Calvin et Hobbes, tome 12

1988

drooling
comic books, strips
humor, form, comic strips & cartoons
comic strip
humor
children's literature
fantasy
monsters
fear
imagination

The story

"Be good to yourself: Buy a copy of this Calvin and Hobbes cartoon book. If you don't laugh out loud at every third strip, check your pulse. You may be dead." —Phil Musick, Pittsburgh Press Calvin is a rambunctious six-year-old whose manic antics threaten world peace. Hobbes is his stuffed tiger who comes alive when adults aren"t around. The saga of their daily exploits won cartoonist Bill Watterson the coveted Reuben Award for "Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year." Something Under the Bed Is Drooling is a jewel.

What it’s like

Crisp black-ink panels on newsprint-white pages, with Watterson's loose, expressive line: wobbling sketched backgrounds, a six-year-old's spiky hair, and a tiger drawn in soft, ambiguous shading that makes him look plush one moment and wild the next. The sensory world is the suburban ordinary (a backyard, a wagon, a snowy hill, a cardboard box turned into a time machine) rendered with the rhythm of a daily ritual, one gag per strip and the punchline landing on the last panel. The voice is dry, quick and running on imagination, with the sly edge of a child who suspects the adults are hopeless. Vibe: playful, wry, warm, mischievous. It suits a lazy Sunday with coffee, a quick read between chores, or a comfort reread that rewards dipping in anywhere. The humor is gentle and knowing, with a little mock-menace from the monsters under the bed and the odd flicker of childhood fear, but no real violence, gore or cruelty; the only sharp edges are verbal jabs. Ideal for readers who want laughter, imaginative play and a bond between a boy and his tiger that feels sweet without being saccharine.

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