Reviews (38)

Will the most precocious child please step foward?
"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.

Another great Calvin and Hobbes treasury...
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.

------------------Ahmed Mashhood age 12-----------

An anthology of laughter
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!

Calvin and Hobbes Ranking System---#1
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.

Indispensible : My favorite
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... ... Read more

Reviews (37)

Intelligent, Well-Drawn, and Funny
Watterson's "Calvin and Hobbes" comic strip is a true rarity. It is technically well-drawn, unlike so many other comics. It is intelligent, insightful, and has characters one can really relate to - but does not take itself too seriously and is above all funny and fun to read. It is the story of the world as seen through the eyes of a six-year-old, Calvin, and his best friend, a Tiger named Hobbes - which only Calvin sees as real, and the rest of the world sees as a stuffed doll...

Most of all, the creator of the strip, Watterson, is a true rarity: he refused to commericalize the characters - the only product he sells are book collections of the original strip, like this one - and retired in 1995 when he felt he was beginning to become repetitive. Watterson literally walked away from millions of dollars to save the integrity of his creations, Calvin and Hobbes.

For once, both the characters in the strip and their creator in real life teach us something about what is really important in life - and that it is not REALLY all about money and climbing the corporate ladder after all.

Just compare the well-drawn, love-of-life, intelligent and uncommercialized Calvin&Hobbes to the poorly-drawn, cynical, shallow and commercialized-to-the-wazoo contraption named "Dilbert", for example. Compare the talent and integrity of Watterson to the talentless "sell out to whoever pays more" character of "Dilbert"'s creator.

This will give you a REAL insight on what is wrong with the world.

Great collection and a great bargain
Calvin & Hobbes was so popular during its run that people never needed to explain what the strip was about to anyone; it's been a couple of years and with the exception of little kids, people seem to remember the strip for the most part. So, all I'll say about this collection is that it is the preferable purchase over the first two books, the self-titled "Calvin & Hobbes" and "Something Under The Bed Is Drooling." Why? "The Essential Calvin and Hobbes" actually collects every single strip from those two books (it's NOT a best of, as some people would say), and most importantly, the Sunday strips are in color. Hands down, Watterson painted the most beautiful looking Sunday strips since Walt Kelly, and it would be a shame if you only knew them through the black and white reproductions of the smaller collections. It's also cheaper to buy this book instead of the first two, as well. As a special bonus, Watterson included a nice, water-colored poem at the beginning, which isn't available anywhere else.

A fantastic collection of early Calvin and Hobbes comics
The Essential Calvin and Hobbes, first published in 1988, is chock full of early Calvin and Hobbes comic strips. No cartoonist, not even Charles Schultz, has captured the magical essence of childhood the way Bill Watterson did in this strip, and it should come as no surprise (although it did to Watterson) that Calvin and Hobbes quickly developed an incredibly loyal following. This strip went way beyond mere popularity. While I was in college, the campus newspaper decided to stop running Calvin and Hobbes (I think this was during one of Watterson's sabbaticals) - this resulted in nothing less than a furor on campus, as countless students immediately demanded the return of C&H. In a matter of days, Calvin and Hobbes were right back where they belonged.

How does a comic strip featuring a mischievous six-year-old boy and his stuffed tiger attract a fiercely loyal following of adults? Most adults would love to be children again, to know the freedom and sense of wonder that somehow withers inside the human soul after the onset of puberty. Calvin and Hobbes vividly recreates the feelings and emotions of the very essence of childhood. It brings back memories of things we forgot far too long ago, and it thus reawakens the deepest parts of our ever-hardening souls. Reading this comic strip is the next best thing to being a child yourself. Calvin does everything you used to do: he takes time to stomp in mud puddles, he lets his imagination run wild to make thrilling adventures out of even the most mundane tasks, he ponders the same deep questions you are now, as an adult, afraid to ask, he goes for the gusto no matter what sort of risk is involved, he is in every way a perfect specimen of childhood. Who, as a child, didn't pretend to be a dinosaur, walk around with a hideous expression in hopes of your facing freezing that way, tease the girls (or boys) you claimed to hate, journey to distant worlds unseen by human eyes, etc.?

Of course, Hobbes is just as important to the comic strip as Calvin. Hobbes is a tiger, Calvin's best and constant friend, a fellow partaker in the joys of childish innocence. To Calvin, Hobbes really is all that, and that is how we see him as well - until, that is, someone else comes into the frame, when he suddenly becomes nothing more than a stuffed animal. Watterson is a fantastic comic artist, and there is just something captivating about the way he draws Hobbes in his stuffed animal form. Everything about Watterson's art is fantastic, though, particularly the way it captures the emotions of its two principal characters.

Sadly, we have only ten years of comic memories in the form of Calvin and Hobbes, as the inscrutable Bill Watterson retired (around the age of 37) in 1995 and quite obviously has no plans of returning to the public arena. Watterson is actually frighteningly private and seems to be living a life of unmatched solitude. I find this extraordinarily sad: here is a man who captured the essence of childhood so vividly in the form of Calvin and Hobbes, a world bursting with life and possibilities, yet now he seems to have withdrawn from life itself. We must be thankful we do have as much Calvin and Hobbes material as we do, and The Essential Calvin and Hobbes, with 255 pages of black and white daily strips and color Sunday strips, features much more than just a chunk of it in and of itself.

