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The essential Calvin and Hobbes

1988

  • calvin and hobbes (fictitious characters)
  • comic books, strips
  • comic books, strips, etc.
  • stuffed animals (toys)
  • calvin (fictitious character : watterson)
  • caricatures et dessins humoristiques
  • cartoons and comics
  • tiger
  • families
  • bandes dessinées

The story

Beginning with the day Hobbes sprang into Calvin's tuna fish trap, the first two Calvin and Hobbes collections, Calvin and Hobbes and Something Under The Bed Is Drooling, are brought together in this treasury. Including black-and-white dailies and color Sundays, The Essential Calvin and Hobbes also features an original full-color 16-page story. Perhaps the most brilliant comic strip ever created, Calvin and Hobbes continues to entertain with dazzling cartooning and tremendous humor. Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes has been a worldwide favorite since its introduction in 1985. The strip follows the richly imaginative adventures of Calvin and his trusty tiger, Hobbes. Whether a poignant look at serious family issues or a round of time-travel (with the aid of a well-labeled cardboard box), Calvin and Hobbes will astound and delight you.

What it’s like

Black-and-white daily strips in clean, economical linework, with thick pen-and-ink borders and generous white space, paired with full-colour Sunday pages that bloom with saturated greens, oranges and blues. The rhythm is quick and punchy: a single frame of setup, a quick turn, a page-long Sunday sprawl with room for wild perspective and snow-drifted landscapes. The book reads like a pocket treasury, the sort you dip into at a kitchen table or on a sofa with a mug going cold beside you. Its voice is mischievous and warm, the wit cutting between a small boy's fierce imagination and the quiet, often poignant domesticity of suburban family life, while his stuffed tiger stays ambiguous between toy and companion. Emotional registers swing from giddy slapstick and imagined dinosaur-hunting to tender, bittersweet moments about growing up and being loved. The intensity is gentle: mild cartoon mishap and childish mischief, with no real violence, gore or sexual content, though some strips carry mild adult worry or sadness. It suits a rainy Sunday, a comfort reread, or anyone who wants to laugh and feel a little wistful at once, especially readers who love imaginative, character-driven humour.

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