and development of "Calvin and Hobbes". I learned a great deal about the history of comics as a whole, as well as many of the reasons for their decline and loss of space in recent years. Plus, the book contains many of the best strips and story sequences from the annals of Calvin and Hobbes.
I hoped Watterson would maybe do a Calvin and Hobbes comic book on his own terms after retiring from the daily grind; he could remake comic books in an image more to his liking. Sadly, I think the effort wore him out. C&H is sorely missed, there are only a handful of strips out there worth anything, and of those none (in my opinion) come CLOSE to equalling Calvin and Hobbes, even in it's early stages. I think the Tenth Anniversary Book reveals that Watterson is a very intelligent and competent artist, whose absence from the newspaper leave all of us a little emptier. Now with the loss of Charles Schulz, I fear the comics will slide further into banality and the same jokes done the same way by the same cartoonists, many of whom blatantly (wittingly or not) rip off Watterson, Breathen, Kelly and other giants of the medium.
Here's to originality. Here's to Calvin and Hobbes.

This book is a must have for peole who love the "Calvin and Hobbes" comic series. At the beginning of the book, Bill Waterson talks about the comics in general, his inspirations, and a few other things. Though some of this stuff can get very boring, it is good for people who are thinking about starting their own comic series for the newspaper. At the bottom or top of each little "episodes," there is a little pannel that talks a little bit about each strip. At the beginning of the book, Bill Waterson says a little bit about most of the characters in the whole series. That part makes this book good for readers who have just started reading Calvin and Hobbes comics and are thinking of getting more into the strip. It is also a delight for people who have been reading the strip for a while and have always wanted to learn a little more about their favorite charachter in the strip.
As far as the comics in this strip go, they are pretty good. Though he didn't write new comics for this strip, he did a pretty good job selecting the little "episodes" from all his other books for this one book. I think that it is the second best treasury collection book for the "Calvin and Hobbes" series as far as the selection of comics goes, and the best of the treasury collections information wise. Personally, I think it is 4th best in the laugh factor. This book, like all the other books made from this comic strip is great for people of all ages. Buy this book right now!!!

This is a great book with lots of laughs. It is all about a boy named Calvin and his make-believe-but-real tiger named Hobbes. Together, they annoy their parents and classmates, along with having crazy adventures together! Just make sure your kid won't do what Calvin does. I mean, look at the cover. Do you want your kid doing that? But if you don't have a kid, you will be fine. Calvin's wierd personality is the whole reason the book is funny! I recommend this book to people who like funny comics, and misadventures.

This book is great like all the other Calvin and Hobbes collections. This one, however, offers the unique feature of commentary written by Bill Watterson himself. Bill has selected some of his favorite, or important landmark, strips and some of his least favorites. He also gives an in depth study of each character (Calvin, Hobbes, Calvin's parents, Susie, Rosalyn, Miss Wormwood and Moe). He gives brief explainations of the importance of Calvin's wagon, Calvins incredible use of corrugated cardboard boxes, Spaceman Spiff and the "fantasy" strips. (Dinosaurs, Tracer Bullet, Stupendous Man ect.) Now Spaceman Spiff is a fantasy, but I think Bill thought he was especially important so Spiff is granted his own page. Bill also describes the five years where he fought tirelessly to save Calvin and Hobbes from being licensed. I honor him for his efforts, because, like he says in the book, when you have the characters appearing on coffee mugs saying things that aren't in the cartoonist's control, the character's personality can be thwarted and it ruins the actual strip. He has a section explaining the three strips that influenced him (read to find out what they are), the Sunday strips and how he feels about them, and a part on the process of creating a cartoon. At the end of the book, he has a page about comics in general. Another good thing about this book is that due to the timing of Attack of the Deranged, Mutant, Killer, Monster Snow Goons, the Sunday strips featured in that book didn't make it into a treasury collection so none of the Sundays are in reprinted in color, except for some in this book. Some strips may be even funnier after you read this, because you know where the iidea for it came from. I have to say now that if you consider yourself a fan of Calvin and Hobbes and you do not own this book, you need to seriously re-examine the title you have given youself

No doubt it would be redundant to repeat that "Calvin & Hobbes" was the greatest comic strip ever written. Even though it was.
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!

For 10 years (November 1985-January 1996), Bill Watterson has brought laughter to many reading the newspaper with his cartoon Calvin and Hobbes.
Calvin (whom Watterson named after the theologian John Calvin) is a young kid with lots of imagination and attitude! His only friend in the world is his stuffed tiger Hobbes who comes to life with Calvin's imagination (Watterson named Hobbes after the Engish philosopher Thomas Hobbes).
In this anthology, Watterson explains how he came up with the inspiration of many of his cartoons. He also talks about some of the other characters like his cynical but long-suffering parents, his teacher Miss Wormwood, Suzie Derkins, who Calvin loves to terrorize, the dumb bully Moe, and Rosalyn, his sometime babysitter who doesn't tolerate much from the little monster!
Some of Calvin's adventures include transmogrifying himself into a tiger, duplicating himself (once with a terror just like himself and again as a good, well-behaved carbon copy of himself), turning into Stupendous Man, making snow-goons in the winter, and going on boring camping trips in the summer (which only Calvin's daddy enjoys- "This is fun- it builds character!").
If you were a fan of Calvin and Hobbes when it appeared in the newspaper, you'll want this collection!

I have two favorite comics right now: "Garfield" and "Calvin & Hobbes". I go for Garfield for its pure slapstick/ironic humor, and for its visual gags. Meanwhile, I go for Calvin & Hobbes for its wild imagination and diverse philosophies. I admire the six-year old troublemaker and his stuffed tiger as much as the fat orange cat and his nerdy owner (I know, they're completely different comics). Calvin and Hobbes's philosophies and imaginary adventures are what make this comic: most of them are right on the spot and are just downright compelling.

Here in the first book, the drawings are clearly not up to par compared to the later strips, but it's not all that horrible. Here, we're introduced to the kid, his tiger, and his parents. We're also introduced to Susie Derkins, Miss Wormwood, the Principal, Moe, and Rosalyn; they continually play major parts throughout the whole series. Much of the strips here are more for ironic humor and slapstick, and we don't get to see a lot of influential ramblings or any of that sort. We do, however, get to see Calvin as Spaceman Spiff, so space adventures aplenty.

Grade on Book: A-
Grade on Entire Series: A+

Is there anyone who doesn't love these two screwball characters? The idea behind the original strip (a little boy with a stuffed tiger that only talks to him) is original, at least as far as I know, and remarkably clever. Watterson carried it off for a good long while, until the pressures of writing made things so unfun to him he hung up his pen. I notice that he's stayed retired, so I would assume he took his loot and scooted.
This collection contains some of the most outrageous of the cartoons, but it also has a good deal of commentary by Watterson himself. He tells you what basis the characters have in reality, from Calvin's parents to Miss Wormwood and Susie Derkins. He also discusses the various trials and tribulations he went through as a cartoonist producing the strip for a syndicate, and the evils of said syndicates as far as he's concerned. There's a lot that hints at why he quit. He also includes explanations of what Calvin's talking about, or alternatively, what the strip is supposed to be saying. Lastly, he talks about characters he has removed from the strip, or things he did that he didn't think worked. I loved this book, and of course wish he would produce more stuff now that he's retired from the pressures of doing it day to day.

Bill Watterson is not your typical cartoonist. He did not set out to create an empire from his comic. He merely set out to create an art in a dying format. He is a true comic fan whose love for it is expressed in this book. Calvin and Hobbes is not your typical comic. You don't always see the "one-liner" jokes nor the same gag done ad nauseam. There are unique and creative story lines. The characters don't have paper-thin and ever-changing personalities.
In the book, Bill Watterson writes an excellent narrative about the history of Calvin and Hobbes. The best part I believe is when he starts talking about his struggle with his syndicate over merchandising Calvin and Hobbes. I grew a lot of respect for Bill Watterson and his art after reading it. You realize how serious he is about it. You also discover why he took those long sabbaticals.
You also find out a lot about the comic itself. There are many strips in the book that Bill Watterson makes personal comments about that enlightens the reader. You learn about how each character from Calvin to his Parents to his teacher to his babysitter was created and developed.
Ever since Bill Watterson ended Calvin and Hobbes there has been a hole in the comics that may never be filled. Though this book you relive the laughs, wagon rides, snow men, maulings, and poems through the eyes of their creator. This is quite a interesting and profound read for any Calvin and Hobbes fan and even and fan of comics in general.

This is a triple-dip Calvin and Hobbes collection. There are cartoons. Of course there are cartoons. Besides those, the two bonuses in this book are an extensive (and perhaps a bit ponderous) introduction by cartoonist Bill Watterson and Watterson's commentary on many of the individual strips.

This anniversary edition includes a sampling of classic story lines and the great cast of characters of the C and H universe. They're all here: Calvin and Hobbes, the acerbic Mom and the bike-riding Dad, Susie and Moe, Rosalyn the evil babysitter and the long-suffering Miss Wormwood. All of these have their day along with plenty of dinosaurs, aliens, and snowmen. Even the phantom Stupendous Man zips through a story line or two.

Watterson's introduction is a somewhat lengthy analysis of his work, including influences, methods, and problems encountered in the production of a daily comic strip. Although it's interesting, I recommend that you save it for later and skip right to the cartoons. That's why you bought the book in the first place, isn't it?

More fascinating are the "side bar" notes by Watterson that accompany quite a few of the strips. These remind me of director's commentary track on a DVD; they give insights into the author's mind and his creative process. Some of his laconic observations are as funny as the strips themselves.