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

It's a good book
The essential C&H starts out with the early comics (I think) so those are a little weird.

The poem at the begining is very funny. In one of the first stories Calvin and Susie get in trouble for passing notes ("I WISH WE WERE DEAD!!") And in another one Hobbes cuts Calvin's hair which Calvin says looks like it was cut with a weed-eater.

What I thought was irritating was when it went from early comics to finished comics, which was kind of annoying because I like the early comics.

I conclude this reveiw by saying this is deffinatly worth your money and you'll enjoy it very much.

post script, you might also like getting the indespensible C&H and The Authoritive C&H with this one, they kind of go together. ... Read more

Reviews (39)

Calling Spaceman Spiff
There is little you can say about a Calvin and Hobbes book. As with the other books in this series, it is very funny, insightful of people and children, and something that I seem to be able to read over and over. Bill Waterson brings a perspective on humans that is as unique as Gary Larson's perspectives, only his viewpoint surrounds our "hero," Calvin. The long-suffering Hobbes (a tiger, don't you know) is often a voice of doubt and sanity that Calvin rarely, if ever, heeds. When Calvin realizes that Hobbes is being critical, a fight generally ensues. Given that Hobbes is a "ferocious" tiger, Calvin rarely gains the upper hand.

This book is excellent and relatively benign humor, good for any occasion when you need a break from the world. More amazing, this book can be read over and over, and each time you'll still find it funny. I strongly recommend this book.

One of the Best
The Days Are Just Packed is one of my favorite Calvin & Hobbes books. It is the first collection to have the undivided Sunday format, and the full-format Sunday strips are real works of art. Even after you've read it a million times, and have all the punchlines memorized, this is still a great book, and worth reading again. If you haven't been exposed to Calvin and Hobbes, this would be a great place to start.

Calvin The Great
Another great slab paperback filled with the very best of this over active duo. Themed for the holidays, Calvin and Hobbes get up to their usual mischief at the detriment of Mom, Dad, Susie and others. Read it over and over again just to get a little laughter in a boring day. Highly recommended.

Don't you wish everyday was summer?
Fans of Calvin & Hobbes who used to read the newspaper strip in the 80s and 90s will find great pleasure in reading this collection 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.

Summer is the time when Calvin and Hobbes can hang out in the treehouse and plot their next attacks on Susie, if they're not busy fighting with each other, that is. This book also contains some of Calvin's best snowman art. Procrastinators will love Calvin's newest invention - the Time Machine, or perhaps not? This is definitely one of the best C&H books around.

Note that there are two series of C&H collections: individual wide-format albums, each covering an entire year of strips (will call it "regular"), and the vertical aspect ratio "treasury series" which covers selected comics from two regular C&H books. Note that C&H ran for a year in newspapers, so there'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. "The Days Are Just Packed" belongs to the regular series and was published in 1993.

This Book is Not Bad...
I actually am fond of comics and I even made up my own. My favorite kind is the kind that are funny, like Calvin and Hobbes, and at first, when I saw a Calvin and Hobbes book, I loved them. Then when I kept reading, I got bored and didn't read anymore ever since. Now I read it again and I love it. Every thing about it is good, and I surely will recommend it. ... Read more

Reviews (36)

More C&H fun!
Fans of Calvin & Hobbes who used to read the newspaper strip in the 80s and 90s will find great pleasure in reading this collection 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 has more encounters with Mrs. Wormwood, when Stupendous Man saves the day. More snowman fun and more snowballs against Susie. Students in particular will like this book since it has many creative ideas for dealing with homework.

Note that there are two series of C&H collections: individual wide-format albums, each covering an entire year of strips (will call it "regular"), and the vertical aspect ratio "treasury series" which covers selected comics from two regular C&H books. Note that C&H ran for a year in newspapers, so there'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. "Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat" belongs to the regular series and was published in 1994.

A great comic for fans of Calvin and Hobbes
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!

One of the last great newspaper comics...
Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes seems to be one of the last of the great newspaper strip panel comics. It's hilarious while also being insightful, poignant, and bitingly satirical. As most readers know, since Watterson has written it elsewhere, Calvin is named after John Calvin "a sixteenth century theologian who beleived in predestination". Hobbes also has a famous historical namesake in Thomas Hobbes, the seventeeth century author of "Leviathan" whose most famous saying is that life in a state of nature would be "Nasty, brutish, and short". From such a foundation, readers can expect more than a wacky strip full of slapstick, puns and sitcom-type pet or baby humor. There is much more, because Calvin and Hobbes, like all of the great comic strips, has depth. Reading just a handful of strips reveals this.

