The Greatest Thing

Hiya! I'm not really a fan of American cartoons, but I absolutely adore Bill Waterson's Calvin and Hobbes. It's my second most quoted medium (the first being Simpsons) (Note: my computer crashed in the middle of this one, so sorry it's a little muddled and now I'm working hard to remember my comments). So, I like this cartoon on so many different levels.

For starters, if you look at the art in Calvin and Hobbes I'm sure you can tell that it's totally above the cut compared to other comic strips. Seriously, a lot of talent was poured into each and every cell. And the myriad of interesting ideas the author was able to come up with is astonishing. He makes fun of the economy, politics, popular culture (my personal favourite), and puts a cute spin on lots of things I experienced as a kid and didn't think were funny at all at the time.

But the best thing about Bill Waterson was that he refused to allow Calvin and Hobbes to be licensed. This makes him such a hero in my eyes for not being a capitalist jerkwad and allowing Calvin and Hobbes to be printed on every mousepad, coffee mug, T-shirt, and all that other crap.

One last thought; my favourite Calvin and Hobbes book is the tenth anniversary collection, where there are author's notes about every strip printed. He explains his different thoughts about the characters, the settings, the gimmicks - everything like that. I don't have any idea how many times I have read that book cover to cover. What a man!