I was one of those truly disappointed several years ago when I heard that the daily strip would be cancelled. Time and mortgage payments being what they are, I eventually set aside my grief and got on with my life. Calvin and Hobbes were pretty much forgotten. I pulled this collection off of a dusty bottom shelf a few nights ago when I was looking for something light and entertaining. It's just that: a perfect diversion that I highly recommend.

This beautifully printed and put together collection is the companion to an exhibition of Calvin & Hobbes strips at Ohio State University. While it doesn't comprise any new material, it is a must have for every Calvin & Hobbes fan for a variety of reasons.
First, each cartoon is presented with the original, black and white sketch on the left, and the final, colored version on the right. It is genuinely fascinating to see what color can do for a strip, and it was likewise interesting to observe the number of revisions that Watterson made.
Secondly, Watterson's introduction and his notes, which accompany many of the strips, offer wonderful insight into what the strips were meant to portray, and the artistic challenges he faced. While this is similar to what he did in the Tenth Anniversary book, it is obvious that he has gained some perspective over the last six years, and his thoughts are rather more contemplative as a result.
Finally, this book is a much needed burst of nostalgia for the trying times we live in. While it has only been six years since the last strip, it feels like much longer. There's something about Calvin & Hobbes that just exudes innocence and a simpler life. It was genuinely refreshing to revisit Calvin's world, and I am now greatly looking forward to rereading all of the collections. If you likewise long for the days when you could open up your newspaper and read this strip, you won't be disappointed by this collection.

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!

The day that Bill Watterson retired was a sad day indeed.
No more Adventures of Spaceman Spiff
No more wild wagon rides over a cliff.
No more disastrous camping trips in mud and rain.
No more school research projects written by Hobbes.
No more trips to the principal's office.
No more bombarding Susie Derkins with water balloons.
No more Moe the bully.
No more contests of will with Rosalyn, the killer baby sitter.
No more deep philosophical discussions between a six year old boy and his stuffed tiger.
But wait! Watterston has left his calling card, "THE CALVIN AND HOBBS TENTH ANNIVVERSARY BOOK."
Yep, there he is. He's kidnapping Susie's doll. Now he's paying 25 cents ransom to Susie to get Hobbes back, and Hobbes, the traitorous tiger lecher, liked being with Susie.
Now Calvin's making duplicates of himself so he can get into even more trouble. He's piloting his fighter plane and destroying his school. His dinner is attacking him and his mom just doesn't understand.
There's his dad relaxing on his day off by riding his bicycle 20 miles before breakfast in a sleet storm. There's Calvin again, reading the latest issue of his chewing gum hobbyist magazine.
Thanks for this book, Bill Watterson, with Calvin and Hobbes in all their glory and your commentary to boot. I'd never have made it "Cold Turkey." You're not such a bad guy after all.

This book is great in many ways. First of all, it is very funny. The way the six-year-old, Calvin, acts is praticularly funny. The way this kid seems to ue rude language, get into fights with his stuffed Tiger, Hobbes, destroy the board game board when he loses, disgriminate against girls, mail long letters to Santa asking for nuclear weapons, pissing off his baby-sitter, and having apermanent record file that is stuffed so full that it expands seems to catch peoples eye. Those qualitys are shown a lot in the book, "The Indispensable Calvin snd Hobbes."
As in every other Calvin and Hobbes book, the strips in this one praticular book are VERY funny and imaginative. But unlike the comic "Garfield," Calvin and Hobbes actually goes somewhere. What I mean by that is that things that Calvin does in earlier strips have some effects on the later strips. This book features strips from the books "The Revenge of the Baby-Sat" and "Scientific Progresses Go "Boink" since it is one of the treasury collections. If you love Calvin and Hobbe, or just want something funny to read around this book, then I advise you to buy it.

This book collects two of my favorite Calvin & Hobbes Books: Revenge of the Baby-Sat, and Scientific Progress goes "Boink." The illustrations are mostly in black and white, but some are in color. Watterson's magnificent blend of simple childhood humor, advanced appropriate grown-up humor, make-believe and childhood realism make this well written and illustrated comic strip a treasure to have in any household. Both adults and children will love it and find themselves laughing silly!

As with all of the Calvin & Hobbes books, this one explores the adventures of a six year old boy (Calvin) and his best friend, Hobbes, a make believe tiger. The comic-strips focus on things such as Calvin's overactive imagination, his hatred of school and girls and the trials and tribulations of having to follow his parents' rules.

Darien Summers, author of The Mischievous Hare, a children's book.

I still remember the first time I read Calvin and Hobbes. From the first word, I was hooked. Calvin is me; the smart-mouth, philosophical, wise beyond the normal six year old's smartness. I was that kid. To me, Calvin should be in GATE, the little genius is plenty smart. To torturing baby sitters, time traveling/trasmogrifiying adventures, exploding random things, asking for a flamethrower, crashing the car, driving Mom and Dad insane, and much,much more, the squirt is BRILLIANT. I've read way too many books that should be possible for the sane mind, but I keep coming back to the little boy and his stuffed tiger. There is something about Calvin and Hobbes that makes you want to read the book again and again until your school librarian tells you to give someone else a chance. I don't care. Calvin and Hobbes is the Eighth Wonder of the World and should be treated as such. Period. Hobbes. Oh Hobbes. What can I say? That funny, sneaky, smart, imaginative tiger is pure genius. Whether it's math homework, sledding or a GROSS meeting, Hobbes always provides a witty comment, countered by Calvin, and so on. If you are reading this because you read the book, great. If you haven't yet, go find a nice knife to stab yourself with. All I can is: Read the book
Burn every word into your head until you can recite it from memory. Make your friends read it. Now let's go exploring!

"I've always loved cartoons. With 'Calvin and Hobbes', I've tried to return some of the fun, magic, and beauty I've enjoyed in other comics. It's been immensely satisfying to draw 'Calvin and Hobbes', and I will always be grateful to have had the opportunity to work in this wonderful art form." (p. 208)

This book allows us to see the man behind the pen. This collection is a selection of what Watterson thought was important, interesting or profound about various strips he drew. It is the equivalent of a director's commentary on a DVD.

I relished the introductory essay, which is far superior to the one found in the Monster Box Set. It covers more of the in and outs of drawing, Watterson's battle for control of Calvin, his no-marketing stance, and his push for those wonderful Sunday comics. We have yet to see his artistic superior, much less an equal.

If we read between the lines, Watterson's retirement was not a surprise. The battles he fought for his integrity really damaged a part of his soul. This book provides a better explanation than his terse press release, and I feel for him. The Far Side, Bloom County, and now Foxtrot have run their course, and like these other comics, we can use this book to stoke memories--the roses of the soul that charm us in winter.

From Watterson's point of view, this book is the best of the best. After reading it, I see what he meant. The reason why C&H was so popular was that he touched the soul's taproot. You have the two sides of the man, with the animal being human, and the human an animal, then the shifting frame of reference between the imaginary and real world. As a chronic daydreamer, I understand this perfectly. In fact, I find myself in many situations that Calvin does, with the same results.

This is art--we se ourselves, and are better for it.

Calvin and Hobbes filled a void in the funny pages that hasn't been taken over by anyone else. When it comes to comic strips, the bubbles above the character's heads could be interchanged and not cause too much confusion. I've rarely found any of them amusing. The Far Side was poorly and grotesquely drawn, trying way too hard to be funny. Family Circus is sickeningly sweet. B.C. is sanctimonius with its heavyhanded religious message. Calvin and Hobbes gave us something in our newspapers that was actually enjoyable. While Calvin is unusually literate and uses an extensive vocabulary for a six year old but this somehow works out. Anyone can identify with his search for adventure in his Walter Mitty like daydreams. The other characters: Hobbes, Susie, Moe, make good foils for his mischevious behavior. This book provides an excellent background in discovering where Bill Watterson found his ideas. It makes an interesting lesson on the job of a cartoonist. His notes on specific cartoons can be enlightening. At times his commentary may become pompous and overbearing though. Go out and buy the three Calvin and Hobbes anthologies first to have a complete set of his work. By the way: I always see these bumperstickers showing Calvin urinating on either a Ford or Chevy logo. I don't know how these faked bumperstickers got started but it proves another example of how ignorant and vulgar our society is becoming.

for anyone who has, was, or is missing out on childhood schemes, this is THE book. simply said watterson had the emphasis to keep the spirit of a kid in the sunday comics. with all the flaws, genius plans, adventures, logical illogicality, and imagination that goes along with it. we all remember a 'moe' in our lives whether from grade school to the boss we work for (yes,I mean 'them') we all had our best friends, real or imaginary that we'd play or argue with. we all had our doses of trouble whether we were the cause of them or not. and likely we were all like calvin at one point or another. or perhaps the illogical, persuasive, but well meaning hobbes. Bill does a wonderful job of capturing the unrivalled imagination of an 'old school' kid I applaud him for reminding us how to think like a kid again and to look at the humor of even the most desperate sources of trouble. the commentary through out the book is just as informing as humorous. letting us into the character's mind and Bill's as he carries us through the years of his strip.