This collection from 1994 includes a great satire on conceptual art (Calvin tries to sell Hobbes a landscape in a Sunday strip); a great satire on corporate philosophy (Calvin ends up telling his mother that he needs to be subsidized); Hobbes sends Calvin anonymous insults in the mail ("Most people have secret admirers, you have a secret detractor"); "Stupendous Man" invades Calvin's class to take an exam in Calvin's place (he still flunks); one of the best is a single panel strip in which Calvin asks his parents "What assurance do I have that your parenting isn't screwing me up?"; There are also loads of Watterson's great Sunday strips. Watterson is definitely one of the last cartoonist artists that fully appreciated the boundaries (or lack of them) of the color Sunday strip. Calvin's imagined dinosaurs, aliens, parodies of "Judge Parker" type strips, and multicolor tiger battles are amazing works of cartoon art. It's difficult to find anything that even comes close on today's incredibly shrinking Sunday comics page.

Bill Watterson remains heavily elusive. What has he been doing since he voluntarily quit Calvin and Hobbes? Internet searches (at least cursory ones) don't elucidate much (one mentions that he is an intensely private individual - no doubt). Hopefully he's planning another amazing strip. Whether we hear from him again or not, in the end, we can be happy that he took up cartoonist's pen and graced the newspapers with at least one more great strip.

Just a Little Twisted
This collection of Calvin and Hobbes strips is just a bit more twisted than many of the other collections. The very first strip in the book sets the tone. In the middle of the night Calvin wakes up and says he's thirsty. Calvin then goes for a drink of water. Hobbes jumps off the bed and pounces on Calvin as he makes his way back to bed. He parents find him in the hall with Hobbes on top of him, mumbling "homicidal psycho jungle cat."

While the opening strip is humorous, there are even better strips. Another favorite is one of Calvin's infamous "show and tell" strips. Calvin says he has nothing for show and tell, but he tells everyone that during the daytime his mom puts on a patriotic leotard, a cape and knee-high, high-heeled boots to fight crime. The teacher sends a note home with Calvin that his parent's look over together. His father's comment? "Wow, show me that outfit sometime."

The breadth of strips is consistent with other Calvin and Hobbes books, but for some reason these strips gave me more laughs than many of my other Calvin and Hobbes Books. However, the funniest strips often seem to be the cruelest. For example, Suzy follows a series of signs regarding an "important message," ending in a sign that says, "Important message: Look Out!" We then see Calvin sitting on a branch dropping a snowball, saying, "It's like shooting fish in a barrel."

I enjoy Calvin and Hobbes a lot. Of all the illustrated books I have, Calvin and Hobbes are among the funniest, and the most consistent. This particular collection is particularly funny, though a bit more bizarre than many of the other collections. However, it is the twisted nature of some of the strips that make them so interesting and funny. If you are a Calvin and Hobbes fan or just looking for a smile, here is an excellent book.

Calvin! Where are your friends?!
Calvin and his stuffed tiger, Hobbes, take us on another ride into the world of imaginary friendship and fun children at his age seem to create for themselves. With doubting parents such as his, who'd blame him.

Still a very funny creation by Bill Watterson that is still running in sydication throughout the world's newspapers today. ... Read more

Reviews (25)

I can understand why most people like this so much...
The whole comic series is great. This book is a collection of some Sunday Comic strips. Therefore, they are all pretty big strips and have colors as well. The only real problems with this book is the strips had to be condensed to fit the book (well, they would in a news paper at least) and that some similar ideas are used over again. Such as Calvin is pretending he is Spaceman Spiff in one strip, and he gets caught in class for making a scene because of his vivid imagination. Sometime later in the book, he might do a very similar thing only this time he's a dinosaur. If this had just been in a weekly newspaper, you'd never have noticed. Anyway, this won't stop me from rereading it occasionally or enjoying it. This book, as well as the other books in the Calvin and Hobbes series, are recommended.

A Collection of Sunday Calvin and Hobbes Cartoons
I grew up on Calvin and Hobbes, so I'm a little biased when I say they're one of the best--if not *the* best--cartoon ever to be printed. It's such a pity that they're gone, though books like this one will give fans like me an opportunity to make believe that they're not.

"The Calvin and Hobbes Lazy Sunday Book" opens with Calvin's 10-page adventure as Spaceman Spiff, interplanetary explorer extraordinaire, with one mission in mind: to destroy all aliens, which in real life, are disguised as his mother and Susie. Very funny stuff. Yet Calvin's wild imagination doesn't stop there. For the rest of the colorful 100+ pages, he agitates his parents mercilessly, particularly his father; while with his mother, he aversely chokes down every disgusting meal she cooks, making some of the funniest faces while doing so. A lot of times, his expressions say more than any number of words. Take the family meal scene on page 30, where he makes a long-drawn-out attempt at tasting the green pile of gunk on his plate. Then there's a good facial example on page 104, where he's sitting, reading a book; then looks up with this absolutely wicked smile on his face. You can only imagine what he's up to--and it's definitely not safe.

Then come the metamorphosis strips where Calvin pretends to be every imaginable type of creature, from a loudmouthed sparrow to a hungry dinosaur to a human slinky and beyond. And, of course, there's always a worthy battle or two with monsters and bedbugs in, around, and under his bed--all in the faithful company of his favorite toy tiger, Hobbes.

