I bought this set for my boys a few Christmasses back - but really I bought it for me.
I've read the entire thing a few pages at a time over the course of a some months and I was sad to come to the last wonderfully bound hard cover.
Although I was sad to reach the end I also applaud Bill Watterson for knowing the power in ending something. He quit while he was ahead and left us something golden. It would lessen the work if he had carried on past the point the fire left him, repeating old themes too many times, and forcing us to watch as the life leached out of these beloved characters - perhaps even passing the torch on to contracted writers to continue milking the cash cow ad infinitum. But he didn't. Thanks Bill.
Calvin and Hobbs captures a type of magic. The humour dances between many levels, brilliant visual comedy, erudite observation, poignant insight, laugh out loud slap-stick, and just damn feel-good stuff that touches everyone who has really lived.
I fell into Calvin and Hobbes' world in my 30s and intend to keep dipping back in every time life gets me down.
Go try it.
You can go and 'like' my review on goodreads, if you like.
An index of my reviews.
Some years ago, I cleaned out a lot of my books, particularly cartoon collections. Rereading them before the sale made it easy to sell off Bloom County and Doonesbury. They were dated and a lot of the humor didn't hold up. Calvin and Hobbes, on the other hand, I kept. Waterson created a magical world indeed.
ReplyDeleteTo this day whenever I have trouble expressing myself about anything, I go dig up the appropriate C&H comic. Because no matter what concept it is, C&H has it covered, and always expressed elegantly. Only true comedy can do that.
ReplyDeleteI, too, am guilty of buying this as a gift for my husband many christmases ago. Really, it was for me. The biggest blessing was how both of my children were hooked immediately. It has been re-read many times and is a go to for everyone in the family when they need a bit of magic.
ReplyDeletedo you know that Calvin has ADHD?! It's awesome! <3
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