"Indespensable" is rendered rhetorical when it comes to Calvin and Hobbes, but a collection such as this should be required reading for, well, everyone. Calvin is the child we all were and continues to be the child we wish could still be. Of course any child who regularly uses words like "malpractice insurance" and "besmirching" asks you to suspend disbelief, but these phrases come from the same young boy possessing an unbelievably hyperactive imagination and a penchant for walking around the house in his birthday suit. And Hobbes, Calvin's best friend (who just happens to be a stuffed tiger - or is he alive?) represents everything we so crave and desire. Someone who will listen to you and give you unconditional love (not to mention a furry belly to lie on). Calvin's musings on life, school, and parents are nothing short of sophisticated philosophy. Take this book with your family and read it aloud for all to hear. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll imagine you're a tyrannosaurus rex. Indispensable.

When I bought this "Calvin and Hobbes" book I had a hard time getting into it at first. The first eighteen or nineteen pages contain more prose and philosophy than it does art, and I've always bought "Calvin and Hobbes" books for the humor. I really felt as though the philosophy and description that Bill Watterson was describing was a distraction, at first. But the more I read, the more I started to get into "Calvin and Hobbes" from Watterson's perspective. Looking at the evolution of "Calvin and Hobbes" as described by Watterson, and his travails with syndicators, I have a new perspective on what it takes to create a strip like "Calvin and Hobbes."

The art and the strips are outstanding, as with the other "Calvin and Hobbes" collections, but this time we also get to see Watterson's perspectives on various characters. Some of Watterson's observations about various characters are as funny as the strips themselves. Watterson makes a rather succinct comment regarding Moe the bully. I'll leave you to read the comment, but it's hilarious.

Watterson offers comments on all the major characters along with key details about each. Moe, of course, being a simple moron bully, requires minimal description, but the other key characters have a history associated with them. Watterson provided a bit of a compliment to his wife in his description of Susie Derkins. I also agree with Watterson that I suspect that Calvin does have a mild crush on Susie. Watterson offers nearly a half a page of comments on both Calvin and Hobbes that are interesting reading.

I also enjoyed the selection of various strips over ten years of the strip, showing the evolution of the strip and the characters. It's interesting to see how the quality of the strip has improved in ten years as Watterson continually perfected the characters. Being a cartoonist is clearly much more difficult than I ever thought it was.

I will miss "Calvin and Hobbes" since Watterson has retired the strip. However, all the collections are still available, and I think they will continue to be fresh in the decades to come. The insight Watterson has provided in this book is valuable for hard core fans interested in Watterson's viewpoint on his creations. If you are uninterested in Watterson's perspective, you can always skip over it and read the strips! I highly recommend this book for all "Calvin and Hobbes" fans.

As a fan of Calvin and Hobbes, I put off getting this book because I thought it was merely a best of collection I didn't need since I had all the others. Boy was I wrong! This book is a wonderful insight into the mind behind my favorite strip of all time.
Bill Watterson spends the first part of the book talking about everything from character names and personalities to his fights to keep his characters from being over commercialized. While I wish there were more products available, I do respect him for sticking to his principles on this. He also talks about the format of the Sunday strips.
The rest of the book is a collection of strips, starting with the very first. What is interesting here is Mr. Watterson's commentary. Whether it's the idea behind or an amusing story that happened because of a strip, it's all very entertaining. It also brings out some of the themes talked about it the strip. He also discusses the ideas behind such staples as the wagon, Calvin's box, and Spaceman Spiff.
I truly miss this wonderful strip because of its creativity and insights into our American culture. This book shows the behinds the scene story in an entertaining and informative way.

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!

A combo of "The Revenge of the Baby-sat" and "Scientficic Progres Goes "Boink"" Here comes Calvin and Hobbes upto mischeiuf: attacking Susie with water baloons and 'thwarting' Rosalayn through purely moral victories. Get read for Calvin's duplicates and savvy Tracer Bullet with light-hearted Spaceman Spiff topping it off with brave Stupendous Man!

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 starts out with Calvin praying for snow so he can engage in one of his favorite hobbies: sledding, and then his other favorite hobby, throwing snowballs at Susie. Aside from the snowman exhibition, this book is a must-have since it covers the founding of C&Hâ(tm)s GROSS (the Get Rid of Slimy girlS club). This also has the hilarious series about the time Calvinâ(tm)s personal gravity polarity reversed, and the episode when the Transmogrifier becomes the Duplicator.

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 Indispensable Calvin & Hobbesâ belongs to the Treasury collection, and was first released in 1992.

At some point back in the eighties, one could turn to the comics pages and partake of Bloom County, The Far Side, and Calvin and Hobbes, all at the same time. Those were the days.
Calvin and Hobbes is simply one of the all-time great comic strips. From a simple premise - a young kid with a stuffed tiger that comes alive only for him - comes an extraordinary variety of humor, as well as commentary on the human condition. From slapstick comedy as Calvin terrorizes his babysitter to pathos as he suffers through another miserable day at school, it touches all the notes. Calvin and Hobbes even philosophize, usually as they're preparing to destroy themselves on a downhill sled run. And I haven't even mentioned Calvin's turns of fantasy with such characters as Spaceman Spiff and Stupendous Man.
What can you say? There's never been anything like Calvin and Hobbes, and there probably never will be again.

The Tenth Anniversary slab of this irrepressible duo gives us an overview, by Bill Watterson, of the strip's history.
The very best of all his Newspaper strips are explained in fine detail. Of course the cartoons speak for themselves but it is amazing how far the quality of Calvin And Hobbes has developed. The early drawings look rather crude, but then so did the "Simpsons" when they first started.
Highlights include Calvin v Rosslyn (Stupendous man), Susie finding Hobbes, Calvin and Susie and a rare sighting of Calvin's Uncle as a storyline character. The Duo verses Mom and Dad strips are always great.
Of course Calvin And Hobbes' interaction with each other in Calvin's make believe world also shows up a rather sadder side of this little child's life, - he is a highly intelligent individual, self opininated, difficult to befriend, a total loner and an outcast.

Such an awesome comic strip I wish it were still in production. Captures the angst, humor and imagination of one of the truly great characters in comic strip history. Great collection with some of my favorite story lines too. Perfect was to get introduced to this iconic comic strip. My 14 year old son just started reading these on a trip we took recently and now he's hooked! Great way to get a new generation to love them just as much as we did!

Despite its now obvious age, "Calvin and Hobbes" has not lost a whit of its appeal. In this third collection, released in late 1992, Calvin watches an old style thick televisions with rabbit ears. Try bolting one of those to the wall. No computers, no cell phones, no video games appear here. Calvin's dad works with pen and paper. Calvin's school looks more out of 1975 than 1992. And of course the ubiquitous wagon. Apart from providing philosophical, intellectual, comedic and visual stimulation, "Calvin and Hobbes" has also become a picture of a lost era. The world simply doesn't look or work this way anymore. Anyone born before 1980 may recognize it. The more recently born may derive a fairy tale or fantasy feeling from the strip. Yet another sign that the world has changed too fast. "Calvin and Hobbes" even seems to shirk at the rapidity of modern life by placing itself inside the world of backyard snow fights and wagon leaps. The setting evokes Peanuts more than MTV. And that's a very very good thing. Our physically and mentally crowded world leaves little room for introspection and philosophizing. Calvin, though of course a child, finds plenty of time for it in the unreal, almost surreal, world he inhabits. Nonetheless, he also suffers from some modern maladies. He wants the world to be the way he wants it to be. Reality remains unwelcome. The brilliant Sunday panels, rife with the best cartoon art of the past few decades, exemplifies this. Here Calvin rides a triceratops out of his school. Perspective goes awry twice, once in a neo-Cubist fashion. He becomes a not so graceful sparrow, a color film negative, an Allosaurus, a Tyrannosaurus, even a Calvinosaurus. His parents become Venusian aliens and try to make waffles out of him. Plus, he defies the very laws of physics itself to avoid homework. Up and down reverse and Calvin droops from the ceiling. Once order gets restored, he begins to grow exponentially until he stands upon the Milky Way. Most brilliantly, he and Susie Derkins morph into a Mary Worth-esque nightmare to play house with a "child rabbit." Such scenes set "Calvin and Hobbes" apart from the rest of the comics page. Though it wasn't afraid to teeter on the edge of sappiness at times, it also wasn't afraid to plunge in the opposite direction either. The tension between the evil Calvin and the good Calvin helped keep the strip fresh for its near decade run. It never degraded nor became stale. Doubtless it never will, regardless of what happens to the now disintegrating newspaper comics genre. History will likely hail this strip as second only to Peanuts and Krazy Kat (and arguably a few others). Luckily, the entire series looks as though it will remain in print for the foreseeable future.

To explain all the reasons why reading Calvin and Hobbes has always been a pleasure to me would take far too long to explain here. Suffice to say they are all gloriously on show in this tenth anniversary edition. This edition is an absolute necessity for anyone who enjoys Calvin and Hobbes' antics.

The normally reclusive Bill Watterson gives his thoughts on his strips, the world in which Calvin and Hobbes live and cartooning in general. He talks about the joy that cartooning as a career has given him and the reasons why he has refused to sell out and cash in on merchandising the Calvin and Hobbes brand.

Needless to say there is also a long parade of many of the most popular and memorable of the strips which means that it is fantastic and hilarious even for newcomers. Definitely worth the purchase.

On a dark, rainy, depressing winter evening in 2006, I landed in gloomy England straight from a flight from my home in beautifully warm India. I had no friends and I knew no one. Given that I grew up in a place with lots of sunlight and lots of openness, the move was depressing. Sitting in my room in a cold, low-roofed old muggy hosue with dim light, I felt more alone that I ever have in my life. I carried with me a copy of 'The Indispensable Calvin & Hobbes' which a friend had gifted me because she knew of my great love for this character. The fact that the book arrived in the post only a few hours before I flew seemed like a strange co-incidence.