Two of my favorites in this book involve snowmen. Yep, you guessed it: the one where Calvin creates a morbid snowman display on his parent's car--one of them appears to have been hit by the car, while the other three snowmen gawk at the maimed body (p 53). The other is where he makes a dozen or so little snowmen and then devours them all in a dinosaur frenzy (p 101).

No matter how times I've read this book, I can re-read it again and again, and still find something new and amusing about it. Even if you're vaguely familiar with Calvin and Hobbes, I highly recommend purchasing this book. It's a riot.

I miss these guys so much
Calvin and Hobbes was by far one of the most creative comic strips of the 80s and 90s--right up there with Bloom County and The Far Side. As a matter of fact reading this brilliant trio was a daily ritual for me.

But there was a perverse sweetness (I can't explain what that means) to Calvin and Hobbes that the others lacked. This collection, THE LAZY SUNDAY BOOK, features many of the best. Each time a look through it, I laugh out loud like an idiot. The overall effect, however, is nostalgia. There's nothing as good out there now, and I miss my trinity of comic geniuses, but Calvin and Hobbes the most!

It's All Colorful Art!
If all the other Calvin and Hobbes books I have are excellent, then surely this one must be great. All the comics in this wonderful collection are in color, and are rendered incredibly well. If you thought the original Sunday comics were good, then you'll love the rich color of these.

This book opens with a 10 page mini-story about Spaceman Spiff, Interplanetary Explorer Extraordinaire. The art in this story is very good. I think that Bill Watterson was born in the wrong era. He would have been much happier in the era when Sunday comics were permitted a full page to tell a refined story, where the art was rich with detail.

Once into the book you get a collection of comics that originally appeared in Sunday newspapers. While the humor level varies, most will make you smile, and some will give you laughs. It would be impossible to describe the variety stories, but a couple of examples will help.

In one story Calvin has glued paper feathers to his arm in order to fly. Consistent with Bill Watterson's father's profession (he's a patent attorney), Calvin tells Hobbes that he will get the patent when his device works. Hobbes gives Calvin a heave over a cliff with predictable results. Hobbes advises Calvin, "Don't sell the bike shop, Orville."

For a Mother's Day related strip, Calvin has created a Mother's Day card, including a poem he wrote himself. Included in the poem are comments regarding the size of his allowance, and the poem ends with a request to get out of bed and cook breakfast. His mothers comment? "I'm deeply moved."

This collection is filled with a variety of Calvin and Hobbes staples. Calvin the dinosaur makes several appearances, there are a variety of snowman comics, there are a number of with Susie Derkins, and Calvin's usually bizarre viewpoint of life. Given the quality of the book, the longer length of the strips, and the full color, I consider this book to be a very good value, particularly when you consider other graphic books of similar size. Bill Watterson has been a consistently good writer and artist, and each of these full page, full color strips will be a treat for fans of the series and anyone else in need of a smile.

A Great Collection of Comics
Though not the best of all the Calvin and Hobbes books, this book still brings together a collection of great comics. The jokes in this book are really good, so that makes the book really funny. There are no obnoxious coments or sick things in not just this book, but the whole series. This book is really good for reading especially on rainy days or on days when you have nothing to do. This book is definately worth the price it is offered at. ... Read more

Book Description

The 2001 Festival Of Cartoon Art at the Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library will feature Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes.The exhibit will be called "Calvin and Hobbes:Sunday Pages 1985-1995."It is scheduled to run September 10, 2001 to January 15, 2002.Andrews McMeel will publish the exhibit catalog that will reprint all 36 of the works in the exhibit, and it will include an essay by Mr. Watterson abou this work on the strip, plus his comments on each of the strips in the display.This book is a must-have for all Calvin and Hobbes fans. ... Read more

Reviews (26)

A MUST-HAVE for all fans!!!
Bill Watterson--the reclusive creator of Calvin and Hobbes--shares his personal insights on creating this incredible strip. If you're a fan, there's no question that you should buy the book. It's like being introduced to Calvin and Hobbes all over again. The strips you've seen before, but you'll learn things you never knew.

Waterson Does It Again
This book is awesome! If you are a true Calvin and Hobbes fan, you will get this. It has two versions of every 36 strips in the book, you can even see white-out and erase marks on the rough copies that are shown on the left side. Watterson talks about each strip, including a six page introduction. Calvin and Hobbes fans must get this book!

Insightful looks at classic sunday strips
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.

Bill Watterson. Cartoonist exrtodinaire.
Another in a collection of zany, wonderful episodes brought to us by a cartooning master. Keeps us in touch with sanity and makes us laugh because we need it! Good job, Bill!

Six stars would be better!
Who could say too much about the genius of Bill Watterson? The introspective Calvin and fun-loving Hobbes combine to make even the most dense of society roar with laughter! Kudos, Bill. ... Read more

Reviews (31)

Great book!
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 Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes Collection
The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes Collection

The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes Collection is not only a real good book, but it also had me rolling on my sides with laughter. One reason it is my favorite book is because it is REAL funny. Calvin and his stuffed tiger get into so many adventures, all having a humorous twist at the end. Another reason that I liked the book is because it interests me. Every comic strip I read, I wanted to know what was going to happen next. The last reason I favor The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes Collection is because it inspired me to start animating cartoons and comic strips. In this book I saw different types of cartooning that I liked. I am glad that I had chance to read The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes Collection I can't wait to read more!

