Calvin and Hobbes: Sunday Pages 1985-1995

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.

Loved it! Loved it! LOVED IT!!! I'm one of those people who read Calvin & Hobbes when it was at its peak, but sadly took it for granted. You can't give a book a greater tribute than to say it makes you want to order the person's OTHER works....and we should be grateful Bill Watterson's output for this now-defunct classic strip is still available in book collections. And this collection is one of the BEST. This book works on several levels...or, should I say, works PERFECTLY on several levels:--THE HUMOROUS LEVEL: The humor remains of a "cutting-edge" quality not seen in many comic strips (today's strip Zits is a great one). But it's humor that works on several levels, a la Rocky & Bullwinkle: adults get "more" of the hilarious verbal and (quite frequently) non-verbal jokes while kids get enough so they love it, too.--THE CRAFTSMANSHIP LEVEL: This book, originally created as a catalogue for Sunday pages on display at the Ohio State University Cartoon Research Lab, boasts his original uninked black and white drawings (you can even spot some White Out!) on the left side and the completed "product" (fully inked drawings) on the right side. You can see how each strip evolved. You soon realize that color selection is in itself a vital crafts/artistic decision.--THE ARTISTIC LEVEL: Watterson has a SUPERB 7-page essay about his strip at the beginning of this book. But there's a LOT more to learn as you go through the strips. Under each completed strip he explains a bit about what he was trying to do: why he changed "okay" to OK, how he tried depicting personalities, how a given strip's characters became more three-dimensional, his experiments with verbal and sight jokes, how a strip was inspired by local scenery, his struggle over what kinds of pads to put on the tiger's feet ..even his attempt to use cubist art in one strip. How do I know this book works on several levels? As I write this my 10-year-old nephew Greg is visiting. He immediately took this book, looked at it and said, "Oh, I've seen these! I love this!" and wanted to read it NOW. He was fascinated by the notes under the strips...and I told him that this is a book he can not only read for pure FUN but can also probably read for reading credit at school, since this is much more than "just" a Calvin and Hobbes collection...which in itself would be better than many comic collections on the market. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. YOU'LL READ IT AGAIN AND AGAIN!

This beautifully printed and put together collection is the companion to an exhibition of Calvin & Hobbes strips at Ohio State University. While it doesn't comprise any new material, it is a must have for every Calvin & Hobbes fan for a variety of reasons.First, each cartoon is presented with the original, black and white sketch on the left, and the final, colored version on the right. It is genuinely fascinating to see what color can do for a strip, and it was likewise interesting to observe the number of revisions that Watterson made.Secondly, Watterson's introduction and his notes, which accompany many of the strips, offer wonderful insight into what the strips were meant to portray, and the artistic challenges he faced. While this is similar to what he did in the Tenth Anniversary book, it is obvious that he has gained some perspective over the last six years, and his thoughts are rather more contemplative as a result.Finally, this book is a much needed burst of nostalgia for the trying times we live in. While it has only been six years since the last strip, it feels like much longer. There's something about Calvin & Hobbes that just exudes innocence and a simpler life. It was genuinely refreshing to revisit Calvin's world, and I am now greatly looking forward to rereading all of the collections. If you likewise long for the days when you could open up your newspaper and read this strip, you won't be disappointed by this collection.

This Calvin and Hobbes collection is a welcome addition to any fans book shelf for two simple reasons.Reason #1 - Creator Bill Watterson writes a foreward with some of his reflections on coming back to his original comic strips after taking the last 5 years off. He also adds some fun insights written below each of his strips. It's a nice touch to see them presented in both B & W and in full color. Shows how much life color can add to any presentation.Reason #2 - Well...Calvin of course. It's all here from the early days to the final days. Fights with Hobbes, Spaceman Spiff, advice from dad, and lunchtime with Calvin. Reading this book will remind you of how much the daily papers miss a quality comic strip of this caliber.As Calvin's dad would say, "Reading a Calvin and Hobbes Book builds character!"

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.