For many weeks, the book was the only 'companion' I had. I sat in my room and read the book over and over again. I went to my office and while I wasn't given a desk to work at, I put this book in a large binder file and sat in a corner of the office reading it and chuckling all the time. When I put the book down and looked around, I found more loneliness. It is amazing how this comic strip became a part of my life and gave me so much joy. In the first few weeks of my loneliness in England, this book was the only thing that came between me and depression. I'll forever be indebted to this. A few months after I returned home from England (after two years), I bought the the hard-bound 3-book complete compilation of Calvin and Hobbes. I ordered that online as a gift for my sister and she was shocked at how big and heavy that parcel was. :) Everything about C&H books is amazing. The quality, the print, the clarity, the binding. The same goes for The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes book too. It will last you a few years and if you're going on a journey alone to anywhere - this might be something that just might save your life.
:)

The announcement last November that Bill Watterson would be retiring his comic strip Calvin and Hobbes at the end of the year should not have surprised anyone--at least, anyone who has read the recently released The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book. Like Gary Larsen's Pre-History of The Far Side, this volume provides a retrospective collection selected by the author, with notes on the origin and evolution of his creation. Both cartoonists annotated the books themselves, explaining the writing process and the business of cartooning. Larsen, though, as happy with his medium--his retirement was a factor of creative burnout rather than frustration with the limitations of the comics page of today's newspaper. That frustration with the four panel strip was the reason for Berke Breathed's early retirement, and is quite likely the reason for Watterson's as well. Watterson believes in the comic as a real art form--and in his hands it often was--but the dynamics of the business, both the physical limitations on the drawing and the way the economics is split between artist and newspaper with a syndicate go-between, restricted the full expression of his art.
The Tenth Anniversary Book is not a depressing collection, although it is quite serious in its examination of the ten years of the strip. Watterson reveled in his creation, and the work that he produced was always of the utmost quality. This collection has some of the most joyful moments of the past--Spaceman Spiff is there, as well as Stupendous Man, the Replicator, and the dreaded Babysitter. The amazing thing isn't that Watterson is retiring, but that he could spend ten years producing such work as fresh and imaginative as his debut.
While I am sad to see Waterson and Calvin and Hobbes retire, I have hope that we have not seen the last of either. The rise of the "graphic novel" and its acceptance in the United States (the form has always been popular in Europe [Tintin, Asterix] and Japan [magna too numerous to list]) offers Watterson the format that he deserves, where he can be enjoyed and appreciated as one of the most innovative sequential artists of the later 20th century.

Every boy needs to have a Tiger in their life ! This is the best collection of Calvin and Hobbes.

Whether for your inner child or a real one, this is a necessary requirement. Take the time and buy this book, you'll never put it down !!!

For the eleven years that it ran (1985-1995), Waterson's "Calvin and Hobbes" comic strip was one of the greatest ever. His genius is reflected in a combination of brilliant images, imaginative story lines, unpredictable situations, and just the fun, love, and silliness of a little boy and his stuffed tiger. I have a few of the large format books, and I get a bit tired by Watterson's gassy forewords, in which he never fails to yak on and on about the cruel cartoon industry with its shrinking sizes, loss of artistic greatness, and insistence on merchandising every successful strip. Whatever. He does it again in this book, so you'll have to skip past that. The book doubled as the exhibit catalog for a showing of Watterson's works at Ohio State a few years ago. The interesting pages are dozens of Sunday strips with his personal comments under most of them. They appear in both the original draft and the final colored form (though personally, I didn't see much value added in running the same strip twice --in black-and-white and then in color). But it is fun to page through and laugh again at some of the most creative, clever, humorous, and well-drawn strips ever.

Man do I love Calvin's wild imagination and Hobbes' logical responses to Calvin's crazy antics. What makes this book special is that each strip/story has a commentary by Bill Watterson on what inspires him and how he feels about his own creation. This book has a huge introduction by Watterson on why he chose never to turn Calvin and Hobbes into a huge franchise and why he finally decided to quit while he was ahead. A noble career move methinks.

There are some great stories in this one such as Calvin's hijinks with the transmogrifier/duplicator and the some of the Sunday color strips create some highly evocative atmospheres.

Plus, this book contains the most interesting fact EVER. What is the even scarier than a T-Rex? A T-Rex in an F-22 fighter jet.

This Calvin and Hobbes collection is a welcome addition to any fans book shelf for two simple reasons.
Reason #1 - Creator Bill Watterson writes a foreward with some of his reflections on coming back to his original comic strips after taking the last 5 years off. He also adds some fun insights written below each of his strips. It's a nice touch to see them presented in both B&W and in full color. Shows how much life color can add to any presentation.
Reason #2 - Well...Calvin of course. It's all here from the early days to the final days. Fights with Hobbes, Spaceman Spiff, advice from dad, and lunchtime with Calvin. Reading this book will remind you of how much the daily papers miss a quality comic strip of this caliber.
As Calvin's dad would say, "Reading a Calvin and Hobbes Book builds character!"

Watterson said he namedt the Indispensable, Essential and Authoritative C&H treasuries because they were none of those things. I like reading them though, even though all the material can be found in the yearly collections. 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.

that is what bill waterson has. integrety. calvin and hobbes is his creation, for comic strip ONLY. no matter what they pay him, no matter how they limit his creativity, his strip remains only in the papers. and that takes guts.
the other thing is that this is funny. a minor point, of course. (cough).
the commentary is a great point for the collector. not only do you get to see the characters and how they were thought-up, but mr waterson's continuing battle with the syndicate, not to mention the comments after certain strips.
it is great to see how the drawing and portrayal of calvin and his stuffed tiger has changed over ten years.
if only...if only we could all still be greeted by the first grader with an extensive vocabulary and his sarcastic tiger every morning over warm cups of coffee and an english muffin.
we miss you, calvin. and hobbes.

It's another great Calvin and Hobbes treasury which includes cartoons from "The revenge of the baby-sat" and "Scientific progress goes boink".

You'll love this book of cartoons which includes some of Bill Watterson's best voted strips like the comic strips "tiger food" and "Eenie Meenie..."!

The things I love most of Watterson's comics are the jokes, sarcasm, character expressions, colourful drawings, and great backgrounds.

In this book you'll be able to read lots of club strips, Rosalyn stories, and family trips to places like the museam! You'll also be able to read lots of Spaceman Spiff and dinosaur strips.

This book would appeal to people of all ages from perhaps the age of eight to adult.

This is top. It's a selection of ten years' worth of the most melancholic main-stream comic-strip of the late-80's / early-90's, but better than that it's a 'making of', too. Think of it as a big DVD collection with lots of extra bits and you're there. Almost every page has a little fact about the making of the strip, and although it's doesn't cover the entirely history of the strip (which, by the time this book was released, had finished) it's both a great introduction to the characters, and a fascinating set of trivia. The essays in the front of the book let us peek into the mind of Bill Watterson as he pontificates on the decline of the comic strip, and his attitude towards selling out - he took his art very seriously, he was a superb illustrator and he had the good taste to quit before the strip grew stale. It's possibly the perfect Christmas present

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!

If you were to own just one Calvin & Hobbes collection, without hesitation I would tell you to get this one. Aside from having some of the funniest strips from the first 10 years of Calvin & Hobbes, there is commentary by Bill Watterson that greatly increases one's enjoyment of this book.
Watterson starts off this book with an insightful introduction that talks all about his feelings on copyrighting and licensing, his influences, his battle for the less restricting Sunday comic format, and descriptions of the main characters.
Throughout the rest of the book, Watterson comments on the strips and delivers an immensely satisfying combination of the already classic Calvin & Hobbes strips and Watterson's wisdom and thoughts.

Now if you take a look at my title, you might think I am being a little bit melodramatic but I really do mean it. My Dad bought me this book when I was in fifth grade. I remember that day well because it was the day I discovered my passion. This is the book that helped me discover that I wanted to make comics for a living.

It may seem silly but I loved this book so much that it made me want to create comics myself and make other people as happy as this made book made me. I am literally struggling to find the correct words to describe how much I love this book. It may not be an eloquent way to put it but this book changed my life. It made me realize what I truly wanted to do with my life.

Now to talk more to it's contents. If you are unfamiliar with Calvin and Hobbes, this is a great book to start with. It includes all of author Bill Watterson's favorite strips and stories. The timeline of this book spans all ten years that Calvin and Hobbes ran so it is the closest thing you can get to having an abridged Calvin and Hobbes.

Bill Watterson is a genius when it comes to comics. His comments below several of the strips are inspiring if you, like me, aspire to be a cartoonist. They are also inspiring if you are just a fan of his work. They provide deeper insight into the meaning of each strip and might even change the way you looked at Calvin and Hobbes.

My previous comments may have made this book seem a little too serious so I want to stress that beneath all of that, it is still a great collection of strips from one of the greatest comic strips of all time.

As a fan of Calvin and Hobbes and an admirer of Bill Watterson, it is difficult to decide which are the best of his books. All of Calvin and Hobbes comics are awesome. However, due to the commentaries by Watterson that are included in this anniversary edition, this is one of the best Calvin and Hobbes collections out there. Besides the aforementioned comments by Watterson, this collection also includes many of the greatest Calvin and Hobbes' stories. If you are a Calvin and Hobbes fan, this is something worth owning. If by chance you have never read a Calvin and Hobbes comic (Egads!), then this would be a good choice to introduce you to the dynamic duo.