Another anthology of laughter
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 Authoritative 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!

Authoritative! What else can I say?
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 Transmogrifying himself into an elephant so he can memorize his vocabulary in a snap. Naturally, that leads to never-ending funny adventures to entertain adults as well as children. Here we enjoy Calvin playing croquet with Hobbes, their flying carpet adventures, snowballs against Susie, and Spaceman Spiff. Watch him play pilot, archaeologist, annoy Rosalyn the babysitter, and quarrel with Hobbes over the treehouse.

Note that there are two series of C&H collections: individual wide-format albums, each covering an entire year of strips (will call it "regular"), and the vertical aspect ratio "treasury series" which covers selected comics from two regular C&H books. Note that C&H ran for a year in newspapers, so there'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. "The Authoritative Calvin & Hobbes" belongs to the Treasury collection, and was first released in 1990.

Watterson, a man for all seasons
It is my feeling that Bill Watterson had enough integrity and ethics to prevent the syndicate from cranking out endless meaninglessly repetitive compilations. Of course, he did quit partly because he was becoming disgusted with many of the commercial aspects of his work. With most comics, even good ones, the collections get stale after a few. Watterson's collections dont. There are a dozen or so C&H compilations/collections, but you wont be dissapointed with owning the whole shebang, especially since Watterson frequently did a lot of extra work to ensure that each collection had something new to offer. Even without this extra stuff, Watterson's body of work is extensive enought to warrant owning all these collections. He was steadily cranking out great material for a decade or so, and if you are like me you will be reading some C&H weekly for as long as you are on this earth, so tons of books is not a bad thing. Basically, I wholeheartedly reccomend all the books. If you like one you will like them all. They only get better as you get to know the characters. Watterson never goes for the cheap laugh by having any of the comic's principals act out of character. As you progress through the years with C&H, and I do reccomend reading them in order, you will see how art progresses and grows when the artist is committed to excellent work. So, go get the first one, titled simply Calvin & Hobbes, and then start down the enjoyable road to making Calvin and his tiger a pleasant little chunk of your life. (Yes, i have repeated this review for every C&H book I own, wich is all of them, so get used to seeing all this anytime you look one of them up) ... Read more

Reviews (66)

A Great Comic!
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!

LOOK! CALVIN COMICS!! IN A BOOK!!!
Bill Watterson brings to the table what no other cartoonist can bring: a true artistic, not cartoon, ability. Take just about any Sunday funnies in this book, among others. You will usually see a mass array of panels. They appear to be just a jumble, yet are arranged so that you can easily follow while reading, coming together with a great punchline at the end, or a beautiful portrait of the forest that Calvin & Hobbes walk through, or, both.

What strikes me funny about this strip, more than others, is the intelligent conversations of this otherwise typical six-year-old boy. Some of them I'll have to read a comic a few times over to get the conversation, much less the punchline.

Something ELSE that strikes me is how much of Calvin's ethical conversations about just about anything make sense almost half a decade later. I'm sure it's make sense 10-15 years from now, too. That's what helps make this cartoon so timeless & classic.

Its just too bad that Watterson had to end while at the top, It'd be much cooler if Calvin & Hobbes was still running today.

You should simply just drop anything you're doing & get the book now. You just can't miss out on Calvin's magical world.

A Magical Collectiom
One of the several reasons for Bill Watterson's departure from Calvin and Hobbes is that he wanted to pursue his craft in watercolor. It makes so much sense: just look at some of the background art in this collection and you can see it. (Actually, look at the background cover art, and it looks like Japanese watercolor.) Whatever his pursuits today, Watterson has left us a decade's worth of joy. This collection is just one of several. It doesn't really matter which one you pick up: you will always be guaranteed a few hours' worth of laughter and even a couple of warm tears.

A Strong Finish
This is the last of the C & H strips, and I think Watterson finished on a pretty strong note. I hear people say that Watterson should come back and write more strips. First of all, I think he did good to quit while he was ahead. Second of all, it always bother me when people complain about a writer leaving a series. As if they didn't have a life of their own and had to locked up somewhere and forced to churn out strips for the sake of their fans. If Watterson felt that he was tired of doing Calvin & Hobbes then we have to respect that.

This book has got almost nothing but five star reviews here. So I feel that it's necessary to offer a dissenting opinion. I don't think this is Watterson's best work, and there are signs here that the quality of the strips was slipping. For one thing, while the Sunday strips are intricately drawn, the daily strips seem somewhat sparsely decorated. I think Watterson was putting so much time into drawing the Sunday strips that he had to just rush off his daily strips to meet his deadline. Second and most importantly, I think that the characters and the world of Calvin & Hobbes were beginning to lose their charm to some degree. Calvin was evolving from a hyperactive child to an obnoxious brat, and even though Calvin has always talked alot smarter than your average seven year old, I think some dialogue here sounds wierd coming from his mouth. Also, I think there's too much preaching from the soapbox here, and that sort of thing always gets on my nerves. I don't mean to give the impression that these faults are as bad as I'm making them sound. Most of them are hardly noticeable. I am simply trying to point out that there is a decline here from the glory days of the strip, and that's it's best that Watterson quit when he did before things got worse. He himself probably realized that he was losing his touch a little. I know that there are people who are fans of the strip and feel they have to come here and rave about any book with Calvin and Hobbes on the cover. (There is even one guy who posts the exact same review for every book in the series.) Some people think that's what being a fan is all about. It's the same sort of mentality that would make Star Trek fans go crazy over a Star Trek X even if the Enterprise was shaped like a cereal box. But you can be a fan and still have a discriminating taste. You can still separate the good from the bad. I think giving this book five stars does a disservice to better work like Snow Goons and The Authoritative C & H, which I think were the high points of the series. Anyway, this isn't a bad book. It's still vintage Calvin and Hobbes, and I think Watterson choose the perfect time to hang up his drawing board.

Real Magic
Hobbes is the best animated animal. Even as an animated feline he's better than Garfield. He's the perfect best pal for Calvin and the interaction between them is wonderful. Just take a look at the back cover. I wish I had a tiger like Hobbes. To everyone else he's just a stuffed toy but in Calvin's eyes he the cuddliest cat ever.

The best thing about Calvin and Hobbes is the way Calvin is wise well beyond his years but still has the many illusions of childhood. I think it's the way many of us would like to be. Wisdom without cynicism.

I totally love Calvin and Hobbes. Their adventures are the best and their friendship is real, even if Hobbes is not. ... Read more

Reviews (18)

A Must Read for comic book fans!
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!

Calvin the Scientist?
There is one thing about any Calvin and Hobbes book, they are always funny. They are funnier if you have children. This edition has several classic sequences. In one series Calvin duplicates himself, and mayhem ensues, all blamed, of course, on the duplicates. Naturally Calvin has a unique way of getting out of trouble. Calvin also has a rather entertaining time with his babysitter, who seems forever doomed to being outwitted by Calvin, even if she always wins in the end (and Calvin's parents always lose as they have to bribe her to come back).

Of course there are always the ever-interesting Spaceman Spiff strips, usually involving either Calvin's teacher or his mother. Calvin also appears in a number of strips as a carnivorous dinosaur, the Calvinosaurus. As with any Calvin and Hobbes book, there are the inevitable interactions with Hobbes that extend from fighting and arguing to tender solitary moments.

Because Calvin and Hobbes is a unique series it is difficult to compare to other series or books. All the books I have are all generally of equal quality in terms of the stories. I have a slight preference for the treasury books with their color strips, but Calvin and Hobbes are funny in color or black and white. If you need a good laugh, you'll likely find it here.

HA HA HAA ! HILARIUOS !
if u liked the simsons,and if your a comic lover, or just love comedy, this is a wonderful book ! i love it because it is so FUNNY!! i fell in love w/ these series, i buy as many as i can. this is a good book for you to start to fall in love with C&H. Other good C&H books are Werdeos from another planet, and its a magical world.

Just Too Much Fun
Lest anyone feel weary about buying a kid's comic book: don't! Bill Watterson writes for an intelligent audience and even though Calvin is six year old boy he often says things that are clearly the work of an adult.

Calvin is determinedly and hillariously anti-authoritarian. Bill Waterson got into some trouble once for drawing a cartoon where Calvin fantasized about blowing up his school with an F-16 and heat seeking missles. I agree with Waterson that this just goes to show that some people were never kids.

Scientific Progress goes boink.
I really like the book. My favorite parts are when Calvin locks Rosalyn ( the baby sitter ) out and when he puts on his Stupendous Man costume,pounces on her and hides in his treehouse. I also like the Spaceman Spiff,Tracer Bullet,and Stupendous Man adventures.They are all really Calvin. I also like the part where Calvin and Hobbes make duplicates of Calvin and then transmogrify them into worms and travel to the dinosaurs. I also like the G.R.O.S.S. club (Get Rid Of Slimy girlS ) meetings . This is why I like this book. ... Read more

Reviews (37)

A great comic!
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!

Deep fun!
Fans of Calvin & Hobbes who used to read the newspaper strip in the 80s and 90s will find great pleasure in reading this collection 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.

More daydreams and more weird inventions from the wide imagination of Calvin. Contains all the usual characters, but more elaborate and more philosophical strips.

Note that there are two series of C&H collections: individual wide-format albums, each covering an entire year of strips (will call it "regular"), and the vertical aspect ratio "treasury series" which covers selected comics from two regular C&H books. Note that C&H ran for a year in newspapers, so there'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. "There's Treasure Everywhere" belongs to the regular series and was published in 1996.

Calvin and the Snowmen
Every "Calvin and Hobbes" book contains wonderful insight into our society, children, and parents in general. Bill Watterson has an excellent way of looking at us from a slightly twisted child's point of view, but a child who has to be a genius or near-genius.