Indispensible? You bet your &%$# it is. Calvin and Hobbes continues to be the greatest comic strip ever, even several years now after creator Bill Watterson retired. Like Barry Sanders, Watterson retired at the top of his game, leaving fans longing for more but leaving a body of work that will be cherished for decades to come.

I've now been able to share with my children the joy of reading this fantastic strip. Calvin & Hobbes bizzare adventures as seen through the mind of a six year old little boy with the sardonic wisdom of an old man. Even after owning over a dozen collections I still look forward to each and every one.

The now-ended comic strip "Calvin and Hobbes" is, simply put, a work of pure genius.
Bill Watterson infuses warmth and loving into his tale of six-year-old Calvin's escapades with his imaginary -- or is he? -- tiger Hobbes, who has gotten into the habit of pouncing viciously on his young friend when he gets home from school. The humor is strong and perfectly done as to not fall into the rut of repeating itself, as many of today's comic strips do. And, perhaps best of all, we actually do care about these characters -- Calvin seems so much like ourselves when we were young, so much like us that we care about him as though he were part of our own family, Hobbes is quietly wise and calm in all situations, making us wish that we had a friend as loyal and understanding as he (but perhaps without the after-school pouncings), Calvin's parents (who do not have names and are not in need of them) observe their offspring in stunned silence, waiting patiently for him to grow out of...well, whatever it is he's in, be it simple imagination, psychoses or his own little version of the "real" world. And the supporting characters -- Susy, the endearing, cute neighborhood girl who just wants to be friends and who Calvin repeatedly stages elaborate plans to annilihate (although Hobbes takes any chance he can get to get a tummy rub from her, and apparently seeks romance with "the babes," as he refers to them, while Calvin thinks of all girls as the epitome of evil), Moe, the almost lovingly stupid, plodding oaf of a school bully that reminds us all of certain people we have known in our lives (Calvin mentions that it is always safer to "be careful when you're around a six-year-old who shaves"), the school teacher Miss Wormwood, the principal, the time machine that Calvin creates using a cardboard box, the duplicator and transmogrifier that he creates using the same box, and all the other little things that made "Calvin" one of the most loved -- and remembered -- comic strips in the history of America.

But, alas, "Calvin and Hobbes" is gone, at least in the newspapers. But you can find it here, in this (and many others) book, collected and ready for your enjoyment.

Me, I'll always remember Calvin and his striped friend in their final strip, which will hang forever on my wall. In it, in the last Calvin and Hobbes panel ever to be produced, the little boy with the spiky yellow hair and his friend take a final sled ride down a snow-covered hill as Calvin says the memorable final words that signified the end of an era:

"Let's go exploring!"

Whether the collection is the "Indispensible" or "Essential" or "Quintessential" 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 Indispensible Calvin and Hobbes" is another in a long list of the great comic work of Bill Watterson. This is an indispensible/essential/quintessential collection for all Calvin and Hobbes and humor fans!

How can you not love Calvin and Hobbes? This mischievous little boy with his ever present stuffed tiger and best friend Hobbes is one of the funniest and most engaging comic strips ever. His naughty little tricks belie a good heart. Some of the best strips are where he is philosophizing about human nature. But of course picking on Susie is always a fun time too. And don't you just love how he drives his parents crazy? Calvin and Hobbes is truly a unique comic and unique characters.

This is a comic strip collection you can read again and again and still find reasons to laugh each time.

This was my first Calvin and Hobbes book ever. I got it about a year ago when my dad told me about a comic strip that had run for about five years when I was little. He said it was about a boy named Calvin and a stuffed tiger that came to life when nobody else was around. I forgot about it for a while, but then when I was in the bookstore I picked up the Calvin and Hobbes book. That night I just HAD to finish the book, so I went to school really, really tired the next morning. Calvin and Hobbes is cute, funny, and instead of Calvin being some short smart-alec grownup like all of the other comic strip kids, he has a personality and is a great character. His exploits will leave you laughing. Hobbes is sort of like his conscience, but he never gets in there far enough. Hobbes by himself is a very funny character too, with a craving for tuna fish, who likes to sneak up on Calvin and pounce on him. I would rate this book and all other Calvin and Hobbes books 5 stars for being such a great comic strip that it has lasted until now (heck, I'm not that old). Calvin and Hobbes definitely take the cake!

If you are a Calvin and Hobbes fan - this is the book for you. Bill Watterson actually comes out and explains different aspects of his favorite Sunday pages. Each of the Sunday pages is shown in color and in black and white with an insight from Bill Watterson on the art, the dialogue, or the storyline. If you liked this I would highly recommend the film Dear Mr. Watterson.

I stopped reading the comics in the local paper the day Calvin and Hobbes stopped publishing. At least the series was left open for a return. I feared that Bill Watterson would end publication by having Calvin walk into the frame only to see Hobbes for the first time as a stuffed tiger. I was not ready to face a grown up Calvin....I have all his books, and this one sits near the top. Calvin makes me wish that I had a boy in addition to my two lovely daughters. Hobbes makes me a believer in the personality of stuffed animals and toys in general. Buy this book and laugh out of control....trust me.

Until I read my first Calvin & Hobbes, Snoopy was my number one cartoon character. I didn't think anyone could be more "cool" than Snoopy. I am still a Snoopy fan, but the antics of Calvin & Hobbes makes me laugh out loud. Calvin has the precociousness of youth and the cynism of a more worldy adult. Combine that with Hobbes' partly innocent/partly devilish instigator personality and it can just be too funny for words. It's a shame Bill Watterson stopped writing Calvin & Hobbes, but he lived up to the adage, "Always leave them laughing."

I adore C&H and I agree with many others in placing it as one of the finest examples of the genre ever written. This book is as good as you're ever going to get to learning about the man behind the strip. I gave the book 5 stars purely on the book's merits. Beautiful cross-section of strips and you get Watterson's commentary warts and all.

I totally respect the man's integrity and his desire to create something truly memorable. He more than succeeded. But in this book, for all his noble principles, he doesn't really seem like a fun person to be around. His commentary reveals him to be aloof, disdainful of anyone who doesn't follow his standards, rather lacking in humour(he saves that for the strip itself) and a bit of an obsessive-compulsive martyr.

Yes, Bill, we KNOW you drew, inked and painted every bit of it yourself, you're not the only one who does. Not ALL syndicated cartoonists are Jim Davis. It's a shame that such a wonderful strip had to come out of someone with so much anger and bitterness about the industry he chose to join, but that's life, I guess.

I notice that although he lists Peanuts and Pogo as two of his biggest influences, he totally disregards the fact that both were *extensively* merchandised and franchised, a concept he loathes.

Merchandising did not stop these comics from being classics in their own right. I have my battered and loved Snoopy doll sitting on a shelf in my bedroom, and I'm afraid I fail to see how a bit of ASTUTE merchandising could possibly have degraded C&H.

That said, it's Bill's strip, and none of us can tell him what to do with it. Despite all the fighting and conflicts with his syndicate, he left us with something truly magical. Enjoy the strips and play a game of Calvinball for Bill.

But how can you single this one out to be indispensable when ALL Calvin and Hobbes books are must haves/keeps forever? In this book you'll find all the usual Spaceman Spiff adventures as he flys through desert canyons on remote menacing planets, loads of Stupendous Man hijinks and endless laughs as Calvin never ceases to terrorize and menace everyone around him. But there is not enough of Hobbes. Even if Hobbes was in every panel on every page there still wouldn't be enough of him. I absolutely LOVE Hobbes. I want him. He IS the greatest.

Like Walt Kelly before him, Bill Watterson took the art of the comic strip to a place it had never been before. Like Kelly, Watterson wrote and drew in a style that was remarkably sophisticated and subtle despite its deceptive veneer of child-like simplicity; however, while Pogo and his anthropomorphic pals were at their best taking a sharp satirical look at American political concerns of the day, Calvin and Hobbes addressed issues of human nature that transcend considerations of time and place. Calvin and his faithful tiger inhabit an anarchic universe of their own imagining in which nothing is ever easy. Calvin's mind is simultaneously too simple and too complex to cope in a conventional way with everyday reality. In some ways, he's a more innocent incarnation of Bart Simpson; however, unlike Bart, who knows better than to believe a word that the knuckleheaded Homer says, Calvin eagerly embraces and puzzles over every cockamamie story his father tells him. Calvin is a child in child's clothing, which is to say that he's both hopelessly naive and infinitely wise. For all his bravado and grandiose scheming, Calvin is constantly being bested by his parents, his teacher, the babysitter, the school bully, the girl next door, and the stuffed tiger who serves as his alter ego. When Calvin transforms a cardboard box into a duplicating machine, he's even victimized by multiple copies of his own ego-driven self! And yet, however much Calvin suffers, his spirit is never broken--or at least not for long. Knock him down, and he gets right up again with a brand new plan to undermine the forces he can never ultimately defeat. Calvin is the kid in all of us who never wins but never stops fighting the good fight....And besides all that, these strips are funny as all get-out!

This is the first Calvin and Hobbes collection, which is clearly obvious when you flip through the first few cartoons and seen that our heros look a little less polished than they would later on. Nevertheless, Bill Watterson's genius was clearly evident from the start. He wastes little time introducing his characters, and merely assumes that we understand that Hobbes will only appear as a real tiger while Calvin is alone. Watterson is a comic genius whose reclusive presence has been sorely missed on the funny pages since his retirement. All we have left are his books. And this is the first of a fantastic series.