This collection contains some of the best winter strips that Watterson ever created. The images of a snow man worshipping Calvin are funny, especially in the last portion of the strip. In another strip Calvin has created a group of small snow men, and has taken another one to the roof as a potential suicide. While this strip sounds very twisted, it's also humorous. Another winter strip sums up the parents feelings as they note that Calvin's activities have led to the neighbors planting really big trees along the boundaries of their property.

Hobbes is an integral part of Calvin's life, ranging from insulting to supporting to the poignant. One of the best poignant strips is when Hobbes takes Calvin out to the school bus while it's raining, carrying an umbrella for him. Soon Calvin's parents look out the window to see Hobbes as a stuff animal with an umbrella tucked under one arm. Calvin's father goes out to retrieve Hobbes and then we see another image of Calvin sitting in school staring at the clock, clearly worrying about Hobbes in the rain.

There are quite a few collections of "Calvin and Hobbes." Of the eight or nine collections that I have I have found every one to be a worthy addition to my library and hope to eventually have them all. Of the "Calvin and Hobbes" collections I have this one is one of the best.

A Treasure!
Another great slab of chuckles and fun from Bill Watterson's master of insults and silly repartie, the irrepresible Calvin and his stuffed tiger (to everyone in his world) Hobbes.

although you are laughing at his antics, in the back of your mid you think Calvin needs some "Real" friends.

My favorite Calvin and Hobbes book!
I reccomend, on page 95, i think, Calvin's prank call to the library! My favorite Calvin and Hobbes strip EVER! ... Read more

Amazon.com

Now that Bill Watterson has retired from drawing syndicated cartoons, the only way to get our Calvin and Hobbes fixes is through his book collections. The 10th Anniversary Book is particularly notable, because in addition to getting some of his most wonderful cartoons, we also gain a sense of Watterson as a person.

Approximately one-tenth of the book contains essays about matters great and small--from cartooning to life--and stories about the inspiration behind some of his greatest strips.Not surprisingly, Watterson shines through as a being of considerable integrity, and the cartoons gain in depth thanks to his commentary. And, of course, the cartoons in the other 90% of the book are alternately side-splitting hilarious or touching. Happy Anniversary, Bill, and good luck with whatever it is you are doing now! ... Read more

Reviews (105)

Great comics, great commentary
Bill Watterson picks out some of his finest cartoons for this book, which would be reason enough to buy it. The additional commentary, though, makes it by far the best Calvin and Hobbes book. It was interesting to see what Mr. Watterson thought of his various characters, how he came up with different ideas and what he found interesting in certain stories. This book just confirmed to me that Calvin and Hobbes is one of the funniest, most original and most meaningful comics in recent years. It was interesting to hear about what Mr. Watterson is like as a person, as he reveals some of his personal interests and opinions through the commentary. Finally, finding out the background for Spaceman Spiff, Tracer Bullet, Miss Wormwood and the other Watterson inventions was interesting. Definitely worthwhile to buy, read and then read again and again.

A SAD DAY INDEED
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.

Great Insight Into Bill Watterson's Mind
Bill Watterson hasn't drawn Calvin and Hobbes in almost 10 years, but fortunately, every strip in the series' run can be found in numerous compilations. The most impressive of these is the 10-year anniversary volume which contains some of his favorites. Watterson was a recluse and rarely gave an interview, but in this book, he is very generous in his insights into many of the comics he had drawn over the years and is particularly not bashful at taking shots at the trends of reducing the modern comic strip to almost illegible size and particularly the licensing of Calvin and Hobbes, which he very successfully opposed. It's not a surprise that he called it quits soon after this book came out.

Watterson comes off in his rants on the art of cartooning as a very bitter man, but a bitter man of unquestionable integrity. I totally agree with him that licensing characters and sticking them on "overpriced knick-knacks nobody needs" does cheapen the strip. As an example, "Dilbert" never affected me like it did after you couldn't turn around without seeing another Dilbert coffee mug, Dilbert stress ball, Dilbert burrito (I'm not making that up, folks), Dilbert hygiene product (OK, I made that up), etc. I got sick of looking at Dilbert and my interest in the strip waned.

But I love going back and looking at old Calvin and Hobbes strips. Sometimes I wish that Watterson would pick up his ink pen again and draw C&H againon his terms, but maybe he's just better off letting his creation stand on its own accord.

The 10th Anniversary Book
Watterson is one of the greatest cartoonists of our time. Calvin and Hobbes sometimes share their deep insights on the values of life. Sometimes their personal outlooks on life are reflected off Watterson's views, which is a great skill to have. Along with the comics, the book is filled with accounts the author wrote, explaining his feelings about the comics and what they mean to him. The book is funny and adventurous, and when you're through reading it, you might have learned a lesson.

Watterson is king
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. ... Read more

Reviews (105)

Best retrospective collection
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.