Calvin & Hobbes is one of the greatest cartoons of all time ranking up there with Peanuts & Doonesbury. This is the first collection of strips and we are introduced to Calvin, a six year old with an overactive imagination. He has a stuffed tiger, Hobbes, who comes to life only around Calvin. The strips humorously shows how Calvin drives his parents nuts, his transmogrifying machine where he take on different shapes, such as dinosaurs and his other foibles. Despite it's cynicism. Calvin & Hobbes is about the fears we all face in life and the means we use to confront them.

This collection satisfies me in so many different ways. First and foremost, it is a great look at many of the best Sunday Calvin and Hobbes strips, restored to their un-editted size and format. In addition, you get both comments from Watterson, and, included are the submitted form of the strips, that is, without inking or editting. Both the comments and the draft strips give great insight into what Watterson was trying to convey with his work. In all, the collection has helped me better appreciate all the other Calvin and Hobbes works I look at, because, beyond the up-front enjoyment of the comic, I now have a feel for the intent of the author

Bill Watterson captures what being a six-year-old boy is about - and what being around one is like if you're a parent, a teacher, or a well-behaved six-year-old girl. Calvin is both lovable and exasperating. The cartoons capture the boredom of school, the fun of making believe you're a pirate or a spaceman or an adventurer, the frustration that the most loving of parents experience. Mostly, though, the cartoons are some of the funniest that you'll ever read or see; both the drawing and the dialogue are great.

Many of us look fondly upon our childhood and sometimes wish we were kids again. Bill Watterson brings childhood back to us with the adventures of Calvin, a six-year-old, precocious child, and his best friend Hobbes, a stuffed tiger made real by Calvin's vivid imagination.
In this treasury, featuring comics from two of Watterson's collections, Calvin uses his wild fantasies to escape the dull life of school and "character-building" trips he's forced to take with his father. Calvin dreams of things most of us once dreamed -- becoming an inventor, battling baddies throughout the galaxy and being a superhero. Even though Calvin and Hobbes brawl on more than one occasion, their friendship remains the strongest bond and greatest influence in Calvin's life. Calvin's relationship with his stuffed tiger reminds us of our favorite imaginary playmates. This is what's best about Watterson's work -- he has the ability to draw us in using childhood ideas most of us had ourselves.
As usual, Watterson does an incredible job helping us remember the innocence and imaginations of childhood. His comics are hilarious, yet more often than not touch on strong points that affect the grown-up world today. He manages to put his point across is the most humorous ways, while not losing touch with the simplistic, no-nonsense thinking of a six-year-old's mind. This treasury includes some of his best comics. I especially enjoyed the adventures of the Intrepid Spaceman Spiff and Calvin's wild attempts to escape his babysitter.

This book is worth every penny, and it is a great one to come back to again and again.

Watterson hand-picked each Sunday strip in this book and provided a 3-5 line commentary on most of the strips. The chosen strips are split about halfway between the old format and the later, "non-bordered" format, and the selected Sunday strips are certainly representative of C&H's style and character.
Some of the commentary is very similar to what's found in the 10th anniv. book, but most of it is newly informative and interesting. As an aspiring comic-stripper, I found Watterson's comments very useful in bettering my approach to the design, coloring and plot of a comic strip, more so than what he says in the 10th anniv. book.
The collection begins with an essay from Mr. Watterson about his perspective on C&H 6 years removed, and it's probably my favorite part of the book. Also included are the non-colored sketches of each strip on its neighboring page. Since these sketches are reprinted in color, you can see the erasures, griddings and white-outs; a nice touch, for sure.
Comic strip enthusiasts are going to grab this book no matter what I say (and well they should), but more casual readers may be happier reading this book at the bookstore for free instead. It's short and contains comics already printed in the many C&H collections, but it's certainly suited for the C&H fan who wants more. I think it's very kind of Mr. Watterson, a man who never wanted the fame C&H garnered him, to offer his time and comments for this collection. As a lover of the comic arts, I genuinely thank him for helping make this book happen.

Bill Watterson has created a smart, insightful, and often hilarious look at his always entertaining comic strip, Calvin & Hobbes.
This book is more than a collection of strips. It is a in-depth look into the world of cartooning. Watterson displays great intellignece in his viewpoints on copyrighting, merchandising, and the formatting of the Sunday Strip, which he fought to change so that he wouldn't be hindered by a confining format.
He also gives you detailed biographies of the characters in his strips and some of the influences behind them.
Of course, the book is packed with some of his greatest strips, along with commentary about why certain strips were included in this collection. He shows some of his personal favorite strips (including a classic series where Calvin hires Hobbes to cut his hair with hilarious results) and uses strips to illustrate his points.
This is a must-have for anyone who loves Calvin and Hobbes and a great book for anybody who is fascinated by the world of cartooning.

As a precursor to the entire collection of "Calvin and Hobbes" strips, this is a great, affordable buy. It offers the best scripts representing each of the main characters, with additional commentary by Watterson. My only dillemma is that some of the strips were cut very short (the poem and the story of Uncle Max's visit being some examples). Still, this is a great collection presenting some of the best strips to represent each of the characters.

When I was a teenager my family and I were on a summer vacation to Washington D.C. and were visiting a local area book store when I happened upon this book. I'd always liked comic collections (had a pretty good collection of Far Side & Bloom County books at home), so I started flipping through it. Soon I was laughing out loud and reading them to my Mom & Dad, and we bought the book. After that I was hooked, and waited anxiously for each new collection to hit the bookstore.

This first collection is fun because you can definitely see how Calvin & Hobbes are a bit more raw & simply drawn, but the ideas and writing are uniformly excellent. A great start to the greatest comic strip to ever hit the funny papers!

I love Calvin and Hobbes. The characters appeal to the child in me. In addition, I love to look at the cartoons as well as read it, because it is drawn extremely well. Often, comic strips are too two-dimensional and the characters don't do much except stand there and spew speech bubbles. The illustrations (and angles) are dynamic and shows the cartoonist thinking about how best to illustrate his ideas. The reading part is rewarding as well, because it is not filled with cheap jokes, but shows a genuine development of characters. The characters are endearing. They are developed through actions, not speech bubbles accompanied by lifeless characters. This book comes with little stories that gives us a glimpse of the cartoonist as well as the cartooning industry. A great book for fans.

This is about the best thing I've ever read. I never get tired of re and rereading it again and again. You just miss them so much after the book ends, you want to read it again. It always brings laughter, or even tears of laughter. It is a pity Bill Watterson retired from making these wonderful comics.

And this is only the first book I've read. I just ordered Calvin and Hobbes: the Authoratative, and I cannot wait...way too excited.

My dad owned this book, and, when I was about five, he gave it to me. It was the first Calvin and Hobbes book I ever read. Calvin and Hobbes pretty much shaped my early childhood up until I was ten. A couple weeks ago, I started re-reading my old books, and was not disappointed! And excellent addition to any library, Calvin and Hobbes is one of the most fantastic comic strips I've ever read, and probably tied with Gary Larson's The Far Side for my favorite strip. Thank you Bill Watterson!

Leave it to the "Low Arts" to make the most trenchant statements about the human condition. Bill Watterson says more in four panels of his late and lamented cartoon than most self-described "philosophers" could eludicate in three volumes of dense text. Watterson is a thoroughly-educated man and a hell of a writer (I'm still waiting for his first novel!) who chose cartooning as his avenue of expression, and he is one of the last true superstars of the genre (think of him in the same company as Schulz, Trudeau and Larson). When he retired his strip in 1995, I lost my very last reason to keep reading the funnies. Thank god we have anthologies like this one. If you like Calvin And Hobbes, get this. And get every other volume that exists.

The commentary provided by the author on each of the Sunday cominc cartoon included in the collection in itself is worth the book. Each cartoon is presented twice, though. The left panel is similar to the sketches and the right hand presents the same cartoon in color. Each of the two pages provide a narrative related to the specific cartoon - explaining the artistic characteristics and inspiration for the cartoon....All in all, an excellent addition to any Calvin fan (and which intelligent reader isnt!)

On December 31, 1995, Time severed another strand linking our real world to the magical worlds of our youth. In creator Bill Watterson's final comic, Calvin and Hobbes parted with our hearts on a high note as the eternally youthful 6-year-old and his loyal sidekick tiger sled over the fresh morning snow, expressing the poignant optimism that made this comic one of the most beloved comic strips in history.
Buy Watterson's "The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes : A Calvin and Hobbes Treasury." The world of a child's imagination is awakened on every page. Reading the vibrantly-colored strips, one cannot help but believe that, at some long forgotten time and place, we were all like Calvin: ever optimistic, always believing, constantly exploring the fresh world around us. We miss those days. We need them back. This book allows Calvin and Hobbes to come back to life and reawaken the memories of your youth.
For most of us there remain too few strands linking our remaining todays to our yesterdays. But there is a way to suspend time and step back. Relive the imaginative days of your youth through the pranks, discoveries and character-building lessons of a 6-year-old boy and his tiger.

Since I didn't read the newspaper growing up, I was introduced to "Calvin and Hobbes" via my stepdad's treasury books, which compiled years' worth of strips into a few volumes. I quickly grew to identify with Calvin, with his vivid imagination, weird sense of humor, and keen insight on the world around him, and longed for a companion like the occasionally wise (and always wise-cracking) tiger Hobbes. In a world where most newspaper comics focus on banal "gag-a-day" jokes and simplistic art, it was nice to have a strip that dared to experiment artistically and even delve into the philosophical at times. Even now, nearly two decades after its cancellation, the strip remains a nostalgic classic.