Great comics, great commentary
Bill Watterson picks out some of his finest cartoons for this book, which would be reason enough to buy it. The additional commentary, though, makes it by far the best Calvin and Hobbes book. It was interesting to see what Mr. Watterson thought of his various characters, how he came up with different ideas and what he found interesting in certain stories. This book just confirmed to me that Calvin and Hobbes is one of the funniest, most original and most meaningful comics in recent years. It was interesting to hear about what Mr. Watterson is like as a person, as he reveals some of his personal interests and opinions through the commentary. Finally, finding out the background for Spaceman Spiff, Tracer Bullet, Miss Wormwood and the other Watterson inventions was interesting. Definitely worthwhile to buy, read and then read again and again.

Great Insight Into Bill Watterson's Mind
Bill Watterson hasn't drawn Calvin and Hobbes in almost 10 years, but fortunately, every strip in the series' run can be found in numerous compilations. The most impressive of these is the 10-year anniversary volume which contains some of his favorites. Watterson was a recluse and rarely gave an interview, but in this book, he is very generous in his insights into many of the comics he had drawn over the years and is particularly not bashful at taking shots at the trends of reducing the modern comic strip to almost illegible size and particularly the licensing of Calvin and Hobbes, which he very successfully opposed. It's not a surprise that he called it quits soon after this book came out.

Watterson comes off in his rants on the art of cartooning as a very bitter man, but a bitter man of unquestionable integrity. I totally agree with him that licensing characters and sticking them on "overpriced knick-knacks nobody needs" does cheapen the strip. As an example, "Dilbert" never affected me like it did after you couldn't turn around without seeing another Dilbert coffee mug, Dilbert stress ball, Dilbert burrito (I'm not making that up, folks), Dilbert hygiene product (OK, I made that up), etc. I got sick of looking at Dilbert and my interest in the strip waned.

But I love going back and looking at old Calvin and Hobbes strips. Sometimes I wish that Watterson would pick up his ink pen again and draw C&H againon his terms, but maybe he's just better off letting his creation stand on its own accord.

The 10th Anniversary Book
Watterson is one of the greatest cartoonists of our time. Calvin and Hobbes sometimes share their deep insights on the values of life. Sometimes their personal outlooks on life are reflected off Watterson's views, which is a great skill to have. Along with the comics, the book is filled with accounts the author wrote, explaining his feelings about the comics and what they mean to him. The book is funny and adventurous, and when you're through reading it, you might have learned a lesson.

Watterson is king
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. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

This is a great book!
This is a great book! There are lots of things in this story I love like when Calvin becomes a tiger, when he ruins the bathroom trying to fix a faucet,getting lost at a zoo, and going to Mars just to get away from all the pollution on Earth. This was one of the best books I've read. If you love Calvin and Hobbes, BUY THIS BOOK!!

One crazy funny book
I'm an 8 year old Canadian living in Beijing, China, and I love to read. I really like to read funny books. One of my favourites of all time is Calvin & Hobbes, "Weirdos from Another Planet". I find this book really funny because Calvin's imagination in this one is the wildest ever! The illustrations are a perfect match for the hilarious stories. I enjoyed the main part of this book, the space adventures of Calvin & Hobbes the best. I found them so funny that I couldn't put the book down in bed, and stayed awake very late. This book made me a real fan of Calvin and Hobbes, and now I can't wait to get more! Elise Hoffmann 8 years old, Beijing, China

hilarious
truly and surely one of the best comic strips ever! were you to be sick in bed and need something to make you laugh, this is the best medicine!

Buy these "Weirdos"
The title of the book represents a truly classic series of strips in which Calvin first uses his cardboard box as a space ship to travel to Mars. What he finds is that the "Weirdos from Another Planet" are him and Hobbes! This is another first rate collection from the strip that was THE highlight of the comics page during its newspaper run. Bill Waterson's genius has been sorely missed ever since he decided to retire. This is another fine collection in an outstanding series of books.

Good, but hard to believe.
Calvin is basically obsessed to his stuffed tiger, Hobbes. He gets in a lot of trouble, which he blaims all on Hobbes. Fortunatly, Hobbes turns into a real tiger when nobody is looking. They have a club called G.R.O.S.S. which stands for Get Rid Of Slimy girlS. THE BOOK Mainly, Calvin and Hobbes decide to leave Earth because it's to polluted, so they want to go to Mars. Hobbes starts to push the wagon,and they are off to Mars! It takes a long time, but finally they get there. They see a Martian and get very scared. They make faces at Viking 1. They run out of supplies and go back to Earth.THE END ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Learning from Calvin and Hobbes
For a few lucky educators and students in the Midwestern United States in the mid-1990s, this must have been a useful and fun book. Published in Fargo, North Dakota, in 1993 under a limited official license from Universal Press Syndicate, it is a children's school textbook written around Calvin and Hobbes comic strips. The strips contained in the book comprise famous Calvin and Hobbes story arcs, and the lessons and questions about the characters' personalities, dialogue, and adventures are marvelous. "What do you think the principal meant when he said they had 'quite a file' on Calvin?" -p. 108. A beautiful quality of the book is the feeling you get reading it, knowing that it was developed primarily for children with learning disabilities. You feel that a unique and noble potential of the unforgettable Calvin and Hobbes was realized through this book. Unfortunately, according to the publisher, only a very few copies of this wonderful book were authorized to be printed in a once-only print run in 1993. ... Read more