Shortly before retiring the strip, Bill Watterson released this ten-year retrospective, which included inspirations for the strip and its characters, accounts of the author's struggles with his syndicate over the comic (especially licensing rights), and insights on individual strips and/or story arcs. It provides a fascinating read, and showcases some of his best material over the years... but at the same time some of the author's attitudes can wear the reader down.

Don't get me wrong -- I enjoyed this book, and many of the author's insights are quite interesting. We get some character bios and learn the origins of certain characters' names, such as Calvin's teacher being named after one of the devils in C.S. Lewis' "Screwtape Letters," and learn that quite a few of the strips stem from personal issues, problems, and philosophies of Watterson himself. We also see stories and insights behind certain strips -- ones that sparked some nasty fan mail or even the strip's cancellation in certain newspapers, ones that helped develop the characters and the strip itself, ones that introduced new characters or concepts, and ones where Watterson was able to experiment visually and push the boundaries of his chosen medium. And some key questions are answered in the pages of this book (what happened to one-time character Uncle Max, why the infamous "noodle incident" has never been explained, why Calvin is no longer in the Boy Scouts, etc.).

But I feel this book could have included more. Virtually all the material in this book has been published before, both in newspaper format and in book collections. Why not include some new material for fans to enjoy? Perhaps samples from his sketchbook, early drafts for the comic, or some of his editorial cartoons or rejected comic ideas (such as the one that would eventually be developed into recurring character Spaceman Spiff). Also, we learn very little about Watterson himself, or how he came up with the idea for "Calvin and Hobbes." I know Watterson is a very private man and has all but vanished after the comic was retired, but surely we could have learned a little about his childhood and life, and how it shaped the comic that would come to be known as his most famous work.

What this book has instead is a lot of preaching and soapboxing by Watterson himself. And sadly, this drags this book down. Watterson is extremely critical of both the newspaper-comics industry and the artists who "sell out" their work by choosing to license the characters for merchandise, animated adaptations, etc. Multiple times he criticizes both his syndicate for trying to pressure him into a licensing deal and fellow cartoonists who do choose to license their work, and sadly this leaks into the comic itself, with various strips turning into commentary on the situation. I can understand Watterson not wanting to license his work, but at the same time repeatedly hearing how greedy syndicates are for wanting licensing deals, and hearing him practically demonize cartoonists who choose to do so, becomes tiresome and makes Watterson come across as a snob. (He also criticizes artists who take "sabbaticals" from their work, which comes across as odd and even hypocritical when he took two of them himself over the years.)

Watterson also uses his commentary (and occasionally the strip itself) to preach about other issues he takes umbrage with -- the limited space allowed newspaper cartoonists to showcase their work, the comic book/graphic novel industry and its problems, and the pretentiousness of modern art and art critics. When this was limited to the comic I didn't mind it -- he managed to always make it funny and fitting the characters. But sadly his wit fails him in the commentary, and his endless griping on the subjects becomes annoying quickly.

It might be unfair to compare Watterson's retrospective with a similar book released by another cartoonist, but in this case the comparisons are hard to avoid (for me, anyhow). Gary Larson's The PreHistory of The Far Side:: A 10th Anniversary Exhibit was a similar release, a retrospective of ten years of "The Far Side" cartoons. Aside from the obvious differences between "Calvin and Hobbes" and "The Far Side" (one being a well-drawn and semi-philosophical strip and the other being a gag-a-day scientifically-geared single-panel cartoon), the two collections are rather different in content, and Larson's tenth-anniversary collection ends up being the superior collection. Larson gives us a much more fascinating story about how his comic was created and developed, and his collection contains not only his published cartoons but early drafts, sketches, samples of his previous comic "Nature's Way," and never-before-published comics. And his commentary managed to be witty and fun even without cartoons to accompany it.

I greatly love "Calvin and Hobbes," but in reading this collection I found that while I still love the comic, I'm not as fond of the man behind it. It's a shame that the artist who brought us a comic centered on the wonder, joy, humor, and imagination of childhood turned out to be a cynical, arrogant, and slightly misanthropic person who chose to use this collection as a means of preaching against the very industry that supported him for years.

Worth a look if you're a die-hard "Calvin and Hobbes" fan, but if you want less "writer on board" material and more comics, I'd suggest one of the other treasuries instead. I recommend The Revenge of the Baby-Sat,Scientific Progress Goes `Boink` A Calvin and Hobbes Collection,There's Treasure Everywhere--A Calvin and Hobbes Collection, or Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat: A Calvin and Hobbes Collection.

I am a C&H junkie. That is why I love this book. It gives you an insight into Bill Watterson's world. The beginning of the book is all about how he creates the comics. Then you get a collection of C&H comics ranging from the first to the newest ones (to the publishing date). And with each one you get a little comment or gripe. This is the best Calvin and Hobbes book ever printed for the simple reason that it lets you hear from Mr. Watterson himself, a mostly private man. A must have!

What can I say, Calvin is great downtime reading. You laugh, you laugh and you laugh somemore. There is a poem at the begining of this book and it personifies the imagination that the author has from monsters under the bed to space man spiff. Read this book and live a little. It dosen't matter how old you are, everyone like a good snowball fight story. It's silly, simple fun.

Calvin and Hobbes is right up there on my list of the best comics. In fact, I'd say it was the best comic made. And this treasury is the best of the best. It has everything you could want. This is watterson at his peak. Laughs keep coming one after the other, intertwined with some very serious philosophical musings from Calvin and Hobbes. Why be sad when you could have these comics? One of my personal favorites.

It's great to know the man is still alive. This book began with a reflection by him about his great work on the sunday strips over the years. I was hoping he'd mention more about what he's done since he stopped doing Calvin and Hobbes, which he did but not as much as I'd like to know. Then the comics themselves were printed twice for every individual strip. Once showing the actual black and white inking with pencil marks, white coorection fluid blots and such, and again with the final printed color version. I love that stuff, I was lucky and saw an exhibit of Charles Shultz's origonal strips, which had his actual yellow legal pad pages he wrote ideas down on and little sketches. Bill Watterson has said his ideas have been limited by the space in which to tell a story in the newspaper comics. He's done all he feels he can within those guidlines. I can't imagine how great it would be to see what he can do stetching out of those guidlines.

Calvin is a boy with a humorous imagination, and as always, he can't have fun without Hobbes, his stuffed tiger. With fun & humor, this duo is too good to be in the newspaper! Sit down and read these morning,noon & evening comics! Every page is full of laughter,bravery,& intellegence. Long comics,short comics,every kind of comic is completely packed with fun.

were should I start this book is one of the best books I've ever read.Bill Waterson takes comics to another level with The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes not like Batman or Spider-Man Calvin and Hobbes has humor in it with Calvins alter-egos Stupendus Man and Spaceman Spiff and Hobbes's ever so funny jokes
easily makes Calvin and Hobbes one of the greatist Comic book duos in Comic Book history.

Calvin and Hobbes is one of the most consistently fun and entertaining comic strips of all time. If you don't enjoy it you're not a kid, don't have kids and probably never were a kid. Watterson does a great job telling the reader everything they need to know in each three or four panel daily strip. Fun for everyone!

This is one of my most favorite books of all time. I read everywhere i go. Calivin and Hobbes takes u back with the feeling of "Thats how i used to be". Calvin and his best friend hoobes an imaginary stuufed tiger or is he Real? make us laugh, think, and make us remember whats it like to be six again. Bill watterson is a comic genius and i was dissapionted to hear he retired. He has made me laugh for a long time and still does today.The last comic strip I cut out of the sunday paper is still in my folder and I will always remember what Calvin said to Hobbes Its a magical world hobbes lets go exploring!! If u don't have or havent even heard of them go directly to your nearest book store and get a copy. You will not regret it.This great book is for kids and the adult alike. I give this book five stars thats how great it really is.Calvin and Hobbes will always be #1

Calvin nas Hobbes is DEFINITELY the best of all comics i have read so far. All the stroies are great! You wont find even one which is boring, while some are simply all-time Classics.
'The Indespensable Calvin and Hobbes' certainly lives up to its name, featuring some of Bil Wattersons best works about a 6-year old hyperactive Calvin, and his 'Imaginary' stuffed tiger, Hobbes.
Definitely a MUST BUY ( if u dont have it already). A book for all ages. I only wish i was able to give it MORE than 5 Stars!!!

Did your closest imaginary friend wail on you mercilessly? Did you ever imagine youself an intergalactic spaceman, able to vaporise unwanted vegetables with an incredibly flash of your laser? If you did, then this is for you. Actually, if you didn't then you better get this to read so you can see what you missed out on. Calvin & Hobbes is fantastic; quirky, consistently funny, and never, ever lame. Yeah, like life, hard issues are tackled, with some wrenching effects. But for the most part, the strips collected here embrace the simple ebulience and joy that comes from being young, and in possession of an imagination. Go for it. Just watch out for the tiger ambush!

The incomparable Bill Watterson strikes gold with the adventures of Calvin and Hobbes. It's been a long-time favorite of mine. I recently went back through some of my other collections and guffawed at the hi-jinx these two would get into. Its smart, touching, funny, challenging, and sweet at times. Mr. Watterson will forever be a favorite of mine, and because of him, I will forever want a pet tiger.

I grew up with this series and I just had to collect them all together!! It has hilarious short stories and it always cheer me up whenever I feel alittle down! Highly recommended for kids and even adults! I still do read them!!!

A collection for all fans of Watterson's hilarious works. It can be described as a Great Insight and Guide to Calvin and Hobbes. It gives you great pictures, rough drafts, cartoon examples, and almost all the information you would ever want to know about Calvin and Hobbes. A Must-Buy for all Calvin and Hobbes Fans!

This is the greatest book on Earth(well...second best)!!!! Calvin is probably the funniest 6-year-old in this whole world. And Hobbes adds to the can't-stop-laughing fun. I definitley think this book and all the other Calvin and Hobbes books should get a huge award for the most funny book ever. I have no idea how Bill Watterson keeps everyone from ages 6-100 laughing their heads off. I give this book 5 stars(xinfinity)!!!

Calvin and Hobbes is a great book for people at all ages. It has humor, but also has sadness throughout it. Every night, I would turn on my reading light, grab Calvin and Hobbes, and start to read it. Before I knew it, I would be inside their world. Calvin is always getting in trouble and loves to destroy everything he makes. Hobbes, who is exactly like Calvin, is a tiger, but he loves to play and have fun. The author and illustrator did a fantastic job bringing Calvin and Hobbes to life.

This book is hilarious! From philosophical wagon rides to alien invaders ("They want $10") this book covers the life of the prank-playing Calvin and his stuffed tiger, Hobbes, who comes to life when no one is watching. It is an excllent book, and I think that anyone who reads it will remember doing the same thing themselves when they were little.

I picked this one up after far too long an intermission. Calvin's adventures remain timeless, his antics winsome, his spirit soaring. The book that started it all, with all its poignant observations, philosophical ruminations, and side-splitting hilarity. I really hope Bill Watterson spends his much deserved free time egging the houses of the guys who write "Boondocks" and "Family Circus."

My ex-girlfriend bought this book for me for Christmas and I was very pleased. Bill Watterson is one of the most intelligent comedy writers of all time. This collection gives descriptions of all the characters and explains their basic origins, as well as giving you hundreds of comics to read. Black and white as well as sunday comic strips. 5 stars!

There are a lot of comics that have faded away over the years and tracking them down after they're out of print is sometimes next to impossible. I don't think Calvin and Hobbes is going anywhere for a while even though Watterson has ended the strip but if it does you'll probably kick yourself for not having a complete Calvin and Hobbes collection and this book is the crowning piece in that collection. Bill Watterson, a guy who keeps his opinions to himself (finding an interview with him is like a treasure hunt) gives you an inside look at the strip, Priceless.

happy birthday to you and many many more i love my x-waiter she fired herself i love cuddly bunny rabbits do me it he y sir they cat plate sad angry dissapointed don't did down does like last looking less left picture pennies peanut of on or one one or o

My son loves this series so what can say? Awesome book and well priced. We have purchased a few Calvin and Hobbes and they are great. You can't go wrong with any of them. We will be adding to our collection.

A book full of 'Calvin and Hobbes' comic strips and the wit, wisdom and insight of Bill Watterson...who could ask for more? Not me. I loved C&H during its' run on the comics page. Now, with C&H (sadly) gone, I can always revisit the humor by reading any page at random.

It seems that very rarely a truly memorable book will come along, but we are glad when it does. This is that book, the ultimate calvin and Hobbes collection, and I heartily reccomend it to any who are looking for a good laugh, or something to brighten a lonely day...

The Tenth Anniversary book is very good. Watterson shares his thoughts on many of his favorite Calvin and Hobbes strips, and gives a wealth of information on the behind-the-scenes life of a cartoonist in general, and on the development of C&H as characters and as a strip, specifically. His commentary on conflicts with newspapers and syndicates are intelligent and straightforward, and the book is a must-have for any C&H fan. Oh, yeah -- and the funnies are great, too. ;)

I will read anything that is Calvin and Hobbes! I highly recommend this book. I really wish Bill Watterson would start this comic back up. Give it to your kids or buy it for yourself. You will not be disappointed!

I received this book as a gift a few years ago to cheer me up.

Well, it did just that! I have always enjoyed Calvin and Hobbes, even as a grown up you can't really pass up Calvin and Hobbes, you know!? I just remember laughing and laughing at how cute and funny this book is. I still have it and refer to it at times when I need a good laugh. Laughter is the best medicine. It does not matter how old you are! It's good to be a kid at heart!

Calvin and Hobbes has always been one of my favorite strips, due to the amazing illustrations (Watterson does some of the best and funniest illustrations I've ever seen in a comic strip), the well-done humor (which doesn't always rely on the punchline to be funny), and the fact that Watterson says something meaningful in many of his strips in addition to simply making me laugh. This book is a wonderful insight into what is, in my opinion, one of the best comic strips of all time.

Calvin and Hobbes are a magic combination. The comic strips can be laugh out loud funny but also have the ability to be poignant and make you think on a deeper level about the world - something that others in this genre would find hard to do as well. But with Calvin and Hobbes every comic strip is a success. Great characters that create a dynamic for what seems like an endless stream of ideas from the talented creator. I don't understand how anyone can rate this less than five stars. It's an endless classic and these treasury books are just the best to have lying around on the coffee table to have a flick through whenever you're relaxing. Many friends have become fans through doing just that!

This enlightening book about the history behind those zany Calvin & Hobbes cartoons is nicely done. I enjoyed reading the commentary and laughing at the cartoons. Most Calvin & Hobbes fans will enjoy reading this book.

Yeah, Calvin and Hobbes was great. But you'll come no closer to understanding Bill Watterson's thought process after reading this book than you will before. It's not a total loss: the sources of some characters are interesting, and Watterson's account of his fight against commercializing the strip shows an admirable committment to principle.
But after that, there's really nothing. We get heaping spoonfuls of how the world (read: the syndicate, newspaper editors and other comic artists) was out to get Watterson, and how hard it was for him to do the strip, and how much he liked doing the new Sunday format. There's nothing about how he came up with the two characters, only a passing mention of earlier attempts to break into daily cartooning (and nothing on his brief editorial cartoon career) and little talk of how he came up with his revolutionary Sunday strip layout. He complains about standard panel restrictions, then treats his new format as if it suddenly came down from Mt. Sinai.
Watterson himself comes across as a dedicated but stubborn man slowly losing his sense of humor -- in the early strips, Calvin and Hobbes are mischievous co-conspirators; toward the end of the book (and the strip) Calvin is something to be scolded by Watterson (through Hobbes). The strip's preachiness was tolerable as long as Calvin and Hobbes was funny, but toward the end Watterson was treating it as his Sunday pulpit.
Knowing this book came out a month before the strip ended, his final words about having the honor of speaking to millions of people on a daily basis ring somewhat hollow. Then again, I don't understand Watterson's thinking. This volume got me no closer.

This book is absolutely fantastic. I can remember nights as a kid reading these comics whenever my dad would let me borrow them. This compilation in particular was one of my favorites. It has many great story arcs in it, especially reading them again as I grow older. You can never go wrong when purchasing a Calvin and Hobbes book, and this one does not disappoint.

This Calvin and Hobbes book is the best i've read by far. Its 250 pages long and each page contains 3 strips.

The strips in this book are especially funny and i am sure you'll enjoy them.

I highly reccomend this book.

Bill Watterson decided to do a retrospective of his comic book series Calvin and Hobbes, although ten years isn't really a long life for a comic strip. In this book he talks about the kind of things you'd probably expect to read in a book like this: where his ideas come from, how the characters came to be, what strips he himself enjoys, etc, etc.
There's something that I've noticed, though, when he talks about taking sabbaticals. He says that sabbaticals are too self-indulgent, but then he turned around and took some lengthy sabbaticals two years in a row (notice there are no Christmas strips in The Days Are Just Packed). Okay, so first he comes off too arrogant and outspoken, and then he contradicts himself. Way to go, Bill.
And the snootiness doesn't stop there, people. He starts to get annoying when he's talking about licensing. If a musician licenses his work, for example, that means advertisers can use their songs for things like commercials and TV show theme songs. In this case, if a cartoonist licenses his work, the characters can be used in commercials, clothing and, probably most popularly, greeting cards. In this section, Bill makes it clear that he will never license Calvin and Hobbes. Now, licensing is a double-edged sword because if you DO license, you're a sellout, and if you DON'T license, you're a snob. (Personally, I'd be the sellout.)
But that's not really the part that annoys me. It's when he inadvertently criticizes the media and other people who DO license their work that irritates me. Does he think he's better than everyone or something? Maybe he didn't mean to do that, but regardless, that knocked my rating down from three-and-a-half stars to three.
I still enjoy reading Calvin and Hobbes books, although every now and then I'll find a strip that'll be hard to read without a dictionary nearby. But if Bill Watterson was going to keep dishing out that attitude and those self-contradictions, then maybe his retiring was a good idea.

A wonderful book for anyone who enjoys Calvin & Hobbes.I've been a fan for many years. However, I disliked some of theauthor's comments on some things. But as for the book, it brought to light many good things pertaining to the highly-laughable comic strip. A must read

This book and many of the other Calvin and Hobbes books are really great books. They show the imagination of a little boy and his stuffed tiger. Although I have not read one recently the books have left me with ideals and ways of thinking. They still crack me up and I'm looking forward to picking one up and reading them again soon.

I started reading C&H from this one and now have the complete collection. I rank this one at the top, (alongside the tenth ann collection). Another reason is that it contains some of the poetry work by Watterson. I am a fan of his poetry too. Sounds similar to my own...

I'm totally hooked on Calvin & Hobbes.
It feels like they are buddies of mine.
Everytime I read my Calvin & Hobbes books, I can't stop grinning, laughing and smiling.
It makes you forget about being a grownup.
The state of the world today needs Calvin & Hobbes!
Bill, you're the only one who can bring them back!